Thursday, October 10, 2013

Amsterdam!


Amsterdam is an incredibly fun city.  Our day began with a walk from the Lehman flat to the Van Gogh museum.  The museum was founded in 1973 and located in a building designed by Gerrit Rietveld. The museum's collection is the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world. In 2012, the museum had an estimated 1,438,000 visitors, which makes it the most visited museum in the Netherlands and the 30th most visited art museum worldwide.  
Upon Vincent van Gogh's death in 1890, his work not sold fell into the possession of his brother Theo. Theo died six months after Vincent, leaving the work in the possession of his widow, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. Selling many of Vincent's paintings with the ambition of spreading knowledge of his artwork, Johanna maintained a private collection of his works.  That collection eventually found its way into possession of the Van Gogh foundation and then into the museum when it opened in 1973.
Through the tour of the museum we learned about the artist life, his struggles with depression, his time in a mental institution and his struggles with money all which came out in his paintings.  Walking through the museum and viewing the paintings was overwhelming. The colors, the thickness of the paint, the brushstrokes ranging from little dots to long half circles all to bring accent or subtle shadows to his works is incredible.  His life was a sad one but his work is awesome.

Sunflowers - one of my favorites
Sunset was recently discovered and authenticated as a Van Gogh original and added to the museum collection in the last month. 
Van Gogh's brush strokes and think paint details are absolutaly incredible

Following the Van Gogh museum we took a tour of the canals by boat. We learned about Amsterdam's rich history, architecture and the layout of the city.  The canals seem endless and the bridges and buildings were beautiful. Amsterdam is an easy city to navigate and very walkable (watch out for bikes and trams) and we enjoyed walking the streets and exploring the neighborhoods after our canal tour.  
Exploring the neighborhood
Coffee house?
 Kathy's work research.


In the afternoon I toured the Ann Frank house and museum.  I first read The Diary of Ann Frank in Junior High as required reading.  At that time it was difficult to put into context a living arrangement of two families stuck in a very small attic for over two years.  The tour through the museum begins in the warehouse where Otto worked.  Up narrow staircases and through tight corridors and past the bookcase which covered the door to the annex.  Seeing the blacked out windows and tight curtains and walking the worn wooden floor in the small space was stirring.  Ann wrote that the walls were plain and documented gluing pictures from cinema magazines on the wall and seeing those cuttings on the wall brought an overwhelming level of emotion to the hardship these families endure in hope of waiting out the war hidden from the Nazi's.  In the end the families were betrayed and taken to Auschwitz.  Only Otto survived there and it is assumed that Ann's remains were discarded in a mass grave at the concentration camp just two months before liberation.  There are too many layers to this story to write about in a short blog post. I will read the diary again this time with more amazement at a 13 year old jewish girl describing life hiding in the annex. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Amsterdam and ended our day with an amazing dinner at an Indonesian restaurant near Russ and Katy's flat.  We both agree it's one of the best meals we've ever had. We were served Rijs tafel (rice table) which consisted of 10 - 12 different dishes of seafood, beef, lamb, chicken and vegetables.  Each dish had different preparation, flavors, spices and sauces from lemongrass to chili spices to coconut.  One of my favorites was sambal goreng telor, a boiled egg with the most flavorful sauce I've ever had with hints of lemongrass and mint.  Also ridiculously good was a banana fried in a cinnamon something awesome sauce, dipped in a light fluffy batter and fried again. An Indonesian cookbook is in the future. WOW!  It was so much fun to enjoy the last step of our amazing journey exchanging stories with great friends.  We loved staying with Russ and Katy.  Now we head home and back to reality.  


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Brugge to Amsterdam

Brugge was so much fun, also a UNESCO world heritage sight.  Now our journey takes its final stop, Amsterdam.  In Amsterdam we are staying with a former Grad-school professor and great friend, Russ Lehman and his wife Katy.  Russ and Katy arrived in August as Katy has a two year appointment as a counselor at the American school here in Amsterdam. After a little more difficult morning navigating the Eurail trains than on previous days and Kathy deciding to fall backwards down the escalator in Brussels (bruised ego only, thank goodness no beer bottles were broken), we arrived at Amsterdam Central to hugs from our good friend.
Russ and Katy live a short tram ride from the train station near Oud Szuid park, a huge greenbelt about 6 km from the central city.  Important first lesson, bikes are everywhere and if you step into the bike lane they will run you over and have the right to do so.  We have never seen so many bike riders and places to park bicycles before.  This is how people commute here until the weather turns and prohibits them from doing so.  We saw people in business suits, women in high heels and short skirts, people of all ages riding all over the city.  Tonight Russ made us dinner after taking us shopping at the various fish and pasta and produce markets in their neighborhood.  It was great fun to eat a home cooked meal after thee past couple weeks on the road and share stories of our trip and hear about adjusting to life in Europe.  We are blessed to have great friends all around our country and around the world!  Tonight we chatted and solved the worlds problems.  Tomorrow the Van Gogh museum, a canal tour and a possible stop at the Ann Frank house.
Here are a few pictures from today's journey.
Would someone please look after this bear - Brussels Central Station
Amsterdam Centraal Station
Good friends
Produce market near Russ and Katy's flat

Monday, October 7, 2013

Brugge adventures

Brugge is a city I could live in forever. We started the day with a photo tour of this incredible place. Led by a professional photographer, the tour went to several photographic sites where we learned about the proper angle for certain pictures as well as what time of day to return for better shots. It didn't hurt that it was a cloudless fall day and the light in the city was amazing. 

Afterwards, we wandered the city, stopping occasionally for beer or waffles. We explored places off the beaten track and talked to locals who expressed pride in their city and held an appreciation of Brugge's past. It was amazing. We should let the pictures speak for themselves and for us as we prepare for our last stop in Amsterdam. 

Details of the Church of the Holy Blood, which holds a relic of blood thought to be taken from Jesus on the cross. 
Fall color 
House on the canals


Windmills outside the city
A wit beer at our evening meal 
Trappist beer ! 





In Brugge

We started the day with a tour around the Grand Place in the center of Brussels which today served as the end point for a marathon. We both remarked that it would be incredible to finish a marathon at the foot of the tower and the energy of crowd was contagious as runners moved past us to the finish line. It was hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm and we stopped several times to cheer on these athletes as they ran along. 

After our walk, we decided that we needed a breakfast waffle and followed that up with a breakfast lambic. (Don't worry, it was noon.). We went to Moeder Lambic for our drinks which we enjoyed outside in the incredible weather we've been having. One last turn around the Grand Place and we headed to the train station for our ride to Brugge.

Brugge is one of my favorite places - it's like walking into a fairy tale city. Buildings and canals here date back to the 1200's. This is our first true brush with canals on our tour and the fact some were built 700 years ago shocks me to no end. It also humbles me. It's too easy to forget our place in history and what those before us have accomplished. Sometimes you need to walk on a cobblestoned street to remind you of that. 

We started our day with some frites and special sauce in the market. The special sauce was mayonnaise and curry ketchup with onion. Okay, I'll admit it. I don't get the mayo on fries. But, I did enjoy the curry ketchup quite a bit. America, get on this. 

We wandered the town, admired the chocolate, lace, and beer stores and then went to dinner. (You can guess who admired what in that previous sentence). After dinner, we admired the city and canals before finding the Cambrinus, a bar with 400 beers on the menu. Tomorrow, the serious tourism in Brugge begins. 
The Grand Place in Brussels and the end of the marathon. 
More Grand Place. 
Brugge! 
Canals. 
My view at dinner. 
The bound beer menu at Cambrinus. 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Bamberg to Brussels

Friday began with a riverboat tour of Bamberg.  It provided a different look at the architecture of the houses and buildings that line the riverbanks. After the tour a walk through the farmers market before a beer dinner at Cafe' Abseits in Bamberg.  This restaurant has the largest list of beer in Bamberg including 6 beers made at the Weyermann malting house which is also located in Bamberg. During our dinner we met with local beer writers and a women's beer appreciation group called Barley's Angels all with the mission of furthering beer appreciation and education in this region.  

Farmer's market in Bamberg
The houses on the river in Bamberg have not settled evenly. We  noticed the ballconys have a slope. 
Dinner at Cafe' Abseits had more than beer FYI, but having the beer made at Weyermann was a treat.

Saturday began with a train trip from Bamberg to Brussels with train changes in Weurzburg and Frankfurt. Eurail is definitely the way to travel. It's easy, affordable, and relatively fast and a great way to see the European countryside.  A very civilized way to travel!
Station in Frankfurt
Our train to Brussels

Being in Brussels is like  being a kid in a candy store for a brewer looking for inspiration, especially our first stop when we reached the city. As it is closed on Sunday, we quickly dropped our luggage and navigated our way to Cantillon Brewery.  Cantillon is special because it is a lambic brewery. The lambic style is derived from natural fermentation when the wort (sweet liquid post boil) is set in a shallow "cool ship" and the airborne yeast inoculates the wort and spontaneous fermentation begins. The result is a very tart flavor and a  musty aroma. Lambic breweries will often add fruit to the lambic beer for flavor while the sugars in the fruit may also cause a secondary fermentation.  At Cantillon fruit is added to the barrel aging to create their Kriek (sour cherries added), Rose de' Gambrinus (framboise with raspberries added) and Fo Fum (apricots).  We enjoyed this brewery and the beers immensely.
Our next adventure took us into the old city square and a search for dinner of Mussels and Frite's.  Desert was a belgian waffle covered in belgian chocolate.  Brussels is a fun city with high energy, buskers performing everywhere and restaurants and pubs open late into the night.
Today we explore a bit more here before heading to Brugge this afternoon.
Brewhouose at Cantillon
Barrel room at Cantillon
The good stuff coating the barrel at Cantillon
Kathy enjoying the lambic
The Manekin Pis was dressed to honor Portugal in traditional Portugese clothing today.
Night scene in Brussels
Enjoying the Geuze from Oud Beersel at the Delirium pub in Brussels.