The Dawks Abroad Blog: Amster-DAAAMN!

We have arrived in Amsterdam and are currently staying with a friend from my days in Scotland. A grateful shout-out to Maaike, who is allowing Kate and I to crash in exchange for dishwashing-based labour and groceries. We have finished the quaint, small-town portion of our European tour and are now gearing up for Strasbourg, Milan, Venice (including Padua and Verona) and Paris. We have spent the past week in Antwerp, The Hague, and Delft. We both liked Antwerp a lot, and this was partly due to the fact that our hotel was located 3 meters away from the cathedral. It was kind of like a huge, slightly seedy, extremely Jewish Bruges. We only spent one day in The Hague, and this was to visit the Mauritshuis Museum, which houses Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' and Rembrandt's 'Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp'.

Alex's (Art History Dork) Observation on 'Girl with a Pearl Earring': Upon analysing this Scar-Jo lookalike in person, I have come to the conclusion that she is just about to speak. While it doesn't really come across in reproductions, her tongue is clearly pressed up against her front teeth, as if she is about to say "Llllllet me change into some normal clothes...this turban is so damn itchy!"

The past two days in Amsterdam have been raucous. April 30th was Queen's Day, a national celebration and city-wide garage sale based upon all-day drinking and deal-hunting. The city's population doubles for the day, and 80% of the people in the city both dress in orange and drink Heineken all day. This has...interesting....results. Though I must say that there was surprisingly little violence and noise considering the alcohol being consumed, the numerous concerts taking place, and the boisterous throngs. Kate and I spent most of the day wandering and drinking. We had ambitious plans to carouse into the evening, but ambition fades fast when one begins drinking at noon. We were pretty much wiped by 11pm, but it was a Gong Show of a day. Today we met up with my roommate and oldest friend, Dale. He arrived in Amsterdam for Queen's Day and will soon be biking to Sweden over the course of three weeks. He came over to Maaike's for beer, dinner and poffertjes. It was great getting a detailed update on the Canucks, and it was great seeing him, of course.

We will be in Amsterdam for several more days, and we have a few goals that we wish to accomplish: we want to see Rembrandt's 'Night Watch', visit a Jenever gin distillery, and down a nieuwe haring. Kate isn't crazy about this last goal, downing an entire raw herring (with onions!) for breakfast, but the Dutch have been eating this dish for centuries...how bad can it be? BAD, says Kate. REAL BAD.

Continuing with our beer commentary, we are proud to announce that we tried all six Belgian Trappist beers while in Belgium. There is a seventh Trappist abbey ale, but it is based in the Netherlands so we did not deem it vital to our taste-testing. A Trappist beer is a beer produced by Trappist monks. Of the world's 171 Trappist monasteries, seven produce beer. Only these seven breweries are authorized to label their beers with the Authentic Trappist Product logo that indicates a compliance to various rules edicted by the International Trappist Association.Here are the beers we drank, described by Kate:

Achel - blond, crisp and smooth. Probably my favorite of the six (A)

Westvleteren - 5.8% abv with a distinct caramel aftertaste (B+)

Westmalle - pretty dark, similar to Guinness. Has a very nice coffee-esque flavour. Mild, dried hops (B+)

Orval - both disliked this one. Dark and very hoppy (C)

Rochefort - very mild hops (dry hops were probably used), medium in colour and woody finish (A-)

Chimay (Tripple and Blue) - tried 2 of the 3 and disliked both of them. Were very hoppy and had high alcohol (C+) and (C)