Sep 2008

We arrived successfully in Bacharach, Germany on Friday -- after making no fewer than three train connections (Haarlem to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf to Bingen, Bingen to Bacharach). We're now beginning to feel pretty good about our ability to manage the train network here.

Bacharach is a picture-postcard medieval town on the Rhine, not far upstream from the famous (albeit somewhat disappointing to look at) Lorelei stone. Upon our arrival here on Friday, we went to the small market here, bought some provisions for breakfasts and lunches, and some frozen pizzas for Friday's dinner, and then took a look at this town. We did the Rick Steeves self-guided walk, and have since then seen at least three other groups of American tourists doing the same thing! We've taken to counting the number of blue-covered guidebooks we see on each outing.

The apartment is great -- kitchen, full bath, a proper bedroom for us and two twin pull-outs in the living room for the kids. It seems to have recently been renovated and is well-laid out. There is even a tv with cable (on which we've seen the international version of CNN). Except that it has no internet and no washing machine. We've had a lot of success doing laundry in the sink, but the lack of internet has been a real pain (about which more later). We've also struggled a bit with the language. Our landlady, with whom Susan made the reservations and who speaks English, has been away -- at a family funeral, as I learned today -- and we've been communicating with her husband who speaks slightly less English than I do German. But he's been as helpful as possible, under the circumstances, and we're managing pretty well.

On Saturday, we took the Rhine boat cruise from here to St. Goar where we visited an amazing catle ruin (Rheinfels).

Here's a sample of what we saw from the boat:

The ruin was everything John wants in a castle -- walls, towers, lots of emplacements for shooting arrows, dangerous precipices, and dark tunnels! We had not planned ahead to bring a proper flashlight (though, naturally, we have one in the flat) so we used Susan's tiny emergency light, which got us through and made it more of an adventure.

Here's a shot of John and Margaret standing among their favorite ruins:

There was also an excellent children's activity, but it existed only in German. My German was not quite good enough to read the whole children's story that came with it, but the activity was to look throughout the castle for some hidden letters (the rooms where we were to look were marked with a little shield with a rampant lion). We found all of the letters, except for those that were in the great cellar, which was blocked off for a private event. When rearranged, the letters spelled out the name of the family that built the castle: Katzelnbogen. Anyway, the kids loved it.

The day ended with a wonderful meal in Das Altes Haus, a restarurant here in Bacharach in the oldest building in town (1536, I think). Turns out that John loved his schnitzel! Who would have guessed? We, on the other hand, are discovering a taste for Rhenish wine.

Sunday was more adventurous still. We took the train to Koblenz, then to the small town of Moselkern. Thanks to a friendly local at the train station and a bit of half-remembered German, we figured out that we could get a family ticket to visit the Rhein-Pfalz area and saved a bundle. After the train ride, we walked about a half hour through town then about an hour through the woods to Burg Eltz, which Rick Steeves claims in his guidebook is his favorite castle in Europe. As you can see, the hike was tiring:

It is certainly very impressive, and it is definitely refreshing to see a castle here that was not destroyed by the French (anything Louis XIV didn't destroy, Napoleon pretty much did). John was very disappointed to find a castle not in ruins. Here's a picture of Susan and Me with the castle in the background:

Dinner, however, posed a problem. We had not found a place to buy any food in St. Goar on Saturday, and all the stores would be closed in Bacharach when we returned, and we knew that the kids could not stay out for another late night. So we took the desperate measure of eating at McDonalds in the Koblenz train station -- buying the food was one of the few transactions we undertook entirely in German thus far. Good thing I took a couple of semesters of German in grad school. Too bad I didn't do more. (Having failed to bring a phrase book here, I ended up buying a German to English phrase book in a German bookstore in Koblenz, and it has been surprisingly helpful).

Today, however, we seem to have lost our German mojo a little bit. We contine having trouble getting the local cash machines to give us cash, and no one around here takes credit cards. They all seem to be on a new debit-card system using cards with built in chips like the Colby cards, but our cards are not useful except in the biggest places. We had hoped to rent bikes, but that place was closed today. So we had the kids spend the morning doing schoolwork (spelling and fractions for John, history and math for Margaret) and writing in their journals. After fighting over the journal writing, we have taken to paying them: John gets 1 Euro for 50 words, Margaret gets 1 Euro for 100 words (bonus Euros for lots more writing). Now that they have their own pocket-money, it is much easier for us to say no to impulse-purchases in gift shops, and since it is their money, they are being very careful with it!

In the early afternoon, we took a lovely hike around the old city walls and are contemplating some more serious hikes for tomorrow, or a bike trip if we can get bikes tomorrow.

We expect better access in Dresden. At the moment, I am writing in a church youth center basement with German rap music playing loudly in the background, and am surrounded by German teenagers. It has a certain ambience, but it's not quite like working at home! Especially since the German keyboard switches the keys for y and z and has a host of other minor, irritating differences. Where is a Starbucks with a wi-fi hotspot when you need one?

cheers,
Joe

Dear Friends,

Yesterday, we decided to spend the day in Haarlem, the little town near Amsterdam where we are staying. We had done about as much as we wanted to in Amsterdam (we'll try to say more about day 2 in Amsterdam later).

I was a bit skeptical about spending the entire day in our sleepy little town, but we ended up having a really lovely and educational day.

We should also say that blog comment from Sander was spot on: the bicyclists in Haarlem were much more pedestrian-friendly than those in Amsterdam (though it may also have helped that, by our third day here, we are beginning to develop a kind of "bicycle sense" that enables us better to anticipate where the bikes are going).

We began the day with a few lessons. The kids hadn't done much school work since we arrived in the Netherlands. Doing lessons in the morning was a good thing, since things don't open up around here until 10:00, at the earliest.

Our first stop on our Haarlem tour was the central church. it's a Dutch Reformer church, which meant that it took a beating during the Reformation, with the Protestants stripping it down. It was still beautiful, though. Some lovely windows. The floor is made up entirely of tombstones. The best part is the organ — remarkable, huge organ pipes that dominate one end of the church. Both Mozart and Handel played the organ at this church. The organ is pictured, here:

John, it turns out, has at least one strongly Catholic inclination — despite his Protestant mother's best efforts: he insists on lighting a candle in every cathedral we visit. We've allowed him to do this (and yes, we come up with the Euro or whatever offering is required) but on the condition that he say a prayer. As you can see, he is very serious about it:

After the church, we wandered down to the local canal and enjoyed a picnic lunch. After lunch, we went to the Frans Hals Museum, which is housed in a building that was used both as an old men's home and as an orphanage. We liked this museum a lot. They had a good kids activity that could be used by children who don't read or speak Dutch: there were a series of fifteen pictures of faces on a sheet of paper, and the kids had to identify the rooms in which the paintings were hung — which inspired them to look closely at all the paintings with human figures in them. (On the other hand, they breezed past the still lifes and landscapes — oh, well). The museum overall presented a nice display (with a lot of English signs) of a great period of artistic awakening in Haarlem.

Our art senses on overload, we headed next to the local windmill museum. Here's a picture of the mill — a traditional-looking Dutch windmill, though it was actually reconstructed only a few years ago.

We were not sure what to expect. We found that the entry fee bought us some quality time with a tour guide (and a couple of tourists from Texas), who explained the windmill in great detail. Since Margaret's class back at home is studying energy in science, this was a great stop. We learned more than we ever thought we could know about windmills. The tour guide was a completely charming man, who had a good command of English and also allowed the children to participate in demonstrations of how the windmill works. They even got to use the winch the miller would have used for hoisting grain up to the mill to lift their father a few feet off the floor — a highlight for both kids.

Random fact: traditional Dutch windmills all spin counter-clockwise; modern wind turbines spin clockwise.

With all of this new knowledge, we stumbled back to the center of town and found a nice cafe with an outdoor table in the sun. The kids worked on journals, as they sipped hot chocolate. And, Joe and I enjoyed sampling some local Dutch beer, though we did not catch its name.

Here's a shot of the market in Haarlem and another of the Cathedral:

We then went back to the room to rest a little and change our clothes. And, then, off to dinner — out and in a restaurant! We took Rick Steves' advice and ate at a place just around the corner from where we are staying — the Jacobus Pieck Eetlokal. Our waitress was a little rusty on her English (but it was still much better than our Dutch!), but was patient and helpful with us. She suggested a kids plate with some beef, frites and salad. Joseph ordered some Dutch stew and I ordered the white fish on raviolis. Everything was delicious.

Now, we're packing for our train trip to Bacharach — let's hope we have better luck with the trains today!

cheers,
Joe

Dear friends,

For some, thoughts of Amsterdam conjure up images of a carefree life and lots of lots of bicycles. The cute little "bbbrrriiiinnnnggg" of the bicycle bell seems charming and serene and, dare I say, as the sound of hopefulness to those who are worried about global warming. Yet, actually being here . . . . I must admit that I am starting to loathe the bicycle. Cyclists stop for no one — NO ONE! And, there are so very many of them. The train station in Amsterdam has a three-story bicycle garage! The photo does not do it justice, but it will give some idea of the size of the thing:

Plus, there's plenty of bike parking outside too. But, around town they stop for no one, except to chat with friends. So, it is with some trepidation that we explore. Crossing streets means checking the bike path first, then the bus and/or tram line, and then the car lane. It's rather complicated!! And, the intersections with the "LGM" (little green man), who signals that it's okay for pedestrians to cross, aren't much help as the "LGM" often lasts about long enough for us to get only half-way across and we are walking at a pretty good clip!

Anyway, we were off to Amsterdam yesterday. After trying to figure out the transit system (the system itself is not so difficult, but the ticketing seems overly complicated), we wandered about some. We found the main square, after walking through a pretty tacky part of town. Then, we took a tram to the Van Gogh museum.

The museum is really very, very nice. The kids are big fans of Van Gogh and the museum was a great place to learn more about him. In mid-September, we found that we could walk right in, but there was still a pretty good crowd inside. After the museum, we grabbed some lunch at an outdoor cafe (the drizzle had stopped), where our dining companions were a large group of aggressive pigeons. Ah, the city life!

After lunch, the kids played in a park and then it was off to the Rijksmuseum. Here's Margaret in front of the giant I amsterdam slogan/statue across the street from the Rijksmuseum:

And here's john playing on the climber in that park:

Most of the museum is under renovation, so some highlights have been crammed into a small area in one section of the museum. The museum did feature a very good kid activity, which helped Margaret and John learn a little about Amsterdam and the Netherlands, and about famous Dutch painters (Rembrandt, Vermeer, etc.).

Both kids really liked the display of the elaborate doll houses at the Rijksmuseum. They learned that the doll houses were not for children. They were put together by wealthy ladies to show off to their friends.

At the Van Gogh museum, John learned that the crow painting that everyone says is Van Gogh's last painting may not actually be Van Gogh's last painting. No one really knows which one was his last painting.

During our wanderings, I read in our guidebook that the central church in Haarlem hosts free Tuesday evening organ concerts. So, we headed back to Haarlem. We found a grocery store and stocked up on a couple of nights of dinners (we are very proud of ourselves that we managed to negotiate the Dutch on the food labels). Then, we went by the church. The concert listings showed every Tuesday, except the 23rd of September! But, before we fell into despair, we found a separate listing and discovered that the Tuesday night concert for last night was a special one (with Thomas Trotter, organist at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster Abbey) held at the local music hall. Still, free!

On the subject of "free," let me offer the comment here that Amsterdam is very expensive. Everybody and everything is looking to separate us from our money! Except for parks (and I wonder if the Dutch have considered finding some way to charge for them too!), everything has an entry fee — and often a pretty hefty fee. Even at the rail station, if you have a question, they charge a fee! And, at the Rijksmuseum, which is showing only "highlights," they are still charging the normal 10 euros per adult admission fee (thankfully, the kids go in free, although the kids activity was not free) So, it was a real treat to go find a free concert. London is expensive too, but there is a nice mixture of sights that charge a fee and sights that ask for a suggested donation.

After dinner, we went over to the music hall where we were given tickets. We had good seats to this lovely concert. One of the best aspects of the concert was that they had set up a camera/projector system so that the audience could watch the organist at work — hands and feet! Very cool.

Then, it was off to bed. We will likely go back into Amsterdam today. The weather should be a bit better today. We'll try to post photos tonight or tomorrow (because of the on and off drizzle yesterday, we didn't get many).

But, before I sign off, the kids have asked that the "Rules" of our adventures be posted:

1. Paws off! (Keep your hands, and all other appendages, to yourself.)
2. Stay on the BUS (Butt Upon Seat)
3. No swatting Dad on the butt
4. No turning off the lights in the bathroom when someone else is in there.
5. Don't be an insufferable know-it-all.
6. Don't be a mindless buffoon.
7. No snarky insolence.
8. No calling Daddy unflattering names.

Please note: rules only get made after they have proved necessary (Note that there are no rules about calling Mom unflattering names or hitting her). In public, we can refer to these only by number.

The church bells are chiming, so it's time to move this adventure along!

Cheers,
Susan

Hello all,

We arrived in Haarlem, not far from Amsterdam, last night, after leaving Mechelen early in the afternoon (we went on a nice tour of Mechelen in the morning). As we left Mechelin, Lydia kept asking if Margaret could stay a little longer. And, she almost got her wish. What was supposed to be a two and a half hour journey to Haarlem turned into a remarkable odyssey. I won't go into all of the ridiculous details here, but the train that we boarded in Mechelen on its way to Amsterdam (stopping in Rotterdam, where we were going to switch trains to go to Haarlem without having to go through Amsterdam) stopped in Antwerp, deposited passengers (except us), and then went back to Mechelen. We have no idea what we did wrong. We had reviewed the board. Karen had helped us figure out what we were doing and what we should be looking for. Yet, we still ended up back in Mechelen. So, we went back to Antwerp, where we had to wait around a bit before our connection to Rotterdam arrived. So we passed the time by eating:

Like so many of the train stations we've visited on our trip so far, the Antwerp Central station is a gorgeous old (late nineteenth-century) edifice in the midst of a spectacular renovation. It is full of air and light and beauty (at least the parts not still under construction, as in the picture of the kids, above). Here's a shot from the ground level concourse of the modern part of the station showing Joseph on the balcony level, with some of the old structure behind him):

After not quite an hour in Antwerp, we boarded another train going through Rotterdam. And then, in Rotterdam -- and this is where we really went wrong probably -- ended up on some local train stopping at almost every station between Rotterdam and Haarlem. The theory was that this would be faster than staying on the Intercity train to Amsterdam and backtracking on a slow train to Haarlem. The problem with the theory was that the slow train was indeed, very slow. (Lest anyone accuse us of uncritically celebrating European infrastructure, let it be noted that the Rotterdam train station was a pit, comparable to New York's Penn Station at its 1980's worst.)

We arrived in Haarlem sometime around 6:30. Our two and a half hour journey turned into about five hours. Oh, well. We still managed to find our hotel (one-room with a tiny kitchenette) and a food store and we explored our sleepy little town. We are very close to the central square and the big church in the center of town. The church bells chimed at 7:00 this morning. Time to get up and get ready for a big day of exploring!

From what we can tell, this may be our first day in a long time that will feature some amount of rain. We have been remarkably fortunate in the weather department, so we really can't complain.

Our plan is to head to Amsterdam and try to explore a museum or two. Either today or tomorrow, we will visit the Anne Frank House.

Not sure when we will post more photos. We will try in the next couple of days.

Hope all is well.

Cheers,
Susan

Here are some photos of our time in Belgium.

Actually, this first one is a picture of the kids just before we got on the Eurostar in London. We were too worried about actually getting on a train (what with all the disruptions to service occasioned by last week's fire) to spend a lot of time looking around the newly renovated St. Pancras station, but what we saw was astonishingly beautiful. Apparently there are plans for a 5-star hotel to open in the Victorian fantasy building above the main train station.

Here we are upon our arrival in Mechelen. Note the skepticism on Margaret's face. I was a bit tired from hauling bags around the train, but Margaret clearly was not pleased with her first impression of the city here. That impression improved when she got her first taste of Belgian chocolate, not long after this.

On Saturday, we took the train up to Bruges, where we spent the first half of the day at the seapark, pictured below, and the rest of the day in the town proper. The seapark is to Sea World roughly what Story Land in New Hampshire is to Disneyworld. The kids loved it, and even the adults marveled at the dolphin show.

Bruges is the most amazingly well preserved late medieval city. Here is John, working as a street musician (the real musician is standing off to the side in this shot), just outside one of Bruges' fine churches.

Here are John and John relaxing with hot chocolate after their work on the hand-crank organ:

The parents, not pictured, are sampling some of the local Bruges beer. Yum.

On Sunday, we had a more relaxing day, sleeping in and spending a couple of hours at the park in Mechelen. The park included several playing fields, a running loop (3.3K), many bicycle paths, an elaborate playground, a formal rose garden, an informal rose garden, and a spectacular dahlia garden. And, of course, a cafe/bar. Here is a shot of Margaret stopping to smell the roses:

Finally a picture of a most extraordinary sight: Mark and Karen's local "convenience store."

In addition to sodas and snack foods, this vending machine sells butter, eggs, milk, cheese, prepared foods, and several kids of beer and wine. And, of course, chocolate.