Tulip time.... at last

There is an (alleged) proverb that goes something like: “How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time”, or maybe that old saw: “a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”.  Well that sort of applies to blogging.  “The story of a trip begins with the first posting” so now that we're safely home with clean clothes, mail (both snail and e) resolved, and a reliable internet connection, I can at last begin to share our experiences in Holland, or more correctly the Netherlands.

I would rather have been closer to “real time” but time and travel, (minding the three priorities) and a pitiful connection on the Viking Ship Alsvin made it almost impossible.  I did try a few facebook pictures here and there.  Maybe you connected folk saw some of those.

Anyway, our journey began from Dulles with a ride on a big blue bird, (unfortunately an Airbus) from KLM Airlines.

I think I mentioned on Facebook that it was the easiest trip through the airport we've ever had, brief pause at security, and relatively little walking and our gate was even right at the entrance to the proper terminal.  Another pleasant surprise was that even though the pilot reported that we would have to be re-routed for weather in the area, we taxied past several other parked aircraft and took off.

Our recent spate of international travel has taught us to always purchase the “upgraded economy” seat option which gives you a little more knee room, and I have never regretted buying the Bose noise cancelling headphones.  Unlike the airline we flew over to Wales, KLM provided a very nice classical music channel as part of the in flight entertainment suite.  With the headphones in place, screaming kids and cabin noise are geately reduced, allowing some modicum of peace.  

After a while, they came around with food service, preceded by drinks.  I was surprised to see that my request for Scotch brought forth maybe a pint sized bottle and a portion was poured from that rather than plunking down a plastic "mini".

Didn't pour as much as I might have wished, but it did serve to wet the whistle.  “Dinner” was then served, as usual a miracle of modern packaging

smakelijk!

Consisting of a little plastic dish of salad (“Greek”), Dessert (some kind of custardy thing), entrée (beef like material with rice), a little box (middle left) which contained some (Wisconsin(!) Cheese and crackers) a little bottle of water, a package of (plastic) tools, a passed roll, and a small bottle of wine.  Fine.  Well, to consume this repast, you have to:  a) pick up the little dish of choice; b) somehow strip the cellophane off the top (teeth worked best); c) unwrap the tools; and d) enjoy.  Well, after you repeated this process for all the little boxes, you are left with an unwieldy mountain of trash, which has the penchant to fall off the tray and disappear under the seat someplace.

Anyway, we finally landed in Amsterdam, and proceeded to more than make up the lack of walking at Dulles, finally gathering the group at the “big red and white cube” in the Arrival Hall, and did the customs stuff, and FINALLY on a bus (er, excuse me a coach) and headed out for a tour of Amsterdam.  We passed many interesting buildings leading out of Schiphol airport.

Our first stop on the way to the city was at a little farm where they produced a couple of products that we all associate with the Netherlands. 

The “farmer” did a little demo of wooden shoe and cheese making,

I'm sure he does this many times a day and week and had his patter down pretty well.. And, as we were to learn over and over, the little tour ended in the….. gift shop!

Which wasn’t bad, because it did give you an opportunity to purchase stuff without going out of your way.

We bid adieu to the cheese makers

And made a little stop to see the first of many

Then into the city proper seeing many examples of the distinctive Dutch architecture

One last stop before heading to the boat was at the

We were fortunate enough to get “tour” treatment, as we didn’t have to join the many who were waiting (for up to an hour and a half)

Pictures were not allowed inside, but of course cell phones were brandished quite often keeping the guards busy reminding people of the many posted signs.  Of course the “rules” didn’t apply to them.

It was a wonderful exhibit, we got to see many paintings I’ve never seen before.  What an amazing volume the man turned out in relatively few years.   Anyway, by the time we left the museum after being up for nearly twenty four hours, we were ready to head for our “home” for the next nine days

The “Alsvin”.   After a short nap, we struggled to get

DFD

To be continued…

checking in...

Well, this is proving difficult.  Days are pretty much filled with seeing things, so publishing things takes time.  Mostly our itinerary includes a morning tour, lunch, then an afternoon tour leading up to cocktail hour.  So spending a couple of hours sharing our experience is hard. Stop complaining Feeder!   Okay….

A short note about..... food!

we do have pretty good fare on board:

(by the way, i did NOT drink any of those, a good Dry Manhattan story eventually)

But we did also get to sample stuff ashore, like

the famous Belgian Frites (and a local Belgian from the Haacht brewery), as sampled at a little corner café in the Market Square in Ghent.  And yes, that is mayonnaise, and yes, that IS ketchup hiding back there, as served in a place that somewhat catered to tourists, mostly Americans.  While I enjoyed the fries, MFO also tried some ice cream.  They do nothing by halves

While the above were good, the ketchup kind of threw me off a bit.  Fortunately one of the side excursions was a “tasting tour” of Antwerp, with a stop at a "local" place

This was in a “local” place and you will note there is none of the red stuff.  

A side note about the “frites”.  Mostly I ask, and yes they are AWAYS double fried.  For the “local” ones above, I also inquired about the fat used.  As you know, in our country, Duck Fat is very trendy.  Anyway the answer came back from the kitchen:  Ox Fat!!  Oh, my!  Most of the ones I have sampled have been good despite looking like something we see fairly often in the states.  They have better flavor, and are more crunchy.   As for they Mayo, I think that will take a bit of getting used to

Well, in the interest of time, I am going to pause here.

We have seen a lot. And there will be more  reports to come.  For those of you who dabble in Facebook, I do try to post more pictures there..

we will cover more ship board food in the future, and also a comment on some of the fellow traveler’s habits of

DFD

First Shot

This is kind of a test.. this is the first time I’ve tried to delve into the wonderful world of Lenovo based blogging.  I just found out that lightroom has some issues, so we’ll see how this goes.  This morning we visited Kinderdijk, a world heritage site for windmills..  we had a tour guide from the site letting our little group.  The moment he started speaking MFO said “That guy’s an enginner!!”  much later in the tour he mentioned that he was a retired mechanical engineer.  He gave a very informative talk about the history and workings of the windmills.. amazing structures that were build in the early 18^th Century.  Anyway I want to try to put in a picture and see if this publishes.

The WiFi on the boat is um… not speedy

there was some guy in our group with a long lance and some Spanish sounding name like Don something..

more to come and so far we have been adequately 

DFD

Eee Hah!

Well, here we go again. Yes, this is what it looks like

It is a suitcase.  Which preludes a journey, no?  yes! To borrow from willy and steve, a combination of on the road again, planes trains, and automobiles (well, okay, busses, er excuse me coaches) and this time boats.  We are about to embark on a new experience for us, a Viking River Cruise.  We’re going on what they call the Tulips and Windmills trip.  Not surprisingly, it leaves from (and returns to) Amsterdam. We will be under the experience guidance of Cole Travel, so logistics will be easy.

We leave in a scant few hours for IAD to board a KLM flight, another first time for us with that airline.  Have heard good things.

This finally being penned Monday morning, I had a delightful few hours in our basement last night mopping up water that emerges from the ducting in cases of extreme rain.  Such as last night.  Continuing in the “new” vein, I am also NOT taking the million pound, but reliable, laptop instead opting for the much lighter and smaller Lenovo.  I think I did a dry run and proved to myself I can publish from that, so fingers crossed.   As one friend advised, priority one is MFO, two is enjoying the trip, and three is the blog.  So if you don’t see another post for a bit, it is either the damn technology, or priorities one and two are winning.

Bon Voyage.

Oh, dining on this trip is somewhat problematic.  Dinner is always served aboard, but off vessel dining opportunities were somewhat clouded by non specific information on when the boat will leave port.   “that evening we will cruise to…..”

And one of the reasons our suitcases are pushing the weight limit is that we had to pack to be

DFD

This and That

 Friday the 13th comes on Monday this month

Just a few notes, in no particular order.

Buzz

MFO and I returned to St. Charles Brasserie over the weekend.  It was my second visit, and her first.  Fairly pleasant, service a bit slow but it was a Saturday night.  We saw some friends and once again I was impressed by the fact that although it was on “the (Solomons) Island” the guests were more of our age than younger.   Also that for the most part, people were close to DFD.  I suppose as summer wears on and “tourists” appear ball caps and T-shirts will become more prevalent.  The food was okay, although a shared Cheese Plate to start was quite nice.

Apparently most places now feel that live music on the weekends helps with the experience.  Well, yes and no.  Café Des Artistes in Leonardtown: yes.  Quiet keyboard with pleasant selections that underscores your dinner, not dominates it.  St. Charles Brasserie: no.  An amplified piano, and a player with a microphone belting out music that is not exactly what I consider dinner music.  We were about four tables away from the piano and player, and we had to lean across the table and speak in a non-private tone to be heard. "Sorry, what did you say?" The music was just too loud, and dominated everything.  And then people felt the need to clap after each selection.  It’s a dinner out, not a concert for God’s sake..

Speaking of Cheese Plates I had a very nice one at an early lunch at The Rex last week.

Had a report from a friend and sometimes stringer on a meal at China Harbor! Remember that you old timers?  Used to be next to the Tiki Bar on the Solomons, and then moved to a storefront kind of thing in the shopping center next to Roy Rogers. It has been there for years, and I think the original owner(?) Yvonne Lee has moved on and now a “younger couple” run the place.  Neither the reporter or I had been there for years.   On the occasion when I went to the old location once in a while I remember that while the usual “Chinese Food” items were offered, there was some very innovate dishes were available.  Different preparations, and unusual ingredients which were quite innovative.  I suspect they deserved more notoriety.  Anyway, the more recent visit by a friend was much enjoyed and especially some Crab Meat Cheese Wontons, which they felt was excellent.  Might be worth a return visit. 

Food and Fun(ds)

And while we enjoy meals out and cooking there are some people where circumstances has placed them in a position to not do those things.  St. Mary’s Caring has for years supplied hot meals for these individuals.   Volunteers spend time serving and cleaning and all the tasks associated with serving food.  They deserve a lot of thanks they don’t always get.  Well you have a chance tomorrow (Tuesday the 14^th) to help them and also enjoy yourself.  The newly opened Elements Eatery and Mixology (more commonly called just “Elements” and hopefully less often the “Old Tides”) is holding a fund raiser for St. Mary’s Caring.   It begins at 6:30, and is $75 per person for which you get to sample the excellent food from Elements, and also avail yourselves of their creative cocktail and craft beer offerings.  They also have auctions of always unusual and interesting stuff.   You can reserve by contacting stmcaring@gmail.com or calling 301-863-5700.  See you there! 

A Tradition Like No Other

I hope you had a chance to witness what turned out to be history yesterday by watching some of the Masters Golf Tournament.  The four rounds of 21 year old Jordan Spieth were amazing.  Those of us who occasionally try that game know how hard it is, but to play at the level he did for four days on a course that is extremely difficult is just something to remember for a long time.  I have been there twice and TV doesn’t do justice to the amount of hills, the “bumps” in the greens and what the players are faced with just to achieve par let alone birdies is tremendously difficult.

And, those of us who are TV sports addicts know that we can affect the outcome of an event across the country with our actions in the living room.  You know how many times I’ve sat in the same chair for hours so as not to jinx the team? Or always eat the same snack?  Drink the same beverage?  Wear the same clothing (cheese head).  Don’t do those things, and your team is headed for defeat.  Well for the Masters, I have two lines of defense against having somebody catch the leader (if that’s who you’re rooting for), or alternatively have your man/woman/team put on a comeback and achieve victory.  The first, when only mild support is needed is a bag of Doritos.  Must be plain Nacho, not the myriad of flavors available nowadays.  And then when things look dark I go to my never miss snack for golf composed of two simple ingredients available this time of year

.

Now, it is not just jelly beans and peanuts.  No, no, dear friends.  It MUST be Brach’s Classic Jelly Bird Eggs (not the spicy ones, not some Easter variety),  and it MUST be Planter’s Cocktail Peanuts.  NOT low sodium or lightly salted, nor mixed, nor Fancy, just the plain peanuts. Then you MUST find a ceramic bowl, not stainless, not glass, ceramic. 

And the mix must approximate four peanuts to every bean (which MUST contain black or licorice).  And when eaten you MUST take care to ingest beans and peanuts in just about those proportions. 

And THAT, dear friends is how you prevent giants like Rory, Phil, and Tiger (who appears to have found it again) from overtaking a spectacular round of a twenty one year old, extremely nice kid winning his first green jacket.  Normally I would apply the beans/peanuts mojo to Phil, but he has three, and did have a great round.

And finally,  just some nice spring shots from around the neighborhood..

And even though they are trees they must be considered

DFD

One week til we leave for Holland!  Yikes!