M and V are living in a cool old farmhouse in northwest Germany, about 3 hours from Amsterdam and 1 hour from Belgium. Our first full day in Germany the sun was shining and I was sick. I had felt it coming on - in Canterbury I started waking up with a sore throat and then in Scotland I’d started sneezing way too often for someone without allergies and by the time we landed in Germany, I knew.
*SuperNova Travel Tip: Travel with EmergenC. This is a tip I picked up from my favorite travel people at Walking Softly Adventures (www.walkingsoftly.com). EmergenC comes in slim packets that fit easily into a toiletries bag and can help you avoid catching a bug or, if it’s late in your trip, at least help stave it off till you get home. Since I caught something right at the start of our trip, we didn’t have enough with us to hold it off forever, but I’m still glad we brought it since it slowed the onset till we were at M’s house. I feel badly for not promoting Airborne and supporting a fellow teacher, but Airborne takes forever to dissolve, can only be used in containers with necks big enough to fit a tablet, and takes up more room in your luggage. Airborne used to make a version that came in little straws that you’d just down like a Pixie Stick, no water needed, which is actually even more handy than EmergenC, but I haven’t seen it in a while and suspect they stopped making it (I think children caught on quickly that it was not a Pixie Stick).
So we spent most of this day chillin’ around the house (M had to work anyway). We did have to run one errand, however, and thus got to eat lunch in the Netherlands at a restaurant chain called Fritture. M and V call the chain “Fried Shapes.” When you walk in, there’s a deli-like case where you can see a variety of shapes, completely unlabeled, covered in bread crumbs. You point at various shapes, order a side of fries and a drink, sit down, and a man brings you a plate with your shapes all fried up. It’s like lunch-roulette. I had what looked like an egg roll and turned out to be filled with beef. Mc got a long stick that was filled with what we suspect was goulash (only the Dutch could figure out a way to fry goulash). V got a long stick that tasted like a chicken nugget. Considering everything was fried, the meal doesn’t feel greasy, they do an excellent job and have some of the best fries around. Fritture: SuperNova approved.
*SuperNova Travel Tip: It's OK to get sick in Europe. It's a first world country and you can find medicine for just about anything you need. The trick is to look for a sign that looks like the Red Cross symbol, but it's green. Green plus-sign = pharmacy. Also, instead of looking for a variation of the word "pharmacy," look for a variation of the word "apothecary" (apotheke in German). While traveling through France (see upcoming entry), I developed a pretty nasty cough. I went into a pharmacy and asked the lady at the counter (most drugs are behind the counter instead of on shelves) if she had cough medicine. "Coff?" she asked, looking confused. "Yes," I replied, and then demonstrated by hacking into my tissue. "Ah, cough," she said and ran off and got me some expectorant. In Amsterdam (see upcoming entry), Mc ran to a green plus-sign and got me a cough suppressant and he said that the man there spoke great English. You can't let a little thing like getting sick ruin your vacation. Be smart, take things a little more slowly, and get yourself the meds you need. Or lots of wine (I recommend both).
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