Thesentinelamsterdam #6 15

vol. 6 #15 – 13 August 2013

The Sentinel Amsterdam

Integrity, heart, humour

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AMSTERDAM’S NEW: EDEL WISDOM culture

TRIPPING DAYS: NORWAY

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CULTURE PERSPECTIVES LIFESTYLES TRAVEL OPINION REVIEW TECHNOLOGY ART FILM MUSIC TRENDS RECOMMENDED SPORT

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in this issue

perspectives - p.22

culture - p. 60

Amsterdam’s new

Dam in 60 mins: Westerpark

Croatia: Way out

‘A record of Amsterdam’s 2013 height of summer vibe’

‘This natural oasis within the city’

‘One of those extraordinary cultural stops’

travel- p. 74

restaurant review - p. 98

city gem - p.106

Kwaku Festival

Beter & Leuk

Amstel Train

‘Firmly positioned as part of the Amsterdam cultural scene’

‘This cute little shop-cum-eatery’

‘It was there all this time’

more tripping days - p. 44

culture - p. 84

amsterdam city life - p. 115

Norway - Bergen

Poland: Mature rockers, very old rocks

Bring back

star beer guide - p. 116

recommended - p. 118

spotted - p. 120

La Trappe Blond

Where is this in Amsterdam?

film - p. 121

trends - p. 122

perspectives - p.124

Room2c

CO2 vs CO2

The Amsterdam two-step

health & well-being - p.128

technology - p.130

Water

User Interface

The Sentinel Amsterdam

E-mail: sentinelpost@gmail.com Website: www.thesentinel.eu Contributors: Sam van Dam, E.D. Muntrem, Dirkje Bakker-Pierre, Evelina Kvartunaite, Antonia Egon and Andrei Barburas

Editors: Gary Rudland & Denson Pierre Design, realisation and form: Andrei Barburas & No-Office.nl Webmaster: www.sio-bytes.tumblr.com Webhost: Amsterjammin.com

The Sentinel Amsterdam does not intentionally include unaccredited photos/illustrations that are subject to copyright.

If you consider your copyright to have been infringed, please contact us at sentinelpost@gmail.com.

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Amsterdam’s new: Edel wisdom

By Denson Pierre

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On July 27 the fresh thinking folk at Edel and their cohorts with the organically successful and regular EdelWise club nights, held at the beautiful monument on Postjesweg, stepped up to summer festival status. No over-stretching was involved as they simply introduced yet another great use of the gorgeous Rembrandt Park in Amsterdam West and extended their honed sense of taste to yet a wider public.

The Sentinel was invited to go along to the EdelWise Festival to help spread the style so we have produced this photo essay as a record of Amsterdam’s 2013 height of summer vibe.

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‘One thing that touring in heat and humidity is guaranteed to do and that is to make you very thirsty and hungry’

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‘They simply introduced yet another great use of the gorgeous Rembrandt Park’

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Je moet er geweest zijn.

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Authentic and full of surprises. That’s Mechelen. Hospitable and honourable. That’s the people of Mechelen. Come and experience the city’s urban charms for yourself.

Authentic and full of surprises. That’s Mechelen. Hospitable and honourable. That’s the people of Mechelen. Come and experience the city’s urban charms for yourself.

photography © Milo Profi

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Mechelen Mechelen

perspectives

Dam in 60 minutes!

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Westerpark: Sun Fusion

By Sam van Dam

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‘Haarlemmerdijk, a beautiful street of tiny stores, bars and boutiques’

As I cycle past the beautiful construction of the Haarlemmerpoort, which looks a bit like the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the edge of Westerpark becomes visible and a relaxing vibe sets in. The entrance looks inviting and the first wide grass fields are a good place to hang out and enjoy this natural oasis within the city. I keep on biking deeper into the green, however, towards a former industrial terrain that has been converted into a massive collection of bars, restaurants and party venues. There is also a very pretty building housing the municipal institutions for this district of Amsterdam and a big pool that is almost exclusively occupied by kids and their parents. Right next door is a giant grassy spot where festivals and outdoor parties are held during the summer months.

The former gas storage facility looms over the entire

scene, as a reminder of the park’s industrial history, adding a nice touch to the overall vista. Little waterways sneak their way through the tree-covered corners of the park, inviting you to sit down and contemplate the beauty of the simple things in life.

Parents and children chill out in the shade, runners do their thing on every path and the fitness facilities next to a railway bridge encourage the more daring visitors to work-out, readying their bodies for the beaches and swimming pools. Cyclists float across the paved paths and there’s a feeling of being in some remote place, even though I’m really just around the corner from the city. To the other side of the park I see a skyline shaped by office buildings at the Sloterdijk train station but it’s easy to forget this when you sit on the grass and stare skywards. Naturally, this environment is perfect for barbecues, which is one of the park’s main activities.

The local authorities have been kind enough to supply little stands and free plastic picnic covers, to sit on and wrap up your garbage for easy disposal after enjoying some quality time with friends in this prime location for urban relaxation.

A wide array of allotments occupies an area of the park that is unfortunately not accessible to the public. But you can watch the owners enjoying these little domains, which perfectly combine urban living with a desire to be able to spend quality time surrounded by nature. There are benches everywhere and it’s very pleasurable to take a break and sit down for a while to enjoy the silence. As a finishing touch to this journey I travel to the end of the park, where there is a tiny village that consists of just a handful of houses with their own little church. The big silhouettes of the tax office’s headquarters and other companies create a nice, contrasting visual effect that once again reminds me just how fused the commercial and calming elements of the city are; a mix that makes Amsterdam the impressive city it is.

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Since the temperature is above 30˚C at the time of writing, I will take you on a little trip to one of the best places to spend a lovely summer’s day, instead of going on a tour to a beautiful village, like we usually do. Today’s destination is the Westerpark; a giant urban nature resort that serves as a retreat for locals and visitors alike. I start at the Central Station where I turn to the right, heading west. After passing the giant bike garage and the Ibis hotel, I cross on to Haarlemmerdijk, a beautiful street of tiny stores, bars and boutiques that regularly wins awards for being the best shopping street in the Netherlands.

After a quick pit-stop for some coffee or ice cream, I head further away from the city centre, past all the charming little shops and miniature terraces of one or two seats, towards the Haarlemmerplein, where a fountain in front of a newly-built apartment complex invites passers-by in for a refreshing dip.

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‘Rotate 360 degrees to take it all in’

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‘Inviting you to sit down and contemplate the beauty of the simple things in life’

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‘Free plastic picnic covers, to sit on and wrap up your garbage for easy disposal after enjoying some quality time with friends’

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tripping days

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‘A universe away in terms of population and the use of sovereign land’

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By Denson Pierre

Space, as we know it, is not just interstellar.

Just north of Amsterdam (well, within a short flight) lies roomy Norway. This country is of a comparative size to Mexico but, due to its predominant landforms and social make-up, it is a universe away in terms of population and the use of sovereign land. The mega-city of Mexico City and its metropolitan area alone has a population of more than 21 million, whereas Norway has a population of just shy of 5 million, in total! Norway sounds deserted when compared to Mexico, which currently packs more than 116 million people within its borders.

With so much ‘free’ land and irregular and spectacular nature in such extreme abundance, you would expect Norwegians to have a peculiar relationship with their public spaces; and they do. To me it seemed like you could not have a fair-weather conversation with a local without the idea of camping being suggested. I could not figure out if this was a proposed behaviour of

self-containment or practiced cultural prudence in the face of what leisure-supporting accommodation there is being (relatively) expensive. Either way, camping just about anywhere seems to be one of Norway’s national pastimes. Like Great Britain, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Belarus, Estonia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Austria and Lithuania, Norway’s public access laws grant the right to roam. However, not all of these countries have as easily accessible (outside of winter) and awe-inspiring features to behold and experience as Norway does.

An early morning start included a double-loaded Conti-Nordic breakfast at the Scandic City Bergen Hotel, where I stayed for this entire visit. I knew I would be gone for at least ten hours on that mildly warm but also partially cloudy day. The time had come for me to tour some of the most extraordinary natural features known to man: fjords. The best way to describe these geographical features to Sentinel readers is as tremendous channels carved out through mountains by the power of humungous glaciers during an ice age, which then filled-up from the melt to leave winding, U-shaped, passages that can be up to 204 km long and 1,308 metres deep in Norway!

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Norway BergenVossFlamMyrdalBergen

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‘You could not have a fair-weather conversation with a local without the idea of camping being suggested’

The large, moustachioed driver of the coach (one of about eight vehicles) made an announcement, as soon we had all boarded, that due to the loss of time we would not being taking the advertised and muchanticipated route through the picturesque farmlands of this elevated, fertile and lush region. Instead, we would take the ‘fast’ road, so as to make the scheduled ferry-cruiser. For me, the farms and sights along this speedier route were, in themselves, already quite remarkable and grand. I can only wonder how much more impressive the picturesque route must truly be.

Nevertheless, we arrived at the jetty and craft in good spirits; it is hard to remain irritated and find a voice to complain when you are deep inside such lovely nature.

Almost from the moment I scanned the surrounding, snow-topped mountains and the dark, green-grey expanse of water ahead of the vessel, I knew I was in for a ‘lifetime experience’. A few certainly urban Asians and tourists from the North American interior did their best to infuriate the more seasoned travellers, as well as anyone else who did not consider the seagulls accompanying the ship out for at least 25 minutes of

the two-hour journey to be desirable, by feeding these creatures of learnt parasitic behaviour around humans.

At a certain point, when these birds and feeders were no longer regularly obscuring my camera view, I recorded a few impressions of this magnificent, waterfall-strewn and mountainous terrain looking down at the speck we must have appeared as we sailed this fascinating waterway.

There are not many things that can shut me up or stop me writing but all I can say about this tour and coursing through fjords, in particular, is simply WOW! All I want to do now is repeat the tour in deep winter.

By the time I was somehow, magically back in Bergen city, as if I had not just been to a place that, to me, felt almost extra-terrestrial, all I could think of doing was laying in my hotel room replaying the awesomeness of the day in my mind.

With my flight the following day not departing for Amsterdam until past 4.00pm, I thought I would have a couple of hours to run around cool Bergen as an extra bonus. Unfortunately, the easy moistness of atmosphere mentioned at the beginning of this trip excelled itself, as if to say that the previous day of decently fine weather was indeed my lifetime present from Bergen. There was now just a tremendous amount of rain but this did not lead to anything being washed away. Just outside the hotel was an airport shuttle coach stop. With the amount of rain coming down suggesting that sitting down indoors somewhere was the best I could do, I headed to the airport a bit earlier than necessary. As fortune or coincidence would have it, I was joined under the hotel’s sheltered entrance by a pretty young woman carrying baggage of remarkable size. One bag was pretty much the same size as her. Using my best friendly tone, I asked if she was off to some of that fancy, free-roaming camping Norwegians are known for but she was merely going home to Oslo, for now, and would be heading to her holiday home in the great outdoors the following day. I learned a lot about the Norwegian mentality over the following two hours spent with this young, second-year law student. It tied up my impressions nicely, made me feel invited to return and, even if her name has slipped my mind now, Bergen, the fjords and Norway are not likely ever to be forgotten.

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There is a certain maturity and style in the way the tour to the fjords closest to Bergen is packaged and the company selected by Innovation Norway (Norway in a Nutshell) ran a smooth ship. Most of the trip from Bergen city centre is actually done by train, gradually climbing through the outskirts of the city, via a few tiny towns and villages, accompanied by almost constant views of gorgeous lakes and rivers that were everything from placid and glass-like in appearance to those displaying huge rock impediments and ferocious rapids. Usually, this first leg of the journey (to Voss) takes 75 minutes. On the Sunday I travelled, however, there were delays, apparently brought on by maintenance work on the tracks and occasions when we had to wait at stop/go signals, once to allow a freight train by. It is mainly single-track, passing through tunnels, mountains and valleys and by the time we got to Voss, where we transferred on to coaches, we noted that we had lost some 65 minutes. The views while waiting at those stops was, indeed, always pretty and somehow reassuring, helped by the friendly and relaxed lady conductor explaining that, even with this type of delay, the ferry-cruiser would wait for us, given that 99% of the entire train’s load was on a similar itinerary.

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‘Some of the most extraordinary natural features known to man: fjords’

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‘Gorgeous lakes and rivers that were everything from placid and glass-like in appearance to those displaying huge rock impediments’

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‘I scanned the surrounding, snow-topped mountains and the dark, green-grey expanse of water ahead of the vessel’

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‘It tied up my impressions nicely, made me feel invited to return’

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Croatia: Way out 61

‘This setting is spectacularly beautiful and feeds thoughts of optimism’

By Denson Pierre

By 8.30am we had dusted ourselves off from the after effects of the Solaris Resort’s pirate ship cocktails in time for another wholesome breakfast in a dining area filled with brilliant natural light. The use of large, plain, transparent glass panes is an easy choice here, due to the abundance of sunshine. Next stop would be down the road at another little gem of a town hugging a non-stop Adriatic panorama.

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‘It is worth tarrying in this lovely place’

After a short bus ride down the road we arrived at Trogir. This is one of those extraordinary cultural stops, given that the entire old town is UNESCO accredited as being of importance to world heritage. It is worth tarrying in this lovely place for a couple of days, during which you can pick through its history while saving enough energy to dive into the great, fresh and tasty food available in this part of the world, as we did at Restaurant Monika. It remains a great pleasure that, even somewhere as tourist flushed as this, the hospitality folk are so consistently nice in all their dealings with patrons.

As always on such absorbing trips, after a few days time was suddenly running out. The idea was to take a bus back to Split from glorious Trogir but with the heat arguably topping that in which we had travelled this way, initially, we were easily convinced by an interesting gentleman from Kaštela touting a ‘private’ taxi to the big city. I do not know if this sort of ‘taxi’ is legally tolerated or not but we quite liked it, as it provides a decent manner in which locals can generate a fair-priced income when the tourist numbers, needs and urgency exposes an infrastructural and logistical gap. Unfortunately, if we had booked a standard taxi

the cost of the ride, after payment to the booker, the agent and the taxi driver himself, would have been the only thing to remind us of the severity of pricing back in Western Europe. The ride we took was a breezy, mainly highway driven run of 45 minutes to our next hotel, for just €20.

The Hotel Park in Split is certainly one of the cosier, early 20th-century chic hotels I have come across. By the time we entered our room to realise that the view was superb, overlooking as it was the designed dining courtyard area and the sea, we were already scheming to hit the beach. There is a rare and ‘sandy’ beach just three minutes from the hotel reception area. Great! The weather was ideal and as soon as we descended, I noted that the Croats still use open beaches, just like in the Caribbean, to have fun and play games as well as sunbathing. It is so convenient to have a fine beach and fully decked-out promenade and entertainment district right at the foot of your city, and the glee in the faces of the locals showed that they appreciated this fact.

We would dine outside in style at the hotel that evening, our last, but the image that stuck with me most is of an old, local man making his way past us on the promenade, walking stick in hand for support, appearing to be headed the only way he knew how.

Dusk had started to creep in and I could only imagine that all of the wonder and beauty we had experienced over the past few days in Croatia were what he was entitled to taking for granted in his twilight years. It is the dawn of a new age for Croatia and if ever there were reasons to dissuade you from going there, I hope at least some of them have now been laid to rest.

Add: Partners on this final leg of the trip: hotelpark-split.hr croatia.hr croatiaairlines.com

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Primošten is a fascinatingly located town of about two to three thousand inhabitants that is well worth a stop-over for a day or longer. I could not help wondering what it would be like in the off season and winter, however, as it is a fair size for so few people. Local youths have little option but to leave in pursuance of further education or work opportunities. At times it must be eerily quiet in this town, which rises to a central parish church dating back to 1460. It was almost a philosophical experience to negotiate the incline, reach the top and check out some of the more elderly locals, who seemed to have a favourite, shaded and cool spot on the benches lining the church courtyard, which directly extends into the graveyard. Luckily, the view just beyond this setting is spectacularly beautiful and feeds thoughts of optimism rather than morbidity.

Heading back down through the town brought to light an abundance of hospitality establishments, moorings and beaches geared up for all tourist needs.

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‘It is currently a secret jewel but within such easy reach, once you enter the region’

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‘As always on such absorbing trips, after a few days time was suddenly running out’

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‘It is the dawn of a new age for Croatia’

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‘In its present and evolved form it outlines a more integrated perspective’

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Kwaku Festival 2013 to infinity

By Denson Pierre

Ever since 1975, Amsterdam has hosted the annual Kwakoe Festival, which celebrates almost everything relating to the historical liberation of the Afro-Surinamese people from Dutch enslavement. Of course, in its present and evolved form it outlines a more integrated perspective and is firmly positioned as part of the Amsterdam cultural scene. Surinamers (including East Indian, Indo-Javanese and Indo-Chinese) are the most readily visible and audible of the integrated minority groups resident here, adding vital colour and taste to the city of Amsterdam’s diverse community tableau.

The short definition of the word Kwakoe is Wednesday, since the eventual emancipation of African slaves in Suriname, on paper at least, was enacted on Wednesday 1 July 1863. The long version is very detailed and better left to scholarly discourse. It may have evolved from the Maroon Kromanti language; Maroons were the Africans who were forcibly

transhipped but stood up to their oppression and forced plantation labour by fleeing to the interior jungle. They went on to form some of the earliest and most effective armed guerrilla movements known to the colonial Europeans, disrupting slave owners’ activities and eventually creating a distinctive historical group within Suriname (African slave colonies throughout the region and the Caribbean had similar rebel groups of significance).

But let’s stick with Wednesday, as this named day was adopted by the partially literate at the time and has come to represent everything to do with what must have been an almost indescribable feeling of ‘liberation’. Of course, it would not be a Dutch tale if there was no ‘but’ and, in fact, former slaves in Suriname remained bonded for another ten years in some sort of convoluted ‘transition’ period, during which they still had to slave on steamy plantations.

African slave populations in countries such as neighbouring British Guyana and the islands of the Caribbean were freed much earlier. Britain abolished African slavery in 1834 and France, the other huge presence in the region and also present next door in French Guyana, did so in 1848. The Dutch waited until 1873.

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‘Surinamers are the most readily visible and audible of the integrated minority groups resident here’

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So, as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations in Amsterdam, a fresh new organisation and limited company has been formed to take this important festival forward. It has grown from a tiny community get together based on football into a huge four weekend-long event, attracting tens of thousands of people from all over the Netherlands, as well as international visitors.

community in Dutch history, eat really nice food until you drop and have an opportunity to catch some acts showcasing the history and movement of ‘Surinamese’ music. The level is not exclusively top professional when it comes to the performances but this is because Kwaku is an inclusive and expressive event, which even has a stage dedicated purely to the younger public as a performance platform and try-out space. Nice.

For many years the entire brand of the festival was tarnished by harsh media reporting on the almosttypical corruption of ideas, practice and financial management of those within the original generation to have controlled the privately and state-subsidised festival’s purse strings. The covetous and ‘entitled’ few with whom the Surinamese community in Amsterdam and the general public fell out so badly, due to their blatant pilfering of funds for personal aggrandisement (especially back in Suriname, as they are now all around that ‘retirement’ age) seem to have been moved on. The present team tasked with organising and running the festival appears and sounds reliably of the now and has many good ideas to keep this important festival alive.

The Sentinel went along to the opening day, at an early hour, when we knew the crowds would not yet have descended in vast numbers, so we could be walked through the festival area, sample the flavoursome goodies and gain an impression of the comprehensive programming at the re-profiled Kwaku Festival. The quality and organisation are there and the folk are lovely, so the festival should work and grow in a more sensibly controlled manner from now on.

Incidentally, do not expect a festival in the conventional sense; think of it more as a series of great days out, during which you should be able to learn something about the role of the Surinamese

Although The Sentinel had not focused on the old Kwakoe brand before, after the walk through and explanation, by Peggy Forster, of its admirable goals moving forward, I am already pencilling in a return visit to next year’s new Kwaku edition of the most expansive, genuinely multicultural event to take place in the Netherlands. kwakufestival.nl

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‘An almost indescribable feeling of ‘liberation’’

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By Denson Pierre

‘Kielce is a city of a very particular quietness and no little charm’

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Poland: mature rockers, very old rocks

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‘It is such a nice place at which to refresh old knowledge or discover new facts and scientific understanding’

After a few days extensively touring the wellness centres, sights and cultural attractions of Świętokrzyskie, it was time to proceed on to the capital of the region itself. Kielce is a city of a very particular quietness and no little charm. Its layout makes it rather pleasant to walk around, shopping or indeed exercising once the historical and cultural checklist has been completed.

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‘This was the weekend of The Witches Sabbath’

fetching venue, capable of seating some 5,000 people, in the amphitheatre left behind by the historical mining operation. The set-up and technical operational skills on display made the show a world-class event in terms of production values. It was, in fact, broadcast live nationally, so the performers we saw gracing the excellent stage area, supported by equally impressive 5D projections and light shows, were the best in Poland.

This may have been so but with my own familiarity with Eurovision-style pop music deliberately lacking, it was only when the first few clear, crisp, expert notes from the legend that is Budka Suflera floated out across the high-specification PA that I cracked a broader smile, in the knowledge that Poles also have high-class role models to emulate and surpass, at least in this aspect of modern living and enjoyment.

Upon readying myself to leave Poland and certainly later on, in conversations I have had since my return to Amsterdam, my thoughts have been tested about what it is actually like to be there. It is the case that, here in the Netherlands, there are a great many people who seem content with some totally clichéd, horribly dated, uninformed and prejudiced idea about what it is like in Poland and what its people might be like at home. My Dinner that night was a very well presented threeresponse has been and will continue to be just as at the course affair, put together with clear attention to detail beginning of this series: go there and allow yourself to and a wish to showcase the chef’s full range of skills. be pleasantly surprised by a culture and people This was a very nice surprise, since the hotel in which it prospering while meeting all the challenges common was served was the very comfortable and conveniently to us all within the EU. Poland is, of course, located Best Western. For a change, however, dinner distinctively and unchangeably different. Poles are that night was not a signal for the end of the day’s doers and this means that things can grow easily, as activities, as this was the weekend of The Witches the people are naturally optimistic, despite the oftenSabbath (summer solstice to you and me). The Regional cited, tongue-in-cheek, cultural trait of not wishing Tourism Organisation had produced a mega-concert on success to their neighbours. Just like in the ancient that Saturday night, not just to celebrate the ancient, rocks of Kielce, however, you find a truer story just pagan tradition but also to showcase the local under the surface layer. Poland is lacking for nothing it attractions and talent to the rest of the country (and cannot now fix itself, or with the help of EU partners, visiting journalists). In another section of old quarry and as a visitor your time there will only be pleasantly area the local authorities had developed a rather memorable.

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Just as I was lulled into thinking that I had seen everything the city has to offer, we were directed to a former quarry area surrounding a state-of-the-art, EU-funded, geological education centre just on the edge of town. Although the study of rocks and how the earth continues to alter its physical form might at first seem something of a dusty topic, this centre for geology is so amazingly well designed and equipped that I honestly think it should not just be a regular destination for young students of the region but also for every tourist and local of any age. It is such a nice place at which to refresh old knowledge or discover new facts and scientific understanding of not just how the earth has evolved but how we also may have been the result of initial chemical reactions in a primordial pool, before advancing and then scuttling on to prehistoric land on the journey to becoming the fancy apes we are today.

There are great static and interactive installations, a simulator that takes you to the core of the planet, as well as HD CGI displays helping to tell stories we have forgotten how to tell to youngsters convincingly, given that the shackles of religious education make it difficult to reconcile earth record with wishful thinking.

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‘Expert notes from the legend that is Budka Suflera floated out across the high-specification PA’

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‘Poland is, of course, distinctively and unchangeably different’

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‘A positive alternative to the usual drag when it comes to lunch’

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‘Decorated with a love for detail’

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By Antonia Egon

A fantastic idea has blossomed in the East of Amsterdam. With the rise in the popularity of healthy, sustainable food, this cute little shop-cum-eatery is definitely one of the few initiatives in Amsterdam to offer a positive alternative to the usual drag when it comes to lunch. It is a genuinely futuristic, newstyle-hippy concept, featuring sustainable fashion, organic beauty products and a range of tasty, vegan, gluten-free organic dishes. Yes, it can be done.

The shop has a personal, artsy atmosphere and is decorated with a love for detail. Stacks of cooking books invite you to hang out in the attractive and relaxing space and enjoy one of the best soy coffees I’ve had in Amsterdam lately. The price of the coffee is very friendly, compared to all the fashionable coffee specialty shops popping up like pedestals throughout the town; something like €2.50.

We visited on a Sunday when the usual menu is not available, so I will have to come back to try a ‘normal’ lunch very soon. On Sundays a guest chef prepares a vegan brunch buffet between 13.00 and 15.00 and this

is a good opportunity to get on your bike and head east to spend some time with friends over some nice, wholesome, homemade food. Every single table was reserved when we arrived and we were made to feel at home in an instant. There were some excellent salads to choose from; nice and chunky with lots of grainy bread (not home baked, unfortunately, but made by Hartog; one of the best bakeries in Amsterdam); beautiful and tasty, fresh hummus, of which we ate loads; a minty pea spread and a wide selection of homemade desserts, like creamy cheesecake and scones with homemade jam.

Since I do not have a ‘sweet tooth’, I found the choices available to be a bit basic but, on the other hand, it was all very tasty and there was plenty of everything. I can’t wait to go back and try the lunch offering or spend some time there reading.

Absolutely to be recommended and an initiative we should all support. We need more of this in our city!

The guest cooks: www.degroenemeisjes.nl www.dophertcatering.nl Every Sunday 13.00 – 15.00 Be sure to make reservations as it will be fully booked!

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‘This is a good opportunity to get on your bike and head east’

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‘All very tasty and there was plenty of everything’

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Świętokrzyskie - share the Magic

go to the website: swietokrzyskie.travel

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‘Extreme weather can test the resourcefulness of Amsterdammers’

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Amstel Train ‘Seek out cooling activities or face the overly crowded man-made or real beaches’ 107

quite extraordinarily, neither of us had properly explored it before. Once we arrived By its very nature, its effect on thinking and at the gates, an elderly couple, lovingly the physical demands it makes, extreme holding hands as they entered the main weather can test the resourcefulness of gates, informed us that cycling was not Amsterdammers. In July we had a mini-heat permitted in this particular park. Very unwave with temperatures rising above 30˚C Amsterdam and quite ridiculous, as it must over the course of a few days. Within the mean that at least 60% fewer local people gigantic brick oven the entire city can feel like visit the park each year. during such periods, residents have to seek out cooling activities or face the overly In any case, we were there and looking for a crowded man-made or real beaches gem and duly found it in a nice, breezy, throughout and around the city. romantic trip on the Amstel Train. Great

By Denson Pierre

sights and good value for money; I kick On this particular Saturday, I took my wife out myself for not knowing it was there all this for an afternoon cross-city cycle trip with the time. The best train journey available in a aim of seeing what pleasures the Amstelpark sunny Amsterdam. had to offer in the heat. It turned out that,

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city gem

city gem

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city gem

city gem

‘A nice, breezy, romantic trip on the Amstel Train’

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Get advice on housing, rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam

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amsterdam city life

: K C A B G N I BR SENSIBLE PACKAGING 115

By Denson Pierre

This column is not a moaning board, nor, indeed, a space for random thoughts. It is simply meant to touch on aspects of daily Amsterdam life that force one to evaluate these occurrences and trends in relation to a time when the city justified its name as a wild, free, crazy, productive, creative and affordable entity of global fame. This, in its entirety, could be said to have already passed into history more than a decade ago.

Despite its unique and special spirit, the city is ever so gradually going through unavoidable change and it is up to all stayers to make sure it does not lose more of its still-refreshing character.

As someone who tries to live energy-consciously, last weekend I suffered severe frustration after having purchased a replacement standard laundry drying and airing rack. I refuse to believe that simply because our household is one that most would consider ‘green’, I should have such difficulty with plastic. It could be that I am of a time and age already considered too

conservative, in terms of how it views waste, for present day manufacturers, shippers and (online) retailers.

How could it take me the best part of ten minutes to rip, tear and eventually hack away at the three layers of plastic, of different calibres and closeness to the metal and plastic elements of the rack, with a sharp knife, in order to liberate the apparatus for use? Is all of this packaging really necessary for something so simple? Is some shipper in on the deal, knowing that if you wrap each rack with at least half a plastic bin bag-worth (2.0 m2) of extra plastic ‘padding’, a container coming in from China or central, southern or eastern Europe might weigh and pay more? No thought seems to have been taken regarding this non-biodegradable mountain of matter.

Please bring back more scrutiny on shipping and packaging practices. If this straightforward acquisition required me to fight with so much unnecessary mass then I fear even more for the health of the planet, as it simply cannot effectively handle all of this destructive and choking plastic waste material. Temperance please.

star beer guide

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Star Beer

star beer guide

The Sentinel Star beer guide

By Denson Pierre

LA TRAPPE BLOND

(6.5% A.B.V.)

‘The only Dutch Trappist beer’

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The fact that, in Trappist terms, Kingshoeven La Trappe Blond is brewed by Kingshoeven Brewery came late to brewing (1884) and still Brewery, Berkel-Enschot, Netherlands. produced a succulent brew, makes this, the only Dutch Trappist beer (brand) a star. It has a very good flavour and a glass that is arguably more aesthetically attractive than the brew is addictive.

recommended

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Cafe Bax 03/08/13

ENDED RECOMM

We find the best, most fun, most typical, exciting, or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you; an easy way to feel like a local.

To be seen and tasted

Fun, Drinking & Music

Cafe de Toog 1890’s grandeur fashioned into Amsterdam-West, grand, brown cafe-restaurant-cool. Classy drinks and meals.

Nicolaas Beetsstraat 142 hs Amsterdam www.cafedetoog.com

Parck Great fun, beautiful people and simply the best bar food in town!

Overtoom 428 Amsterdam www.cafeparck.nl

Mulligans Irish Music Bar Amsterdam’s best address for live Irish music: Five (5) nights a week! Check our agenda for upcoming sessions.

Amstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdam www.mulligans.nl

To Be Seen and Tasted

Connoisseurs Delight

To Be Seen and Tasted

Cafe restaurant Edel Cafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch, dinner or to simply enjoy a drink.

Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam.

Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam www.edelamsterdam.nl

Incanto A restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen.

Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with great feeling for nuance.

Amstel 2 Amsterdam www.restaurant-incanto.nl

Café Kostverloren Café Kostverloren is a contemporary cafe offering the cosiness of a saloon, an open kitchen and the intimacy of a living room.

The large terras is great for sunny days.

2e Kostverlorenkade 70 Amsterdam www.cafekostverloren.nl

Fun, Drinking & Music

Connoisseurs Delight

Neighbourhood cosy

Café Oporto Café Oporto is a traditional Amsterdam ‘brown cafe’. Welcoming tourists and regular customers alike, they offer televised sports, wifi and a wide range of reasonably priced beers and spirits.

Zoutsteeg 1 1012 LX Amsterdam www.cafeoporto.net

Planet Rose The first Caribbean restaurant in the Netherlands, specialised in Jamaican cuisine. The menu features a daily changing selection!

Nicolaas Beetsstraat 47 Amsterdam www.planetrose.info

Zest Zest is fine food, warm atmosphere and classy drinks with regular semi-acoustic (live) music and DJs (Thursday to Sunday).

Amsterdam’s newest and freshest!

Bilderdijkstraat 188 Amsterdam www.facebook.com/clubzest.nl

Fun, Drinking & Music

Connoisseurs Delight

Fun, drinking and music

Bax A cosy and friendly local café with a focus on special or interesting beers and good quality food. Open 7 days a week with a professional kitchen offering a lunch and dinner service.

Ten Katestraat 119 Amsterdam www.cafebax.nl

Café Rose Red You will not see and sample a better selection of the very best of European beer elsewhere.

Cordoeaniersstraat 16 Brugge www.caferosered.com

Gollem Gollem’s Proeflokaal, Gollem and Gollem II represent the best addresses serving the fullest range of top Belgian, Dutch and international beers in Amsterdam.

Overtoom 160-161 www.cafegollem.nl

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To be seen and tasted

spotted

Where is this in Amsterdam?

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Answer to: sentinelpost@gmail.com

room2c

Room 2c film The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

By dpmotions

The simplest stories make the best movies and this one takes us on an elegant dance through core existentialism, as our self-assured protagonist, Robert Scott Carey, reflects on the implications and meaning of life during the course of his extraordinary process of literally fading away. It all started “with some kind of mist�. Exciting sets, settings and cat and spider food for thought.

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The Time Machine (1960) An exciting journey through time is taken by a Victorian scientist in the first time machine known to cinema.

What he finds is as interesting as the special effects are astounding, for the time. A well-worked, big-screen adaptation of the eponymous H.G. Wells novella.

By dpmotions

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trends

trends

CO2 vs CO2 ‘Australia should be paying everyone a bonus for each kilometre flown’

By Dirkje Bakker-Pierre

The latest to have captured my attention is the ‘revelation’ about the positive effects of global warming and rising levels of carbon dioxide, in general.

Apparently, rising carbon dioxide levels, due to our wonderful, consumption-addicted society, seem to be causing the growth of plants and trees in desert areas to increase. Wonderful news! The deserts are becoming green and fertile, no longer mirages but true oases.

Goodbye erosion, goodbye world hunger, CO2 is here to save us! This turns upside down and inside out everything we previously thought about carbon dioxide. Why exactly should we fly less? Why should we take the train? I am booking some long-distance flights right away! Come on America; buy some more big cars!

Bye bye carbon footprint! Really, Australia should be paying everyone a bonus for each kilometre flown, seeing as they are the greatest benefactors of this amazing effect, according to satellite imagery research.

As an avid reader of popular scientific news it can be slightly disconcerting, if not totally annoying, to read one thing one day and completely the opposite the next.

Seriously, there are moments when I think the only way to get to know the truth about anything is to go and re-educate myself as a scientist, so I can do all the research myself and reach my own conclusions. Half of the time I have the feeling that ‘common knowledge’ is based on one-off articles published by ‘sponsored’ research institutes. Sometimes no one even knows where certain information came from in the first place but, somehow, everyone seems to be convinced of a certain ‘truth’ about something that started more or less as gossip.

How can we keep ourselves informed in the right way?

Is the truth really even out there? Should we revive the X-files? Should we stop reading scientific news altogether and wait until they have sorted it out once and for all? Is the information age growing above our heads? Are we drowning in an endless sea of misinformation, quick conclusions, big business, propaganda and conspiracy theories? I am not kidding when I tell you that conspiracy theory movies about conspiracy theory movies are being made as we speak.

Who will invent the superhero to save the planet from this threat? We need you: Information man!

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Confusion seems to the be biggest gathering trend of this crazy, bankrupt and overheated era in which we try to live, and it is something that is growing and growing into the future with nowhere to go, except perhaps to explode into utter chaos. There isn’t a single day that goes by without some research or other coming up in the news that completely contradicts all other previous or common knowledge we have been force fed on a certain topic.

perspectives

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The Amsterdam two-step

‘On your first tourist map, Amsterdam folds out like an old pocket watch bent in half’

‘Anjelierswarsstraat and Kloveniersburgwal and Stadhouderskade are funny words’

By E.R. Muntrem

The Dutch word bezoeker means visitor. Before your uitgang from the city, you will be a visitor lost. It’s just inevitable. And this means you will do the bezoeker dance.

Everyone gets here by train and every train pulls into Central Station. After a twenty-minute ride from the airport (past industry, alongside motorways, under exurb towers) your train pulls in. Doors open and the general rush carries you downstairs to the tunnel beneath, where commuters and locals scurry about in all directions.

With stores, takeaways and bureaux de change (standard Europort amenities) left and right, the way ahead narrows; the floor slopes up, while the ceiling appears to drop. From there the double pump of

architecture pushes down the people you swam against and pushes you up, through the station’s entrance/ exit. The mommy of all places, you move through it like a daddy.

On your first tourist map, Amsterdam folds out like an old pocket watch bent in half: III still visible on one side of the dial, X clinging to the other. Mid-point, where hands should (or once did) spin, Central Station survives.

The watch map shows only water behind the station (kind of true) and shows the station sitting on a little island (also kind of true). In front of you, the spires and other landmarks frame the view sufficiently to work out where to go. Walk or tram it to your hotel. Now getting around is like navigating the insides of that watch.

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‘Street signs are plaques attached to buildings somewhat above you’

Head towards the Anne Frank House (longest queue in town) or the Rijksmuseum or the RLD or a coffee shop (where the marijuana is smoked) and one gear clicks you to the next. Thus you turn your back on Central Station (as you think you must) and like the kids who come here just to get stoned, five minutes in you’re pretty much cooked.

Anjelierswarsstraat and Kloveniersburgwal and Stadhouderskade are funny words for streets and of even less help if your crappy watch map abbreviates them or throws off all scale to fit them in; cartographic failures that lend credence to your own self-defeating abbreviations. Leidsegracht is in no way Leidsedwarsstraat, Leidsekade or Leidseplein, but once all become a ‘Leids’ in your head you often search for a place that is not where you need it to be, because you

‘Keep the thing they are looking at, where they think they are’

demarcated it at a place it is not.

Since street signs are plaques attached to buildings somewhat above you, you see tourists everywhere looking down at their map while rotating around it, trying to keep the thing they are looking at, where they think they are and where they wish to be in sync. This is the Amsterdam two-step, the bezoeker dance.

Cooked? Sure. Yet the shape and size of the city provide their own kind of certainty. Walk ten-minutes in the opposite direction from where you want to be and you are no more than seven minutes away from where you wanted to get to. Disasters of direction are little more than disorientations in disguise. Like home, perhaps.

Anyway, here the earth is too flat to fall off and, once you dump the map, getting lost is the music to which you move.

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www.yourtuliptour.com 127

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Day segments and rates: PR: 08:00-12:30hrs / AG: 13:30-16:30hrs / UE: 17:30-21:30hrs All sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult.

Group size upper limit = 8.

Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25%. Family package rates are negotiable.

Contact:

Jaroslav Cernosek +420 602 228 797 Mail: jcernosek@centrum.cz

JC Tours

health & well-being

Water

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By Evelina Kvartunaite

We all know water is essential to our bodies and it is a fact that our bodies contain anything from 55 to 70-plus per cent of water, depending on body size. We all know we need to drink at least a litre of water every day but this amount can rise to more than five litres, depending on circumstances. Most specialists agree, though, that a balanced diet should be completed with around two litres of water per day, in order to maintain proper hydration.

Even though we know the theory and are all very much aware of the benefits of water and the causes for dehydration, we still tend to forget to drink enough during the day. Plus there is a great temptation to substitute water with sugary, fizzy drinks, coffee or even caffeinated teas. Here, then, are a few tips and ideas on how to make your daily life more hydrated and keep yourself looking and feeling healthier:

- Always drink a glass of lukewarm water (adding some lemon if you like) in the morning as a daily ritual - Drink a glass of water while you are waiting for your coffee to percolate - Invest in a water bottle; one you really like - Rediscover herbal teas; try something else and discover what you prefer instead of the usual selections – you might be surprised!

- If you get tired of flavourless water, add lime, lemon or cucumber!

- Make it a habit to drink a glass of water during dinner - Combine your habits; always have a bottle of water with you while watching TV, cycling or even taking a bath.

If you have other tips to share, just give me a shout!

Stay fresh and happy!

– ‘We need to drink at least a litre of water every day’ –

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– ‘Make your daily life more hydrated and keep yourself looking and feeling healthier’ –

technology

‘“How can we evolve if we don’t try everything new?”’

User Interface 130

Is there any added value to desiring the latest gadgets?

‘A double-edged sword is processor power and speed’

By Andrei Barburas

While some more responsible adults might categorically answer no to this question, the other half might say “How can we evolve if we don’t try everything new?” Take mobile phones and tablets, for example. In the past 20 years mobile phones have evolved from bulky, heavy, pretty useless plastic bricks into your life companion; indispensable pieces of durable (more or less) plastic combined with light metals.

Nevertheless, in the past couple of years not a lot has changed in terms of User Experience on these phones.

They may be faster and have better screens but one aspect that has not changed and, in some cases, has even gone backwards is battery duration. I do not need a ridiculously thin phone that I don’t even know how to hold. I love having ‘crazy’ colours popping out of my phone’s screen but do I really need resolutions higher than my TV is able to display? Another aspect that’s a

double-edged sword is processor power and speed. The latest phones have quad processors running at unimaginable frequencies; 1 GHz and higher. I remember that one of my first desktop computers, a 486 DX, ran at 33 MHz; that’s 1/30th the frequency of a fancy smart phone today. Do we really need that much processing power? We really like smooth transitions and multi-tasking but they munch away at your battery like there’s no tomorrow.

On my phone I have configured two mailboxes, always online (if not mobile internet then WiFi) and, according to my latest battery usage statistics, my screen stays on for an average of three hours each charge; that’s how much I use my phone from early in the morning until late at night. It’s weird that I have to calculate my day accordingly, in order to get the most out of that battery charge. If I know I’ll be spending most of the day somewhere where WiFi is scarce or nonexistent, then I either have to recharge my phone just before I leave or carry a portable battery and hope for the best. At least the EU has decreed that all phones should have the

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‘A mobile phone can save your life’

same type of port for recharging and data connectivity (a Micro USB port).

While all of this sounds like a first world problem, a mobile phone can save your life… But only if your battery lasts long enough.

In conclusion, my personal opinion is yes, we do need the latest, newest and fastest gadgets; the most resistant to the elements, the prettiest and those that can be dropped with few or no repercussions; the shiniest and the ones that take better pictures, which you can then destroy by applying random filters; those that make your friends think you’re cool and hip, but how’s your battery doing?

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THE SENTINEL FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2013-2014

THE BLUE ONE IS BACK! If you are not already signed-up to play our fantasy football game you can do so now!

Entries may be submitted to: sentinelfantasyfootball@gmail.com – by midnight on Friday, 16 August, 2013.

For full details, rules and conditions mail to: sentinelfantasyfootball@gmail.com

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All that glistens is sometimes...

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FANTASY FOOTBALL GOLD CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2013-2014

The master managers are grouped again to challenge for the golden envelope.

We use this game to complement our main reporting on matches, teams and players from the English Premier League involved in their domestic and European competitions.

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CZECH REPUBLIC STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT!

www.czechtourism.com