Amsterdam-Paris

There are a few things that I really miss about the U.S. Milk is one of them--I'm a really big milk drinker at home, but the stuff in Europe is a different beast altogether. Most of it isn't even refrigerated. It's decent when it's warm (like in a cafe au lait), but at room temperature it's just plain gross. I've also had a major mexican food craving--real mexican food, spicy and with lots of cheese. I spent yesterday gathering ingredients for enchiladas. I was particularly worried about getting jalapenos (spicy food isn't popular in France), but they were easy--tortillas were not. Just in case you're in a similar pinch in Paris, try the Galleries Lafayette. It's a huge department store with a massive grocery section. They have just about everything--mexican, asian, indian, you name it. They only carry flour tortillas, but it was a definite improvement over the pita bread I was considering using. There is also a great view from the roof of the opera house and the eiffel tower.

Amsterdam was very cold, almost too cold to walk around outside. Physically it reminds me a lot of lower Manhattan. I didn't love it, though it was definitely worth the trip to the Anne Frank House. There's very little in it (the furnishings were removed at the end of the war), but there are short video clips throughout that illustrate the rooms and what life was like in them. Being there is very upsetting, but positive too--I'm glad that it exists to remind people of what happened.

If you're planning a trip to Amsterdam, do two things: go in mid to late April (I missed the tulip season by two weeks, which is supposed to be spectacular) and wait until 2008. The Rijksmuseum, which is one of the best in Europe, in under renovation for the next several years. They have a few small rooms open, but it's really not worthwhile to pay 9 euros for 20 minutes of art. Yes, it's good art, but still. Wait until the rest of the collection is open. The Van Gogh museum, right down the street, is very interesting. I had no idea of the range of Van Gogh's art. He went through a brief "Japanese" phase and copied numerous Japanese prints, including one by Hiroshege that I really liked. The museum does a great job of explaining what his life was like and who he was.