Echte Nederlands

Real Dutch. That's what this post is about. Sure, there's cheese and windmills and klompen and stroopwafels, but what happens when you get beyond tulips and coffee shops?

Well, one thing that happens is spekken. This is a sort of marshmallowy candy that is soft, pink & white, and pure sugar. Spek is the Dutch word for bacon. What this candy has to do with bacon, I'm not exactly sure. Perhaps it is the pink and white that is reminiscent of marbled fat? Mmmm. Isn't your mouth just watering?

We all felt a bit sick afterwards.
Another thing that happens is Sjoelen, an old Dutch game were you slide wooden discs across a wooden board and try to get them into four different slots, each earning you different points. It's a fun game but I haven't yet got past the sliding-as-hard-as-I-can-in-hopes-that-something-will-go-in strategy.

Another thing is Ijs van Co, which is this hugely popular little soft-serve ice cream place that Jeanni's parents used to take her to when she was little. The lines were long but moved quickly because there were about seven teenagers packed into this little hole in the wall and serving up ice cream. Annabel and Mieke got two ice creams because their first servings were small, and well, Oma and Opa need to spoil them!

Maastricht

Two days ago Michiel and I had a little day-trip getaway to Maastricht, in the south of the Netherlands.

Here is het Vrijthof, the big central square. Check out that red bell tower!


I also dragged Michiel to an art museum, the famous Bonnefantenmuseum full of drawings from the Renaissance. And also some modern art--some cool and creepy and some of it, well, let's just say it was a little too modern for us. This one was cool...the only piece of art work in the museum's central dome:



And the whole reason we were there was to meet dear friends from Innisfree! Stephanie and Olivier from Belgium on the right, Jamie and Christian from Virginia but visiting his parents in Germany in the middle, and then us. Such a fun group!

People Pictures

There are many more, but that's it for now!

More from Germany

We also went to the Ittertal Historischer Freizeitpark. Think Enchanted Forest only older, smellier, and a bit creepier. It was fantastic! Alexander annoyed his sister. Mieke got to jump to her heart's content. And Annabel made friends with a girl from a refugee family from Libya who spoke more English than German.

Jaunt to Germany

Sailing with Markus and Tina:
 

Open Air Museum:


Ice cream (of course). This was our second stop at the ice cream shop.


Everyone who came to the family gathering at Franz's house:

Getting over Jetlag...

...in three easy steps.

Step 1: Tickle your cousin
Invite family and friends over all at the same time. Eat, drink, and tickle your cousin. Try not to fall asleep.


Step 2: Koffie en Koek (Coffee and a sort of cross between a cake and a cookie)
Celebrate everything, especially birthdays, whether they happened yesterday or in March. Teatime? Let's celebrate! Try not to fall asleep.


Step 3: Glitter tattoos...of course. What else? Borrow bikes from neighbors so that all 10 of us (Michiel, Lisa, Alexander, Annabel, Mieke, Jeanni, Carel, Tatjana, Maarten, and Kiril) can ride to Zwolle for a festival. Six bikes, ten people. You do the math.