Archives for July 2014

Switzerland Part 1: Mt. Pilatus and Lucerne

July 26, 2014

ZURICH

After our train layover in Milan, we took a train to Zurich. Our previous two trains had been really nice and comfortable—we even magically ended up in first class on our ride from Rome to Florence—but this train to Zurich was kind of miserable. Our seats were at the edge of our carriage, and people were constantly walking through the doors to use the bathroom. It was also the squeakiest vehicle I’ve ever ridden in. Plus, there was no AC and the air was stifling and hot. But besides the inside of the car not being super fun, the views of Lugano and Como and some other Swiss towns were pretty spectacular.

After we got settled at our Airbnb, we walked a few blocks to a popular, cheap bratwurst place called Sternen Grill. “Cheap” in Zurich means one bratwurst, plus mustard and a slice of bread is 7 CHF (Swiss francs—or about $7.75). I must admit that the brats were delicious, though I wasn’t a fan of the mustard that came with it, which was basically straight up horse radish. We had fun sitting on the edge of Lake Zurich, eating our cheap brats, and feeding a few breadcrumbs to the swans.

Our 7 CHF meal.

When in (Rome and) Florence

July 21, 2014

I suppose it’s a good thing that I’m behind on blog posts because it means that we’re enjoying ourselves too much for me to sit down and write stuffs or gather pictures. But I don’t want to get too behind, so here are some tidbits from our time in Italy.

ROME

From Amsterdam, we took a plane to Rome, where we had about 24 hrs to cram as many things in as possible. We got to Rome around 5 p.m., so we had just enough time to get some dinner and gelato and then people-watch on the Spanish Steps.

There was a huge group of loud, inebriated German high schoolers here at the Spanish Steps later that night, which was fun to watch.

Making an awkward chin support out of my gelato. This was from Venchi near the Spanish Steps—highly recommended.

I amsterdam

July 13, 2014

We like ships and Dutch things.

I’ll give a brief run down of what we did here in Amsterdam and then let the pictures do the rest of the talking. We really, really enjoyed our time here and felt like three days was just about enough time to see and do what we wanted.

Friday

Went to the Anne Frank House Museum. Very, very moving and emotional.
Found an East African restaurant on a side street and ate everything put on our table. Used our hands, which is a very satisfying way to eat, I discovered.

Family Time in Zuidlaren, Nederlands

July 11, 2014

Ben is half-Dutch from his mom’s side. So after landing in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning, we immediately took a train to Groningen, about two hours away, where Ben’s great-aunt Agnes and her husband Herm Jan picked us up. They live about 20 minutes from Groningen in the village of Zuidlaren. Their house used to be a big barn, but now it’s a beautiful home with my dream backyard.

The view of the backyard from our bedroom.

Herm Jan took us on a walk to an old windmill in their village, which Ben was enamored with, and then we stopped by Agnes’s friend’s 90th birthday party. There, we met Agnes’s mom (so Ben’s great-great aunt), who turns 100 next month. LET ME TELL YOU, the Dutch may be the healthiest, happiest people I’ve ever met. Great-great-aunt Djoe is about the spriteliest, most active, jolly lady ever. She kept grabbing my face and smiling and saying my name over and over.

The birthday lady—90 years young.

Great-great Aunt Djoe.

The next day, Agnes and Herm Jan took us on a little family history tour, and we visited the farms where Ben’s Grandma Tena grew up. We did a lot of driving through Holland’s countryside; so many cows, horses, and sheep, and SO MANY CUTE HOUSES. Took way too many pictures of those. The thing I couldn’t believe was how every single house was adorned with the most beautiful flowers and gardens.

Gma Tena’s second farmhouse she lived in.

Half thatched, half tiled.

Herm Jan having a peek inside.

This was about my fourth attempt to get them to look at the camera for the picture.

Pretty and old things inside the building next door.

They have Nova-everything in The Netherlands, too!

We visited Agnes’s cousin’s farm, too. Their house was really old, and they’ve changed almost nothing about it. Also they only speak Frisian, so that was interesting to listen to.

Agnes and her cousin’s wife, Amy.

One of their cats just had kittens. So precious.

This was not a prop.

Agnes’s cousin Reink.

When we got home, Agnes and Herm Jan led us to drinks and crackers in their garden and then treated us to dinner at a nice restaurant in town. Can’t get any better than that.

If you’re still with me, here’s a small sampling of my Dutch houses/flowers photo collection.

Experimenting: Soupy Pies and Shutter Speeds

July 5, 2014

Well, here we are. The first blog post. I’m going to try and keep the text to a minimum on this, so here are some 4th of July pics from yesterday cuz ‘Merica.

Thanks to a few friends, I now have a mediocre grip on the basics of my camera, but keep in mind that I still understand so very little about it. So no judgements, plz.

Ice cream pie with granola crust and homemade blueberry and raspberry sauce. Recipe here.

I didn’t read that this was supposed to set for at least three hours until about 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave, hence the soupy texture.

Luckily it had just about enough time to set up in the freezer at our host’s house.

We hit up our old Stadium Ave neighborhood—via our friends who still live there—to get an up-close show of the fireworks (and to see our friends/family). First, though, there were the annual street fireworks.