Fifty years

I was still in the Amazonia when I received a text from a childhood friend, Mister T. He was in Sweden and had just pushed back a few weeks his return flight from Frankfurt to Santiago. Mister T said “you should come to Europe so that we can celebrate fifty years of friendship.” To be precise, it hasn’t been fifty years of continuous friendship, as there’s been some interspersed enemyship, including a punch exchange the very first time we met, but what counts is a solid bond built throughout half a century of crazy adventures, wacky ideas, and some dangerous and not always lofty stunts (which I’m proud of, with a few exceptions).

As you probably know, I don’t need much of an incentive to go visit new places, so less than a month later I was landing in Amsterdam to start what ended up being a fabulous 11-day circuit across four countries.

The Hague

From Schipol, the Amsterdam airport, I went straight to The Hague to meet my friend, so Amsterdam remains in my bucket list. The Hague is described in a online guide written by a local (that is, a Hagenaar if you allow me to sound cultured) as a beautiful and somewhat strange or quirky city that people shun in favor of the bigger sisters Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Brussels

Tiredness plus rainy weather conspired against a deeper exploration of Brussels, but we made sure to visit the most significant landmarks: the central square or Grand Place, and the Beer Capital Bar, which boasts over 2000 different beers.

Bruges

Bruges is famous for its well-preserved medieval architecture, cobblestone streets, Venice-like canals and numerous chocolate factories. Perhaps a tad too famous, because the train we took from Brussels was packed and the main square could not have held more people, and all this during what I thought was the low season. It was Sunday, though.

Lyon

Lyon was founded by the Romans, and since it never suffered from any devastating event, you can see signs of its 2000-year history in its diverse architecture and urban structure. It is also considered the gastronomic capital of France.

Annecy

Annecy is a small town 90 minutes east of Lyon, at the foot of the Alps and at the edge of Lake Annecy, which is known as “Europe’s cleanest lake”. The lake with the snowy mountains backdrop, the town’s old architecture and narrow winding streets, and the river and its many bridges make Annecy a jewel well worth a visit.

Chamonix

My friend was fixated with visiting Chamonix, but not for the reasons you might think. It turns out that Mister T has too many friends in the mountaineering community whose gloating about Chamonix rub him the wrong way. He just wanted to be able to say “I’ve been to Chamonix and you are wrong: it’s dreary!”. A noble goal that I was more than willing to share and help realize, particularly if it took only a 90 minute bus ride to get there. We naturally succeeded. The fact that it was winter and I’m not a fan of winter sports made it very easy.

Cologne

My flight back home was from Amsterdam and Mister T’s from Frankfurt, so we decided to spend the last two nights together in Cologne, which is in between.(The actual truth is more complicated than that, but as you know, I’m a minimalist and more keen on simplicity than accuracy).

I had heard that Cologne is a lovely city, but I have to confess that I got off the train without having the faintest idea about what to expect. Upon leaving the Hauptbahnhof or central station I looked around to get my bearings… and almost fell backwards when I saw the gargantuan and elaborate masterpiece of a monument I had right in front of me.

Cologne’s medieval cathedral is the tallest cathedral in the world and 800 years in the making. And there I was in sheer ignorance and awe, an insignificant soul among the 20,000 that visit the landmark daily. The cathedral was severly damaged during World War II but, amazingly, it remained standing in an otherwise flattened city.

The last night we went to Peters Brauhaus brewery, a lively pub in a beautiful old building, where we intended to try some local fare. Upon seating us, the waiter asked “Bier?”. Since I only saw dishes on the menu, I assumed that choosing a beer would require a conversation, so I asked him if he spoke English.

“Come on, bier, beer… it’s universal!”. I must have looked puzzled. He tried: “Do you want beer?”.

“Yes!”

And he brought us beer. It turns out it was just a yes/no question.