The Netherlands - summer 2025

 I usually try to see my old Princeton friend Ernst when I'm in Europe. He's at the University of Utrecht working on circular economy and industrial decarbonization stuff. Leo met me in Amsterdam and we convened on Ernst's house. Had a fun outing and got crazy ice cream with Ruben. 

Amersfoort is famous for their bell tower with the carillon and for their rocks. Seriously. Other cities like to send them rocks:

And we visited the Koppelport (land and water port):

Somehow there's this mini dessert in the Netherlands:

We went to Amsterdam to see the Van Gogh Museum. 

Lego found a way to profit off of Van Gogh too:

This was a  crazy bike rack:

Amsterdam has a gigantic underground bike parking facility near the main train station. These escalators allow you to safely bring your bikes up and down. 

I love going to Dutch grocery stores. Yum Filet Americain (beef tartare)! and hot dogs in a jar!:

Leo has never met my cousin Michael who is a professor of computer science at Leiden University so we took a trip to Leiden. I finally got to meet his stylish wife Hyowon:

Someday I want to open a store like this:

Leiden has this very old windmill:

Leo and I had lunch at this fabulous Paco Ciao restaurant. So much fun. The front door says "Mr. Paco Ciao"

You walk into this small sitting room and try to figure out where you went wrong. Was it really a restaurant? It is a tiny place in this guy's apartment?

https://youtube.com/shorts/SX9Qtl67R6g?feature=share  

The food is very creative:

The bathroom has this sign:

And when you press the button:

https://youtube.com/shorts/IYjXbG90AfM 

Europe trip with Leo - Summer 2025 - Oslo

Summer of 2025. I had to go to Oslo for an IEA Wind Task 25 meeting in mid-May and was originally slated to attend Ackermann's Hybrid/Island Workshop in the Aland Islands, Finland the first week of June. So I figured I'd just stay in Europe the whole time rather than go back and forth to the US. Root scheduled his 60th birthday party in Scotland the second half of May. I told my old roommate Mette about the Aland Islands workshop and she invited me to her summer house there prior to the workshop. Then I got an invitation to give a plenary talk near Venice and I was told it was more important than the workshop. So it became a very convoluted trip: Oslo, the Netherlands, Scotland, Aland Islands, Venice. Leo decided to join part of the trip; Paul did not because he was going roller skating in San Diego. 

Oslo is SO civilized. You get off the plane, go into the airport, it goes right into a train, the train pops out in the center of the town, seen here. It's so easy and efficient!

Hannele insisted we go visit The Vigeland Park, known for its 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland of people's bodies:

We always have an IEA dinner. In Kyoto, it was a kaiseki meal, paired with sakes, with each dish describing a season or climate or weather. Our Oslo dinner was pizza. In fact they had sashimi pizza. One of the Asian guys and I were both cringing a bit but we ordered it anyway: 

We did run out to see the Munch museum on the last day:

They have multiple version of the Scream and they unveil each for a short period of time each hour:

Here's the color version:

The opera house is really cool. You can walk on the roof:

Some fun art on the outside:

After eating grocery store food in my room, and the sashimi pizza, I found Elias Mat & Sant, which was a very nice restaurant and had elk carpaccio, reindeer stew and pannacotta.

Jordnaer

 Vicki pointed out that the two-star Michelin Jordnaer received three-stars soon after I visited. I wanted to get all the pix up here. Huge thanks to my friend Katherine who was able to make reservations at the "kitchen table" on short notice as part of her Danish Foodie Club. Unfortunately, she got sick that day and wasn't able to go, so I did a solo eating venture, having no idea of what I was getting into, or how much it cost (ended up being close to $550 with water and wine), or what a kitchen table was.

Super lucky to get to meet Eric Vildgaard in person. He was heading to Colorado a couple months after this to ski and we discussed the best places to ski here. Here's my brush with fame:

Restaurant is inside a hotel. I'm trying to remember but I think they have a little locker or cubby to put your coat before you go in.

So the kitchen table is literally in the kitchen. This was my view. The chef on the right, facing me, seemed to be Eric's right-hand man (I'm sure there is a better term for this position). You can see that the kitchen is divided into two rooms. I was amazed at how many people are needed to cook for this relatively small restaurant.

A little amuse-bouche:

plated in something resembling a shell:

The staff is using tweezers constantly, for the careful placement of the tiny flowers. 

Eric introduced himself, said he was sorry Katherine was sick and did I like caviar? Because they apportion the food the prior day and so I would receive both my and Katherine's caviar! By the end of the night, I think I was actually a little over the top on caviar, but I do love caviar (never having had sturgeon eggs before, only Japanese) and salt and it was glorious. 

Of course I had to pair with a Riesling because I never got past Riesling in wine-tasting school. On top of the caviar is shaved truffle:

I had never had real truffle before. Apparently "truffle fries" in the US are made with some chemical that is overpowering and not real truffle. Anyway, this is delicate and much more subtle than the chemical.

The kitchen is busy but controlled:

https://youtu.be/N32tbryAUjg

https://youtu.be/THyfaAZEZQ0

This is a fresh morel. I'd never had one before. Never even found one in the wild:

 

You can see why they need a truffle shaver!

Dessert. Alas, all good things must come to an end.