Who do u think u are? Ich bin ein Neuroth

09 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by in expat life, Germany, Travel

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My brother Alan is the family genealogist and has done extensive research on our family tree, mostly the lineage of our grandfathers. I’ve always been curious about the Neuroth line, not only because that is our surname, but because information about the family was so vague. Grandpa Neuroth told us many stories, but I don’t remember him ever talking about his childhood. We grew up knowing some of his siblings, but I don’t remember them talking about their parents. I suspect this is because their parents divorced when they were young. Anyway, Alan has been able to fill in the Neuroth family tree back to the 17th century. He’s been able to determine where the family lived in Germany and when they emigrated to the America. Our great, great grandfather, Heinrich Neuroth, made the long journey via Amsterdam to New York in 1882. He followed his brother Johann who arrived earlier and several aunts and uncles who emigrated in the 1850s. Alan and Natasha arrived here Friday and the primary purpose of their vacation to Europe is to follow some family roots. First the Neuroth family in Germany and then the Eisinger family (Natasha’s maiden name) in Austria.

Saturday, we took them with us do some shopping at the green market and try some kibbeling. When we got back to Oirsbeek, the windmill was turning so we stopped in to see the grist in action and buy some flour.

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​After that, we went to Maastricht to see the limestone mine tunnels and walk around the city (with stops to sample frites and waffles). We ended the day with a pannekoeken dinner in Valkenburg. I think we provided them with a good day of Dutch culture!

On Sunday, we travelled with Alan and Natasha to Gross-Zimmern, Hessen, Germany. This is where great, great grandfather Heinrich and his brother Johann lived with their mother and father before they went to America. Alan made a serendipitous connection with a woman named Christel who has just published a two volume book on the families of Gross-Zimmern. She is a fount of information and generously offered to give us a guided tour of our ancestral land.

We had a brief get acquainted meeting with Christel on Sunday night, and then met up with her Monday morning to begin our tour. We walked to the Evangelical Kirchengemeinde (church) in the center of the old part of town. The last residence of our ancestors was a house located right next to this church. After my 3x great grandfather died in 1892, the house was inhabited by two brothers for a few years and then Christel’s grandfather bought the house. What a coindidence that she also has a connection to this place! So cool. The house was purchased by the church in 1985 and torn down to make room for an office/classroom building.

 

The little green house is where they lived. This painting hangs in the church.

The pastor was kind enough to show us around the church and tell us about the history. The original part of the church was built in 1407! Heinrich was christened in this church and the baptismal font from that period is still used today. I started to get a little emotional realizing that I was standing in the very place where my great, great grandfather was baptized and where he attended church until he was a young adult. I didn’t really expect that it would mean so much to me. 

There are two other houses in Gross-Zimmern where the Neuroth family lived for periods of time. They both still exist today on the same street and we were able to take pictures of them.

Following the family back another two generations, we went with Christel a short distance by car to Spachbrucken. We stopped at a cemetery where there were several Neuroth gravestones. There was a concentration of Neuroth families in this town and likely distant cousins of ours still live there. We didn’t make contact with any of them, though. Going back another century to the 1600s, our family lived in Gundernhausen. This village was also close by and we drove there to look at the church, which unfortunately was closed. This is as far as the family has been traced so far. It’s possible that they migrated from another area of Germany before that.

It was so exciting to make these connections and very special to share this experience with Alan. It’s so much fun to have family visit and share a part of our adventure with them!

documenting an eventful week+

02 Tuesday May 2017

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I need to jot down the events of the last two weeks to document the memories! Jenna arrived on the 20th of April and we toured sights in three countries in six days! We started with Brugge, one of our favorite places. I think it became one of her favorite places, too. We did the brewery tour at Halve Maan, which Dick and I missed on our last visit. Jenna and I took the train into Maastricht the next day after she caught up on sleep. The Friday market was in full swing and we were able to get some kibbling. Next up was Aachen to get a taste of Roman history and German. In Cologne, we did the walking tour and the chocolate museum (highly recommend!). Jenna got to experience delicious bratwurst and saurkraut at a German restaurant. I had sauerbraten for the first time and Dick had liver (ick!). We had an amazing day on Monday: Kinderdijk, Keukenhof and Sushi! The windmills at Kinderdijk are a lot of fun to see and we managed to stay dry the entire time. Keukenhof! What can I say in words that are befitting? It’s glorious and you really must experience it in person. I’m so happy that Jenna was able to do that with us! I know it’s something we will never forget. After we saw every flower, we drove to Haarlem. We found a great sushi place and gorged ourselves (it was all you can eat). Jenna and I stayed at a barely adequate hotel in Haarlem that night and took the train into Amsterdam the next morning. We had another great day: canal tour, Heineken tour, Albert Cuyp market, Musuemplein, Vondel park and more. Whew! It was so sad to see her leave and for the first time I felt very homesick. 

After we dropped Jenna off on Wednesday, we headed to Friesland to spend a few days with Els and Frans (Dick’s cousin and husband). It ended up being a long drive because traffic was backed up in several places along the highway. We arrived in time for a delicious dinner and settled into their gezellig huis. Thursday was Koiningsdag or King’s Day, which is a national holiday in NL. April 27th is King Willem Alexander’s birthday and this year he is 50, which made it even more of a big deal. The King visits a different city each year to celebrate and this year it was Tilburg in Brabant. The celebration was televised and we watched some of it to get a sense of what King’s day is all about. The main event in almost every city and town in NL is a rommelmarkt or vlooiemarkt (flea market). Yes, the Dutch celebrate the King’s birthday by selling and buying unwanted stuff! We went to Leeuwarden where there was a huge flea market. I bought an Oswald Chambers devotional in Dutch and Dick just had to have an upside down light bulb lamp thingy. Frans is very familiar with the city and gave us a little tour. There are some beautiful old buildings there. We had a nice lunch at the old weighing house in the square. The drive back was a scenic tour of the Friesland countryside. It’s so beautiful!


On Friday we had a relaxing day eating, chatting and walking around the environs of Oldeholtpade. We learned so much from Els and Frans. Later in the day we travelled to a nature preserve for an evening canoe tour. There were two tour guides, each in a boat with us and another couple in a third boat. The guide with Dick and I graciously spoke English during the tour thanks to a tip off from Els! It was such a lovely outing with beautiful sights of birds, water and sky. The guides were very knowledgeable about the local flora and fauna. Much of this area is sort of being reclaimed and restored with birds and animal species coming back to the habitat. At one point, we canoed down an little inlet and floated in silence for awhile listening to the birds. So peaceful and soothing! We were out on the water for over two hours and the time flew by. We left Els and Frans Saturday morning feeling rested and encouraged by our visit with them. Dick had to work a little while we were there, so I probably felt a little more rested than he did!


On our way home Saturday, we stopped at the Hoge Velluwe National Park. Inside this park is the Kröller-Müller Museum, which has a large collection of Van Gogh paintings and a huge outdoor sculpture garden. Just inside the entrance to the park, there are free bikes available to ride throughout the park. We rode the bikes first to the information center, where we stopped to eat our packed lunch, and then on to the museum. The park was a lot of bush and not as picturesque as we though it would be. The museum was nice and the sculpture garden was cool, though we didn’t leave enough time to see it all. We decided to travel further towards home and stopped in Roermond for dinner. A tasty dinner at an Irish pub was gratefully consumed and then we did a short walk around the market square. We need to go back and spend more time in Roermond some time. 

Sunday was Dick’s birthday and we agreed that it would be a quiet day of relaxation. It was a beautiful weather day and we enjoyed being home!

the thorns among the roses

28 Tuesday Mar 2017

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I’ve written a lot about our travels and how much we love The Netherlands. We feel so blessed to experience this adventure and we’ve learned so much. We are very thankful and content! But I feel like I’m not being entirely honest if I don’t share the downsides. It’s not all so wonderfully rosey, you see.

My job, the whole reason we’re here, has not lived up to my expectations. I don’t feel comfortable saying much about it in print, just suffice it to say that it hasn’t exactly been professionally enriching. The saving grace of it is that I have good co-workers and I’ve learned a lot from them. I’ve also learned a lot about how NATO and the military function. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting people from all over North America and Europe and my understanding of the world has expanded immensely. This is going to have a lasting impact on me.

When we made the decision to relocate, we hoped that Dick would be able to find work here. That has not been the case so far. Freelance work is difficult to come by and networking takes a lot of time to develop (he was having the same problem in the States). He interviewed for a NATO related job last month, but for a puzzling reason was not selected. It was a graphic design job that he was more than qualified for, so it was a big disappointment for us. Our prayer is that he will be able to connect with some work in the coming year. In the meantime, he’s keeping up with his current US clients.

Our social life is kinda nonexistent since we haven’t really made any friends. Military families are well connected and as civilians we fall outside their networks. We haven’t found inroads with the Dutch living around us either. This is somewhat hampered by my inability to speak the language, but it’s also an aspect of the Dutch culture. They are generally very friendly, but have close inner circles socially. I’ve heard expats remark that they haven’t been invited to Dutch homes even after years of acquaintance. We go to chapel (though somewhat irregularly), take language classes and try to attend the JFC social events. Dick attends a weekly men’s group and is slowly making connections there. It’s been a good outlet for him since he’s home alone a lot. I keep having scheduling conflicts with a monthly women’s meeting and have yet to attend one. There’s been an attempt to gather together women on the base during the work day, but it’s not been terribly successful so far.

Dick and I have both experienced a spiritual lull (I’m rebelling against Christian lingo these days). It’s something we discuss often and we pray about it together. There are some things that I need to think through and sort out. I will probably write an entire post on this topic at some point.

We continue to have conflict with Kathryn’s mother and it can be very stressful. We invited Kathryn to spend her spring vacation with us, but her mother refused to let her come. We had encouraged Kathryn to do a missions trip in Rhode Island during this break, but she passed on the opportunity. Since she evidently had no other plans (and still doesn’t as far as we know), we thought it would be great for her to come and enjoy springtime abloom in NL. The time would have also overlapped with a visit from Jenna. Oh well. Our summer time with her last year was shortened from 30 to 25 days because her mother insisted they wouldn’t have enough vacation time with her. Kathryn isn’t attending bible camp this year, which freed up a week, so Dick asked that she come for 30 days this year. This also was declined with no other reason than 30 days is too long. So noted. This is still being hashed out and it’s a sensitive issue, so enough said.

There is also an ongoing communication issue with Kathryn. I’ve been asked to delete this part of my story. 

Given what we’ve both been through in the past, the ‘downsides’ of our life here are minor. I’m not complaining; I’m just trying to keep it real!

Paris – my favorite moments

19 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by in Travel

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I’ve dreamed of visiting Paris for a long time – since I first started learning French in high school. I’m not one to get overly infatuated with a place or an concept, but I’ve always felt that reading about Paris or seeing pictures/video of the city was not enough. It was something that I needed to experience in person. A few months ago, I decided that traveling to Paris in March would be a good time to avoid huge crowds and hot/cold weather. And since my birthday is in March, why not celebrate it in the City of Lights?! I spent many hours reading travel blogs and reviewing a bazillion top this and top that lists on Pinterest. I came up with an itinerary for four full days and two travel days.

We arrived in Paris by train (love taking the train especially when it’s fast) late afternoon on Wednesday and then switched over to a Metro line. When we came out of the Metro, our first sight was Notre Dame. Wow! We had some time to kill before meeting the person with the apartment keys, so we sat on a bench outside the cathedral for awhile. I took a long look at those flying buttresses and tried to soak in the fact that I was really in PARIS!

The Ile St. Louis was our place of residence for five days and we loved it. It’s a tiny slice of Paris charm and contained everything we needed — close to the metro, market across the street, bakery next door, plenty of restaurants and Bertillion was just down the street. We decided to give Airbnb a try for this trip and rented studio apartment in a 17th century building just off an enclosed courtyard. Some of the interior walls were stone, which gave it an old world feel. The most important features were present: a comfy bed, quiet at night and a great modern shower.

When Dick heard that Chris Thile from the Punch Brothers was giving a solo concert in Paris on the 15th, we decided to get tickets. Chris sings and plays a mean mandolin. We enjoyed a really fun, entertaining concert at Alhambra on our first night out in Paris. Many of the people there seemed to know each other (lots of cheek kissing going on!) and even though we were outsiders, it made the crowd feel very social and engaging. Chris definitely picked up on that and clearly had a great time performing — he gave three encores. Part of the concert consisted of movements from Bach’s Sonatas and Partidas (written for violin) woven through other music selections. It was brilliant. What a memory this will be for us!

My first breakfast was pain au chocolat consumed on the way to the metro. I might have had a couple more — maybe daily. If only every day could start with chocolate and flaky pastry!

On Thursday after a lot of sight-seeing and A LOT of walking, we trudged to the top of the Arc de Triumph. We arrived at the top just in time to see a procession form and then parade down the Champs-Élysées to place flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A short ceremony (a choir sang this time) is conducted by veterans and the flame is rekindled every day at 6:30 pm. We just happened to be there at the right time to see this meaningful daily ritual.

Have you ever had a soufflé? I don’t remember ever having one before this trip. Le Soufflé is all about them and they are delicious! We each had two as part of a three course meal. The third course was a delicious dessert — creme brûlée for me and ice cream with Grand Marnier for Dick. If we’re ever in Paris again, we will definitely go back to this spot.

Friday was my birthday and I planned a couple of special things to do. My favorite was lunch at Benoit, a Michelin rated restaurant. Even the lunch menu was a splurge, but if you’ve seen Burnt or The Hundred Foot Journey, you’ll know why I wanted to do this. I’ve been to a few fine restaurants, but nothing compared to this. It was quite an experience! The food was divine and the service was beyond my expectations. Excellent!

We visited Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle and Sacré-Coeur and during our visits we were able to experience more than the architecture, art and relics. While we were at Notre Dame and Sacré-Coeur, there was a mass in progress. I love this because it’s a great reminder that they are active places of worship — not just tourist attractions. At Sacré-Coeur, nuns were singing and it was very sweet. We attended a classical concert at Sainte Chapelle on Friday night and experienced the romance of this beautiful chapel quite differently than when we wandered through it during the day.

The Louvre is amazing, but it wasn’t my favorite museum. The Musee d’Orsay contains an astounding collection of French Impressionism, which is my favorite art period. I loved the seeing the breadth of work for artists such as Monet, Renoir, Degas and Sisley. Just as we were finishing our tour of the Impressionism gallery, we were told to stay back and step over to one side. A bunch of museum guards appeared and held back the people who were in the gallery. I could see cameras flashing on the other side of the room and thought that someone important must be coming through. In a few minutes, I could see who it was — William and Kate! I grabbed my iPhone to take pics of the royal couple. Dick was able to get the best shots.

I think the best way to get the feel of a city is to walk it. We had some really nice walks in the Latin Quarter, through the Luxembourg Gardens, along the Seine (day and night), browsing shops in Ile de St. Louis and in a quaint quarter of Montmartre.



Saturday night we went to a restaurant that got good reviews for their moules frites. When we saw escargot on the menu, we had to order it because I really wanted to try them. They were delicious! Out of an order of six, one of them was a dud. Either it didn’t have any meat or we just couldn’t extract it. When the waiter heard that, he wisked out another three for us. Bonus! We also had some tasty mussels and fries.

We spent most of Sunday at Versailles. My favorite moment at Versailles? I don’t know. It was just okay for me. Obviously the scale and opulence of the palace is incredible. The Hall of Mirrors is less impressive in person than in pictures I’ve seen. The gardens are not at their full splendor in March. The trees were brown, the fountains were not running and the statues were covered up. Boo. It was also a cloudy, windy day, so strolling the gardens was not that pleasant.

I was nervous about going to Paris. I guess it was because I’ve forgotten most of the French I’ve learned and I was afraid we would be in situations where I would need to speak and understand it. That actually only happened a couple of times and I was able to understand enough to communicate. I had also read a lot about rude service, but we didn’t experience that. In fact, friendly and pleasant Parisians were apart of all of my favorite moments.

Dream come true. A bientôt Paris!

The mystique of Carnaval

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

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Alaaf! It (Carnaval) is on! Around mid-January we started to see red, yellow and green flags appear and then a larger than life picture of the “Prins” on the side of a house. Window decorations came soon after and every weekend there was some sort of party in town. People dressed in red, yellow or green were about and guys with funny looking hats seemed to preside over it all. When we walked through a neighboring town, we saw pictures of princes and princesses in almost every window. 

We guessed that all of this had something to do with Carnaval, but it was mostly a mystery. We knew that red, yellow and green are the colors of the Limburg flag and that Carnaval is a big celebration here. We were clueless about all the rituals involved. 

We’ve learned that each town has one or more carnival associations. Those are the guys with the funny hats. They plan the activities and elect the prince and/or princess. The activities can include pageants, parodies, comedies, music parties and parades. When there is a music event in Oirsbeek, we can hear it from our house and there were several nights when we had to use white noise to get to sleep. 

The climax of Carnaval is the week before Ash Wednesday. Our landlady gave us a bit of information and said that on Thursday night the ladies go out. They cut off men’s ties and shoelaces (I guess to show their rebellion?) if any men are out. The husbands eventually come to get their wives in the wee hours of the morning and take them home. I heard that one nearby town has a cow race on Friday night. People dress up like cows and run a race through the town center. No idea what that’s about! We went to Sittard Friday night for dinner and saw many teenagers in costumes (mostly one piece furry animals or cartoon characters) around market square. There was a youth dance party going on in the square. 

The parades begin on Saturday. There are youth or children parades and then the big parades. It seemed like most of the parades on Saturday were the former and the big parades were either Sunday or Monday. Nearly every village and city in Limburg hosts at least one parade. We decided that we had to experience Carnaval in Maastricht — the biggest celebration in NL. This meant we had to miss the parade in Oirsbeek since it was also on Sunday afternoon. We met up with my work colleague Ioana, who was also experiencing it for the first time. The parade in Maastricht was even bigger than I imagined it would be! It lasted almost three hours — so many colorful people, music and floats. It’s a joyous spectacle and, from our point of view, it was very family and community oriented. It’s not like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. 

A lot of creativity and planning goes into this parade. From what we understand, many of the groups are carnival associations or neighbor groups. The costumes are very elaborate and beautifully coordinated. There’s so much color, sparkle and flair! One of the major themes of carnaval is role reversal so the peasants become royalty, men become women, employees become bosses, etc. It’s also a celebration of the end of winter and pending spring — I think that’s why there is so much color.

In case you were wondering, yes there is also drunken revelry. Beer is the beverage of choice everywhere here and it’s probably consumed in greater quantities during Carnaval than any other time of the year. Many of the groups in the parade had their own beer cart so they could keep their glasses full. We didn’t experience much of this side of the celebration. It was too crowded to go into the center of Maastricht and in Sittard the set up was designed for frequent drinkers. When we went to the square in Oirsbeek on Saturday afternoon, there was a small crowd of people in costume standing around drinking beer and listening to silly carnaval music. It didn’t entice us. It’s not much fun to have a social drink when everyone else around you just wants to get drunk!


Almost every business is closed for the three day weekend. Carnaval Monday is a holiday in Limburg and a lot of the parades are held that day. On Sunday, the only restaurants that we found open were Subway and McDonalds (it’s the American way!). Monday night we decided to take a drive and find a restaurant where we could use coupons that were about expire. NOTHING in southern NL was open. We drove over into Belgium thinking that businesses there wouldn’t be observing carnaval — we were wrong. We managed to find an open Italian pizzeria in a small Belgian town and were surprised to get some delicious pizza served by a very nice couple. We will definitely go back there!

It all winds down on Tuesday with some sort of closing ceremony. There is still much about Carnaval that remains a mystery to us, but we’ve been doing some research and found lots of interesting information on this wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_in_the_Netherlands. Maybe by next year we’ll know more locals and learn more about the nuances of this celebration.

catching up

08 Wednesday Feb 2017

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It’s been about a month since my last blog post, because January was not terribly eventful. A streak of cold weather kept us mostly inside, though we did at least one long walk on the weekends. Some snow covered the ground a couple of times, but it didn’t stay for more than a day. I’ve gone with the auto option to get to work rather than biking or waiting for buses. 

We find ourselves in discussions about American politics on a daily basis now. I avoid American news outlets, but since President Trump also dominates European news we can’t escape it. It’s also difficult to avoid political Facebook posts, though I usually scroll though most of it. I’ve thought about taking a break from fb, but it’s how I stay connected to many friends and family and I find it difficult to give that up. I have strong reactions to the current events, but I don’t comment in print because I don’t think I have anything novel to say. Let me just say that my predominant feelings these days are embarrassment and concern. I don’t know if we have a different perspective here in Europe than we would have had at home. Most (if not all?) the people we know here are also shaking their heads over all of this. 

A trip to Düsseldorf last weekend broke us out of the winter doldrums. There was very little sun, but the temperature was warmer and it didn’t rain. The city sits along the Rheine River and the Rheinuferpromenade allows you to walk along the whole river front. It’s an interesting mix of new and old with some very cool architecture. There’s great shopping with a 7 story mall and a shopping street similar to 5th Ave in NY. We did a lot of browsing, but didn’t buy a thing! A historic German pub provided us some good meat and potatoes (bratwurst, mash and kraut for me) at the end of the day. 

We’ve been battling some illness this past week. I had a spell of vertigo (happens once in a while), Dick had a chest cold with a bad cough and now I have a nasty cold. We had planned to spend the weekend in Brussels, but decided to cut it to a day trip on the driest day, Sunday. It’s only a 1.4 hr trip by car to Liege and then by train the rest of the way. My first impression of Brussels last year was meh; I didn’t see much of the old part. This time we explored the Grand Place and some of the other well known sites. It was a wet dreary day and my visual impression of the city didn’t improve much. We had brunch at a popular cafe that serves breakfast all day. There was a line out the door and while we waited, we realized we were the oldest people around. Later in the day, we stopped into a pub to get a drink and get warm. As we walked to the back, we saw people dancing. We eventually figured out that a swing dancing club was there to do their thing. It was very entertaining! Our main reason for going to Brussels was to see a lights festival; it was pretty cool and made the trip worthwhile.

So we had a dilemma on Feb. 5th — it’s the Superbowl and the Patriots could make history. Do we stay up to watch it live (with ads and Lady Gaga) or do we shut ourselves off from the outside world until we can watch it on demand (without ads or halftime show) on Monday? To watch it all live, we would have had to pull an all nighter and go to bed at 4 am. We decided to split the difference and watch it live until after the halftime show (2:30 am). After sleeping in on Monday morning, we avoided social media and the news and went right to the second half on demand. Wow, what an epic game! Congratulations NE Patriots! 😀 It was kind of a bummer not being able to share the experience with other Patriots fans and we definitely missed the party food! 

family time

04 Wednesday Jan 2017

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We had a busy week visiting family in central and northern NY and Philadelphia. The weather made traveling interesting; the freezing rain and snow squalls gave Dick a good refresher in winter driving. 😯 We’re thankful that we didn’t have any mishaps with our rental car. It was amusing to compare drive times in Europe where five hours in the car will get us to Germany or France to drive times in the US where it takes five hours to get to central NY!

I tried to be mentally prepared for the various encounters we would have with our families. I knew that some would be curious and ask questions and some would not. I wanted to be cautious to share our experiences without seeming to gloat or monopolize conversations. I enjoy conversations where there is a lot of give and take. I also love curiosity because I’m curious too! Our nieces and nephews are always up to something new and I like to get the updates. Some family members have new jobs since we’ve been gone and we wanted to know how that’s going. My brother is building a new house for his family and it was exciting to see their progress. We enjoyed large family dinners and as many smaller family visits as we could. It was a bummer that some family members were sick during the holidays, but we’re grateful that we were able to stay healthy. Our families have been very supportive for the most part and we continue to need their support. It was really nice to be with people we know and love!

My favorite part of the week was New Year’s weekend with our kids gathered at Jasmine & Matt’s house near Philly. They have put a lot of work into their new house and it accommadated us all nicely. This is one thing I will brag about: I have great kids and kid-in-laws! We had a lot of fun together hanging out, walking through Longwood Gardens, eating good food, watching football and getting out of the Escape room! This was all I wanted for Christmas; my cup overflowed. Now, we look forward to them all visiting us in The Netherlands during the coming year.

In some ways it feels like we never left this land, not much changes in seven months. We don’t have a physical home here, so it seems strange to be visitors in the place where we once lived. I’ve been noticing things that I once paid no attention to — like the proliferation of fast food restaurants, abandoned or run down properties, huge SUVs everywhere and cheesy Christmas decorations (like those blow up thingys!). On the flip side, I’ve been enjoying the things I missed — like the convenience of the DD drive-thru, yummy pizza, good TexMex and great snack food (I guess that’s why Americans are um . . . bigger?). 

We’re squeezing in as many visits as we can with friends this week and spending more time with family. It’s all going by so quickly!

anticipation and other stuff on my mind

03 Tuesday Jan 2017

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I’m anxiously awaiting our trip to that place we conceptually call home. I’ve missed very few things about the USA, but one of those ‘things’ is a big category — our family and friends. I’ve been missing my kids terribly the last couple of months. I’ve also been missing the sense of belonging when we’re with our friends and family. I’m constantly aware of being a foreigner here, though it usually doesn’t bother me much.

I’m also anticipating a Christmas weekend that is not by my design. Divorce kinda wrecks the whole notion of an ideal Christmas. After travelling over 3000 miles to be with our loved ones, we will essentially be stranded on Christmas day with the one person we see everyday (love you, honey). We can’t travel any further until we have K. K must be with the other family in the equation at a particular time on Christmas day (let’s just say all of it). They must celebrate Christmas day with immediate family (we’re told these are the people that currently live in their house) and then extended family (the people who live an hour away from them). Okay, so that’s cool. Peace on earth, good will towards the ex. We get so hung up on the date on the calendar don’t we? Jesus was probably born in September anyway. Dick and I can catch up on football and find a Christmas movie marathon to pass the day. We’ll see most of our extended family (’cause no one lives with us) during the week after Christmas and it will be fine. I just wish we didn’t have this annual drama that leaves us feeling as if we’re being punished.

Having recently experienced the wonder of the Christmas markets (chronicled in my last post), I’m feeling sad that someone would choose to kill and terrorize people enjoying the market in Berlin. We were aware that the markets were a potential target for terrorist acts and police presence was evident at every market we visited. We didn’t let that keep us away, because we choose not to live cloistered in fear. I agree that we have to continue to live our lives (with wisdom and caution) in defiance of terror.

Today is the shortest day of the year, which amounts to exactly 8 hours of daylight — 8:30-4:30 — in South Limburg. I see the dawn of the sunrise and the remnants of the sunset everyday on my commute to/from work. I still bike to work most days as long as it’s above 32F and dry. This past Monday morning, I biked in dense fog. I was a little nervous on the main road, but it was fun being enveloped in fog on the bike path. I haven’t minded the darkness so much, but it will be nice to eventually see more daylight.

 A few other things I’m missing and looking forward to : snow, eavesdropping on English conversations, the ocean, pepperoni pizza and eggnog. Two more days!

 

Christmas Markets — oh my!

13 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by in Dutch Culture, Germany, Travel

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‘Tis the season for Kerstmarkts/Weihnachts Markts/Christmas Markets. We’ve visted markets in five cities in Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium. Our introduction to the German Weihnacht Markt was in Aachen where rows of wooden huts wind around the cathedral and span both squares. The lights, the music, the hand made items for sale and the food create a festive atmosphere. We ate potato pancakes and crepes and drank glühwein (mulled wine) in cute little mugs. You can keep the mugs or return them to get a deposit back. We kept a pair from one of the Cologne markets. Cologne has a total of seven markets throughout the city. We made it to four of them: the Dom, Harbor, Old City and Angel markets. Each market has a slightly different feel. I think the Old City was my favorite because it had a medieval look. The market at the Dom was beautiful after dark with the lit cathedral as a back drop. We sampled food at each market: bretzels, fire grilled salmon, chocolate covered strawberries, strudel, spatzel, hot chocolate and more glühwein. Wow, that’s a lot of food!  


Kerstmarkts in Nederland are not as common or as big, but they are just as festive. The Valkenburg Kerstmarkts are unique because they’re located in the city’s famous caves. There are three of them, but we only visited one – the Gemeentegrot Markt. The goods and the food were meager in comparison to the German markets, but the atmosphere of the decorated caves was pretty cool. There are also booths set up in the center of town, which is always busy because there are so many restaurants there. We actually managed to come home hungry from this visit since we didn’t buy any food. But we stopped there a week later to have dinner at a great burger place. We were able to catch the weekly Sinterklaas parade that night, which was fun.

The Kerstmarkt in Maastricht is set up on the Vrijthof square in front of the cathedral. It’s the smallest market of those we visited. There is a skating rink, ferris wheel and Santa train for the kinderen. The Dutch flavor was evident with several booths offering stroopwafels and many varieties of ollibollen. We ate lumpias and later tried a krentenbollen, which was a little doughy in the middle. We prefer Mama Smid’s ollibollen!

 

We visited the Kerstmarkt in Antwerp on the opening day of a month long winter carnival. We visited a museum (Red Star Line Museum) before going to the market, so when we got there we were hungry and looking for food. We found bratwurst and burgers in the smaller square near the skating rink. From there, we went by the cathedral (took a quick look inside, but there was a mass) and out to the Grote Markt. The city hall there is beautiful and absolutely gorgeous when covered in Christmas lights. Most of the surrounding buildings were also lit up and there were Christmas trees all around. Later in the evening, there was a video show against city hall which was spectacular. There are wood burning warming stations around the square and a fire bar on one side of the skating rink to take the chill off, though the temp wasn’t too cold the day we were there. The Kerstmarkt extends down side streets and over to the waterfront where there is a huge ferris wheel, mini golf, a big slide and carnival games. There are also more booths by the castle. We rode the ferris wheel and got a great view of the city and the river. We indulged in Belgian treats — frites and waffles and the glühwein served there was better than what we had in Germany. It was very crowded in the evening, but not frenzied. No one is rushing; everyone is just enjoying the holiday atmosphere.

 

Lastly, I should also give a mention to the Christmas Market at JFC. It’s a one day affair held in the conference center adjacent to the base. It begins with the Commander giving his Christmas greetings and lighting the tree. Other than Santa and a couple of kiddie rides, this market was all about food. There is food and drink from many NATO members — 18 countries this year! We ate until we were stuffed and then biked home to burn some of the calories. Dick learned that mixing Belgian beer, Azerbaijan spirits and Dutch genever is not a good idea. 😏

A little bit of Tuscany

09 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by in Travel

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When I saw how cheap it was to fly to Italy from a nearby airport, I started making plans. I thought Venice would be our destination, but after some research and talking to people (like Jasmine!) we decided to go to Florence. I was a little concerned that a four day weekend wouldn’t be enough time to do it justice, but Dick and I agreed to realistic expectations and a relatively firm itinerary.

We had to fly into Pisa and it was an evening flight, so we decided to stay overnight, see the Leaning Tower and then take the train to Florence. We stayed in a basic hotel in the heart of the city. The bed felt like a board and our window faced a noisy alley, but we managed to get a some sleep. 

There was a steady rain all morning so our visit to Pisa was relatively short. After seeing the Tower and the Duomo from the outside, we got our bags and took a long walk down the Corpo Italia (Walking Street) to the train station. 

Florence was also rainy, but we walked to our hotel without getting too wet. After we checked in, we found pizza at a little cafe.  Our first agenda item was a reserved entry to The Accademia. We’ve read about Michelangelo’s David and seen pictures, of course, but it certainly is more impressive up close. Wow. The collection of sculpture by Lorenzo Bartolini was also quite impressive. I’m not a big  fan of early Renaissance paintings and I’d have to say I  was maxed out after seeing the relatively small collection there. 

I insisted we get gelato to keep us going until dinner and after waking around a bit, we found a not so inexpensive gellateri. So we split a cup full. 😊 The restaurant that I had pinned for dinner didn’t seem so appealing when we looked at the menu. We searched Google and Trip Advisor for another choice close to our hotel. The pick turned out okay. Our waiter was great, the wine was excellent and my gnocchi was delicious. Dick had boar, a Tuscan specialty. The waiter talked us into a limoncello after dessert and that was probably a little too much alcohol for us light weights!

There was a steady rain all day on Saturday and then some strong thunderstorms that night. More heavy storms rolled through on Sunday. Our room overlooked the Arno and we could see the water rise and run faster. By Sunday evening, it was a roaring torrent that we could hear from our bed. This month is the 50th anniversary of the great flood in Florence and I wondered if residents get nervous every time the river rises.


The Uffizi gallery was free on Sunday and even though we got there at 8:15, we had to wait about 40 min. to get in. The building and the views are amazing. I liked the sculpture, but most of the art is early 15th century. Meh. The Michelangelo and “Leonardo” billing are kind of a tease. There is one of each. The Leonardo exhibit was moved to another floor, which we didn’t figure out until we asked. The maps and signs weren’t updated! 

Since there was no rain and a bit of sun, we decided to head to the Piazzale Michelangelo to see the city views. We made it in time to get some nice pics with just a little rain. Our next stop was the Palazzo Pitti, which turned out to be a little ambitious as we heard the thunder getting closer. We also chose a steep uphill route to get there. We made it through the Boboli gardens and within sight of the palace when the downpour came. We managed to get some shelter with a bunch of other people on some covered steps. 

When the rain eased up, we took a long detour back around to the front of the palace. Food and drink were needed at this point. We had both heard about the sitting fees in Italy, but that advice went unheeded and we got taken for extra € at the place where we stopped for lunch. Dang. When we walked to the Duomo, we were almost suckered by a guy from Senegal (or so he said). The way this guy engaged us and then went into his beg for money left me with an unsettled feeling for awhile. We were a little more aware after this. 

The Duomo is the only church I’ve seen that is more beautiful  on the outside than the inside. Santa Maria Novella is incredible and there was much more there than we expected to see. The frescos, especially the ones in the chapel, are breathtaking. 

We had some time for shopping in the afternoon. There  must be hundreds of leather shops and market stalls in this city. I guess the prices on the items are there just to make you feel like you’re getting a deal when you negotiate down to a reasonable range. Almost every shop we went in started with 30% off. Dick tried on several jackets and when he indicated interest and a price limit, the fun began. We encountered a really nice, knowledgeable and skillful saleswoman. She was also less pushy than some other people we talked to. It was a deal in the end and I think D looks great in his new made in Italy jacket! Sunday night’s dinner was at a small restaurant on the south side of the river. The reviews were accurate and we had another great meal. Dick said his veal dish was one of the best meals he’s ever had. We split another bottle of Chianti, but no limoncello this time.

Monday was dry — yay! Palazzo Vecchio was our first destination. Many museums are closed on Monday so we arranged our itinerary accordingly. We saw the movie “Inferno” last week and part of it is set at the Palazzo Vecchio. I don’t know if that enhanced our visit or distracted from it! We saw the hidden door in the studio opened by a staff member while we were there; that was fun. The Dante death mask exhibit is completely different than shown in the movie. The Great Hall is, of course, much more impressive in person. We did the archeology tour and that turned out to be a pretty disappointing. The audio tour is via an app and guess what — wifi doesn’t work so great underground! If you don’t have info or context, it just looks like layers of rock down there. We did some more browsing through shops, this time on the south side, in the afternoon. We found delicious, moderately priced gelato near one of the bridges. Yum! 

We took the train back to Pisa, checked into a shabby hotel and then had a nice dinner at a family restaurant. The owner waited on us and gave us great service. It was kind of homey. He wanted to know if we would make it back to Boston to vote and we explained that we had already voted by absentee ballot. We got good sleep and began our journey back home on Tuesday morning. Our plane flew over the Mediterranean and the Alps — it was spectacular! 

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