MY NOSE KNOWS!

Allergy insanity, already? Perhaps somebody should have warned me about this fifteenth day of March. "Beware the ides of March, dear Super, your head may rupture. Get thee to the apothecary, petition for Zyrtec!"

I've written about it before... Claritin is a joke. "Claritin Clear" my ass - OF COURSE YOU'RE CLEAR, THE PILLS ARE MADE OF SUGAR. Zyrtec is the only thing that works to fight super allergies and at $50 smackers (that I just don't have), I am left with a headache lasting 3 days. Claritin ends up being just as expensive, but the crap couldn't prevent an allergy attack in Antarctica. The difference is you can buy Claritin a few pills at a time which is a little more reasonable for my pocketbook.
******
"Oops, I dropped my cape!" The normal solution is to bend over and retrieve it. However, without Zyrtec, bending over results in blinding pain right behind my eyes. I see dead people. And those people are the insurance assholes who tell me Claritin is an over-the-counter alternative to Zyrtec.

That's like trying to buy a porche and being told, "Here ya' go! This lovely 1983 Oldsmobile Firenza is fabulous. You'll never know the difference!"

Europe, Part Three. (Pack a great attitude!)

Here is the third installment of my European trip. This is the final email sent to my family and friends, but I'm sure I'll have more to tell as I remember.

On Sunday, I spoke to my friend in Germany whom I was supposed to visit. Mind you, it was my birthday and I was a bit put off that he cancelled citing "a nasty breakup with his girlfriend." I wanted to say, "Now, lookey here, Mister, this kinda messes up my trip!" but, of course, I told him it was fine and I understood.

Then I hung up the phone and thought to myself, "Well, screw it! I'll go to Paris." So I did.

My friend, Arrogant Dutchman (AD), asked about my Germany plans and I told him the details and I'd decided to go to Paris. He was a bit surprised at my spontaneity, but offered to go along to Paris! Very cool of him seeing as how he speaks French and knows the city quite well. And I don't speak French and have never been to the city. We jumped a four hour train to Pareee and were there by the afternoon.

Straight to the Louvre where quite frankly, I was overwhelmed. First of all, there were so many people (read: idiots) being stupid. Pushing, shoving, stopping in the middle of a stairway, IDIOTS. Mostly, I enjoyed the David room -amazing HUGE paintings of historical events. Unbelievable. I was somewhat underwhelmed by the Mona Lisa; quite honestly all those people making a scene kinda detracts from the experience; the same was true for the Venus. Okay, okay... truth be told, I'd worn a pair of socks in which the seam rubbed my baby toe raw and I could hardly stand it. At one point, AD stopped after a flight of stairs and asked what was wrong with my face. I didn't know what he meant until he said every time we approached stairs my face would tense up. I told him I might need to stop a moment to cut off my baby toe. Knowing my time in Paris was pressed, I forced a smile and kept on going.

After the Louvre closed, I needed medication for my ailing foot. Medication comes in the form of alcohol, and with all the excitement and pain, I drank far too much at THE COOLEST BAR EVER. This bar was nothing but wine and books (read: HEAVEN!).

The next day was gorgeous. Mid-50s and sunshine prompted sunglasses (the hangover may have insisted the sunglasses), and grabbing a sandwich for a morning in the park. AD read a newspaper and seeing as how I can't read French, I just ate my sandwich and watched people. Mostly it was people making out, but I did make two observations: French men are gross; French women posses something 'special' that I can only hope for. Seriously, French men are lacking in hygiene and manners and do not NOT NOT deserve those beautiful French women. TWICE, while walking the streets, French men made kissy noises at me. The first time, AD laughed; the second time the offenders were three 16-ish looking boys, so AD smiled and put his arm around me. After the boys passed AD had the biggest laugh about the whole thing. I wanted to throw him into the Seine for his shenanigans.

I asked AD about what makes French women so 'special' and we agreed it's just something inexplicable. This leads me to the best moment I had in Paris. I WAS STOPPED BY AN ITALIAN WOMAN TRYING TO ASK ME DIRECTIONS IN FRENCH. An Italian woman thought I was French. I looked at AD and said, "You realize what just happened?" and he said something like, "Yeah, we won't be able to fit your giant head back on the train."

Then to the Museum D'Orsay. This museum ranked up there with the Van Gogh museum for me. It was beautiful itself, laid out well, and just nice to be in. Not to mention, they had four paintings of a series of 26 by Monet. Two of the cathedral paintings are in the DC National Gallery of Art and I absolutely love them. To see four more of the series took my breath away and I was a little overwhelmed. I did not know the paintings were housed in the D'Orsay and I was taken aback.

The next day was just wandering around the city until taking the train back to Amsterdam just in time to make it to a concert at the Concergebouw Orchestra! I know the Concertgebouw for a couple of reasons: 1) I worked at a classical music station and many of my favorite classical music recordings were produced there; 2) The acoustics are known worldwide for being near perfect. Amazing. Afterwards, I met up with Awout, Suzann and AD at a pub right by the concert hall. There were a bunch of the musicians from the concert there and it was just a very great time.

Thursday I made it (finally!) to the Rijksmuseum, and was fully relieved to find it under construction. It only took a couple of hours to make it through the limited collection and as I had grabbed my empty shoulder bag, I decided I needed two things before leaving Europe: books and music. I stopped into the coolest music store, Concerto, and bought a bundle of music that I'd heard while there, but isn't available in the States. Then I went to a bookstore and filled my bag with bookish treats. Seeing as how I'd read all of my books on the trains, it was necessary. Really.

Again, dinner and drinks with my new friends (who tried to talk me into staying! ha!) and a very very nice way to end an amazing trip.

Now I just have to plan my return...

Much love to all!
Super

Europe, Part Two. (Like riding a bike...)

Email update #2 from Super's European Adventures... Stay tuned, I throw a curve ball in update #3!

Hallo!
Today's email update will be a little shorter and somewhat a preview of what I've been up to.
What a few busy days!

Friday was amazing as I took the train to Lieden, a small college town about 30-40 minutes outside of town. Awout, Suzann's boyfriend, is a scholar at the law school there and offered to show me around. At first I was skeptical, wondering what could be so special about it, but it may have been the most charming city I have ever witnessed. There was a certain glow about the town giving it a magical feel. This is mostly a town made of the university, however, it is from where the Pilgrims came. Their version of 'old' is far better than ours! And all the tiny houses along the canals made it all a little bit dreamy at twilight. After Leiden, Arrogant Dutchman and I went to the National Ballet which was a little kitchy, but the dancing and orchestra were quite good.

Saturday morning began early as Arrogant Dutchman (AD) and I took the train about an hour outside of Amsterdam to Wegeningen and visited his mother and father, Tessa and Henk. As we were putting our coats on to go to the train station AD looks at me with a little worry and says, "You DO know how to cycle, right?"
Honestly, the only way I could answer was, "I... I... I'm not sure." The trouble on his face was disconcerting but we pressed on.

Tessa took us to the National Park where we rode bicycles to a fabulous museum in the middle of the forest. The way it works is, there are all these bicycles that belong to the park and you pick one out and ride around all day or ride to the museum. AD and I had another shared moment of panic when we could not find a bicycle with pedals I could reach. There was a brief time of me eyeballing a kids bicycle and saying, "Oh please please please NO." Then, Tessa spotted a tandem bike and suggested AD and I ride that. Sheer panic struck his face and it became his mission to find me my own.

After finding a fit, I then had to mount and ride the damn thing. Mind you, I have not been on a bike since possibly high school... fifteen years. It was also a challenge as I was bundled up in my long winter coat. I knew I was going to die.

However, obviously, I did not die and in fact did not even crash! And I only got caught up in one tree. I won't elaborate... it's too hard to explain how I managed to find myself stuck in the branches of a tree not even close to the paved trail.

We pedaled away and arrived at the Kroller-Muller Museum which is: A magnificent amalgamation of art, architecture and nature. Amidst unspoilt natural surroundings, the Kröller-Müller Museums collection centres on the extensive collection of works by Vincent van Gogh and the world famous sculpture garden.
And there was this little gem of which a print hangs in my kitchen. I'm so disgusted with the print after seeing the real thing...

That was the majority of the day, then they had me over for dinner for a bit of Dutch lifestyle. Very nice time but my ass hurts from the bicycle. But yes, I. RODE. A. BICYCLE. AND. DID. NOT. DIE.
More to come!
Love,
Super

Europe, Part One.

After much thought, I've decided not to hang up my cape and retire the blog. I'm back from Europe and can not wait for my next visit! To catch you up, here is an email I sent to family and friends while there. I will follow with other email instalments made during my visit.

Hello!
I just wanted to check in and let you know I'm doing quite well with my trip. The jet lag was horrible due to not one, not two but THREE babies crying the entire flight over. I felt badly for the babies, and quite frankly, having taken an Ambien with a glass of wine made me loopy. With the racket, drugs and wine I may or may not have been a disaster upon arrival. My schedule is still a bit wonky, but I'm working it out.
Wednesday I wandered around the city a bit and visited a couple of churches. The first church was your typical gaudy monstrosity that leaves you wondering just what to gawk at next. The second church I visited was a very neat 'hidden' Catholic church. It was built inside the attics of three houses during the prosecution of the Catholics. From the outside, it looks like a normal row of houses, but inside and up a windy staircase there is a large church. There were even two balconies and an organ! The organ was very cool as it was quite small; only 4 1/2 octaves and the keys and pipes were tiny.
Here I was going to try to find a clever way to segue into "The Miracle of Amsterdam", but really, it's too strange. Regardless, I want to tell the story because it's all over here. I'm going to get this wrong, but here goes anyhow... Waaaaaaaay back when, there was a man on his deathbed who a priest visited to administer the sacrament. The man vomited up the sacrament into a chamber pot. When the contents of the pot were dumped into the garbage and incinerated, everything was burned except the pristine sacrament. My reaction is along the lines of "Yuck.", but the people here think it's a pretty great miracle.
Yesterday, I spent the day at the Van Gogh museum and if I get the chance, I want to re-visit before I leave here! The museum was phenomenal and seeing so many impressionist works was beautiful! I truly love Van Gogh and it was the best collection I could have hoped for. After the museum closed, I met up with my friend, Arrogant Dutchman, and four of his (whom I now consider MY friends, as well!) friends for dinner and drinking. It was a lot of fun and they were all great people. One girl, Suzanne, was particularly nice and we compared our political party systems. Quite interesting; The Netherlands has many parties and smart voters have to think more strategically rather than just voting their heart, so to speak. Otherwise, the Parliament can end up with a very divided vote and nothing will get accomplished.
Today I am going to the Rijksmuseum and will have more to report after that!
Much love,
Super