In Bruges (It's in Belgium!)

The next time you have an hour and a half to spare, watch "In Bruges". 

The next time you go to Europe, and if you haven't already been, you have to go to Bruges.

After watching the movie, L and I felt compelled to take a day trip to Bruges (or Brugge, in Flemish). It was supposed to take around a total of six hours by train to travel to and from Bruge, but because of some (unannounced!) track work in the southern Netherlands, it took way more than six hours. 

Fortunately Bruges is impossibly beautiful, and the ten or so hours on the uncomfortable second class train seats seem worth it. (But we're never doing that again!) There was not one scene that was not picture worthy - to my eyes the colors of autumn complemented the amazingly well-preserved historic center.

Bruge, like Amsterdam, Delft and the other cities in the lowlands with canals call themselves the "Venice of the North". As to which city truly deserves the title is a debate I leave to other people, but I do like riding them canal boats! We rode a boat like this one on the River Dijver:

Here are some medieval houses on the Markt, a market square that dates back to the thirteenth century, and is still used as a market place today:

Here's the Stadhuis, the town hall, which was built in the twelfth century:

If you've seen the movie (and this spoils it if you haven't), this is the Belfort, where that other guy jumped off to warn Colin Farell's (swoon!) character about Ralph Fiennes's (swoon!) character:

L and I also accidentally stumbled upon this Beguinage, where spinsters and widows once lived in order to devote their lives to prayer without taking any formal religious vows. Ironically enough, its now a monastery for the Benedictine sisters, and a UNESCO world heritage site:

And of course, some pictures of autumn:

Brussels

Early last Saturday morning, L and I boarded a train for a weekend trip to Brussels. We stayed with our friends (and newly engaged couple) DP and TZ, who also graciously took us around the city (many thanks again DP and TZ!).

I took a lot of pictures of the Grand Place, but my photography skills weren't quite up to framing the scenes aptly. Here are some of my better pictures:

We also ate well in Brussels, as DP and TZ made sure we tried the local fare. I had the following for lunch, dinner and lunch the next day (all good!):

Vol-au-vent

Moules et frites 

Lasagne Chevrette (okay, this doesn't sound like traditional Belgian/Brussels food, but how can you skip lasagna with goat cheese? See also TZ's steak tartar on the right):

I wasn't able to take pictures in the Royal Museum, which had a fantastic collection of paintings by Brugels and Brughels (only the elder Brugel spelled his name without the "h") and by Reubens. For lack of time, L and I unfortunately didn't see the modern collection, which we are definitely going back for some other time. 

I did, however, get to take some other interesting pictures:

The Palais Royal, a Brussels cafe and a dog on a balcony.

Europe-y looking scene

Do you know that if a picture of this scene was taken in the seventeenth century it would have looked exactly the same?

Awesome, but sort of creepy.

Some sort of stew

I cooked what was supposed to be Irish Stew tonight, and L said it was delicious. I'm not sure if he was being just nice or earnestly truthful but I liked it too. Here's my recipe (apologies, I'm not a fan of strict measurements):

Ingredients:

Two packs of stewing beef

A handful of potatoes

A handful of carrots

Two swigs of extra virgin olive oil

Two spoons olive butter

Five stems of thyme

Two onions

 A bulb of garlic

Three spoons (or more) of Worcestershire sauce

A spoon of Tabasco sauce

A small can of tomato paste

Stems of parsley

Water enough for your pot, with a beef bouillon

Two bay leaves

Procedure:

1. Heat olive oil. Add beef and saute until brown on all sides. Then add garlic. Continue to saute for about a minute more.

2. Add beef bouillon (dissolved in water), tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and thyme. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until step 3 below is done.

3. In another pan, saute potatoes and carrots in olive butter until your arm gets tired and the onion becomes sort of golden. Then, add the vegetables to the stew. 

4. Continue to simmer for about the time it takes to read forty pages of a book (roughly around another hour). Stir occasionally and add salt and pepper to taste. A little tabasco helps too.

5. Remove bay leaves. Serve in a bowl and add parsley on top. 

6. Eat with toasted semi-hard bread (like ciabatta).

Voila!

This recipe is enough for one dinner serving for me and two dinner servings for L, and one lunch serving for me the next day (these servings might be a little more than those of the average person).

Bicycle Story

Barely three weeks after arriving in the Netherlands, and I already have a bicycle story.

A and her parents graciously lent us, along with their home, two bicycles. L and I rode the bicycles everyday to the train station, padlocked them to posts at the bicycle shed, and got on a train to wherever we had to go. It's true what they say about the unrelenting flatness of the Netherlands - biking is enjoyable here, and really part of the lifestyle.

On the supposed last night of our stay in A's home and village, L and I found that the back tires of both our bikes were locked. We couldn't move the bikes, so we had to walk about a kilometer or so back to A's house. Suffice it to say that out idyllic perception of the Netherlands was shot with that one bike incident and the sad realization that punks are everywhere, even in the Netherlands where they breathe fresh air (there goes that theory).

After unglamorously wheeling the bikes on the road (on one wheel) to a bike shop, walking two or so kilometers to get back to the train station and, five days later, taking a train from the Hague, walking two kilometers to the bike shop, taking one bike and riding it to A's house, walking again to the bike shop and riding the other bike to take it home, I've decided that I miss subways.

The only upside to all this - I was able to take a picture of this pony:

Royal Sighting

I woke up this morning to the sound of drums and chatter. I looked out my window and saw hundreds of people wearing orange, crossing in front of my street to the Parliament Building. Despite the major cleaning I had to do in the apartment, my nosy self (and perhaps my lazy self as well) got me pulling on a sweater to check out what was happening outside.

It turns out today was the annual Queen's parade around the Hague. From what I gather, today is the only day in the year that the Queen goes around the Hague and says hello to her constituents. 

I blame the Dutch for being too tall for me to see anything. I was behind everyone, so I wasn't able to see past heads when the royal caravan passed by. Thanks to the unique location of our apartment, however, I was able to see someone who looked important while I was on my way to the grocery. See my mystery royal (in purple):

She looked rather young, so I'm thinking she's one of the Princesses married to one of the Queen's sons. 

Lesson learned for today: I have no paparazzi skills. 

Free Internet

L. and I just moved into our new apartment last weekend. The owner is still fixing a few things, including the internet connection.

Being an internet junkie and with no permanent job at the moment, I have been prowling the streets of Den Haag for a free wi-fi connection. I am currently at a Subway sandwich shop across our apartment, where I bought a bottle of diet coke. I have been sitting here for over an hour.

I am the only customer in the shop, and it might just be my imagination, but the store guys have been looking at me weirdly. I'm trying to google "free internet etiquette The Netherlands" but I'm not coming up with results. 

I think its time to buy a sandwich.