Spring Can't Come Soon Enough!

January and February have been challenging. Despite the days (slowly) getting longer, the weather continues to be dreary - lots of rain, but few if any downpours. Just a constant feeling of wet. We've had a little snow here and there, but certainly nothing like what has rolled through much of the U.S. in recent weeks! Sunny days have been few and far between, but we have gotten out a little here and there and have tried to make the most of it.

Holli and I got into the groove somewhat at the office New Year celebration at the Amsterdam RAI (kind of like a convention center). This was only the second "official" office get-together since we arrived last July, far too few in my opinion as this is a fun group! The brand-themed ice sculptures on the way into the party were really cool!

Holli found some evidence of Spring while out getting some exercise the next morning in Vondelpark while I "volunteered" to stay home and let the kids sleep in... ;)

I believe that this is a Crokus. The week-long school break in February is called Crokus break, so I'll go out on a limb and say that it is named for the flowers that are already blooming during that period. 

Same day - Holli got a good shot of the wild green parakeets that live in Vondelpark.
Personally, I'm a bigger fan of the storks that also live here!

Road trip!!
Lilli's budding basketball career took us around a little bit over the last few weeks. The first trip (this one overnight) was to Brussels for Friday night and Saturday morning games. Lilli traveled with the team and as is the custom, stayed with one of the host-team families. I'm not sure if this tradition is just an International School thing or is common around Europe, but it is a bit unnerving (at first at least) for some of the American families. When the teams do overnight trips (a couple per season), two or three of the visiting players stay with a family of a host player. Lilli and two of her teammates stayed with a Greek family living in Brussels, and they seemed to have had a good time of it.

After the big win on Friday night.

We collected Lilli after the game on Saturday morning (another big win) and met up with another ISA (International School of Amsterdam) family to see some sights.  First stop was the famous (I guess) Cantillon Brewery in the heart of Brussels. The brewery has been operating in the same location (kind of an unassuming spot in what struck me as a commercial area, but off the beaten path) and using some of the same equipment since 1900.

Parking spots are not the priority anywhere in Europe as far as I can tell.

The mashing tun, where crushed wheat and barley are mixed with hot water, converting starch into fermentable sugars.

The inside of one of the large copper hop boilers, looking down at the agitator and steam coils. Here a small amount of hops is added to the wort (the decanted sugary water from the mashing tun) prior to boiling off about 25% of the water

A single motor drives much of the equipment (agitators, pumps, etc.), via a wild system of belts and pulleys

More stuff on the same drivetrain.

The cooling tun on the top floor receives the wort after the 25% boil-off is complete. The liquid is cooled naturally by air naturally flowing over the top of the tun. The wort is inoculated by naturally occurring fermenting agents from the air (bacteria and yeasts) once the temperature drops below 40C (104F).

The cooled wort is transferred to barrels (casks) for fermentation. Due to the generation of CO2 (and the pressure it can generate), the barrels are not sealed for a couple of weeks, when the slow fermentation process begins. This is the original process for creating lambic beer, which will continue in the barrel for 3 years.

Slogan found on a barrel top inside the aging warehouse.
"Time doesn't respect what is done without it."

The adults get to try out some of the product - Lambic has a sour taste, not really my thing, but I still enjoyed the two or three varieties that were offered after the tour. They have some fruit-flavored offerings (cherry, raspberry, grape - all of them still sour - nothing sweet here as that involves the addition of syrup - cheating!) as well as the Gueuze, which is a mixture of 1, 2, & 3-yr old Lambics (and probably the most popular).

We decided that instead of spending another night in Brussels we would drive to Bruges, which is about an hour west. The area now known as Bruges had human inhabitants before Julius Caesar's time, but its modern beginnings date to the 12th century. Like Amsterdam, canals are prevalent here, although there is a different feel - more cozy and medieval. It is incredibly picturesque, and we all burned up a lot of MB's during our brief stay!

All the girls at the fountain at 'T Zand. 

The nicest-looking and lowest-key McDonald's I've ever seen. They have the whole building!

The Belfort (The Belfry of Bruges), which sits on the Market Square, was originally built in 1240.

Same thing, better sky.

This huge bell is on one of the lower levels as you climb the tower. 

Looking up in the same room, you can see the stairwell on the right
and some maintenance (?) access doors in the brick ceiling above.

Good view of the massive wood structure that supports the floors and bells.

Holli and the girls were unfortunate enough to be in this area when the bells started ringing. Pretty loud!
This is the highest level accessible by the public - 366 steps to a height of about 270 feet.
It was entertaining to watch the other tourists stopping to sit down, barely able to breathe at the various in-between levels.
The views are pretty impressive, but the pictures that we took were not all that great so I'll save them for the slide show. ;)

The bells can be played manually (like a piano if I'm not mistaken), or they can be played automatically using these drums (one floor below the bells), which operate under the same principle as a music box, albeit on a much larger scale!

Some of the other sights:

Photo-op in front of the Provincial Hof, a government building dating to around 1890.

Holli's version of the tower at the Church of Our Lady.  

My version (which I still like better!).

Another, closer view of part of the church - this one during the day.

Garden behind the church.

This is NOT the church, just a photogenic sky, even through a building (or seemingly-so).

Part (most) of the town's allure is the endless examples of beautiful, old architecture. 
Like I said, lots of pictures.

You may recognize this as the hotel where Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson stayed in the movie "In Bruges"

Some of the houses that sit right on top of the water, and have for centuries.

The trip to Belgium only lasted about 48 hours, but it seemed like a lot more. I'm hoping that we go back - would be a good place to take friends that wanted to come visit!
Meanwhile, back in Amsterdam... A few odds and ends:

Holli took this shot of the Church of Saint Nicholas from her conference room.

Lucy was very happy to have her jacket repaired after her father carelessly hung it up too close to a halogen light in the stairwell, resulting in a hole in the sleeve. Fortunately, I was able to secure a patch from her favorite ski resort (to which she's never been, but that's beside the point!)

Eliza lost her first tooth! Followed shortly thereafter by her second - the one right next-door.
Corn on the cob is off the menu for a while.

The missing tooth did not cause her to miss an opportunity for the monthly canal shot.
Just for variety, this one is not of the Prinsegracht but the Keizersgracht.

Eliza's first Lego project is complete!

We finally had some friends over! The Sneens joined us for dinner, drinks, and inappropriate card games.
Long overdue, and hopefully not the last game night!

I've ventured out to a few bars with some other like-minded ISA dads. We stopped in at a very small pub on the way out to dinner with another ISA couple and found another Against the Grain beer on the menu!

Later that same night, getting ready to saddle up and ride home (The Waag in the background).
Parking your bike is often far from glamorous here!

This is how you leave your trash-crane boat & trash barge parked during lunch.

Not Lilli's favorite picture, but I can't get good in-game shots since I'm helping coach.
This was another blowout win in Rotterdam (very small international school there, about an hour's drive).

I happened to notice this while looking out the window at school one day. We were not pleased.
But she made amends with the teachers and administrators and cleaned the MARKER off.

Lilli had an early game in Antwerp one Saturday morning, which is about over 2 hours from Amsterdam.
The sky was amazing for the whole drive.

Despite having only 6 healthy players (really only 4 - the school has had several nasty bugs go through) the team beat Antwerp handily. After the game I went in search of some Belgian beer for the same family with whom we last traveled to Belgium. As seems to happen a lot, we unexpectedly found some awesome scenery during our search. I was not as impressed with Antwerp as some of the other places we've seen - more industrial and less "clean" for lack of a better word.

Yet another church! The Cathedral of our Lady.

Some interesting things going on in these details.

Last shot from Antwerp - Het Steen in the center of the photo is a fortress that looks like a castle. If we come back I will definitely have to give that a closer look!

Last picture... It was sunny enough to get outside and ride a couple of times during the last few weeks.
The beach is still there, and people still use it. Believe it or not, those are horses being ridden in the center of the shot.

More to come...