I’m really tired, but I’ve just got to write this down before another day passes and I begin to forget some of the detail!
On Friday afternoon, as you will know if you’ve been following the class blog, “Amsterdam 2006,” my colleague, Kari, and I picked up our rental car and made a quick – and both fun and productive - visit to Haarlem. After a short night’s sleep, we arose for a 5 am departure on Saturday morning. We were driving to Köln, Germany. We stopped several times hoping to find some fresh bakery goods along the way, but, alas, we did not. So, immediately upon arriving at a very serene Köln, we visited Backerei Merzenich for a quick bite. I had one of the brötchen that I remember so well from my Germany days, along with cheese. Anyone who says you cannot live on cheese and bread is just plain wrong, but that’s a story for another time.
Kari gave me a quick tour of the town, starting at the Köln Cathedral. For some great photos, not taken by me, click here. She showed me several of the 14 churches that one formed, as I understand it, the boundary of the city. Apparently you couldn’t enter the city without coming through a church. We saw the mosaic that had been unearthed and around which the G8 leaders had a meal during the summit in 1999 (I think). She showed me some of the Roman road, ruins of gates, the GLBT info centre, and, of course, we did some shopping.
They were setting up the scaffolding for the large screen “televisions” that will broadcast World Cup events. As you can imagine, as it’s almost impossible to go a block on Amsterdam without seeing “Hup, Holland, Hup” and orange, orange, orange, the presence of the event is even more so in the host nation of Germany. In fact I broke down and got an “official” FIFA/Adidas match ball replica for 5YO and a Dutch “fan flag.” Even when you’re not a football (aka soccer) fan it’s hard not to get interested!
At 11:30 we had lunch with four delightful folks to talk about a possible exchange program. Kari had promised me the best bratwurst in the world so I soon found myself at the Brauhaus Sion sharing a 1/4 metre of bratwurst accompanied by incredible wirsig and bratkartoffeln; that's some kind of kale dish and roasted potatoes. It was fabulous! We had a great time visiting and soon hit the road.
On to the fabulous town of Aachen! We walked, and walked, and walked. I bought some Nobis Printen. It’s like a chewy gingerbread and comes in a variety of types; e.g., chocolate covered, iced, with nuts. Here we also visited a cathedral.
From the web: “Aachen Cathedral suffered relatively little damage in the war. . . . In the gallery of the chapel is the marble throne thought to be Charlemagne's; it was long used for coronations. Charlemagne's tomb is marked by a stone slab over which hangs a bronze chandelier presented by Frederick I Barbarossa in 1168. The cathedral treasury contains examples of fine medieval workmanship and sacred relics (including the supposed swaddling clothes of Jesus, as well as his crucifixion loin cloth) that are displayed to pilgrims every seven years.” For a history buff, this was an incredibly cool place to visit! To imagine that Charlemagne was buried on this very spot in 824…! Wow.
We then visited – on the “Eat Your Way Across Germany tour” - a small eis café with the most amazing ?? – “desserts” doesn’t really do them justice. These were… eis sculptures? They had eis desserts that looked like spaghetti and lasagna; that had many, many fruits and brilliant colors; that were just indescribable. I wanted to buy a menu just to be able to show them to people! We shared a rather simple chocolate sundae and continued on….
A short time later we found ourselves back in the Netherlands, in Maastricht. Although each town had its own charm, I absolutely loved Maastricht. It had (at least) two very large, open plazas surrounded on at least one side by cafes. There were, of course, churches. There were statues, and bridges, and incredible, incredible architecture. And, yes, World Cup mania. Some of the buildings that now house very upscale retailers were built in the 1600s. Although we didn’t plan to visit on a Saturday afternoon, I saw the building that houses the Center for Gender and Diversity at the University of Maastricht. One of the things that was particularly striking about the town was that, as it sits in between Belgium and Germany, but in the Netherlands, there is an interesting mix of languages being spoken, signs, and people. I don’t know when, but I definitely hope to get back to Maastricht sooner rather than later.
We left around 8:30 and made our way back to Amsterdam, arriving around 10:30. Unsure of whether we were too tired to eat or too hungry to go right to sleep, we opted for a walk up to the Leidseplein and a quick visit to Walk to Wok. Of course it was busy, but the line moves quickly. I ordered whole wheat noodles with shrimp and black bean/soya sauce. At 6,90 euro it is quite a deal! We headed back to the hotel, ate while watching a bit of the Jon Stewart Daily Show: Global Edition, and called it a night.
Tomorrow – a report on a quick visit to Zandvoort!
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