Savoring the Spectacle
by Carol Bengle Gilbert
In a trusting display
of affection and courage, my husband embraced my ambitious plan to
craft a European-style “spectacle” to introduce our children to
Europe. In my single days, I joyfully explored the Continent in
the most spontaneous manner imaginable, rarely bothering with even
a first night’s bed reservation. Now, after a decade-long lull, I
yearn to set off with my family, to share the essence of my
wanderlust. As a group of five traveling in high tourist season,
we will need some structure in our itinerary, but I’m determined
not to let the sacrifice of impulsivity obliterate the surprise
and whimsy that make foreign travel so alluring.
Our goal is to create a trip that will capture the feel of Europe,
encouraging the kids to embrace the foreignness of the sights,
sounds, smells, tastes and textures and to become giddy,
delighted, mesmerized and Eurified. We want each country our kids
visit to mark them with a palpable sensory imprint to forever
remind them of their 2004 summer escapades. During the “would we
really do this?” stage of discussions, we began to identify our
theoretical trip design as a “kidspirational” six-week journey of
discovery analogous to the European spectacle. But could we really
string together enough hands-on activities, fanciful lodging,
amusing eateries and quaint local customs to create our own
vacation spectacle? After months of research, I’m pleased to say
the answer is yes.
Amidst Tulips and Windmills
Stop one is Amsterdam, where we’ll spend our sleepy time floating
on the canal in a 12-cabin river barge named Juliana. This barge,
first class all the way, will appease the grown-ups with its
quality while intriguing the kids with its novelty. While in
Amsterdam, we’ll take in a local circus, but not as spectators. In
the Circustheater Elleboog, it’s our children who will perform the
acrobatics, brave the tightrope, juggle and clown, after getting
instruction from professional circus performers, an option
available on “non-member days.” Similarly, the gourmet dining
experience we’ll look forward to on Saturday night will feature
our two older children as chefs. At Kinderkookkaffe, the entire
restaurant is operated by children 6-12 under the supervision of
unseen adult guides. We’ll drop off our kids in the mid-afternoon
and return at dinner time for a scrumptious feast planned and
directed by a chef and prepared and served by our own little
darlings and others like them.
As we drive through the Netherlands, we’ll seek out attractions
with comparable kid-appeal. Our kids will need to brush up on
their fortune-telling skills to enhance our stay in a gypsy
caravan at Herberg de Emauspoort in Delft. While there’s plenty to
do both in Delft and nearby Rotterdam, one surprise attraction
stands out. No advance announcement; rather, we’ll lie in wait for
the kids’ first whimper about the summer swelter. When it
surfaces, we’ll whisk them away to the nearby town of Zoetermeer.
Readers expecting mention of a water park are thinking too
conventionally. Our destination is Snow World, an indoor alpine
center chilled to a frosty -5º C and piled high with man-made snow
where our kids can snowboard, tube or even take ski lessons. Snow
World rents any equipment we may need, and they even have a
slope-side store in case mindless seasonal affectation catches us
sans mittens.
In Noord Brabant, some 60 miles south of Amsterdam, the kids will
delight in our transformation into Huck, Jim and company as we
take up residence on a four room covered raft for a few days. It’s
not 4 star, but it does boast a gas ring for cooking and
mattresses on which to lay our weary bones. We’ll float over to De
Dintelse Gorzen nature preserve, exploring the pristine
countryside at a leisurely pace. When we return our raft to
Akkerman’s Outdoor Centre, we’ll take advantage of one or two of
their other offerings like high rope courses, climbing walls, and
archery. Then we’ll make a quick trip to Efteling, one of the few
carefully-selected amusement parks on our itinerary. What
distinguishes Efteling from the run of the mill amusement parks is
its fairytale forest populated by dwarves, witches and sundry
personages from the tales of Grimm and the 1001 Arabian Nights.
There, the kids can straddle a painted stallion for a spirited
gallop on one of the few remaining salon steam carousels in
operation. This carefully preserved relic, complete with
manikin-ornamented façade, pay box, organ, and tent enclosure,
evokes nostalgia for the traveling fairs of old. Its uniquely
European flavor qualified it for inclusion on our purposefully
sparse list of amusement parks to visit.
We’ll overnight at De Koperen Hoogte, a five-star hotel in a
converted water tower in Zwolle. This one’s mainly for Dad, whom
we hope to cheer on to victory in his quest to land a hole-in-one
on the floating green of the country’s only 18 hole, par 3 golf
course and win a Mercedes SLK. But the kids will get a charge out
of the hotel’s revolving restaurant and our trip to the shoemaker.
Brothers Bernard and Martin Dijkman operate a 4th generation
clog-making workshop in Luttenberg, Klompen Atelier, where
visitors can watch them transform ordinary blocks of wood into
pointy-toed shoes. While more than half of the klompen produced in
the Netherlands annually are used as souvenirs, over a million
pairs are sold to natives who actually wear them. They come in a
surprising variety of styles including boots, high heels, and even
bridal clogs. Traditionally, they were painted in colors and
patterns that reflected the hometown of the wearer. Who knows, we
may even buy some to wear ourselves, having learned that they make
great gardening footwear.
One of the highlights of our trip is sure to be our introduction
to those quaint Friesland customs, wadlopen and fierljeppen.
Wadlopen involves mud, a substance inherently attractive to all
three of my kids. With a tour operator, we’ll plod through North
Sea shallows at high tide, getting plenty of exercise and plenty
muddy as well. Our companion adventure, fierljeppen, was
originally a convenient (so to speak) means of locomotion for
farmers-- pole vaulting over canals. There’s nothing simple about
fierljeppen: the jumper sprints to a pole temporarily propped up
by a fork-wielding associate, grabs hold of it, shimmies to the
top, willing the pole to balance, while propelling himself forward
over a muddy moat to a sandy landing. If he misses, the sport
starts looking like wadlopen all over again. While it sounds
humorous, successful fierljeppen requires great strength and
agility. Naturally, the best vaulters compete against one another
and are considered to be among the world’s top athletes. Through
one of the fierljeppen clubs, we’ll book a demonstration and
trial, the latter mainly to obtain what we presume will be
hysterical video and remembrances.
Of Mermaids and Vikings
Our next destination is Denmark, land of Hans Christian Andersen
and Vikings. We’ll start our exploration in northeast Jutland
where, after spending the night in a circus wagon and play house
at Mortensen’s Eco Farm, we’ll skip along in a southerly direction
seeing small attractions in a variety of towns. Our first major
challenge will be a scavenger hunt. Using a map provided by the
tourist office in Århus, our map-reading detectives will attempt
to locate all of the 20 tree sculptures peppered throughout the
Marselisborg Wood. We’re advised that this is a tricky
proposition, even for the navigationally savvy. Later in the day,
we’ll stop in the town of Egtved just long enough to examine the
Fairy Tale Tree on Dalgade. This lone tree trunk contains Russian
carvings of scenes from every Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
It will be the first of several Hans Christian Andersen
attractions we encounter.
The oldest town in Denmark, Ribe retains its medieval cobbled
streets and timbered buildings. While there, we’ll bunk down in a
former prison cell. Den Gamle Arrest’s one amenity is a view of
nesting storks, a view undoubtedly not available when convicts
dwelled within. Before our nighttime lockdown, we’ll partake of a
charming old world custom, accompanying the town’s night watchman
on his rounds. The tradition of towns employing night watchmen
died out in the early part of the last century. Nonetheless, the
custom of the watchman checking windows for forgotten candles that
might ignite fire-prone thatched roofs or curtains billowing in
the wind lives on in the tourist industry. As an added bonus,
Ribe’s night watchman sings ballads in the vise style
characteristic of Scandinavia.
In Copenhagen, we’ll visit Sømod’s Bolcher, a century-old Danish
bon-bon manufacturer, to see the candy crafted by hand and to buy
some edible souvenirs for the kids’ friends. We expect this
enterprise to illuminate the reason Denmark holds the world record
for annual per capita candy consumption. We’ll dine at a
sing-a-long restaurant in Tivoli Gardens. When tired of tourist
attractions, we’ll set the kids free exploring some unusual
playgrounds designed by architect Helle Nebelong, who believes
children’s play spaces should be unpredictable and appealing to
all of the senses. Her inspirations range from asymmetrical
cathedralesque towers to rock crossings, willow huts and round
bridges. Ms. Nebelong professes that in addition to giving her
playgrounds a creative edge, asymmetry promotes safety, by keeping
the kids on guard during each step of their play.
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The
Ruination of Runes
Like the Darwinian principle survival of the
fittest, languages without sufficient expressive
capabilities are trampled upon and overtaken by
wordier specimens. At least that’s what happened to
ancient rune writing. Once prevalent in Denmark,
rune writing fell into disuse when challenged by the
Roman language’s sophistication. The most exciting
way to encounter rune writing today is to travel to
Jelling, home of the mysterious runic stones. These
stones adorn the graves of tenth century rulers King
Gorm, his wife Thyre, and their son the celebrated
King Harald Bluetooth. Kids can learn to write in
runes before a trip to Denmark at www.vikingworld.dk.
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Outside Copenhagen on
the island of Zealand, we’ll visit the Viking Ship Museum in
Roskilde to learn skills like rope-making, coin-making, writing in
runes, and wicker-making. Best of all, we’ll team with other
museum visitors to row a Faeroese boat, a descendent of a Viking
ship, across the Roskilde Fjord. For a more modern perspective on
world history and politics, we’ll tour the U-359 Submarine Museum
in Nakskov. This authentic Russian submarine, donated by former
Soviet President Mikael Gorbachov, served in Cuba during the Bay
of Pigs crisis. Many working mechanical parts invite touching. To
spice up the experience, the museum authorities “hired” a “ghost
crew” to bark orders and cheer victories. We might need earplugs
to deaden the sounds of alarm bells, torpedo firings, sonar
strikes and diesel engines at full throttle, all designed to give
a full sensory impression of life aboard a sub.
In Red Riding Hood’s Footsteps
Leaving the land of Hans Christian Andersen, we’ll enter the
Brothers Grimm territory, Germany’s Fairy Tale Road. Our route
will be speckled with castles, towers, scenery and traditions that
underlie the duo’s famed collection of folk tales. Beyond the folk
tale attractions, we’ll sample some of the more exotic of the
region’s offerings. Bremen offers two new space attractions as
well as a pirate ship cruise. Little Verden is home to Magicpark
Verden, where magicians razzle-dazzle their audience, then mentor
kids in performing sleight of hand. A walking trail with 150
life-size dinosaur models beckons at Dinosaur Park Münchehagen.
Children are invited to search for dinosaur bones in rock and
screen sand for fossils. Hameln is Pied Piper territory and among
its theme activities, the Rattenfangerhaus promises a rat-licious
luncheon. We’re making our stop there on a Wednesday so we can see
the offbeat musical comedy RATS! performed free on the town
square.
Our kids will never forget their overnight stay at Hofgut Stammen
in Trendelburg, bedding down on straw pallets in a barn
euphemistically described as a “straw hotel.” We’ll nestle into
the straw after a medieval dinner banquet at Castle Trendelburg
eaten without utensils to the accompaniment of Arabian minstrels
and a herald sharing legends from afar. Before retiring for the
night, however, we’ll attend an outdoor shadow theatre
performance. In Göttingen the next day, we’ll tour the Luisenhall
Saltworks whose pièce de résistence is a saltwater pool whose
buoyancy mirrors that of the Dead Sea and likewise holds bathers
afloat on the pool surface. Then it’s off to the Tillyschanze
Lookout Tower in Münden to join a torchlit procession in search of
the Tillyschanze ghost.
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Z’
Lauterbach hab’ ich mein Strumpf verlorn
Teaching children foreign-language folk songs
from the regions they will visit envelops them in
the local culture. Sung to a tune almost identical
to Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?, Z’
Lauterbach hab’ ich mein Strumpf verlorn parodies a
German tale about a little scalawag who loses his
sock while in the town of Lauterbach. The first
verse of this silly song is translated below the
German version.
Z’Lauterbach hab’ ich mein Strumpf verlorn
ohne Strumpf gein ich net hoam
gehn ich halt weider auf Lauterbach
hol mir an strumpf zu dem oan
I lost my sock in Lauterbach
Without sock I don’t go home
I must return to Lauterbach
To fetch me a sock for the one |
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Seeking close
encounters with garden gnomes and a chance to sing the silly folk
song “I lost my sock in Lauterbach,” we’ll traipse through the
two-castle town of Lauterbach. This town hosts the terminus of the
off-road cycle track up Bird Mountain through the extensive
Naturpark Hogher Vogelsberg, a volcanic landscape. Since the track
is gently graded, it will easily accommodate the little ones in
our family. Nevertheless, it’s reassuring to know that the
Volcanic Express train will come to our rescue if the kids become
pedal-weary. Besides biking, we’ll opt for summer bobsledding and,
time permitting, a covered wagon ride. The kids can rise at dawn
to pitch in and help with the farm work at Kurt Weigel’s farm, a
precious experience for our city-dwelling urchins. At night, we
can sing around the campfire and toast marshmallows.
Encounters with Giants
One of our aspirations is to behold the best summer folkloric
festivals the Continent has to offer. Among our top contenders are
four Belgian and five Spanish festivals. The Sand Sculpture
Festival takes place on the beach in Bruges, Belgium where
international artists construct six story tall theme sculptures,
while children mimic their building skills nearby. Dinant’s
International Bathtub Regatta features an unconventional race of
adorned bathtubs bobbling along the Meuse River. We’re also
charmed by Mons’ Procession of the Golden Chariot and Battle of
the Lumecon, a raucous modern-day rendition of the legend of St.
George slaying the dragon. As the dragon whacks fairgoers with its
tail, they tear at ribbons and tail hair in pursuit of good
fortune. In Brussels’ Ommegang parade, giants march alongside
water birds, nobles, pages and science fiction monsters. A recent
addition to the festivities is the Roller Parade, a combination of
show and participatory sport. Skates can be rented on site by
folks like us who might impulsively decide to join in the fun.
Spain’s Andalucia region tempts us with Anguiano stilt dancers,
while Barcelona offers Castillian acrobat towers, Buñol a massive
tomato fight, Vilagarcía de Arousa a public cross-hosing with fire
hoses, water pistols and spray bottles, and Santiago de Compostela
a witch who sweeps parade-goers off the street. The unfortunate
fact is we won’t be able to attend all of these festivals due to
improvident scheduling; pondering which festivals to sacrifice
immobilizes our final planning time and again.
Those Stimulating “S” Countries
The Swiss Alps offer exposure to traditional enterprises like
cheese making, yodeling and alphorn blowing, as well as the less
conventional experience of zorbing, or rolling down a large hill
inside a gargantuan plastic ball. Though we’re curious to watch
someone else zorb, we’re probably not gutsy enough to try it
ourselves. But, making and printing on paper at Basler
Papiermühler, a Galician paper mill, that’s something for us. And
eating in Basel’s Palazzo Colombino, a circus restaurant whose
wait staff are authentic comedians and will entertain us between
circus acts, another go. We’ll investigate the new Erich von
Däniken theme park in Interlaken where kids can use a laser beams
to send messages with their photos on them into outer space.
(Chuckle at the image of an unwitting alien intercepting these
messages and concluding our planet is populated by munchkins with
halting literacy skills.) We’ll navigate a tunnel through an
authentic glacier at Saas Fee Glacier Village, but pass on
crossing a canyon with steel ropes, ladders, Tyrolienne and a
suspension bridge.
Snuggled into our cave accommodations in Guadix in Spain’s
Andalucia region, we’ll snooze like hibernating bears. By day,
tile makers at their trade and a visit to the mad monk’s dungeon
at Castillo de Conde de Alfaz will occupy us. If our children can
refrain from jousting with each other long enough, we’ll stick
around for the Castillo’s display of medieval jousting and
horsemanship. Our introduction to flamenco will be made in gypsy
dwellings. In Northern Spain, we’ll ride on the country’s only
funicular railway in Navarré, explore San Pedro de Rocar, a 6th
century rock church, and examine megaliths.
A Tribute to Madeleine
Paris was not in our original plan, but with the kids universally
exclaiming over the Eiffel Tower at the mere mention of the
Continent, the need for revision became apparent. So, we found the
quirkiest attractions the city has to offer, including a
collection of idiosyncratic cafés: Le Trésor has goldfish in its
toilet tanks, L’Étoile Manquante astral projection mirrors on its
bathroom walls. Oya Café rents a collection of board games whose
diversity is worthy of the United Nations. At the “no adults
allowed” supervised fantasy theme gardens at Jardin des Enfants du
Forum des Halles, our kids can join Parisian children at play,
chortling all the while about the serendipitous exclusion of
parents. We’ll sign our kids up for an afternoon culinary workshop
at Ritz-Escoffier and “drop in” at Rollerparc Avenue, the second
largest skatepark in the world. In Paris and elsewhere throughout
our trip, we’ll be on the lookout for funny signs to photograph,
like the ones indicating places for dogs to relieve themselves.
When inclined to pursue the Holy Grail, we’ll make a side trip to
Merlin’s Forest outside Paimont to retrace the Arthurian legend.
Brussels for Sprouts
Rather than buy souvenirs crafted of the famed Bruges lace, our
kids will learn to make the lace themselves at the Lace Centre
Shop in Bruges. They’ll look out on the capital city of Brussels
from high up in a tethered air balloon and travel about town in a
Vélotaxi. The rickshaw-inspired Vélotaxi looks astonishingly like
a Little Tykes kiddie car. It is similarly leg-powered, not by a
toddler, but a grown man, although it does boast an electric
assist. My husband agreed to this mode of travel only after
confirming that he is not the intended power source. Among our
destinations in Brussels are two mazes, one an underground maze by
the Hotel Bellevue and the other a sniffing maze at Scientastic.
For eccentric dining, our choice is Le Restaurant de L’Étrange
where the kids won’t dare complain about the food. Would you
complain about a meal brought to you by a witch or, worse luck, an
executioner? We plan to put their novelty meters to the test, for
in addition to some standard fare, this restaurant dishes up
zebra, camel, croc and kanga. We don’t expect them to actually
taste these unusual entrées, but we suspect they’ll be talking
about them for a long time, along with the living statue in
vampiric form who peers over the shoulders of diners as they fill
up. A whirlwind smorgasbord of the city’s most exotic ice creams
will include Lanni Giovanni’s Schtroumpf’s Bleu (Blue Smurf), as
well as Boule Rouge’s tomato, lavender and fennel, flavors so odd
we’ll have to try them all. We’re curious about a local specialty
called Speculoos, billed as a bisquit flavor ice cream, and the
macaroon, melon, chestnut and Moulin Rouge flavors purveyed about
town.
On our way back to Amsterdam, our son, who imagined himself a
future astronaut until he discovered computers, will have his
chance to undergo astronaut training with other children age 10
and up at the Eurospace Center and Space Show in Transinne. There
he can conquer weightless walking, spin ad nauseum on multi-axis
and rotating chairs, sacrifice movement to within “5 degrees of
freedom,” steer a Manned Maneuvering Unit and feel the effects of
simulated micro gravity. After this experience, the plane ride
home should be a breeze. Riding home with our children on the
wings of that breeze will be not only fond memories of frolic and
festivity but, we are confident, a spark of our own untameable
enthusiasm for the grand spectacle that is Europe.
© Carol Bengle Gilbert 2004
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