Holland Snow

It has only snowed twice here this winter. The first time was a dusting that melted quickly. Last week the snow actually stayed around for a day. Have to say that it was beautiful, but we are glad we haven't had the bitter cold that the midwest US has experienced lately.

Holidays 2006

Our first Christmas holiday in The Netherlands could have been lonely but ended up being anything but. Our friend Jon came to visit, we met up with our nephew Tommy, and we had a visit from Flat Stanley!

Jon came in on the 14th and stayed in Amsterdam for the weekend. We spent Sunday exploring Amsterdam; on Monday we picked him up and Tuesday we were on the road. We had decided to visit some Christmas markets in France and Germany. Along the way we stopped in Bouillon, Belgium to check out the 1000-year old Bouillon castle.


Pictured (click to enlarge); View from Bouillon castle, Flat Stanley on the torture rack (this pic didn't make it into his report for obvious reasons!)

Our next stop was Strasbourg (check out the archives - previous post for Alsace-Lorraine). The highlight was our quick daytrip to three favorite wineries, the result of which was a crowded back seat. The food in Alsace is great but gets old fast -- how much sauerkraut, sausage, and onion tart can you eat? Also, let's just say that the food can be a little "rustic" -- not quite to the taste of adventurous but sometimes squeamish Americans. The recommendations from the owner of one particularly authentic cafe were as follows:
Baeckeoffe de joues (joues de boeuf, pied de veau) Translation: casserole of cheeks (ox cheeks, calf's foot)
Tête de veau ravigote Translation: Calf's head (an Alsatian specialty ... yum!)

Furthermore, a special not on the menu was lovingly translated by the owner as "Bambi." Now, we ended up having a nice meal (Jon & Rich: chicken, Rochelle: sauerkraut & sausage), and the owner couldn't have been nicer, but it was all we could do not to totally crack up as we ordered.

Pictured: shopping street at night, Strasbourg cathedral

On to Germany: we stayed in Koblenz so that we could visit the Marksburg castle. We just made the last tour after a panicked hike from the lower parking lot to the visitor entrance. It was just the three of us plus our guide, who conducted the tour in english for us. The castle sits high above the Rhine river and is also very old – it was started in the 1200s, and during the 1800s it was actually used as a prison.

The next day we drove to Munster but made two stops. First, we visited the beautiful Romanesque abbey of Maria Laach, located on the shore of a volcanic lake. Midday we visited Koln (Cologne). The cathedral is magnificent and we visited one of three markets there, sampling the gluhwein & bratwurst.


Pictured: Marksburg castle, Maria Laach, Kolner Dom

Munster has rebuilt its center nicely and although beautiful the streets have a strange sameness (and being northern the buildings look very Dutch). The market was fun, we tried some gluhwein with other liqueurs added in (rum & amaretto) and the market was even more fun. We went to a bar after dinner -- sitting at the bar, the bartenders were very nice about putting up with Rich's very bad attempts at German.

For those of you who haven't been to northern Germany or the Netherlands, "normal" beers here are quite small, about 10 ounces or so. If you want something closer to a pint you have to ask for it. Sometimes you get a slightly disapproving look when you order a bigger beer. While we were sitting at the bar, a waitress came up to the bar and mocked some customers, saying REALLY loud "TWO BIG BEERS PLEEZE" much to the chagrin of the bartenders, who obviously knew we were english-speaking. We decided to let them off the hook and Rich said "Oh, there must be some other Americans here." The waitress didn't skip a beat, replying "No, they're British!" We all had a good laugh and "two big beers pleeze" is now part of our vocabulary.
(ps, if you doubt the beer size story, check out expatica.com's "guide to dutch beer at www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=34&story_id=1667 )

Pictured: Munster at night

From Munster we headed back to Wassenaar (Rich was adamant that we make it back before the stores closed) for a couple of days of relaxation around Christmas. The day after we hopped on a plane to London. Although expensive, we love London, it's so diverse and has a lot to offer. We visited Harrod's for the famous after Christmas sale (never again), saw three musicals, dropped into umpteen pubs, and visited Hampton Court (Henry VIII's palace), saw mice in the underground, and so on.

Pictured: dancing at Hampton Court, another Flat Stanley picture that didn't make his report

We were lucky enough to spend a day with our nephew Tommy, who was in London with his high school marching band to perform in the New Year's Day Parade. We started the day at Starbucks (Rich has been going through withdrawals), went on the London Eye, visited the Tower of London, waited in the rain for the London Dungeon, and dropped him off at Westminster Cathedral. We had a great time and particularly liked egging him on by the tower ravens ... they looked like they were in the mood for some American food. Speaking of food, we lunched at a pub, a slightly controversial choice but a great place for some real English fish & chips.

Pictured: Tommy & Rich across the Thames from the "Eye"

We returned to Wassenaar for New Year's Eve. The tradition here is for families to buy fireworks (the real stuff). At midnight you really wouldn't believe how many fireworks are going off in all directions. The neighbors were out, so we ventured out to join them. Friendly as always, they explained that the city tried to ban fireworks around the windmill (after all, it is 300 years old and made of wood), but it was useless so they finally repealed the ban. The next day the streets are literally covered with junk -- the remnants of thousands of different fireworks, sparklers, and bottle rockets. The weather wasn't great (kind of a sleety rain) but that didn't stop the celebration.

The next day we dropped Jon at the airport and spent a quiet day recuperating, watching the Simpsons, and breaking into some of the Alsation cremant (sparkling wine) we picked up on our trip. And although we missed family & friends we had very little time to be homesick!

Italy part III -- food and wine

It's no surprise to those who know us that a major draw of Italy is the food and wine. We had a great time exploring and trying new things. In Rome we happened to luck out one night. It was just around the time most restaurants open -- 7:30 -- and we were in an area not particularly known for good restaurants. But our guidebook listed a small, authentic restaurant (Colline Emiliane) nearby, so we popped in. There wasn't anyone else in the restaurant yet, but when we asked the owner said that he had one table left to give us. The place soon filled up, and we watched as countless people came in and were turned away. The food was great--simple and delicious--and we felt very lucky to have been the only non-reserved diners that evening.

Note the resemblance!

Another unique experience in Rome was the brunch near the Piazza del Popolo. It was warm enough (with a little help from the heaters) to sit outside, and the way the brunch worked was you filled up your plate and it was weighed. The basic charge covered a certain weight, and an extra charge was added per gram over the set weight. We did pretty good at coming in just a little over, and the wine was so good we went around the back to the small wine bar and had a couple more glasses. That was a great start to the sightseeing for the day!

Art or food?

In Florence, food is art, as we saw in many places ... meats, cheeses and bread displayed artfully and architecturally. The enotecas we lunched in offered not just ordinary meat platters but the opportunity to try four prosciutti from local pigs versus four from wild boar (Cinghiale). Cheeses are offered up with a variety of mustards and honey to highlight their flavors. Of course, this must all be enjoyed while sampling Tuscan wine varietals (such hard work!).

When in Florence, it's practically a law that meals must be followed with a cappuccino, vin santo (dessert wine) and some biscotti. Two hour lunches were, to quote Cole Porter, delightful, delicious, and de-lovely!

Art is not just for meat and cheese. These penguins were ready to march right into our mouths! These little guys were in a shop off the main square in Florence.

Statue of Bacchus on the Arno river

Florence is filled with a great selection of enotecas. The first we went to was connected to a Tuscan winery, and we had a nice waiter who helped us select from the appetizer plates, crostini and wines (Cantinetta del Verrazzano).

We found another great spot just over the river ... we stopped in for a late lunch one day and were greeted by the very friendly and enthusiastic owner. Again it was warm enough to sit outside and try the selection of local meats and cheeses (Le Volpi el'Uva). The guidebook described it as relaxed, mellow and welcoming -- a perfect description.

Another great lunch in Florence was in a deli-restaurant (Olio e Convivium, pictured above -- a bit blurry as we were trying not to use the flash). The small dining room was decorated with chalk boards of specials, walls of wine bottles, and all of the meats, cheeses, and olive oils were on display.

Pictured: Tuscan villas, view from winery

We didn't rent a car on this trip, but we wanted a chance to see some of the Tuscan countryside, so we decided on a half-day bus trip into the Chianti wine region. We were a little concerned about who would take the tour, but it turned out to be a good mix of young/old from a variety of English-speaking countries. Our destination was the Castello del Trebbio, a castle that is family owned (and lived in); they produce wine and olive oil.

Pictured: Castello del Trebbio

After a nice tour we had a wine and olive oil tasting. We sat next to a couple of American guys who were separated from the rest of their party. They were acting a little strange ... after drinking the wine one guy would say "this is fruity" and the other would say "no, I'm fruity" ... turns out they had been drinking and playing cards the night before, and this was their payment for a lost bet! We ended up running into them again a couple of days later, at the McDonald's at the train station. Guess you can take Americans out of America, but not vice-versa!

Pictured: We don't know why anyone would name a cafe for a spleen, but we really liked the americana playing on the tv!

Ciao (or Chow)!

Italy part II -- Florence

A quick train ride from Rome and we were in Florence (Firenza). The first thing you notice is that there are statues everywhere! The most famous is Michelangelo's David, which is housed in the Accademia museum but a copy is on display in it's original location in the Piazza della Signoria. The viewing experience in the museum is quite nice, you really have time to admire the statue, unlike the crowded, noisy experience of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. But back on the streets you can barely turn around without seeing some sort of statue or architectural element, which means it's never boring even if you make the same journey many times like we did.

Pictured: David (copy, at night), Statue at the Orsanmichele church, Monument to the heroes of Mentana

The buildings that define the skyline are the Duomo cathedral, the Campanile belltower, and the fortress-like Palazzo Vecchio. The marble-guilded churches are quite unique; the inside of the duomo is quite plain except for the painted dome.

Pictured: Duomo, Campanile, Palazzo Vecchio

A short walk across the famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio, brings you to the church of Santa Maria del Carmine. A fire in 1771 all but destroyed the church, but miraculously the Capella Brancacci and it's frescos were spared. Started in 1424 by Masolino and Masaccio, the frescos depict the life of St. Peter and is also famous for the depictions of Adam and Eve before and after being expelled from the Garden of Eden. A counterpoint to the horror of the expulsion is the touch of humor of the sleeping soldier. Also at the church is a fresco of the Last Supper, which like many medieval paintings included cats at the foot of the table ... likely meant as an evil representation due to a cat's independent spirit (as opposed to a dog's loyalty).






Pictured: Adam & Eve (before/Masolino, after/Masaccio), sleeping soldier, cats from the Last Supper


One of our favorite statues was this fountain near San Lorenzo. Reminds us of the monkeys from The Wizard of Oz!



We were really surprised at the numbers of Americans we saw & heard -- on the train, in cyber cafes, and at the art school. There's even an English-language theater company, and we took the opportunity to celebrate the holiday season with a performance of "The Reindeer Monologues." It was pretty funny to hear a wide variety of accents tackling a farce about dissension among Santa's reindeer.


Florence is filled with small alleys/streets and you never know what you'll find when you venture down one. On the south side of the river we were drawn by a unique metal dragon. Inside the shop an old man was metalworking, and his friend offered to let us into his workshop to see some of this creations. He pointed to a board of pictures from San Francisco ... turns out that a rich visitor to Florence saw his work and paid for the artist to go to San Fran and design/build a custom metal staircase. We really liked some of his animal sculptures but got cold feet about asking prices. Florence's association with metalworking is also evident in the jewelery shops on the Ponte Vecchio bridge. The bridge is famous for men who declare their love by putting a lock on the lightpost and throwing away the key as an expression of everlasting love.

Florence was definitely one of our all-time favorite stops, not only because of the art but because of the people, the culture, and the food! We'll talk about our culinary adventures in a separate chapter.