volcanic drama

Let's see... last update was still in Amsterdam, so... we ended up spending a total of 4 nights and days in Amsterdam then spent nearly 6 hours getting from Amsterdam to Brussels... this whole volcano drama has really been something.

In Brussels we found Manneken Pis and had Belgian Beer and I ordered a Belgian Waffle - unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed - it was crunchy and had little flavor. 

I do have to say that Brussels was gorgeous. The architecture was incredible and it was clear to see that people were involved in community. The town square was covered in people studying or on their lunch break. The few people we came in contact with resonated what we knew of Belgian humor - pretty much as fun as the Dutch. ;) Mannekin Pis was everywhere... It was a nice stop.

The Grand Place/Town Hall is the center of Brussels and an architectural masterpiece. The square is surrounded by the Houses of the Guilds and King's House. 

Grand Place, Brussels.

Manneken Pis is the world-renowned statue of a small statue of a boy peeing... it's become the icon of Brussels. Manneken is famous for his wardrobe (which he apparently would have none of the day of our visit!) with some 725 costumes for various occasions, he's typically dressed up to match holidays and festivals. His costumes are kept in the King's House on the Grand Place.

Mannekin Pis

It took another good 2 hours to get a ticket from Brussels to Paris. Once in Paris we hunted for a hotel and found the best room we'd had all week. The next morning we got up early to catch the train to Lyon where people were EVERYWHERE and not very helpful. We ended up having to take a bus from Lyon to Bellegarde, then took a train from Bellegarde to Geneva - needless to say, we were less than delightful when we finally reached my apartment. Ufda!

and so it goes...

The saga continues...

We're still stranded in Amsterdam. Today's the first day the airline's decided to not host us at the hotel - this just driving the incentive to get outta here even more! We decided to head to the airport this afternoon to see what kind of train we could catch. After waiting in line for an hour and expecting at least an hour more, we saw a man with a sign that read: "Barcelona 16:00". Dad's response was, "Wanna go?" Oh, I can't emphasize how my heart was pumping! Those are the moments I live for! He went and inquired about the possibility to find out they were leaving this evening and it would be 250 Euros a head. Well, Dad's already out a bunch of money for the hotels we are SUPPOSED to be staying at right now in Norway and Ireland. Not to mention the fact that we'd already checked into the room we're in right now. Had we not booked this room and if we had our things with us at the airport, shoot, what an adventure that would've been?!

We decided to stop wasting our time in line at the train station and we attempted to go into Amsterdam and do some fun things like the Heineken Brewery/Museum. As if the volcanic ash cloud wasn't enough to create craziness around here, they decided to start some construction on the railroad between the airport and central station. We did our best to get on the right train, but missed a stop... we went WAY out into the middle of no-man's-land-Nederlands. We did eventually make it back into the city center and had some Belgian fries and mayonnaise at the Manneken Pis stand - recommended by Renee! It was such a success! Dad was RAVING about them, he even ended up asking to go back before we left town. Haha. We did make it to the Heineken Museum (might I add it's really hard to find THE Heineken Museum in Amsterdam where EVERYTHING's advertising Heineken?) but couldn't get in as they close at 5:30 and we made it at approx. 5:32. Argh.

Have no fear! We did make up for it! We wandered around, saw the house where they filmed much of Oceans 12 and got something for dinner at a tapas restraunt. Afterwards we went into a CoffeeShop with Jim Morrison painted on the window (might I add I often neglect to look at the fine print?) We got inside and I looked at the menu - what do you think I found? - that's right: POT. Lots and lots of pot. I think there were only two things on the menu that didn't get rolled up. A small beer and a big beer. We got smalls. It was an educational experience for me. Dad informed me of Jim Morrison's mysterious death while I inconspicuously watched everyone smoke their stuff. It was an experience unlike most others. As we left, we walked down an alley behind a man who was nearly 8 feet tall - not even exaggerating. Now, I was going to mention how I've noticed Dutch men are generally tall and healthy and handsome, but this was like a Dutch man on steroids - except for the handsome part, I couldn't see his face. 

stranded.

Here I am. Amsterdam. Sitting. Waiting. Listening to Dad snore. Doing my darndest to learn Dutch via the tele. Oiy. It was fun at first, now I just want to get moving.

So, as I'm not sure what the news covers elsewhere, here's the deal: Wednesday Dad and I were in Paris, France - as planned - when we trained up to Amsterdam, Holland to explore for a bit before our flight to Oslo, Norway. We had planned Amsterdam as well, but when a volcano errupted in Iceland, of all places, our short stay turned into nearly a new residence (pardon the sarcasm).

So excited to train from Paris, through Brussels, to Amsterdam!

Beautiful Gare du Nord.

Jefe loving life! Exploring is his favorite! (Wonder where I get it??)

We left Gare du Nord Wednesday afternoon and headed north through Brussels and arrived in Amsterdam a bit before nightfall. All was going as close to plan as it could and we were very excited to head to Norway Thursday morning (Dad's heritage is mostly from Norway and I've always wanted to go there with him as it's a HUGE interest of his). Wednesday night I remember seeing a little blurb on the television mentioning the volcanic ash cloud. Other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary. We took an evening boat tour on the canals of Amsterdam. On our tour we saw the Anne Frank house and learned a bit of Dutch history - they seem to have a perspective of their own on everything. With our day free, yesterday we walked into Amsterdam to see all it has to offer. Things certainly are different here than they are in America! Reggae, Coffeeshops, 'seeds', munchies... interesting. Dad got the herring he was afraid he'd miss. I got photos of some Jim Morrison 'coffeeshops'.

SERIOUSLY. Talk about claustrophobia.

The lines were crazy. We went back the next day and it was a total ghost-town.

This is real life.

We decided to go into this coffeeshop for the experience, don't worry, dad didn't let me try anything. It was really fun. We each got a 'small' Amstel light. The walls were covered with different currencies... looking back, I'm wondering if the staff kept any of their tips. The money all had little hand-written notes on how great the place was. Their menu consisted of large or small beer and everything else was some sort of marijuana. They also had space cakes. I started giggling as we were leaving and Dad was just sure I was second-hand high... I promised him I absolutely wasn't. I pointed at these men who were honest-to-goodness at least 7 1/2 feet tall. I had never ever seen someone so tall and slender in my life, let alone TWO people so tall and slender walking right next to each other! I mean, they were at least a good head taller than the door we were walking out of, if not even taller. All I could do was giggle. I was in awe. Dad couldn't help it either. And giggling isn't really his thing.

So many Doors themed coffeeshops! Oh, yeah... and just hemp shops in general!

I just like this one. :)

Dad's herring.

You'll have to ask him to find out how it was. He did rave about it.

If we,as Americans, or just humans in general, could learn any one thing from the Dutch, it would be to ditch the cars and experience an alternate mode of transportation. They've got this bike thing down!

Shana and Jeremy used to say they were going to name their first daughter Vespa... :) Also, on our tour, we learned that all the houses in Amsterdam are gay. Why? You ask. Because they clearly aren't straight! Bah, hahaha.

Today we'd hoped something with the weather/vocanic ash cloud would change, but no. It seems things will be getting worse before they get better. We're hoping there might be a time when we can train to Geneva and still enjoy the Italian part of our trip next week. Who knows... we did venture into Haarlem today and I got an amazing Dutch pancake with ginger... we'll continue with the waiting game, perhaps I can find an English book or something!

37,981 well placed steps...

Our Parisian adventure will end with 37,981 well placed steps (for the most part). That's nearly 18 miles in total... in case you were wondering. ;) This doesn't include the miles on the metro!

We saw and captured photos of the sparkly Eiffel Tower one last time before we leave this beautiful city in the morning.

The sight and smell of fresh flowers NEVER gets old.

I loved how we could see the Eiffel Tower nearly anywhere we were. Such a gorgeous city.

Check out the Arc de Triomphe in the background.

Wouldn't be the Red-Light District without women selling themselves in the windows. :( This neighborhood mostly made me sad.

Off to Holland tomorrow!

Bonne Nuit.

DAY TWO - Jefe & Lauren's BIG European Adventure!

Day Two = Major Success!!!

We started our day finding out Nolan Fenway Hanson decided to grace this world with his presence!! Last night at 7:45pm (Iowa-time) he entered this world weighing in at 6lbs 13oz. Whew. Can't believe I missed it, yet again! :( But will certainly smother him with plenty of love to make up for it once I return. :)

Jefe and I have concluded that we're a pretty good adventure team. Here's the evidence:

All before dinner we: 

-conquered the Parisien Metro

-visited the Tour Eiffel and Arc de Triomphe (wow!)

-peeked around the Louvre

-strolled down the Champs-Élysées

-been blown away by the intricate architecture of the Notre Dame

-picnic-ed in the courtyard/garden of the Palais Royale

-eaten our way through French cheese and croissants  

-walked 29,274 steps (or approximately 14 miles)

We're now off to explore Paris at night!

Nolan Fenway

Okay, first day of the big European adventure with Jefe has come to a close! We started late in the day boarding for Paris at 18:50. On our way to our hotel we were amazed by the beauty of the city and the incredible sparkiness of the Eiffel Tower! It was breathtaking!

I didn't have any photos of his arrival, but this is one of the first photos from when I got to first meet him! Such a love!

Upon arriving here at the hotel, we find out Mr. Nolan Fenway doesn't want to wait for his Papa and Auntie to come home, but he'd rather welcome himself into the world while they're in Paris!

More later - Bonsoir!

...the perfect apres-snow meal: Tartiflette...

Big day in the life of Lauren: first day 'avec raquettes'. Or something like that... I went snowshoeing today! Straight up the Jura at Monts Jura in Crozet. It was beautiful, but quite the challenge. I wish I had a photo of how far we went! I had absolutely NO idea.

The photos show you the view from the top of our journey (they don't do justice!) If you look at the bottom photo close enough, you can see from the left: Lake Geneva with the Jet D'Eau, Mont Blanc and the French Alps, Le Saleve (dark mountain in front of the white ones), all the little villages between Geneva and Crozet... pretty incredible.

After burning all those calories (believe me it was a TON!) We came home and made Tartiflette. This is an amazing regional dish to the Savoie Region of Switzerland and France. For your enjoyment, I've included the recipe. You can substitute the cheeses if unable to find the one the recipe calls for, but if you have a Whole Foods nearby, you should be able to find Reblochon there.

Tartiflette

Potatoes to fill a small gratin pan

1 medium onion

200 grams (6 ounces) of smoke and salt cured pork in any combination: poitrine fumé or the best smoked bacon you can find, smoked bacon plus salt cured Savoie ham or Southern style country cured ham. Just get what’s the best cured pork available to you.

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons fat: butter or duck fat

Salt and pepper

1/3 cup crème fraiche epaisse or heavy whipping cream if you don't have creme fraiche

1/2 cup dry white Savoie type wine (this is how I discovered my love for Sauvignon Blanc!)

1/2 of a Reblochon de Savoie

Fresh parsley

- Peel the potatoes and cut them into slices.

- Roughly chop the onion.

- Heat the duck fat in a heavy skillet and add the onions, bacon and ham, and sauté gently for 3-5 minutes.

- Add the potatoes and continue to sauté for 5 more minutes.

- Add the wine, give the potatoes a stir, cover, season with salt and pepper as desired, and let simmer and steam in the wine for 10 minutes more.

- Grease the gratin pan with duck fat, crush the garlic clove, and rub the garlic clove all over the inner surface of the pan.

- Reserve the remaining garlic for another use (the vinaigrette for the accompanying salad, for example).

- Add the crème fraiche to the potato onion bacon mixure, and transfer it to the gratin pan.

- Slice the Reblochon in half with a sharp knife flat wise, and place the two pieces on top of the potatoes, rind side up.

- Place into the very hot oven and bake for 10 minutes at 250C or 550F

- Turn the heat down to 200C / 400F and bake 10 more minutes

- Turn off the oven, and leave the dish in the oven without opening it for another 10 minutes.

- Serve hot with a salad, crusty bread, and the the wine you cooked with.