Yotam Ottolenghi & Noor Murad: An Extra Good Night – A Review

Posted on December 8, 2022 by admin

A QR code was provided to allow audience interaction

I love to eat and I love food so when an opportunity arose to see one of the world’s most famous celebrity chefs speak at the Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre, London, it was too good to pass up. The location itself right on the Thames is wonderful. Exiting Embankment Tube Station and seeing the Southbank Centre on the opposite bank and the dome of St Paul’s cathedral lit up in the night is exquisite!

The big question is, can a 2 hour show talking about food, without any prospect of eating any food, be engaging and entertaining . The theatre was about 90% full and there were plenty of groups of friends, mostly groups of ladies who had come together.. They were armed for the show with their wines (in plastic cups for safety). Judging by their chatter and laughter in the bathroom after the show, they had a great time and were very jolly from the drinks!

I was seated very far back so despite the promise of some test kitchen action, I could tell I was much too far back to get even one molecule of delicious food aroma. The only “cooking” done in the test kitchen was really just the addition of some condiments, oils and sauces to some pre-cooked eggplant.

Yotam Ottolenghi is a really well known chef of Middle Eastern Heritage who has released several books and has a number of restaurants throughout London. This Middle Eastern heritage permeates through his vegetable heavy recipes. His recipes are delicious but somewhat complicated and time consuming for the weeknight cook. He is married to a man from Northern Ireland, Karl, but despite this, he is an absolute favourite amongst the ladies. Noor Murad is a chef from Bahrain and heads up Ottolenghi’s Test Kitchen.

Together, they led us through this evening. First, they discussed the various chapters of their new book, Extra Good Things. The concept of the book is about having flavoured oils, condiments, crunchy additions, sauces, etc. to add that something special to your dish. These “extra good things” can be made, kept and used to jazz up other dishes in the coming days, thereby adding flavour with no extra work. There was some audience interaction during the show with the use of a QR code and some audience voting. They also added some condiments to basic cooked eggplant to show how adding condiments can elevate a simple dish. This added a lot of levity because one of the audience members who got to try the dish was an absolute die-hard fan. She told Ottolenghi that she had written many love letters to him and he had changed her life. At the end, she went in for a number of hugs. It was awkward and very funny.

What food inspiration did I gain from the night?

To Ottolenghify a dish is to add a twist to a basic dish e.g. by adding more seeds, salsa, feta, herbs, flavoured oils, lemon etc.
Shanklish are balls of strained yoghurt, like labneh, with flavourings stirred through and then left at room temperature for about 5 days to develop a blue cheese funk. (I’m not convinced on this one!)
Green Tahini – a blend of parsley, lemon juice, tahini and garlic. Sounds yum!
Tomato sauce with cumin, chilli and cinnamon to make an eggplant parmigiana pie with a kataifi topping.
Dukkah to add crunch such as on baked root vagetables with harissa chickpeas.
Crispy garlic for the flavoured oil and the texture of the fried garlic.
Rocket pesto – for a dish of pasta and beans with a shower of grated haloumi over the top. Haloumi as the new parmesan!
Caramel clementine dressing with the blackened chicken. The clementines adding the freshness to the rich dish. (The quality and sweetness of the clementines or mandarins you can get in the UK is extraordinary so I can believe that this would be a heavenly dish!)
Zaatar tomatoes which have been confit in balsamic vinegar and spooned over polenta.
Smoky chipotle oil made with smoked praprika, chipotle flakes and galic
Jammy peppers, slow cooked with onions.
Celebration rice – rice with lamb, chicken, herbs, nuts, pomegranate seeds.
Meringue roulade made with brown sugar for extra chewiness and filled with caramelised apples flavoured with vanilla and bayleaf.

It turns out that one of Ottolenghi’s favourite cuisines is Malaysian cuisine. He said that one of his dessert island dishes is Nasi Lemak, coconut rice with all kinds of toppings. (I didn’t realise that one could choose more than one dessert island food. Seems like cheating!) His favourite store bought biscuit is a milk chocolate digestive. He was silent for ages before answering this audience question. I suspect it has been a very long time since Ottolenghi has sampled a store bought biscuit!

The evening was very amusing at times because there would be a lot of detailed discussion about a particular dish or perhaps a photo on the big screen. Sometimes, the audience would let out a audible moan that vocalised their of longing and desire for the food, their frustration at being unable to eat it at that very moment and their admiration at the concept.

Yotam Ottolenghi was asked what he was serving on Christmas day. It turns out Christmas is the one day he is not allow to Ottolenghify the food as his Irish husband wants a traditional Christmas of his youth. Poor Ottolenghi has to make it through the Christmas meal with his homemade chilli sauce to add some spice to his plate. He seemed very anti-gravy. He said it was a sin to cover up all your good work on the plate with gravy.

It was a fun night. It’s always interesting to see how food is such a reflection of a person’s heritage, memories and life experiences. I enjoyed being in the Royal Festival Hall and I love any talk about good food. It does pale to the eating of food though. Does it make me want to try some Ottolenghi recipes? Maybe. I still do think they are overcomplicated but I will definitely take aspects of them for inspiration.

Yotam Ottolenghi & Noor Murad: An Extra Good Night at the Royal Festival Hall

Southbank Centre – Lit up for Christmas. A terrible photo but you get the idea!

Impressions of London after 6 weeks

Posted on November 28, 2022 by admin

Well, after about 6 weeks of living in London, there is plenty to report back on this blog. Plenty of random observations and interesting titbits! Here they are vaguely grouped together into similar categories.

THE MAD, CRAZY LONDON RENTAL MARKET!

This topic deserves a section on it’s own. Currently the rental market in London is insane. There is a severe supply shortage and each potential new rental property is inundated with people wanting to rent it. Real estate agents often take the advertisement offline after 2 days because they are flooded with more interest than they can field. Prospective tenants offer more than the asking price or make their application more attractive by locking in much longer lease durations.

Viewing a rental property in London is quite inefficient and frustrating. Rental agencies rarely reply to online enquiries. If you call them, 90% of the time, the person you need is out of the office. So you leave your details for a call-back which 95% of the time never happens. When you finally, get a viewing time locked in, 60% of the time it will fall through. If you are lucky, you will be given a few hours of advanced notice of the cancellation. Perhaps the property has been taken off the market or perhaps access has not been properly organised with the current tenant. There are those unfortunate times when the viewing is cancelled at the time it is supposed to be held and you are already at the front door having wasted time and money getting there. Finding a rental took a huge amount of time. I shudder to think how someone with an ordinary job can manage it.

Strangely, rental viewings are generally done one interested party at a time. Doing a block viewing with multiple interested parties would seem more time efficient for the tenants and the agents yet this is not the done thing in London. So an agent could show a tenanted property 12 separate times on any given day. What hell for the current tenant trying to work from home! Various unconvincing reasons were given for this inefficiency such as the prospective tenants don’t like to be herded through like cattle. Well, as a person who was a prospective tenant in a hyper competitive rental market, our position in the pecking order is pretty apparent….cattle would be too complimentary a term!

Looking for a rental property, we used the major sites of RightMove, On The Market and Zoopla. Facebook Marketplace should not be avoided as it is clearly littered with scams. Gumtree could be used with significant caution as there are plenty of scams on there too. We also used OpenRent to look at properties being rented directly by the owner. This was often better as it helps to talk directly with the owner.

Several reasons were given for the supply shortage of housing. Covid caused a lot of job losses and combined with the rise of working from home, this created an exodus from London in the last few years. Now. the people are returning to London, including plenty of students. It does appear that London is limited by their housing regulations. There are plenty of suburbs full of low rise housing. If permission was given to build high rise apartments, far more people could be accommodated. New build housing would also help to house people in more comfort and reduce heating costs.

A CITY OF CONTRASTS AND DIVERSITY

Exit a tube station and you are often confronted with a different vibe, a different architecture, a different mix of people. London is a city of contrast and diversity.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the 2019 census, 85% of people in England and Wales are ethnically white. When looking around in London, this is impossible to believe. Many parts of London are far more ethnically mixed than this. There are lots of Carribean people in Brixton. There are lots of African people in Dalston. Areas like Whitechapel and Shepherd’s Bush is home to loads of Bangladeshi Muslims, many of whom wander about in traditional long robes for men and face veils for women. Yet, many would give themselves away as long term British residents when they open their mouths to speak.

Some areas are full of low rise, stately, historical homes whilst areas like Canary Wharf are reminiscent of modern Singapore with its skyscrapers of shiny glass and steel. Rich and poor rub shoulders in London. We were at a free lecture in the City of London, an area usually considered the central business district. Most attendees at this lecture were white men in sharp suits and leather shoes. Head over to the Watney Market, near Whitechapel and there are no suits to be seen. Instead stalls cater to the Muslim crowd selling modest clothing and headscarves of every colour for women, cheap homewares, fruit and vegetables.

In some areas, the rich and poor collide. Well off people and tourists traipse up and down the Oxford street which is lined with all the big name brands whilst on the sidewalk, in a suspiciously even frequency will be a beggar woman. Due to the demographic similarity of these beggars and their even placement on Oxford street, it does look suspiciously like an organised begging syndicate.

Over the weekend, we visited the Nine Elms Sunday Market. There are a few food stalls but mostly, the market is dominated by the sale of second hand goods, in particular, clothing, hand tools, power tools and homewares. This is the market to go to if you want to find a bargain. It was crowded with people hunting through the goods for what they need. What a contrast it was to walk over to the next suburb to find the newly renovated and opened Battersea Power Station. This old power station has been refurbished into a high end shopping and dining destination. It has the prices and clientele to prove it. Lots of luxury, modern apartment buildings have sprung up around the power station, making this an expensive, fancy precinct to live in.

Nine Elms Market – a bargain hunter’s paradise!

As expected, the diversity of people means that there is a huge price variation in everyday goods. If you are well-off, you can shop at Waitrose or M&S. Mid-range supermarkets includes Sainbury, Morrisons and Tescos. For the more budget, conscious, there is Lidl and Aldi at the low end. Whilst you might think, surely, there can’t be much difference in the cost of the basics e.g. fruit, vegetable, bread, flour, you would be wrong. The prices of individual groceries items between these shops can be multiple times different. With the current inflation rates in the UK, every bit adds up!

From my experience in other countries, a Chinese restaurant would have only Chinese people working in it. Similarly for Indian restaurants etc. This has been surprisingly not the case in London. We were served by a lady with a strong Eastern European accent in a traditional Indian restaurant. There are all kinds of people working in the kitchen of a Japanese restaurant. This story is repeated over and over in London. It was surprising to me but a reflection of how diverse London is.

Check out the African section in the local supermarket. This reflects the diversity of the community!

THE WEATHER

Often when people ask, why choose London, the underlying concern is the miserable weather in London. It is currently autumn in London and it is not bad at all. There is a chill in the air, but it is beautiful with the trees changing colour and the leaves falling. The unlucky street sweeper has a futile job trying to sweep up the leaves from the sidewalk at this time of the year.

Yes, it is cold, grey, foggy and rainy at times but sometimes, it does clear! The grey clouds do move on to reveal blue skies and lovely sunny periods. The contrast only makes you appreciate the good weather periods more. It does rain but it is more of a drizzle. It isn’t the type of heavy rain that makes you miserably and irretrievably drenched, just slightly damp.

MISCELLANEOUS GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

Lack of standardised garbage system – for a big city, London is marred by a lack of system for dealing with garbage. As a result, there is a hotchpotch of different bins and a lot of random types of garbage bags on the street. I found this issue in New York city too. It attracts vermin and it really brings the tone of the city down. Fancy being a tourist, stepping out from a fine dining restaurant or a West End theatre show to be confronted by garbage bags of all description on the sidewalk as you make your way home. London should learn from Ljubljana in Slovenia whose streets are spotlessly clean and garbage free!

A grimy city – it seems like really big cities are grimy and dirty. There is litter on the streets, the sidewalk looks like it could use a good, pressure wash. In contrast, I have been to many small towns that are neat and clean. Why is this? Is it the sense of community pride in a small town? Is it that a high population density makes it impossible to keep the place clean due to a few bad apples? Is it due to systemic issues with local councils? Whatever it is, this is the way it seems to be in a big city. They are grimy, noisy and crowded.

The smell of Lidl – Lidl is one of the budget low end supermarket chains in London. It’s main competitor for price is Aldi. The most striking thing about Lidl is the amazing smell whenever you go in. Lidl always seems to be baking fresh croissants. Every time you go in, your nostrils are assailed with the smell of fresh baked, buttery goodness! It really makes the baked good fly off the shelf at Lidl!

Plant Based Meats – For some unknown reason, London is currently inundated with billboards and advertisements for plant based meats! Plant based bacon, chicken, burgers, sausages etc. made of who knows what Frankenstein concoction of soy or vegetable protein or some such ingredients. Big business are trying to corner another niche of the market by providing a new overly processed food group!

An Able-ist City – London is an old city so in a way, it can be forgiven (a little) for not setting a high standard when it comes to being accessible for all types of people. London is not a friendly city for people in wheelchairs, crutches, frail old people, people with mobility issues etc. There are stairs in most subway stations. The more modern ones are slightly better. The gaps between the platform and the trains can at times be treacherously huge even for an able bodied person, let alone an older person. It would be dangerous or impossible to attempt the gap with a wheelchair! As a result, you hardly see anyone in the city in a wheelchair. I see older people struggling when going about their everyday tasks such as getting their shopping home on foot. It seems to me that to live in London, it is strongly preferable to be able bodied and be able to walk comfortably for reasonable distances.

London is huge or maybe the public transport is really slow – it takes ages to get anywhere. When heading to a destination, we usually have to allow an hour to get there. It just seems like a lot of the day can be eaten up just getting to your destination. The buses are always either cancelled or delayed. When you finally get on the bus, the traffic is usually busy so it crawls its way along to your destination.

London – with the classic red double decker bus!

Royal Mail vs Australia Post – Coming from Australia where the Australia Post branches all seem newly renovated, clean and bright, it was quite a shock to go into the Royal Mail outlets. They are really dated, sad and grimy. Their systems are also not at the standard of Australia post. We were looking on their website for a post box but the results were out of date. Their website was down for days so parcel tracking and re-scheduling parcel delivery was impacted. It just seems a much more rundown postal system compared to Australia.

Living car-free – It is a different existence. In many places, you would drive to the shops, buy everything you need and load your car from your shopping trolley and drive it home. Then you can unload your car at your leisure. When living car-free in a big city, anything you need at home has to be carried, often quite a long way on foot, depending where you buy it from. It is a pretty good way to reduce consumption as you always have to consider whether you want to lug your stuff all the way home!

Cycling in London – London is not a cycle friendly city. It is trying to improve. There are some segregated cycle paths and more infrastructure being planned. The issue is bigger than that however. Bicycles are only allowed at certain times and only on certain Tube lines. This is limiting and to be honest, I have never seen anyone with a proper bike on the Tube. Only a few folding bikes. Bike theft is also rife and there is an ongoing antagonistic friction between motorists and cyclists. London needs to learn from its European neighbours to make the city more bike friendly for all types of people. It would improve congestion and a bicycle would be a lovely way to get around the city.

Seeing a Doctor in London – It is not easy! Calling the local GP clinic is a bit like calling a big bank. You will be confronted with a really unwelcoming recorded phone system which tries to discourage you from holding on by redirecting you elsewhere. Once you make it through the various options, you will be put on hold where you have to wait sometimes up to an hour or more before finally speaking to someone. Contradictory advice is then given depending who you speak to and if you want to make an appointment to see a doctor, you are told to call back ta 8am the next morning.

It turns out, that the appointments for any given day are only made the morning of that day. You cannot make an advanced appointment, not even if you are standing at the reception of the clinic the day before. So again you have to navigate the unwelcoming phone recordings and the long time on hold. How do people manage their work commitments if they have to see the doctor? I also feel for the people who do not have English as their first language. They will struggle to advocate for themselves and their families in such a system. The system is designed to put obstacles in the way, all in the name of efficiency but I have seen advice from various online forums that tell people to phone the emergency number to get more timely help. Surely this just creates a worse problem!

Where are the flat sheets? – onto the big issues! Seems that Londoners don’t use flat sheets on their beds. There are fitted sheets and doona (duvet) covers sold everywhere but flat sheets are very hard to find! Bizarre!

Why did they butcher the spring onions and where is my yoghurt lid? – more hard-hitting issues from the grocery store! The green tops of spring onions are always removed. Perhaps this is for efficient packing and transportation but it does waste a lot of food. Also, perhaps in an effort to minimise plastic waste, yoghurt containers do not come with plastic lids. This is annoying because the yoghurt tub is then unsealed once opened! To reduce plastic waste, there are no plastic produce bags for loose fruit and vegetables in the supermarket. Hilariously or sadly, instead, a lot of the produce are packed in plastic bags or containers in “easy to grab” quantities so there is plenty of plastic anyway!

Tubs of yoghurt in the UK come without a plastic lid!

SAVING MONEY IN LONDON

London is an expensive city. The cost of everything is particularly amplified when coming from a different country. There is always a long period of transition when you are constantly doing currency conversions in your head. The inflation is also high. Costs given by articles written at the start of 2022 can be up to 20% less than the costs today! Even the Tube is expensive so the cost of this has to be accounted for if you are travelling for a bargain. There are some great ways to save money if you are willing to take the time.

My favourite way is using the OIio app. This app is all about reducing waste, both food and non-food waste. Shops such as Planet Organic, Tescos, Iceland or Pret pass on food that is about to expire to Olio Food Heroes.. These awesome folk are volunteers who pass it on to anyone who wants it in the community. Through Olio, we have gotten cumulatively about 4 full days of food thus far, a shelving unit, power board, plates, bowls, hat, saucepan, hangers, immersion blender, keyboard, mouse and bike helmet. All this perfectly good stuff for free and all of it saved from being put into the rubbish bin. The best part of all is the Olio community itself. It is filled with really lovely people who hate waste and can see usefulness in all manner of things that others would not hesitate to throw away. The only downside is that the food is often given out late at night and at this time of the year, it is pretty cold to go get it.

Just tonight, we picked up 2 wraps and 5 sandwiches from our lovely local Food Hero. These are from Pret and are worth 35 pounds full price from the shop, but as they were about to expire, we got them for free! We only asked for 3 items but got 7 because they would otherwise go to waste. The Food Hero was apologising to us for giving us extra free food. How crazy! There is absolutely no need to apologise for being out in the cold night handing out food to strangers for free to save perfectly good food from being wasted.

On a separate occasion, we requested 3 individual items from Olio and ended up with a whole day’s worth of delicious, food from Pret worth about 35 pounds!

Off to pick up some free stuff from a kind Olio-er and we came upon Stepney City Farm where it is free to pop in and check out the animals!

Other ways to save money include finding free events on EventBrite, getting food from TooGoodToGo and eating at a restaurant at a big 50% discount using SoftLaunch or TheFork.

The saddest thing about the winter ahead is the concern everyone shares about the price of energy in the UK. Heating coats are expected to soar. We will try to minimise heating as much as possible by using more clothing, a hot water bottle and an electric blanket.

If money is no object, you can visit Harrods, Selfridges or Fortnum and Masons! These London institutions are all a consumerist paradise, all designed to separate you from your money! They are really crowded and busy in the run-up to Christmas but are beautifully decorated for the festive season. Harrods is decorated in a gingerbread theme, sponsored by Dior, of course!!

Harrods – decorated in a gingerbread theme

THE PEOPLE

Thus far, everyone we have dealt with has been lovely. Sure, they are not openly chatty people as you might get in a small country town but everyone has been decent, helpful and kind.

We needed some paperwork certified and was struggling to find someone to do it without charging an exorbitant fee. The Australian Embassy are happy to certify your documents but only during a limited window of time that you attend with an appointment pre-booked and at a cost of about 40 pounds per signature. Wow! I miss the times that I wandered down to the local Aussie shopping centre to get my stuff signed by a Justice of the Peace volunteer! Luckily, I found an Australian lawyer from the Aussies in London Facebook group willing to take a minute off work to do it for me for free. This awesome guy actually certified my documents on two separate occasions. How kind and helpful! A busy lawyer, a total stranger to me, dashing out of their busy work day to certify my documents for nothing!

As we have no friends in London, we used Meetup to join up with a group of people socialising in a pub. Everyone we spoke to was welcoming and open. Actually, this Meetup group demonstrated to me that there are plenty of lonely people in the city and some of them are willing to step out of their comfort zone to befriend strangers. It was a lovely afternoon at the pub chatting with a diverse and international bunch of random, interesting people. Plus we learned about a UK institution, a chain of pubs called Wetherspoon and its eccentric CEO!

THE MAGIC OF LONDON

Everywhere direction you walk in London, there is something to draw your interest. The are so many different areas to explore and each with their own vibe and mix of architecture and people. As long as you are willing to do a little research, you will find so many things to do in London. Here is a small list of some of favourite things so far.

Seeing the spectacular, immersive free light show at the Tower of London with a live choir. There are always vendors selling warm, fresh caramelised peanuts in this area so this is the heavenly smell I associate with a walk near the Tower of London.
Attending some free lectures held by King’s College and Gresham College. In one, we listened to the ex-deputy director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and in another, an amazing mathematics professor. The professor gave a great lecture about game theory. She managed to translate quite complex maths into simple, engaging scenarios like how to win a duel and the prisoner’s dilemma.
London is absolutely beautiful at this time of year, adorned with Christmas decorations and fairy lights everywhere. This in combination with the lovely Christmas markets and temporary ice rinks makes this such a delightful time to be exploring the city.
Enjoying a 50% discounted meal in the modern Canary Wharf area at a new franchise of the cult, super-popular, Indian-Persian restaurant, Dishoom. There is always a queue outside of Dishoom. We waited an hour for a table but our impatience was tempered by endless cups of warm, milky, sweet, free chai tea and the provision of loan umbrellas to protect from the rain.
Exiting the tube station in Dalston Kingsland and to be confronted with a market with loads of cheap fresh fruit and vegetables, lots of African products and butchers with all manner of animal innards displayed out the front!
Walking along the Thames with a view of the Tower Bridge, the city and the Shard lit up at night and perusing the stalls of the London Bridge Christmas Markets.

The London explorations will continue……

Best markets in the world!

Posted on November 18, 2022 by admin

Markets are awesome. I always make a point to visit local markets wherever I am in the world. I love to see local vegetables for sale. It is an insight to what the ancestors of this area would have eaten and what grows well in the climate. I like to see the local arts and crafts which sometimes speak of human ingenuity turning waste into something functional and/or beautiful. I like to see local people add value to their local produce turning out cakes, jams and pickles. I like the street food available at markets. A cheap way to taste the diversity of a location without draining the wallet at a restaurant.

So, after recently visiting a fabulous market in St Jacobs, Ontario, I pondered which of the markets I consider the best of the best. Here are three, in no particular order.

(1) Chiang Mai Sunday Night Market Walking Street, Thailand – This market is huge and crowded. Lots of food but more than that, lots of craft. Many markets these days suffer from globalisation and often stock the same cheap crap that can be bought cheaply online. When I was at this Chiang Mai market years ago, this was not the case. There was plenty of interesting and varied goods made by local and skilled artisans and craftpeople. It is a market that draws a huge tourist crowd. My advice is to negotiate the price and buy the things you like at the stall when you go past it. If you think you will come back later and find the same stall, you are mistaken. The market is too big for that and you will be lost.

(2) Gare Du Midi Markets, Brussels – This is a massive market held next to the main train station in Brussels every Sunday. It can get very crowded and is a dodgy area of town so watch your belongings. The market sells mainly fresh vegetables, cheap household items and plants. This is a market for working class locals and does not have the overpriced souvenir type knick knacks for tourists. It has cheap clothes, shampoo, dish soap, etc. Practical things for real life.

The highlight of the Gare Du Midi markets is the plant section. Large, beautiful healthy plants are sold here for extraordinarily low prices. Considering the size of these plants, it is hard to believe that the traders can make any profit at all.

(3) St Jacob’s Farmer’s Market, Ontario, Canada – I was blown away when visiting this market recently. It is huge and sells loads of local fresh vegetables in large quantities. People were buying vegetables by the bushels. This is not a quantity that I have ever seen average people buying anywhere else. I struggle to understand what an average family would do with a bushel of one particular type of vegetables yet there were people in the crowd buying in such quantities. You can buy lesser amounts too but clearly, plenty of people were buying big quantities. Perhaps they were feeding a crowd?

The produce at these markets were of top notch quality, super fresh and very colourful.

The most interesting about St Jacob’s is the Memnonite community who live here. These Memnonites live their lives in old fashioned clothing, without cars or electricity. There are a number who were selling their homemade goods at this market. Next to the markets was the weekly horse auction. This is dominated by Memnonites who were using the event as a chance to catch up with friends and also to buy a horse to pull their buggies for transport. An intriguing glimpse into their world!

St Jacob’s Markets – buy your vegies by the bushel! (Looks like scotch bonnet chillies on the left! What would anyone do with a bushelful of scotch bonnet chillies? Make chilli sauce? If you did that, in that quantity, it might render your home unlivable till the air cleared!

Buckets of the freshest, colourful produce at the St Jacob’s Markets

Swan Shaped Gourds and other produce at the St Jacobs Markets. These swan shaped gourds are not edible. The are not shaped artificially but grow in this shape that resembles a swan. They are used as ornaments.

Indoor covered area of the St Jacob’s Markets selling other products like honey, cakes, doughnuts, etc.

Adjacent to the St Jacob’s Markets is an area which is used for a horse auction. There is an auctioneer speaking in “auction chant”. The horse being sold is driven at top speed around the arena whilst attached to a buggy. Almost all the attendees at the auction are Memnonites. The few that are not are curious onlooker or tourists visiting the area. Fascinating stuff!

A horse being paraded around the arena at the horse auction ready to be sold.

Ontario – a varied and beautiful province of Canada.

Posted on November 17, 2022 by admin

A visit to big city Toronto is fun. It is a modern, dynamic big city but if you are visiting, venture out to the countryside and some of the smaller towns. These are very beautiful especially when the colours are changing for fall. Fall is a big thing in Canada when compared to Australia. It is no surprise because the change of seasons is not as distinct in Australia. In Canada, fall is marked with bright orange pumpkins, coloured corn, russet leaves and Halloween decorations. Canadians take Halloween very seriously with some front yards beginning to look exactly like a murder scene or a cemetery.

It was an interesting contrast visiting Canada directly after the United Kingdom. Due to the proximity of the UK to Europe and Ukraine, it is directly impacted by the energy crisis. The UK is filled with chatter about the ever increasing cost of energy and how to save money. Air fryers are sold out, people are talking about leaving their heating off till Christmas, kettles are being boiled in exact volumes for their cups of tea. It was a shock to get to Canada and there was no talk about the price of heating. In fact, the heat was turned to stiflingly hot in the shopping malls!

It was even more shocking to find that Canada is not keeping up with Europe when it comes to sustainability type changes. We had a hotel breakfast at a mainstream hotel chain in the small town of St Jacobs. What a shock to find that all the plates and bowls were made of single use, disposable polystyrene foam! It has been years since I’ve seen styrofoam used in this way. In a small supermarket in country town, there were bagging groceries in single use plastic bags. It has been normalised for years to bring re-usable shopping bags in Europe and Australia, I was really shocked!

Canada is a lot like Australia in many ways but one distinct difference is their availability of fresh water. They have lots of it and hence they have lovely rainwater shower heads. A high volume shower like this is an indulgent luxury that hardly anyone has in Australia where we are always hyper-conscious of water use. Another evidence of Canada’s excess of fresh water is in their lush greenery!

One way where both Australia and the United Kingdom could learn from Canada is in the way they insulate their houses. The Canadian homes are extremely well made and well insulated and protect their occupants from really freezing temperatures outside. This type of improvements are key for the UK to really drive down their winter heating costs.

Toronto – the beauty of cabbage is totally underrated!

Fall colour in High Park, Toronto. High Park is particularly lovely because it has large areas left to grow quite naturally with walking trails that snake through. More formal gardens are lovely but in the midst of the city, it’s nice to do walks through more natural looking green spaces.

Need to get your escalator down to the bottom floor to continue shopping at Walmart? In Dufferin Mall, Toronto, they have this bizarre contraption that will transport your trolley from one floor to the next!

People take fall so seriously in Canada with many houses decorating their front steps with pumpkins, flowers and all kinds of fall themed decorations. Why not? Everything should be celebrated including the changing of the seasons and the beautiful colours that comes with it!

In Ontario, there is a town called Stratford after the famous birthplace of Shakepeare in the UK called Stratford Upon Avon. Stratford, Ontario has a famous theatre festival and is situated next to the Avon River, just like the Stratford in the UK!

Ornamental Corn for your Fall Decorations

Cranberry Cake with Butter Sauce – this was gorgeous! So moist and the sauce was an addictive sweet salty flavour!

Check out the beaver lodge. See the different in water level before and after this dam of branches and mud made by a family of these industrious animals! Even more amazing is the fact that these animals have a dry den within this dam!

Fall Colour – it was early in the season so only some of the trees had changed their colour. So beautiful against a bright blue sky.

More fall colour, just because it is truly spectacular!

Eating Cheaply while Traveling Through Europe

Posted on October 26, 2022 by admin

Travelling through Europe is an expensive affair. The accommodation costs, the transportation costs, costs to see various sights and then on top of all that, you have to eat as well! Food offers a window to understanding a place and the people so whilst it is good to save money, it should be balanced with trying to experience the local cuisine. Here are some tips on how to eat cheaply in Europe.

Get off the main tourist strip – Rule number 1 to reduce the cost is to steer clear of the main tourist areas. If a shop or restaurant appears to be catering predominantly to tourists, there is a good chance the food will be subpar and pricey. Look for places where working class or local families might eat in districts where the local people live and work.

Look for marked down items in the supermarket – This hardly warranted a separate point except that we were in Carrefour in France and spotted some marked-down beignets with a chocolate filling. These were so divine and memorable, they had to get mention. These tasted amazing despite the fact they were marked-down in price. I assume they were not fresh. They tasted fresh to me which makes me wonder how heavenly, freshly made, warm beignets would be.

Germany is a great place for cheap food – Due to the number of Turkish migrants, the Turkish food in Germany is outstanding. It’s fresh, good quality and of a very high standard. We were in a touristy square in a German city and bought a falafel wrap from a street food van. This was expected to be average because buying food from a touristy location usually results in bad food. On the contrary, the dough was pulled and shaped right then and baked in a wood fired oven to make the wrap! The fillings were tasty and fresh. I had never seen wraps being made fresh before but it is not uncommon in Germany.

Lahmacun – There is argument as to whether this bread with spiced mince dish is Turkish or Armenian? This type of argument is common for lots of traditional foods as food does not respect the coutry’s border. Who cares? It’s delicious!

Breads dominates German cuisine. Their breads are usually dense, dark and filling. Sandwiches, baguettes and rolls made of these types of breads are found everywhere e.g. train stations and they make for a healthy and filling meal at low cost. Another favourite from the bakery is their freshly baked pretzels. They seem plain but are delicious, not too unhealthy and relatively cheap.

Try to eat healthily – The strong temptation on holiday is to indulge all the time. If you are on a short holiday, that’s OK. If you are on a longer trip, it’s best to eat in a more balanced way whenever possible.

A restaurant is not your only option – Restaurants in Germany expect you to purchase a paid drink when you sit to eat. Restaurants in Italy will charge you a cover charge (coperto) and sometimes a tourist surcharge (maggiorazione) of up to 15%. Both will not give you free tap water. On top of this, there will be an expectation that you tip. With all these costs adding up, it’s important to remember that a restaurant is not the only option to get some food. Takeaway places e.g. kebab shops are much more reasonably priced and there are healthy and filling options. Similarly, you can go to a hole in the wall place or a street food stall / van. Markets often have food options and of course, you can always go to the supermarket. It’s often nice to pick up a few things and head to a park or local square to eat and watch the world go by.

Crepes being made in Antibes. These were delicious!

Riebekuchen, German fried potato pancakes from a hole in the wall place in Cologne. These were delicious. Served traditionally with apple sauce. Also with chilli, herb or garlic sauce. It’s hard to go wrong with fried potato!

Fischbrötchen in Hamburg -unlike other German cities, Hamburg is closer to the ocean hence the local cuisine incorporates more seafood. A Fischbrötchen comes in all kinds of versions, this is a fried fish version. The more traditional version is with pickled herring. Purchased from a takeaway bakery type shop at the train station.

Use the local supermarket – If you have a choice, choose a larger supermarket vs a small one. It is likely to be cheaper. We ate many supermarket meals when travelling Europe. For less than price of 1 course for 2 people in a restaurant, we could easily buy 3 courses and some fruit in a supermarket for 2.

Perusing the local supermarket gives an insight to what the local population eat. For example, French people don’t eat instant noodles for there were none to be found. The cheese section in a French supermarket is humongous. In the German supermarkets there were a lot of mayonaise-heavy salads and spreads in toothpaste like containers. These were all for bread!

Eating from the supermarket is not necessarily substandard from eating at a restaurant. We found, especially in France, the quality at the supermarket was extremely high. The fresh produce was beautiful and flavoursome and even the microwave meals were truly delicious! Unfortunately, this could not be said for Germany. Strangely, the savoury food from the supermarket was all very salty. I suspect the expectation is that the food would be accompanied by bread which would balance out the salt.

A hot weather favourite of ours are yoghurt drinks. These are not common in Australia but widely available in Europe. They are tangy and refreshing on a hot day and more filling than just juice or water.

Gazpacho was a firm favourite in Spain. This great brand was in every supermarket in the refrigerated section. It’s a cold soup which is savoury and super refreshing on a hot day.

Gazpacho – with no artificial ingredients!

French Frozen Meal – this may have been a mere frozen meal from a supermarket but this was the most delicious risotto I have ever tasted!

A quick supermarket dinner – cherry tomatoes, gazpacho in a carton, French baguette, cheese and 2 oranges (not pictured)

Fill up if it’s free – Nothing is actually free but if your accommodation comes with breakfast included, make sure you eat lots!

Look for Lunch Time Menu Deals – These might be called Menu Del Dia or Menu Du Jour or Formule. These are usually multiple courses and can include a drink. These deals are only available at lunch time, so when travelling, make lunch your restaurant treat meal and do a supermarket dinner to save money.

If you see Plat Du Jour (plate of the day), this is often a good deal too.

Formule Meals in France – much better value

Moules Mariniere in Antibes,18 euros for mussels, dessert and a glass of wine.

Another memorable lunch menu meal was partaken in Bilbao. It was entree, mains, dessert and a whole bottle of wine per person for about 16 euros! It was also an interesting insight into Basque cuisine. The Basque are a separate ethnic group that live in parts of France and Spain. They speak their own language and have their own cuisine. I had Mimitako, a tuna peasant stew that they ate on fishing boats and red fish with garlic oil. I like the use of potatoes in the Mimitako. Real food for working class people always had carbohydrates because they are a cheap and filling way to stretch a meal.

Basque Tuna and Potato Stew (Mamitako) – a fish dish eaten on tuna fishing boats.

Red Fish with Garlic Oil – this dish speaks to me of priorities. Here at this restaurant, the fish is cooked splayed open and drizzled with a salt, oil and browned garlic. It doesn’t look attractive on the plate. The fish is bony and hard to eat in polite company. This is not what matters. The meat on this fish was sweet, tender and beautifully cooked. The simple garlic oil elevated this dish without overwhelming the mild fish. This was foremost about taste and not looks. I like a restaurant brave enough to do that!

Restaurant Selection Impacts the Price – If you go to a fancy steak or seafood place, your price per head will be inevitably high. Choose a more modest place, for example a place specializing in French galettes, a cute brunch cafe or humble “mom and pop” eatery for a more reasonable price. Asian and Ethnic food places can also work out cheaper.

French Buckwheat Galettes – seafood/cream/leeks/cheese and chicken/camembert/cream

The UK Supermarket Meal Deal – British people eat a lot of sandwiches. Almost every supermarket chain has some version of the meal deal where you get a sandwich/baguette/wrap, a snack and a drink for between 4 to 6 pounds. It’s very good value. There is an astounding variety of sandwiches, most of which cannot be found on the supermarket shelves in any other country. Some examples include coronation chicken, egg and cress, cheese and pickle and ploughmans. For a snack you can even get a Scotch Egg which is a hard boiled egg, coated in sausage meat and a crispy bread crumb. A Scotch Egg is very British!

UK Meal Deal – coconut water, scotch egg and a coronation chicken sandwich. A scotch egg is a UK delicacy of a hard boiled egg wrapped with sausage meat and breadcrumbs. Coronation chicken is a classic UK sandwich filling where chicken is mixed with curry flavour mayonaise, raisin and apricots. (It’s tasty enough but a little weird!)

Get a Restaurant Discount – When in Europe, you can use websites like TheFork to book restaurants at a discount. With discounts up to 50% off, this works out to be very good value! In London, you can even eat at a reduced price at brand new restaurants when they are doing their soft launch. This is a testing phase where the new restaurants are ironing out their issues. You can find these new restaurants offering discounts on the Soft Launch website.

In Toulouse, the local specialty is cassoulet, a peasant sausage and bean dish. We managed to found a restaurant specializing in cassoulet with a 50% discount on TheFork. What a great deal! We also had a delicious duck breast dish with an extraordinary pepper sauce at the same restaurant.

Cassoulet – a traditional peasant dish from Southern France consisting of slow cooked beans, sausage, pork and fat. A must-eat in Toulouse. This dish makes a lot of sense. It makes hearty warming fare after a cold winter’s day of working in the field. The meat and sausage flavours the dish which is stretched to feed many with the addition of beans which are cheap but add a creamy starchiness.

Duck Breast, Frites and Pepper Sauce – French cuisine is often lauded as the best in the world. I’m not sure I agree except when it comes to sauces. French sauces are just a triumph. They are so tasty that not a single molecule can be allowed to go to waste!

Not all supermarkets are the same – Supermarkets are aimed at various parts of the demographic and can therefore be at different price points. If you shop at Waitrose or M&S in the UK vs Lidl, Aldi or Iceland, you will have a much high bill. Our favorite and consistently the cheapest is Aldi. It’s nice that it’s always good value but another selling point is that it has only one product of any type of thing in the store. For example, if you want a can of chick peas, there will only be one brand to choose from. Multiply this for all the different types of products in the store and you have an experience where you can do your shopping with a lot less decision fatigue. You spend less time comparing prices on the same item across different brands.

Aldi was actually started by two brothers. They did very well together up to the point they had 300 stores. Then they had an argument about whether cigarettes should be sold in the store. They could not reach an agreement so they split Germany down the centre into Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud and operated their own stores each. As they expanded internationally, the world was also split into Aldi Nord (north) and Aldi Sud (south). Instead of letting an argument break down the family business, these brothers just split up the world and got on with it.

In Slovenia and in Austria, Aldi took over a popular chain of supermarkets called Hofer. Due to strong brand recognition, it was decided to leave the name as Hofer.

Whilst it is important to watch the pennies when travelling, be careful that it doesn’t take away from the joy of having new experiences and trying new cuisines. Enjoy your travels and eat good food!! Good food is a joy!

If you are the type of person who finds eating too time consuming and you consider food only to be fuel for your body, consider these liquid food substitutes. These are definitely not for me because if food has to be labeled “This is Food”, I’m not really sure it is.

Using the European Train System

Posted on October 25, 2022 by admin

The European Train System is very complex. Perhaps unnecessarily so. So after using it to travel France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium and the UK in the summer of 2022, here are a bunch of tips to help you decipher it all

The best resources for using the train in Europe are Seat61, the Trainline and Deutsche Bahn. If you have a Eurail or Interail pass, then you will need the Rail Planner app as well.

The myth of full flexibility – The idea sold by Interrail and Eurail is that you can wake up every morning and decide where you want to go and pop on a train and just go. This is a fallacy. It isn’t so easy especially in peak season. You need to plan ahead and check for seats and reserve your tickets. You don’t have to plan months in advance as long as you leave some flexibility in your itinerary but you can’t just decide on the day where you want to go.

Optimising the cost is very hard – The system is so complex that it’s very hard to optimise your travels for the lowest possible cost for long trips with multiple countries. if you are doing a long trip with many countries. There are too many variables. An Interrail or Eurail pass is not necessarily the most economical choice. My advice is to do the best you can at all times to minimise the cost but to understand that you are unlikely to pay the absolute lowest possible cost for your trip. Just let it go and enjoy yourself.

Don’t travel in Europe in August – The trains are crowded (or sold out), the attractions are crowded, the restaurants are booked out and the accommodation is very expensive. Give yourself and your wallet a break and plan to travel at another time of the year. You will enjoy it more!

Don’t travel with heavy luggage – because inevitably, there will be subway stairs you have to tackle, gaps between the trains and the platform, cobblestones and a walk-up apartment! It’s OK to use a roller bag but just be sure that you can carry it if you have to. It is best if you ensure you can lift your luggage over your head so you can stow it on the over-seat luggage storage.

Don’t assume trains will be on-time, even German trains! – If you have a plane to catch or commitments, allow plenty of buffer time for things to go wrong, because they will. Trains are often delayed or they will pause on the track for no apparent reason for an unknown period of time. On one journey, we were all told to get off the train and then had to wait nearly 2 hours for rail replacement buses to arrive. The buses took longer for the journey than the train. There were some distressed people who had planes to catch!

Take advantage of local specials – We were lucky to get to use the 9 euro ticket in Germany this summer. For only 9 euros a month, we had unlimited travel on all German regional trains and local public transport. This saved us heaps of money and we saw more of lovely Germany!

Not all countries take Covid precautions – Germany and Italy requested people to wear masks on the train. Germany enforced it. Belgium, France and the UK did not require mask-wearing. If you are in a high risk group for getting Covid, you should minimise your risk by wearing a P2 mask even if no one else is. Considering how crowded some of the trains were this summer, Covid would certainly be spreading!

Cycling is very normalised – You will see bicycles on regional trains. It’s a very European thing to take your bike on a holiday with you. There are even train carriages specific for transporting bikes where they have special bike holders to hang up your bike. As biking is so common, there is usually a bike storage area near the train station with an astounding number of bikes present!

Is this seat reserved? – On most trains that require a seat reservation, if you haven’t made a reservation, you may not have a seat. You can sit on a spare seat but someone may come up to you with a ticket indicating that you are in their seat. You will then have to move. The great thing about German train is that there is an electronic sign that indicates whether a seat is reserved or not. This way, you know that if you are in an unreserved seat, no one will disturb you for the length of the journey.

People are nice – Despite how crowded and hot the trains were at times, people were nice. At various times, people translated train announcements into English for me. On a train between Nimes and Arles, when the people realised that I had become separated from my travel partner, they contorted themselves to make way for me to pass through. They were very sweet about it despite the fact that it was swelteringly hot and ridiculously crowded.

Seat 61 knows what even railway ticket sellers don’t know – We were in Bilbao, Spain and trying to get across the border to go to the South of France. We tried to buy at least 6 different routes at the ticket counter at the main train station at Bilbao. Each of these routes had multiple legs and we kept finding at least one of the legs was sold out. It was very frustrating and we wasted hours. The best that the helpful ticket seller could eventually do was advise us to buy a ticket to Barcelona and to ask at the Barcelona train station how we could best get across the border by train to France. The ticket seller was very apologetic that he could not help us.

We consulted the most comprehensive resource for train travel in the world, Seat61. It told us about a small border town called Port Bou. We could catch the train there, cross the border into Hendaye by local train, and then board a French train to continue our journey. It was a lifesaver. This website is also useful because sometimes, due to language, the train station names are not expected or intuitive. Seat61 ensured that we were armed with the knowledge to know what station to disembark at and what stations to look for. Valuable knowledge, saving a lot of stress!

When you go to the Seat 61 website, there is a ridiculous and overwhelming amount of information. That is because the system is really complex. They really do their best to simplify things and arm you with the best information as possible.

Mandatory Seat Reservations – In some countries, mandatory seat reservations are required for some trains. In France, this could cost up to 25 Euros per person. This is exorbitant! It’s not obvious to find but in the Railway Planner app, there is a toggle switch that you can use to ask it to display only trains that do not require seat reservations. We used these trains where possible and they were fine.

Trains are Better than Planes – Train seats are comfier, more roomy, there is no need to get there hours early like an airport, the stations are in the centre of town, the view is great and it is much better for the environment than planes.

Transfer Stops – When doing a multi leg train journey, get out, stretch your legs and explore the location where you have your train transfer. It is annoying having to lug your luggage about but it is still worth it.

Look out the window – The best part of travelling by train is the view. Look out the window and see the world go past. On our journey, we saw the sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean sea, lakes, salt lakes, wind turbines, solar farms, grape vines, lush forests, dry, flat moonscapes, waterside cliffs, holiday beaches, super yachts, big rivers, fertile fields, corn, wheat, chateaus, picturesque towns, industrial ports and so much more.

Aeroplane Storage near Lourdes and Tarbes

Keep your passport handy – we didn’t get checked crossing most borders but we were checked at Freilassing, near the German border.

Toilets on Trains – on all long distance trains, there are decent toilets onboard. In fact, considering that you have to pay to use a toilet in European cities, it makes economical sense to use the toilet on the train during your journey. Note, the toilets on Italian trains have a foot operated flush and water tap.

High Speed Trains – There are often high speed trains that go between major cities. These often require seat reservations. As they can go at speeds up to 300km/hr, they are thus very efficient.

First Class Train Bilbao to Barcelona. There isn’t much difference between second class seats and first class. This was the only first class train we took. The rest were second class.

Eurostar Dynamic Pricing – if you want to travel on the Eurostar from London to Paris or Brussels, book your ticket in advance. The Eurostar uses dynamic pricing like airplanes so tickets will get progressively more expensive the closer to the travel date you get. The difference in price between tickets booked a few months ahead vs a few days ahead can be hundreds of Euros so it’s worth getting organised.

German Train from Mannheim to Frankfurt. So crowded! At least in Germany, they people are masked on public transport! The problem is people only care about themselves, the minute they get on the train, they breathe a sigh of relief and stand still. The thing is there are so many others trying to get on! The people inside should be squishing together to make room for others to move in but the people inside are in, so they have lost interest in doing anything. It’s always most crowded right by the door, if you can push in some more, there is usually more space in the isles where people are not packed as efficiently.

Don’t let this post or the complexity of the European rail network put you off seeing Europe by train. The system seems impenetrably complicated at first but as you persevere, it starts to become easier and soon you will be a pro!

Impressions about Europe – the good, the bad and the downright ugly!

Posted on October 24, 2022 by admin

As we travelled through parts of the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Germany and Belgium in the summer of 2022, I was struck by the many ways that Europe differs from Australia. These are some of my observations about Europe, the good stuff, the bad stuff and the stuff which is just plain awful! So let’s go…in no particular order…..

The Good

Cycling is very normalised in Europe. It is really so wonderful to see well designed, cycling infrastructure that keeps cyclists safe. It’s totally normal to see people dressed in their normal clothing (as a pose to lycra), riding bikes with their shopping or on their way to work. I saw parents doing school pick-up on bikes. The older kids had their own bikes to ride home whilst the youngest would be popped into a cargo bike or into a toddler seat attached to their parents’ bike. People often take their bikes on the train to go on a holiday adventure. It is so great for health and for the environment. It reduces the traffic on the road.

This seemed to be the case in continental Europe but is unfortunately not the case in London where cycling is far more dangerous. In the city, the cycling infrastructure is lacking, bike theft is rife and motorists hate cyclists and vice versa. To reduce congestion, London should invest more in making cycling safer and more attractive for everyone.

French Flower Beds – When in France, I found the way they planted their flower beds to be so delightful. They would plant a crazy unexpected mix of plants with varying types and textures all thrown together. The combinations are wild and crazy but they work! I have never seen anything like it anywhere else!

Recycling is taken seriously. In both continental Europe and the UK, recycling is the norm. Particularly striking examples include in Slovenia where there are public bins for each type of rubbish and the people do the right thing with their waste. In Germany, glass beer bottles can be exchanged for a small refund when recycled. It is therefore normal to leave your empty bottle by a rubbish bin instead of in it. This leaves it visible for someone to go past and collect it and hence get the refund. This is an easy way for someone who has come upon hard times to get a bit of money to help them by. So, in a way, you can feel good about yourself when you leave an empty bottle.

Pride in their town. Whilst traveling Europe, especially in the smaller towns, it was clear to see the pride the locals had in their town. Of particular note are the Slovenians. Ljubljana city was really spotlessly clean and the Airbnb we stayed at in Bled was a model of cleanliness and efficiency. This shows pride in doing things well and looking after their patch of this Earth. The Slovenian food tour guide spoke so highly of her country and their people. I find this really heartening to see in contrast with Canadians and the British who are in general, fast to bring up the many flaws in their country.

“Pay What You Want” or “Free” walking tours – These are wonderful and available in many of the cities in Europe. We always look them up. The guides are paid from the tips they make at the end so they are therefore incentivized to be really entertaining. They are always very interesting and give an insight into the city. They are much more affordable then any other kind of tour. Many of the cities around Europe offer these. They are an economical and entertaining way to learn a bit about a new city and orient yourself.

Actually, a noticeable difference, that may be a result of Covid, is a seeming reduction in the quantity of English language “Free” tours. On previous visits to Europe, years before Covid, these tours were mostly held in English and the majority of customers were on the English speaking tours. Now it is the Spanish language tours that draw the customers. It is a reflection that international travel has decreased and domestic travel has increased. Hopefully for the English speaking guides, this will adjust itself in the coming months.

The History! Compared to countries like Australia and Canada, Europe has some seriously old buildings. The mind boggles when walking down some of these old narrow streets and looking at these buildings hundreds of years old. What did the world look like when they were built, and what tumultuous events would these walls tell us if they could talk? If the people who built it saw the world today, the cars driving past, what would they think?

Arles Amphitheatre (Arènes d’Arles) built in 90AD by the Romans!

Covid Masks – The wearing of masks for Covid prevention was a mixed bag in the countries we visited. The best were the Italians who encouraged the wearing of FFP2 masks using signage and public announcements on Italian trains and on the ferries around Lake Como. FFP2 masks are far superior to the blue surgical masks or cloth masks for the prevention of Covid transmission. Despite the enforcement being a little lax, most people complied. On German trains, it was necessary to be masked and this was enforced. No masks were required on Belgium, French or English trains. This was disappointing as Covid is still around and still poses a threat to the more vulnerable members of our community.

Relax, eat slowly! The pace in restaurants is different in Europe where it is expected that people will take their time to chat and linger over their meal. In Asian countries, time is of the essence. Cooked meals are presented to customers at lightning speed to ensure people can eat and leave the table to allow multiple seatings over an evening.

French food is delicious – Sometimes, I am offended at how proud the French are of their cuisine. There are plenty of fantastic cuisines worldwide. That being said, when I taste proper French food, I have to admit, it is delicious. In France, even the microwave meals are excellent. The supermarket produce are high quality e.g. the tomatoes are red, ripe and flavorsome. The French like good food, so bad restaurants don’t survive and the supermarkets have to cater to their high standards.

French Frozen Meal – this was the best risotto I’ve ever had. It was so tasty and perfectly seasoned!

Menu du Jour or Menu del Dia – getting a reasonably priced lunch in Europe is often possible by looking out for their lunch specials. The restaurant knows that they’re going to sell a lot of the lunch specials, so they can scale up production of these dishes and choose them based on the freshest or best value ingredients they can acquire. It’s a win-win for the business and the customer! We had one memorable Spanish lunch special which consisted of three delicious courses and a bottle of wine each for the princely sum of €16 each.

Europeans are more comfortable with their bodies. It is not unusual to see people of all shapes and sizes enjoying the beach. Women of all types sun themselves topless. Women go about their day in the city without a bra on under their tops or ride bikes in quite short skirts. They are just more comfortable with their bodies and each other’s bodies than any other place I can think of worldwide. It’s just not a big deal and that’s nice! Everyone deserves to be comfortable, wear what they want and enjoy the beach on a hot day.

There are lots of nice people! In general people are nice. When walking in an industrial area, a truck driver leans out of his window and struck up a conversation in French and then broken English when he saw us with our backpacks. People kindly swap to English when they see us struggling. People in crowded trains are nice to each other despite the sweltering conditions because they all know that they are in it together. In France, in the most crowded train imaginable, the lovely French people managed to contort themselves out of the way to allow me to move up the carriage so I could stand next to my travel partner. When they realized we were travelling together, it was a group effort to “part the red seas” so we could stand together. It was really very sweet considering how horrible the situation was in that crowded train for everyone!

The French Baguette – the French actually buy these fresh and carry them around. It’s not just a cliché. It is not uncommon to see one of these sticking out of a backpack or tucked under the arm of a person riding the bus or walking along the street.

Compactness and Convenience – Europe is a great place to travel as there are so many diverse cultures packed together in a small space. Transport infrastructure is highly developed, with even small cities equipped with amazing train and light rail systems to allow you to get around. It is also super convenient to be able to use the Euro as you travel.

The Bad

What to do with the garbage? Life generates certain amount of waste and cities, with its high population density, generates a lot of garbage! It is always interesting how a city deals with it’s garbage. Walking along the streets of London, the garbage is in bags, or in a plethora of different types of bins. They would almost certainly have to be picked up by hand, a very manual and slow task. Australian ‘wheelie bins’ are not pretty but it does convey a certain neatness when every household has one. Plus, having trucks that can pick up and empty the wheelie bins definitely reduces manual handling. This solution isn’t possible in the center of London due to the density and the narrow streets but surely there is a better way. Garbage left out in bags is unhygienic, attracts vermin and is unsightly. If it was any warmer, it would be smelly too! It is surprising to think that we can be so advanced as a society and yet something basic like a system of garbage disposal is not optimised.

One option that we’ve seen is to have a central rubbish bin on each street, which compacts the rubbish and stores it underground until collected. Rubbish collection therefore can be less frequent and involves less stops (so is less expensive). Take a look at this: Underground garbage storage

Why does it smell like pee? – So many cities in Spain, Italy and France smell like pee. Is it because there is a high rate of dog ownership? Is it because there is no green space for dogs to relieve themselves? Is it because the summer weather just makes all smells worse? Is it because there are no free public toilets so a portion of the population is finding a secluded corner to pee for free?

Private Green Spaces – In Milan, I was sad to learn that the vast majority of green space is private. As private property, it is simply not accessible to the general population. It’s so easy to take for granted the public green space and public amenities like benches, water fountains and public toilets that we have in Australia.

Restaurant Peculiarities – In Germany, when you sit down at a restaurant, there is often an expectation that you order a main meal each and a paid drink each. The drinks are where the profit is made it seems. Tap water is not provided. Italy is similar in that you have to pay for water. Free tap water is not available. In Italy, there is also coperto and maggiorazione. Coperto is a cover charge per head of about 1 to 3 Euros to cover napkins, cutlery, salt, bread etc. Maggiorazione is a service charge of up to 15% which is charged in touristy areas. These extra charges felt like an excuse to squeeze more money out of their customers and left a bad taste in my mouth. As a consequence, we often skipped some restaurants in Italy.

In Italy, I asked for tap water by learning the Italian word for tap water and confirming that the waiter understood exactly what I meant. He came back with a bottle of water and said that they do not have a tap! (At least the bottle was glass and could be recycled!) It is annoying when restaurants do not serve tap water when it comes out free and potable from the tap. In the middle of a sweltering summer, it seems almost cruel to withhold this. In addition, the sheer amount of waste generated by all that bottled water is mind boggling and criminal!

In Australia, it is actually illegal to not serve tap water in premises that are licensed. These little peculiarities of European restaurants meant we tended to avoid them in favour of supermarket meals, takeout places or street food vans.

Hot Apartments in Summer – Except for Southern Europe, most apartments are not designed to manage hot weather. They are well insulated and have relatively small windows with limited capacity to capture breezes or allow cross-ventilation, and air-conditioning isn’t common. In some cases, apartments can be quite a lot hotter than the outside temperature, which can make sleeping difficult. Once again another reason to be careful what time of year you travel to Europe.

Don’t Travel to Europe in August – It’s too hot and way too crowded. Just don’t do it!

Navigating the Train System – The European train system is very complicated, particularly when you’re travelling between countries. It really is a head-spinner when you consider the different rail passes that are available, and trying to work out if buying a pass is worth the money is almost impossible for the uninitiated. It took us quite a while to get familiar with the operation of the passes and how to make bookings etc. It almost feels like the rail passes are a scam, particularly in countries that have expensive reservation fees (which are not covered by the rail pass) for most trains. In order for us to get from Bilbao to the Cote D’Azur, at one stage we were considering back-tracking to Madrid so we could get on a fast train to Marseille….madness!

Our saviour was the Seat61 website, which is packed with tips and is highly recommended. The tips on crossing international boarders (particularly France to Spain, Spain to France and Italy to Slovenia were very valuable!I

I just want a normal pillow! – In France, Germany and Spain, that the standard bed pillow is a square shape. Whilst this doesn’t sound so bad, these pillows are usually insubstantial and soft. They provide absolutely no support for your head and neck! Even when you fold them in half, they sink so much under your head that you might as well just lie without it. It’s astounding that an advanced country like Germany can do so many things really well but cannot get a simple thing like a pillow right! The other unusual thing is the use of two single sized duvets (doonas) on a double bed instead of a large double sized duvet. It does prevent duvet hogging!

Narrow streets – Many of the old European towns and cities were built in a time well before cars. It’s quite shocking when you see cars and other vehicles squeezing down these narrow streets, mere centimeters from diners trying to dine alfresco! More pedestrian zones please!

Old buildings stifling growth? – There are plenty of stunning, well maintained old buildings of architectural significance that are worth preserving. But there are also plenty of mediocre, low-rise, drafty, old structures that might be better demolished to make way for modern, energy efficient buildings that can house more people, more comfortably. I’m not suggesting forgetting our history but merely to allow more room for modern advancement. Yes, it will change the skyline but why is that a bad thing if its good for the people? Increasing population density in the city means less sprawl and therefore less emissions as people don’t need to travel long distances into the center for work. Increasing the population density brings more business in and breathes more buzz and life into the centre.

Crowded beaches and private beaches – Private beaches are a foreign concept to Australians as all beaches are free for the public. In Europe, the prevalence of private beaches means that what remains free for the public is extremely crowded. These are often rocky and small compared to Australian beaches. We are absolutely spoilt with beautiful beaches in Australia and we are too used to not having to share our beach space with so many people!

Typical crowded beach in France in August

The Ugly

Paying for toilets – In Spain, France, Italy and Germany, it is impossible to find free public toilets. They all charge about 0.5 to 1 Euro per use. The crazy thing is that this money is supposed to pay for the the cleaning of the facilities but they are usually not that clean or well maintained. Even in a fast food chain like Burger King, there will be a person at the toilet door demanding payment to use the facility. The only way to use a toilet for free is to eat at a restaurant or to pay to enter a museum. Neither of which is without cost. Perhaps I am spoilt by the ease of finding clean, free, ablution facilities in Australia. I had associated having to pay for toilets with underdeveloped countries so I was shocked to be consistently charged all over Europe.

Using the toilet is something that we all need to do as functioning, living humans. If we all need it, then why not just set up some free, public facilities? I also feel that it is sexist because it is easier and more socially acceptable for men to find a secluded corner to relieve themselves. To be honest, that is gross too and probably explains why so much of Europe smells like pee!

Smoking – In Europe, about 1 in every 3 people smoke. This is compared to Australia where 1 in about 9 people smoke. The laws around smoking are also different. Cigarettes are highly taxed in Australia, where it costs about 26 Euros for a packet of 20 cigarettes. In Spain, it only costs about 4 Euros for a packet of 20 cigarettes. Smoking in Australia is difficult to afford whilst in Europe, it will only cost the loose change in your pocket. There is no cost disincentive.

It is socially acceptable in Europe to light up at alfresco restaurant tables despite other patrons dining on adjacent tables. The smokers would be the ones absolutely desperate of get off the train at their destination. They would be ready with their cigarette in hand. Two steps off the carriage and they would have lit up on the crowded platform. It is a callous action as they are probably well aware of the damage their passive smoke is having on other people and small children having to go past them.

It is impossible to walk the streets of Europe without being assailed by someone’s passive smoke. It is so socially acceptable to smoke in Europe unlike in Australia where it is quite frowned upon and the habit is steadily dying out.

I felt sorry for a Spanish store holder as they do not have the rules that cigarette packets have to be kept out of sight like in Australia. This poor girl had to work her hours in a shop with cigarette packets arrayed from wall to ceiling all around her. These are the cigarette packets which are emblazoned with graphic pictures of the physical health consequences of smoking.

A worrying trend is the increase in vaping. It is not unusual to see young people vaping. It is quite shocking to smell that sickly, synthetic fruit smell and then see children of about 14 using their vapes. What is worse is the way that vapes are advertised? There are vape stores throughout Europe where vapes are openly sold and advertised. Their sleek design aesthetic, modern curves and colours make them look very appealing. The way vapes are advertised is very similar to the way mobile phones are advertised. It is impossible to argue that they are not targeting children and young people. A new generation of addicts! Ka-ching! $$$

Religion – Despite the fact that Europe is one of the most secular places in the world, in every town and city in Europe, the church or cathedral would be the ostentatious centre piece. Often there were laws which restrict any buildings to be taller than the local cathedral. These cathedrals/basilicas/churches would be tall, spectacular buildings of architectural wonder. The Gothic style cathedrals would have nightmare inducing gargoyles peering down from up high. Inside, there are very high vaulted roofs, valuable paintings, expensive artifacts and relics of gold and silver. Within the building, there is a respectful hush as the sheer height of the ceilings which are designed to make a person feel small in the presence of God.

Every church you go into will be sure to have a prominently displayed donation box labelled with something along the lines of ‘for the upkeep of the church’. These buildings are enormously expensive to maintain, and many will have sections scaffolded off while work is being done. As Europe continues to change and become more secular and less Christian, what future is in store for some of the second-tier churches of Europe?

These amazing buildings were designed, crafted and made by humans. They are architectural wonders but made by determined and capable human beings. The sense of awe and ritual in a church is all designed by the church to make their flock sub-servient to God. What makes it really sickening is the value of these properties, the land, the buildings, the paintings, the artifacts etc. We were in a church that was famous for the number of Rubens paintings it owns. If the church really cared about helping the poor masses, selling just one of these valuable paintings would handsomely fund programs to pull people out of poverty. It’s hard to reconcile the stated mission of the humble church with their gaudy and opulent places of worship.

Relic – in this chest supposedly lies the remains of the Three Wise Men – a lot of people come to see this. There are about 20,000 people that visit Cologne Cathedral everyday.

In Conclusion

There is good and bad in everything. That is part of the nuance that is life. Seeing and experiencing it all is part of learning about how the world works. Europe is a “must see” destination as there is nothing else like it. For the many good things there is about it, there are things which are not so good. This can also be said for every other place on this Earth.

You may agree with me on some of these points or your may not…… that too is part of life.

Beautiful Belgium – Ghent, Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp

Posted on October 23, 2022 by admin

Belgium is a beautiful country! If we put aside all the old and beautiful architecture, what can possibly be wrong with a place that is all about their beer, frites (fries) and their waffles! That sounds like some kind of heaven! We visited Ghent, Brugge (or Bruges), the capital, Brussels and the diamond capital, Antwerp.

Ghent is a beautiful city. It’s worth a visit as it is charming without being overly touristy like Brugge.

Brugge is touristy but deservedly so. This place oozes charm. As you walk around the centre, you are compelled to get your camera out almost constantly. There are picturesque canals beautiful old buildings, cute alleyways etc. It is just a feast for the eyes. Clip clopping down the narrow roads are horse drawn carts carrying tourists. These are almost all driven by women tour guides. In fact, I would say, the tour is driven by the horse as in most cases, the lady is turned around almost completely as she points and explains the sights to the tourists instead of watching the road! It is more or less left to the horse to watch out for the dopey pedestrian tourists on the road!

An alternative to a tour of the city by horse, is to take a boat tour through the network of canals. In contrast, all these boat tours are run by men!

Brugge is touristy but I think, unlike some other places, despite that, it still retains plenty of picturesque charm. Perhaps this was due to timing. It was early September when we went and the summer crowd was decreasing in number. Brugge is a common day trip from Brussels so if you are staying in Brugge, get out and explore early or late to avoid the day-trippers! Either that or venture slightly away from the hub and you will find the streets almost deserted!

Basilica of the Holy Blood – here they have a phial with (allegedly) a cloth with the blood of Jesus. At specific times, this goes on display and people can file past to have a look. The lady with the green vest keeps an eye on the phial and the people going past!

Minnewater – a beautiful green area just beside the main town.

Brussels was a bit of a shock after the pretty, small town of Brugge. Brussels is a grimy, supposedly crime-y, expensive, big city with a diverse population. The area around the Gare Du Midi, the main train station, is particularly dodgy. Despite that, on Sundays, the markets held near the Gare Du Midi are one of the largest markets I’ve ever been to. These markets are super crowded so watch your belongings! There are loads of stalls selling fruit and vegetables and household items. This is not a touristy market. It’s a market for the lower working class where lots of practical household things can be bought cheaply. It’s not much of a cooked food market but it is a fantastic market for plants. There is a huge plant section and it is the best place to buy healthy indoor plants for freshening up your apartment for an astonishing low price!

Brussels – They love Tintin. There are Tintin murals on many walls

The Famous Mannekin Pis – Brussels (what you can’t see is the hoards of people crowded in the vicinity of this small statue and the beggars and buskers touting for money.)

Antwerp is only a short train ride from Brussels making it a perfect day trip. It is a hub of the diamond trade so there are plenty of jewelry shops for you to gawk at as you walk around.

This is the statue of Brabo in the main square. He is a mythical Roman leggionaire who killed a giant, Druon Antigoon. This giant terrorised Antwerp by forcing all navigators to pay tolls to access the River Scheldt. Brabo fought the giant, cut off his hand the threw it into the river. In the statue, you can see Brabo clutching the giant’s hand whilst in the act of throwing it. This is supposedly where the name Antwerp came from. The Dutch word for “hand-throwing” is *handwerpen*.

When in Belgium, it is absolutely imperative to sample the beer, the frites and the waffles. There is a wide range of beers that are hard to find anywhere else and some of them are really delicious! The frites are awesome because the authentic ones are cooked in beef fat. They come with a huge range of sauces to choose from. Many of these sauces are only found in Belgium like Andalouse and Samurai! There are two different types of waffles in Belgium, Liege waffles and Brussels waffles. The Brussels waffles are lighter, crispy and rectangular. Liege waffles are denser, chewier and rounder in shape. My favourite are the Liege waffles!

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