Poland is a hugely Catholic country, and even managed to keep religion during Communism’s atheism. It is one of the few places nowadays where churches are still being built.
If you want to plug in to their Catholic broadcasts, tune into Radio Maria.
Best Western Queens Hotel in Berlin – Amazing breakfast in Berlin with fresh rolls, little egg rolls, mini hamburgers (wonderful), chicken legs, many pots of local jams and all the usual hot and cold breakfast items.
Berlin guide Christobel was amazing spouting oodles of information on a 2 hour tour and interspersing it with lots of jokes.
After the wall fell and East Berliners flooded into West Berlin, they had a hard time keeping a job, since they were only used to working 3 hours a day. It really wasn’t their fault, because there weren’t enough goods to keep a store open all day.
Cosmos Tour – Jewels of the Baltics – Off to a good start. Wonderful dinner at Dan hotel in Copenhagen: tomatoes with balsamic dressing, chicken swimming in cream sauce with roasted carrots, parsnips, broccoli and baby boiled potatoes, and fruity ice cream and a square of chocolate, sitting in a pool of fresh fruit and tart cherry drizzle. Room is large, modern and has a view all the way to Sweden.
Every other shop in Bruges, it seems, is a chocolate shop – 50 or so but who’s counting? Bruges, known for its medievalness, has a playful side when it comes to tourist museums, with one for chocolate and another for fries. The chocolate museum started out as a private collection of everything to do with the history and making of chocolate.
You will learn that milk chocolate is 45% sugar, and that when chocolate made its way to Europe by the Spanish explorers, it was a drink with a secret recipe for making it – til the 1800’s. The process of conching was invented around then, which made it possible to create hardened chocolate for eating. You can see the cups they drank it in, and they sure were super-sized. Fries with that?
Chips (fries) were created in the US in 1852 in Saratoga, NY all because of a dissatisfied customer. When he complained to George Crum about his potato, Mr Crum sliced it into little pieces to annoy him. Instead he loved it! French fries were possibly misnamed during WWII when American soldiers, hearing Belgians eating fries and talking French, thought they were French food.
Potatoes around the world are covered too – see if you can find the pink and purple ones. If all this fry talk has gotten you a bit hungry, don’t worry, there’s a fries shop in the basement where you can have them with the traditional mayonnaise or pickle sauce, mustard or curry ketchup.
Tags: Chocolate, conching, customer, french fries, George Crum, mayonnaise, medieval, Museum, potato, Saratoga, soldier, WWII
Amsterdam is fun, hopping, bustling with bikes, museums, cafe life, canals and history. After a day of all that stimulation, it’s a blessing to come back “home” to the Okura Hotel, a 4o-year old sea of tranquility. Fabulous sleek design (love those light fixtures) and super friendly service.
Sure it has a pool and sauna but also a jet lag program, a hairdressing salon, cooking school, shoe shine service, a florist – and – half of all the Michelin starred restaurants in Amsterdam (one French and one Japanese). Best new secret in town is the new sunny Michelinesque cafe, Serre, facing the canal and cheffed by some of the staff from Ciel Bleu. So, the food has all the quality, sauces and presentation of its sisters but at prices you can afford – 35 Euros for a tasting menu or a giant bento box with 9 surprise dishes inside.
www.okura.nl
Tags: Amsterdam, bento, bike, Bleu, canal, chef, Ciel, cooking school, florist, French, hairdressing, History, Japanese, jet lag, Michelin, Museum, Okura, pool, sauna, shoe shine, star
Walking the streets of Amsterdam is like playing a live video game. Your street is shared with a tram gliding down the middle, cars, a bike lane filled to the brim with bikeaholics and finally a sidewalk. Often you are sharing the street with cars or bikes. Keep your eyes peeled to avoid these moving obstacles. If you want to join them, you can rent a McBike enjoy the energy of this hopping city.
The city is very walkable and easy to get around on trams. Museums are even fun here – besides Van Gogh and Rembrandt, you can view one for purses, houseboats, windmills, tattoos and – yikes, cannabis.
Tags: Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands
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