the long white cloud

We haven't spent much time in NZ over the last few years, so with the opportunity to visit we decided to check out a few of our old favourite places, and a couple of new ones, as well as our favourite people!   So in no particular order, here is our photo report (you can guess where they are):

It is easy to get so familiar with the place you are living, that you start to take it for granted.  For us, being in NZ was about appreciating all of what makes it special.  When we meet new people, a common response is 'oh NZ is so beautiful', and I think yes, but so are other parts of the world.  I think I needed to see alot of NZ to remember just how lovely it is - stunning in fact.

We were impressed by the following items in particular: very friendly people including one elderly gentleman that invited us over for a cuppa; outstanding coffee EVERYWHERE probably due to the impressive array of local bean roasters; a wonderful variety of fresh fish and very fresh food in general (in spite of local complaints about prices); cheese; and the ability to go to places without lots of other people being there and park for free at the beach. We were also pleased to use two new motorways in Auckland which were needed about 20 years ago.  

A real highlight was going to the Middle East Cafe in Wellesley St, Ak, to happily find that nothing has changed (except the price and a few less camel posters) and the owner told us that it was still the same management since about 1986.  We also visited our favourite Vietnamese-Thai restaurant, K-Sing, in Petone, which was now minus the plastic flowers and plus some extra chili - all good!  Can't wait for next time!  

For all of you still living under the long white cloud - you are definitely on to a good thing.

Emaischen

You are probably (or not) wondering what happens in a tiny place like Luxembourg. Well I've just been looking at some photos we took a few weeks ago. Early on the 25th April (well we thought 10am was early for Luxembourg) we walked into town to find it packed full of people! Very strange for this hour on a public holiday.  And no, nothing to do with Anzac day. Instead it was Emaischen.

We have been told that this is one of the few uniquely Luxembourgish traditions, and it involves small clay bird whistles. Lots of them. Old ones and new ones, for sale. You may wonder as we did why so many people were pushing and pressing to buy these clay birds, but apparently they are collectable. And everyone had the day off work to celebrate, well, bird whistles I guess!

new ones

old ones

these ones look like chickens

more new ones

 
And a festive occasion in Luxembourg would not be complete without beer and sausages, even at 10am (Personally I prefer to stick to eating muesli for breakfast). And there was even an organ grinder - with a stuffed monkey!

So that is something new we learnt about Luxembourg this year. Fortunately for us, we could celebrate Anzac day with a bunch of other kiwis in the park. (For once, the Aussies were definitely outnumbered).

There are alot of public holidays in May/June due to catholic church traditions; we've just had Ascension day and Whit Monday is coming up. And then the Duke's Birthday is on June 23, which of course isn't really his b'day, but just the annual Luxembourg day celebrations and fireworks. So we get to finish the school year on a festive note!

bicycles, bridges and tulips

In recent weeks we have done something that we haven't done since we were teenagers.  We have gone bike riding - twice!    Hiring a bike to ride in Europe is like using a pay phone.  Very easy, and most cities have a system where you can check out, or check in, a bike at stations  all over town.

I'm not so keen on cycling in traffic, but in the Netherlands we went to a large national park near Arnhem where the bikes were free, so you just grabbed one and went.  It was fun and I only had to avoid crashing into other cyclists.  I am not the best bike rider, and I put that down to not having the opportunity to learn until I was 13.  Just a little late for it to be natural.  But the best part of this park was the gallery in the middle with a worthy collection of Van Gogh paintings - what a treat!

Bikes are what stuck out the most in the Netherlands - I presume they are all born on one.  Certainly we saw lots of infants and children on the back, or in the cart in the front (big wheelbarrow like contraptions that can hold up to 3 children).  In fact, being a pedestrian is a risky business as the bikes seem to have the right of way, everywhere.   I know I stepped out in front of many cyclists, but it was a very appealing approach to personal transport.

Of course the reason they are all happy to cycle so much is that the biggest hill they have to climb is the gentle rise of a bridge over a canal. Phil thought it very graceful to watch the pendulum like rythym of bikes crossing bridges; Bridges over canals that were lined with boats. So the dutch must be big on boating too.

Back to art.  This was one of our main reasons for wanting to visit Amsterdam. We agree that Vincent van Gogh was an outstanding artist and we wanted to see lots of his paintings; And we did and they were great. I wish I could go back again and again to feast on his brush work. Better again, just have some of his paintings hanging on our own walls (dreams are free). The other treats were 1. The MC Escher gallery in Den Haag (The Hague). Yet another brilliant mind, but this one focused on exquisite detail, mathematics and design; and 2. Visiting Rembrandt's 300 year old house in Amsterdam with a special exhibition of his stunning etchings.

MC Escher

We timed our visit for spring so that we could go to the tulip gardens - a place called Keukenhof.  Somehow I managed to pick the busiest day of the season to visit - the day of the huge flower parade - so by noon we had to share the park with literally thousands of other people, all trying to stay off the grass even when there was no path left to share.   The flowers were nothing short of magnificent.  Beautiful. Enchanting.  And in the surrounding fields the flowers are grown like rainbows; not just tulips, but hyacinths, narcissus (daffodils) and iris.  We spent 5 hours in the park looking at flowers and it was only the crowds that pushed us to leave.

Our final stop was Delft, the town famous for blue and white pottery.   For us, Delft is famous for wonderful food at reasonable prices.  We used the opportunity to celebrate our anniversary one night and my birthday the next night (well they were our pent up excuses to indulge in one Michellin star fine cuisine).   The chef introduced us to some palate tingling cheeses which we were subsequently able to buy from a local speciality shop to bring some home and extend the taste sensation.  The most memorable was the Delft Blue - definitely a challenger to a good Kapiti version.  This is Delft below.

We didn't see many windmills, but it wouldn't be a blog about Holland without a photo of one so here it is (snapped on the highway).   My final thought is of friendly people.  The country is full of them and that made our visit so much more enjoyable.

a brush with Brussels

This is a chocolate shop in Brussels (Bruxelles) and the Belgians are right about one thing...chocolate is definitely a cure for some things!   I think I have mentioned before the wonders of Belgian chocolate.  YUM.
Last weekend I got to look around Brussels while Phil was supervising a group of boys attending a mathematics competition (exciting stuff).  The first thing I noticed about the city is the confusion of signage duplications, as everything, and in particular street names, are written in both flemish and french.  This can be most confusing if you are looking for a street by the french name, and the only sign you can see is in Flemish - the link is often far from obvious.   At least identifying the chocolate shops is easy, and there are plenty of those (many with free samples!).
Then there is the Grand Place (central square), which certainly puts the grand into place, partly due to the lavish use of gilded decorations.  Most of the buildings are 400 years old, and many were built as guild houses for things like the bakers and beer makers.  The exception is the state hall, which is 700 years old and has a tower of truly big proportions - certainly too big to easily fit into any photo even with my wide angle lense turned sideways.
 



Many people think that Germany is the beer capital of the world, but I would argue that the Belgians are more passionate about it.  |The story goes that the belgians were advised to drink beer instead of water to avoid the plague.  So they did, and the habit stuck.  Beer became a steady source of income for the many monasteries that exist in Belgium, and these trappist beers (made in limited production) remain extremely popular.

Menus everywhere are dominated by seafood, which obviously has something to do with being so near the sea, but the passion for seafood seems indomitable.  In comparison, New Zealand is surrounded by the ocean, but seems to take a more balanced approach to diet.  I have to note that when one travels through Belgium it is not common to see sheep or cattle in the paddocks, so maybe the comparative lack of other protein options contributes to the seafood diet.  I couldn't help but think of a particular friend (K) who would love a gastronomic visit to Brussels!

And for those of you who, like me, enjoyed a good read of Tintin when you were a bit younger, there are the delights of wandering around the old city streets searching for cartoon art which certainly brightens up a grey city day. There are about 30 wall murals to discover by a wide range of artists.

Finally, and most importantly, I have to mention the highlight of my explorations which was the museum of musical instruments.   What an amazing place.   I spent two hours wandering around looking at the most fascinating instruments, while my headphones would tune in and out of the wifi signals which gave samples of music played by the instruments.  I wish I could have purchased some of the recordings on the spot - it was wonderful.  The final picture has nothing at all to do with the museum, but it does have a bell on top that gets rung by a little man.  This is a very modern piece that I imagine one day will be a tourist attraction