One of the highlights of my recent visit to Germany was a day-trip to Amsterdam. City of canals and free puff. Amsterdam is about a 2.5 hour drive from Düsseldorf, on the Autobahn all the way. Zum zum. At our first approach into the city, we noticed the lovely houseboats moored on the canals, and […]
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Some Like It Raw: Mettbroetchen in Düsseldorf
On my second day in Düsseldorf, my friends Hans and Marie took me to a series of Düsseldorf brauhauses. If you’re religious, you know that a brauhaus is where good beer drinkers go after they die. Beer hall/beer garden, flowing with home brew. No need to head to the bar as a waiter makes frequent […]
Sidestreets of Düsseldorf and Cologne
“Facebook just sounds like a drag. In my day, seeing pictures of people’s vacations was considered a punishment.” – Betty White Consider this yours. You’ve done something. I don’t know what, but you’ve done something to deserve this. It’s no secret that my love for side streets has blossomed since I’ve moved to Europe. Winding, […]
How to Play With Your Friend’s Child When You Don’t Speak the Same Language
Bring a gift. I don’t know. Candy. A video game; how much do they cost these days? A stuffed animal – perhaps a small white lamb with an orange-and-green scarf around its neck and a four leaf clover stamped on its ear. ‘Cause lambs are symbols of Ireland, you know. Where daddy’s former host sister […]
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When Worlds Collide
Grow up in America and you might equate potato pancakes with Hanukkah. Here in Germany, however, potato pancakes – or Kartoffelpuffers – are eaten year round by all; usually at streetmarkets, enjoyed with a glass of cold wine or beer. In Cologne, where we’re spending the day, they call ’em Schnibbelkuchens. Me? I call ’em […]
To the Man With the Tweed Hat Who Sat Next to Me on the 128 Bus…
… and eyed me for a good five minutes before asking me, “And where are you from yourself?” and then, “New York? So you’re American. You know, we get a lot of foreigners in Ireland these days. They’re on the social welfare and they’re doing odd jobs and they don’t speak English. Immigrants, you know […]
Life is Easy in the Green
One term paper down; one more to go. Getting to that M.Phil inch by inch, even if it kills me to sit still and concentrate during this glorious Irish spring. Case in point: the other day, I went to to school to pretend to get some work done, but was too distracted to accomplish much […]
It’s a Jungle Out There
This is what I see as I leave the house in the morning: A veritable jungle at my doorstep. The spring rains have encouraged the greenery to grow lusher and lusher, until I’m obliged to hack my way through the brush every time I want to leave the house. Well done, Mother Nature – ’tis […]
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Potato Famine? My Arse.
So it’s El Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo for you, that is; they don’t do Cinco de Mayo here in Ireland. But that’s okay; I don’t need no estinking margaritas or nachos or mariachis because I have POTATOES. Read ’em and weep, putos.
Someone’s Knocking at the Door… in Dublin
They tell you that Dublin is a dangerous city; rough and full of crime, like New York City used to be before Giuliani turned it into the Disneyland of your twenties. Listen, people say. You’re not to go wandering about the seedier parts of town, where the knackers in their track suits are running about. […]