Ski Ardennen

With mud season taking a firm grip on North Holland, we decided to head for the Belgian mountains last weekend for one final romp in the snow.

Our rental cottage...

...was situated in the mountains above our favorite Belgian village of Malmedy...

...with an access point to the provincial forest less than 100 meters away.

There were miles and miles of groomed (and ungroomed) trails right out the front door ...

...with hidden treasures around every corner, like this classic 14th century Belgian castle - Reinhardstein.  This castle is still in private hands and we could hear a woman singing opera from the depths of the stone walls.  Her voice echoed through the narrow valley where our ski trail was.  It brought back memories of San Francisco when we sat overlooking the city and listened to a pianist playing in his Pacific Heights condo just after Beth accepted my marriage proposal - it's been a very interesting 22 years.

We woke up Saturday morning to a fresh 8 inches of snow!  You've gotta love that antique, concrete power pole overgrown by the forest.  This could have been a scene from The Battle of the Bulge where my great uncle fought in these same snowy conditions not far from here.

The Belgian trail system continues to impress us.  It is extremely well marked and is amazing how they can pack so much into such a small country.  Losloopende honden welkom.

Flatlanders enjoying the snow.  Can you believe that she is still smiling after getting SMOKED at seven games of ping pong in a row?

This fuzzy horse at the trailhead freaked Sage out.  She gave him a REALLY wide berth, although it might have been because she was on edge from all of the wild boar scent in the forest. 

Sacrificing a city

The quaint little village of Spaarndam, only a few kilometers northeast of Haarlem, is built atop one of the primary dyke systems in North Holland. The village is world famous for the story of Hans Brinker, the little Dutch boy who supposedly saved a city beyond the dyke by plugging a hole with his finger. We’ve come to learn over the years that the city Hans saved with his chubby little finger was in fact our hometown of Haarlem.

We stop in Spaarndam frequently when we are out riding our bikes because there is a great restaurant that serves some of the best apple tarts in Holland. And on those frequent bike rides we always pass these curious structures out in the fields downstream from the dyke. I knew that there was an old fort built into the wall of the dyke and these concrete pylons looked to be about the same age, but I couldn’t for the life of me ever figure out what their purpose was.

I finally decided to research these things and was pretty surprised at what I learned. The fort and embattlements were created as part of the defenses of Amsterdam. When the country was attacked, the dyke at Spaardam would be broken, flooding the surrounding countryside and creating an impenetrable water-based fortification. In this section the water would be deep enough for boats so these concrete pylons were set to be just below the fortified water surface, making navigating the water with enemy boats extremely hazardous. It's kind of a cool idea and even has made the UNESCO list of world heritage sites, the only down-side being that Haarlem would be left on the wrong side of the defensive fortifications.

So after immortalizing the deeds of good ol’ Hans and his courageous rescue of Haarlem, the government decided that the city really wasn’t all that important and could sacrificed to the enemy in an attempt to slow them down before reaching Amsterdam. Bummer.

Steel Town

I just returned from visiting my family in Pennsylvania where I also had chance to drive through Pittsburgh – something that I haven’t done in many, many years. The city looked to be doing well, continuing its long transition from gritty, blue collar steel town into a more modern and diverse city. There are very few remnants of the massive mills that used to line the banks of the river and dominate the landscape as you dropped out of the Squirrel Hill tunnels and made your approach into downtown. I still remember the smoke billowing out of the stacks and hanging thick with grimy soot in the narrow Mon Valley. As children back in the early seventies, we used to hold our breath when passing the gargantuan structures on the parkway east as we drove into Three Rivers Stadium to see a Pirates game. Even back then the industry was beginning its rapid collapse in America, shipping jobs-- and entire mills-- off to other countries with lower labor costs, cheaper raw materials, and no environmental regulations. Except for the sports teams, Pittsburgh was a very depressing place to be during those years.

All of those memories came flooding back to me, not as I drove along the redeveloped riverfront in Pittsburgh, but yesterday here in Holland. I was dragging with jetlag from the long trans-Atlantic flight out of Chicago, so we decided to walk Sage out by the old German bunkers in Ijmuiden to stretch our legs a little before I crashed hard on the couch for most of the afternoon. The bunkers were built as part of the Atlantic Wall by the Germans to protect the water entry into Amsterdam, 15 miles inland to the east.

As we crested the dunes above the bunkers, the industrious North Sea port of Ijmuiden unfolded in front of us with its fishing fleets, warehouses, and cruise ship docking bays. And on the northern banks of the port was the sprawling Corus steel mill. I’ve never given it much thought until this latest trip through Pittsburgh. The modern, expansive facility here was churning out steel at maximum capacity, on a Sunday, even in this limping economy. Come to think of it, in the six years we’ve lived here, I’ve never seen the stacks quiet.

So, how does The Netherlands pull it off where a powerhouse like Pittsburgh failed? How has this tiny, swampy country with virtually no natural resources, strong labor laws and union influence, high social tax structures, and extensive environmental regulations managed to secure a massive steel production facility where all of the inputs must be shipped in from other countries? It’s a curious situation…

Wall food

Having grown up in the rural countryside surrounding the sleepy little village of Ligonier, I was not accustomed to having many late night options for satisfying the post-party munchies. Town pretty much rolled up the streets and turned off the lights at 10:00PM.

So I distinctly remember the feeling of empowerment when I was shipped off to university in Indiana Pennsylvania. This was a college town and we could order pizza for delivery until 2.00 AM (including the paper towels to mop the grease off the top) and the world famous Sheetz devil dogs (2 for $.99) were available 24-hours-a-day. This was the big time! There was something magical about being able to hop on my bike at 5:30 AM after an all-night bender of drinking-games and dancing on the kitchen stove to pick up bacon and eggs so that I could cook breakfast for some hot chick who only hung around us for the endless pitchers of free beer. She was so impressed by this act of breakfast chivalry that she wrote her phone number on my wall with a thick, black permanent marker and decided to marry me and hang around for the next 20 years. I’m still doing all the cooking and she’s never paid me back for the security deposit that my landlord kept for the marker damage she caused. Go figure.

But those days seem like the dark-ages now. Here in Holland they’ve taken the art of late night snacking to new, technologically advanced heights. Here, they eat from the wall. That’s right…from the wall. They have restaurants (and I use that term very, very loosely) that are set up like giant vending machines that you can get a hot, greasy snack virtually any time of day or night. There is a ‘chef’ who gets each portion fresh from the freezer and carefully prepares them (a.k.a. places into the deep fryer) before reloading the wall for your all-day dining pleasure. And the choices are extraordinary! Just click on this “Assortment” link to see such delicacies as Bami stuffed krokant, chicken corn dog, or this month’s special – Deep Fried Goulash for only 1 Euro! Mmmm….goulash.

The wall ...


...with technologically advanced distribution system.

I ate from the wall once in Amsterdam, just to try it. I plunked in my Euro and selected a wrinkly looking Frikadel. It was, um, how should I say this? Interesting. I'll leave it at that except to say that I wish I still had a stomach of steel like back in college. On a good night, if I had had enough to drink, I could eat 4 devil dogs. Maybe that was my problem with the wall in Amsterdam. I was sober when I tried it.

Holiday remnants

I've just spent a bunch of time catching up my Facebook photo's for the past several years (much to the chagrin of Gracie), so I'm just going to post a few quick memories of the recently expired holiday for this weeks blog entry.

Grote Kerk

Haarlem's quiet market square on Christmas eve.

We had to delay our annual Christmas day hike this year due to miserable weather. But when we finally made it out to the Utrechtse heuvelring (Hills around Utrecht), we were not disappointed. This is a vast forest where you could easily find some privacy. I'm definitely going back with the mountain bike in the spring...there is actually a bit of elevation in Holland! (instead of really, really flat, it was just kind of flat).


The leaning pyramid of Austerlitz, tucked into the forest and marking the high water point of the French occupation of the Netherlands during Napoleon's time.


After the Christmas storm, the weather has been cold, but sunny. Plenty of time for lounging with a good book in between outings.

Battlezone Haarlem - New Year's fireworks. It still amazes me that they let anyone buy (and ignite) this type of firework in the streets of Holland. New Years eve (day) is filled with explosions. Groups of teenagers wander the streets with bags of fireworks, blowing up anything and everything in their wake. The Post Office even has special protective hoods for all their mail boxes and if there is still a plastic public garbage can in a park near you?...well, just forget about it being there by dawn. We're talking M80/M100 quality stuff.

You want to be sure to park your car in the right place for New Year's eve. Generally speaking you should stay away from the corners because people use the intersections for setting off fireworks. But this year our (whacky) neighbor had a new baby and wanted to set off the fireworks right in front of the house so his wife could hold the baby and see them. Ignited incendiary/explosive devices skittering under your car doesn't give me a 'warm fuzzy' feeling, let alone the probable damage to the paint job. But, the red car was his, so I didn't complain...

New Years day on the beach in Zandvoort. Just in time for the annual dunk in the frigid North Sea.

For those who don't use Facebook, here is a short video of the North Sea dunk.

Merry Christmas

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Just in time for the holidays, The Netherlands got hit with a nice blanket of snow. I know that it won't seem like much to our friends and family back on the east coast of America where they got hammered with a famous Nor'easter, but it was still pretty exciting for us over here in Holland. Kids filled the streets for snowball fights...

...and frolicking dogs filled up the parks. Sage goes completely mad in the snow. Her love of the white stuff must be due to her first year with us back in Maryland when we got over 20 feet in Garrett County. She saw only snow for the first 4 months of her life.



Having snow on the ground also seemed to brighten everyone's mood for Christmas shopping on our little neighborhood winkelstraatje, the Cronje.

Warming up inside the pub is always gezellig. We met our friends Leon and Miranda for a drink at the Rusthoek only to be surprised with Miranda singing when we got there. If she wasn't a busy, working, mother of two great girls under seven, Miranda should have been a professional jazz singer. She has one hell of voice. Unbelievable! We're looking forward to the next gig.

No, this is not a(nother) war entry. We also attended Eva's sweet 16 birthday party at "The Bunker" in Spaarnwoude last weekend. This converted WWII bunker made for a perfect party venue.

She even hung an American flag in the bunker as part of the party decorations in honor of these two old farts. Here in Holland, kids can drink alcohol at 16 (they don't get a driver's license until 18). It was great fun watching them swagger up to the bar to order a drink and I couldn't help but remember all of those field parties back in Ligonier when I was 16 (or younger) and how we were always looking over our shoulders for the cops to arrive. I like the system here much better. It gives the parents an opportunity to teach the kids to drink responsibly rather than just turning them loose to go wild and figure it out for themselves at 21.

Berlin

Because it is the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German capital city has been in the news a lot this year. So we decided to see what all the fuss was about and hop a train over for our annual pilgrimage to the German Christmas markets.


The Germans LOVE Christmas! They even painted a Santa hat on the engine.


We booked a 1st class carriage and kicked back to relax for the ride over.


There were dozens of Christmas markets setup throughout the city. This is our second “Flat Stanley” trip - this one is for the daughter of one of Beth’s cousins (read story here). It’s funny how other American’s always spot us when we’re taking a photo with a Flat Stanley, or in this case “Flat Halle”. “Watch out! You’ll poke her eye out!”


Christmas Creep! We weren’t sure what German story this guy was from, but he sure was having fun throwing confetti on everyone.


Getting into the spirit with snow tubing on Potsdamer Plaza.


Oddly enough, we always manage to get good sushi in Germany. We DESTROYED an all-you-can-eat early bird special. I don’t think that they knew we were Americans when they invited us in. :-)


We’ve visited eleven different country capitals so far and compared with all the others that we’ve been to, the monument area of Berlin was pretty standard for the course. It had big, broad avenues like Washington or Paris lined with museums and monuments. But once you got outside of that area, especially into the heart of West Berlin, we found a fantastic patchwork of vibrant neighborhoods that each had their own character. I know that our French friends will be very disappointed in us, but Berlin tops the list so far!


One major difference with Berlin is that it was essentially obliterated during the war (oh no, he’s going to talk about the war!). This wasteland right in the heart of the city is the old royal palace. They are still excavating for artifacts before they begin to rebuild it.


The required photo of the Brandenburg Gate.


I have to apologize to our German friends about inserting this old photograph (I’m pissing everyone off today). I know that it is an emotional image, but it is so ingrained in my own mind as the defining moment when Berlin laid in smoldering, defeated ruins that it is the primary reason that I wanted to see the Reichstag at all -- parliament buildings aren’t usually high on my ‘must see’ list.


Now, the Reichstag has been rebuilt with an amazing new glass dome and is again proudly sporting the German flag.


This last remaining section of the wall was a highlight of the trip for both of us. I was just becoming politically aware when the wall finally fell, but it still holds powerful imagery for me. I could almost see and hear the old news clips of the night that people were allowed to cross and you can still see on this section where people hammered on it, trying to break it down. It’s now hard to imagine this city divided by the wall, especially when you see how arbitrary the barrier was. Standing there was very similar to the Lincoln memorial. If you take the time to read and reflect, it is very powerful stuff.


It’s no accident that they decided to preserve this section of the wall. It stands less than 50 meters from the headquarters of the Nazi political apparatus – Gestapo and SS. They are still excavating here as well, uncovering old torture chambers. It will all be a museum at some point in the future.


The Holocaust memorial was extremely well done. Like the Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C., this was created by an artist/architect. When you approach the memorial, the columns look to be similar height. There is some variation, but the small differences cause more of a curiosity, drawing you to look closer to see what it is all about. But as you walk into the field of monoliths, you realize that the ground is not even. You start with the monoliths only reaching the height of your knees, but then before you know it, they are towering over your head. The whole site rolls across you like the swell of a giant wave and you are allowed to interpret the meaning for yourself as you wander through. These types of memorials are so much better than the old statues that they used to build.



This last photo is classic Berlin at Christmas. The decorations were spectacular even as the reinvention and rebuilding continues. The results so far are a fantastic city, grounded in a checkered past, but with the sights set firmly on the future.