Here’s an English —> Dutch translation tip: When you say “coffeeshop,” the manager behind the front desk at your youth hostel hears “marijuana dispensary.” So if you ask for a coffeeshop recommendation, you’ll end up somewhere called The Green Place. The laws around marijuana in the Netherlands are fascinating. “Coffeeshops” can’t legally advertise, so you don’t …
…And at this point I’m running out of steam for a lengthy post, so here’s the Cliff Notes. (Don’t worry. Marksburg Castle wasn’t that interesting anyway.) This is Marksburg Castle: This is the outer gate: This is what you walk through: This is the inner gate: And below is the inner inner gate. Are you …
Medieval castle toilet: Since toilets project from the side of the castle and basically provide a free hole in the wall for any enemy with a grappling hook, a strong stomach and no sense of smell, they’re often the weakest point in a castle’s defenses. Toilets were equipped with stout lids that could be latched …
Alsace has changed hands many times between Germany and France, but that’s not why the French Quarter in Strasburg is called that. Above are watch towers lining “Covered Bridge,” which confuses tourists because it hasn’t been covered since the 18th century. (Helpfully, there’s another bridge nearby which is covered, but is not named Covered Bridge.) This is the French …
This is the only photo I took in the Black Forest. The peril of entrusting yourself to a cruise excursion is that occasionally, the attraction of the day is a gift shop. The drive was lovely, but it terminated in a cuckoo clock workshop, a glassblower’s studio, and a food court with “black forest cake” …
You know the question I’m talking about. It’s one that can only be answered on French soil. I knew that in pursuit of answers, I would take my life in my hands (or on my tongue, as the case may be), but I justified the risk, on the premise that I have a responsibility to …
Colmar is a beautifully-preserved market town in Alsace in the floodpath of the Rhine. A gate through the lower story of a medieval customs house opens onto squares and cobbled lanes lined with huge boxy 14thand 15th-century half-timbered houses with shutters and balconies and turrets. The facades are painted cheerful Easter egg colors—sky blue, salmon, …
Amsterdam is a big bike city. And by big bike city, I mean you see people texting while cycling, helmetless, with their groceries under their arm. Their attitude is, to use Dad’s word, insouciant. They cycle along with utter faith that everything that is not on two wheels will get out of their way. Or, …
Leiden is a lively university town with its share of canals, old houses and cute boutiques, but I’m not sure anything (except perhaps excessive amounts of caffeine) accounts for why I’ve fallen so completely and unreservedly in love with it. American history not being my forte, I can’t say I’ve ever been that interested in …
This is Kootje, one of a matched pair of orphans who grace the gate of the former Holy Ghost Orphanage in Leiden. If anyone can explain to me why he and Kaatje each have one red and one white sleeve, I’d love to know. The tourist plaque outside the gateway has a picture from a …
The question in this case is not so much what I just ate as why I thought it was a good idea to eat it for dinner. This is what happens to me in the absence of parental supervision. I wish I had a picture of it. “It” is a chocolate-covered waffle with white and …
Heidelberg Castle perches high on a rise above the Rhine. It has a long and tangled history involving the Electors Palatinate, the Reformation, and many Fredricks, Ludwigs, Heinriches, Gustavs, Karls, Leopolds, Williams, and Johanns. Here’s a reconstruction of the castle around 1500: The castle was partially demolished in a French siege in the late 1600s. …
My favorite thing about the Dutch Masters is that so many of their paintings tell stories with layers and layers of meaning. This is a painting at the Hermitage (part of a Russian collection on loan to Amsterdam). Of course, I failed to write down the artist’s name or the title of the piece, but …
When you see a fantastical creature you don’t recognize from the usual European pantheon, odds are it’s a safari animal whose description the artist read in Roman sources, or heard about from a patron who had read the Roman sources, or possibly picked up from crusaders telling tall tales at the Green Dragon Inn after …
Because I dredged up a few more Basel photos. This is a street leading up to one of the smaller churches. Most of those buildings are maybe sixteenth century at the earliest (the house from 1272 was somewhere in this area). This is just a cool bay window at the top of one of the …
Marksburg Castle (coming soon) has a room full of historical armor. I’d never seen a reconstruction of Merovingian (500-700 A.D.) or Carolingian (700-900 A.D.) clothing. Here’s the Merovingian: And here’s his shoes: And here’s something that would probably make the enemy fall out of his saddle and die laughing:
I only know of the Lorelei from a collection of fantasy short stories I read way back in elementary school, but for those of you unfamiliar with the story: The Lorelei was a beautiful woman who sat on a cliff above the Rhine to comb her golden hair and sing. Her voice was so beautiful and …
While floating down the scenic Rhine Valley this morning, they served us coffee with Bailey’s on the sun deck. Can I please just change my return address to the Viking Vidar?
This is Katz Castle. It has a longer name, but no one can remember it, including our tour guide. Just downstream there’s a Maus Castle, so called because it’s smaller than Katz.