Guest Post: The Twelve Days of Weihnachten

Guest author: My brother, Jaren, who is a medical student in DC, came out to visit us over the break. As our first transatlantic visitor, he won the best prize imaginable: a guest post on the Meldrumhaus! Thanks, Jaren, both for the content and for the trip. And for other potential transatlantic visitors, you never know what a trip the the Haus may win you. 

Christmas in Europe was so incredible, I have nothing to say. . . so. . . I will sing it! Here is one last cliché rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas to round out the 2011 holiday season:

On the first day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
One awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!



On the second day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!





On the third day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!



On the fourth day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Four new European countries to visit;
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!

[Insert the entirety of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany here]

On the fifth day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Five new pounds of fat (dramatic pause!);
Four new European countries to visit;
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!

Note the smiles.

On the sixth day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Six really, really old cathedrals to ogle;
Five new pounds of fat (dramatic pause!);
Four new European countries to visit;
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!













On the seventh day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Seven(ty?) hours at the Weihnachtsmarkt;
Six really, really old cathedrals to ogle;
Five new pounds of fat (dramatic pause!);
Four new European countries to visit;
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!



On the eighth day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Eight new ways to wear a scarf;
Seven(ty?) hours at the Weihnachtsmarkt;
Six really, really old cathedrals to ogle;
Five new pounds of fat (dramatic pause!);
Four new European countries to visit;
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!

Due to intellectual property rights, only one is pictured. Note the trendy scarf “nubbin.”

On the ninth day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Nine family members skyping across the globe (including Berkeley the dog);
Eight new ways to wear a scarf;
Seven(ty?) hours at the Weihnachtsarkt;
Six really, really old cathedrals to ogle;
Five new pounds of fat (dramatic pause!);
Four new European countries to visit;
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!

Home team: Team Germany

Also represented: Teams Denver (left) and Chuuk (Federated States of Micronesia, right)

On the tenth day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Ten new identity crises;
Nine family members skyping across the globe (including Berkeley the dog);
Eight new ways to wear a scarf;
Seven(ty?) hours at the Weihnachtsmarkt;
Six really, really old cathedrals to ogle;
Five new pounds of fat (dramatic pause!);
Four new European countries to visit;
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!

This is not a baguette. I am not René Magritte. Aaaagh!!! What am I!?!?!?

On the eleventh day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Eleven chocolate waffles from Elizabeth chocolatiers;
Ten new identity crises;
Nine family members skyping across the globe (including Berkeley the dog);
Eight new ways to wear a scarf;
Seven(ty?) hours at the Weihnachtsmarkt;
Six really, really old cathedrals to ogle;
Five new pounds of fat (dramatic pause!);
Four new European countries to visit;
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!

On the twelfth day of Weihnachten, Ty and Sara gave to me:
Twelve thousand steps to the top of Dom Köln.
Eleven chocolate waffles from Elizabeth chocolatiers;
Ten new identity crises;
Nine family members skyping across the globe (including Berkeley the dog);
Eight new ways to wear a scarf;
Seven(ty?) hours at the Weihnachtsmarkt;
Six really, really old cathedrals to ogle;
Five new pounds of fat (dramatic pause!);
Four new European countries to visit;
Three hats that are almost like stockings;
Two sophisticated, wacky boob pics;
And one awesome trip to France to see the Louvre!



Thanks so much for the unforgettable Christmas memories! You guys are the best!

Would you like (Belgian) Fries with that?

Prior to our trip through France and Belgium, several people (Sara's sister Laura) had given us lots of suggestions about what to do and eat in Paris. Not so in Brussels. Since we were both pretty crazy leading up to this trip and didn't have time to make a complete itinerary, Brussels was somewhat short shrifted for planning purposes. So, what does one do in Brussels without a plan ahead of time? Chocolate and waffles, of course!

We arrived on Tuesday evening and went for a dinner at a very Belgian restaurant in the Grand Place market area. We had mashed potatoes with bacon and leeks topped with various things. (I had them topped with fried eggs--surprisingly tasty.) We then went to the Brussels Christmas Market and had waffles and Glühwein (an optionally alcohol-free hot wine served around Christmastime). Here are Sara and my brother Jaren enjoying the Belgian treats of the night.



We even went for a ride in the Ferris wheel overlooking the market area. However, we didn't go into the inflatable 45 meter-long Christmas Monster (not sure what it was really), nor did we get to ride the very Steampunk carousels in Brussels (we were too tall). The market was nice, though, and the way back had the Ghost of Christmas Past watching us:



The next morning we walked around the Grand Place during the daylight to take some pictures. It's truly a stunning square with beautiful buildings on all sides:

This year at Christmastime, the Place was filled with light beacons (arranged in a spiral "inspired by the Fibonacci sequence") that would do a light show to music by Tchaikovsky (among others). It was cool, if a little weird. Here is the main Christmas Tree in front of the spire of one of the Grand Place buildings.

We went for breakfast at a cafe and walked around a little bit and, fortuitously, caught a glimpse of the benefits this EU-capitol provides its workers:

It's an EU-branded head umbrella! So crazy.

The cartoons point the way to major landmarks:



And there's the landmark itself:



Overall, Brussels seems a clean and fairly well-organized city, a "curious mix of conservative and avant-garde," as the New York Times recently reported.

We took a trip to the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudule (which sounds like our friend Dula--we'll have to ask him if he's been canonized yet). It is a huge, beautiful building that, at the time, was hosting a selections of creches from around the world. A few of our favorites:







And the organ, always a subject of my interest, was beautiful:



We made a visit to the famous Manneken Pis. It's smaller than I thought.



We also noticed this crazy H&M store. It was set up just for the Christmas market and is advertised as a "Pop-Up H&M." In case you just can't possibly wait.



We had planned to go to the Museum of Musical Instruments, but it wasn't open for breakfast when we arrived and we wanted to walk around more, so we settled for admiring the facade. (And the facades of several other buildings right around there.)








And lastly, we spent a few hours in the Magritte museum. The paintings were rather beautiful and the museum was well laid-out. However, at the end, Jaren wasn't terribly sure what was real and what was not. The title of this photograph: Ceci n'est pas un Jaren.



Special Section: Chocolate

I mentioned earlier in this post that we spent an inordinate amount of time visiting and sampling chocolate from various chocolatiers in Belgium. Let me quantify our experience a little bit. We were walking around the Grand Place and saw three chocolatiers immediately: some special Belgian one, Godiva, and Neuhaus. We didn't even bother with Godiva since it's everywhere. The unnamed one was good, but not as good as Neuhaus. We walked about 50 meters and passed two other chocolatiers before stumbling upon Leonidas, Elisabeth, and another one (more famous for its cookies than its chocolate, but good nonetheless). We passed over Leonidas, since we've had it before and it's available in Aachen. Besides that, the cookies at the cookie place were really good but Elisabeth was astounding. All of us involuntarily slowed our walking pace while eating those truffles--they were just that good. We also stopped in one more chocolatier (name forgotten) to try a dark chocolate truffle filled with chestnut cream. The guy wanted to close soon, so he gave them to us for free. In total, we visited six chocolatiers and a cookie shop. This was in the space of one hour on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday morning, we sought out Mary, another world-class chocolatier from Belgium. It, too, was delicious. In the afternoon we wanted a snack, so we stopped by the bakery Paul for croissants, macarons, and hot chocolate. The chocolate macarons there may have been the best thing I have ever eaten. The crust was perfectly crisp with a chewy chocolate cake/cookie layer, and the chocolate filling was rich and smooth. It was amazing.

What is the moral of the story? When in Belgium, always look for chocolatiers with Biblical first names: Paul, Elisabeth, and Mary. You won't be disappointed. (Of course, only after we got home did we see the previously mentioned New York Times article about chocolatiers in Brussels. We hit four of their top 14. Time to go back.)

Paris, Whirlwind-Style

Last week we made the first of what I hope will be several trips to Paris. Tyler's middle brother, Jaren, flew into Charles de Gaulle early Monday morning and we took the first train into Paris to meet him. Though we were only in the city for about 30 hours, we packed a lot in. (I had been to Paris for a weekend before, but it was the first time for both Ty and Jaren.)

The first thing we did after dropping off our luggage at our hotel was go in search of lunch. (Paris lodging aside for the interested: We stayed in a triple room at the Hotel Marignan, just off Rue St. Germaine and a five-minute walk from Notre Dame. It was an odd little room, with a water closet on one side, a sink on the other, and the shower down the hall. But it was clean and the location was great.) We walked to Cosi, a foodie sandwich place I'd seen recommended on a food blog. We got there a few minutes before it opened, so we took a little stroll along the narrow street it was on. At the end of the street was a tiny park with a dome rising over the surrounding rooftops. You can't throw a rock in Paris without hitting something beautiful like this.



Here's Jaren outside the sandwich place (which was delicious, by the way) doing his Paris face.



And here's my impression of Jaren's Paris face. Similar but scarier.



After lunch we walked to the Louvre. As we were coming in under the archway, Tyler asked, "Are all of these buildings part of the Louvre?" And I said, "No, no, I'm sure they're not." Turns out they are. It is truly huge. There is about twice again as much as you can see in this picture extending out behind the camera.



Once we got inside we spent about half an hour trying to figure out how to navigate. During this period we saw a lot of French statuary.

"But WHY, Mom?" "That's just the way it is!"

It's hard to tell from this picture, but these guys (captives of various nations conquered by France) are enormous, and so is the hall they're in.



We eventually figured out how to get around and hit most of the highlights of the museum (Venus de Milo--nice but not stunning; Winged Victory--awesome; Mona Lisa--thronged by people trying to take pictures with their cell phones from 20 feet away. I squeezed to the front to look and thought it was very cool; Tyler and Jaren were underwhelmed.) I believe Tyler and Jaren's favorite works, though, were the weird boob paintings.

This painting, too, is listed as a highlight. Apparently these women are sisters. Hm. And can the knitting woman in the background really be oblivious to what's going on here?

Who knew the asp bit Cleopatra right on the nipple?

After our quick trot around the Louvre, we walked through the Jardin Tuileries toward the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, the top was closed, so we didn't go up, but it was a nice walk. The next two pictures were taken from a sort of shelf at the end of the gardens overlooking one of Paris's mammoth traffic circles. Notice the über-fancy streetlights on the left (the large green pillars).





After being thwarted at the Eiffel Tower, we took the metro back to Notre Dame.



Later we walked to the Rue Mouffetard, where we went to a patisserie. Tyler got a miniature Yule log made of frosting.



By this point, Jaren had been up for about 30 hours, but we dragged him to the other end of the city once more to climb the Arc de Triomphe. Though it was raining, the view was spectacular. It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but all of the trees along the Champs Elysee had rings of Christmas lights around them that gradually changed color. When blue, they made the avenue look like the French flag--red taillights, white headlights, blue trees.

We didn't see a light show, but the Tower was lit up.

We finally let Jaren go to bed after that, and Tyler and I went out for crepes and hot chocolate. Yum.

The next morning we breakfasted on baguettes at the hotel, then went to Sainte-Chapelle. It is really, really, REALLY worth seeing.

The top floor is pretty much made of stained glass.

This castle and fleur-de-lys motif is everywhere, both inside and out.

Sainte-Chapelle is kind of hidden among government buildings.

Next we headed over to the Rodin Museum, enjoying lovely views along the way.



The coolest thing about the Rodin Museum is that his most famous works are out in the gardens. Here's Tyler at the Gates of Hell!

The Three Shades. Or four.

After Rodin we went back to the hotel to fetch our backpacks and Jaren's suitcase and headed toward Montmartre. We hauled the luggage up the very steep Butte de Montmartre, and just barely had time for a quick circuit through the Sacred Heart Basilica (while Tyler waited outside with the bags and looked at the view) before we had to jog back down the hill to the Paris North train station.

Our feet were glad of the chance to rest on the train, though I, for one, would've loved to spend the whole week walking around Paris. Next time I'd like to focus a bit more on the food. As you can see from Tyler's post, Brussels, which was next on our itinerary, was all about the food.