Abacus Rex

Octoberfest in Munich

2008-10-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

At the end of September, Brad and I flew to Munich for Octoberfest.

I have heard numerous stories from Brad and other’s that have taken part in these festivities, so I was quite excited to see it all with my own eyes.

First night we were able to get into a tent. We were amazed at our luck, as we’ve heard it’s quite hard to get in and even harder to get a seat. But after about 40 minutes of walking around the huge Armbrustschützen tent, we scored a seat. Sitting next to and drinking with random people can be quite a treat.

We were surrounded by people singing and dancing on chairs, drinking liters of beer, and eating various types of wieners and pretzels. A folk band playing traditional drinking songs topped off this very festive atmosphere.

(Which also leads me to ask, why isn’t the US a singing nation? I know US gave birth to MTV, VH1 and pretty much the modern music industry as we know it. But what I’m talking about is sitting around a table, campfire, whatever, pouring a cold one and bursting into a song… drinking song, if you’d like. It’s a great past time and I propose it should be started immediately!)

Anyway, here’s me in my full Octoberfest glory.

Next day, after walking around the city, we were quite surprised that we were absolutely unable to get into a tent. Well, after a bit of thinking, we realized that it all made sense. You either show up at the butt crack of dawn to make it into a tent or you wait unit the evening for those that beat you there start reaching their limit and start going home … and yes, these people are pros – it takes them a whole day to reach that limit.

However, we were fortunate enough to score some seats in the beer garden of the Schottenhamel tent. I skip the details here. In summary, we sat outside all day, drinking Paulaner Munchen, enjoying beautiful fall weather and great German food.

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit

How I met my favorite author

2008-09-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Brad and I met David Sedaris.

For those of you who are not familiar, he’s an author, humorist, frequent contributor to NPR’s This American Life and the New Yorker. And he’s brilliant.

De Rode Hoed in Amsterdam hosted him, on the occasion of his new book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. De Rode Hoed is a very small venue, which provided a relatively close and intimate atmosphere.

During his appearance, he read three stories, including one from his new book. The readings were followed by a lively Q&A session and a book signing. I am a fan, to this was truly a treat.

After a 15 minute wait in the line, where Brad and I attempted to think of what clever and witty things we were going to say to him (none of which we did, of course), it was finally our turn.

After a brief introduction, we chatted with him for about 2 minutes, as he drew an owl inside the front cover of our book and described a platter he just purchased in Amsterdam, which had a large uncircumcised penis painted in the middle.

A Sedaris original:

Unfortunately we don’t have a foto of the aforementioned platter.

Anyone still there????

2008-09-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

It’s 2:45am on a Thursday night … err … Friday morning … I flew back from Chicago today, and unfortunately after forcing my way though a jet lagged work day, I feel there is no chance of me getting a wink of sleep any time soon.

What a great opportunity to catch up on the last 3 months of blogging!

The upside of my absence is that a lot has happened over the summer and there’s a lot to write about. But if anyone has been reading my past posts, you know that I am not a voluminous contributor. So here are some highlights:

Got married on May 25 to http://april-31.blogspot.com/ !

Took a very fun trip to St. Lucia in June, where I got Open Water Diving certified and now I can’t wait to start planning a diving trip.

Hosted numerous visitors over the summer, including my brand new in-laws and several friends from Chicago.

Saw some great shows in Amsterdam, including Radiohead and Death Cab for Cutie (check out http://april-31.blogspot.com/ July 21^st posting for more details … yes, that’s right, I’m a lazy blogger!)

Bought a NEW BED!!! See my posting from October 22^nd to understand the significance of this event!!

Picked up a new sport – rowing! Great way to spend time in Amsterdam canals.

Took some quick trips to Brugge, Prague and Warsaw. And also took my 4th trip to Chicago since moving to Amsterdam. I’m a bit Chicagoed-out at the moment … but this could be just the jet lag talking.

One thing that has not yet happened: I have not yet figured out how to make sure that my posting has a uniform font and size ... any suggestions?

I promise … that I will try … to post more often, although I have a feeling that the 2 readers of this blog may have long forgotten of it’s existence, due only to my blogosphere absence. So check back soon, as I/we have a lot of new adventures planned for this autumn.

Queen's Day

2008-05-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

April 30th in the Netherlands is an especially festive day commemorating the birthday of the current Queen's mother. This Royal occasion in royally celebrated throughout Amsterdam for about 1.5 days, starting with Queens night, on April 29th.

The city turns into one giant block party, with bands, beer stands, street vendors, and an extremely high number of drunk people, mostly wearing some type of orange attire.

For example, please see the foto to the right. Pay no attention to the two party goers on the right, but examine the passed out youth slouched underneath the tree. Not only has he consumed about 7 liters of beer, his hair has been spray-painted orange as a reminder. Party time. Excellent.

And who are these ridiculously good-looking people?!

... if you ever find yourself in Amsterdam at the end of April, make sure to make the most of these festiviteis. Large orange hats strongly recommended.

Brugge

2008-05-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

I heard that Brugge in Belgium, was one of the gems of Western Europe and it certainly didn't disappoint. We headed there few weekends ago with out visitor number 7 (I think), Reed.

The canals there were a bit different than in Amsterdam, set deeper into the ground. Perhaps that's what added to the effect of perfectly still water, resulting in some great fotos.

What can I say, it was a town with great waffles, beer and ice cream, and even better views and coincidently fantastic weather.

Keukenhof Tulips

2008-04-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Tulips are my favorite flowers. They are simple and elegant. And now we live in Holland – the land of the bulbed flower. Coincidence? I think ... yes.

But anyway, about 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam is a park devoted to the lovely flower. We were a bit disappointed, as we thought we’d be able to walk through the Tulip fields but found something more along the lines of a Tulip amusement park instead.

However, it did offer a display of a wide variety of Tulips, which is really the point here. So if you do not mind loud street organs, waffle stands, and tourist chachki shops, check it out. And if you do mind it, suck it up one afternoon and go anyway - it is quite visually pleasing ... unless you have something against flowers.

EuroTrip

2008-04-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

After coming back from a 4-day 4-country travel, I was accused by some of the locals of going on a "typical American trip," implying that Americans do not want to spend time and get to know the local culture, preferring to hop around from place-to-place ... as if that was a bad thing.

I resent that a bit, being a Polish-American ... but, more of stereotypes later.

The way I like to think of our trip, is as a quick preview and review of places we may or may not want to visit for a longer stay.

Here are some highlights.

Luxembourg

Please don't be offended, Luxembourgers .... hmmm .... Luxembourgese ... ahh ... Luxembourgians, but Luxembourg City is a sleepy town. Very cute, nice sights, but small and quiet.

Basel

Let the fact that we did not take a single picture of this city speak for itself.

Zürich

Simply lovely. Zürich is a beautiful city overlooking Lake Zürich. The place was clean, offered many restaurants and shops, but most importantly, it was just stunning to look at. Walking around city streets was a treat in itself.

We are definitely going back there in the summer for hiking, in the winter for skiing. I would recommend this place to visit to anyone.

Strasbourg

The little time we spent in this city was enough to know we want to come back here as well. Very pleasing to the eye, walker friendly, French, beautiful town.

Schwartz Wald

We already have plans to come here in the summer. I mean just look at it! And yes, I know it’s not going to be snowy like this but I can’t wait to hike thought this pine forest.

Heidelberg

This one we’ll skip next time. The highlight was the Castle overlooking the town. I’m sure it’s a lovely city but we’re got numerous other places on our list to visit that sound better than returning to Heidelberg.

... Happy Travels

India - Taj Mahal

2008-03-02T02:21:00.000-08:00

In the middle of February, I went on a business trip to India: Bangalore and Gurgaon (just outside of Delhi). Although my schedule did not permit me for much leisure, I was able to get away from the office one day and check out the Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal is about 4 hours drive from where I was staying in Gurgaon.

The drive was very interesting as it provided a glimpse into a more rural India.

The Taj Mahal is a magnificent monument in Agra, India, built by emperor Shah Jahan for his favorite wife. Unfortunately, she never got to see it, as she passed away before the completion.

It is made of white marble, which is known to glow in the moonlight.

The mausoleum is surrounded by beautiful gardens, a mosque and guest house.

Cologne Carnival

2008-03-02T01:58:00.000-08:00

First weekend of February, we headed out to Cologne, Germany for their very festive annual Carnival.

We ate lots of schnitzel, drank lots of Kolsh and had lots of fun with friends and strangers!

Blogger pal Brad and I took the easy routes and dressed up as a prisoner and devil (respectively). I took a shot at wearing a black wig, but that came off couple hours into the carnival. I do much better as a blonde.

The weekend starts on Thursday and daily parades and drinking, singing and eating ensues.

Comparing to Halloween, two major differences are apparent:
1) lack of "Slutty fill-in-the-blank" costumes - here people don't take them selfs too seriously and you see streets filled with cows, clowns, chickens, and various types of elfes ... not yet sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing

2) everyone participates, from the youngest to the oldest - it makes for an all around festive atmosphere that is hard to get away from

.... I have a feeling this will be an annual trip for us

Chicago

2008-01-21T13:27:00.001-08:00

I just got back from a whirlwind 5 day trip to Chicago. I spent time with family and friends – here’s some highlights:

Lots of shopping with Chi-town faves Maggie and Missie.

Eddie, Wendy and Matt! Yes they are this cute in real life too!

Love in the Dove, ladies!

And a celebrity sighting of super blogger Reed.
I would also like to formally thank the exchange rate gods for blessing me with the (nearly) 1.5USD – 1.0EUR situation. It enabled me to bring back to Amsterdam about 10 liters (not kidding) of various liquids and gels, including multiple containers of Jiff Creamy Peanut Butter, Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce, Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing and mustard. Money well spent!

Paris

2008-01-21T13:10:00.001-08:00

After wasting away a perfectly good X-Mas time off on bumming around Amsterdam, Brad and I decided to head south to Paris for a weekend. Decision was made and we were on the plane within about 4 hours.

This is probably the most spontaneous thing I have done since spontaneously dying my hair red in 10’th grade. But this time, the outcome was much better!

I finally made it to the Louvre
and the Popmidou.

Cologne

2008-01-21T11:46:00.000-08:00

A bit of travel never hurts … unless you eat too much schnitzel.

My posts are rare, I realize, but hopefully entertaining, to both people that read it.

So where have I been? I’ve been stuffing my face with Schnitzel! In Cologne. With blogger-pal Brad and Chi-town-fave Maggie.

This is how big your mouth has to be to eat this schnitzel.

Moving in!

2007-11-13T04:24:00.001-08:00

In typical urban Dutch architecture, residential staircases are very narrow and very steep. Maneuvering with even a couple of grocery bags can be difficult, especially if you live on the third floor.

This makes moving quite a spectacle.

We weren’t sure if we’d get the rope treatment or the more modern outside elevator.
Here’s an example of the hook for a typical ‘rope’ move - it’s a lovely shot from outside of our window:

We got the elevator.
Everything was moved in easily except for our mattress and spring box.

Mattress was bent and somehow made it in. Spring box – not so lucky. We had to saw it in half and bring it to our 4th floor bedroom in pieces.

Here’s the unlucky spring box:
We're livin' in SLTYLE! Stay Classy, Amsterdam!

A Beautiful Day for a Marathon

2007-10-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam October 21, 2007

As fans of the sport and occasional amateur participants, we were very excited to cheer on the runners for the 32nd annual Amsterdam Marathon. Here are some highlights:

An impressive 2:06:29 finish for Emanuel Mutai.

Headline: http://www.amsterdammarathon.nl/home/index.php?language=UK
“The 29-year old Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai was the surprising winner of the 32nd ING Amsterdam Marathon.”

“Keynan”, “winner” and “SURPRISING” all in one sentence? Seven of the top 10 finishers were Keynan. Surprise!

Second place among women goes to a fine Polish woman named Dorota Gruca, seeded number 1 among women for this race, who finished in a respectable 2:30:10.

And here’s a picture of me with a random marathoner. It is Didier Deveirman, from Brussels, Belgium. Nope, you’re not supposed to know who this is but he looks like a nice guy with a very respectable 2:44:32 finish, after cramping up over the last two kilometers (1.24 miles), which he ran in 13 minutes. To be clear, his marathon average pace per mile was about 6:17. Better luck next year, Didier!

Belgian Waffles

2007-09-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 29th, Brad, Jeff and I took the train to Antwerp, Belgium. We purchased Belgian chocolate, ate Belgian waffles and drank Belgian beer.

It didn't feel like going to a different country. It felt like going from Chicago to, say, Milwaukee ... except if Milwaukee was really really cool.

Both Milwaukee and Belgium are known for their beer. Belgium has Delirium, De Koninck and Duvel. 0Milwaukee has PBR, Milwaukee's Best and Shlitz. Your pick.

Lesson No. 1

2007-09-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

When starting a blog in the Netherlands, one is forced to set up in the Dutch version of blogspot. It is easy when one speaks Dutch. It is hard when one does not speak Dutch. I do not speak Dutch.