We stumbled on a high end chocolate boutique in Antwerp. It was in a very fancy building with detailed walls, ceilings and light fixtures. The modern part of the building was in the back kitchen, where there was a chocolatier piping out the word "SAFE" on chocolate condoms. I wanted to lick this chocolate frog...it smelled dizzingly (what, spellcheck says dizzingly is not a real word??) chocolate-y.
WASPIK & DEN HAAG, NL
The best part of the trip was meeting R's friends and family, especially his 82 year old Aunt who recently suffered a stroke but is still pretty lucid. What's more homey than sipping tea accompanied by chocolates? Or knitting a few rows in the Aunt's sock project? Maybe eating Cousin Joke's warm asparagus soup with ham on a cold evening. Perhaps leafing through a photo album capturing his aunt's 80 years of life which her kids surprised her with two years ago? Births, weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries were all captured in black and white and then later in color. Farm scenes transitioned to more modern day settings. I saw R's mother as a baby and on her wedding day to R's father. Then pictures of the 2 sisters on their wedding anniversaries. In the earlier pictures, everyone is dressed in their best clothes. Before the advent of the snapshot and digital cameras, having your picture taken was a big deal, so everyone dressed up in their finery. How different it is today! My two nephews Isaac and Aidan are only 4 and 1 and they probably have 50,000 digital images of them which capture their daily lives. Can you imagine how much they will have in their lifetime?
HAARLEM, NL
Pictures that follow are dinner with R and his two brothers who both live in Haarlem. The older brother is in local politics and is President of his local Free Mason Temple while the younger one just bought a beautiful boat and started his own business, HaarlemCanalTours.com. I think the 3 brothers don't really look alike - what do you think?
If you ever visit Amsterdam, be sure to visit nearby Haarlem. Bring comfortable shoes and be prepared to step back into time. Haarlem has all the modern amenities, but the town market and most of the buildings are historically beautiful. IMHO, Haarlem has the best holiday lights up - classic white lights instead of garish Christmasy themes of every color in the rainbow) .
- The NL celebrates 2 Christmases. On December 5th, Sinterklaas or Sint Nikolaas, a Spanish bishop, arrives by horse on a boat traveling the canals. Zwarte Pieters, or Black Peters travel with him. I was shocked the first time I saw the Black Peters because they are essentially white Dutch in black face and hand makeup! My politically correct self was wondering if anyone else thought that way. But the Dutch don't! They are black from the soot in chimneys which they climb down to deliver good little boys and girls their presents. During this time of the year, you'll see many black faced Dutch kids running around the streets dressed like the Zwarte Pieters. On the 2nd Christmas, December 25th, there is no emphasis on gift giving, just spending time with family.
- Sinterklaas or Sint Nikolaas is the basis of Santa Claus in the US.
- There are many Indonesian restaurants in the NL..and Chinese too. And the quality of the food is really high and amazingly good. Does anyone know of any good ones in Boston or NYC?
- The Dutch exports the largest percentage of beer than any other country, or about 50% of their annual production. That Grolsch, Heinekin, Amstel are all Dutch beers?
- Or that Tom Tom, INGDirect, Philips, Randstad, Shell, Spyker Cars (the co. that purchased Saab from GM), Unilever are Dutch companies?
Haarlem's Centraal train station. R says it's been filmed many times. I don't know what films though and haven't asked either. But it is pretty.
AMSTERDAM, NL
Fun facts about the NL
- Holland and the NL is sometimes used interchangeably but Holland is really just the western region of the NL.
- Amsterdam is named for the Amstel River which runs through Amsterdam.
- The Dutch invented the concept of the stocks and stock exchange? And the craze that started this? The tulip!
- Speaking of which, I always thought tulips were native to the NL. But tulips were brought to the NL from the Turkey (they grow natively in the Middle East and Central Asia).
- I can say a few phrases in Dutch like: hi is hoi; good day is dag; see you later is tot ziens; bye is doei; thank you (formal) is dank u vel; informally is bedankt; please is alstublieft; excuse me is pardon but if you pronounce it incorrectly, it means horse!
- That the Dutch start learning English at age 6? And by their teens, they take half of their classes in English? Another reason why they speak English so well is that American, British, and other foreign movies are not dubbed. Kids watch television shows and movies in their original language. In France, all movies are dubbed to French..and often times the dubbing is really bad. Sometimes they even use the same voice actor to play all the male parts and another voice actor to play all the female parts. It is so weird to hear Bart Simpson in a French voice!
- Besides English, the Dutch also learn German and French at a young age. But by their teens they need to pick 1 language to focus on and increasingly, they choose English even though German is the largest language group in continental Europe.
- In Amsterdam, as we were walking by, we noticed a courtyard so we walked in a found this...it is a hofje. This time, instead of taking a million pictures of Amsterdam, I just walked around and absorbed the vibe. Also, it was just too freaking cold to be taking out my camera to take the perfect shot! Oh...have you tried Maoz? It's a falafel place that was started in Amsterdam and is making its way to the US. I think NYC has 2 locations..I hope it goes to Boston one day. The falafels are delicious and you can fill your falafel sandwich as many times as you want from their delicious fresh salad bar.
- Another highlight of AMS was the Van Gogh museum. There we learned more about his life, his artistic inspirations, his close relationship with his younger brother, and his life in France, as well as the other artists of the time that he was inspired by.
MAASTRICHT, NL
Maastrict is a city in the south of the Netherlands. It is so south that they speak 3 languages there: Dutch, French, but also their own dialect. It is quite beautiful at this time of the year. Cute boutique shops and restaurants are dotted along the large pedestrian zone shopping area. While there we stayed at the nicest hotel during the entire trip....actually, they didn't like to be called a hotel but a "lodging" even though their name is Townhouse Design Hotel. Anyway, after staying a week in hotels, it was nice to stay at a homey place. It was a nice touch to offer guests a cup of hot delicious mushroom soup when we arrived - perfect to chase away the bitter chill over Maastricht.
Big wooden tables invited guests to sit and stay to enjoy a cup of coffee in the "living room"; there were hundreds of books and magazines along the wall lots; instead of bland couches and chairs, there were all sorts of designer chairs including some Eames leather and rocking chairs, and 2 fireplaces. There were cookies in Mason jars and bowls of fruit laid out for the taking. The fruit that is, not the jars or bowls themselves :) And they even had a fish bowl where you could feed the fish..just like home. And there were even nicely designed vending machines where you could purchase midnight snacks or beverages.
In Maastricht, we had a traditional Dutch soup - pea soup with bacon, ham and onions with some bread with more bacon. On a cold night, it was nice to keep warm with soup. And afterwards, we tried the Belgian fries. Again, they were ok, but nothing compared to the perfect fries and sambal/sate sauce we had last year in Haarlem. Apparently, the fries made by this guy in Haarlem are famous all over the NL. Darn him for being closed on a Monday!
All together, a very nice relaxing trip. Next time though, I really should go in April when the flower fields are in bloom and when it's not so cold!
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