The Netherlands Travel Guide

 Typical Costs

Accommodation – Hostels in Holland typically cost between 15-30 EUR per night for a dorm room. The most popular hostels in Amsterdam can be close to 45 EUR (which is crazy). Private rooms in hostels begin at 80 EUR per night for a double room. Most one to two star hotels are around 60 EUR per night for a double room and go up from there. For my favorite places to stay, see the city specific guides.

Food – Cheap meals at fast food joints or places like Maoz or Walk to Wok cost around 10 EUR. Restaurant meals average around 15-25 EUR for a main dish with a drink. If you choose to cook food for yourself, you can expect to pay an average of 40-50 EUR per week for groceries. Fast food like Febo, cheap Dutch food, is around 5-10 EUR. For my favorite places to eat, see the city specific guides.

Transportation – Inter-city train tickets around Holland are between 12-30 EUR, though for super short distances they can be as little as 5 EUR. Since the country is so flat, biking is the main form of transportation around cities (and for some people between cities). You can rent bikes starting around 10 EUR per day (but most places require a deposit that is returned to you when you return the bike). Intra-city trains and buses are about 3 EUR for a one-way trip. Taxis are super expensive and should be avoided at all costs.

Activities – Entrance into museums cost about 20 EUR while churches are free to enter.

Money Saving Tips

Avoiding spending on the green – Many people go to Amsterdam to visit the coffee shops. If you choose to do this, don’t think you have to buy “stuff” in each shop. Places will let you smoke as long as you buy a drink or food.

Get the Museumkaart (Museum Card) – Good for one year, this card gets you into museums in Amsterdam and beyond for only 60 EUR. With the Museum Card, you get access to 32 museums in Amsterdam and more than 400 throughout the Netherlands. It’s also good for repeat visits as well!

Bike – Biking is the cheapest form of transportation. You can rent a bike for only a few dollars a day. However, Dutch cities are also very small and easily walkable.

Hire your own boat – Instead of taking an expensive canal cruise, you can hire your own boat. If you have 3 or 4 people, it works out to be about 5 EUR each, and you can bring alcohol, food, or smoke on it.

Attend a free festival – During the summer, everyone goes outside. Check local city boards for a list of free concerts, festivals, shows, and markets. Once the weather gets warm, the social calendar fills up.

Top Things to See and Do in the Netherlands

Visit Amsterdam – The capital and center of tourism in Holland, Amsterdam is as beautiful and serene as it is crazy. There’s lovely canals, beautiful houses, great shops, food, and, of course, the infamous red light district.

Take a canal tour – Whether in Amsterdam or in another city, make sure you take a canal tour and see the canals that made the area famous and inhabitable. The Dutch practically perfected canal-building and it’s such an integral part of life here, that you can’t really understand the country until you spend time boating on the canals.

Explore Rotterdam – Rotterdam is one of the busiest shipping ports in all of the world. As Amsterdam’s industrious rival, Rotterdam may not get all the attention Amsterdam does but the city is a great place if you want good shops, great architecture (though most of the old building were bombed in WW2), and and a chance to learn about the famous harbor locks. I don’t love it as much as I love Amsterdam but it’s a very overlooked city.

Wander historic Haarlem – Take a stroll through the old, upper-class homes of the rich and famous and visit the old homes of the merchant class that helped build the city. This city is a short bike or train ride from Amsterdam. There’s not much to do here but the town center has a good market, the central church is phenomenal and awe-inspiring, and it’s a low-key alternative to the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam.

Find culture in Den Haag (The Hague) – Filled with a lot of worldwide court bodies such as the International Criminal Court, this city is a hub of international life as it’s a center of European justice. You can see the Queen’s office here and visit the old castle and palace. Moreover, The Hague is located right on the beach, so lounging on the sand and strolling the boardwalk are popular summer activities.

Celebrate King’s Day – Every year on April 27th (April 26th if the 27th is a Sunday), the Dutch used to celebrate the birthday of their queen Juliana. However, in 2013, Queen Beatrix passed the throne to her son, Willem Alexander and Queen’s Day became King’s Day. It’s a national holiday filled with outdoor concerts, lots of orange, lots of drinking, and insane celebrating on the canals. It is one of the wildest national holidays I’ve ever celebrated.

Stroll through beautiful Leiden – Head to this small town near Amsterdam, and see where the Pilgrims lived before they left for America. It’s a very historic city and filled with beautiful 17th-century buildings and parks. There’s a small museum in the city that has sporadic opening hours but if you’re nice, usually the owners let you roam through even if it’s closed.

Visit Edam – A picture-perfect town with windmills, farmland, and quaint houses where the famous Dutch cheese gets its name from. It’s one of the more quintessential Dutch towns. Basically, come here to eat and be as Dutch as possible!

Head to the Keukenhof – The Keukenhof is the largest flower garden in the world, with 32 hectares’ worth of spectacular floral displays. The garden is open between March and May of each year when the tulips are in season. When you picture Holland, you picture flowers and there is no better place to see them than here.

Bike through Hoge Veluwe National Park – Hoge Veluwe National Park is the largest national reserve in the Netherlands. It is home not only for drift-sands, wild deer and other animals but also to the Kröller-Müller Museum, the repository of Helene Kröller-Müller’s art collection. You can rent white bicycles in three designated regions and hope you will never get lost in the sea of green.

Kick back in Maastricht – One of the southernmost towns in the Netherlands, this city is famous for having the country’s only “mountain.” It’s really more of a hill though and doesn’t take long to climb. But this hardly-ever visited city is a great place to see Dutch life away from hoards of tourists who frequent the rest of the country.

Go cycling – As one of the most popular activities throughout the country, you would almost feel out of place not on a bike. The country is covered in over 20,000km of paths, dedicated to the two-wheeled transportation. Hoge Veluwe National Park is a particularly beautiful place to ride, but the entire landscape of the country is quite scenic as well.

Visit Delft – This is a fascinating little town, making it the perfect destination for a day trip. There are a few interesting sights here, including the Municipal Museum het Prinsenhof, Nieuwe Kerk, De Zeven Zonden, and of course, the trademark blue and white pottery. The town lies between The Hague and Rotterdam.

Admire the art at the Van Gogh Museum – Open since 1973, this museum is host to over 500 original works by Vincent Van Gogh, in addition to several works by some of his contemporaries and beloved friends. The exhibits chronicle his life span, showing the progress and development of his work, alongside Gaugain, Monet, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Note: Pre-book tickets online to avoid massive queues when you arrive.

Visit “Venice of the North” – Slow-paced Giethoorn is a charming place with lots of picturesque canals. With no cars allowed in the city center, this peaceful town is a good change of pace from the busyness of the Netherlands’ bigger cities. Rent a small boat and spend the day floating by charming cottages.

See life in historic Netherland – At the The Netherlands Open Air Museum, Themapark Archeon, and Zaanse Schans, you can see what life like in the low countries a few hundred years ago. With antique windmills, houses, farms, and shops, you can feel a part of Holland of old.

Try a multi-day bike tour – If you’re going to bike somewhere, the Netherlands is it! But maybe a few hours or a day on your own isn’t enough. With tons of bike companies, you have your pick of planned itineraries that’ll take you to any region of the country. Whether it’s self-guided or with a host, you can find an amazing bike tour in the Netherlands.

Source:http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-guides/the-netherlands-travel-tips/

 

Past tenses

Past tenses

Past Simple

We use this tense to describe actions completed in the past.

Most verbs end with -ed but there are irregular verbs too, like teach-taught, find-found etc.

Questions and negations are with did:

Did you work yesterday?

I didn't see her.

My brother applied for a visa.

This investor lost a fortune last year.

Past Continuous

This tense describes an action in progress at a point of time in the past, in example the action began before this point of time and continued after it.

We didn't hear the intruder because we were sleeping on the top floor last night.

We often use past continuous to show that a past action was temporary, or was changing or developing.

During my training I was earning less than my life. (temporary situation)

His symptoms were becoming more pronounced each day. (changing situation)

She received chemotherapy on a weekly basis. (a repeated action)

For the first 2 months she was receiving chemotherapy on a weekly basis. (repeated action but only for 2 months)

We use the past continuous to contrast an ongoing action with a single event which interrupts it:

Elizabeth was sleeping when messenger arrived.

Seventy cars were crossing the bridge when it collapsed into the river.

We use the past continuous to describe past arrangements:

Nancy was taking the next flight to Paris so she had to cut short the interview.

We can make requests or polite suggestions:

We were wondering if you would like to join us.

Past perfect

We use this tense to describe an action which is completed before a time in the past. We can include specific time reference.

By the time UN forces arrived, the rebel army had taken the province.

When we got back home the babysitter had gone home.

We wanted to talk to him but he'd just left.

I left university before I'd taken the final exams.

We use past perfect to describe past intentions which were unfulfilled:

They had hoped to get to the summit but their companion fell ill at base camp.

Scuba diving and snorkeling

Snorkeling is a popular recreational activity, particularly at tropical locations. A snorkeler is equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually fins. Use of this equipment allows the snorkeler to observe underwater attractions (underwater life, fish, turtles, seaweeds, stones etc.).

Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving in which a scuba diver uses an underwater breathing apparatus (scuba) to breathe underwater. It allows greater freedom of movement. A scuba diver may stay longer underwater than a snorkeler.

The greatest danger to snorkelers and scuba divers are inshore and leisure craft such as jet skis, speed boats and the like.

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik / Croatia

Tourism is a major industry in Croatia. In 2012, Croatia had 11.8 million tourist visitors, and in 2013 over 14 million tourists, a record number of visitors. Croatia aims to double these numbers by 2020 with national strategy to bring in even more foreign tourist. They estimate that revenue from tourism will exceed $17 billion.

Tourism in Croatia is concentrated in the areas along the Adriatic coast and is strongly seasonal, peaking in July and August.

The country is also famous for its national parks, mountains and cuisine.

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is a city in Croatia on the Dalmatian coast. More than 500 years ago it was called "Ragusa". It is on the Adriatic Sea. About 42,615 people lived there in 2011. Because of its age and unique buildings, the old city of Dubrovnik has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The most famous street in Dubrovnik’s Old Town is called Stradun. Hundreds of tourists walk there every day.

Dubrovnik has Mediterranean climate which means that you must get prepared for really hot temperatures during the summer.

Today Dubrovnik is one of the main tourist sites in Croatia. Dubrovnik is famous for its Old Town - this is an ancient fortress with large stone walls, which helped Dubrovnik keep its freedom for many centuries. There was a major earthquake in 1667 that destroyed many buildings, but the people living there were able to rebuild the town.

Just off the coast of Dubrovnik is the forested island of Lokrum. The small island has a castle, a thousand-year-old Benedictine monastery, and a botanical garden initially started by archduke Maximilian in the 19th century.

Dubrovnik has a number of educational institutions. These include Dubrovnik International University, the University of Dubrovnik, a Nautical College, a Tourism College, a University Centre for Postgraduate Studies of the University of Zagreb, American College of Management and Technology, Diocesan Classical Gymnasium "Ruđer Bošković" in Dubrovnik and an Institute of History of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

How to get there?

You can get to Dubrovnik by car, ship or plane. Dubrovnik has an international airport.

What to do in Dubrovnik?

Most people who go there, visit the old town or sunbathe on the beach. You may also book a boat trip and visit the neighbouring island Lokrum. Restaurants in Dubrovnik offer you sea fish, incredibly good pizza, local wine and other Croatian specialities like the Pršut ham, burek, ajvar, Orahnjača (a Croatian walnut strudel) and, obviously, frutti di mare.

Source: www.wikipedia.org

Childhood Obesity

Studies have shown that about 30% of all children in America aged 6 to 19 are either overweight or obese. That is almost one out of three young Americans. The situation in the countries of the European Union is similar.
The body mass index (BMI) is a formula to measure obesity. It uses a combination of height and weight. A BMI score of 25 or higher shows that you are overweight and a BMI of over 30 indicates obesity.
 
Who is at risk? If you are gaining weight it does not always mean that you are becoming obese. Children and young adults need nutrients in order to grow, so they gain weight as time goes on. However, if you consume more than you need and begin putting on extra weight you may be on the road to obesity - combined with all kinds of health problems.
Here are some signs that tell you if you are at risk:

• Children who have obese parents or grandparents are in greater danger of becoming obese than others.
• If diseases like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes or heart illnesses run in your family you might be at risk too.
• Bowed legs at an early age can be a warning signal for obesity.
• Depression and a lack of confidence have also been connected to obesity.
• People who don’t get enough exercise and sit around and do nothing all day long are definitely more at risk than others.

What causes childhood obesity?

The explanation is really simple: if you take in more energy in the form of food than you use up you will gain weight. There are, however, many factors that can influence this.
Genes determine how your body stores food and how well it turns food into energy. Our bodies are built to store energy in fat cells for times when food is scarce. But not all bodies are the same. Your genes come from your parents, so overweight parents are more likely to have overweight children.
Although you may have good genes you still can become obese. One of the main causes of obesity is the lack of physical exercise. An average child spends less time exercising than children did ten or twenty years ago. Our free time activities have changed. Instead of going outside and doing something physical children sit still for hours in front of computers, TV and video games.

Snacks and fast food

Many of us eat up to four meals a day thanks to excessive snacking. And when we have a snack we don’t eat a carrot or an apple. Instead we reach for junk food. But this is not always the children’s fault. Schools are full of vending machines that offer high calorie snacks and sugary soft drinks. To make things worse they are bombarded with TV ads and commercials for unhealthy food. An average American eight-year old watches more than four thousand food ads a year. About 35% of these ads are for candy and snacks, another 10% for fast food.
Fast food is another reason for obesity. While some fast food chains offer healthy alternatives, these aren’t what people order. Today’s families also eat out a lot more than earlier generations.

Eating habits at home

If you develop healthy eating habits you’ll be more likely to keep a healthy weight. And it’s at home where we form such habits.
If your parents are overweight or obese chances are that you may have seen wrong eating habits your whole life. Children who observe their parents eat a cookie instead of a piece of fruit, take their meals in front of the TV set or eat too quickly are more likely to do the same. This increases their chances of becoming overweight children and, later on, adults.

Consequences

Apart from the need for larger school desks and airline seats what else is there to worry about.

• Type 2 diabetes was once thought to be a disease that mainly affected adults, but this not longer true. It can lead to blindness, heart and kidney diseases and damage your nerves.
• Studies have shown that obesity can cause children with asthma to use more medicine and wheeze more.
• Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to have high blood pressure than children with a normal weight.
• Sleeping disorders are among the most common consequences of childhood obesity. Some children may even have pauses in their breathing during sleep. If not treated it may lead to a series of other illnesses, including heart and lung problems.

 Dictionary

• ad = short word for “advertisement”
• adolescent = a young person between 12 and 18 who is becoming an adult
• affect =to have an effect on
• although =while
• average =normally
• blindness = if you cannot see anything
• blood pressure =the force with which blood travels through your body
• body mass index = shows if you have the right weight for your height
• bombard = hit
• bowed = curved
• candy = a sweet food made from sugar and chocolate
• carrot = a long pointed orange vegetable that grows under ground
• chances = it is probable that...
• common = very often
• confidence =you believe in yourself and think that you can do something well
• consequence = effect, result
• cookie = a small flat sweet cake
• definitely = absolutely
• determine =decide, control
• develop = grow
• disease = illness
• eat out = to have a meal in a restaurant
• excessive = too much
• exercise = physical activity that lets you stay healthy and makes you stronger
• explanation =the reasons you give for why something happened
• factor = one of many things
• fast food chain = fast food stores that have the same name
• fat cell = a body cell that has fat in it
• fault =someone is to blame
• gain weight = to become heavier
• habit = what you normally do
• height = how tall you are
• however =but
• illness = disease
• increase = to go up
• indicate = show
• influence =have an effect on
• instead of = in something’s place, as an alternative
• kidney = one of the two organs in your back that separate waste products from your blood and make urine
• lack = not enough
• likely = probably
• mainly = mostly
• measure = calculate
• need =something you must have
• nutrient =chemical or food that gives you important things you need to live
• obese = another word for fat
• obesity =fatness
• offer = give
• overweight = to have too much weight
• pause = break
• physical = everything that has to do with your body
• put on = gain, become more
• reach for = try to get
• reason =cause
• run in = is in
• scarce = when there is not enough
• score = number
• series = a number of
• sign = warning signal
• similar = almost the same
• sleeping disorder = if you have problems sleeping or cannot sleep well
• soft drink = a cold drink that does not have any alcohol in it
• store = to keep things somewhere until you need them
• study = report
• treat =cure, heal
• type 2 diabetes = a disease in which there is too much sugar in your blood
• use up =to use all of something
• vending machine = a machine from which you get drinks, cigarettes and something to eat by putting money into it
• weight = how heavy you are
• wheeze = when you breathe you make loud noises in your throat and chest

Source: http://www.english-online.at/health_medicine/childhood-obesity/causes-and-risks-of-childhood-obesity.htm

Swiss Banks - A Safe Haven for Money from Around the World

Switzerland is not only well-known for chocolate and its watch-making industry. It is also famous for its unique banking and financial system. Banks play an important role in Switzerland’s economy. Swiss banks have been considered to be the most secretive in the world for many centuries. About a third of all money held outside a person’s home country - hundreds of billions of dollars - is deposited in Swiss banks.

Banking in Switzerland goes back to the 18th century. In the past , not only rich people but also authoritarian regimes and dictators have secured their money in Swiss banks. Foreigners who live in unstable and troubled areas also tend to keep money in secure Swiss banks instead of their own. During World War II German Nazis deposited much of the country’s wealth, especially money  and gold taken away from Jews , in Switzerland.

Switzerland has two large banks - UBS and Credit Suisse. Private banking also has a century-long tradition in the alpine country. Currently, about 130000 people work in the banking sector. Major banks have overseas branches that employ thousands.
Switzerland’s popularity as a safe bank haven has many reasons. For one, the country has a very stable and prosperous economy, and one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. It has been neutral for many centuries, especially during the two world wars. In addition, the Swiss franc is one of the most stable currencies in the world.

Swiss banks have to follow very strict privacy rules. In 1934, a law was passed that forbade Swiss banks to reveal the name of account holders. Banks  protect the privacy of their clients  in a way no other country in the world does. If a Swiss banker reveals anything about a person’s bank account without permission he commits a criminal act. Such regulations have made Switzerland a popular destination for foreigners who do not want to pay taxes in their own country.
Lately, however, the Swiss government has been under constant pressure by other countries to change their bank laws, making it possible to reveal the names of possible drug dealers or international criminals. EU officials claim that  more and more citizens are moving their money to Switzerland to escape taxation in their home country. Income that is not reported to the government is often deposited in Swiss banks.

In the past decade Swiss bank officials have been working together with international financial experts to combat money laundering. Under new laws they and must report any financial transactions that look suspicious.

Credit Suisse headquarters in Zurich

 

 Dictionary:

• account holder = person who has money in a bank
• act = action
• alpine = in the Alps
• authoritarian regime = government that is very strict to its people and does not allow them basic rights or freedom
• billion = a hundred million
• branch = part of a company that does work in another country
• century = a hundred years
• claim = to say that something is true
• combat = fight
• commit = do something wrong or illegal
• considered to be = people think that …
• currency = the money a country uses
• currently = at the moment
• deposit = put, place, leave
• destination = target
• economy = the system by which a country’s money and goods are produced  and used
• employ = give work to
• escape = get away from
• especially = above all
• forbid – forbade = not allow
• foreigner = person who lives in another country
• haven = place where you can put something in order to protect it from danger
• however = but
• in addition = also
• Jew = someone , whose religion is Judaism
• law = rules that a country passes
• major = very important
• money laundering = when money that is received illegally is put into businesses and banks  in other countries , so that it is difficult for people to find out where it came from
• neutral = not taking part in wars or helping other countries
• official = person in a high position in the government or other organisations
• overseas = countries across the ocean
• per capita income = the money every Swiss person earns in a year
• permission = being allowed to do something
• popular = well-known and liked
• popularity = something that makes a place very attractive
• privacy = about private things
• prosperous = wealthy, booming
• protect = guard
• regulations = rules
• reveal = make known
• secretive= private, guarded, well-defended
• secure = to make something safe
• strict =exact
• suspicious = something that  might be against the law
• taxes = the money you must pay to the government for the income you get
• transaction = here: when money is transferred from one account to another
• troubled = with many problems
• unique = only one of its kind; very special
• unstable = here: areas where the political situation can change very often
• wealth = riches, money

 Source: http://www.english-online.at/economy/banking-in-switzerland/swiss-banks.htm