Pictures and tales from Holland and Switzerland thus far

For the sake of those of you who don't feel the need to see and read about this part of the trip, a single picture of me in front of the Amsterdam canals will probably suffice. Much, much more after the jump

Part I - Amsterdam

So, as already mentioned, I rescued Josh at the airport and we became traveling buddies for the day. First we had a brief, rainy detour to the Museumplein, where I had been told that the museum that had been made of the theater that my grandmother had worked to smuggle children out of would be. This was a lie, and it took us some tramping around in the rain to discover it was a lie, all while carrying around a number of large, heavy bags. However, we eventually found out where the theater actually was, but that it didn't open for another few hours. Instead, the Anne Frank house was now open, so we decided to head there. This is Josh in line for the Anne Frank house - they made everyone wear all their bags on their front so as not to accidentally hit objects within the house, which had the added effect of making a group of very sober, sad, contemplative people look like complete fools.

This picture is sideways because I don't know how to fix it here. Josh is not sideways in his natural state.

The house itself was moving, and powerful, and I'm not sure anything I can say will really do it any kind of justice, so I'm not going to. However, they had a book with the names of all the Jews deported from Amsterdam, and I found my great grandparents, Walter and Betty Jacobsthal, which took my breath away a little bit. So strange to be a casual tourist in the place that they lived. They died in Auschwitz.

After that, we needed a little time to decompress, so we went to a cafe and had some coffee to warm up. One of the things I loved about Holland was that people brought their animals everywhere, and many of the shops had resident pets. This cafe had an adorable, tiny, sweet, declawed little kitten, who entertained himself for at least half an hour with the straps on Josh's backpack.

Utterly nonthreatening kitten

However, there were a group of Spanish tourists in the cafe as well, who apparently didn't notice the sign on the front door that asked them not to let the kitten out. When they DID notice the kitten, who had tentatively approached them to be pet, the entire table of full grown adults LOST it. They leapt up, started shouting, and one of them started hitting the poor thing! The girl who worked there came and scooped him up right away, and the group of tourists indignantly left, but the whole thing was very strange, and would have been funny if they hadn't almost seriously hurt the little munchkin. Thankfully, he was fine, and came over to hang out with us instead afterwards. We were much nicer to him.

After that we wandered the canals a bit, we split a blue cheese pastry for Cheri, and ended up in another small cafe, of which there were many. I was curious about the weird little items pictured below, so we bought one of each color to try out.

Mysterious objects called Borstsplats

Here I learned a very important lesson. The Dutch eat really, really strange food, and most of it is oppressively sweet, even for me. These were essentially small cakes of pure sugar, and even I couldn't choke a whole one down. My theory of Dutch food goes as follows: Chocolate sprinkles on bread for breakfast and delicious cheese, all good things. Most of the rest, probably better to avoid.

Sampling delicious cheese in Utrecht with Aline. I approve of the cheese

After this, I went with Josh to the tourist information center to help find him a hostel for the night, where we were allocated a particularly apt number.

I for interesting coincidence?

After that, we went our separate ways, he now empowered to navigate public transportation (guess they don't get a lot of practice in Nashville), me to go to the station to head to...

Part II: Utrecht

Utrecht is where my amazing and endlessly interesting cousin Aline is studying, um, something historical - the migration of Yiddish speaking Jews in the early 20th century, I believe? That may be completely wrong. Anyway, she just got back from interning with the UN in DC and decided to try Holland next, will probably be in Germany next semester, and is originally Swiss. She knows a billion languages and has great taste in jackets. Also she hauled my tired butt from the train station to her apartment and let me sleep for the next 14 hours, for which she will forever be my hero.

See the multi level canals?

So instead of going to a beer festival, I crashed miserably as soon as we got to her apartment, and apparently had a full conversation with her about my need for additional sleep when she woke me up after a few hours - a conversation of which I have not the slightest hint of a recollection. So exploring Utrecht had to wait until Saturday.

The city, and Aline, waited patiently, and Utrecht was suprisingly stunning. Not that I had expectations that it would be ugly, I simply had no expectations of it at all, my primary association being with cheap art supplies. It was also filled with canals, but they had these amazing multi level thing going on, where there were another row of shops and restaurants, etc below street level but just above the canals. It was utterly gorgeous. The day was much nicer, I wasn't completely sodden the entire time, and I even got to put my bags down. This was paradise.

Absolutely every building was beautiful, it was a shock to the system for an American.

This was the northern border of the Roman empire. Right there. Cool, right?!

We strolled through the various markets (see above with the cheese) and saw the incredible buildings Aline studies in. Also I nearly got run over many, many times by my nemesis: Bikes. Seriously, they are out to get me, and they are everywhere. I recognize intellectually that this is a positive development, but they seemed to taunt me directly everywhere I went, as if they recognized that I had been vanquished by one of their kin many years ago and that they were now beyond my grasp. 

Damn you, environmentally friendly transportation!

We had a lovely day, and then headed to the station to put me on the overnight train to Switzerland. Here I got to sample another strange Dutch food predilection, which is to say hot food bought through tiny doors like vending machines. I'm not sure the real benefit of this system, as people still have to cook and stock the food, and it makes all the food seem sketchier than it really is. However, it is a Dutch experience and I wanted to have those, so I got samosas. They were edible.

Adventure! Intrigue! Samosas!

The overnight train was painfully expensive so I got the cheap seats instead of a sleeper car, which were very odd and a little space age. They reclined almost all the way back, but left your head in the lap of the person behind you, which was socially if not physically uncomfortable. Also Aline helped me make sure I was in the right car, because apparently the train splits in two in Germany and half goes to Munich while half goes on to Basel, and I certainly did not want to end up in Munich.

My experience of Germany was dark and mediated through this seat, but I did get harassed by German customs officials, so maybe it does count as having experienced the country.

Part III: Switzerland

 

I have to be honest, by the time my aunt Jardenah met me at the train in Basel, I had had two nights with essentially zero sleep, and I was not at my best. We went to the house where I promptly fell into bed, was awakened several hours later for my cousin Selina's birthday lunch, at which I was a zombie, and had to excuse myself back to bed after about an hour. I have never been less functional or more embarrassed. Swiss family, please forgive me?

From left, my great-aunt Bea, Selina, me, and Selina's other grandmother.

Selina blowing out her birthday candles - 23!

Everyone was very kind despite my terrible state, and I did wake up later for dinner and to say goodbye to Selina before she returned to Zurich, where she is studying. Tonight we will all go there to celebrate with her again, and hopefully I will be more functional.

Then I took the dog on a walk with Jardenah and got to see a little of their village, which is incomprehensibly picturesque and STEEP. I'll try to take better pictures later, but this is the view from their balcony.

I then managed, even after napping for half the day, to sleep from 10pm to almost noon today, so clearly I needed it. Tonight, we go to Zurich, then tomorrow I will see Basel with Bea, I believe. I am also looking forward to seeing Jardenah's studio - she's an unbelievable artist.

I should probably stop here, I've blathered enough for one day. Thanks again to Jardenah, Roman, Aline, and Selina for being such wonderful hosts.