april 17 – mongo’s, train to the netherlands, r&r in helmond

...and up at noon or so after a good rest. uber-host ulf took us to mongo’s mongolian bbq for brunch. huge variety of meats – kangaroo, lamb, antelope, african cow, duck, etc. carson and i went for the variety, which may not have been the best idea. carson’ll tell you that when you have 12 meats in one bowl, it’s easy to lose track of what you’re eating. a little focus probably would have been good, but it was pretty incredible nonetheless. over-long lunch leads to (you guessed it) another mad dash to the train station for the ride to the netherlands and a couple of desperately needed days off. some colorful characters on the train up to helmond, like jackie (again, see photo) who started hanging all over adam, and her mom, who had an unsettling predilection for belching.
off at the wrong helmond station, called lenny & tjerk, our friends, and within a few minutes, we were maxing and relaxing at their home.

helmond literally means “hell’s mouth,” and when we mentioned where we were staying, people seemed taken aback. we were told that this friendly little town is, in fact, where all the dutch criminal-class hangs out... just goes to show that you never know who’s lurking behind those well-manicured lawns and town-house doors.
our hosts made us an excellent pasta dinner, and we all watched monty python’s “erik the viking”. i’m normally a big fan of monty python, but couldn’t appreciate this... a few choice words from roger ebert on the subject: Every once in a while a movie comes along that makes me feel like a human dialysis machine. The film goes into my mind, which removes its impurities, and then it evaporates into thin air. "Erik the Viking" is a movie like that, an utterly worthless exercise in waste and wretched excess, uninformed by the slightest spark of humor, wit or coherence.

sleep come free me...