Hi,
Just to say I have just stumbled across your blog and love it, am currently wondering why it has taken me so long to discover it! I've been hiding my Betty love for years.
I just wanted to make a request/suggestion... I am off to Europe this year and very keen to visit Holland simply because of my guilty Betty-passion....my husband is mildly amused by my need to centre our itinerary around key Betty destinations. I was after some sort of Betty map of Holland with references to key locations for novels. She often goes to Portugal in certain novels and I have already found those details to be spot on!
Do you know if such a map exists? Or even a list of locations?
LOVE the Betty cookery and fashion notes....
Many thanks,Sara
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| What does Richard Armitage have to do with this post? Nothing. Nothing at all. |
Dear Betty Sara,
Welcome to The Uncrushable Jersey Dress, where you can proudly fly your Betty flag! We love meeting new friends here, and our lovely Bettys are always game to help out a fellow fan, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that as soon as Betty van den Betsy reads this, she'll be thumbing through her spread sheets for a brand new Betty By the Numbers article on Places in Holland (hint, hint).
If you give us a hint as to how much time you'll have to spend in Holland and how you'll be getting around I'm sure we can come up with some great itineraries.
Love and lardy cakes,
The Founding Bettys
p.s. We'd love to hear about Portugal!
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| Another gratuitous picture...courtesy of Betty von Susie |
You know I must insist on equal time for my beautiful Mads Mikkelson from Denmark, Rich Danish Doctor material, I think. Wasn't sure if I could post a picture or not...
ReplyDeleteBetty von Susie
Send me a link, I'll post it for you!
Deletehttp://images.huffingtonpost.com/2010-07-15-mads_mikkelsen_99.jpg
DeleteI hope that does it. He has the German/Scandinavian features I think of as Dutch Doctorish.
Betty von Susie
Oh my stars, don't we have nice photos today...
DeleteBetty AnoninTX
I personally like to imagine Hugh Jackman in all the books.
DeleteYou'll notice I have no complaints about the level of testosterone in this post....
DeleteBetty von Susie
I have actually begun work already on a BbtN piece with some travel-related facts & figures. Sadly, it is not yet complete - but should be by next week. Here are a few to get you started: at least 70 Betty novels include Netherlands tours. Amsterdam, Leiden, den Haag, Alkmaar and Delft get several visits each. The river Vecht and the Veluwe region get a good bit of touring. As Betty Sara has probably already noticed, we often drive around the whole country in a long afternoon. You should look into renting a socking great Bentley to make the drive more comfortable, and I hope you'll be able to zoom across the Afsluitdijk, which is a common occurrence for Sister Serena Samantha and her friends.
ReplyDeleteA few random highlights of a highly subjective nature: A Match for Sister Maggy/Nurse in Holland/Amazon in an Apron has lots of touring of the Netherlands. Nurse Harriet in Holland/Tempestuous April sees a good bit of Friesland and makes it down to Amsterdam. She also sees Queen Julianna in the Keukenhof. That's high on my list! Wish with the Candles has some good touring material, too, including several villages we don't visit elsewhere. Britannia all at Sea has some of the best 'travelogues' focused on the Netherlands. Never Too Late shoves in a lot of small towns, as does Off with the Old Love. These are mostly older books.
On the 'fresher' end of the spectrum (does anyone know whether any Frieslanders or Scheveningen fishers still wear traditional costumes?), Discovering Daisy contains some Dutch discovering, as does Dearest Eulalia. Emma Dawson of Emma's Wedding tours Amsterdam a bit.
I've only ever been to Amsterdam, but when I get the chance I'll definitely hit Alkmaar for the cheese market. I believe Alkmaar also has an elaborate town clock with parading figurines marking each hour. Cheese market is Fridays. Also Veere, in the hope of seeing Marius Jr. in oil-stained shorts.
In Amsterdam, I recommend the Van Gogh museum - fascinating to see how much his paintings evolve in a very few years - lots and lots of strolling the streets, and Chocolaterie Pompadour. If you appreciate that final suggestion, you may send me a small box of chocolates therefrom.
Enjoy your trip, and do share with the group if you have any questions. I believe a couple of our Bettys have lived in the Netherlands.
Re.: does anyone know whether ... Scheveningen fishers still wear traditional costumes?
DeleteAccording to wikipedia the men's costumes disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century. As for the ladies, surveys were done in 1986, 1991 and 2000 to see how many women still wore costumes:
before .... a total of ... women
* voor 1986 een totaal van 460 vrouwen,
* voor 1991 een totaal van 281 vrouwen,
* voor 2000 een totaal van 85 vrouwen.
The author of the article surmised that in 2007 there were about 10-20 women left, the youngest of which born in 1933.
These were all women wearing costumes as "everyday wear". But there are, of course, women and men wearing costumes occasionally. Especially, on Vlaggetjesdag (see: New Herring) you will see people in costumes.
I found a picture of Scheveningse vissers (fishermen) from 1939 with their "karakteristieke petten" (characteristic hats). - But no costumes.
Betty Anonymous
Two bits of trivia: Scheveningen is notoriously hard to pronounce, so supposedly the Dutch used it as a test to catch Nazis masquerading as normal Dutchmen during WWII. And there's a painting in Scheveningen by Mesdag that shows 360-degrees (i.e., a full circle) of the port city as it was 100 years ago (or so). That artist is Betty Ross's great-great-something or other.
DeleteWhat's the book where the hero has agreed to take the heroine on a outing for the day. Only she works nights, and when she gets off and he bundles her into the car, she falls fast asleep. When she wakes up, he says, "Oh, that's okay. We had a leisurely trip..." and then lists all the places they went.
DeleteIt's a lovely scene, although I know if I'd been that heroine I'd have been mad to have missed it all.
Betty Magdalen, I believe you're referring to Tulips for Augusta. I only know that because it's one of my favorite Neels.
DeleteTaking a page from Betty v.d.Betsy, here is a YouTube link where one can hear the hostess pronounce "Scheveningen" at 0:29 (you might have to skip over the very bad song at the beginning)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKUrbIejM2w&feature=related
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOops. Technically challenged.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKUrbIejM2w
WhenI was last in Holland in 2004 I did a tour from Amsterdam on a bus and visited several towns including Delft and other outlying areas. We went to Volendam where the locals still dress up in costume and you can also visit some of their homes and see what life was like 100 years ago. Plenty of time for pictures and souvenirs plus you see windmills as well. Have also visited Alkmaar which is famous for the cheese parade, so well worth a visit. Also a canal tour is a must in Amsterdam and you can get off at various points of interest and then get back on again and continue your canal tour. Also worth visiting are the famous museums to see those beautiful dutch paintings.
DeleteForgot to mention that we got a glimpse of Queen Beatrix entering the palance in Amsterdam on one of the days we were there, quite by accident and managed to get a snap of her as well. I was quite chuffed that I actually saw her in the flesh so to speak.
DeleteHere is another slightly different pronunciation for Scheveningen from Wikipedia.
DeleteBetty Anonymous
Perhaps someone has mentioned this already, but isn't Scheveningen the place one Hero mentioned to the Betty area was the Brighton on The Netherlands? Theer was definitely somewhere with a longer sounding name that Neels called teh Brighton of former Holland...and my mind went there, with giggles...
DeleteBetty AnHK
Welcome, Betty Sara!
ReplyDeleteBetty Barbara here--
ReplyDeleteWelcome Betty Sara! And for your travel plans--
I am just re-reading Wish With the Candles and it starts with our heroine and her mother doing a driving tour of Holland. The first 15 or so pages have lots of good tourist info (vintage 1972,alas. But still potentially useful). The Witch's Scale gets mentioned.
Betty van den Betsy has already mentioned several other goodies.
Have a good trip! and keep your fellow Bettys informed--lots of pictures would be nice. (No pressure or anything.....)
*ahem* I admit to enjoying the gratuitous pictures *ahem*
When Mads speaks in English with his lovely accent, sigh.......
ReplyDeleteWelkom Betty Sara! You will probably stay mostly in the south, but if you happen to get to the far north (Groningen Province) you can visit my family's hometown of Uithuizen and see the Menkemaborg, which is mentioned in "Tangled Autumn".
Betty von Susie
This story is in the Daily Mail today, and I thought I would share it. The Queen, Camilla, and Kate popped into Fortnum & Mason for a spot of tea. You can see a photo of the exterior of the store, plus different inside shots. Also, there is one photo of wicker hampers later. Love it. This is somewhere I want to go if I ever get to do a Betty vacation. Love it.
ReplyDeleteBetty AnoninTX
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2108587/Kate-Middleton-Queen-Duchess-Cornwall-official-visit-Fortnum--Mason.html
Betty AnoninTX you are my lost twin sister. Do you have any idea how much time I spend on the Fortnum & Mason and Harrod's websites putting together my dream Christmas hamper ? The rest of the time I'm on the Savills UK site picking out my country estate, or picking out my Harris tweeds......and I love everything Kate has ever worn....
DeleteBetty von Susie
Sister!!! I knew I had one somewhere! (besides the three I've known my entire life) I am so embarrassed to admit this, but I had never even thought of looking to see if Fortnum & Mason had a website! Oh my gosh, I have been touring the floors and looking at the beautiful staircases where the man with the American accent shoved Sarah because he wanted to see his Janet. What a lovely store it is. I have been converting pounds to dollars to stock my "exportable" hamper. I just made my hubs come see what he's buying for my birthday in a few months! Off to look at biscuits....
DeleteBetty AnoninTX
That sounds like a great b-day present. Any helpful ideas on how to get a large Danish gentleman to climb into a hamper? ;)
DeleteBetty von Susie
P.S. Any MOC fans need to watch "The Mirror has Two Faces" with Barbara Streisand/Jeff Bridges. A little cussing, BUT, no-Brighton marriage! Veronica sister! Unrequited love! Confidence killing mother! Handsome yet clueless absent minded professor! Cinderella make-over! It's Betty-er than Betty, fabulous. I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me.......
Watched "The Mirror has Two Faces" with a friend. We both enjoyed it. Remember the scene at the end where they are standing outside in the dark on the wet pavement a neighbour turning on "Nessun dorma" for them and towards the end of the aria they look at the sky and laugh? Did you ever wonder why they laugh? - Tramontate, stelle!
DeleteTramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò!
Vincerò! Vincerò!
A little cussing? Their language and topics of conversation were not Betty-approved. But it was a fun movie.
Betty Anonymous
Yes, I know, too much cussing, but MOC movies are pretty thin on the ground! Wasn't "Veronica" disgusting? I don't know if you ever read Diana Palmer but she has several of her heroines in love with the opera Turandot. She was a Betty fan too, "End of the Day" I believe was her favorite.
ReplyDeleteBy the way Betty Keira - Gwen Stefani rocks, great photo.
Betty von Susie (thinking of changing my name to Betty von Bloggenpiddle since that is all I have done lately-blog and piddle around the house).