Two Beers and a Pretzel

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.

Driving in the dark last night, Ingrid promised me that the hostel was in the middle of a nature preserve.  She was not lying… when I got downstairs the next day for breakfast (after a ‘refreshing’ cold shower), there was a nice view of dawn over the canals.  I went for a walk thru part of the park.

After I got back to the hostel, I tried texting Ingrid to no avail.  She was apparently in church with her friend.  So I found a map of the area and decided to walk to the city center for the Christmas market.  I didn’t realize it was roughly 6 miles from the nature park to the city center.  Luckilly, I caught a bus a little after 1/2 way – because my daypack was loaded with toiletries, my PC, a change of clothes, books, etc…  it weighted about 20 pounds (9 kilos) and I was getting tired.

I made it into town and the Christmas market was hopping.  People everywhere – and lucky for me, food vendors.  I started with Dutch Fries.  Note:  ‘French’ fries were actually developed in the Flanders area of Belgium, and the fries in Belgium and Holland are fried twice, then have the sauce (usually mayo or mayo with mustard) slopped on top, then eaten with a small fork or toothpick.   Just past the kiosk with the fries, there was a place serving hot ham and mustard sandwiches on fresh baked bread… so I had to have one of those too.

Then I just people watched for a while.

I wandered thru the market to the Grote Kerk (big church).  Dordrecht is the oldest city in Holland.  Holland is actually a kind of county within the Netherlands.  It’s just tourists that call the entire country Holland.  Being the oldest city, they were the first to be able to build their own church independant of outside rulers.  It also has near perfect acoustics to carry the sounds that eminate from the bell tower.

Speaking of the bell/clock tower, I climbed it.  The tower is actually about 7 ft off plumb and is kept from falling with a 26.5 million pound counterweight on the Northwest side.  I didn’t learn that until after I climbed it…

And looking back on the old town of Dordrecht with the river in the background.

Then back to the fair to take in some of the street musicians and some Glühwein (hot wine).

I eventually got bored with the market and wandered the old town.  Just before sunset I caught a nice shot looking back at the clock tower.

After a few phone calls where I completely failed to explain where I was, I met up with Ingrid and her friend for a while.  They were going to her friend’s house for dinner.  I had been snacking all day, so I cruised the market for a while longer before meeting Ingrid back at her place around 8 PM.