h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hiya everyone,

Well, I hope people can give me information on this. The idea a friend of mine and I have is to plan Weekend Trips to European cities once in a while. But we want to do it in alphabetical order. We have had Amsterdam (I am living close to it) and we are going to do Brussels and Brugge this weekend, for the C we want to go to Copenhagen, but we don't know an interesting city starting with D yet. The only thing is, we have to be able to get there within 1.5/2 hours of flight, or by train journey. My friend is from the UK so will fly all of it, I am from Holland, so will go by train or plane, depends what's easiest. Can you give me any tips on which cities to visit during a weekend break?

Also: any websites that you know with a lot of information would be helpful!

Thanks a bunch!

Bye, Jacqueline

Hey Jacqueline,

I was in Dusseldorf, Germany a few years ago and had a great time there. Especially the old town (Altstadt), with a number of pub breweries where they serve the local speciality Alt Bier toghether with great food, was a happy place.
Another one, although a bit like Amsterdam but somewhat smaller, is Delft .

+ Terry

Ooooo, Delft, that is where Vermeer lived! *My favorite painter*

JEllen

Hi Terry & JEllen...and everyone else who reads this!

Delft, well, I don't know. That British friend of mine has already been to several places in Holland, don't know if Delft was one of them, and I want to have the feeling to be totally gone from here, actually!
I don't know yet, we had thought about Dusseldorf or Dublin, Delft hadn't entered my mind yet, but we still have to decide.
At least this weekend we will be in Brussels and Brugge, so I am looking forward to that!

How are you anyway?

Bye, Jacqueline

Hi Jacqueline, I'm fine. The fact that you are going in alphabetical order reminds me of the little alien (Wowbagger?) in Hitchhikers who travels through the galaxy insulting people in alphabetical order. So are you planning your trips this way as a tribute to Adams?

Hey Jacqueline,

I am OK, sorry I haven't been online much the past few days.
I was in Amsterdam last night, at the Heineken Music Hall. There was a T-Mobile sponsored Tribute to the Rolling Stones. I helped a colleague with the answers to some questions and when she won two tickets with that, she invited me to come. It was really great. There were quite a number of Dutch celebreties playing Rolling Stones favourites (Golden Earring, Bennie Joling, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Ilse de Lange, DiRect).
I simply fell in love with Ilse De Lange when she played Fool To Cry. That woman is about half my size and she has such a huge personality on stage. She sang the songs like she wrote them herself. It really came from her heart (and went straight into mine).
I was very conscious of my 42 years, though, most of the crowd were in their early twenties .

If you still have to decide between Brussels and Brugge: I know both places quite well. Brussels is easier to reach by train (and plane). Brugge is a bit difficult by public transport, but in my view a much nicer place by far (bit like Delft ).

Back to work now, catch you later!

Terry

Hi Terry,

no way, you were there? Man, I so wanted to go, I am a big fan of Ilse, you see! I have been a fan of the fanclub for about 3 years now and have been to a couple of Fanmeets too. I like her especially because she stayed normal, she is just the normal Dutch girl, but with a voice! My, my, did you already buy her new album, Clean UP? It is really, really good and I hope you will buy it now! It has a bonus DVD with the making off Clean UP. And in the end she even cries when she hears one of the songs she recorded. It just comes straight out of her heart! You probably can't guess I am a fan, right?

Bye, Jacqueline

Hi JEllen,

Well, actually, it is not a tribute to Douglas Adams, it is just something that British friend of mine came up with. Don't know why, it just popped into his head, because we really didn't know where to go, so many cities to visit and then he just said: Why not do them in alphabetical order?
So that's what we decided...

Hugs, Jacqueline

Hi Jacqueline,

I heard the new CD last week, my brother-in-law had just bought it.
Quite frankly I wasn't really that impressed with it at first.I know Ilse has a great voice and I saw her on Wintertijd on the TV recently (that's when they showed her crying in the studio ) and I really like the way she is a very normal friendly girl. But the CD didn't reach my heart the way she did last night. I am not ashamed to tell you I had tears in my eyes when she sang Fool To Cry! And then after this song she started chatting to the audience in her funny Eastern Dutch accent. And that's when I fell in love with her!
Such a lovely, cheerful little whench with a voice that cuts right through your soul.
I will see my brother-in-law again this Friday. I am going to try and borrow the CD from him and then play it over and over again all through the weekend. And then go out to the shops and buy it.

Terry

Hiya Terry,

Well, I have to say that I had to get used to the new cd. It is different than her earlier cd's but I now love it!
I am quite a big fan, then again I don't normally go to concerts, just because they are too far away. We do have a lot of cd's from her though:

- World of Hurt (her first album, it was voted the best Dutch album ever, some time ago)
- Livin'on Love (didn't particularly like this one... like the last one better...)
- Dear John (this was during the Marlboro flashback tour. She sang songs from John Hiatt, it's really, really, really good! One of the songs she doesn't know the lyrics anymore and sings the song about three times. All the while askign the audience if they don't need to catch the train...!)
- Clean Up (her latest album, has been on no. 1 of the album charts for about 5 weeks at least...)

If you would want to know more about her, or about the fanclub: www.ilsedelange.com
www.fanclub.ilsedelange.com

Like I said, we have been fan of Ilse for some years now. Hell, she is even part of the fact that Angela and me are together!
I'll tell you next time if you want to hear!

But yeah, Ilse Rocks!

Jacqueline (big Ilse fan!)