My arrival in Groningen

Upon arriving in Groningen after many hours of planes and trains, Marijke (on the left) from the lab picked me up. She gave me my first taste of the Netherlands by escorting me downtown, a.k.a. the "centrum".

I remember that the first thing that struck me about the town is that is was soooo clean! Much cleaner than the streets of Montreal! The streets are all cobblestone and not a speck of garbage nor a beggar to be found! I felt like I walked right into a postcard.

The second thing that caught my attention was the number of bikes that were around. I knew to expect this but I didn't realise that Groningen was the capital of bikes in Holland. I think that this is because it is a student town. Too bad that you can only see a few bikes in the picture. There really a lot more to be seen! It was also really freaky to be run over by more bikes than cars when crossing the street!

The centrum itself is really very beautiful. The center of attention is the "Grote Markt" a.k.a. the big market, and the "Vis Markt" a.k.a. the fish market. What you see here is the Grote Markt. It was actually closing at the time so it's not very busy. I was soooo excited to buy fresh veggies and cook up a storm in my dorm! You can also look at this location live on the web at this website.

Afterwards, Marijke took me to eat a yummy dinner in a Blues kinda restaurant. Then she dropped me off at my boss' house (Dr de Vos) to sleep over with his wife and three adorable daughters. When I woke up for breakfast, I learnt my first Dutch word while watching Teletubbies with the youngest daughter : Twee ("two"). When I tried to show off my new knowledge to the older daughters later on, the oldest outdid me by counting to ten in English.