The final days

I suppose this will be my last post here - thanks (all three of you) for following! I had two full days to spend in London before I fly out tomorrow morning. Yesterday I had to take care of the tourist things I missed my first time around, specifically the National Gallery and the Churchill Museum and War Cabinet Rooms.

I totally took this picture

The National Gallery has 4 sections, each spanning 2 centuries ending around 1900 I think. I enjoyed them in increasing order by time - the oldest section I spent about 5 minutes in. Actually all 3 of the older areas seemed to have the same themes; in one room (of Dutch painters I think) of 10 paintings I counted 4 crucifixions, 2 resurrections, 2 of the virgin, and 2 of some of the apostles. Occasionally there was some mythology or portraits, but they are just dominated by Christian works in what seems like all the exact same boring style.

I did really like some of the more modern stuff - Guardi, Canaletto, Rysselberghe, Seurat, and Monet, as always. My favorite of the day was a Turner of Odysseus' ship leaving the island of the Cyclops, but it wasn't his most famous so I couldn't find any prints or posters of it.

Odysseus Deriding Polyphemus

Canelotto - Regatta View From Ca'Foscari

You can also trigger other easter eggs like
Sputnik, a bombing raid, artillery shells...

The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms were interesting as well, having just finished reading about the American politics side of it in Truman. The best part is the enormous touch screen table - probably 25 meters long - covered with files organized by date. A dozen people at once can look up dates throughout Churchill's life and see what happened on that day. When I approached it I was in the section of summer 1945, so the first file I opened was August 6, which set off an atomic bomb that blew up up the entire table and cleared everything everyone was reading for 30 seconds, accompanied by a noise you could probably hear throughout the museum. Everyone could see I set it off and I felt like I had to apologize for interrupting everyone!

I also went to Harrods, which I had no idea was so huge. I got lost within minutes and had to ask someone which floor I was on. No joke. It's like a Las Vegas casino only you can probably lose more money. I found a watch for £100 000.

Also two sub levels. You can buy produce and
Louis Vuitton and a couch and dog food and
a stereo...

This morning I went out to Shoreditch - described as the Williamsburg of London - for the job interview. I think they weren't really set up to do a big interview or have me do an exercise on one of their machines, so I just had coffee with one of the founders for an hour to learn about the company and what they were looking for. It went well and I'll do an coding problem for them in the next few days from Boston.

Borough Market is nuts on the weekend but
pretty quiet on a Tuesday

Having the rest of the day with nothing left on the itinerary I just saw a few different parts of the city. More time in Borough Market, then to Camden, and finally Britain's biggest bookstore in Picadilly. I took Kate out to dinner to thank her for letting me stay here (she wouldn't allow us to go out yesterday for fear it would be a Valentines date) and now I just have to pack! It's been great staying with a friend instead of being on my own. She's telling me to write about how fantastic she is, so make sure if you ever see her to say I did.

Koln and Brussels

I awoke early in Berlin on Friday to head to Cologne, but got waylaid and didn't make it there until around 6. As in Munich, the hostel was very corporate, where you have to make your own beds and the computers cost 2 euro/hr. The first thing I did was go to an internet cafe (because you can't connect your camera to the hostel machines) to write the last two posts.

Kolsch: 20cl glasses mean you have to order the next
as soon as it arrives

After that I went across the street to the a Gaffer Kolsch brauhaus, where after sitting I immediately realized I didn't have my camera. Fuck. Back across the street to the cafe, it was nowhere to be found. I searched high and low and asked around, but the guy working the place thought I was annoying and nobody had seen it. So yeah, 400 pictures gone, and no more personal photos for the blog :(

That cast a pretty dark cloud over the evening, not to mention it was still pouring, so I had no real interest in doing anything. There's a huge cathedral (like, really really huge) in the middle of town, and what seemed like a good nightlife, but I wasn't going to be good conversation so I just read in the hostel. Ok so that was a pretty crappy day.

I think the pictures are going to get a lot better now...

I wanted to be in Brussels for as long as I could before coming back to London today, so I got up early again. I stayed in a "design" hotel, which I think means the decorations are all really bizarre, because I couldn't find any hostels that late on a weekend.

A favorite Magritte

Once downtown I settled back into a Belgian routine: lambic and pancake for breakfast, a museum, coffee to stay awake, see the main attractions in the city, and find some bars and a restaurant for the night. The museum was old, ancient, and modern art, as well as a dedicated Magritte museum. Naturally the part I was most interested in, modern, was closed for the winter. The Magritte was better than I thought though, since I didn't know he did "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" and "The Son of Man" (the apple in front of the bowler hat from Thomas Crown Affair). Actually neither of those were in the museum..

This is one of those cities where everyone is trying to sell you something or get you to eat in their restaurant (moules frittes), and gypsies are constantly asking tourists for money. There seemed to be a huge night culture, as everywhere I went had many restaurants and bars. I chose a place at Rick Steve's recommendation with communal tables and spent dinner chatting with a couple girls from the Netherlands.

Manneken Pis - the OFFICIAL mascot of the city

This morning I made it back to London by 10:30, where I'll be until I leave on Wednesday morning. I have a job interview Tuesday. Also, surprise, I'm staying with Kate for the next three nights. I'm really excited to see her and glad she offered - it'll be nice to save a little money at this point in the trip.

Two days in Berlin

I arrived in Berlin on Tuesday evening with Simone and Wolfgang and stayed for three nights. The first night we met up with Silke and her husband Gumbi (I have no idea what his real name is but that's what they call him) for dinner at a great (but empty) place where I got to try yet more traditional German food. Schmaltz again, head cheese, veal cheeks - these last few days have certainly been the best eating of this trip! We also hit up a club in the popular Hackesher Markt, where Simone and Silke dance until 2 in the morning..

On Wednesday I toured the city with Simone, Silke and Wolfgang. We hit Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, and then went to lunch on the roof of the parliament building, next to a huge glass dome (the glass for which is from Bretten, I heard a thousand times). It offered a great view of the city. After that we were back at Hackesher Markt for some shopping (Simone and Silke) and beer (Wolfgang and me). We found a Weihenstaphan pub where I would return the next day.

Parliament is actually in session under the glass!

Wolle and I cougar hunting in Berlin

 I didn't do much that night besides walk around and do some reading. My feet were killing me so I went to sleep pretty early.

Hitler's globe with an allied bullet hole in Germany

Thursday was my one day to myself in Berlin. I had a ton of advice from Silke and Simone, and I started with the Deutsche History Museum. It was everything from 100BC to the Fall of the Berlin Wall, but it was laid it terribly and I kept getting lost.

Chruchill, Truman, Stalin in Potsdam. Cool because I'm reading Truman right now

After that I walked for a few hours. On the main street leading up to Brandenburg Gate there is a Mercedes dealership across the street from a Volkswagon dealership, which also had a Veyron. I had a snack across the street in the Einstein Kaffe where I could still see the dream car.

 The Holocaust Memorial is awesome in it's size and effect. An acre of these tall stone blocks, some as high as 15 feet. All I could think though was that it would make the most epic game of hide and seek or capture the flag ever.

Holocaust Mahnmal, which means memorial and warning

 I decided against the checkpoint charlie museum and made my way back to the Weihenstephan house. With some leiberwurst (that's 4 days in a row for those keeping track) I tried a few more of what has become one of my favorite German breweries. The day before Simone and Silke showed me pictures of a bar they said I would really like, surrounded by graffiti and weird art. It took me a while to find but it was indeed a very cool place (if it's even the same one). After a beer I got picked up by a girl from a group of masters students at the art school, and I stayed with them for the rest of the night. The highlight was when the original girl, quite drunk, decided she was too tired to stay out anymore and was going home, but not before secretly slipping me a note that had her name, phone number, address, and "visit me to night." No, I never tried to get in touch with her.

The artists all took turns making great drawings

I left Berlin as early as I could but still didn't make it to Cologne until 6 or 7. I want to go to Brussels very early tomorrow so it's going to be an easy night. Plus it's pouring rain, so not a great time to see the city.

Bretten and German Bier

[I wrote this a couple days ago but couldn't upload pictures until now]

Bretten 

The Markt is really all there is

The last 3 days with Simone and Wolfgang have been some of the best of the trip. I arrived in Bretten on Sunday around sunset and they picked me up at the station. Bretten is a very small city, smaller than Los Altos, but still has a lot of restaurants and pubs and a nice little market square where, when the weather is nice, they set up tables outside all day. The Banghard house is incredible. I think Simone would say it's getting old and falling apart, but I had the same awe as the last time I was there - when I was 7. I had the whole bottom floor to myself, and next to my room was a room that could only be described as a (British?) pub, complete with bar and booths and a chess table and a wine cellar. We didn't actually spend any time down there this week but I know I want one for my house.

Want

Wolfgang, to be sure, is a beer drinker, and pretty much any time we had the opportunity I found we were having a half liter of, his favorite, Paulaner Hefe. Sunday night after a delicious dinner at the pizza/flatbread pub where he has been going for 25 years we two tried to stay up for the Super Bowl, but kickoff was at 12:30 and there are no commercials to keep it interesting between plays. We made it to half time.

I could eat lieberwurst every day

Monday I had all to myself in Bretten, so after a beautilful run through the countryside I spent the afternoon drinking beer in the sun in the market square reading a book. For dinner we had an incredibly delicious (and enormous) spread of authentic southern German food: goose liver salad, veal in cream sauce, steak and onions, croquetten, two kinds of potato salad, bread and potato dumplings, skirt steak with muchrooms and cream... I think my favorite thing of all is the beginning of the meal, where instead of oil and vinegar like in an Italian place, they serve schmaltz with wheat bread. Schmaltz: spreadable bacon fat with little chunks of crispy pork.

After a couple nights there - where I slept better than anywhere on this trip - we came to Berlin. We only had one day together, and I'm staying another two nights, so I'll write about this city later.

On the wall opposite is the exact same picture clothed

Bier

Munchner Hell, one of many Paulaners I tried

Half the reason I'm on this trip is to sample the beers of Europe. In the battle for the continent it clearly comes down to Belgium and Germany (not for the first time). Belgium is famous for the yeast; sour, spicy, earthy, unique. But when it comes to beers that people actually drink - pilsner and hefeweizen - Germany is king, most famously Bavaria. In the Hofbrauhaus you can get some others but traditionally it's the hefe, or sometimes the pils.

With Wolfgang I was constantly back and forth deciding if I liked the lager or the wheat beer. Paulaner and Weihenstephan are the clear winners for hefeweisse in my mind, while for lagers I actually tend towards the Helles over the Pilsners. Das Helles ("Drink every day for your health") and Paulaner's Munchner Hell where great, as well as Augustiner pils.

The winner? It's really hard. Today I would say Germany because I've been at a Weihenstephaner house this afternoon with Wolle, but I'll be back in Belgium in a few days and who knows...

Copenhagen in a day

Panorama from the top of the Round Tower

Friday was really my only day to see Copenhagen, and unfortunately it rained most of the time. I still did a ton of walking and got to see a lot of the city. The library downtown is pretty new and is called the Black Diamond, because of the shape of the front building. It's in the same areae as the Danish stock exchange and the parliament building. You can tour the old ruins under the parliament but I didn't get a chance to. Instead I went to the Natural History Museum and got a lesson in the history of the country - mostly wars with the other Baltic countries and England, but they also had a lot on the Vikings and ancient runes from the bronze age.

I did a lot of walking but it was still hard to stay warm

The couple that ran the hostel - which was really more of a fully furnished apartment I had all to myself - also had an Austtslian bar downtown. I had Victoria Bitter (Victor Bravo) for the first time since I left Australia 5 years ago. I found another bar, naturally, where the owner really wanted to showcase Danish and Scandinavian beers, and I discovered they might actually know what they're doing. I had two great discoveries Friday night: there is a Norwegian hop strain that has as much flavor as some of the Pacific northwest varieties, without all the slap-in-the-face bitterness; and I had a "sandwich" that was cheesey bread topped with a chicken avocado salad wrapped in lettuce. I wish I had found that while I was still doing sandwich club!

Apparently this sculpture, The Little Mermaid,
is very famous. I took this shaky shot and then
the battery died and that was it.

Also it was fashion week in Copenhagen, and while it didn't make much difference to me it was cool to see all the attractive people partying in what are normally just clothing stores with djs and loud music.

Saturday was another all day train ride - 12+ hours from Copenhagen to Munich. On arriving at 10pm I immediately found out where the famous Hofbrauhaus was and headed for a drink. The two traditional choices are the weisse and the pilsner, which both come in one liter maas glasses. Unfortunately I didn't have much time in Munich, but I managed to visit two other houses - Ayinger and Augustiner - and try some amazing Bavarian pork roast with dunkle beer gravy and schnitzel.

I don't know what to call any of these things,
but it was delicious

Prost!

Next time, Bretten with Simone and Wolfgang

Amsterdam

Unfortunately, I really only had one day to spend here while I was feeling good. It was great to see Saskia on Monday night, but I forgot to take any pictures to prove it. We went to a great authentic place called Moeders. I asked why the walls were covered with framed pictures of people, and they said, well, it's peoples' mothers. And that's how I figured out what 'moeders' means in Dutch. I tried having a beer and had to leave 2/3 of it on the table..

Tuesday I woke up feeling great so went out for my first big meal in days. At the hostel owner's recommendation I found Bazar and had a delicious spread of breads and cheese spreads and sausage and yogurt and fruit and a pancake and an egg...

I went to the Rijksmuseum, and found out that Dutch culture isn't only sex and drugs. It turns out they have a whole history of art and sailing and world conquest! (I think mostly for slaves) It's mostly about Rembrandt and Vermeer, but the Vermeer rooms were replaced with someone I had never heard of.

That night I met another guy while playing Mario 3 on NES. We went out for dinner - a rare thing to get to eat in a real restaurant with someone else - and for drinks after. We shared a passion for beer and spent the whole night talking about our favorite labels!

We shared some space cake and in the aftermath lost each other. Having no idea what his name was or how to reach him, and since I left early the next morning, that was pretty much the end of it.

Flower market at night. You can buy cannibus seeds everywhere

 

I'm on a train. On a boat.



Wednesday was a day of travel. Door to door was about 13 hours to Copenhagen (11 hours moving), but on the train it just doesn't seem bad at all. I even fell asleep, completely on accident, on the crowded leg for more than 3 hours. It gave me time to finish another book, too - Homer's the Odessey. Also cool: at one point the train boards a ferry.

I got a late start today in Copenhagen because I have an entire floor to myself and slept in, then did laundry. It's pretty cold here, and a lot of stuff is closed (like Tivoli Gardens), but it seems like a really cool place. Plus I heard the weather is way worse in Boston!

Yesterday was the half way point of this European journey, but it feels like ages since I was in London!

On Belgian Beer

Now that I've finally recovered from my last night in Bruges I feel like I should write about some of the beers there.


"You know this beer is sour?" yeah.
"You know it comes in a big bottle?" yeah, I know.



Of course, the Belgians have more breweries than any other country in the world, but I think they prefer to think they are the only country in the world that brews at all. The beer bars I found in Bruges and Ghent served almost exclusively Belgian products, and when they had something from the Americas it was usually Budweiser or Corona. And who can blame them? The Belgian beer tradition makes for some of the best beers on the planet, and some styles that are very difficult to find in other countries.

For example my favorite beer there, John Martin's Bourgogne de Flandres, was a Dark Flanders. Flanders are, as you know, from the region of the same name and are very sour and usually red (often called Flanders Reds). This one was dark amber in color, and had corresponding deep maltiness, but was still sour and dry! I was blown away.



It should always be like this



The other beer that I really enjoyed was a Cuvee by De Ranke. Fortunately, you can also find this in the states, at least at Charles St. Liquors. Yes, it comes in a 75cl bottle, and you don't want to share.

Another hard to find variety is the Oude Geuze (pronounced like 'ode hhherser'). This is a mix of aged and new Lambic, so you get mellowness and complexity of age with the brightness of youth. Hansenns' was particularly good.

In Ghent I had their local Tripel, which had the aroma of apples and the crispness to match, but little of the high alcohol flavor in many trippels. Other +1 beers from Belgium: Leffe Radieuse, Straffe Hendrik (Heavy Henry), Urthel Saison, Westvleteren Trappist 12, La Guillotine Trippel (spicy).



This pub is 500 years old

 Today is Thursday. Since last Friday I've only had one beer, which I think is some kind of record. Fortunately the Dutch aren't known for their breweries (Heinekin, Amstel), and now in Copenhagen I'm ready to get back into it!

Bruges and Amsterdam

I haven't been able to post in a few days for several reasons. The computers at the hostel in Bruges were too crappy to upload any pictures but good enough that I still didn't want to go to an interney cafe. I've been in Amsterdam for two days now but have been quite ill and so didn't have the energy to do anything.

Bruges

I think Colin Farrell said it best in In Bruges: "If I had grown up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn't, so it doesn't."

There were a few bars in Bruges that did not disappoint: 't Brugs Beertje Pub with a relaxed scene and 300 Belgian beers, and Cambrinus with 400. Other than that I regret having stayed for so long. Bruges would be a great place to visit for one day, or maybe two if you're there for the romance, but not for four!

Amazing pork rillettes in Ghent, famous for bread

I spent Thursday in the nearby city of Ghent, which was really where I should have been the whole time. It's a young university town with tons of culture, like a miniature Melbourne or SF (maybe  Bruges is more like Carmel). I was there on the first day of the festival of lights, which caught me by surprise. At 6 one of the many church towers started chiming and smoking and was lit up like it was on fire. The side of one of the other churches had a movie playing on the side of it, which although I couldn't understand looked really cool. At some point while I was there it dropped below freezing where it was stayed pretty much since.

One of 5 enormous churches in a row

Friday was more walking around Bruges, trying to find the little bits of culture that make it fun. I had "the best pancakes in Belgium" (pancakes = crepes), and sat in a 500 year old pub to read. Friday night was the biggest party I've seen yet, with some people from Siberia who tolerance for alcohol put mine to shame.

Amsterdam

A big step up from the shit Hostel in Bruges

Dutch is a hilarious language

Even though I've been here a couple days I don't really have much to report. There is a lot to take in here, with endless streets of bikes and coffee shops and, yes, prostitutes. I did go to the Van Gogh museum which was pretty impressive, although expensive ($20). I think today I'll see Anne Frank's house, but mostly will continue to lay low until I don't feel so crappy. I'm having dinner with Saskia - who taught me how to play Yaneev in Australia - but I hope she doesn't want to have a big night..

Can't take any pictures inside

Obligatory bikes and a canal picture

I was really happy to be staying in an amazing hotel for the last two nights while I've been sick, but today I'm switching to a hostel. Wednesday I leave for Copenhagen!

Arriving in Bruges

Out the window in the Chunnel!

I arrived yesterday afternoon hungry and more importantly, thirsty for some Belgian bier. Unfortunately, the city did not have my needs in its interest. This city runs entirely on tourism - old city is only one square mile and there isn't any business or financial area - yet it has a weird relationship with it. Four million tourists a year are hated by the locals for not knowing how to get out of the way of the many bikes, taking pictures of the Markt, and generally acting like tourists. Within a few hours of being here I had been yelled at, lied to, and spit on for being a one. Since it's the low season and mid-week, most of the small cafes were closed, so I walked around for hours looking for dinner and a good bar.

But: holy crap do I love the beer. I've been here only 24 hours but I've had more Belgians than I can even find in Boston. Importantly, I finally tried the 6th (of 6) Belgian Trappist breweries, Westvleteren.

I'll be back

A very picturesque city

I spent the night and morning with them,
but have no idea how to spell their names

Last night I met a couple Spanish physics students on holiday, and we went out for late night drinks and this morning walked around the city. We climbed the 366 steps of the bell tower, and decided not to pay the 6 euro for either the chocolate museum or the frites museum.

Since then I've been meandering, trying beers here and there and getting a feel for the city. There's a surprising Australian contingent in the city, so the big Australia Day party is happening over at the Bauhaus later.

I finished reading Fall of Giants this afternoon. At over 1000 pages in hardback, it's the longest book I've ever approached, and I read it in 10 days - mostly sitting in bars of coffee shops. I guess that gives you an idea of how much beer and coffee I've been drinking.

The British Bitter Ale Tradition

I have a few extra minutes before I need to be on the Eurostar to Belgium (yes, the chunnel), so I thought I'd put up my thoughts on what the Brits call ale. If you tried one of these in the States you'd probably think the keg had skunked or that the bottles had been sitting out in the sun for a few days. On the other hand, there is some good variety and, though it seems cliche, the ales go quite well with pub grub like fish and chips or meat pies.

In the 6 days I spent in London I visited no fewer than 9 pubs and tried at least a dozen different British Ales. The big three brewers are Fullers, Young's, and Greene King, and each has a variety of brews. "Bitter" is their most common offering, like Fullers London Pride or Greene's London Glory, and, although the name would suggest otherwise, is the most mild. After that you get Special Bitter and Extra Special Bitter (ESB), and IPA at the high end of hops. Don't be mislead - you will never get anything even close to what we call IPA in America. These beers are all served mildly cold, and are usually hand pumped. That means what carbonation there is is natural, but weak.

My two favourites were Fullers Organic Honeydew, with it's light sweetness, and St. Edmunds Golden, which has much brighter hop flavour than most of the others. The bottom line is that you have to give these beers a chance, preferably in their native environment, but if you were raised on American craft there just isn't much to get excited about. Tonight in Belgium I'm staying at a Hostel that has a bar, so I imagine there will be quite a bit more!

Sorry no pictures of beer; I already packed my camera.

Acting like a local

Details on the Houses of Parliament building

On Saturday I had a brief walk about the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. I am blown away by the architecture of these old buildings. I can't imagine someone today trying to build such an extravagant church or government building - let alone a castle - and getting public support.

I was too cheap to go inside any of them, but I'll be back in London for several days in a few weeks and may then. I still have to see the Churchill Museum and the National Gallery, among a few other things. Anything else you think I shouldn't miss?

Buckingham Palace - one of the Queen's many homes

After that I met up with Julia and Enda for the rest of the day. It was great to get to talk to some "locals" who could show me around the city a bit. They were wonderful to entertain me all day: we walked through Borough Market - full of cheeses and salty pork products - and had some mulled wine; we hit a couple pubs for some traditional British ales; we snuck into St. Paul's Cathedral for the beginning of the Saturday night mass, so I got to see it without spending any £; we walked Portobello Market after it was mostly closed and had beer in a secret garden (no snogging); and I got to go to a real restaurant for dinner - one of Julia's favo(u)rite Indian places. Thank you both so much for taking me out!

Awesome map of Borough Market

My wonderful hosts for the day

Urlacher In'erception? I hardly even know 'er!

Sunday I had lunch again with Enda then decided to see if I could find some Americans with whom to watch some championship (American) football. I showed up at an ex-pat bar a couple hours before the first game (which started here at 8pm) and got one of the last seats. The barbecue wasn't bad, either! It's more fun when you're rooting for one of the teams so I arbitrarily chose the bears. Most of the bar was for Chicago, too bad they got whooped.

Out of about 70 rooms in the museum I would say half
of them contained nothing but pots or the like

Today was my last day in London before leaving for Belgium in the morning. I went to the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone, but to be honest that was the only thing I could get excited about. Endless rooms of pots, urns, plates, knives, figurines, pots, trinkets...pots... I'm starting to understand what I like in a museum: if it's art or culture then it better be famous, otherwise I like dinosaurs and science. Who knew?