Troy's Birthday, Or A Tale of Cake and The Rhineland

Now that I am an official expat housewife, I have time to do novel things like clean the house (boo!), shop at farmers' markets, and bake. So, filled with domestic purpose, I decided to make Troy a cake for his birthday this year. It took me a week or two to find all the ingredients and the proper sparkling red to accompany it, but the results were so good, I couldn't resist sharing a photo. Belgian chocolate + fresh cherries + armagnac = one ridiculously good cake.



To celebrate Troy's birthday, we took a quick weekend trip to Germany. First stop was Burg Elz, in the Mosel Valley, which according to Rick Steves is one of the best castles in Europe. Not that we're experts, but we agree. Its setting is breathtaking, with the castle appearing to literally spring from the rock. And, the inside is furnished and maintained too. (The castle has been in the same family for about 800 years!)






From there we somehow made it over country roads to the Rhine Valley and the tiny medieval village of Bacharach. This was our last roadtrip in the navigation-system-less-Citroën -- hooray! Google Maps is great for many things, but not so much for navigating the German countryside. For example, the directions will say something like "Turn right at K88/Perscheider Straße. Continue to follow K88 8.5 km." This sounds straightforward enough until you actually try to do it. Then you discover that turn right actually means continue going straight, that K88 refers to a microscopic sign on the side of a barn, and that 8.5 km is open to interpretation.

But I digress. Once safely arrived in Bacharach, we hiked to a castle-turned-hostel above the town, explored a church that has been preserved as a ruin, and did some winetasting.







The next day, we took a cruise on the Rhine River to St. Goar. There we explored the ruins of Rheinfels castle, which dates from the 12th century and was once the largest fortress on the Rhine until it was sacked by the French in the 1800s. Afterwards, we enjoyed a late lunch (5 pm but a meal that is not breakfast or dinner must be lunch, correct?) before catching the boat back to Bacharach.

Although quite chilly for June, it was a lovely way to celebrate Troy's b'day.
To see more photos of our trip, Click Here

Zinneke Parade 2008

Beginning in 2000, Brussels has staged an unusual biennial event called the Zinneke Parade. The term Zinneke comes from the Bruxellois dialect (the patois of old Brussels) and has something to do with a river that has multiple origins and is thus symbolic of the cosmopolitan multiplicity of the Belgian Capital. Or something like that.

At any rate, what is clear is that the parade brings together public art and community spirit in a rather bizarre, albeit extremely entertaining, fashion. This year's parade was held on May 31st and the theme was "Water". Given the interesting interpretations of the floats, we gather that the theme is more of a guideline than a strict rule.







There were floats, marchers, percussion ensembles, stilt-walkers, flame-throwers, water cannons, mermaids, pirate ships, and even a group of people decked out in IV bags filled with neon-colored liquids. It was sort of like Mardi Gras crossed with a mobile flea market.





The parade concluded downtown near the Brussels Bourse (the stock exchange building) in what the parade organizers were hoping would be a Guinness Book-esque mass simultaneous "jump". While we're not sure if any records were set, we did our part by jumping at the appointed time along with thousands of our Brussels neighbors gathered in the square.

Our Stuff Is Here

Our stuff is here!

Uh Oh.

Our stuff is here.

After 8 long weeks on trucks, trains, and ships, our stuff arrived on May 23. Hmmm, well, we kinda got used to not having our stuff (a minimalist life is freeing), but after we got over the shock and putaway the final item (nearly two weeks later), we were glad to have everything we ended up shipping, and everything in the pictures below found a new home (with room to spare).

The shippers arrived during rush hour at 8:00 and caused some nice traffic congestion with the exterior lift they used to get our stuff up to our apartment. Simone could barely watch as the lift carried our stuff 35 feet above the street and in through our window. Everything arrived safely (except for 3 glasses and a tea pot) and we're now finally feeling a little bit more settled.

First boxes . . .

Traffic jam . . .

Our stuff high above Bruxelles . . .

Uh oh . . .

Ich Bin Ein Berliner!

A young American couple enjoys dinner at an Indian restaurant to the tunes spun by DJ 'Belly', a middle-aged fellow with salt and pepper hair and pince nez specs, so-dubbed due to his T-Shirt stating: 'Mein bauch est sexy!' They leave the restaurant at about 11:00 pm, during a lull in the Asian-German techno/dance birthday party, to the sounds of the Gipsy Kings rendition of ‘Volare’. The setting for this, shall we say interesting, scene? Berlin of course!

Troy had business in Berlin (for you business types in-the-know, it was the SAP Sapphire Conference), so I decided to tag along and pay my first visit to Deutschland. We caught an Easy Jet flight out of Brussels International (which was a coup as the discount air carriers typically fly out of regional airports), and an hour later set down in Germany. We took the train from Schönefeld, through the former East Berlin to our hotel located on the banks of the Spree, in Tiergarten.

Converted factories along the Spree River, in Tiergarten


I must confess that Berlin had not made my "Cities To Visit While Living in Europe List". However, now I am glad that the opportunity presented itself. To say that Berlin is unique is something of an understatement. It is complex, sprawling, contradictory, and full of history, for better or for worse. There are so many things we could say about our trip, but the one theme we seem to come back to is that of contradiction and surprise.

We were surprised to learn that the central district of Mitte, located in former East Berlin, is one of the prettiest parts of the city and and is easier to get around than the former West Berlin. Following WWII and the four-part division of Berlin, many of the city's remaining historic buildings ended up in East Berlin. They say poverty can be preservation's best friend because, while there is no money to restore a building, neither is there money to tear it down. Same goes for the street-level tram lines, deemed old fashioned in the West and thus torn out, but left in the eastern quarters of the city.

The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral)


Hackescher Markt - Vibrant area in Mitte


The Hauptbahnhof train station and the massive urban design project at Potzdamer Platz were sites to behold. When Troy visited Berlin in 1997, this area was a sea of dirt, tower cranes, and construction sites. Today, it is a whole new urban district, with sleek skyscrapers, restaurants, museums, theaters, and even Europe's fastest elevator (we rode it, and only the presence of a stern elevator attendant prevented me from jumping to test out the hang time).

Potzdamer Platz - Interior courtyard at the Sony Center


Potzdamer Platz - View of "green roofs" and building complex


We toured Checkpoint Charlie, and it was a surreal experience. A simple line of cobbles marks the Berlin Wall's former path, and there is an interpretive exhibit outdoors on the former site that goes through the site's development from WWII up to the current day. There are spooky large-scale Stasi (the DDR spy agency) photographs looking West, and a sober monument to the people who died trying to escape from East Berlin. And yet, on the actual site of Checkpoint Charlie, underneath a recreated "You are leaving the American Sector" sign, there is a souvenir stand and guys dressed up as Soviet and American Soldiers for photo ops. Capitalism reigns. Oh the irony.

Checkpoint Charlie


Checkpoint Charlie - Looking towards East Berlin


One night we ate dinner in a biergarten on the grounds of the Berlin Zoo, near to the eponymous Zoo Station, where I had wiener schnitzel while Troy downed a giant beer. Another day I tried the Berlin-original döner kebap, though I did not brave a taste of currywurst. I visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site Museumsinsel, saw the bust of Nefertiti, went to the top of the Fernsehturm TV tower, and even sat in a vintage Trabby at the very interesting DDR Museum.

Fernsehturm TV Tower


Despite all this, perhaps the most memorable, quintessentially-Berlin experience for us was going to the Kunsthaus Tacheles. The building used to be a department store (though you would NEVER be able to tell now) as it is dark, crumbling, and absolutely covered in graffiti, inside and out. It has been continuously occupied and protected, as it were, by squatters, and is now home to artist spaces, a theater co-op, and a couple of funky bars. The vibe is decidedly edgy, the neighborhood is super vibrant, and we saw all sorts of people: artists, men in suits, people pushing strollers, pub-crawl tourists, punks, and everybody in between. As Troy's boss pointed out, the Kunsthaus is a really "freaky" place. We loved it.

Kunsthaus Tacheles


Kunsthaus - Interior!


Kunsthaus


Berlin Photo Album - Click Here for More Photos