Oktoberfest

A year ago, my brother met us in Brussels after a few days in Munich attending Oktoberfest. He had such a great time, we planned to meet him there for the 2011 version. So we arrived there a week ago ready for the tapping of the first keg and to experience the spectacle of Oktoberfest.

I had heard that it was like the mother of all Frat parties. I had expected crowds and copius amounts of public drunkeness, but nothing prepares you for the scale of this. Literally tens of thousands of people drinking, eating and singing. And then a few hours later, drinking, eating, singing, falling down, expressing their love for strangers, and generally devolving into incoherance. It is a little staggering is the amount of human carnage that develops as the day rolls on. I will refrain from a full description  but suffice to say I saw more than one young gentleman fall into the urinal in the WC.  Oktoberfest is not all degenerate behavior, but you don't have to look far to find it.

On our first day , we arrived very early because we didn't have any tent tickets. Fortunately, the weather was amazing after an evening rain and we found an outdoor section of the Paulaner tent. We were joined by a couple of Brits and a lovely young Aussie/Bavarian and her lovely Bavarian/Bavarian friend. (We referred to her as Bavarian Cameron Diaz, because that is who she looked like). The Aussie/Bavarian was quite a good promoter of Australian tourism. ("You have to hold a Koala, they pee all over you, it's wonderful"). Hard to argue with that kind of enthusiasm.

I would be remiss at this point if I did not mention the dirndl. The dirndl is the traditional dress of Bavarian women and it is amazing the variety that you see at Oktoberfest. Everything from the traditional demure dirndl to truly shockingly revealing dirndls. In almost all varieties however, the 'ahem' bosom, is prominantly displayed. I tried to talk SWMBO into getting one under the theory "When in Rome" but she refused. Maybe another time.

Most of the afternoon at the Paulaner tent was quite good. There were only a couple of altercations involving a Polish Tablemate and his "girlfriend". The best part was Polish guy's friend restraining him which caused the girlfriend to take the opportunity to get a couple of vicious right hooks in. One to the ribs and one to head. Those natural instincts can't be trained.  I think she could be a contender.

German Oktoberfest beers are served in one liter measures which frankly are a challenge to the bladder. It makes the small 33 cl glasses of Belgian strong ale look much more efficient. One would think that the volume alone would be a barrier to people getting completely crippled and yet the evidence to the contrary was easy to find.

The second day was much more civilized, She Who Must Be Obeyed has a college friend who lives in Munich and she scored us some tickets to the Ochsenbraterei Tent, where we sat on the upper level, out of the fray. The photo with the Blue and White streamers is from that tent. SWMBO and I were happy to be up top but I think my brother would have preferred to be in the middle of the action. For us however, it was great. We spent the evening with a bunch of fun people, sang Neil Diamond and Jon Denver songs (I didn't understand that either)  and had a really good time.

Random Thoughts

Belgium is the only country I know where you wait longer to have your hair cut, than to see your doctor. This evening I spent an hour in line at my barber shop waiting for my turn in the chair, while last week, I called the doctor, made an appointment and was out of his office within the hour. I also got my meds in the same amount of time. But of course, that socialized medicine stuff would never work in the US. Makes me wish the barber were similarly socialized.

Thinking about other socialized services that apparently don't work, we have the US Post Office. We have been watching the ordeal of the US Postal Service from this side of the Atlantic with interest. The downside to their troubles of course, is who will deliver the Victoria's Secret Catalog each month? The demise of the Postal Service will also be a blow to the Thank You card industry. I have never understood why it is the thought that counts with gifts, but apparently gratitude requires formal stationary. Now what are we to do? FedEx'ing our salutations will get pretty expensive. 2011 could be the last year with Christmas Cards, which might be a good thing until you consider the fact that they will be replaced with those annoying E-cards and worse yet, the electronic Christmas letter. No longer will they be just a saccharine photo of the kids with the dog dressed in antlers and a happy go lucky account of the years events. Now they will be a full High Definition onslaught of Christmas Joy.

At least we will be able to wait until December 24, 11:59 PM before we send it out.

Graduate School? Didn't you just finish first grade????

I just had a discussion with the Sun Devil about graduate school options. She graduates from college in the Spring. Although truth be told, she could probably do it this semester but it is more fun to take the full four years and further deplete her inheritance.

There is nothing that makes you feel old like discussing graduate school options with someone who it feels like 20 minutes ago you were helping tie their shoes. It is a good kind of old. She could be holding up liquor stores or running for the Republican nomination. So it could be much worse. Still, it is amazing how quickly the time has gone. I truly miss sitting in the bleachers watching her play softball or having her kick my butt in Crash Bandicoot. Those times are gone, but I think about it all the time.

This is what we are destined to do however. Grow, change and move forward. I hope that graduate school will give her the skills and confidence that the next part of her life will require. I know she is strong and intelligent, so I shouldn’t worry too much. But I would like a couple of games of Crash Bandicoot.

Summer Fun in the US, A Few Observations

Almost through our US vacation. We have a couple of days left and the the Sun Devil heads back to Arizona and we are back to Belgium. I thought I would share a few observations from out trip.

Boston is a great city. (but I am biased)

Rain Delays stink.

Fenway is the best park in Major League Baseball.

We Americans are way too fat.

My golf game has gone to hell.

The US is the best place for steak.

Small dogs are not fond of boat rides.

Flying Back to the US

At 36000 feet in coach class, a circumstance that I have been fortunate to have become unaccustomed to. It is not all that bad, She Who Must be Obeyed is a good travel companion and one who I do not get to travel with nearly enough.

While it would be altogether too easy to complain about holiday travelers. I won't. Although I am tempted. OK maybe just a little. I do not understand the attraction of those ridiculous document pouches that, mostly American, travelers wear. I particularly don't understand them on the guy wearing safari pants with far  too many pockets and zippers while wearing a photographer's vest. You cannot seriously need one more place to store your passport and boarding pass. Which also begs the question, why is it that so many travelers insist on kitting themselves out in all of the "travel"clothing for a trip to Europe? Do they will be asked to narrate a wilderness special for the BBC whilst strolling through the streets because they look like Richard Attenborough? I am no fashionista, but seriously, what is wrong with chinos or jeans and shoving your documents in your pocket?

This is the longest trip to the US that we have made since moving to Europe. I have been back several times in the past year for business.SWMBO, only a couple. We read all of the typical newspapers, follow CNN and log more than a few hours with ESPN America, the Daily Show, Colbert and South Park, so I don't think we are too out of touch. We also certainly spend too much time following the various Kardashians and those crazy toddlers in their tiaras.( Seriously, sometimes it is like you can feel the IQ points dropping.) Still, it will be interesting to get back into the swing of understanding everyone and not having to astulblieft or merci for almost three weeks.

Before that can happen, we have to clear customs, grab our bags, get the rental car and drive two hours North. Looks like it will be a long day.

Renewing the Residency

She Who Must Be Obeyed joined me for a session at the Gemeentehuis to renew our residency and get my Belgian and International driver's licenses. Technically, the Gemeentehuis staff are not supposed to speak to us in anything but Flemish, but our local group is pretty accomodating in that regard. We first took care of my licenses because we would have to wait for those to be completed. The woman who helped us with that was pretty strict about speaking Flemish but fortunately, SWMBO has been studying and has mad skilz. The functionary was pretty impressed with SWMBO's ability to interpret for me. (I didnt have the heart to point out that she had done the same thing a couple of weeks ago.)

Once the licenses were done, we did our residency card application. We need to renew each year when my company issues my new work permit, thereby proving that we are not derelicts who want to take advantage of the permissive welfare state of Belgium. The woman who helped us through this part is very nice. She was quite enthusiastic and supportive of SWMBO's Flemish skilz, which made SWMBO very happy. After about an hour, we had successfully renewed our residency and I am a permanently licensed Belgian driver with a temporary International license. By this time next year, I am sure that SWMBO will be doing a full on translation so that I can maintain my almost complete lack of Flemish. Alstublieft SWMBO!

Weekend in Paris

She who must be obeyed and I headed south to Paris for the weekend to celebrate a belated anniversary. Fourteen years has flown by. So much so, that if it wasn't for the wedding gift cross-stitch, we wouldn't realize how long it has been.

The goal of the weekend, besides the anniversary, was to have amazing food and to see Ralph Lauren's car collection at the Louvre. I will start with the food. Being someone who reads food blogs (I know, food nerd) I came across a review of Agape Substance on the Paris by Mouth blog. It was a recent review and glowed about the meal, so I thought I would take a flyer and try to get a reservation. I called the restaurant, left a message and got a fairly prompt reply back. (How un-Parisian!) Reservation secured, we were locked in for Saturday night at a super new 24 seat restaurant. After making the reservation I found out that the restaurant has only been open for about ten days and has been visited by several noted critics,all of whom loved it. So we were pretty excited to go.

Last night was the reservation and it started really well. They were very accommodating and friendly, attentive, but not overbearing. We started off with a couple of glasses of Champagne to celebrate our Anniversary. The chef then started to bring the courses. Agape Substance presents a menu but you do not get to pick from it,which I think may be a bit of a mistake. The chef selects ingredients and then assembles a menu for you at his choice, first checking if you have any food issues. The courses started off in amazing fashion. The food was over the top, bright and vibrant, and technically superb. Unfortunately, had I picked my own menu, a couple of items that wound up on the plates of the patrons on either side of us would have been my first choice. Namely the Chanterelles for me and the chocolate for SWMBO. Even so, the food was amazing. I think my favorite dish was pigeon livers in a fois gras emulsion. Needless to say, SWMBO probably would not agree with that, but surprisingly, she ate it. Although she did give me the pigeon livers and just ate the emulsion. Another surprise was the Oeuf. SWMBO likes her poached eggs cooked to the point of a rubber ball. These were approximately a 3 minute egg. Just poached enough to stay whole for a couple of minutes but not enough for a completely solid white. Shockingly, SWMBO ate that too, and liked it. I think it was the garlic sauce.

I do enjoy going to over the top restaurants like this on occasion. I appreciate the skill that goes into the dishes and the innovation that it requires. Agape Substance definitely hit the notes on those counts, but unfortunately they did miss on others. They misunderstood that SWMBO does not eat fish and that includes all fish, not just shellfish. Additionally, as the restaurant got busier, the quality control went down a bit. This impacted the later patrons more than us but was noticeable in that we are all sitting at one long table.

As creative and tasty as the food was, I cannot imagine eating a place like this more than a couple of times a year. After the meal, we talked more about a meal that we had at a Michelin two star restaurant in Luxembourg that was not nearly as fussy and far more laid back and enjoyable. This is the thing with molecular gastronomy, the biochemist in me marvels at the unique preparation but in the end, it is vibrant flavor with little substance. Give me a well roasted chicken and I am probably happier and certainly more satisfied. It was a nice experience, with some great wine, but only a couple of times a year.

Following up on the late night, we had a leisurely morning. Omelets in a small bistro followed by a walk around the Louvre. The Ralph Lauren car show at the Louvre was the real reason for the trip, besides spending time with my lovely bride (had to put that in) and it did not disappoint. The 1938 Bugatti Atlantic is probably one of the most singularly stunning cars that I have ever seen. It is probably crap to drive, but it is gorgeous to look at. Similarly, the 1930 Mercedes SSK was also a stunner. Both of the cars have beautiful flowing lines and tapered bodies and could never be made today. SWMBO liked the Porsche 550 Spyder. I have it on good authority that she would look "Super Cute" in it. The other two cars that I really liked were the 1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa and the 1950 Jaguar XK120 Roadster. The Testa had a tapered body that presaged the form of modern F1 cars and just looked like it would make a wonderful noise. The Jag is just impossibly gorgeous and would make a fabulous cottage car (hint to the in-laws for a great 15th Anniversary Gift).

After drooling at cars we will never be able to afford, we wandered Paris a little more. coffee and tea at a cafe. A little sight seeing, etc. The nice thing about having been to Paris many times and living so close, we don't feel as though we have to take it all in at once. This is an incredible luxury, we know. It really makes visiting a city more pleasurable because there is no feeling of missing out. If we don't see something this trip, there is always the next. So our afternoon was essentially, finding quiet neighborhood bistro and sitting down for a leisurely two hour lunch, until we needed to catch a cab to the train station. The Bistro was in a quiet residential section of St. Germain De Pres in the 6th. The food was unfussy, tres correct, and delicious. We finished the meal by sharing a chocolate and hazelnut gateau that was simple and excellent. Proving again that good satisfying food is excellent in its own right.

A very nice weekend.