Health
Blackforest+Benelux
1 to 8 May.
One. Two. Schwarzwald. Schwarzwald is BIG. So to get to Hochschwarzwald, where Feldberg, the highest peak in the blackforest, was located, it was a good 4-hour ride. So we decided to visit the Titisee, took a rowboat and ate the authentic Schwarzwalder Kirchtorte, my all-time favourite cake! Why it is called the blackforest was probably due to the towering canopy and dense growth of the coniferous trees and valleys after valleys.
The next day we took the Feldberg Climb, following signs along the trail and the small map provided. The climb started out really easy, with wide gravel paths clearly marked out and pretty slight gradients. In no time, we reached the summit. So we decided to head towards the hut for a longer route, only to miss a right turn. The routes by now are no longer clear, but are filled with snow with footprints on them, causing us to continue to walk downhill, among the vegetation and slopes covered with inches of snow. As it got steeper and closer to the cliffs, we began to wonder if we were on the right track, until we confirmed our suspicion with two trekkers. We had to backtrack and attempt the steep ascent up to the highest point again, this time through a short cut, from a turn we previously missed. We then had our favourite trail mix on our way down the mountain, before returning to our hostel to get our bags and get going to Mannheim to meet Zhirui.
This was where we got lost!
Finally got to taste glühwein. Kinda tasted like sangria, except it was sweeter and warmer.
Zhirui was nice to bring us out for a drink in the night, get us a double room to sleep in and make us feel comfortable during our stay in Mannheim.
Three. Luxembourg. Antwerp. Many people told us not to go to Luxembourg. They said that things there are so expensive, you have to wear a suit to have dinner in a restaurant, there are no real attractions, no museums, it’s boring, etc. But anyway we decided to stop at Luxembourg before heading to Antwerp to meet Natalie for a couple of hours to just set foot and check it out.
To me, Luxembourg seemed like an interesting place, as it’s such a small country, only four times the size that of Singapore, with the highest GDP per capita. It always fascinated how Luxembourg prospered with such a small land size, and it appeared it is a financial hub in Europe. Along the way to Luxembourg central, we saw many banks. And since it houses the rich people of Europe, it also boasts of many luxury boutiques.
We were glad we came as we saw for ourselves this unique country, the bowl-shaped old town, long queues for ice creams and patisseries and streets packed to the brim. We were lucky to enjoy the sunny weather and were there to witness the masses and hype as a result of the ING night marathon.
That night we rushed all the way to Brussels and then Antwerp to get to Natalie’s place. It was amazing how we first met her in Kiruna! To think we could meet an SMU senior all the way up in the Arctic!
Four. Brussels. Antwerp. Belgium has a pretty interesting culture – there are the Flemish (Dutch) and Walloon (French) speaking areas. This has resulted in some social divide and perhaps political and social tension among the two main linguistic groups. I mean the French would probably think that their language is the more superior. At the same time, the Dutch-speaking Belgian were never really considered Dutch people, so then again, they have a pretty unique identity that probably is worth spending time resolving. In Brussels, it’s bilingual, so both languages are featured.
Ok, I never realized that the capital of Europe is in Brussels. The headquarters for NATO and EU are located in Brussels, which explains for the very international mix we see in Brussels.
Like all other European cities we visited, there is an old town in Brussels. Grand Place was described as the most beautiful place by Victor Hugo. When I saw the picture from the postcards, I was like wow. In fact the place is beautiful in real life too, except for the flocks of tourists which could be quite a turn-off. Souvenirs, chocolate and waffle shops were everywhere.
We were supposed to look for the icon of Brussels – Manneken Pis. There were two legends associated with this statue of a little boy peeing in the corner of the streets. One was that the father was looking for boy who went missing in Brussels.
Belgian food not only included chocolate, waffles, mussels in pots, rabbit stew and beer, it also consists of Belgian fries (served in cones), white asparagus dishes, dependent on season, Waterzooi and other stoofpot dishes.
Cherry beer called kriek.
Five. Antwerp. Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world, meaning that in terms of value and volume, Antwerp is where most cut and polished diamonds are being traded, making it a pretty prosperous city.
Our first stop was the diamond museum which provided pretty good information about how diamonds came about, mined, extracted, cut, polished and traded. Very good follow-up to the movie, Blood Diamonds.
Next was brunch at Le Pain Quotidien where we tried sinfully good Feta-Spinach quiche, Salmon quiche, Merveileux (which is essentially sugar and cream, but the sugar was so crunchy, yet melts in your mouth, and the cream so smooth), eclairs and apple tart.
Spring came and went when we were weathering the cold weather up on Hochschwarzwald. Without us knowing it, when we were in Luxembourg it was so hot we walked around in t-shirts. It was like that in Belgium for the 3 days too – hot, sunny, cloudless, dry.
We sat before the government house, where a statue stood in front. It was a hero who tore the hands out of a giant and attempting to throw it away.
We had more waffles!
Six. Bruges.
Instead of spending 2 days in Brussels, we decided to spend a day in the old medieval town of Bruges. Ate mussles and waterzooi (which is chicken in creamy stew). Cream was nice, but chicken was dry. Mussles kinda sucked tho I loved mussles as they were kinda small and not very fleshy, and worst they had the fishy smell! The white wine taste was not strong at all.
The mussles werent fantastic.
Seven. Amsterdam. When I first saw the map of Amsterdam, I was amazed by how the whole city could be surrounded by water! There were canals everywhere! A short chat with an elderly local on the bus revealed that they no longer need the canals to drain the water from the low-lying Amsterdam, and there were plans to fill the canals a few years ago, only to receive strong protests from the locals, which I think is not that bad a thing, as it really differentiates Amsterdam from other cities.
Another feature of Amsterdam was the separate cycling tracks with their own traffic lights. This, together with the complex tram lines, made the roads hard to walk on. Along the canals, both sides are called the same name, but buildings have odd numbers on one side and even numbers on the other. We walked to our hostel on the even side, when we should really have walked on the odd side.
Heard so much about the crazy Van Gogh who drew the famous Sunflowers and a few other famous paintings. This crazy guy was known to cut a piece of his earlobe. The exhibit was expensive at 10eur but at least was well-organised, depicting his life, from influence during his time, beginnings of his painting career, developments as he moved from one place to another, and how his mental condition affected him later on.
We were told we could not miss the canal tours. It was not as engaging as it was pre-recorded narration of the highlights. We were cooped up in a boat with a transparent roof, which hindered our phototaking process. It was interesting to know that many of the houses by the canals used to be warehouses and thus have hooks to lift cargo from the canals.
One of the warehouses was the famous Anne Frank Huis. Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, but she hid in the little house by Prinzengracht during the Second World War, in his dad’s office in Amsterdam. Very powerful, very informative. Gave a face to the Jewish people who hid and lived in fear during the period.
Of course we couldnt have missed out the red light district. Women were displayed in the display windows in bikinis. The women were young, and prettier than I expected. Its amazing how Netherlands can be so accepting. They legalized marriages between homosexuals, marijuana and prostitution. I guess everyone, no matter how different, would probably feel a part of the nation given such non-discriminatory laws. At the same time, Netherlands is a rather civilised and safe nation, which probably is why they could have such open laws and maintain their sanity.
Eight. Zaanse Schans. Netherlands has several national icons, among them are the tulips (being the largest exporter of tulips in the world), windmills, clogs, marijuana and canals. So, of course we had to visit the windmills which were only 40 minutes away from the city center. Among the row of windmills featured a wooden clog factory and a cheese farm, in which we met a group of Singaporean tourists on their Europe trip.
I scared the kids away.
Cheese!
We then had to take a night train to Copenhagen. This train ride proved to be an expensive one, with reservation fee of 40eur, on top of the Eurail ticket. This sets us thinking about whether it is then worth it to use the Eurail, as the reservation fees seem pretty high. It might still be more convenient and cheaper compared to buying the ticket off the counter or flying.
Comments (0) 2009-02-23 09:01
Farewell to the Seashore
Last weekend, we started closing the trailer for the winter. I snapped these pics from the promenade.
This past Friday, the kids and I closed the "beachhouse". All the linens were packed & brought home, the plants were brought home, the beach toys were cleaned off & stored under the trailer, the bikes were put away, deck chairs stacked, covered & stored.
We spent the morning cleaning the counters, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning the windows. Not much fun.
Before we made our way back home, we stopped at the beach to say our goodbyes.
Will was not happy. He kept telling me, "No, Mama, no say bye-bye to da oh-chin" 
Hes crying in this shot.
Maggie is used to this little tradition of ours. Its a sad day, yes, but she knows that in a mere 169 days we can come back & re-open the trailer. 
After wishing the beach a Happy Winter, we got back in the car & drove home.
The drive home was highlighted by the trees starting to turn.
Yes, again, I am taking pictures while driving. In my defense, there was not another soul on the road with us at that particular time of day.
Joe & I will have to take at least one more trip down to winterize & roll up the awning, so by then the foliage should be gorgeous.
Comments (0) 2009-02-22 09:01
Saturday at the pool / my mini stroke
The kids & I went to the trailer this weekend. Not anything new, we go every weekend.
This weekend, Maggie has "besided" (decided) that we will go to the pool first, go back to the trailer, have lunch, Will can nap & then go to the beach for late afternoon. After dinner, we could all go to the Promenade for the music. (I should have named her Julie)
After an hour or so of standing in the water, catching Will as he jumps off the side of the pool, talking Maggie through her strokes (She has had 3 different swim classes in the past 4 years, WHY cant she swim???) I decided that I was sufficiently pruned and that we should head back to the house. While I was trying to convince Will that he needed to put his shoes on, towelling off, and trying to stuff the towels/sunblock/swimmies into the pool bag, Maggie says she wants to take one more quick dip.
I was busy with Will and it didnt hit me until I heard the note of panic in her "MOMMY!!!"
She never put her swimmies back on. She went down the first 3 steps and pushed off the bottom step into the 4 foot deep water. As I spun around, heart in my throat, clutching the ladybug swimmies I had been attempting to stuff into the bag, I saw her little face under the water, blue eyes HUGE, she broke the surface of the water, and dog paddled back to the steps.
"Mommy, did you SEE me??!! I was SWIMMING! With NO swimmies!!"
Yes, Peach, I saw you swim. You forgot to put your swimmies on, huh? Were you scared?
"When I didnt feel all "poofy" in the water, I knowed I forgot to put them on , but then I bemembered to keep some air in me so I would float and I just keep kicking my feet. I knew I could do it. "
Next time, wait for me to be in the pool before you decide to swim without the swimmies on, OK?
"Sure Mom, I cant wait to tell Daddy that I swimmed without no swimmies on!"
Swam without swimmies, Peachie-pie.
"Huh?? Oh yeah, whatever"
Comments (0) 2009-02-21 09:01
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