The second half of the second half of our Amsterdam odyssey found us quartered in the home of Marije Nie, Art Monastery associate and tapdancer extraordinaire. That's her to the right, wearing the fake paper moustache, clearly the most adorable person in the world. We had met Marije a week previous and talked with her about putting some kind of performance together during our final days in Amsterdam. When we returned from Belgium she and her boyfriend Erik not only offered to house ourselves and Art Monastery bandmate Charles for five days (a long time to have three musicians in your home) but had gotten the four of us a gig at her cousin’s wedding the following weekend. We spent several days rehearsing for the show and put together some material that we will likely continue to work on when Marije visits the Art Monastery in July. Marije drove us around, introduced us to her Amsterdam musician friends, fed us, found us rehearsal spaces, borrowed us gear, educated us on the Dutch arts scene and rocked some crazy foot percussion to boot. Very cool woman; check her out at http://tapdanser.ne.
While in Amsterdam we discovered that we would not be needed at the Art Monastery until a week after our projected June 13th arrival date. A quick inventory revealed a disproportionate number of connections and resources in Germany, so we threw some travel plans together and shortly found ourselves bound for another strange and wonderful adventure.
Naomi’s father Jeff attended high school in Germany for a year, where he still has many friends that were connected with several during our stay, the first being Jeff’s friend Gabi, who met us at the Frankfurt train station, tended to our weary souls and got us situated in her daughter’s apartment in downtown Frankfurt. There were several public viewings of the Germany vs. Australia World Cup game that night, so we decided to go check one out for ourselves. We had no idea what we were in for.
We followed a flood of rowdy soccer fans into a large fenced outdoor square containing a huge TV screen. Though it was still two hours before the game, the place was packed with thousands of people consuming gallons of beer while blowing air horns and chanting “DEUTSCHLAND!” in varying stages of coherency. It soon became clear, however, that we were only in the overflow lot. The primary lot was even bigger and packed so full of people that the fences could barely contain the flag-waving tide of red, yellow and black. We watched the game for awhile but had much more fun watching the sea of fans, who would transform from typical spectators into a deafening mob for several minutes anytime a goal was scored. We left before the game ended and walked home through abandoned streets, the lone atheists at the prayer meeting.
Our Frankfurt adventures also included a visit to Marburg to see Jeff's friend Andreas. The picture to the left is Naomi with Andreas and Gabriella (Andreas' wife) and Gabi. This was the closest to everyone actually looking at the camera that we managed to get. I think the dog was doing something funny.
While in Marburg we visited a store that only sold gummi candies (85 varieties), ate a delicious homecooked meal with Andreas and had the most amazing ice cream of our lives. The establishment will remain unnamed so as to keep the spot from blowing up, but if you ever happen to be in Marburg, ask a local for directions to the best frozen treats in town and go for the coconut, two scoops for a Euro fifty.
The castle that Naomi's dad lived in (well next to...) in high school!
The following day we returned to Frankfurt and wandered around until we stumbled on the Palmgarten, a large botanical garden in the center of town. We spent the day ogling magical plants from the world over, many of which can be seen in the photo from a few weeks ago. In the evening we stopped at the supermarket for our new favorite edible: green sauce. Green sauce is a Frankfurt specialty consisting of seven different herbs in a yogurt-like base with the consistency of salad dressing. We know for sure that it’s got dill and sweet relish in it, but the rest is still unknown. What is clear, however, is that this is the most delicious sauce ever. We ate nothing but potatoes and green sauce for an entire day an were happy as clams – go to Frankfurt, get some, get your mind blown.
Our last day in Frankfurt was spent with Gert and Ula, two very distant relatives (like, twelfth cousins) of Naomi’s dad. Their beautiful house in the country was a welcome break from city living, as were their amazing hospitality and functional washing machine. We mentioned an interest in cycling before we went to bed and awoke the next day to discover that a guided 35-kilometer bike tour had been arranged for us. Wow, German hospitality. Wow.
Our tour of the countryside terminated at another delicious ice cream parlor, where we marveled a new and bizarre culinary creation: spaghetti ice. This frozen confection consists of vanilla ice cream squeezed through a giant garlic press, producing a pile of what looks like…you guessed it! Spaghetti. The frosty faux noodles are then topped with strawberry “marinara” and white chocolate “parmesan” flakes. Other iterations of this concept can involve anything from lime-green kiwi sauce to reddish-brown chocolate meatballs and ambiguously lumpy white “alfredo.” How someone came up with this in a country known for sausage and sauerkraut is still a mystery.
Next up: a tale of falafel, futbol, circus and bohemian living in the “poor, yet sexy” hub of contemporary German culture. Stay tuned…Berlin is next.
Auf Wiedersehen!
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