Curacao is a very popular destination for Dutch tourists, and the local business have adapted their menu's to that. Of course the beer is Dutch, varying from the nice Grolsch bottles to a special, "Carribean", version of Amstel, Amstel Bright.

The food on this island close to Venezuela is also distinctively Dutch. Most places sell items like broodje gezond, kroket, frikandel, fries with mayonaise, all targeted to the Dutch tourist.

If we had lived in Holland I would have been very disappointed by this; it was hard to find local dishes. But for us, having lived in the US for so long, it was nice eating the things we haven't had for quite a while. One of the things that I enjoyed the best was having a Grolsch with bitterballen while overlooking the Willemstad harbor. On the beach I ate a sate van de haas, with a great peanut sauce.

Hotel Kura Hulanda has three restaurants. They had a more international menu and served very good food. The waitresses in the hotel were mostly Dutch; people who were doing an internship for a hospitality school in the Netherlands.

Dutch food at the beach.

I had a secret hope that we would find a shop on the island that sells Grimbergen. We found one, but unfortunately all Grimbergen was sold out, except for 1 bottle of Grimbergen Dubbel.

The cherry blossoms are blooming. They are a very popular destination in D.C., and the Tidal Basin is usually very crowded.

Last Sunday I decided to bicycle the "The Lost Blossom Bicycle Tour". In North-West Washington there is a street in the Kenwood neighbourhood where there are a lot of cherry blossom trees.

It was a long trip. I started going north, next to the Potomac, and from there I took the Capital Crescent trail. The cherry blossoms were nice, and there were many people in the small park having lunch and hanging out with their kids.

On my back I cheated a bit with the route. Not to take a short-cut, but it's just that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find my way, so I took Massachusetts Avenue all the way through D.C. until I reached Rock Creek park and crossed the river to go back home.

Some pictures.

Last night Sasha and I went for a walk to the Tidal Basin. I took the metro to her work and we walked from the Bank to the White House, from there to the National Mall and then to the Tidal Basin.

It was already dark when we arrived, but even though we did not see much of the cherry blossoms it was a nice evening.

We'll probably go this weekend to see the blossom's during the day.

When we were in Curacao a few weeks ago, we stayed in Willemstad, the capital of the island.

Curacao is an old Dutch colony of course, so it is in the news in the Netherlands with some frequency, for example when Queen Beatrix visits the Netherlands Antilles.

The classic picture that the Dutch TV stations would show in such a case is the harbor front, with the color facades, and it was very nice to see them in reality. I took some pictures at night.

The classic view of the Willemstad harbor front at night.

A big cruise ship in the harbor. In front the ferry that temporarily replaces the pedestrian bridge that under repair.

Two ducks and a shopping cart.

As seen in the Potomac river in Georgetown.

A couple of weeks ago we saw Brokeback Mountain in the Loews theater in Georgetown.

The story is about two cowboys who fall in love while they are herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain when they are young. They continue their secret relationship in the years to come, although they both get married to a wife and even get children while they're still in love with each other.

The subject of the movie is intolerance towards homosexual people. The story line starts in the 1960s the two men meet, and the movie plays in Wyoming and Texas.

Brokeback Mountain and its director, Ang Lee, won many awards this year, including 3 Oscars.

IMDB has some funny trivia about the movie, especially about director Ang Lee and his experiences with sheep.

A few Sundays ago, in early March, we went for a long walk to Georgetown. The weather was excellent, but unfortunately the outside places were not open yet. We had lunch in a restaurant close to the Potomac and at the end of the afternoon we walked back home.

Here's a picture of a gull at the riverside.

Last night I went for the first time by bike to my Spanish course. The course is in a school on Quincy street, near the Arlington library.



It was the 11th lesson yesterday night, and I really start noticing my progress. I must admit that I'm usually pretty tired during the class, but it's very useful and I've learned a lot. Last night we dealt with prepositions of location.



When I biked home it was dark, and I am not very satisfied with the head light on my bike. In the U.S. most bikes have battery-operated lights, and the ones I have don't exactly give a lot of light. Enough to be clearly visible in traffic, but not really strong enough to actually light the road where I'm riding -- not very pleasant. I'll see if there is a battery model that gives more light, or perhaps I should switch to a dynamo light (available if you order it).

Just a nice picture of a parked car near Wilson Boulevard.