Two Beers and a Pretzel

Oddly, ‘Going Home’ is the name of one of my favorite movement’s of Dvorak’s New World Symphony (no 9).

Ingrid’s work Christmas party (including a fancy, expendive dinner) was Monday evening.  I tried to meet up with Mandy, but the trains were still basically at a standstill with more snow falling…  so I stayed at Ingrid’s place, played guitar and watched movies all night.  Around 4AM I had figured she’d passed out and was staying with one of her co-workers, so I went to sleep.  A very short while later, she woke me up for an after party with her boss.  The boss had decided to let everyone come in after lunch on Tuesday, so it must have been a no holds barred night of partying.  They were all quite inebriated and demanded that I play guitar.  It was actually quite fun, but the kitchen was a complete mess the next day.

I just chilled out all day Tuesday, thinking I would leave after dinner for a hotel near the airport.  That plan changed when I saw the prices of hotels over there - $150 a night…  So I decided to stay one more night and just get up really early to be sure I didn’t miss the plane, even if the trains were screwed up.  So that icy, slippery night Ingrid took me out for a going away dinner at a nice little place her family frequents.  They had some very good steak…

I was also recruited to help Ingrid move an old couch down the stairs.  We couldn’t make it fit, so I had some fun making a few very slight modifications to the couch…

Then I had to get to bed around 10PM because I was waking up at 3:30 AM.

Early and still dark, I said goodbye to Ingrid at 4:00 and walked to the train station to catch the 4:30 stoptrain to Rotterdam Central.  Then I had to wait half an hour for the intercity to the airport.  I arrived at the airport at 6 AM, and found the Burger King still open, so in contrast to the great dinner the night before, I had a fast food breakfast.

Then I saw the oddest thing that I never expected to see in the Amsterdam airport…

And that was not about Chris Henry, but the Bengal’s surprisingly good season.

It was just after 6:30 AM, and I had 5 hours before boarding began for my flight, so I bought a pretty good book Vulcan 607 - about the British long range (8000 mile) bomber attack on the Falkland Islands in 1982.  I got into it, then on the plane and kept reading for the 8 hour flight to Chicago.

Once in Chicago, I got the 9th degree from immigration and homeland security.

Them:  Where have you been?

Me:  Holland and Belgium.

Them:  Why were you there?

Me:  Vacation and visiting a friend.

Them:  Where did you stay?

Me:  Her apartment in Dordrecht.

Them:  Is your friend American?

Me:  Nope - a smoking hot Dutch girl.  Wanna see a picture?

After a grimacing look from the agent, I realized I was being a bit too casual, but figured I’d roll with it since I had 6 hours and nothing to do.

Them:  Have you brought any plants or seeds back?

Me:  Oh, you mean weed?  Come on man, how dumb do you think I am?

Another mean look.

Them:  When was the last time you left America?

Me:  Well, I just got back in July.

Them: From where?

Me:  Well, almost everywhere.

Them:  Where specifically?

Me:  You may have noticed that my passport is completely full; but if you want the list…  Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Malasia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, U.A.E., and then back home.  Then I drove Route 66, went to Europe for 3 weeks, and now I’m here.

Them:  And why did you do that?

Me:  I chose to sit out the recession.

Them:  What do you do for a living?

Me:  Nothing - I quit work 14 months ago - thus sitting out the recession.

I realized that they really have trouble figuring out someone who is relaxed, more honest than necessary, and doesn’t care if he gets searched, so that’s where they sent me next.  They opened everything and sent me thru the x-ray.  The guy did a thorough job, but completely wrecked my packing.  At least this guy was a bit nicer.  He asked what I did to tick off the agent.  I told him that I apparently didn’t look scared enough and had a full passport - which is very odd for an American.  After unpacking my stuff, searching between book pages, opening gift wrapped items, etc… he told me to gather it up and move along.  I told him that unless he wanted to help me repack, I preferred to stay at his table and put everything back where it belongs.  He was nice enough to let me - probably because some lady at the next table was throwing a complete hissy fit about being searched and that agent needed assistance.

Once thru customs, I discovered my flight to Cincinnati had been cancelled.  Luckilly, another commuter flight was 3 hours late and had room, so I switched to standby and got on that flight.  Oddly, that got me home 3 hours earlier than planned.  I finished the book on the short flight to Cincy.  The nice surprize was that my checked luggage made it even after the change in flights; especially since the last time my luggage went thru O’Hare (5 years ago) $1000 of stuff was stolen and a nice bag was ruined.  I got lucky, because the next available flight was 1:30 PM the next day…

I got home and my buddy Bill picked me up and got me to my truck.  I was going to get him a big bottle of booze, but it’s darn expensive in Europe…  so I’ll probably get him a bottle of Scotch from he Party Source next week.

When I finally got home, my camera was still on Holland time -  4:30 AM.  I’d been awake and travelling for 25 hours.  I went straight to bed.  …Only to wake up and drive to Jackson, Tennessee to spend Christmas with my parents, sister & bro-in-law, and most importantly, my twin neices and one month old nephew!  It even snowed a little here, so we got a White Christmas!!

It’s nice to be back.  I’ll miss the fun I had with Ingrid, and I owe her a huge thanks for letting me crash at her place - especially since it would otherwise have been about $40/night or more… but next time I go to Europe it will not be winter (unless I go skiing).

And now, a Christmas treat for everyone:

…a picture my friend Tabitha sent on Facebook of skinny me, 20 years ago at a high school band concert.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

So Friday was another fun dinner with Ingrid’s parents and friends at their favorite bar.

At some point ingrid and I got into a fight

I clearly won.  She claims that I threw the snowball from point blank range, but I swear I was at least 2 meters away and simply used the old fake throw followed by a real throw and got her on the way back up from a flinch.  Actually, she got me pretty good in the face too…

Then it was driving in the snow back to Dordrecht to catch the train to Amsterdam.  Even with the hyper efficient train system here, it took us about 2 hours to make the trip because of delays and cancelled trains.  When we finally got there, we got our room and stashed our bags before heading out to the nearest bar.  It happened to be an Irish pub with a very happy bartender who gave us ‘Hot Whiskey’ (Irish whiskey, hot water, sugar, lemon wedge, and cloves).  It warmed us up quick, but we had to leave when a very strange Norwegian guy would not stop talking to us at the bar and kept asking very odd questions.  Luckilly, one of Ingrid’s friends called, so we had a destination.

As for the destination, dance clubs in Amsterdam play the same crappy R&B mix music as American clubs, except that in American clubs they occasionnaly mix in something good like Johnny Cash or the Beatles, or Rolling Stones.  In this club, it was a non-stop deluge of crappy dance music.  Now also imagine a crowded club.  Multiply that by 5.  And another 2x for good measure.

Ingrid’s friend and his friends left with us to go to another place closer to our hotel called Bubbles.  Same story, different bar.  Eventually (like 5 AM) I started feeling sick and left.  I got to the hotel, but could not fall alseep.  No heat in the room, fire alarms, and a general queesy feeling.  I bit the bullet and just got up around 9 to find a pharmacy and get some breakfast.

 They have BIG pancakes here…  probably because this pancake house was next to a Coffie Shop (hash bar) and they get a lot of people coming in with the munchies.

When I got  back to the hotel, Ingrid was getting ready to go shopping and go out for breakfast herself.  I took a nice 2 hour nap.  When she got back, we headed to the Ryksmuseum and saw a lot of cool paintings, but the clear highlight was Rembrandt’s Night Watch.  WOW.  If you’ve never seen any of Rembrandt’s work in person, it’s amazing.  Photos do not do it justice.  It’s hard to explain, but he adds textures and 3D elements like no one else… then top it with his dramatic use of light and you can see why he was a true master.

After the museum, we headed out for dinner before meeting my surfing buddy Linda at BOOM-Chicago for a comedy improv show.  In a long standing family tradition, they asked for a name when I bought out ticket’s so I used the name ‘Fuzzy Bunny’ - and the staff got a kick out of it.  That show has been running for 10 years, and it put on by an American cast.  This one was a compare and contrast between America and the Netherlands.  Very funny.

Then Ingrid, Linda and I went back to the Bubbles bar, but this time we were the first ones there.

It was much more fun, possibly because we left just after it got really crowded at around 2 AM.  Again, the room was freezing, again there was a fire alarm - so when we checked out, I complained.  They could/would not refund me anything since I pre-paid on Expedia… but they did give us both free breakfast (valued at about $18 each - worth about $5).

Then we walked thru the Vondelpark in the fresh snow and checked out Dam square.

A little while later we got to the train station…  just in time to find out that all rail traffic in Holland has been suspended due to bad weather.  OK, seriously, Dutch people - it was 3 inches of snow, your country is FLAT, and we’re talking about big TRAINS here…  This should not be a problem.  This reputedly efficint and well kept rail system is really getting on my nerves. 

So, in the spirit of adventure, Ingrid and I decided to hitchhike home.  Around the back of the train station, we started thumbing for rides and immediately got a delivery truck to take us to some small train station outside of town, but very near a busy freeway on-ramp heading South.

Then we got a ride in a really screwed up little delivery truck with two strange ladies that ended up taking us North instead of South. 

They dropped us at a freeway intersection in the middle of nowhere… when we were luckilly picked up by a nice lady in a Mini Cooper who took us back to the small train station.  This time we decided to create a sign saying where we were heading.  We also met Sabine, another stranded rail passenger.

We found a nice guy in an SUV that took the three of us all the way to Rotterdam (where I snapped a nice pic of the skyline at night).

There, Ingrid an I found a convenience store cleck who gave us free soup, and found yet another delivery truck to take us to her apartment…  and he dropped us right at the door!

So what should have been a 45 minute train ride became a 6 hour hitchhiking adventure in Holland, in the middle of winter.

I was kind of sick of daytripping, so I took a break and just hung out in Dordrecht.  It was overcast, but very pretty with the fresh snow…

I also experimented with Calvin & Hobbes style snowman art.  Not bad for my first try…

I wandered into town at lunchtime and found the Asian Grocery (yay) which had some panang curry paste and jasmine rice.  So I figured I’d whip up some more Thai food for Ingrid after work.  Upon my return, some kids had destroyed my snowman.  Ingrid enjoyed the Panang chicken, but it may have been a little too spicy for her…

Then Ingrid had to make a house call for a client and clean her 17 year old pet turtle’s aquarium back at her parent’s house.  During the housecall, the snowman came back to extract his revenge on humanity…

We got to Ingrid’s parent’s house and they were just leaving for a play, but I got to chat for a bit, and we made plans for dinner (and cigars and whiskey) tonight before Ingrid and I have a full weekend in Amsterdam. 

I’ll spare everyone the turtle cleaning pictures - just imagine a nasty aquarium cannister filter being cleaned in a small sink by a skinny Dutch girl in old ‘cleaning clothes’.  Aside from watching the mess and taking a video, I read a Dutch travel guide to the USA.  The entries for Ohio were Cleveland’s R&R Hall of Fame, the Statehouse in Columbus, Cedar Point, Amish country, a blurb about Toledo, an Indian mound site, Cincinnati’s Union Terminal, the Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and a note about controversial ‘honkballer’ Pete Rose.

Tonight is dinner with Ingrid’s parents, then a weekend in Amsterdam - where even the cheap hostels are $225 for a non-dorm 2 person room for 2 nights.  I splurged on the Best Western near the museum and the bar district and actually saved money ($210).

The only bummer this weekend will be missing Shelli & Joe’s annual Santa Clause Happy Hour back in Cincinnati for the 2nd year in a row… although I will get to drink some Scotch tonight…  I might find a nice bottle to bring home and split with Joe.

Delft is the home of Vermeer (painter), the former house of the royal family, and the former home of the Dutch East India Company.  Trade with China brought Chinese pottery, which the Dutch adeptly learned to make for themselves in the mid 1600’s.

The old church has the same problem as Dordrecht - the clock tower is obviously leaning.

They must have figured out the foundation issues before starting the new church.  Trust me, it’s straight - even if the pic is slightly crooked.

Across the square is the town hall.

Then I made my way across town to the old factory (still in use) where Delftware is sill hand painted.

The paint is actually black when it is applied to the fired shapes, but turns blue when items are re-fired after painting and glazing.

They even do custom tile murals.  This one is a massive replica of Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’ utilizing 480 tiles, and took 2 master painters a solid year to complete

Then I made my way out to the gift shop and discovered how expensive this hand painted Delftware is.  That’s 86 Euros ($128) for a small house that you could fit twice in the palm of your hand.

Although I did manage to find something for mom under $50

Today was a cold day, but that didn’t prevent me from taking a walking tour of the capital of the Netherlands.  The trains were back in order, so it only took 40 minutes to get to The Hague.  The Tourist Information center had a booklet of a self guided walking tour that highlights the architecture of the city.  Since most of the museums are closed on Mondays, I opted for the walk - which was fine, there’s plenty to see…

The tour takes you by new and old government offices, churches, and shopping centers dating as far back as the 1300’s, and as recent as 1996 - with most of the interesting buildings in the 1700’s and 1800’s.

The skinniest house in the Netherlands.  Similar to CIncinnati in the 20’s, The Hague taxes property based on lenght of street frontage…  So owning a house on an inside corner (max frontage for minimal area) was a sign of extreme wealth.  In the meantime, people crammed small houses in wherever they could.

The Hague is 750 years old.  There has been a lot of growth since the 1800’s.  In 1850 the population was 75,000.  Today it’s almost 500,000… so there’s a constant mix of old and new…

Below, the gold fountain is from the late 1800’s, but the ‘Knight’s Hall’ in the background was started in the 1300’s and is the largest Gothic building in Europe that isn’t a church.

From the back side of the administrative complex (including the spire from the Knight’s Hall) - looking over the lake toward the Grote Kerk  - supposodly one of the prettiest city views in Holland.

The Grote (big) Market street.