Amsterdam

Just a few days after I got back from the long road trip with my dad, I headed off at six in the morning for two and a half days in Amsterdam. Catie's boyfriend was visiting, and as the three of us are friends from Wesleyan we thought it would be a fun trip to take together. We definitely did have fun, and saw a lot of museums and ate a lot of delicious food, but I must say it was incredibly cold. I would like to go back to Amsterdam some time in the spring, when I could enjoy wandering around near the canals without continually scanning for somewhere to take shelter and get warm.

Our trip started off with a seven hour train ride from Tübingen to Amsterdam. Because we wanted most of the day on Thursday in Amsterdam, we left at 6:00 am for what was, thanks to the clean, fast, and reliable German train system, a very easy trip. Once we dropped our stuff at the hostel, we decided to spend the afternoon exploring the city. As soon as we stepped outside the door we ran into a beautiful cheese shop, situated in the corner of a building, where they have cheese being made in a big vat inside and more samples than even I, a cheese enthusiast, would have dreamed of. My first few minutes in Amsterdam, and the city had already won me over. The rest of that afternoon we wandered around, peeked in on a few of the coffeeshops that make Amsterdam famous, and then just relaxed at the hostel, tired after our long train journey.

The cheese shop

Making cheese

 Some shots of Amsterdam:

The next day we did a lot of sightseeing. The morning began with a trip to the Anne Frank house, which is the museum that has been made out of the rooms that her family and some family friends lived in behind her father's store for years while hiding from the Nazis. The furniture has been removed, but you can get a sense of how narrow and cramped those rooms were, and how difficult it must have been to live in such close proximity to your family for years, especially as a young teenager. The museum left bits of the original wallpaper where you can see how Anne decorated her bedroom or where the family put marks on the wall to measure the growth of the children. These tidbits were both touching and heartbreaking, seeing as how all of them except Anne's father ended up dying in concentration camps just before the war ended. Thoroughly depressed, we moved on to the next portion of our sightseeing day, which did nothing to cheer us up. Gilder was very enthusiastic about seeing the torture museum, so we headed there. After about twenty minutes of narrow passageways filled with historic torture devices and gruesome illustrations, we emerged back into the suddenly sunny Amsterdam day. We grabbed some lunch to recover from our morning before heading off to the Van Gogh Museum, stopping briefly on the way at a floating flower market, which consists of many stalls lined up along one of the canals and is the only one of its kind in the world.

A few stalls from the flower market

The Van Gogh Museum was wonderful, and fulfilled all of my expectations (which were many, as my art teacher in high school raved about the museum and I've wanted to go ever since). We headed back to the hostel after this to relax a little before dinner, which we ate in China Town. Catie and I were very excited for the prospect of somewhat authentic asian food, as in Germany most restaurants don't serve food from a specific Asian country, but rather "Asia" food. The scope of this generic Asian identity is vast. For example, a friend of ours from New Zealand recently told us that Germans have qualified him as Asian. Needless to say, we were excited at the prospect of a meal other than rice and vegetables with "Asia sauce." Although we were in China Town, rather than ending up in a Chinese restaurant, or even one of the many Indonesian restaurants we had seen and been wanting to try, we ended up at a Thai restaurant where we ate a delicious dinner. It was exactly what was needed after a long day, and gave us a chance to get off our feet.

China Town is right near the Red Light District, so after dinner we walked around there for a little while. Catie and I found the experience somewhat unsettling, continually saying that we didn't know how to feel as feminists. On the one hand, we want to support women in an act that can be empowering and is a personal choice, especially as Amsterdam makes sure that the practice of prostitution is regulated and safe. On the other hand, I found it extremely disconcerting that every single woman was incredibly made up with tons of eye liner, wearing a bikini (I had expected lingerie), and had stick straight jet black or bleach blonde hair. I had expected to see different types of women in these windows, as I would assume that different people have different sexual preferences, and although we saw a few that broke from the description above, the vast majority presented themselves in this manner. Catie and I both said that it felt strange to us being women walking through there, as it was clear that we were not the intended customer. We didn't want to stare, but the women were asking to be stared at - but only by men. It was an interesting experience, and I sort of wish we had seen more of the district, because maybe then we would have seen some variety. It was fascinating to watch men on the street so openly arguing prices and debating whether or not to go in. I feel like I left with more questions than I had had before going, however, such as how does one get to be in a window? How long does she get to stay in the window? In some places are there prostitutes in the back that aren't in the window (sort of like a brothel-type situation), or are they all self-employed?

One street in the Red Light District

One of the Indonesian Restaurants...imprints of colonialism

Amazing, amazing french fries with mayonaise and garlic sauce

The next day we decided to get some grasp of Amsterdam's history, and we began this by taking a canal cruise. There are many different services that offer this, but we went with the one offered by the tourist office because the boat was enclosed (remember, it was freezing). We got some beautiful views of the city and saw important landmarks that we otherwise would have missed, such as the building that used to house the Dutch East India Company. After our canal cruise we went to the Amsterdam Museum, which I highly recommend. It was one of the best museums I've ever been to, incredibly interactive and full of interesting information presented in many different ways. The first exhibit was particularly colorful, youthful, and informative, and I found myself wishing it went on for longer. After a long time exploring the countless other rooms in the museum, we stopped at the café for an incredibly reasonably-priced and delicious lunch, a bonus in a city as expensive as Amsterdam. (The museum gave us a student discount with our International Student Identity Cards, and was thus the first and only place we visited with a student discount). Right near the museum is the oldest house in Amsterdam, and the only surviving wooden house. After a large fire in the 1600s that burnt down most of the town, all of the houses have been made of brick. The house is in a courtyard that belongs to an order of religious women, so it's very peaceful and was a nice place to walk through.

Some images from the canal cruise:

Parking garage for bicycles at the train station

Giant floating Chinese-Indonesian Restaurant

I liked this houseboat

And this one

Gilder and Catie in the courtyard of the Amsterdam Museum

The old wooden house

Overall our trip to Amsterdam lived up to my expectations, and I enjoyed the beautiful city thoroughly. I just wish it had been a little warmer! Tomorrow I'm leaving for Scotland, and then England and Ireland, and eventually Istanbul, so there will be no more blog posts for at least a month. Happy february!

Red Lentil Soup with Lime

After an extremely mild fall and winter, Europe has suddenly been swept with a bout of freezing weather (at noon today the warmest temperature in all of Germany was 5 degrees Fahrenheit), and Tübingen is no exception. While the actual temperatures aren't colder than I'm used to from New England at this time of year, the suddenness with which they have appeared makes them seem that much colder. And I must say, that the current "feels like" temperature of -5 F is colder than I'm used to on an average day even at home. With these temperature and the lingering ice and snow, when my friend Dee and I decided we wanted to make lunch on Monday, soup seemed like the logical choice. I suggested my favorite soup, Red Lentil Soup with Lime, which my friend Allison discovered a few years ago in my favorite cookbook: Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone." It is a hearty and filling soup that displays vibrant colors and flavors, and it's full of healthy ingredients! Unfortunately I do not have the book with me in Germany, so I adapted this recipe from a version I found on another food blog. Therefore my directions will assuredly be slightly different from Ms. Madison's, but should be quite similar!

Waiting to be served:

Red Lentil Soup with Lime


Ingredients:
2 cups red lentils
1 tbsp tumeric
4 tbsp butter
salt
1 large onion, finely diced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds (or 1 tsp ground mustard)
1 bunch chopped cilantro
Juice of 3 limes
1 large bunch spinach leaves, chopped
1 cup cooked rice
4-6 tbsp yoghurt (I prefer Greek yoghurt)

Directions:
Add the lentils, tumeric, 1 tablespoon of butter, and 1 tablespoon of salt to 2 1/2 quarts of water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat, cover, and simmer until the lentils are soft and falling apart (about 20 minutes). If you wish, you can puree the lentils so for a smooth and nicer-looking soup.

While the soup is cooking, combine the onion, 2 tablespoons of the remaining butter, cumin, and mustard, and cook in a medium skillet over low heat, stirring occasionally. When soft, which should be about the time the lentils are cooked (or about 15 minutes), add the cilantro and cook for a minute more. Add the onion mixture to the soup, and then the juice of two limes. If desired, add the juice of the third lime. The flavor of the soup should be slightly sour.

Just before serving, add the last tablespoon of butter to a wide skillet, add a pinch of salt, and cook the spinach just until it wilts.

To serve, begin with a spoonful of rice in each bowl. Then pour in the soup, add the spinach, and place a dollop of yoghurt on top. Swirl the spinach and yoghurt into the soup, and enjoy!

Luxembourg and Namur, Belgium (Plus an Ex-Pat Superbowl)

The last stop of our trip was in Luxembourg, where we were going to stay for two days, before heading to Frankfurt to visit some family friends. We got to Luxembourg in the afternoon, and quickly began a search for food. While walking around the area near the train station, we noticed that the outer parts of Luxembourg seemed to be a lot dirtier than the cities we had visited earlier. This was particularly interesting when we went into the center and found ourselves surrounded by luxury stores and incredibly expensive restaurants (Luxembourg is very small, so these two areas are about a ten minute walk apart). Luxembourg has the highest GDP per capita in the world, due to its tiny size and its focus on banking, and you can tell while walking around. I personally found this a little cold and intimidating, but maybe that was partly because we had been travelling for a while and I was tired. We walked around that evening, enjoying the city as the sun set, and coming across one of our last Christmas markets. This market was almost entirely focused on food and wine, and we walked through, briefly enjoying the atmosphere, before heading off for a delicious, but very expensive, dinner.

Here are some photos of Luxembourg at dusk:

The Royal Palace

Attached to the palace: the office for state affairs/government dealings

Christmas Market

I think Luxembourg is interesting because it is a Grand Duchy, still ruled by a royal family. There were photographs of the family in every tourist shop, and I had a difficult time finding a postcard that did not have a photo of them on it. It is also interesting because the people there speak French, German, and Luxembourgish, which is a mixture of French and German dialects. Apparently Luxembourgish is the language most often used in spoken conversation, but it is not often written, German is the language of the church and the media (and the first one taught in school), and French is the language for official business and public interactions, and taught second in school (most store signs were written in French). Knowing German and having studied French for a little while, I found it really interesting to listen to what people were speaking when we encountered them. I liked trying to decipher Luxembourgish, and the few places it was written was delightful for someone like me who is so interested in languages. What was also interesting, however, was that the people in Luxembourg wanted to speak only English with us. Most of our time in Alsace we had spoken German, but suddenly we had crossed back into the area where English was the most useful. A trend which logically continued once we reached Belgium.

The next day we tried to explore the casements that run around the city, a series of underground defensive passageways that were used as recently as World War II. Unfortunately we found out that they were closed, but we got some beautiful photos looking down on the city nestled in the valley.

The Casements

The view of Luxembourg

We stopped by the casements in the morning, before heading briefly into Belgium. Knowing that we didn't have time to go all the way to Brussels, we chose a city called Namur about half an hour closer to Luxembourg than Brussels. I had read that it had a citadel to explore, and it was the largest city before Brussels, when coming from Luxembourg, that looked promising for an afternoon. As we only had an afternoon and evening in Belgium and wouldn't be seeing any particularly historic cities, my criteria for my few hours in Belgium was different than it usually is when visiting a city or country, although not entirely: I wanted to eat. My goal was to try Belgian waffles, beer, chocolate, and french fries. French fries were invented in Belgium, and are only called "french" fries because of the process used to make them. And as I knew the first fact, but not the second, I feel like I learned something in that Belgian afternoon. We accomplished the french fry goal by stopping at a "friterie" along the highway on the way to Namur. It seemed that every five minutes we passed another one of these, and eventually we felt it was close enough to lunch time and we were hungry enough after breakfast that we could stop. We stopped at one to get fries and take pictures, as well as spend a while talking to the very friendly couple we met inside, who were on their way to the coast and were intrigued to hear that we were headed to Namur (it is not a particularly touristy city). We got our fries with mayonaise, as is most common, and they were as delicious as I had hoped!

The friterie where we stopped

With fries outside of the friterie 

Once we reached Namur we headed for the citadel we had read about. The history of the citadel is really interesting, as there are tunnels and buildings dating all the way back to medieval times, that have been expanded upon and used for different purposes throughout the city's history. We had to cut our walk short as it began to rain, but we got to walk through some creepy tunnels and see a beautiful view of Namur from the hill. After driving around a lot in the area near the citadel, we headed into the center of town to try to find some waffles, beer, and chocolate.

View of Namur from the Citadel

Old walls and tunnels

Beer and chocolate were achieved at the Christmas market we found. Unfortunately the stall selling the Brussels variety of waffles was out of waffles, so he gave us some sort of fried dough balls to try instead. While delicious, I was disappointed, as my friend Ivor had told me I had to try the Brussels variety of waffle. I did manage to try one of the Liège variety waffles, which I got dipped in dark chocolate. The waffle had sugar crystals inside, which made it extremely decadent. I really enjoyed it on such a cold, rainy day, but my dad and Lisa both found it too sweet. I think in a different circumstance I probably would have as well, but it did the trick that day. I also bought some amaretto dark chocolate from another stall, and thus my wish-list was fulfilled!

Christmas Market:

Waffle: Liège Variety 

The replacement given to me in the place of a Brussels waffle

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around downtown, buying chocolate and coffee, and eventually searching for a place to stop and have a beer. My dad spotted this place called Le College, where we stopped in. It turned out to be the perfect place to go. A local struck up a conversation with us, and told us how perfect it was that we had ended up in Le College, and told us a little bit about the beers we were drinking (some of which were actually dutch, whoops!). After this we headed back to Luxembourg, tired but satisfied.

The next morning we stopped at Vianden castle for a brief tour on our way back to Germany. Vianden is right on the border, and is where Victor Hugo stayed during his exile. It's a picturesque little town and the castle is beautifully restored, so we enjoyed our morning before a long drive to Frankfurt. After a lovely night there with old friends of my parents (old in time, not age :)), I headed back to Tübingen. My dad and Lisa stayed one more day, before flying back to the States. It had been a whirlwind ten days, but a wonderful trip full of new places and new experiences.

Vianden Castle

The view of Vianden from the castle

And along the line of new experiences, I had another one yesterday. I watched the Superbowl in another country. Actually, just having watched the entire superbowl was a new experience for me, but doing so from 12:00-4:00 am made it even more fun. I went with Catie and my friend Dee, and we sat surrounded by a shockingly large number of German fans (all the seats were taken and there was barely standing room at first) at the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut. A hard Patriots loss was made worse by the lack of fun commercials and the cohort of German Giants fans, many of whom were routing for New York just because it was New York, but we had a lot of fun anyway. Especially as the resident experts in our corner of the room. I never thought football would make me feel patriotic, but I guess there's a first for everything!

This is only half of the crowd, and at least two-thirds of the room

Americans watching the Superbowl!

And in one last bit of delicious news, I tried stroop syrup (also known as the syrup used in stroop waffles) the other day. My friend Ivor made us Dutch pancakes, which you cook and then top with cheese and/or bacon which cooks into the pancake. You top that with this sweet syrup that tastes sort of like molasses and maple syrup combined, and you end up with pure deliciousness.

The syrup (and my friend Sinéad)

My cheesy pancake

The meat version, which I must admit looks beautiful, even if I would not want to eat it