Teasers

Wanted to post a few pictures of my birthday weekend while I work on the blog.

Bonne Annee

With all due respect to Trey’s karaoke NYE in 2008/2009, Brenda’s NYE pajama party in 2006/2007, JM’s “the night the lights went out in Deep Ellum” NYE in 2000/2001, and the Worlow Family Y2K NYE in 1999/2000, I can honestly say that NYE 2009/2010 was probably the most interesting one I’ve ever experienced. To be honest, NYE is typically anti-climatic at best or downright disappointing at worst. Heck, I can’t even remember what I did to celebrate in most years (and not because I had too much fun). I was afraid this year would be more of the same, as I had no plans as of Monday, 28 December. But after discussing my options with a co-worker, Amsterdam won out over Paris, Barcelona, and Luxembourg. Amsterdam isn’t quite as close as Paris (which was likely to be much more expensive), but it doesn’t require a flight like Barcelona does. And I figured anything would win out over what promised to be a sleepy NYE in Luxembourg.

My friend and I got up and on the road “early” Thursday morning, 31 December, to head to Amsterdam via Maastricht. As two of my co-workers had studied in Maastricht and recommended a stopover there, we decided it would be a good place to stop for lunch on the way up (and we also ended up eating dinner there on the way back Sunday night). What we saw of the city was nice – they still had their Christmas market open, which included a Ferris Wheel that we rode even though it was freezing cold – but my choice of the recommended lunch spots was a failure to say the least. It was a Chipotle/Freebirds knock-off called Burrito Bar (“Tex-Mex”). I should have known better, but a big ‘ol burrito sounded really good. It looked pretty good, too, but unfortunately had very little taste to it (they have no idea how to make decent salsa over here). But we choked down our Euro-Tex-Mex anyway and got back on the road.

As we neared Amsterdam, Jon Dee Graham’s lyrics started rolling around in my head and they continued to echo the whole weekend – both in my head and throughout Amsterdam and I frequently found myself performing my best raspy-voiced impression of Jon Dee as we walked around town.

“Oh Amsterdam / It’ll be alright / How could it not be alright…”

By the time we made it to our hotel in the city center, checked in, drove the car back out to the Park and Ride (in-town parking is ridiculously expensive) and rode the train back to town, it was already dark outside. That means it was about 5pm, but also that people were starting to randomly shoot fireworks off throughout the city. Having no reservations for dinner, we walked around the city to gain our bearings and stumbled upon a good Spanish tapas restaurant. Then, in preparation for the rest of the evening’s festivities, we took a nap. Damn, I’m old.

We woke up around 11pm and ventured back out into the city. Our hotel was very near Dam Square, so that was our first stop. There were a ton of people (most of whom got a much earlier start drinking than we had) and more fireworks.

Just to clarify, these are not professional fireworks displays I’m talking about. This is random drunk and/or stoned and/or…well…Asian people setting off large quantities of fireworks on street corners, next to the giant Christmas tree, in the middle of a crowd of people….you get the idea – fireworks were everywhere.

Though Dam Square was pretty good for people watching, we decided to head over to Rembrandtplein to see what was happening there. It was also packed with people (both in the square and on the balconies of the surrounding clubs), but there was also a DJ playing music, camera crews shooting video of the crowd (which was being displayed on a huge screen on the side of a building) and, of course, more fireworks. This is where we rang in 2010 – drinking straight from a bottle of champagne and dodging flying fireballs.

From Rembrandtplein, we headed back to Dam Square to see if the party was still going strong around 12:45am. It had thinned out considerably, but I stopped to pose for a quick picture before we followed the stumbling crowds towards the red light district.

We didn’t make it to the more risqué section of the district, but we did find a nice little pub to enjoy a few beers before heading back to the hotel – probably around 3:00am or 3:30am.

“…Sunshine in Amsterdam / Sweeter than Van Gogh yellow / Follow it down the narrow streets / So it does not get away…”

Friday was a beautiful, sunny (but very cold), day and our first stop was the canal boat tour. We weren’t the only ones to have this idea so we were treated to a 30-45 minute wait just to buy tickets, and another 10 or so to load the boat and get underway for our “100 Highlights Tour.” I lost count after about highlight #4, but I’m not sure we made it all the way to 100. Nevertheless, it was a good way to get (somewhat) familiar with the layout of the city and to hear about its history. Here are a few photos from the boat:

“…The most beautiful girls in the world on bikes / The most beautiful men in the world on bikes / The most beautiful kids in the world on bikes / The backs of the bikes / They are not afraid…”

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the city, looking for the places my co-worker had recommended from his 30+ visits to Amsterdam, enjoying the city and trying not to get run over by the numerous cyclists. I’m not sure how beautiful they were, but there were certainly a lot of people on bikes (including, even, kids on the backs of the bikes), regardless of the cold. I could only imagine how many people would be riding around in nicer weather.

“…Oh Amsterdam / It’ll be alright / How could it not be alright…”

Saturday was not quite as nice as Friday. It probably wasn’t significantly colder, but clouds and a few showers made it look (and feel) that much worse. Luckily, we had planned to be indoors most of the day - visiting the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House. We were better prepared this time around as we had purchased tickets online and were able to bypass the extremely long lines at both places. That more than made up for the time wasted at the canal boat tour.

I’m not much of an art critic, but I think that Van Gogh guy was pretty talented. The museum (and the audio tour) was very well done and they have the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world. My only issue was that there were so many people inside that it was difficult to get close to some of the artwork. The Anne Frank House was also very well put together and it was interesting to see in how small of a space 8 people could live in hiding for 2 years. And it is always shocking and disturbing to be reminded of the atrocities committed by Hitler and his little buddies.

“…Well the Muslim girls with defiant stares / I don’t care if you cover your hair / I still love you / Just not in that Western way…”

We were pretty beat from our day at the museums and from walking around in the freezing cold and rain, but we leave Amsterdam without taking a spin through the more infamous portion of couldn’t the red light district. I’m pretty sure the girls standing in the windows wearing lingerie a) weren’t Muslim; and b) were willing to love you in that Western way…but I digress. It is very strange scene to say the least. Girls on display in their one-bedroom apartments trying to earn a living, college-age looking groups of guys under the influence of various intoxicants, and then the very normal-looking middle-aged couples that are just strolling around like they are touring the Vatican. And I think the craziest part is that people actually enter into transactions in front of all of these people (as well as the video cameras that are installed throughout the district).

“…Oh Amsterdam / It’ll be alright / How could it not be alright / Well my telephone card is almost done / So if we get cut off please know you’re the one / The one I wanted to share this with / Oh no, oh no there it goes…”

We didn’t do anything terribly exciting on Sunday, but we did spend a few hours walking around the city again to buy a couple of souvenirs and some tulip bulbs to take home with us. From there it was back through Maastricht (for a nice Chinese dinner this time) and on home to Luxembourg. It was a great weekend and I’m really looking forward to going back in the Spring/Summer when the weather is warmer and the tulips are in bloom.

“…Oh Amsterdam / It’ll be alright / How could it not be alright / How could it not be alright / How could it not be alright.”

Christmas in Luxembourg

Being the first time in my life to spend the holidays away from home, family and friends, it would be an understatement to say that it didn't feel like Christmas. Between Christmas Eve at New World UMC (and Sandra Wheat's house) and Christmas Day at Mom and Dad's house (with gifts from Santa and a lazy afternoon spent looking for things to keep us all entertained), there was a lot to miss.

Enter my new co-workers/friends. As a few of us were staying in town over the holidays, one of my co-workers and his wife decided to invite me and another couple over for dinner on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. There was plenty of food and wine, and they have a Wii that kept us pretty entertained. We also broke out the Scrabble on Christmas night, though I'm a little embarrassed to say that I didn't win. I was pretty dominant in Wii tennis and Mario Kart, however.

My contribution to the meal(s) was the strawberry-pretzel salad that has become a staple of our Hankins family Christmas dinner. Everyone else thought it was a dessert, but I insisted it be left on the table so I could enjoy it as part of my dinner (though I can certainly see their point). It was a bit of an adventure to make the salad as I had more trouble finding strawberry gelatin than I expected and, there being no Cool Whip here, I had to learn how to make real whipped cream. And when I was convinced that my original batch of gelatin was not going to set, I made a mad dash back to the store to buy more and try again. It was worth the effort as the final product tasted damn good (and I ended up with a bunch of extra strawberry gelatin when the original batch finally set).

The other dish I wanted to attempt was the sausage-cheese grits casserole that we usually eat on Christmas morning. As you might imagine, I got a lot of blank stares when I asked people whether or not they sold "grits" around here. The only thing I could find was a package labeled "polenta," which I was fairly nervous about using. That is, until I did some research. I stumbled upon a "Good Eats" segment where Alton Brown proved that polenta and grits were essentially the same thing, just prepared differently. Still, I didn't have "quick-cooking grits" and decided to tweak the recipe to compensate. The final product tasted much like Mom's, but definitely had more of a "polenta" consistency to it. I forgot to get the picture before digging in...

Though I didn't have a Christmas tree surrounded by presents, Mom and Dad did send a gift box/care package (on behalf of Santa, of course) which was full of Texas-style foodstuffs and a few other surprises (that's my Christmas tree in the back right of the photo).

After I hung my stocking with care...

No, it was not the same as a Christmas at home, but it was a pretty good substitute.