[Last set of pics]
Note: Added two pics to the Amsterdam set. The weensy little car that fits 1.5 people, and it next to a 'real' car for scaling purposes. Both taken by my friend Cherie. These are apparently indigenous to amsterdam, and quite pricey.
A note on drinking water in Belgium -- the tap water is just fine, and my reach-for-my-nalgene reflex has served me in good stead, since every restaurant charges for water. I don't know how the natives stay hydrated :P
I spent today tooling around Brussels. Went to the flea market, which would have been awesome if it hadn't've been raining. As I walked up, people ran around yelling "Vite! Vite!" and grabbing tarps to cover up rain-damagable goods. I sauntered up the street towards the grand place-ish area, seeing random neat antique-y stores. One had a whole carousel inside!
Lunch was slow, a plate of four tapas and a Chimay Bleu. I spent some time writing several post-cards and enjoying the down-time.
I'm pretty much all packed at the moment. Grabbing the 5:35 am airport bus. Flight at 8 am. Arrive Chicago around 2:30pm or so central time. Hopefully customs won't be all that long.
So, I will soon be back in good ole shampoo-banana. Around fluent english speakers. Grading. Research. Good times.
Hope you all enjoyed my tales.
Au revoir
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Travelogue 7: Brussels again-- Magritte, chocolate and Cantillon
"The common ordinariness of all things is a mystery" ----Magritte.
mural by Grand Place
Today we were going to go to the Brewers museum, only to walk up to a tri-lingual note telling us that it was closed specifically today and tomorrow. Nice. Oh, well.
As a back-up museum, we went to the Chocolate museum. For 4.5 euro for a student it was so-so. Poorly organized, but two free chocolate things and a cute demonstration by an old chocolatier with very limited english. Apparently Belgium became a big maker of chocolate because they improved one of the processes involved in producing chocolate, and they had a large/quick explosion of factories built for that purpose. Also, chocolate moulds didn't come into play until the 19th century.
Lunch was half a baguette sandwich and a double espresso. My experience with espresso in the states is that people tend to either drink it as part of something (cappuccino, etc), or entirely on its lonesome. Here it acts the way a cup of coffee in the states does, served with cream and sugar on the side that you can add. I have to say, I am pleased with the consistently high quality of coffee. I have yet to have a mediocre espresso here.
We checked out a few beer stores (Beer Planet and "de Bier Tempel"), looking for the elusive Delerium Tremens Noel in 75 cl bottles, or their seasonal glassware. All of the bars here serve each beer in its own distinctive glass (e.g.) and Will tells me that whenever they happen to be out of the associated glass, you are apologized to profusely.
The rain let up when Will bought his umbrella (of course) and we made our way to the Magritte museum. Magritte was, in fact, Belgian. Also, incredibly talented. Realism, impressionism, cubist stuff, sculptures, drawings, paintings, films, photos. I had no idea, past the well-known 'ceci n'est pas une pipe' and the man with the apple in front of his face. I bought a poster of 'black magic'. The museum has 3 floors. One is a cloak room and one an entrance level, but the other floors are dense with Magritte's work. He was very prolific. And got really weird when Belgium was invaded. As a side note, 2 euro entrance for students. Rock on.
After that, we headed out to the Cantillon Brewery, on the edge of town:
Neat tour. There's an attic with a lot of air whooshing through where the mash picks up its yeast and starts fermenting. Two of the yeasts in particular are specific to the region, and there are on the order of 86 yeast strains involved.
Lunch had been 'traditional libanese food', their plate of the day, which was cinammoned rice with pistachios and almonds as well as some really tender chicken, then a salad with lemon juice, some oil and a lot of parsley mixed in. Washed down with European coca-cola, which *does* taste better (mmm real sugar). Also, lemon fanta is amazing.
Dinner (for the grand total of 8 euros - amazing) was made with stuff from the pseudo-grocery near the European parliament. Fresh tortellini stuffed with arugola ('rucola') and mushrooms (funghi) in a white sauce with shredded gruyere and sauteed some 'chicken sausage' (which was somewhere between sausage and bologna, but tasted pretty good on browning) as well as a nice salad of mixed greens on the side. All cooked on two lone burners --- Will's place lacks a real stovetop or oven, and he said that was common for apartments he was looking at in the area.
One more day, then another grueling plane-ride and customs-juggling. Woo.
mural by Grand Place
Today we were going to go to the Brewers museum, only to walk up to a tri-lingual note telling us that it was closed specifically today and tomorrow. Nice. Oh, well.
As a back-up museum, we went to the Chocolate museum. For 4.5 euro for a student it was so-so. Poorly organized, but two free chocolate things and a cute demonstration by an old chocolatier with very limited english. Apparently Belgium became a big maker of chocolate because they improved one of the processes involved in producing chocolate, and they had a large/quick explosion of factories built for that purpose. Also, chocolate moulds didn't come into play until the 19th century.
Lunch was half a baguette sandwich and a double espresso. My experience with espresso in the states is that people tend to either drink it as part of something (cappuccino, etc), or entirely on its lonesome. Here it acts the way a cup of coffee in the states does, served with cream and sugar on the side that you can add. I have to say, I am pleased with the consistently high quality of coffee. I have yet to have a mediocre espresso here.
We checked out a few beer stores (Beer Planet and "de Bier Tempel"), looking for the elusive Delerium Tremens Noel in 75 cl bottles, or their seasonal glassware. All of the bars here serve each beer in its own distinctive glass (e.g.) and Will tells me that whenever they happen to be out of the associated glass, you are apologized to profusely.
The rain let up when Will bought his umbrella (of course) and we made our way to the Magritte museum. Magritte was, in fact, Belgian. Also, incredibly talented. Realism, impressionism, cubist stuff, sculptures, drawings, paintings, films, photos. I had no idea, past the well-known 'ceci n'est pas une pipe' and the man with the apple in front of his face. I bought a poster of 'black magic'. The museum has 3 floors. One is a cloak room and one an entrance level, but the other floors are dense with Magritte's work. He was very prolific. And got really weird when Belgium was invaded. As a side note, 2 euro entrance for students. Rock on.
After that, we headed out to the Cantillon Brewery, on the edge of town:
"The Cantillon brewery is outside the Petit Ring. Most of the Brussels region is surrounded by a motorway, called the "Ring", numbered R0 in the national road numbering system. There is a smaller ring of wide, differently named boulevards, in a roughly pentagonal shape, called the Petit Ring (Kleine Ring, Small Ring), the R20. This follows the path of the city's former 14th Century city walls." [source -- the interwebs ;) ]Cantillon brews lambics and guezes. Lambic is a traditional spontaneous-fermentation beer, tasting very sour instead of the bitterness you might expect in 'normal' beer. According to German definitions of beer, it actually can't be called beer. Lambic is aged for three years, and is flat. Gueze is what happens when 3 & 1-year lambics are mixed and more yeast added before bottling, giving it some carbonation. To widen their appeal, some lambics also have macerated fruits added before bottling-- Krieck has sour cherries. `Rose' ended up meaning raspberries were added (you might also see the word 'framboise' used). We tried one with muscat grapes added and Will said he had one with rhubarb (as an 'off-one', or seasonal sort of thing).
in the brewery:
Neat tour. There's an attic with a lot of air whooshing through where the mash picks up its yeast and starts fermenting. Two of the yeasts in particular are specific to the region, and there are on the order of 86 yeast strains involved.
Lunch had been 'traditional libanese food', their plate of the day, which was cinammoned rice with pistachios and almonds as well as some really tender chicken, then a salad with lemon juice, some oil and a lot of parsley mixed in. Washed down with European coca-cola, which *does* taste better (mmm real sugar). Also, lemon fanta is amazing.
Dinner (for the grand total of 8 euros - amazing) was made with stuff from the pseudo-grocery near the European parliament. Fresh tortellini stuffed with arugola ('rucola') and mushrooms (funghi) in a white sauce with shredded gruyere and sauteed some 'chicken sausage' (which was somewhere between sausage and bologna, but tasted pretty good on browning) as well as a nice salad of mixed greens on the side. All cooked on two lone burners --- Will's place lacks a real stovetop or oven, and he said that was common for apartments he was looking at in the area.
One more day, then another grueling plane-ride and customs-juggling. Woo.
Travelogue 6: Ghent -- a castle, but no cannibals
Some general commentary on Belgium: The beer here is spectacular, plentiful and well-priced. The transit is also pretty awesome. Like amsterdam, there is a metro (underground), trams, buses and trains. 12.3 euro for a 10-ride pass for the metro.
-----
[Pictures of Ghent Trip]
I put off writing about my day in Ghent because it was so soggy and I was understandably a little grumpy.
Traveled to Ghent yesterday by train, took about an hour with one change inside of Brussels. Round trip about 16 euros. All the tourist-info webpages said basically "Hop on tram 1, it'll go to the city center, and everything's there". So I hopped on tram 1, although neither direction looked correct, and noticed after a bit that we seemed to be going the wrong way. I jumped off and tried to wait on the other side, but a local told me that due to the (stupid amounts of) construction, the tram was only moving one way down that street, and to go north I'd have to go south first. However, here the tram fights with cars in traffic, so is quite slow. :P So, I decided to walk the roughly 30-minute trek to the city center.
Ghent 1, Rosona 0.
Somehow managed to hop a tram heading back to the station, and from there followed the walking directions I downloaded onto the ipod. While walking, the spitting-rain started up (again) -- this has been a near-constant my trip, outside of a few days here and there. I think Saturday it was quite sunny and some of the time in amsterdam. Then this giant wind rolled in (which I'd also experienced in Amsterdam) and the rain picked up to quite serious. Eventually I gave up and sheltered in a storefront. Even if I'd had my umbrella, it wouldn't've helped at all.
Ghent 2, Rosona 0.
I made it to the central square, to find about 5 monstrous churches in the vicinity, and no idea which was the one I was looking for. I ducked into a fancy little cafe, got an espresso (which came with a tasty truffle) and directions to St. Baafs Cathedral. It was pretty epic, honestly. I saw a smaller replica of the famous 'mystic lamb' and decided not to pay to see the real one, and wandered around the crypt. There's art dating back to 1414, which is amazing because it is so damp, and Will tells me this is normal Belgium weather.
Finally managed to buy a map of Ghent after that (had tried a few times) and took probably the least optimal route to the Castle of the Counts. That was awesome and totally made the whole thing worth it. It has a moat, and looks like what I think most people think of when they think 'castle'. Great view of the town, modulo the construction.
Wandered around. Saw the Ghent manneken-pis (which isn't even a fountain). Eventually gave up and made my way back to the station, soggy and ready to get out of the constant rain (which had soaked all the way through my hat :P).
Dinner was delicious veal and lamb-meatball stew, with a trappist ale, Rochefort 8 (very delicious). We went and found the bar with lambics on tap and had one. It was a very uncomfortable bar -- all rough-cut wood and metal. Good beer, though. Maybe they'll figure out to make things more comfortable.
ciao
[Pictures of Ghent Trip]
I put off writing about my day in Ghent because it was so soggy and I was understandably a little grumpy.
Traveled to Ghent yesterday by train, took about an hour with one change inside of Brussels. Round trip about 16 euros. All the tourist-info webpages said basically "Hop on tram 1, it'll go to the city center, and everything's there". So I hopped on tram 1, although neither direction looked correct, and noticed after a bit that we seemed to be going the wrong way. I jumped off and tried to wait on the other side, but a local told me that due to the (stupid amounts of) construction, the tram was only moving one way down that street, and to go north I'd have to go south first. However, here the tram fights with cars in traffic, so is quite slow. :P So, I decided to walk the roughly 30-minute trek to the city center.
Ghent 1, Rosona 0.
Somehow managed to hop a tram heading back to the station, and from there followed the walking directions I downloaded onto the ipod. While walking, the spitting-rain started up (again) -- this has been a near-constant my trip, outside of a few days here and there. I think Saturday it was quite sunny and some of the time in amsterdam. Then this giant wind rolled in (which I'd also experienced in Amsterdam) and the rain picked up to quite serious. Eventually I gave up and sheltered in a storefront. Even if I'd had my umbrella, it wouldn't've helped at all.
Ghent 2, Rosona 0.
I made it to the central square, to find about 5 monstrous churches in the vicinity, and no idea which was the one I was looking for. I ducked into a fancy little cafe, got an espresso (which came with a tasty truffle) and directions to St. Baafs Cathedral. It was pretty epic, honestly. I saw a smaller replica of the famous 'mystic lamb' and decided not to pay to see the real one, and wandered around the crypt. There's art dating back to 1414, which is amazing because it is so damp, and Will tells me this is normal Belgium weather.
Finally managed to buy a map of Ghent after that (had tried a few times) and took probably the least optimal route to the Castle of the Counts. That was awesome and totally made the whole thing worth it. It has a moat, and looks like what I think most people think of when they think 'castle'. Great view of the town, modulo the construction.
Wandered around. Saw the Ghent manneken-pis (which isn't even a fountain). Eventually gave up and made my way back to the station, soggy and ready to get out of the constant rain (which had soaked all the way through my hat :P).
Dinner was delicious veal and lamb-meatball stew, with a trappist ale, Rochefort 8 (very delicious). We went and found the bar with lambics on tap and had one. It was a very uncomfortable bar -- all rough-cut wood and metal. Good beer, though. Maybe they'll figure out to make things more comfortable.
ciao
Monday, November 23, 2009
Travelogue 5: Im Brügge
Pics from Bruges/Brugge/Brügge
In deciding whether to do Bruges, Gant, or Bruges & Gant, I discovered that Bruges had just opened up an exhibit of ice sculptures. They also had three freshly-opened christmas markets. Awesome. Also, it's further, so we took advantage of weekend discounts -- about 28 euros for the both of us, there and back (normally it's twice that). As a snack at the station, we had a packaged toffee waffle (pretty good, actually) and I got an espresso (mmm coffee).
Bruges/ Brügge is in the Flanders region of Belgium, where if you don't speak Dutch it is preferable to speak English over French. My understanding is that the Flemish(who often speak Dutch, French and English) hate the Frenchy-Belgians/Wallonians (who speak French and occasionally English). Case in point: the Flemish threw all the Frenchy Belgians out of the university of Leuvan, and the Wallonians/Frenchy-Belgians founded their own frenchy university of Leuvain-la-Neuve. The library is split exactly in half (each library got every other book)-- there's a three-volume set of books (witten & someone) where one university has vol 2 and the other has vol 1 and 3.
Back to Bruges. Getting off the train put us right at the ice sculpture park. The ice sculptures had the theme 'ice age 3', with a whole section to the side honoring Darwin (Darwin statue, and ice sculpture of his library). It was quite cold (-6 C), and pretty neat. Found out from the brochure that the clearness/cloudiness of the ice depends on the content of air in the water. Followed the chill with some nice Glühwein.
We then walked towards the city center, moving from square to square and wandering around the various christmas markets. As Will said, isn't this just the most picturesque town? [It really is] Apparently lots of British tourists, due to the movie 'In Bruges'.
Ate a very nice lunch of mussels w/cheese (mussels are another regional dish), rabbit and chocolate mousse as well as a Bruges beer, the Bruges Zot. We also got tiny glasses of Kir, each with an ice-cube. While eating, it started to rain quite seriously, then hail, then rain some more, big rolling sheets and strong wind blowing the tourists off of the ice rink and into adjacent buildings.
When the weather cleared up, a parade of St Nicholas came by. Yet another moment of 'really? I guess I *am* in Europe' happened, when I looked down to see St Nick accompanied by a group of helpers in blackface. [I have pictures]
Seriously, Belgium. Seriously?
More wandering and a ride back to Brussels. Dinner was some really tasty coconut-chicken soup and some ok red curry from the thai place around the corner, proceeded by some Cantillon Krieck.
Going to Ghent/Gant tomorrow. I enjoy this blurb:
"Ghent is a small city with 297 bars, 50.000 students, an alive music scene with free concerts every day, good secondhand shopping, very relaxed natives and almost no cannibals. The city lies between Bruges and Brussels, and that's also what it feels like: you get a romantic setting with pretty medieval buildings (like Bruges) mixed up with a living nightlife (like Brussels)."
vaarwel!
In deciding whether to do Bruges, Gant, or Bruges & Gant, I discovered that Bruges had just opened up an exhibit of ice sculptures. They also had three freshly-opened christmas markets. Awesome. Also, it's further, so we took advantage of weekend discounts -- about 28 euros for the both of us, there and back (normally it's twice that). As a snack at the station, we had a packaged toffee waffle (pretty good, actually) and I got an espresso (mmm coffee).
Bruges/ Brügge is in the Flanders region of Belgium, where if you don't speak Dutch it is preferable to speak English over French. My understanding is that the Flemish(who often speak Dutch, French and English) hate the Frenchy-Belgians/Wallonians (who speak French and occasionally English). Case in point: the Flemish threw all the Frenchy Belgians out of the university of Leuvan, and the Wallonians/Frenchy-Belgians founded their own frenchy university of Leuvain-la-Neuve. The library is split exactly in half (each library got every other book)-- there's a three-volume set of books (witten & someone) where one university has vol 2 and the other has vol 1 and 3.
Back to Bruges. Getting off the train put us right at the ice sculpture park. The ice sculptures had the theme 'ice age 3', with a whole section to the side honoring Darwin (Darwin statue, and ice sculpture of his library). It was quite cold (-6 C), and pretty neat. Found out from the brochure that the clearness/cloudiness of the ice depends on the content of air in the water. Followed the chill with some nice Glühwein.
We then walked towards the city center, moving from square to square and wandering around the various christmas markets. As Will said, isn't this just the most picturesque town? [It really is] Apparently lots of British tourists, due to the movie 'In Bruges'.
Ate a very nice lunch of mussels w/cheese (mussels are another regional dish), rabbit and chocolate mousse as well as a Bruges beer, the Bruges Zot. We also got tiny glasses of Kir, each with an ice-cube. While eating, it started to rain quite seriously, then hail, then rain some more, big rolling sheets and strong wind blowing the tourists off of the ice rink and into adjacent buildings.
When the weather cleared up, a parade of St Nicholas came by. Yet another moment of 'really? I guess I *am* in Europe' happened, when I looked down to see St Nick accompanied by a group of helpers in blackface. [I have pictures]
Seriously, Belgium. Seriously?
More wandering and a ride back to Brussels. Dinner was some really tasty coconut-chicken soup and some ok red curry from the thai place around the corner, proceeded by some Cantillon Krieck.
Going to Ghent/Gant tomorrow. I enjoy this blurb:
"Ghent is a small city with 297 bars, 50.000 students, an alive music scene with free concerts every day, good secondhand shopping, very relaxed natives and almost no cannibals. The city lies between Bruges and Brussels, and that's also what it feels like: you get a romantic setting with pretty medieval buildings (like Bruges) mixed up with a living nightlife (like Brussels)."
vaarwel!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Travelogue 3&4 - finishing up Amsterdam for reals and moving on to Bruxelles
For the impatient, pictures from Brussels
3 (Amsterdam --> Bruxelles):
---------------------------------------------------
``Going down to Amster---shhh! Amster-,Amster-ssh shh shh!'' (part of a song we sang when I was a kid)
My last day in Amsterdam was yesterday. First thing, I went to the Anne Frank House. Prior to coming to Amsterdam, I had no idea it was in Amsterdam (yah, I know. Americans.). I think it was really well done. Also, very somber and eerie (well, modulo the loud and obnoxious Dutch teenagers wandering around). You actually walk into the storefront and up through the hidden door to the annex.
Here's someone else's picture of the moveable book-case and door
There's a lot more room than you might imagine. It had a full kitchen and toilet. Otto Frank requested that the annex remain unfurnished after the war (the furniture had been taken during the raid where the people in hiding were taken), so the place is quite empty, with descriptions on the walls and a display with miniatures of what the furniture was like, etc. Apparently both Margot and Anne Frank were taller than I by at least a few inches -- the markings of the childrens' heights were on the walls. I wish I had re-read the diary recently. There were excerpts posted on the walls, and the actual diary under glass, as well as videos of interviews with survivors -- Anne's childhood friend, and her father.
After walking through the house/annex (and its steep stairs that might as well be a ladder) you walk down and through the adjoining (modernized) building, and out.
I walked around a bit more after this, bought a sandwich at a bakery, bought the luggage and walked to the bus station. About 1-1.5 hrs longer than the fast train (2.5 hrs), and ~half as expensive (15 euros, versus 33. If I'd bought much earlier, it would have been 7 euros). A mostly-uneventful ride through the countryside and we arrived in Brussels about half an hour late. The countryside was quite beautiful. The grass is (still) very green here. There were a *lot* of sheep out grazing. Trees. Rolling hills. Farmland. Weensie canals/trenches. A few cows. More sheep.
I met Will at the station and we took the train to his place, which is right next to the European Parliament in Brussels. Pretty futuristic building. Realized tonight that the square there has a poster of the Berlin wall ringing the central round area and big pieces of the wall nearby. I like the poster; one of the pieces of the graffiti said 'if communism is so great, why do they need a wall to keep people in?'
Grabbed a Duvel nearby and went to the center of town for dinner, at a thai place ( rouge, jaune or vert curry), where I had a Krieck (sour-cherry sweetish beer) and afterwards got a waffle covered in rasperries (framboise), cream (chantilly), and powdered sugar. Delish. Forestine christmas beer at Cafe Poechenellekelder by the Manneken Pis (which thankfully has a non-smoking section downstairs), then back to Will's place.
On Europe and smoking -- How can people so concerned about C02 emissions etc not give a crap about their own lungs? Weird. Also, enjoyed the car with the 'baby on board' sign and the kid asleep inside, windows closed and parent smoking. Nice.
4: First 'real' day in Bruxelles/Brussels:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lots of walking. Got up late, walked into the city and got a sandwich and an espresso.
Walk walk walk walk. Plaza this, plaza that. Statues. The outsides of various museums, that I will venture inside probably Monday or Tuesday. At some point, grabbed a beer at a cafe (about when I was getting tired from walking). I commented on how the sun arcs funny. It does! Do not attempt to tell time from it, at least not if you're used to telling time from it in America.
The pigeons on the building above stealth-crapped on the tour map I was holding. Glad it wasn't me. Of course, they somehow got my hand later while I was walking. Seriously, pigeons. Or, ``oh no pigeons''
Walk walk walk. Went through a few outdoor markets, one in the Antique-y district. Will said he saw someone pay 1200 euro (in cash!!) for a painting at one of these (in response to my remark 'who carries the kind of money to spend at these?') The fashion here is more toned down than Amsterdam, definitely. Also, more dogs. Went to a cool cafe in the Antique-y district, ``Cafe Pixel", had some ``chocolat chaud'' and a fromage plate.
Walk walk walk. Dinner at a place serving ``Traditional Belgian Fare''. Had ``stoemp''. Which is mashed potatoes & veggies, apparently. Served with some very delicious sausages and washed down with a glass of trappist ale, a westmalle. The placemat was an advertisement by amnesty international, a sort of pixelated cityscape, were people were being shot, raped (no, seriously), beheaded, etc. Not what I was expecting. I should take a picture of it or scan it in later or such.
Mainly uneventful rest of evening. Looking for a bar that was recommended that has (honest) lambics *on tap* (which is rather crazy-sounding to me), but didn't find it. Had some ice cream (tasty and fluffy). In a (wait for it) waffle cone. Next time, I should actually get it *on* a waffle (which is an option). There are two kinds of waffles here, one light and fluffy (and necessarily made fresh on the spot), Brussels-style. The other kind is Liege-style, thicker, heavier, longer shelf-life. I've only had the Brussels-style so far.
Oh right yes. Europeans and cars. Good god. If these people lose their jobs, they could be cabbies in NYC or something. They pull some crazy maneuvers just to get around corners, let alone park.
Tomorrow --- Bruges!
Bon nuit
3 (Amsterdam --> Bruxelles):
---------------------------------------------------
``Going down to Amster---shhh! Amster-,Amster-ssh shh shh!'' (part of a song we sang when I was a kid)
My last day in Amsterdam was yesterday. First thing, I went to the Anne Frank House. Prior to coming to Amsterdam, I had no idea it was in Amsterdam (yah, I know. Americans.). I think it was really well done. Also, very somber and eerie (well, modulo the loud and obnoxious Dutch teenagers wandering around). You actually walk into the storefront and up through the hidden door to the annex.
Here's someone else's picture of the moveable book-case and door
There's a lot more room than you might imagine. It had a full kitchen and toilet. Otto Frank requested that the annex remain unfurnished after the war (the furniture had been taken during the raid where the people in hiding were taken), so the place is quite empty, with descriptions on the walls and a display with miniatures of what the furniture was like, etc. Apparently both Margot and Anne Frank were taller than I by at least a few inches -- the markings of the childrens' heights were on the walls. I wish I had re-read the diary recently. There were excerpts posted on the walls, and the actual diary under glass, as well as videos of interviews with survivors -- Anne's childhood friend, and her father.
After walking through the house/annex (and its steep stairs that might as well be a ladder) you walk down and through the adjoining (modernized) building, and out.
I walked around a bit more after this, bought a sandwich at a bakery, bought the luggage and walked to the bus station. About 1-1.5 hrs longer than the fast train (2.5 hrs), and ~half as expensive (15 euros, versus 33. If I'd bought much earlier, it would have been 7 euros). A mostly-uneventful ride through the countryside and we arrived in Brussels about half an hour late. The countryside was quite beautiful. The grass is (still) very green here. There were a *lot* of sheep out grazing. Trees. Rolling hills. Farmland. Weensie canals/trenches. A few cows. More sheep.
I met Will at the station and we took the train to his place, which is right next to the European Parliament in Brussels. Pretty futuristic building. Realized tonight that the square there has a poster of the Berlin wall ringing the central round area and big pieces of the wall nearby. I like the poster; one of the pieces of the graffiti said 'if communism is so great, why do they need a wall to keep people in?'
Grabbed a Duvel nearby and went to the center of town for dinner, at a thai place ( rouge, jaune or vert curry), where I had a Krieck (sour-cherry sweetish beer) and afterwards got a waffle covered in rasperries (framboise), cream (chantilly), and powdered sugar. Delish. Forestine christmas beer at Cafe Poechenellekelder by the Manneken Pis (which thankfully has a non-smoking section downstairs), then back to Will's place.
On Europe and smoking -- How can people so concerned about C02 emissions etc not give a crap about their own lungs? Weird. Also, enjoyed the car with the 'baby on board' sign and the kid asleep inside, windows closed and parent smoking. Nice.
4: First 'real' day in Bruxelles/Brussels:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lots of walking. Got up late, walked into the city and got a sandwich and an espresso.
Walk walk walk walk. Plaza this, plaza that. Statues. The outsides of various museums, that I will venture inside probably Monday or Tuesday. At some point, grabbed a beer at a cafe (about when I was getting tired from walking). I commented on how the sun arcs funny. It does! Do not attempt to tell time from it, at least not if you're used to telling time from it in America.
The pigeons on the building above stealth-crapped on the tour map I was holding. Glad it wasn't me. Of course, they somehow got my hand later while I was walking. Seriously, pigeons. Or, ``oh no pigeons''
Walk walk walk. Went through a few outdoor markets, one in the Antique-y district. Will said he saw someone pay 1200 euro (in cash!!) for a painting at one of these (in response to my remark 'who carries the kind of money to spend at these?') The fashion here is more toned down than Amsterdam, definitely. Also, more dogs. Went to a cool cafe in the Antique-y district, ``Cafe Pixel", had some ``chocolat chaud'' and a fromage plate.
Walk walk walk. Dinner at a place serving ``Traditional Belgian Fare''. Had ``stoemp''. Which is mashed potatoes & veggies, apparently. Served with some very delicious sausages and washed down with a glass of trappist ale, a westmalle. The placemat was an advertisement by amnesty international, a sort of pixelated cityscape, were people were being shot, raped (no, seriously), beheaded, etc. Not what I was expecting. I should take a picture of it or scan it in later or such.
Mainly uneventful rest of evening. Looking for a bar that was recommended that has (honest) lambics *on tap* (which is rather crazy-sounding to me), but didn't find it. Had some ice cream (tasty and fluffy). In a (wait for it) waffle cone. Next time, I should actually get it *on* a waffle (which is an option). There are two kinds of waffles here, one light and fluffy (and necessarily made fresh on the spot), Brussels-style. The other kind is Liege-style, thicker, heavier, longer shelf-life. I've only had the Brussels-style so far.
Oh right yes. Europeans and cars. Good god. If these people lose their jobs, they could be cabbies in NYC or something. They pull some crazy maneuvers just to get around corners, let alone park.
Tomorrow --- Bruges!
Bon nuit
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Travelogue 2 -- finishing up Amsterdam and moving on to Bruxelles/Brussels
I've been thinking that an infatuation with Europe is something like the grown-up version of wanting a pony. I haven't gone anywhere else with that thought, but it's a thought.
[My set of pictures of amsterdam]
The first part of Amsterdam day 2 was eaten up by a trip via tram to the Albert Cuypmarkt, an open-air market. There were really nice food stalls -- the thing/gimmick in Amsterdam is fresh-squeezed orange juice. At food stalls, in bars/cafe's. Wherever. There were also people selling discounted shoes, luggage, sweaters, coats, scarves, cheese, meats, seafood, cds & hookahs, chocolate (including chocolate naughty-bits). There was a really nice band/trio as I was walking in, playing a song I knew, but couldn't place, maybe tango. A sax, an accordion and, I think, a clarinet. The average piece of clothing was about 15 euros, and in the adjoining stores was closer to 50 euro to start.
Here's a good picture, ala wikipedia
I ended up getting a european-style vegetable peeler, and a hard-sided suitcase. Apparently the thing now is to have four wheels, and multi-directional. Quite handy.
About dutch: It's pretty close to english.
Hello == Hello/Hi
Mag == May
We == We
ik == I
huis == house
So, it's actually pretty effective to just talk English at people, because either they know English, or the words are close enough that you can both get the gist of what the other person is saying. There are a wide range of accents, from the airport's canned announcements that sound somewhat swedish in terms of intonation, to the girls on the tram today that spent 10 minutes chatting where they seemed to be hocking up loogies and somehow turning that into language (for perspective: I actually think german sounds fun. This was different :P )
I ended up stopping into a cd store that spanned 5 store-fronts (quite a lot of property in amsterdam) and then on to the (somewhat underwhelming) foto museum, Foam . Their cafe was recommended to me by my friend Cherie, so I went in and ordered lunch. As I went back to my table, I noticed two guys roughly my age chatting in english over a map, and sounding lost. I ended up helping them figure out where they were and where they were going and we all ate lunch together and chatted. One was a canadian and the other welsh (originially austrian), both worked in a very nice hotel near London. The canadian is a chef; we talked food, which was a lot of fun. After a very leisurely lunch, concluded with dutch apple pie (sadly overrated in my opinion, but I'm not much of an apple pie fan), I walked them to their next destination ('the Heinecken experience') and went back to where I was staying.
There's something really wonderful about speaking your own language in a place entirely foreign.
Later that night I went out with my friends who were hosting me to a live Tango-music concert, in a small venue called the Badcuyp ( 'the Bathtub'). The musicians were very impassioned, and were accompanied by a show of projected images on the screen beside them for each song.
One song had a sort of strange set of images involving scantily clad women, which was sort of appropriate in two ways -- Amsterdam being known for its red light district, and the origins of tango as a dance danced by men waiting for whores.
I'll leave my trip to Bruxelles/Brussels for next time.
à bientôt!
[My set of pictures of amsterdam]
The first part of Amsterdam day 2 was eaten up by a trip via tram to the Albert Cuypmarkt, an open-air market. There were really nice food stalls -- the thing/gimmick in Amsterdam is fresh-squeezed orange juice. At food stalls, in bars/cafe's. Wherever. There were also people selling discounted shoes, luggage, sweaters, coats, scarves, cheese, meats, seafood, cds & hookahs, chocolate (including chocolate naughty-bits). There was a really nice band/trio as I was walking in, playing a song I knew, but couldn't place, maybe tango. A sax, an accordion and, I think, a clarinet. The average piece of clothing was about 15 euros, and in the adjoining stores was closer to 50 euro to start.
Here's a good picture, ala wikipedia
I ended up getting a european-style vegetable peeler, and a hard-sided suitcase. Apparently the thing now is to have four wheels, and multi-directional. Quite handy.
About dutch: It's pretty close to english.
Hello == Hello/Hi
Mag == May
We == We
ik == I
huis == house
So, it's actually pretty effective to just talk English at people, because either they know English, or the words are close enough that you can both get the gist of what the other person is saying. There are a wide range of accents, from the airport's canned announcements that sound somewhat swedish in terms of intonation, to the girls on the tram today that spent 10 minutes chatting where they seemed to be hocking up loogies and somehow turning that into language (for perspective: I actually think german sounds fun. This was different :P )
I ended up stopping into a cd store that spanned 5 store-fronts (quite a lot of property in amsterdam) and then on to the (somewhat underwhelming) foto museum, Foam . Their cafe was recommended to me by my friend Cherie, so I went in and ordered lunch. As I went back to my table, I noticed two guys roughly my age chatting in english over a map, and sounding lost. I ended up helping them figure out where they were and where they were going and we all ate lunch together and chatted. One was a canadian and the other welsh (originially austrian), both worked in a very nice hotel near London. The canadian is a chef; we talked food, which was a lot of fun. After a very leisurely lunch, concluded with dutch apple pie (sadly overrated in my opinion, but I'm not much of an apple pie fan), I walked them to their next destination ('the Heinecken experience') and went back to where I was staying.
There's something really wonderful about speaking your own language in a place entirely foreign.
Later that night I went out with my friends who were hosting me to a live Tango-music concert, in a small venue called the Badcuyp ( 'the Bathtub'). The musicians were very impassioned, and were accompanied by a show of projected images on the screen beside them for each song.
One song had a sort of strange set of images involving scantily clad women, which was sort of appropriate in two ways -- Amsterdam being known for its red light district, and the origins of tango as a dance danced by men waiting for whores.
I'll leave my trip to Bruxelles/Brussels for next time.
à bientôt!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Europe/Amsterdam - travelogue 1
It started at 10 am, bus --> train --> train --> plane. Changeover in Madrid (7:50 am local time, so about 12:50pm central time)--that was crazy, and the timing was very tight. There was a 20-minute train between terminals and it was pretty unclear where my flight was going to be out of. We had to go through customs, where I was chided for not filling out a declaring-things form and reminded that Holland is part of Europe. The implication being, I think, that as soon as you arrive in the EU, you declare stuff, which is a bit different than what happened last summer because I stopped over in London and then had to declare stuff in Copenhagen. After chiding me (in English), they stamped my passport and waved me on, where I had to get my bags re-scanned and was again chided (with a waved 'no-no' finger) by the guy there (in Spanish) about how I'm not allowed to bring bottles of juice on with me. I managed to convey that it was fine for him to take it, and I'm sorry about that, then ran across the remainder of the airport to get to my terminal. I boarded about 10 minutes later.
In front of the Rijksmusem:
My friend met me at the airport, which is also a train station, and directed me how to get to his place (which I still managed to screw up; I blame jet lag). I discovered that standing around looking confused will not cause anyone to stop and help you, but people respond well to polite inquiry (in English). I made it back to his place, got a shower and got back out -- to see the Rijksmuseum, which is a sort of history-by-artwork tour of the 'Golden Age' of Holland history (1600's to early 1800's). Beautiful. 'The Night Watch' is the really famous Rembrandt piece there, taking up a huuuge wall. In its original dimensions it measured approximately 13 by 16 ft, but it feels much larger. My estimate on the postcard I wrote to my dad was 6m by 8m.
In front of the Rijksmusem:
So far, Europe is awesome. There are trams, trains, buses, subway/metro and bikes everywhere here. Plus these things that look like one-person smart-cars -- the width of a bicycle-lane in america -- that are actually allowed to drive in the bike lanes. Everyone speaks English, and I know no Dutch, so good for me. I think my hat is very distinctive here, but I'm still wearing it due to the rain, wind and cold. INTENSE wind. It made landing yesterday rather terrifying, actually.
On the docket for today is a trip to Albert Cuypmarkt (an outdoor market), a local cd store that takes up 5 storefronts or so, and the Fotomuseum. Perhaps a little walk around Rembrandtsplein.
Tot ziens!
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