Cathedrals, Chocolate, Lace and Saints

It is pretty cool to live in a part of the world where I can wake up in The Netherlands and be in Germany in a 15 minute drive or in Belgium in about 25 minutes. Last weekend I went with my colleague Manny to Brussels.  The drive took an hour and 20 minutes.  We planned to go to Brugge this morning but it is 30 degrees here and only slightly warmer there, plus it is supposed to rain all day in Brugge.  I can deal with rain and cold but not both at the same time.  It just doesn’t sound fun. Maybe tomorrow. I keep saying to myself, “I have seen enough Medeival cities and cathedrals and castles,” but every time a new one is in my path I am equally awed. I did see a few unique things in Brussels though such as the Mannekin Pis (right) which I have seen copied in many gardens, ponds and pools over the years.  The original is actually smaller than I expected standing maybe 18 inches tall.  You know the statue, the naked little boy peeing.  Apparently, it was first made in 1618 but has been repeatedly stolen and the current statue is from 1965 but I took a picture anyway; me and the other 200 tourists standing on that tiny cobblestone corner.  The city feels compelled to dress him in one of over 2000 different outfits, although there is no way to hide his little wee-wee, the spout of the font. I felt a little voyeuristic, but mob ruled and I joined them. A short walk down to the lower city, the old town, led to the Grote Markt (Dutch) aka the Grand Place (French) aka the Town Square walled on all side by massive and magnificent buildings built in the Gothic, Baroque and Rococco style (left).  Everything here is written in both French and Dutch, actually Flemish, so we can all understand, including street signs and building names. The buildings were all closed by then so I had a 7 Euro ($9) Belgian beer, 2 veggie crepes for 12 Euro ($15) followed by a coffee (reasonably priced) with famous Belgian chocolates and then stood and looked around the square, kind of nodding my head and thinking, “OK… so this is Brussels.” Tintin comics originated here and it is the home of the European Union and Parliament and the home of SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe). Old city with a lot of new construction, many people, beautiful tapestries, chocolate and lace. For my euro, it was worth the trip but somehow not quite as awesome as I expected.  Tintin, I love, although I couldn’t find the Tintin and Snowy Statue or a copy of a book in English. Tapestries were waaay expensive (although I could imagine my castle walls adorned with them, to cover a wall would have proven too costly). Chocolate, in my mouth just tastes like chocolate; I’d be happy with 20 or 30 Hershey’s kisses for 2 bucks. And I am not delicate enough for lace. Although I barely have the patience to make a friendship bracelet, so I am impressed by people who take a week to make a doily. Maybe I have seen one 1400 year old church too many.  I still enjoy them but feel less compelled to take more than 2 or 3 pictures.  Manny (left), however takes about 50 shots of every statue and vestibule from every possible angle and zoom.  I remember when I was like that a year ago.

I did follow-up on Sunday with a day trip to Sittard (below), a small Dutch town about 20 minutes from my house which was quaint with its narrow alleyways, cobblestone streets and houses ranging from the 15th century to last week and, surprise, an ancient Medeival Cathedral of St. Petrus (right). I used to think that being named a saint by the pope was some kind of a big deal but it seems that there is at least one saint from every hamlet and corner in Europe and certainly more than any one human could name. Of course they all have a special kind of magic in the relics, which you practically fall over at every corner, and all the saints have either had visions or done miracles. Not that I am dissing the Saints…I am just saying that there are a lot of them.

 

The Dutch

Netherlands. Wooden shoes, windmills, tulips, cheese, dijks and beer.  Except for the wooden shoes, everything is pretty much as expected.  The shoes as it turns out were a product of necessity when the Dutch were so poor they couldn’t afford leather.  Tulips are out of season and the only dijks I have seen ride motorcycles and wear wooden shoes. Hans Brinker was American.  The beer is good stuff though; I have sampled about 10 breweries. And there are so many kinds of cheese I can’t even choose one at the market. Learning the proper way to pronounce Gouda is among my greatest accomplishments so far.  Dutch language is kind of complex, much more than I expected.  The cheese is actually pronounced GHow – dah with my tongue touching the back of the roof of my mouth somewhere between a Hebrew ח het and a hiss, like the sound a cat makes when it’s pissed off. And the “ch” making almost the same sound but with a little more of the guttural sound, distinctly different to the Dutch but virtually imperceptible to me. You roll the “r” in the back of your throat like the French do and the vowels have about 30 different sounds.  When my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth or I have a couple of beers, however, everything comes out unintelligible, including my spotty English.  I can say “Hi” in Dutch… “Oy!”  Enough about language, though.  The people here are helpful and friendly, everybody smiles (I’m thinking it’s the beer) and almost everybody speaks fluent English.  I don’t even ask anymore because when I ask do you speak English they say, “of course” as if it’s silly of me to ask at all. And they generally speak French, German and Italian, as well.  And the kids I work with are from all over the world including Turkey, Estonia, Poland, Italy, England, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands and a few from the USA, so I also get to practice my language skills, such as they are. I am about 15 minutes from the German border and 25 minutes from the Belgian. Today was the first day of full sun all day.  Usually it’s cold and it rains at least half the day but the nice weather is supposed to continue for a few days with highs in the low 70’s and nights above freezing.  I went last weekend to Aachen, Germany (seat of power of Charlemagne in the 9^th century and the church he built is still in use) and to Valkenburg, Netherlands with ancient castle ruins and caves and a cool village-wide market. Oh yeah and Holland is a precinct in the north country where Amsterdam is.  The whole country is not Holland.  I live in Limburg, a precinct in the deep south of Netherlands where “Hi” is prounounced, “Oy, y’all”.  And the pics are me in trouble already, The Octagon Church built by Charlemagne, a sample of the Dutch language, and the village of Valkenburg.