happy new year. {aka whoops, i never posted any of the rest of the europe trip}

amsterdam / day 2 / day 4

will put up the few pics from the race tomorrow.  we are on our last night in copenhagen and planning to stay up since we are getting picked up for the airport at 4 am.  OUCH.

xo

amsterdam / day 1

oh you little sweet small world, you.

we landed in amsterdam with low to medium expectations.

we'd heard it was beautiful, that our starwood points hotel was nice.  we knew that we were running one of the best races in the world. but mostly, we heard what everyone hears.  HOOKERS AND HASH.

well, those are there.  the redlight district is touristy and maybe a little sad.  or maybe hookers and hash sound better when it's not in your face (literally.  lady, put your tits away).

but gawd.

the rest.

was breathtaking.

not in really an in your face way.  in a way that every building is different.  every flat, tall facade slightly unique.  that walls are covered in ivy, or graffiti, or peeling stucco.  that bikes are little fingerprints of their owners . . . two extra seats for babies, a wagon for groceries, a seat covered for rain with an H&M bag.  that people are so freaking cool looking, effortlessly in their skinny pants and perfectly worn in boots.  and that while they look like they are too cool for school, they greet you with openness and english and a smile.

it goes like this.

we were supposed to go to this fancy place the day we landed.  i'm sure it would have been beautiful, an organic meal served in the greenhouse it was grown in. 

but we were tired.  so we opted for the other restaurant that we had originally looked into.  fraiche.  looked cool and it was closer. 

we ended up being the only people there for our early seating so we got to chat with the waiter (me: "i've never had sweetbreads . . . will i like them?"  him: "you will love them.  so good.  if you don't, you can have something else.") and the chef. 

we knew it would be awesome when he came to drop the amuse bouche and was like "yoooooo!" in an obviously new york accent.

but it gets so much smaller.

he is from ny.  with a stint in sf.  and as small sf worlds go, he knows beth loster.

HE KNOWS BETH LOSTER.

we end up having an amazing conversation.  he tells us about he and his wife's move from the states, the birth of this cool place that he's doing his way . . . fresh, seasonal, local, delicious.

i have the sweatbreads and love them.  i order the pork belly even though i always feel like pork belly is too fatty.  it's perfect. 

the next day, we get lost but manage to find a store that we wanted to find.  denham.  super cool.  i try on this black dress.  it's almost too low and it's absurdly expensive.  but i have this feeling about it.  i try on the size smaller and it's probably the most beautiful thing i have ever had on.  nick had already graciously offered to buy it for my birthday.  yesssssss. 

as we are checking out, there is a lovely women standing behind us.  for a moment as we are almost finished, the cool looking shop guy is chatting with the girl in dutch.  and laughing. 

he says, "she is the designer.  she made this dress you are buying."

her name is barbara.  she is impossibly gracious.  saying that it's so good for her to see that people like her design and that they are coming out with a shorts version of the dress next season. 

flash forward to the night of the race, we don't have reservations.  we have a few recommendations from this super friendly guy that we met at a store (we ended up chatting for like half an hour during which he told us about the pool onto of the holiday inn in china town in sf as well as warning us that despite it being the number 1 tourist activity, we should, under no circumstances, ride a bike) but they were all too far.

nick finds this place online, Brasserie Vlaming.

despite it being fully booked, they let us sit at the bar.  a little skinny wooden plank near the entrance.  the staff is obviously overworked, two people in a 50 person place.  fully booked. 

eventually, we chat it up with and waiter and then, the owner.  he was a high paid director at a paper company before he lost an important account and lost interest.  he runs the two restaurants in his fleet with his son.  his wife created the recipe for the famous toffee cake that he made us order (it was amazing).  she spent two years cooking every one of the desserts in their home kitchen before she finally gave the recipe to the restaurant chefs.  the pork nick had was from a farm where they get massaged and my beef was from a company that only picks up one farm's cattle at a time, because cows don't like strange cows.  and then they put them in a holding pen that's round, because cows don't like shadows.

we spent a good hour extra, just talking.  talking about running and restaurants and life and family. 

how lovely.

to meet these people a half a world away.  to connect to them.  and to be reminded that while we are very small in the universe, the world is just as small. 

and a good reminder that if you put yourself out there, life won't disappoint you. 

stockholm / day 4

seriously.

do i realize the formatting on the post below is totally f-ed? yes. can i help it with this ridiculous blogger/internet business that i'm dealing with?  NO.

don't judge me.  i'm already annoyed with it.

look at it and then check back for when it's beautiful.  (maybe this is a life metaphor?  no, it's just shitty wifi.)

stockholm / day three / man, it's cold here

oh just a random viking with a bloody skull, buying a hotdog.  no big d.

stockholm / day two / this place is magic

stockholm is officially my new favorite city, outside of our beloved SF, der. 

it's just . . . i don't know.  elegant.  quiet.  lovely.  as beautiful as paris without the attitude.  expensive as f%$@.  and totally worth it.

 

btw, these last two are from the wasa museum aka nick's favorite new spot.  basically in the the 1600's the swedish built a huge boat.  hundreds of crew, fancy gold and colored pants. lots of trees used, i'm sure. 

and then it sank.  i'm not entirely sure, but i think on it's maiden voyage.  whoops!  anywho, in the 1960's, they fished it out.  and by fished it out, i mean did some crazy shit that involved diving bells and brass suits and tunnels.  it now lives out of the ocean, in a cool museum.  pretty amazing to see.

after that, we headed to rosendal tradgard.

i was pretty excited.

this is probably the most amazing place ever.  a garden and greenhouse in the middle of a giant park.  the garden feeds the restaurant on the grounds.  we got there too late for lunch but had these molasses cardamom cookies (i know, dan, who am i?  the two worst ingredients!) and pretty much the most delicious carrot cake in the world. 

in the summer you can pick your own flowers and veggies and apples.  yeah.  pretty amazing.