THE PAGE TURNS

May 7, 2016

Fish Slappin’ III: Amsterdam- Gotta Go

May 1, 2016. Amsterdam is a bustling city. It is a city full of bustlers. Because the city is full of canals, the constant movement takes multiple forms. Cars, buses, trams, trains, BICYCLES, pedestrians, big boats, little boats, motorboats, windmills, wind turbines… if it was winter, there might even be skiers, skaters, and snowshoers whizzing by. This is a city with things to do and places to go.

We went and we did and we saw a good lot of in 48 hours. Being only the first time here –not the fortunate third time that I mentioned with London—we had to do Tourist things. This included two excellent museums, a canal cruise, dinner with a friend, a trip to the 2nd most luscious and colorful gardens I have ever seen, a walking tour of the church and palaces, dinner at a cheap tasty local restaurant, and laundry. After nine days on the ship with no laundry, the last was most essential.

An Education in Coffee
Also, we consumed many cups of coffee, through which I learned the essential distinctions between a latte, a frappucino, and a macchiato. I personally drink mostly mochas – your basic coffee and chocolate – or the prebottled Starbucks Frappuccino lites that you can buy in packs at the supermarket. So I was out of my league at all the coffee places. I thought my little Starbucks knowledge was enough, but quickly learned “you know nothing, MK.” Whatever coffee drinks were all good. What I also learned was that the things one eats with whatever kind of coffee drinks are pretty much also all flipping delicious. Continue reading “Fish Slappin’ III: Amsterdam- Gotta Go”

May 2, 2016

Fish Slappin ‘ II: In this country, we have our own

Scandinavia includes three countries: Norway, Denmark and Sweden, which happen to be the three countries our ship has been visiting this past week. I always thought that Finland, the country of my mother’s ancestors, was part of Scandinavia, but I learned that it is not –it’s actually considered Lappland, with a different genetic derivation, closer to the Siberians. To me as an ignorant American, that doesn’t seem so logical. Looking on the map, it’s Finland which is a long skinny country very much like Norway and Sweden, and not much like Denmark. It may seem like you can’t draw conclusions based on the map, but after all it was the fact that South America and Africa look like they could fit together that led to the development of the idea of plate tectonics and Pangaea, when all the world was once a giant continent.

Denmark, as well, feels as if its boundaries are fluid, since it comprises many large and small islands and multiple peninsulas. But now having traveled here, I understand that Denmark shares a sensibility with its neighbors in the North Sea, and not others. It is hard to describe. It’s not like the melting pot of the US but more of a bouilliabaise that has different kinds of seafood, all fighting for supremacy of being the most seafoody but imitative of each other, and each hardly caring if they are not the winners.

Consider, for example, that there are three Scandinavian currencies. There is the Norwegian krone, the Swedish krona, and the Danish kroner. The paper and metal currency look similar but are not identical. They have three slightly different exchange rates, with the Danish being distinct from the other two (.1243, .1246 and .154, respectively). The Finns use the Finnish Mark or the Euro. A local merchant can tell the coins apart easily, of course, and won’t necessarily accept those from the other country. The many coin operated public toilets don’t use the coins from the other countries. Which is, again, why travelers are wise to remember to look for the nearest library where toilets are clean and free. Continue reading “Fish Slappin ‘ II: In this country, we have our own”

April 23, 2016

Fish Slappin’: In Search of Statues

We embarked upon our Grand Tour this week as only empty nesters can, carefree and with good walking shoes. In my mind, I’ve labeled this the Tour of a Lifetime and, since we are heading to Scandinavia, have dubbed it the Fish Slapping Tour. (See Monty Python). First Stop: London.

Third Time’s the Charm
The third time you visit a city, I am now convinced, is the best. The first time, you had to see all the touristy things because many of them are interesting even if touristy. The second time you brought the new spouse or friend or you saw two new things you couldn’t pack in the first time. The third time, though, you aren’t Obligated to do any of that. You also now have Your Favorite things to see again, and those things– those favorite restaurants and artworks and shops and short cuts to places– are old friends. Karin had a writers’ thing the first time in 2005 and then we brought the kids in 2006, and had to add Stonehenge and Westminster Abbey to the obligatory tours of the Tower of London and London Eye and British Museum. But theis time we didn’t need to do any of those; yet, we don’t live there so we felt free to wander and gawk and it was amazing. We decided to have no specific agenda aside from two unvisited museums and to go in search of statues. It turned out to be my favorite way to see a city. tmp_1916-20160422_1101541726330885

The statue idea came about last fall when Karin happened upon an audio book series written by Charlie Fletcher, starting with the intriguing Stoneheart. Read by Jim Dale, the books are about two preteens George and Edie who slip into an UnLondon where the statues come to life. While the trilogy had familiar battles between light and dark, it didn’t have the overused wizardry that magic stories often do. Instead, George must battle and befriend statues both good and evil—spits and taints as the books label them—to keep the bad spirits within the stones from taking over London. Continue reading “Fish Slappin’: In Search of Statues”