I recently spent a week in the US. Sorry I couldn't visit everyone, but this was a business trip. Anyway, after being in the Netherlands for 2 1/2 years, I am really starting to notice the difference in my perspective. I think they call it reverse culture shock. Here are some of my thoughts:
Day 1: US government feels very intrusive (and this is not a Republican rant because I’m not a Republican). First there were all the extra security questions as I boarded the plane. Then the Customs forms to fill out. As I waited for my luggage I had time to read the USDA posters on the wall telling you how to identify hardwood firewood from soft. The poster did not say WHY you needed to find out if your firewood is hard or soft and I surely couldn’t understand why you needed to know that in an airport. Finally, when I had my bags and had cleared Customs, I was required to re-check my bags and go through security again. I argued that I was not making a connection, this was my destination. I was jet-lagged and very confused, but they assured me that everyone had to do this. The reason is that to get to the airport exit, you have to walk through a secured area. So, you can’t take your luggage and you can’t take any liquids. At least I hadn’t gotten liquor at the duty-free shop. Those poor people had to figure out a way to get their liquids in their checked bags. Of course they were informed of this after the baggage recheck… Note to self – no duty-free stuff on the way to Cincinnati.
Even outside the airport, the government was still obvious. As I drove to the hotel in my rental car, I noticed signs on the freeway indicating that the road construction was a special government program. At the office, there are huge information boards with all the legal notices and licenses. The MSDS stations are where they are legally supposed to be even though nobody uses them.
In Europe, you are likely to see security guards with machine guns in the airports. The Customs process is simpler with no paper work to fill out. The government doesn’t advertise that they funding the road construction. Isn’t it obvious that the government does the road construction? Why does the US need to spend money on signs to tell us that?
Day 2: Watching the news is like watching Jerry Springer and just as educational. The CNN you get in the US is NOT the same as what they broadcast to the rest of the world. It’s no wonder so many Americans are ignorant of world affairs. Since when have viewer opinion polls been the subject of the news? Do I really care that 20% of Americans believe the President is Muslim? Maybe if the news actually covered the news, people would be better informed. It’s really sad. I finally found an NPR station on the car radio and at least had a break from the Jerry Springer style news.
Day 3: MMMM – Dairy Queen! The food in the Netherlands can get monotonous – bread and cheese for breakfast AND lunch. It’s great to get all my favorites, especially Dairy Queen and Mexican food, not necessarily in that order. I also enjoyed American Diet Coke. They must use a different formula in Europe and it’s not very pleasant. The American version is more creamy and vanilla-like.
Day 4: I feel like I’m driving a lot and not walking much. Maybe I should cut back on the Dairy Queen and Mexican food? I’m also watching the roads and wondering how on earth anyone could ride a bike in Cincinnati. The roads are poorly paved (in spite of all the government funded road work) with no bikes lanes or shoulders. Cincinnati is a river city with some really steep hills especially as you get closer to the river. The Netherlands is super-flat and has bike lanes everywhere.
Day 5: Wow, this food is salty! I had several meals in restaurants that I found very salty, but I got one meal that I couldn’t even eat. Typically, I like salt and I haven’t made any special effort to cut down on salt, but I think the restaurants in Europe tend to use less salt. And I don’t eat a lot of processed food. That’s in part because the stores in the Netherlands don’t carry a lot of processed foods and nobody has the fridge or freezer space for such things. I guess I’ve gotten used to lower salt foods.
Day 6: OK, the air conditioning is really nice, especially when it’s 95 and humid outside. The Dutch hate air conditioning because they think it will make you sick to have the big temperature changes. I don’t think Americans get sick any more often than the Dutch. And when they do, they get much better cold medicine. So bring on the air conditioning!
Day 7: Petite size clothes! Yes, I did a lot of shopping for clothes while I was in the US. The Netherlands boasts the tallest population of any country in the world. That’s great for Dennis at 6’6” and not so great for me at 5’4”. Not only are the clothes more expensive in the Netherlands, but I have to pay another 10 euros to get the pants hemmed. Blouses are impossible because it’s not just the sleeve length, but the whole body length and how low the neckline is.
Day 8: I’m really ready to go home and see my husband and my cat. The US has some good things, but also some frustrations. In the end, home is where your loved ones are.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Nice is Nice, but Monaco is Super-Cool!
Over the years, Dennis and I have managed to stay in contact with our friends Daryl and Annette. Dennis and Daryl worked together at West Publishing in Minnesota before we moved to Chicago in 1997. We went on vacation together to Hawaii and then to Europe in 2001. Since then, we’ve visited then in San Francisco a couple times and we even met up once in Arizona. As Dual-Income-No-Kids couples, we still have a lot in common that time and distance can’t change.
Of course, when we moved to the Netherlands, we invited Daryl and Annette to visit anytime. We were only a little surprised when Annette said she signed up for Ironman France in Nice to celebrate her 40th birthday. Dennis and I decided that it was worth a trip to Nice to see Annette race and do a little sight-seeing on the side. After the race, they would travel to the Netherlands to watch the first stage of the Tour de France. Plans were made, airline tickets were purchased, and soon we were basking in the warm Mediterranean sunshine.
We flew into Nice on a Friday night after work. On Saturday morning, we met up with Daryl and Annette. Annette was racing with two of her friends, Misha and Akiko. The three couples had rented a vacation house. Misha’s parents were also in town for the race, so it was a nice size group. The girls were very nervous on the day before their race. They had to check in and drop off their bikes and special needs bags, but otherwise were trying to stay off their feet. The rest of us went on a walking tour of Nice. We saw the Ironman Expo (not as good as you might think) and the farmer’s market (just as good as you would expect in the south of France).
Dennis and I continued walking and window shopping. One window had really shiny looking orange balls stacked in a beautiful display. We couldn’t figure out what they were, so we had to go in and see. It turned out that they were conserved mandarin oranges. The shop had a little tour where they told us that the oranges soak in sugar syrup for 40 days – skin and all. They also use the same treatment on other fruits and flowers! The shop was beautiful and we naturally had to buy some of the oranges. They are just as sugary/syrupy as you might imagine. The skin is like candied orange peel with very little bitterness. They are very good chopped and served over vanilla ice cream (with a bit of chocolate sauce for good measure).
We had dinner with the group who were not racing in the morning. The racing girls wanted to stay in and eat rather plain food that would not cause tummy trouble the next day. The rest of us worked on our race viewing strategy.
The first step of the strategy was to meet at 6:00 am for the swim start. It was very crowded already and hard to find a good spot to watch. Dennis and I stood right on the beach. At this point, it’s fair to mention that the beaches in Nice suck. There is no sand, just small rocks. The rocks are smooth, but still very painful to walk on. I’m not sure how the racers did it! From where we stood, I couldn’t see much until the swimmers were in the water. At an Ironman event, all the racers start at once which makes it very chaotic. All of a sudden, the water started to churn like a giant feeding frenzy. We would see the swarm of swimmers moving out, but it was hard to see which buoy they were aiming for. Finally, we saw the lead swimmers turn the corner and come back toward the beach. The swimmers had to get out of the water and run over the timing pad before getting back in the water for their second lap. It was complete pandemonium and we were unable to see anyone faces or numbers.
When we figured they were about done, we went up to the bike area. We couldn’t see the transition area – where they remove their wetsuits and get ready for the biking – so we just watched the bikers leaving for their 112 mile ride through the mountains. We managed to see Akiko and Misha, but we missed Annette. With so many riders going by at the same time, it was a miracle to recognize anyone! At this point, we had plenty of time to do some sightseeing and take a nap. We figured they wouldn’t be back for another 6 hours or more.
Dennis and I took the opportunity to see the Chagall Museum. Chagall did a lot modern-style religious art that was interesting, but not really to our taste. The museum was rather small though, so we were able to enjoy his work without feeling tortured. A leisurely lunch, long nap, and then we headed back out to the race course for the marathon section.
The run course was set up really well for spectators. The racers had to run out and back along the Promenade Anglais four times. That gave us lots of chances to see our people and give them the encouragement they needed along the way. We found a nice spot in the shade where we could stay cool. A nearby convenience store sold us cold water and Cokes throughout the long afternoon. Every time we started to complain about the heat or how tired we were from standing so long, we laughed because it seemed so minor compared to the people racing. All three ladies looked good on the run. Akiko was about 30 minutes ahead of Annette and an hour ahead of Misha at the beginning of the run. She was able to keep her pace throughout the marathon and finished in 14 hours. Annette was doing a very sensible run-walk, but each lap took a bit longer than the one before. Misha was concerned about the cutoff time, but we assured her that she had plenty of time and could relax a bit. She gladly took the opportunity to walk a bit. By the last lap, Misha was only 10 minutes behind Annette. Of course, they could see each other, too and knew they were close to each other.
For the last lap, we moved to the finish area so we would be able to see them crossing the line. We were amazed how many people were turning around to do yet another lap. Those poor souls would be out there running for another hour at least. You could not tell by looking at people how fast they would be. Some of the guys with guts and stocky women were finishing while some who looked far more athletic were still running. So much of the Ironman is in your head and in the many months of training. The last lap took Annette and Misha a bit longer than we expected, but when we saw them we understood why. They decided to finish together and came running down the finish chute hand in hand in 15 hours and 2 minutes. Both of them looked tired but none the worse for wear. We actually went back to our hotel before they got out of the finish are with all their gear. It was sure tiring to watch!
The next day, Dennis and I went to Monaco because we wanted to cross another country off our list. Monaco is a 15 minute train ride from Nice. It’s as close to Disneyland as you get in Europe. The train station had polished tile floors and was air conditioned. That’s nice for all the high-rollers heading for the Casino – oh never mind, they all get dropped off in their Masserattis. As we left the train station it became clear that Monaco is a mountainous country. All of the exits involved stairs. We went up to enjoy the view, but soon realized how hot it was that day! We went back and headed towards the palace where Grace Kelly used to live. We took the walking tour through the cathedral, botanical garden, and finally Jacque Cousteau’s aquarium. The aquarium was definitely the highlight. For those of you who are too young to know Jacque Cousteau, too bad for you. For the rest of you, the aquarium was much like the TV show and really showed his passion for conservation without being too preachy. Monaco is very small and we had no interest in the casino, so we headed back to Nice to have dinner with the rest of the gang. The racers were walking a bit more slowly than usual, but if it were me, I would not have been able to walk at all! At any rate, we had a really nice dinner with the whole gang and it was really fun.
For Tuesday morning, Annette and Misha wanted to go swimming to help loosen up the muscles. Since it’s silly to go to a beach resort and not go swimming, we decided to join in the fun. There are quite a few public beach areas in addition to the private, rent-a-chair and umbrella places. We went to a public beach since we wanted to swim not lounge around. The rocks on the beach proved very painful, but most of us managed to get into the water. I swam a bit with Annette and Misha while the boys splashed around closer to shore. The water was cool and comfortable, but getting out of the water was difficult. Most of us chose to exit the water by scooting out backwards like a crab. Next time you are on a sandy beach, be sure to appreciate it!
Annette and Misha were stuck at their place for the rest of the day waiting for the bike shop to pick up their bikes for shipping back to the US. They were told the pick-up would be sometime after 12:00, not unlike waiting for the cable guy. So, we took Daryl and went to Ville Franche sur du Mar, a small town between Nice and Monaco. By train, it was only 5 minutes, but a world away in feel. Nice feels like a city – lots of high rise apartment buildings, shops, and restaurants. Villefranche feels like small town that time forgot. The old town has “roads” that are so narrow only three people can walk side by side. I’m not sure you can really call it a road if there are stairs, but they did. We found a little street café to have lunch and the food was so fine, we stayed for 2 hours. We finally had to leave when all the chairs ended up in the sun and we were cooked! We strolled around the citadel and along the waterfront and finally to the beach. Villefranche has a lovely sandy beach only a few minutes walk from the train station. If we had known that a few days ago, we would have hung out here rather than Nice. When I grow up, I want to be rich and have a place in Villefranche.
Wednesday was the day we all left Nice. Dennis and I headed back to Amsterdam – work tomorrow and all that. Daryl, Annette, Misha and Scott headed into Provence for a few days before making the journey to the Netherlands. Our adventures in the Netherlands will be a tale for another day, however.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Playing Charades in Germany Part 2
Town along the river with vineyards on the hills.
Trail through the woods to the castle.
Castle in the woods.
Please read Part 1 first (see below).
On Saturday, we headed for the wine museum hoping to learn a little bit more about the local wines. About all I knew was that they mostly make Rieslings in sweet, halfdry, and dry. The wine museum was funny in a House-on-the-Rock kind of way. Grandpa collected all the old-time tools of the trade and housed them in the old wine-cellar. He built a big party-room to extend his collection and give space for town “meetings.” The highlight of the tour was the wine tasting at the end. There was a mature woman working at the tasting bar and watching three little red-haired kids playing in the party-room. As we walked up the bar, I was thinking, “Boy, I’m not sure tasting wine at 9:30 in the morning is a good idea.” Then I saw the woman pouring “juice” for one of the little kids. Looking closer, it was red wine and she kept telling the kid “langzamer” which happens to mean the same thing in Dutch as German, “slower.” So, next time the little ones are starting to drive you nuts, just remember that in some places it’s OK to give them booze at 9:30 in the morning! The corollary is to watch what Grandma is serving the kiddies.
For our afternoon activity, we wanted to see the Berg Eltz castle, which Rick Steves calls the best castle in all of Europe. We got in the car with the trusty TomTom and set it for the Berg Eltz castle. Everything was fine until we hit some construction with a detour. The TomTom reset and tried to have us drive over a foot bridge, then it reset again and we seemed to be on the original path following the detour signs on a narrow road up a very steep hill. At the top of the hill it had us turn onto a small farm road, then onto an even smaller farm road. I decided NOT to turn on the dirt road that seemed to go right through the mustard field. Of course at that point, we came upon a truck stopped on the road and there was no room to pass. Turning around was an adventure because there was a very steep drop off on one side and a hill on the other. I did a 49 point turn and shut off the TomTom. I drove back the way we came and followed the signs to the Burg Eltz parking lot. Of course this was the Park and Walk lot, but it was better than rolling the car off the side of the mountain.
It ended up that we had a lovely hike through the deep dark forest. There was a gurgling creek, tall pine trees, and ferns and ivy on the ground. It was still cold, wet, and rainy and the trail was muddy but it was like an enchanted forest. After about 40 minutes of scrambling up the muddy rocks, we arrived at the castle. This castle is unusual because it’s still held by the original family that built it and it was never destroyed during any of the wars. One section of the castle is still being used by the current generation, but they’ve opened the rest of the castle for tours. The castle was cool in a very literal way. By the time the tour was over, we were both frozen. Good thing we had a 40 minute hike to warm us up on the way back to the car!
At this point, we decided to go to a nearby town and get some hot tea and watch people go by. It was getting a little bit late in the afternoon and the sun was breaking out through the clouds for the first time all weekend. We found a little ice cream shop in a cute town square. It was in the sun and out of the cold wind. A few minutes there and we were feeling quite a bit warmer and ready to eat some ice cream. Apparently, the Germans know how to make ice cream, unlike the Dutch who have not yet figured this out. You’d think in a country where people drink milk at every meal that they would have good ice cream, but really it’s awful. So, I was thrilled to have yummy REAL ice cream. The town wasn’t so interesting though, so we drove back to the hotel and decided to check out some of the wineries nearby.
The first winery we stopped at was a small cellar (think basement with a garage door) run by a little old lady. We asked for dry white wine, but she was pushing the half-dry. Well, the point of tasting is to try new stuff, so we tried it and it was really good and not too sweet. We did taste her dry wine, but we agreed with her that the aromatics seemed to be lost. When we told her we live in the Netherlands, she said her daughter lives in the Veluwe region of the Netherlands. After we tasted the wine, we spotted some kirshwasser on her table. We asked to try it. As she served it, she said it’s really good with champagne. I knew we had a bottle of champagne at home that someone had given us, but I don’t really like it so we hadn’t opened it yet. We bought the kirshwasser to go with it. Now at this point, I should explain that all of this communication happened with us speaking English and her speaking German. It’s funny how much we were able to understand and we really enjoyed talking to her.
Our next stop we a yuppy-looking wine shop with all the modern décor fitting more with Napa Valley than Mosel. The guy running the shop spoke really good English so I was finally able to learn a little bit more about the local grapes and the wine making processes. He also had some lovely wines. We tasted a really nice oak-aged wine that was like chardonnay. He had a good red wine similar to Bordeaux. We were having fun discussing the different flavors and techniques. Finally, he had us taste his special Riesling from the very top of the hill and from 2008 which was a really good year. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like this one! It was dry enough, but the aroma was like honey, which I don’t like. He was disappointed, but I still managed to buy 6 bottles of wine from him. These were by far the best wines we had tasted and of course the more expensive ones. Most of the other wines we tasted were about 4 euros per bottle (very cheap) and these were 7 or 8 euros. Considering that last time we were in Napa, none of the bottles were less than 15 dollars, I felt we were still getting a pretty good deal. And, my mission of learning a bit about the local wines was accomplished.
On Sunday morning, the sun was out and you could tell it was going to be a glorious day. Too bad we had to drive home. Apparently, all the other people in the hotel were leaving early and by the time I got up to shower, there was no hot water. I was also a bit tired of cold bread with meat and cheese for breakfast. Would it kill you to have a toaster? OK, maybe I was just getting a little cranky. It really is time to go home after all. The drive was pretty relaxing and we only hit traffic a few miles before we got to our exit. We were glad that we made the most of the holiday weekend even if the weather wasn’t very cooperative.
For our afternoon activity, we wanted to see the Berg Eltz castle, which Rick Steves calls the best castle in all of Europe. We got in the car with the trusty TomTom and set it for the Berg Eltz castle. Everything was fine until we hit some construction with a detour. The TomTom reset and tried to have us drive over a foot bridge, then it reset again and we seemed to be on the original path following the detour signs on a narrow road up a very steep hill. At the top of the hill it had us turn onto a small farm road, then onto an even smaller farm road. I decided NOT to turn on the dirt road that seemed to go right through the mustard field. Of course at that point, we came upon a truck stopped on the road and there was no room to pass. Turning around was an adventure because there was a very steep drop off on one side and a hill on the other. I did a 49 point turn and shut off the TomTom. I drove back the way we came and followed the signs to the Burg Eltz parking lot. Of course this was the Park and Walk lot, but it was better than rolling the car off the side of the mountain.
It ended up that we had a lovely hike through the deep dark forest. There was a gurgling creek, tall pine trees, and ferns and ivy on the ground. It was still cold, wet, and rainy and the trail was muddy but it was like an enchanted forest. After about 40 minutes of scrambling up the muddy rocks, we arrived at the castle. This castle is unusual because it’s still held by the original family that built it and it was never destroyed during any of the wars. One section of the castle is still being used by the current generation, but they’ve opened the rest of the castle for tours. The castle was cool in a very literal way. By the time the tour was over, we were both frozen. Good thing we had a 40 minute hike to warm us up on the way back to the car!
At this point, we decided to go to a nearby town and get some hot tea and watch people go by. It was getting a little bit late in the afternoon and the sun was breaking out through the clouds for the first time all weekend. We found a little ice cream shop in a cute town square. It was in the sun and out of the cold wind. A few minutes there and we were feeling quite a bit warmer and ready to eat some ice cream. Apparently, the Germans know how to make ice cream, unlike the Dutch who have not yet figured this out. You’d think in a country where people drink milk at every meal that they would have good ice cream, but really it’s awful. So, I was thrilled to have yummy REAL ice cream. The town wasn’t so interesting though, so we drove back to the hotel and decided to check out some of the wineries nearby.
The first winery we stopped at was a small cellar (think basement with a garage door) run by a little old lady. We asked for dry white wine, but she was pushing the half-dry. Well, the point of tasting is to try new stuff, so we tried it and it was really good and not too sweet. We did taste her dry wine, but we agreed with her that the aromatics seemed to be lost. When we told her we live in the Netherlands, she said her daughter lives in the Veluwe region of the Netherlands. After we tasted the wine, we spotted some kirshwasser on her table. We asked to try it. As she served it, she said it’s really good with champagne. I knew we had a bottle of champagne at home that someone had given us, but I don’t really like it so we hadn’t opened it yet. We bought the kirshwasser to go with it. Now at this point, I should explain that all of this communication happened with us speaking English and her speaking German. It’s funny how much we were able to understand and we really enjoyed talking to her.
Our next stop we a yuppy-looking wine shop with all the modern décor fitting more with Napa Valley than Mosel. The guy running the shop spoke really good English so I was finally able to learn a little bit more about the local grapes and the wine making processes. He also had some lovely wines. We tasted a really nice oak-aged wine that was like chardonnay. He had a good red wine similar to Bordeaux. We were having fun discussing the different flavors and techniques. Finally, he had us taste his special Riesling from the very top of the hill and from 2008 which was a really good year. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like this one! It was dry enough, but the aroma was like honey, which I don’t like. He was disappointed, but I still managed to buy 6 bottles of wine from him. These were by far the best wines we had tasted and of course the more expensive ones. Most of the other wines we tasted were about 4 euros per bottle (very cheap) and these were 7 or 8 euros. Considering that last time we were in Napa, none of the bottles were less than 15 dollars, I felt we were still getting a pretty good deal. And, my mission of learning a bit about the local wines was accomplished.
On Sunday morning, the sun was out and you could tell it was going to be a glorious day. Too bad we had to drive home. Apparently, all the other people in the hotel were leaving early and by the time I got up to shower, there was no hot water. I was also a bit tired of cold bread with meat and cheese for breakfast. Would it kill you to have a toaster? OK, maybe I was just getting a little cranky. It really is time to go home after all. The drive was pretty relaxing and we only hit traffic a few miles before we got to our exit. We were glad that we made the most of the holiday weekend even if the weather wasn’t very cooperative.
Playing Charades in Germany Part 1
Barges on the misty Mosel River.
Mosel River- view from hilltop castle.
Newest Disney ride through the steep vineyards.
Riverside town as seen from the castle.
Here in the Netherlands, we have several holidays in the spring-time. Thursday (May 12) was Ascension Day and Dennis and I decided to take the Friday off to make it a 4 day weekend. After our nice experience in Rothenburg a couple weeks ago, we thought we’d do a little more exploring in Germany. This time we targeted the Mosel River Valley, a prime wine producing region with a bike trail along the river.
We made our hotel reservations on-line because we figured it could be busy with the holiday weekend. A couple days before the trip, I noticed that the weather forecast was for 50 degrees and rainy. So I looked at the cancellation policy for the hotel and realized that we would pay 80% of the entire bill if we cancelled. Even when Dennis came down with a cold the day before, we decided to go anyway and try to make the best of it. Actually I couldn’t help thinking of so many Memorial Day weekends in Minnesota when it was cold and rainy all weekend until it’s time to go home – then the sun comes out.
We packed the bikes (hybrids for this trip) and a lot of cold medicine and drove the 4 hours to the Mosel. The TomTom navigation system didn’t even register the name of the small town we were staying in, but we did finally manage to find the hotel. I guess we should have bought a map of Germany at one of those rest areas – it might have come in handy.
Checking into the hotel was a bit of extra fun. First, there was a note on the door instructing us to go to a neighboring hotel. The note was in German, so we were pretty much guessing. With a little bit of help from an English-speaking person, we finally found the right place. Little did we know how rare it would be to find another person who speaks English there! The hotel lady only spoke German, but that didn’t seem to limit her talking. She just kept talking to us in German as she showed us the room, the honor bar, and the breakfast room. Everything looked fine so we just kept smiling and nodding. We did notice that some words in German are the same as in Dutch, so we were able to understand every 5th word she said.
By the time we were settled into our room, it was about 4:00 so we decided to walk around town and stretch our legs a bit. Well, that took about 5 minutes. So, we strolled along the river path until we got to the next small town. Here, we found some wine-tasting shops that were still open. One of them also sold homemade liquors from large flasks. We were able to taste before we bought some hazelnut cream liquor and chocolate orange whiskey. The best part was when she filled some small bottles and then labeled them with a marker. We saw marker-labeled bottles of liquor in some of the restaurants in France and we wondered what they were and where they came from. Now we know those bottles probably came from a shop like this one!
On Friday morning, we dressed very warm and got on the bikes. The bike path along the river was awesome. Between the river and the steep hills dotted with grapevines were quaint small towns with river-side cafes and wine tasting shops. This is a place that time forgot. The hills are too steep for modern farming equipment, so they still grow the grapes in the traditional way. We rode past many fields with little tram-ways running up the hills. We thought this would make a good Disneyland ride. We stopped frequently to visit the cafes and snoop around the towns. We found a cool castle on the top of a hill. It was a ruin, but the view was spectacular. We couldn’t help but wonder how much better it would look if the sun were out. By the time we were done with the castle, I was freezing and it was starting to rain just a bit. We realized we’d been out and about from 10:00 until 3:00 so it was a good time to head back to the hotel and clean up for dinner.
For dinner we went to a neighboring hotel restaurant, arriving at about 6:15, only to be told that they were full. We thought we were the only ones who ate dinner this early in Europe! He said it was too bad because they were doing a lovely 5 course meal of local favorites (only 13 euros per person – unbelievably cheap!). We were set to go somewhere else when the guy said he’d check with the chef and see if there was enough food. He came back with a smile and sat us in the bright dining room. We were still not exactly sure what we’d get, but at least we didn’t have to translate a German menu! WE had the following: salad with duck breast and orange dressing, fennel cream soup, fish with lentils, pork with gravy (naturally), and ice cream with berry sauce. Everything was pretty tasty and went nicely with the local Riesling wine.
We made our hotel reservations on-line because we figured it could be busy with the holiday weekend. A couple days before the trip, I noticed that the weather forecast was for 50 degrees and rainy. So I looked at the cancellation policy for the hotel and realized that we would pay 80% of the entire bill if we cancelled. Even when Dennis came down with a cold the day before, we decided to go anyway and try to make the best of it. Actually I couldn’t help thinking of so many Memorial Day weekends in Minnesota when it was cold and rainy all weekend until it’s time to go home – then the sun comes out.
We packed the bikes (hybrids for this trip) and a lot of cold medicine and drove the 4 hours to the Mosel. The TomTom navigation system didn’t even register the name of the small town we were staying in, but we did finally manage to find the hotel. I guess we should have bought a map of Germany at one of those rest areas – it might have come in handy.
Checking into the hotel was a bit of extra fun. First, there was a note on the door instructing us to go to a neighboring hotel. The note was in German, so we were pretty much guessing. With a little bit of help from an English-speaking person, we finally found the right place. Little did we know how rare it would be to find another person who speaks English there! The hotel lady only spoke German, but that didn’t seem to limit her talking. She just kept talking to us in German as she showed us the room, the honor bar, and the breakfast room. Everything looked fine so we just kept smiling and nodding. We did notice that some words in German are the same as in Dutch, so we were able to understand every 5th word she said.
By the time we were settled into our room, it was about 4:00 so we decided to walk around town and stretch our legs a bit. Well, that took about 5 minutes. So, we strolled along the river path until we got to the next small town. Here, we found some wine-tasting shops that were still open. One of them also sold homemade liquors from large flasks. We were able to taste before we bought some hazelnut cream liquor and chocolate orange whiskey. The best part was when she filled some small bottles and then labeled them with a marker. We saw marker-labeled bottles of liquor in some of the restaurants in France and we wondered what they were and where they came from. Now we know those bottles probably came from a shop like this one!
On Friday morning, we dressed very warm and got on the bikes. The bike path along the river was awesome. Between the river and the steep hills dotted with grapevines were quaint small towns with river-side cafes and wine tasting shops. This is a place that time forgot. The hills are too steep for modern farming equipment, so they still grow the grapes in the traditional way. We rode past many fields with little tram-ways running up the hills. We thought this would make a good Disneyland ride. We stopped frequently to visit the cafes and snoop around the towns. We found a cool castle on the top of a hill. It was a ruin, but the view was spectacular. We couldn’t help but wonder how much better it would look if the sun were out. By the time we were done with the castle, I was freezing and it was starting to rain just a bit. We realized we’d been out and about from 10:00 until 3:00 so it was a good time to head back to the hotel and clean up for dinner.
For dinner we went to a neighboring hotel restaurant, arriving at about 6:15, only to be told that they were full. We thought we were the only ones who ate dinner this early in Europe! He said it was too bad because they were doing a lovely 5 course meal of local favorites (only 13 euros per person – unbelievably cheap!). We were set to go somewhere else when the guy said he’d check with the chef and see if there was enough food. He came back with a smile and sat us in the bright dining room. We were still not exactly sure what we’d get, but at least we didn’t have to translate a German menu! WE had the following: salad with duck breast and orange dressing, fennel cream soup, fish with lentils, pork with gravy (naturally), and ice cream with berry sauce. Everything was pretty tasty and went nicely with the local Riesling wine.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Christmas Pyramid
Christmas Pyramid - heat from candles makes the propeller spin and it turns like a carrousel.
The angels are on the top layer.
The wise men are on the middle layer.
And the soldiers are on the bottom layer.
As promised, pictures of the Christmas pyramid. Obviously, this is not the kind of thing you can easily pack in a suitcase to take home. Most of the time when you travel, you can only bring home little things. We are collecting some of the bigger things while we can.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Giro d'Italia
Here are the race leaders - about 5 minutes ahead of the rest.
Here are the rest of the riders.
Yes, the Giro d'Italia started in Amsterdam this year. We had the unusual opportunity to watch the Tour of Italy in the Netherlands. Stage 2 of the race went from Amsterdam to Utrecht and passed within 5 miles of our town. We rode our bikes over the race course and watched them speed by.
Since I had the camera, I actually didn't see any of the race. I clicked as fast as I could and only got a few pictures. The whole group passed in just a couple of seconds.
We abandoned our plans to ride the train to Utrecht to watch the finish because I injured my leg this morning and can barely walk. Biking was OK, but walking was really a bummer. Utrecht would have involved a lot of walking and would have been pretty crowded. I don't do so well with Dutch crowds because I'm so much shorter than everyone else. Now, I'm trying to rest my leg so I can have fun for the long weekend coming up. Hopefully a few days of rest is all it will take.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Surprise in Rothenburg
Pretty view of the valley from Rothenburg.
The market square with some sidewalk cafes.
Walking around the city walls.
I think you can guess who these people are.
The fountain near the market square.
After months of working too much and suffering the cold and rainy end of winter in the Netherlands, Dennis and I finally had some plans to get out of Dodge. Susan, my sister-in-law, who lives in Tucson, was going to be in Germany for a conference at the end of April. She called us a few weeks before and we arranged to meet her in Rothenburg, a touristy town near Fankfurt. We were lucky because the last day of April is actually a holiday in the Netherlands, so we had a three day weekend.
On Friday morning, Dennis and I started driving towards Frankfurt. I was apparently too optimistic in my time estimates. It was supposed to take about 4 hours to get to Frankfurt and then another 1.5 hours on to Rothenburg. Unfortunately, the road from Frankfurt to Rothenburg was one non-stop traffic jam from all the road construction. It was a bit ironic to be stuck going 30mph on the aurtobahn. We finally arrived a few hours later than planned, but still earlier than Susan whose flight was delayed.
We got settled in the really cute bed and breakfast that Susan picked out. Then, we went to explore the town a bit. Rothenburg is an old Roman fortified city built in the 1600’s at the intersection of two major trade routes, the East-West route to Asia and the North-South route to Rome. The city still has the old wall all the way around it and a really cute and compact city-center filled with shops and sidewalk cafes. We had a quick look around town and a cup of tea and then went back to see if Susan had arrived yet.
Waiting around the room, I was just getting restless so I decided to take my book to the lobby and wait there. I opened the door and stepped into the hall and almost ran right into my mother. My mother?! Just a few steps behind her was Susan with a big smile on her face. That wasn’t the way they planned the surprise, but I was surprised anyway.
Since it was already dinner time, we found a nice restaurant and enjoyed the heavy German cuisine. As we were leaving, we noticed that it was almost 8:00 and there was a tour starting in just a few minutes. We decided to do the Night Watchman’s tour, billed as the best evening activity in town. We met the group in the market square and waited for the Night Watchman to show up. He was easy to spot in his period clothing. He told us about life in the city in the 1600’s before the streets were paved and before they had sewers. The town’s livelihood was textiles, mainly wool from the locally raised sheep. The city walls were built to keep out raiding armies, but they didn’t always work. The town was nearly destroyed in WWII by bombs from American planes. Just before the end of the war, the Americans had orders to destroy the town to catch some high level Nazi Generals who were hiding there. But the American in charge was of German heritage, his family from Rothenburg. He didn’t want to destroy such a beautiful city. So, he met with the mayor and they figured out a way to save the town. The mayor surrendered the city in the morning, a move that made him a traitor. The generals were not found and 3 days later the war was over. After the war, the city asked for donations to help rebuild the historic walls. People were able to buy pieces of the wall in 1 meter increments and get their names posted along their section of wall.
Knowing the history of the town, we spent Saturday exploring the walls and the cute souvenir shops. Since we had the car with us, we were able to buy bigger things than most tourists can manage. The Christmas shop is where I got in the most trouble. Every day is Christmas in this little town. I got a very tall pyramid decoration. The pyramid is typically German ornament made from wood. There are candle holders around the base and the top has a propeller. The heat from the candles makes the propeller turn and all the little hand-carved figures turn around like a carrousel. As soon as I unpack it, I’ll get a picture to publish.
We really had a relaxing day, stopping when we were tired for lunch or a cup of tea, enjoying the view of the green and yellow valleys, and simply taking the time to chat and enjoy the company. I have to also say how nice this town was for tourists. They had public (and free) bathrooms all over the place, as if they wanted us to stay a while. The hotel guy was very helpful and made sure we had a map of the town and a bed long enough for Dennis. The waiter and waitresses all took time to describe their food and encourage us to try some of the seasonal specialties. At the shops, they opened packages to let me see things up close. Everyone was super-friendly and seemed to welcome tourists and Americans. The level of service stood in contrast to the business-like Dutch waiters and the surly French ones.
I was sad to have to say goodbye to Mom and Susan so soon, but on Sunday morning, we had to start the long drive back home. We found a route with less road construction, so at least the traffic wasn’t bad.
On Friday morning, Dennis and I started driving towards Frankfurt. I was apparently too optimistic in my time estimates. It was supposed to take about 4 hours to get to Frankfurt and then another 1.5 hours on to Rothenburg. Unfortunately, the road from Frankfurt to Rothenburg was one non-stop traffic jam from all the road construction. It was a bit ironic to be stuck going 30mph on the aurtobahn. We finally arrived a few hours later than planned, but still earlier than Susan whose flight was delayed.
We got settled in the really cute bed and breakfast that Susan picked out. Then, we went to explore the town a bit. Rothenburg is an old Roman fortified city built in the 1600’s at the intersection of two major trade routes, the East-West route to Asia and the North-South route to Rome. The city still has the old wall all the way around it and a really cute and compact city-center filled with shops and sidewalk cafes. We had a quick look around town and a cup of tea and then went back to see if Susan had arrived yet.
Waiting around the room, I was just getting restless so I decided to take my book to the lobby and wait there. I opened the door and stepped into the hall and almost ran right into my mother. My mother?! Just a few steps behind her was Susan with a big smile on her face. That wasn’t the way they planned the surprise, but I was surprised anyway.
Since it was already dinner time, we found a nice restaurant and enjoyed the heavy German cuisine. As we were leaving, we noticed that it was almost 8:00 and there was a tour starting in just a few minutes. We decided to do the Night Watchman’s tour, billed as the best evening activity in town. We met the group in the market square and waited for the Night Watchman to show up. He was easy to spot in his period clothing. He told us about life in the city in the 1600’s before the streets were paved and before they had sewers. The town’s livelihood was textiles, mainly wool from the locally raised sheep. The city walls were built to keep out raiding armies, but they didn’t always work. The town was nearly destroyed in WWII by bombs from American planes. Just before the end of the war, the Americans had orders to destroy the town to catch some high level Nazi Generals who were hiding there. But the American in charge was of German heritage, his family from Rothenburg. He didn’t want to destroy such a beautiful city. So, he met with the mayor and they figured out a way to save the town. The mayor surrendered the city in the morning, a move that made him a traitor. The generals were not found and 3 days later the war was over. After the war, the city asked for donations to help rebuild the historic walls. People were able to buy pieces of the wall in 1 meter increments and get their names posted along their section of wall.
Knowing the history of the town, we spent Saturday exploring the walls and the cute souvenir shops. Since we had the car with us, we were able to buy bigger things than most tourists can manage. The Christmas shop is where I got in the most trouble. Every day is Christmas in this little town. I got a very tall pyramid decoration. The pyramid is typically German ornament made from wood. There are candle holders around the base and the top has a propeller. The heat from the candles makes the propeller turn and all the little hand-carved figures turn around like a carrousel. As soon as I unpack it, I’ll get a picture to publish.
We really had a relaxing day, stopping when we were tired for lunch or a cup of tea, enjoying the view of the green and yellow valleys, and simply taking the time to chat and enjoy the company. I have to also say how nice this town was for tourists. They had public (and free) bathrooms all over the place, as if they wanted us to stay a while. The hotel guy was very helpful and made sure we had a map of the town and a bed long enough for Dennis. The waiter and waitresses all took time to describe their food and encourage us to try some of the seasonal specialties. At the shops, they opened packages to let me see things up close. Everyone was super-friendly and seemed to welcome tourists and Americans. The level of service stood in contrast to the business-like Dutch waiters and the surly French ones.
I was sad to have to say goodbye to Mom and Susan so soon, but on Sunday morning, we had to start the long drive back home. We found a route with less road construction, so at least the traffic wasn’t bad.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Flowers for Nova
One of the cool things about living in the Netherlands is that buying flowers is an everyday thing and not just for special occasions. We ordinarily don’t partake in this cultural activity because of Nova. He’s always been a disaster with flowers and plants. One of his very first accomplishments was the utter destruction of a 3 foot tall peace lily plant. He followed that up by eating the 4 foot palm plant. Fresh flowers in a vase are even messier because the water just goes everywhere. We’ve tried every now and then over the years, but Nova has been very persistent.
Last Saturday, Dennis and I were tempted by the first tulips of the season. We figured that Nova is 12 years old now and we might be able to finally trust him. That and we got a really heavy vase that might be harder to pull over. When we bought the tulips, the girl told us to soak them in cold water for an hour to freshen them before putting them in a vase. The only thing big enough to hold the tulips is the bathtub, so in they went.
Sometime later, we were sitting downstairs watching TV when we heard a ruckus upstairs. We thought it was Nova rushing down the stairs after leaving a deposit in the litter box. Sometimes in his haste to escape the poopy-smell he races down the stairs and hits the bottom with quite a thump. Sometimes there is meowing involved (Nova IS a boy after all).
Oddly, when Nova arrived back to the ground floor, he had wet feet. And they weren’t just a little wet. And really he was pretty much wet all over. Hmmm, time to investigate…I went up to the check the flowers in the bathtub and I found the bathmat rumpled and water all over the floor. The flowers in the tub appeared untouched.
Apparently, Nova was leaning over the tub trying the reach the flowers when the bathmat slipped and he fell into the tub. Let me remind you that the water was very cold which elicited some meowing. He must have managed to scamper out of the tub and probably slipped again causing a big thump. Tulips 1: Nova 0.
Maybe Nova thinks the tulips are scary now. He’s left them alone for a record amount of time. Do you think we can finally have fresh flowers in the house?
Last Saturday, Dennis and I were tempted by the first tulips of the season. We figured that Nova is 12 years old now and we might be able to finally trust him. That and we got a really heavy vase that might be harder to pull over. When we bought the tulips, the girl told us to soak them in cold water for an hour to freshen them before putting them in a vase. The only thing big enough to hold the tulips is the bathtub, so in they went.
Sometime later, we were sitting downstairs watching TV when we heard a ruckus upstairs. We thought it was Nova rushing down the stairs after leaving a deposit in the litter box. Sometimes in his haste to escape the poopy-smell he races down the stairs and hits the bottom with quite a thump. Sometimes there is meowing involved (Nova IS a boy after all).
Oddly, when Nova arrived back to the ground floor, he had wet feet. And they weren’t just a little wet. And really he was pretty much wet all over. Hmmm, time to investigate…I went up to the check the flowers in the bathtub and I found the bathmat rumpled and water all over the floor. The flowers in the tub appeared untouched.
Apparently, Nova was leaning over the tub trying the reach the flowers when the bathmat slipped and he fell into the tub. Let me remind you that the water was very cold which elicited some meowing. He must have managed to scamper out of the tub and probably slipped again causing a big thump. Tulips 1: Nova 0.
Maybe Nova thinks the tulips are scary now. He’s left them alone for a record amount of time. Do you think we can finally have fresh flowers in the house?
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Book Reviews
I’ve really been enjoying my Kindle reader and I’ve read a lot of books over the last year or so. I thought it would be nice to share my reading list for people who might be looking for some recommendations. I try to avoid depressing books and the very predictable murder-mysteries. I have recently gotten some free books from Amazon that tempted me to read outside my normal genre, though. If you know of any books that I may like, please let me know. I’m always looking for recommendations, too!
The Host by Stephanie Meyer (of Twilight fame) – If you liked the Twilight series, you will like this one too. It’s pretty much the same story with the same themes but with a different setting. This time instead of vampires, its aliens that take over the human bodies.
The Brass Bed by Jennifer Stevenson – This was a futuristic novel about how the city of Chicago deals with the new influx of magic and magical beings. It was a free book and got terrible reviews. The reviews were right – it was a waste of time.
The Angel Experiment by James Patterson – This was another free book from Amazon and it was given out as a teaser to get you hooked on the series. It was about a group of kids who were genetically modified to have wings. They escaped from the lab where they were kept in dog cages and hid out in the forest away from civilization (except for their internet access, of course). Like the Twilight series, this book seemed more geared to the teenaged set. It was fun, but like most first-in-a-series books, it left more questions than answers. I have not yet purchased the rest of the series – I’m still debating whether it’s worth it or not.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - A book based on the story of Jacob from the Bible, but written from the women’s point of view. It’s an interesting perspective and gives a glimpse of what life might have been like during the Biblical times. It was pretty entertaining, too.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks – Also a religious theme; this is the story of a Jewish prayer book that was rescued from destruction by a Muslim during the war in Sarajevo. In flashbacks, it tells how the book was written and how it was kept from destruction by the Spanish Inquisition and the Nazis over the years. I thought it was interesting to learn more about the history of Jews in Europe beyond the Holocaust.
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See – Lisa See has written some really good books over the years. This was not one of my favorites. This one was about two wealthy girls growing up in Shanghai. They immigrated to the US during the war and faced poverty and discrimination. It was OK, but not a very up-lifting book.
Sari Shop Window by Shobhan Bantwal - This was a stupid romance novel that took place in an Indian neighborhood in New Jersey. Skip this book – it was a waste of time and had nothing new to offer.
The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga – This book was about a taxi driver in India who murders his employer. He describes his life from childhood in rural India with little education to adulthood in the city where he works for the Indian upper classes. If you’re tired of reading about the problems in America, maybe you’re ready to read about the problems of another country. This was an interesting read.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett - The Help was my favorite book of the year. It tells the story of black housekeepers in Mississippi during the 60’s. It described the rules the black women had to follow to keep their jobs including using a separate toilet. Some of the stories were sad, some funny, and some happy.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston – I didn’t like this book as much as The Help, although it is considered a classic black novel. It uses the black dialect which makes it a bit more difficult to read. The story is not what you expect either. It’s more about feminism than race relations. It takes place in the 1930’s in Florida and is the story of one woman’s life.
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett – Another really good book! This one is about a builder in the 16th century who dreams of building magnificent cathedrals. After seeing so many of these cathedrals in Europe, I was interested to learn more about why the Catholic Church spent so much money on the cathedrals. It explained the economic relationships between the church and the land-owners. It also explained how they were able to build such enormous structures. There was also a plot-line that kept the whole thing interesting for people who don’t like reading dry history books!
When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe – This was a rather dark book about the war in the Philippines. It’s told from the point of view of a family hiding from the Japanese and American soldiers. It mixes reality with the mythology of the Filipinos which makes the book more unique and interesting.
Three Cups of Tea… Greg Mortinson – This is one of the very few non-fiction books that I have read, but well worth reading. Greg Mortinson was attempting to climb K2 when he got lost and was rescued by a group of Pakistanis. After seeing how they lived, he promised to come back and build them a school. He has made it his life’s mission to build more schools in Pakistan and actually advises the US military on relations with the Pakistanis. If you want to learn more about what’s going on in the Middle East, this is a great book. It gives some hope that not everyone is a suicide bomber and things can get better.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maquire - This book is just plain fun! Of course it’s the Cinderella story, but the characters are given much more personality and complexity than the original fairy tale. I was fascinated that the story takes place in the Netherlands and talks about the tulip trade and painting.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein – Written from the dog’s point of view, this book was rather disappointing. It was not nearly as entertaining or touching as Marley and Me and it was not really about car-racing either. Not worth reading…
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel by Mark Haddon – Written from the unique point of view of an autistic boy, this book was rather funny and touching. Don’t expect it to be too deep.
My Sister’s Keeper: A Novel by Jodi Picoult – I actually avoided reading this book for a while fearing it to be too much of an Oprah Winfrey book choice. I was wrong. While the book is about the morality of raising a child to be an organ donor for her sister, it was also about how family dynamics are affected by having a sick child.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair – This book is about more than how disgusting the meat processing industry was (and maybe still is). It also talks about the people who immigrated to the US to work in the meat packing plants: their hopes, desires, and disappointments. I was surprised how much of their experience was directly related to the recent home mortgage crisis. If you haven’t read this book – do so now!
The Host by Stephanie Meyer (of Twilight fame) – If you liked the Twilight series, you will like this one too. It’s pretty much the same story with the same themes but with a different setting. This time instead of vampires, its aliens that take over the human bodies.
The Brass Bed by Jennifer Stevenson – This was a futuristic novel about how the city of Chicago deals with the new influx of magic and magical beings. It was a free book and got terrible reviews. The reviews were right – it was a waste of time.
The Angel Experiment by James Patterson – This was another free book from Amazon and it was given out as a teaser to get you hooked on the series. It was about a group of kids who were genetically modified to have wings. They escaped from the lab where they were kept in dog cages and hid out in the forest away from civilization (except for their internet access, of course). Like the Twilight series, this book seemed more geared to the teenaged set. It was fun, but like most first-in-a-series books, it left more questions than answers. I have not yet purchased the rest of the series – I’m still debating whether it’s worth it or not.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - A book based on the story of Jacob from the Bible, but written from the women’s point of view. It’s an interesting perspective and gives a glimpse of what life might have been like during the Biblical times. It was pretty entertaining, too.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks – Also a religious theme; this is the story of a Jewish prayer book that was rescued from destruction by a Muslim during the war in Sarajevo. In flashbacks, it tells how the book was written and how it was kept from destruction by the Spanish Inquisition and the Nazis over the years. I thought it was interesting to learn more about the history of Jews in Europe beyond the Holocaust.
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See – Lisa See has written some really good books over the years. This was not one of my favorites. This one was about two wealthy girls growing up in Shanghai. They immigrated to the US during the war and faced poverty and discrimination. It was OK, but not a very up-lifting book.
Sari Shop Window by Shobhan Bantwal - This was a stupid romance novel that took place in an Indian neighborhood in New Jersey. Skip this book – it was a waste of time and had nothing new to offer.
The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga – This book was about a taxi driver in India who murders his employer. He describes his life from childhood in rural India with little education to adulthood in the city where he works for the Indian upper classes. If you’re tired of reading about the problems in America, maybe you’re ready to read about the problems of another country. This was an interesting read.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett - The Help was my favorite book of the year. It tells the story of black housekeepers in Mississippi during the 60’s. It described the rules the black women had to follow to keep their jobs including using a separate toilet. Some of the stories were sad, some funny, and some happy.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston – I didn’t like this book as much as The Help, although it is considered a classic black novel. It uses the black dialect which makes it a bit more difficult to read. The story is not what you expect either. It’s more about feminism than race relations. It takes place in the 1930’s in Florida and is the story of one woman’s life.
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett – Another really good book! This one is about a builder in the 16th century who dreams of building magnificent cathedrals. After seeing so many of these cathedrals in Europe, I was interested to learn more about why the Catholic Church spent so much money on the cathedrals. It explained the economic relationships between the church and the land-owners. It also explained how they were able to build such enormous structures. There was also a plot-line that kept the whole thing interesting for people who don’t like reading dry history books!
When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe – This was a rather dark book about the war in the Philippines. It’s told from the point of view of a family hiding from the Japanese and American soldiers. It mixes reality with the mythology of the Filipinos which makes the book more unique and interesting.
Three Cups of Tea… Greg Mortinson – This is one of the very few non-fiction books that I have read, but well worth reading. Greg Mortinson was attempting to climb K2 when he got lost and was rescued by a group of Pakistanis. After seeing how they lived, he promised to come back and build them a school. He has made it his life’s mission to build more schools in Pakistan and actually advises the US military on relations with the Pakistanis. If you want to learn more about what’s going on in the Middle East, this is a great book. It gives some hope that not everyone is a suicide bomber and things can get better.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maquire - This book is just plain fun! Of course it’s the Cinderella story, but the characters are given much more personality and complexity than the original fairy tale. I was fascinated that the story takes place in the Netherlands and talks about the tulip trade and painting.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein – Written from the dog’s point of view, this book was rather disappointing. It was not nearly as entertaining or touching as Marley and Me and it was not really about car-racing either. Not worth reading…
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel by Mark Haddon – Written from the unique point of view of an autistic boy, this book was rather funny and touching. Don’t expect it to be too deep.
My Sister’s Keeper: A Novel by Jodi Picoult – I actually avoided reading this book for a while fearing it to be too much of an Oprah Winfrey book choice. I was wrong. While the book is about the morality of raising a child to be an organ donor for her sister, it was also about how family dynamics are affected by having a sick child.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair – This book is about more than how disgusting the meat processing industry was (and maybe still is). It also talks about the people who immigrated to the US to work in the meat packing plants: their hopes, desires, and disappointments. I was surprised how much of their experience was directly related to the recent home mortgage crisis. If you haven’t read this book – do so now!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Back in France for Skiing
Last winter we had a really fun time skiing with a British group led by my coworker’s father. Since we had such a good time with the group, we decided to go with them again this year. Our destination was St. Gervais, France a ski resort area near Geneva. There are actually several resorts in the same area and you can get lift tickets that allow access to all the resorts. That gives the benefit of having a huge area to ski and explore – important when you on a week-long ski trip.
While the rest of the group was riding a bus from the UK to France, Dennis and I flew from Amsterdam to Geneva. The flight involved getting up at 4:30 in the morning to get the train to the airport. We decided to give ourselves a lot of time before the flight because the local trains have not been very reliable in the snowy weather we’ve been getting. But everything went smoothly and we were in Geneva before we knew it. A one-hour shuttle bus ride got us to our hotel right around lunch time. The UK group had arrived a couple hours before us and was already out skiing. We decided to take our time getting lunch and arranging the rental skis so we didn’t get to the slopes the first day.
Later, in the day the UK group got back from the slopes and it was like meeting with family. Of course, not everyone from last year was able to join us this year and there were some new faces, but it was fun to see the gang again. Since we were staying in a larger hotel this year, there were other people around who were not part of our group. Everyone was from the UK and they were all friendly even if they had very loud children. The hotel served a tea in the afternoon (did I mention that it’s a British-run hotel?) and dinner at 7:45 for all the guests.
Actually, the hotel does require a bit more description. It is located in a town in the valley, so it was not really close to the ski areas at all. The hotel ran shuttle buses to the ski hills every morning, usually two different buses (8:45 and 9:15). In the afternoon, they drove the buses back to the hotel at 4:15 or 4:30. During the day, the drivers and most of the hotel employees went skiing. This arrangement seems OK on the surface, but there was no flexibility for bad weather or if you just got tired. One day, it so foggy we gave up skiing at noon. We had to wait in a bar on the hill for four hours until it was time for the bus. Since we were in ski boots and didn’t have street shoes, we were not even able to walk around the shops in town. The town was about ½ mile from the bottom of the ski lift, so it was too far to walk in ski boots.
The food at the hotel was really good at dinner. The tea was tolerable, but breakfast was a disaster. They normally had croissants at various stages of sogginess and some ham and cheese slices. For the hot breakfast, they had weird combinations like beans, hot pears, and fried potato cakes. They served oatmeal 3 days running. But they served sausage and fried potato cakes with it. They never remembered to put napkins out and if you were a little late, there was very little left for you.
Our hotel room was very small. At least the ceilings were high enough that we could stand up in it (unlike the chalet we were in last year). But there was absolutely no ventilation in the bathroom. We had a corner room so the bathroom was very cold. The heater was on the far side of the bedroom and the heat really didn’t reach the bathroom. When we showered, there was serious condensation collecting on the walls, floor, and the sink and toilet. Hang a towel in the bathroom and it would never dry. With that much cold and damp, the shower was pretty moldy. The shower curtain was hung too far into the bathtub so it would cling around your legs when you showered. Hard to feel clean when you can’t get away from the moldy shower curtain. Yuck! To make it even worse, the staff did not clean the rooms. They came in every day, but we decided all they did was make the bed and turn the heat off. Turning the heat off only made the moisture problem worse. By the middle of the week, the towels stunk, but they never replaced them. I was not impressed. It seemed like the staff was spending more time skiing than taking care of their customers.
But a fun ski group makes up for a lot, and we still had a great time skiing. I spent a lot of time with a group of about 7 people. I was the youngest and most of the time I was the slowest. The oldest in our group was 82. Did you know that when you are over 80, you get free lift tickets? Her secret for fast skiing was to not make any turns. You just make yourself tired by making all those turns. I probably skied 4 times further because I like to make a lot of turns to keep my speed under control. The only time I skied faster was when the conditions were challenging. In the fog, I was a rock star!
Skiing in the fog is really pretty fun. We got into a fog bank so thick, we couldn’t see anything but white. Thank goodness the run was groomed because that was our only slue that we were still on the run. We watched which direction the grooming lines went and followed them. Stopping was interesting, too. Without the visual clues, it was hard to tell if you had really stopped or not. It was like being drunk. We would try to stop and fall over because we were so disoriented. One person in our group got motion sick from the sensation. We also skied right past the lift that we needed and we ended up in the wrong place entirely.
We had a couple days with sunshine and it was really nice to be able to see the views. On one of the sunny days, I was feeling really good (finally had my new ski boots broken in and adjusted correctly) and we skied with a guide that day. The guide was awesome because he took us on all the best runs and we didn’t waste any time trying to read the maps. If you’ve ever been skiing before, you know that they mark the runs by difficulty – but there is no definitive way to rate how hard a run is so some runs marked as easy are really hard and vice versa. A guide knows which runs will suit your ability, no matter how it is marked on the map. That was our best day of skiing.
The last day we skied was also awesome. We had about a foot of fresh powder over night. Even though it was still snowing, the visibility remained OK. The snow was light enough that it just fluffed over the top of your skis like down feathers. As people skied on it, the snow started to pile up into bumps that made it a little more challenging. These are the kind of conditions that I’m more used to, so it was easier for me than the rest of the group. The others preferred the fast groomed runs with no bumps. It’s more common in Europe to have all the runs groomed every night. In the US, if there is fresh snow, they don’t groom the runs. So, if you like skiing in fresh snow, stay in the US. If you love skiing really fast on groomed runs, Europe is right for you.
Dennis was having a lot of fun on the last day and almost missed the bus back to the hotel. I was getting really worried because we had a flight to catch and limited time to get our shuttle bus to the airport. I shouldn’t have worried about Dennis, though. He made it in the nick of time to the bus, but our shuttle bus was a full hour late. It’s a good thing I always schedule to be at the airport 2 hours before the flight. Even with the hour delay, we easily made our flight home.
While the rest of the group was riding a bus from the UK to France, Dennis and I flew from Amsterdam to Geneva. The flight involved getting up at 4:30 in the morning to get the train to the airport. We decided to give ourselves a lot of time before the flight because the local trains have not been very reliable in the snowy weather we’ve been getting. But everything went smoothly and we were in Geneva before we knew it. A one-hour shuttle bus ride got us to our hotel right around lunch time. The UK group had arrived a couple hours before us and was already out skiing. We decided to take our time getting lunch and arranging the rental skis so we didn’t get to the slopes the first day.
Later, in the day the UK group got back from the slopes and it was like meeting with family. Of course, not everyone from last year was able to join us this year and there were some new faces, but it was fun to see the gang again. Since we were staying in a larger hotel this year, there were other people around who were not part of our group. Everyone was from the UK and they were all friendly even if they had very loud children. The hotel served a tea in the afternoon (did I mention that it’s a British-run hotel?) and dinner at 7:45 for all the guests.
Actually, the hotel does require a bit more description. It is located in a town in the valley, so it was not really close to the ski areas at all. The hotel ran shuttle buses to the ski hills every morning, usually two different buses (8:45 and 9:15). In the afternoon, they drove the buses back to the hotel at 4:15 or 4:30. During the day, the drivers and most of the hotel employees went skiing. This arrangement seems OK on the surface, but there was no flexibility for bad weather or if you just got tired. One day, it so foggy we gave up skiing at noon. We had to wait in a bar on the hill for four hours until it was time for the bus. Since we were in ski boots and didn’t have street shoes, we were not even able to walk around the shops in town. The town was about ½ mile from the bottom of the ski lift, so it was too far to walk in ski boots.
The food at the hotel was really good at dinner. The tea was tolerable, but breakfast was a disaster. They normally had croissants at various stages of sogginess and some ham and cheese slices. For the hot breakfast, they had weird combinations like beans, hot pears, and fried potato cakes. They served oatmeal 3 days running. But they served sausage and fried potato cakes with it. They never remembered to put napkins out and if you were a little late, there was very little left for you.
Our hotel room was very small. At least the ceilings were high enough that we could stand up in it (unlike the chalet we were in last year). But there was absolutely no ventilation in the bathroom. We had a corner room so the bathroom was very cold. The heater was on the far side of the bedroom and the heat really didn’t reach the bathroom. When we showered, there was serious condensation collecting on the walls, floor, and the sink and toilet. Hang a towel in the bathroom and it would never dry. With that much cold and damp, the shower was pretty moldy. The shower curtain was hung too far into the bathtub so it would cling around your legs when you showered. Hard to feel clean when you can’t get away from the moldy shower curtain. Yuck! To make it even worse, the staff did not clean the rooms. They came in every day, but we decided all they did was make the bed and turn the heat off. Turning the heat off only made the moisture problem worse. By the middle of the week, the towels stunk, but they never replaced them. I was not impressed. It seemed like the staff was spending more time skiing than taking care of their customers.
But a fun ski group makes up for a lot, and we still had a great time skiing. I spent a lot of time with a group of about 7 people. I was the youngest and most of the time I was the slowest. The oldest in our group was 82. Did you know that when you are over 80, you get free lift tickets? Her secret for fast skiing was to not make any turns. You just make yourself tired by making all those turns. I probably skied 4 times further because I like to make a lot of turns to keep my speed under control. The only time I skied faster was when the conditions were challenging. In the fog, I was a rock star!
Skiing in the fog is really pretty fun. We got into a fog bank so thick, we couldn’t see anything but white. Thank goodness the run was groomed because that was our only slue that we were still on the run. We watched which direction the grooming lines went and followed them. Stopping was interesting, too. Without the visual clues, it was hard to tell if you had really stopped or not. It was like being drunk. We would try to stop and fall over because we were so disoriented. One person in our group got motion sick from the sensation. We also skied right past the lift that we needed and we ended up in the wrong place entirely.
We had a couple days with sunshine and it was really nice to be able to see the views. On one of the sunny days, I was feeling really good (finally had my new ski boots broken in and adjusted correctly) and we skied with a guide that day. The guide was awesome because he took us on all the best runs and we didn’t waste any time trying to read the maps. If you’ve ever been skiing before, you know that they mark the runs by difficulty – but there is no definitive way to rate how hard a run is so some runs marked as easy are really hard and vice versa. A guide knows which runs will suit your ability, no matter how it is marked on the map. That was our best day of skiing.
The last day we skied was also awesome. We had about a foot of fresh powder over night. Even though it was still snowing, the visibility remained OK. The snow was light enough that it just fluffed over the top of your skis like down feathers. As people skied on it, the snow started to pile up into bumps that made it a little more challenging. These are the kind of conditions that I’m more used to, so it was easier for me than the rest of the group. The others preferred the fast groomed runs with no bumps. It’s more common in Europe to have all the runs groomed every night. In the US, if there is fresh snow, they don’t groom the runs. So, if you like skiing in fresh snow, stay in the US. If you love skiing really fast on groomed runs, Europe is right for you.
Dennis was having a lot of fun on the last day and almost missed the bus back to the hotel. I was getting really worried because we had a flight to catch and limited time to get our shuttle bus to the airport. I shouldn’t have worried about Dennis, though. He made it in the nick of time to the bus, but our shuttle bus was a full hour late. It’s a good thing I always schedule to be at the airport 2 hours before the flight. Even with the hour delay, we easily made our flight home.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Paris!
Back in 2001, Dennis and I visited Paris, but the museum workers were on strike and we were not able to see the Louvre. Now that we are so close to Paris, it was a no-brainer that we would make the trip. We hate to waste good summer weather in a city looking at museums, so we decided to go in the winter. It seemed fitting to see the City of Lights during the holiday season.
Our tour began with a 3 hour train ride from Amsterdam to Paris. Armed with our trusty Rick Steves Paris guidebook (on Kindle of course), we easily made the transition from the international train to the local metro train. After the rather modern trains we are used to riding in the Netherlands, we were surprised that the Paris Metro trains are rickety vintage things that shake, rattle, and roll. A ride on the Metro reminded me of Mister Toad’s Wild Ride – yikes! Despite the age, we found the Metro to be convenient and cheap. Train rides in the Netherlands are 3-5 euros at the minimum and can be quite pricey for long rides. The Metro was a little more than one euro per ride – probably more comparable to the trams in Amsterdam.
Our quaint hotel was located near the Eiffel Tower, in a neighborhood with a pedestrian-only shopping street. The room had everything we needed except space to walk around the bed, but that’s typical for European hotel rooms. We didn’t spend much time in the room anyway. We arrived pretty late on the night after Christmas, so we just grabbed a quick bite and went to sleep.
Priority number one was to visit the Louvre, but breakfast was first. We had our French breakfast in one of the numerous cafes near the hotel. A French breakfast is a bit weird to me. You get coffee or tea, orange juice, a croissant and French bread with butter. It seems a bit heavy on carbs to me. A Dutch person would be wondering why there wasn’t any cheese. After breakfast, we walked to the Louvre. It was a bit further than we thought it would be, but it’s fun to look at everything while you walk.
The Louvre was disappointing in some ways. All the “famous” art was mobbed with crowds. The Mona Lisa is quite small and impossible to see with all the people jockeying to get the best picture of the painting. We moved rather quickly through the important pieces with the help of the Rick Steves audio tour that we downloaded from the computer before we left. After the audio tour, we explored a bit more on our own. We found some really cool stuff that nobody else seemed to care about. It was nice to appreciate the art without so many people. We ended up staying until about 3:30 in the afternoon – pretty long for us in an art museum!
We walked back to the hotel and managed to see the Paris Christmas market on the Champs Elysees. It was getting pretty dark as we got closer to our hotel – so dark it was impossible to read the street signs OR the map. When we finally made it back, we were exhausted from walking so much – and hungry! With little energy to explore further, we found a restaurant close to the hotel and enjoyed a lovely dinner. After Dutch food, all the food in Paris is lovely!
Day 2 was the Orangerie museum. Since the Orangerie didn’t open until 12:30, we spent the morning exploring the Sacre Coer Cathedral on the north end of the city. It’s a pretty cathedral in the part of town where the artists hung out in the 1800’s. It’s a fairly seedy part of town now – but it probably was then as well. You know those artist types! We had lunch in a café near Pig Alley – the red light district. I felt the need to wash my hands frequently. It is surprising that Amsterdam is so well known for its red light district, but this area was larger and at least as colorful (just lacking the prostitutes behind glass).
The Orangerie museum houses a large set of Water Lilly paintings that Monet created specifically for this building. They were quite pretty, but as usual, we found the other exhibits more interesting. This is a small museum so we had some free time in the afternoon to explore a bit more of the museum neighborhood. We walked and we walked and we walked. After our long walk the day before, I was getting pretty tired. We had time for an afternoon break and to find a proper restaurant for dinner. The guidebook had plenty of recommendations and we easily chose one. After walking around all day, we were ready for dinner around 6:30, meaning we’d be dining with the tourists and not the locals. That was OK, but we ended up eating with American tourists. I think every group in the small restaurant had a copy of Rick Steve’s Paris. The food was good, but come on!
Day 3 was the Museum d’Orsay. This was actually the main event for me – the museum I really wanted to see – full of the French Impressionists like Monet, Degas, Renoir, and the rest. All the art is housed in a former train station which was beautiful in its own right. My only complaint was the dearth of bathrooms. There were a grand total of 6 stalls for women. 6 stalls for a huge and hugely popular museum! This should be a crime. But in the Netherlands, you are likely to have to pay for the bathroom even after you have paid admission, so maybe I should be thankful. Aside from the lack of bathrooms, the art was phenomenal. We couldn’t get close to any of the Degas paintings which seem to be quite popular, but I really like Tolouse Latreck. As an odd coincidence, a Degas painting from the Orsay collection was stolen on New Year’s Eve from another museum that had borrowed it for a temporary exhibit. I’m not sure why everyone wants to take a picture of the paintings. You can buy lovely postcards of all the favorites in the gift store – higher quality and no random heads in the way.
Day 4, we probably wandered around a bit aimlessly because we didn’t have much of a plan. We saw the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Ile St. Louis, an upscale neighborhood on an island next to Notre Dame. We didn’t have much of a plan for dinner either –except to avoid the Rick Steves crowd. We walked south of the Eiffel Tower into a neighborhood that didn’t seem to have any tourist attractions. Most of the restaurants and stores were closed, but we finally found one that was open. We didn’t spend much time reading the menu, just made sure it wasn’t 200 dollars a plate. As we entered at about 7:00, we were the only customers. They graciously took our coats and seated us in the small dining room. The waiter helped us a bit with the French menu, which was nice because I almost ordered squid by accident. The waitress, an older overweigh grandmotherly type, brought our first course. On a small plate she placed a tablet that looked like an antacid, but she said in her very limited English, “No eat!” She poured warm water from a pitcher over the tablet and it expanded into a napkin to clean our hands with. One of the few French words I know is serviette because the British tend to use this term for napkin as well. Kind of like a Far Side comic, I heard her say, “Blah, blah, blah serviette. Blah, blah, blah.”
My first course was a cream soup. You might be wondering as I was, “Cream of what?” The answer: cream. It was a cream soup with a garnish of balsamic vinegar and parsley oil, but I could not identify any flavor in the soup besides cream. It was like going to heaven. Dennis ordered the escargot (yes, snails), but they were served in a different style than the normal butter-garlic presentation. These were in a tasty stew with andouille sausage and tomatoes. For my main course, I had scallops on a bed of pureed celery root. I’ll have to try cooking celery root this way because it was really wonderful. Dennis had white fish cooked a la Provence, which means with tomatoes. At this point I should also mention the wine that was like no other wine I’ve ever had. It was a white wine, but dark yellow in color. It tasted just a bit like sherry, but very dry. It complimented the fish perfectly, “My, what a lovely fish you are, such beautiful eyes and kissable lips.” Just kidding. But it was really good. For dessert, Dennis had the better pick a chocolate cake with the molten center. My Grand Marnier soufflé was also good, but it wasn’t chocolate. I should have asked him to trade, but I don’t think he loves me THAT much! As we enjoyed our food, the restaurant was filling up with mostly French people. It was nice to eat in a less touristy spot.
On our last day in Paris, we took a walking tour (but of course!) that took us through the St. Sulpice Church. For those who have read the Da Vinci Code, you might recognize the name of the church. The tour guide told us all about the architecture of the church and described the history of how it was a pagan temple for some time after the French Revolution. We also walked through much of the Latin Quarter learning about the people who made this area famous. I leaned more about Paris in 2 hours than I did in a lifetime. I wished that we had done the walking tour at the beginning of our trip – maybe we would have found time to do a couple more. But alas, it was time to head back home.
We made it back home in time to watch the New Year’s fireworks at midnight. I fell into bed exhausted from walking nearly 10 miles a day for the last 4 days.
Our tour began with a 3 hour train ride from Amsterdam to Paris. Armed with our trusty Rick Steves Paris guidebook (on Kindle of course), we easily made the transition from the international train to the local metro train. After the rather modern trains we are used to riding in the Netherlands, we were surprised that the Paris Metro trains are rickety vintage things that shake, rattle, and roll. A ride on the Metro reminded me of Mister Toad’s Wild Ride – yikes! Despite the age, we found the Metro to be convenient and cheap. Train rides in the Netherlands are 3-5 euros at the minimum and can be quite pricey for long rides. The Metro was a little more than one euro per ride – probably more comparable to the trams in Amsterdam.
Our quaint hotel was located near the Eiffel Tower, in a neighborhood with a pedestrian-only shopping street. The room had everything we needed except space to walk around the bed, but that’s typical for European hotel rooms. We didn’t spend much time in the room anyway. We arrived pretty late on the night after Christmas, so we just grabbed a quick bite and went to sleep.
Priority number one was to visit the Louvre, but breakfast was first. We had our French breakfast in one of the numerous cafes near the hotel. A French breakfast is a bit weird to me. You get coffee or tea, orange juice, a croissant and French bread with butter. It seems a bit heavy on carbs to me. A Dutch person would be wondering why there wasn’t any cheese. After breakfast, we walked to the Louvre. It was a bit further than we thought it would be, but it’s fun to look at everything while you walk.
The Louvre was disappointing in some ways. All the “famous” art was mobbed with crowds. The Mona Lisa is quite small and impossible to see with all the people jockeying to get the best picture of the painting. We moved rather quickly through the important pieces with the help of the Rick Steves audio tour that we downloaded from the computer before we left. After the audio tour, we explored a bit more on our own. We found some really cool stuff that nobody else seemed to care about. It was nice to appreciate the art without so many people. We ended up staying until about 3:30 in the afternoon – pretty long for us in an art museum!
We walked back to the hotel and managed to see the Paris Christmas market on the Champs Elysees. It was getting pretty dark as we got closer to our hotel – so dark it was impossible to read the street signs OR the map. When we finally made it back, we were exhausted from walking so much – and hungry! With little energy to explore further, we found a restaurant close to the hotel and enjoyed a lovely dinner. After Dutch food, all the food in Paris is lovely!
Day 2 was the Orangerie museum. Since the Orangerie didn’t open until 12:30, we spent the morning exploring the Sacre Coer Cathedral on the north end of the city. It’s a pretty cathedral in the part of town where the artists hung out in the 1800’s. It’s a fairly seedy part of town now – but it probably was then as well. You know those artist types! We had lunch in a café near Pig Alley – the red light district. I felt the need to wash my hands frequently. It is surprising that Amsterdam is so well known for its red light district, but this area was larger and at least as colorful (just lacking the prostitutes behind glass).
The Orangerie museum houses a large set of Water Lilly paintings that Monet created specifically for this building. They were quite pretty, but as usual, we found the other exhibits more interesting. This is a small museum so we had some free time in the afternoon to explore a bit more of the museum neighborhood. We walked and we walked and we walked. After our long walk the day before, I was getting pretty tired. We had time for an afternoon break and to find a proper restaurant for dinner. The guidebook had plenty of recommendations and we easily chose one. After walking around all day, we were ready for dinner around 6:30, meaning we’d be dining with the tourists and not the locals. That was OK, but we ended up eating with American tourists. I think every group in the small restaurant had a copy of Rick Steve’s Paris. The food was good, but come on!
Day 3 was the Museum d’Orsay. This was actually the main event for me – the museum I really wanted to see – full of the French Impressionists like Monet, Degas, Renoir, and the rest. All the art is housed in a former train station which was beautiful in its own right. My only complaint was the dearth of bathrooms. There were a grand total of 6 stalls for women. 6 stalls for a huge and hugely popular museum! This should be a crime. But in the Netherlands, you are likely to have to pay for the bathroom even after you have paid admission, so maybe I should be thankful. Aside from the lack of bathrooms, the art was phenomenal. We couldn’t get close to any of the Degas paintings which seem to be quite popular, but I really like Tolouse Latreck. As an odd coincidence, a Degas painting from the Orsay collection was stolen on New Year’s Eve from another museum that had borrowed it for a temporary exhibit. I’m not sure why everyone wants to take a picture of the paintings. You can buy lovely postcards of all the favorites in the gift store – higher quality and no random heads in the way.
Day 4, we probably wandered around a bit aimlessly because we didn’t have much of a plan. We saw the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Ile St. Louis, an upscale neighborhood on an island next to Notre Dame. We didn’t have much of a plan for dinner either –except to avoid the Rick Steves crowd. We walked south of the Eiffel Tower into a neighborhood that didn’t seem to have any tourist attractions. Most of the restaurants and stores were closed, but we finally found one that was open. We didn’t spend much time reading the menu, just made sure it wasn’t 200 dollars a plate. As we entered at about 7:00, we were the only customers. They graciously took our coats and seated us in the small dining room. The waiter helped us a bit with the French menu, which was nice because I almost ordered squid by accident. The waitress, an older overweigh grandmotherly type, brought our first course. On a small plate she placed a tablet that looked like an antacid, but she said in her very limited English, “No eat!” She poured warm water from a pitcher over the tablet and it expanded into a napkin to clean our hands with. One of the few French words I know is serviette because the British tend to use this term for napkin as well. Kind of like a Far Side comic, I heard her say, “Blah, blah, blah serviette. Blah, blah, blah.”
My first course was a cream soup. You might be wondering as I was, “Cream of what?” The answer: cream. It was a cream soup with a garnish of balsamic vinegar and parsley oil, but I could not identify any flavor in the soup besides cream. It was like going to heaven. Dennis ordered the escargot (yes, snails), but they were served in a different style than the normal butter-garlic presentation. These were in a tasty stew with andouille sausage and tomatoes. For my main course, I had scallops on a bed of pureed celery root. I’ll have to try cooking celery root this way because it was really wonderful. Dennis had white fish cooked a la Provence, which means with tomatoes. At this point I should also mention the wine that was like no other wine I’ve ever had. It was a white wine, but dark yellow in color. It tasted just a bit like sherry, but very dry. It complimented the fish perfectly, “My, what a lovely fish you are, such beautiful eyes and kissable lips.” Just kidding. But it was really good. For dessert, Dennis had the better pick a chocolate cake with the molten center. My Grand Marnier soufflé was also good, but it wasn’t chocolate. I should have asked him to trade, but I don’t think he loves me THAT much! As we enjoyed our food, the restaurant was filling up with mostly French people. It was nice to eat in a less touristy spot.
On our last day in Paris, we took a walking tour (but of course!) that took us through the St. Sulpice Church. For those who have read the Da Vinci Code, you might recognize the name of the church. The tour guide told us all about the architecture of the church and described the history of how it was a pagan temple for some time after the French Revolution. We also walked through much of the Latin Quarter learning about the people who made this area famous. I leaned more about Paris in 2 hours than I did in a lifetime. I wished that we had done the walking tour at the beginning of our trip – maybe we would have found time to do a couple more. But alas, it was time to head back home.
We made it back home in time to watch the New Year’s fireworks at midnight. I fell into bed exhausted from walking nearly 10 miles a day for the last 4 days.
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