In Bruges

A country famous for chocolate, waffles, fries, and beer?! What has taken me so long to discover Belgium? The medieval town of Bruges oozes charm with narrow cobblestone streets, crooked canals, and sumptuous smells from the over 50 (!) chocolate shops. Talk about feeling like a kid in a candy store!

We put on our stretchy pants and rationed ourselves to 1-2 pieces per shop but reached our max way too quickly and had to resort to window shopping.

Tulips are better than one

Though it is too cold and dark for real tulips at this time of year, the Dutch flower vendors manage to put out a glorious display, ready for the picking, anyway.

The moody, overcast gray skies were an inspiration to the Dutch painters but we're heading south, to Belgium, where, if not sun, we'll find waffles.

Amsterdam street art

Jailing Banksy art inside a museum seems counter to his street art goals. Still, it was fun to see a collection that in many cases had to be cut out of walls. I learned that he printed one million pounds worth of the "Di-Faced Tenner" (a play on "defaced") that substituted the Queen's face with Princess Diana and added the words "Banksy of England" before spreading them all over town, some of which went into circulation. We decided to do some of our own street art — Julie photobombed my Gummy Bear photo and then we did performance art with the Night Watchmen at Rembrandt Plaza to create our own Dutch masterpieces.

Art attack

In the basement of the Van Gogh Museum I found an immersive exhibit that sent me wandering through 900 glass sunflowers that turn from green to yellow to red in changing light. I managed to get through the mental breakdown room with both ears...

Later, in the MOCO museum basement, I stepped into Roy Lichtenstein's 3D re-creation of Van Gogh's bedroom, based on Vincent's "Artist's Room at Arles." Lichtenstein said about it: "I've cleaned his room up a little bit for him and he'll be very happy when he gets home from the hospital to see I've straightened his shirts and bought some new furniture. His is much better but mine is much bigger."

Poffertjs

Pancakes dominate the menus in Amsterdam, thin like crepes with dozens of savory and sweet variations. But we opted for poffertjs, a puffier selection made with yeast and buckwheat and formed into little pillows. The chef had a pan that made 120 at a time. My plate had 20. I'm calling it the Dutch Kaiserschmarrn. Comparisons to German specialties are unavoidable.

Film fanatics

I made it to Amsterdam in time for the last weekend of IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival) and scored a ticket for the "best of program." They are serious about docs here! Everyone was in their seat 15 minutes BEFORE showtime and we spent the next 7 hours watching 4 films in a row. Not a single cell phone rang! I skipped the night program, "docs around the clock," where you can see another program of films from 10 pm - 6 am.

The theaters (true movie palaces) of Amsterdam wowed me, especially the Art Deco /Art Nouveau Tuschinski.

‘Tis the season

A year ago, Julie, her daughter Rose, my mom, & I toured the Christmas markets of Germany and the smell of lebkuchen and gluwein was calling me back. So when I learned Julie and her daughter Meredith planned to visit Rose, who is studying abroad in The Netherlands, well, I invited myself along. I begged. And they indulged.

We met in Amsterdam at a food hall, appropriately, and planned our attack over veggie dogs topped with hummus & popcorn (!) on pretzel rolls.