Amsterdam

This past weekend we made a last minute decision to fly to Amsterdam with some friends of ours.  Last weekend Jenny & Chris had found a good deal where we could get airfare and two nights hotel in the city for $200/person.

Saturday morning I dropped the dogs off at the kennel, drove back home, and Shanna & I hopped on the train.  The nice thing about living near a train stop is it's easy to get around, including to the airport.  With Airport parking costing around 50 euros a day, this saved us big time.  Once we got to Stuttgart Airport, check in was a breeze.  What a nice change from Dulles and National airports in DC.  Total time from when we walked off the train at the airport to when we were at our gate was 15 minutes.  Jenny, Chris, and Katia had already gotten there, so we met them behind the security checkpoint and grabbed breakfast.  The plane took off at 11:20am and we were in Amsterdam by 12:30pm.  Once we gathered our bags, we hopped on the train and went to the hotel.

The hotel wasn't bad, and for the price we paid, we weren't complaining.  In looking at the weather, we saw that it was going to be overcast Saturday, nice & sunny on Sunday and a light rain on Monday, so we decided tonight we'd just walk around exploring the town.  There were two places on our "to visit" for the first night.  The IJ Brewery, because it's built into a windmill, and the Beer Temple.  There's a store in Amsterdam called the Cracked Kettle that I've been in contact with before because I've ordered beer from them.  They sell beer from all over the world, including American Micro Brew, which is impossible to get where we live.  I had asked them if they knew of any bars that sold that kind of beer in the Amsterdam area, and they recommended the Beer Temple.

First up was the brewery built in the windmill.  We had arranged to meet one of Shanna's friends from her college days here based on his recommendation.  Sjoerd (pronounced "shord") lived in Rotterdam, about an hour & a half away, so he'd taken the train down to meet us.  Beer straight from a brewery is always great, and this place was no exception.  It was so fresh you could taste the Wort right in the beer.  Wort is basically "young beer".  It's what beer starts out as before anything else is done to it.  The taste is hard to describe, but very distinct...once you've tasted or smelled it, you never forget it.  Below is a list of their beers...as you can see, it was dirt cheap.

The percentages you see next to each name was their alcohol percentage.  So not only were they cheap, they were potent.  Sjoerd eventually showed up, so we headed next door to grab some dinner.  After dinner, while waiting for our check, two little boys were having fun running around near us, and eventually started climbing under our table.  The father came over to profusely apologize, but we didn't mind, we were having fun grabbing at them as they ran under us, and of course the boys were having a blast.  Once we paid and walked out the door, they ran outside to say good bye to us.

Next up was the Beer Temple.  This was place was everything I'd imagined and more.  It was like going to some of our favorite bars back home.  Of course the prices were significantly higher, but for one night, we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Eventually we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

The next day we got to experience what days are like in the winter when you're that far north.  In Stuttgart we're pretty far north with our latitude being equal to that of Canada, just north of North Dakota.  Amsterdam is a 6 hour drive further north.  The sun didn't rise until 9am, and by 10am it looked like a typical day in DC at 7am, in terms of the sunlight out.  By the 3pm the sun had started to set, and it was dark out by 4pm.  So all told, only about 6 or 7 hours of sunlight in the day.  Another thing you couldn't help but notice were the bicycles.  EVERYWHERE.  I've never seen so many bikes in my life.  They were chained up all over the city.  There was a bicycle parking garage near the Central Train Station that held, on average, almost 3,000 bikes.  On Monday, a normal work day, I'd estimate about half the city was commuting to work on bikes.  They have dedicated bike lines and bike traffic lights all over the city.  When you see our picture gallery you'll see a picture Shanna took of a bike traffic light.

Since Sunday was going to be the nice day, we did our outdoor things then.  We started the day by taking a canal tour of the city.  That's always neat because you see the city from a different perspective then when you walk around.  It took about an hour and we got to see a lot of the major areas of the city.  The rest of the day was spent mostly walking around the city, stopping in stores and seeing what they city had to offer.  We even stopped in a cheese store where they made cheese right there!

Towards the end of the day we made our last shopping stop at The Cracked Kettle.  This store was amazing, but I'm sort of glad we don't have one near our place in Stuttgart...it'd be financially detrimental.  They even carried a beer they technically aren't supposed to.  Westvleteren is a Belgian beer that is only supposed to be sold at the brewery itself in Belgium.  They require you make a reservation, promise not to resell it, and you're limited to one case per license plate per month.  But this store had a case.  We picked up some bottles for ourselves, as well as friends back home who had asked for some.  We also picked up a bunch of other beer that I can't wait to try.  As we walked out of the store, we heard music coming from the nearby canal.  When we walked over to investigate, we saw this guy in a boat puttering around.  He was propelling the boat by turning a hand crank and using his other hand to hold a trumpet as he played it.

When you go to the pictures section you'll also see a video I took of it.  After that we walked back to our hotel, unloaded, and went to dinner.  I'm usually in favor of finding local restaurants and not eating American food when we're travelling, but I don't mind making an exception for the Hard Rock Cafe, which is what we did for dinner that night.  The Hard Rock Amsterdam was a 5 minute walk from the hotel, so we went there for dinner.  We couldn't believe it when they offered something we took for granted in the U.S....unlimited refills on soda.  That's unheard of over here.  When we got back to the hotel, we started to pack up since we'd be checking out early the next day.  As we started to pack, I realized we'd bought more beer then we had clothes.  When we buy beer, or anything fragile, we always wrap them in clothes if we are flying home to keep them protected.  Since we didn't have enough clothes, I walked to the local grocery store to see if they had bubble wrap, or anything to protect the bottles.  I couldn't find bubble wrap, but did think of something I thought was rather ingenious...diapers.

The first one gave me trouble until I got the hang of it.  By the end, I was wrapping them like a pro.  When kids come along, I'll be ready to put diapers on!  Assuming the kids are only 12 ounces, of course. :)

At 6am Monday we got up and started with showers, and were walking out the door by 8:30am.  The Anne Frank house opened at 9am, and there's ALWAYS a line, so we wanted to get there early.  We ended up getting there 15 minutes before it opened, and while there was a line, it wasn't long, and we were able to walk right in when the doors opened.  One of the neat things about living over here is we get to see in person all the things we read about in history class growing up.  This was one of those things.  Everyone knows the Anne Frank story, so to actually be in the house was surreal.  We walked around the normal part of the house, then through the hidden door behind the book case, into the attic area where they hid for almost 2 years.  Towards the end of the tour they had a low-lit area where the actual diaries were on display.  Finally, at the very end of the tour, they had some memorabilia, including a letter dated 1977 to Otto Frank.  The person describes how they had just visited and how moving it was.  As you get to the bottom, you see who it was written by...a very young (at the time) Bill Gates.

After we left there, we headed over to Central Train station and bought our tickets for the bus tour.  Shanna & I had done the tour the last time we visited back in 2008, and the difference between a summer tourist season tour, and the winter off-season tour, was like night & day.  When we toured 3 years ago, we had a personal guide who walked us all around the city explaining every detail.  For this tour, it was on a bus, there was only an audio guide, and it just lasted an hour.  The tour was billed as an hour & 45 minutes, but 45 minutes of it was them dropping us off at a diamond factory in town where they gave us a tour.  That was actually interesting, though.  Under heavy security they showed us 3 different diamonds that are examples of what they sell.  They ranged in price from 85,000 Euros up to 150,000 Euros.  It was neat to see the process for how they take a rough diamond and get it down to the kind you see in stores.

Once the tour was over, we headed over to the Dutch Resistance museum.  This was actually really interesting.  The size of the museum was not large, but there was a LOT of information, so it took some time to go through it all.  They talked about the guy who was the "banker" for the resistance and how he moved money all around through shell accounts, and kept each account separate, so if one was compromised, it wouldn't compromise all of them.  It talked about the illegal newspapers, the way the Nazis tried to act friendly to the local population, and in later years of the war, turned brutal.  It talked about what happened to collaborators as well as the women who dated the Nazi soldiers after the war.

Once we left the museum we were just about done for the day, but hadn't eaten lunch yet.  Across from the Heineken brewery was a restaurant recommended by someone at the tourist office, so we went there.  We got to enjoy a traditional Dutch treat, Poffertjes.  They are basically a mix between funnel cake and pancakes and are DELICIOUS.

Once we finished we walked back to the hotel where we had a cab waiting, and went to the airport.  So over all, this weekend was a lot of fun.  It's nice to be able to take impromptu trips to European cities for the weekend and not pay through the nose for it.  Oh, and for all those wondering, every single beer made it back safely as you can see from the picture below.

I'm now a believer in diapers for packing material. :)

To see the pictures, click on any picture above or here.

Weekend Update

Not a whole lot happened last weekend, but a few things did.  Saturday during the day was pretty relaxed, we just watched a few of the College Bowl games that had aired over the previous few days.  That evening, though, we met our friends Jenny & Chris for dinner & a movie.  India House is a place we visited when we first got here because it was close to our hotel, and while we liked it, we hadn't been back.  Jenny & Chris loved the placed too and it was right next to the theater, so we decided to meet there at 5pm when the place opened.  Or so we thought.  Turns out the place opens at 5:30, so we had 30 minutes to kill.  Across from the restaurant is a little hole in the wall dive bar, so we decided to head in there for a bit.  We ordered a round of beer (in German, of course) and took a seat.  This was obviously a "locals" bar with an older clientel, but when they heard us speaking German with our American accent, they were curious and started talking with us.  They were nice people, all from the area, and the bartender ended up bring us a round of Schnapps shots on the house.  The Schnapps in Germany are not like the ones in the US.  In the US they are typically low-alcohol and generic, but German Schnapps are different in every city, and are typically rather potent.  These were pretty good.

At 5:30 we headed over to India House for dinner and started talking about various trips we had wanted to take over the next few months.  Shanna & I mentioned that we weren't really up for anything more then day trips because we are flying home in March and it won't be cheap.  That's when they sprung their idea for this upcoming weekend on us.  They'd found a deal online for airfare from Stuttgart to Amsterdam, as well as two nights hotel, for $200/person.  We decided a weekend in Amsterdam sounded like fun, and that's not too expensive, so we agreed.  After dinner we went to see The Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.  It was ok...the scenery was pretty and definitely bumped Venice up on the list of "places to visit", but the story was predictable and far-fetched.  Not bad for a Friday night rental, but I wouldn't waste money to see it in the theaters.

Not much happened Sunday other then we booked our trip for this weekend, but on Monday Shanna wanted to visit Ramstein Air Base.  I've heard the Exchange there is practically a mall, so I was curious.  Ramstein is about a 2 hour drive from us, so we hit the road around 9am.  When we got there, it was lunch time and the food court had...ready for this?...a Johnny Rockets and a Taco Bell.  It's the only Johnny Rockets and Taco Bell in all of Germany.  We haven't had a good burger (aside from what we make at home) since we got here, so we couldn't wait.  After that we walked around the various shops, as well as the Exchange itself, then headed home.

So not much to report from last weekend, just a fun night out with friends and a trip to Ramstein.  Check back next week for my post on Amsterdam!

New Years

Happy New Years everyone!  This New Years Eve was a lot of fun, more fun then we've had on NYE in awhile, capped off by the most amazing fireworks show we've ever seen.  But more on that later.

When we first walked through the house with our landlord Lars prior to move-in, he made sure to show off the loft on our top floor.  It's not like your typical room, with the "walls" on either side connecting to the ceiling at a 45 degree angle.  The reason for that is the room is essentially a converted finished attic, so the "walls" are the roof outside.  The room has huge windows built into the roof that open up and allow you to stand within to look outside.  He said the reason they put those in was to put seats in front of the window and be able to look outside over the city, as well as feel a cool breeze from all around since essentially you'd be sitting outside at that point.  Neat concept, and it made for a FANTASTIC view of the city when the fireworks were going off.  I know that's hard to visualize, but if you look at the picture of us below, as well as watch the video you'll see the windows opened to the point that they were above us as we stood in the window area.

Because we lived in the city and knew they'd have a bigger show then the smaller towns, we invited some friends over.  It was the usual group you've probably gotten to know from previous posts.  Jenny & Chris came over, then Katia, Scott & their son Matthew, and finally Kate & Charles.  Katia & Scott recently got an 18 month old Golden Retriever named Heidi and of course Kate & Charles have their Shibu Inu, Pixel.  Both brought their dogs, so we had 10 people and 4 dogs running around.

Being the creative cook that Shanna is, we had a pretty big spread laid out.  She made mini-calzones, bacon-wrapped cream cheese stuffed jalapenos (big thanks to Missy & Alex for introducing us to those), crescent rolls mixed with a ranch cheese, chips, dip, cheese plate, fruit plate, veggie plate, and the center piece, cupcakes laid out like a clock with the time pointed at midnight.  The cupcakes you see in the picture below had to be fixed...cupcakes 5, 6, and 7 were a bit too close to the edge, and when we weren't looking, Murphy got on his hind legs and grabbed them off the table.  Thankfully Shanna had made extra, so it didn't take long to make three new ones...but we had to barricade the room off from that point forward so no dogs could get in.

Jenny & Chris got there first, and while we were talking with them, Jenny told us that if Katia tells us after midnight to get an egg and run outside, just do it.  The one thing that makes conversation interesting with Katia & Jenny is their accents make for some funny misunderstandings.  Jenny is from Wisconsin and has a thick midwest accent, while Katia is from Ecuador and has a strong South American accent.  Jenny said that Katia was telling her about a South American tradition where if you plan on travelling in the new year, you take an egg, and walk outside with it and it's supposed to bring you good luck with your travels.  Sounds odd, but there are plenty of strange American traditions too, so we didn't question it.  Scott & Katia came over next, and Shanna was talking with Scott when Scott mentioned the same tradition, but instead of eggs, he said you bring your luggage outside after midnight.  That's when Shanna put 2 and 2 together, and realized Katia must have said "bags", but with her accent, and the way Jenny pronounces her letter "a", she heard "eggs".  The funny part was even with the misunderstanding, Jenny, Katia, and Shanna took eggs outside for a walk after midnight as a joke.

Kate & Charles were the last to arrive, and the dog party started.  Murphy isn't big on playing with other dogs, but Milo can't get enough of it.  He would wrestle & play with Heidi, then when she was tired, Pixel would jump in and Milo would play with her.  Below is a short video I took of Heidi & Milo playing.

The night was a fun night, we had football on TV, plenty of food & beer, and Katia even brought over a bottle of Scotch I'd never heard of before, but was incredibly smooth.  The one tradition Katia told us about that she wanted to do was at 11:59 you have to eat a cup of grapes for good luck in the new year.  So about 10 minutes before midnight we gathered up in the loft, opened the windows, and got the Champagne & Chimay ready.  For those who don't know, Chimay is a Belgian beer that Shanna & I love.  Everyone else was going to toast with Champagne, but we wanted to toast with Chimay.  When 11:59 hit, we had our glasses ready and started eating the cups of grapes.  Then midnight hit, we toasted, and it was 2011!

Back in October, at the end of Volksfest, the fair grounds shot fireworks off.  We could see them in the distance from our house, and it was kind of neat to see, but nothing spectacular.  We thought they might have fireworks there, as well as a few above city center.  We didn't expect much.  The fireworks laws are pretty strict in Germany, but as we found out, they are strict only in terms of when you can buy them and shoot them off.  There didn't appear to be ANY restrictions on the type of fireworks.  About ten minutes to midnight, the barrage started.  When I say the city looked like a war zone, I'm not exaggerating.  The video I'm going to post below only gives a slight glimpse of what it was like.  Make sure your sound is turned on for the full effect.  Tim, a friend of mine who lives in VA, made the comment that it looks like the city is exploding...that observation couldn't be more accurate.  The video is only about 45 seconds, but the fireworks went on like this for a full 30 minutes.  It was almost 12:30am before it stopped.  Click the picture of the fireworks below to take you to the YouTube page with the video in HD.

Here's a picture of us standing in front of the window upstairs.

The white patch in the lower left is Murphy.  He was terrified when the fireworks started going off, so we took turns holding him so he wouldn't run around peeing everywhere from being scared.  He was calmer in our arms, but was still shaking for the full 30 minute show.  We tried putting him in our bedroom thinking he'd stay down there, but I guess even though he was scared he still wanted to be where we were.  Normally at night, visibility from our house is about 10-20 miles out.  By the time the fireworks were done, the smoke in the air was so thick you could see at most a quarter of a mile out.

Once things settled down, Scott & Katia headed home.  Jenny, Chris, Kate, and Charles, though, stayed at our place for the night.  We have several spare bedrooms, so everyone was able to get a good nights sleep.

We didn't head to bed until almost 3:30am, so we were a little late getting up the next morning.  Everyone was finally up & moving around 10am.  Kate & Charles had left earlier because Charles had to work that morning, so Jenny, Chris, Shanna & I took showers, got cleaned up, and headed over to Scott & Katia's house.  The night before they had invited us over for brunch on New Years Day.  We got over there about 11:30, and as we were walking up to the house we could smell the bacon cooking.  After a long New Years Eve night, that smelled fantastic.

We sat around talking for a bit, and finally brunch was ready.  They had bacon, pancakes, a breakfast casserole, biscuits, and eggs to order.  Scott even cooked the eggs in the bacon grease.  Everything was delicious.  Chris, Matthew & I played a few games of Madden while the ladies were looking at some of the jewelery that Katia had made.  Apparently back in Columbia she did that as a side job...she'd make & sell jewelery.  It was funny watching Heidi try and get Milo to play...Milo was so worn out from the night before that he would have nothing of it...he just stayed in my lap.  We've NEVER seen him turn down playing before.

That was about it...we were pretty tired by the time we got home later that afternoon, so we finished cleaning up from the night before then crawled into bed & watched football.  We weren't the only ones tired...both dogs sacked out as soon as we got home and didn't wake up until the next morning.  Sunday was just a lazy day of watching College Bowl games and NFL games.

We didn't take many pics, so the two pics I have above will take you to a higher resolution version if you click on them.