Pannenkoekenboot

On Monday evening, as part of the opening festivities for the school year, the International Exchange Student Office sponsored a trip on the Pannenkoekenboot (the Pancake Boat!).  Now, apparently, this was new to many students that have just arrived in the Netherlands but about 6 months before I went to the Netherlands I was looking through an old travel book and saw a little article about the Pannenkoekenboot.  Since then it has been pretty near the top of my "Things I Really Have to Do While I'm in the Netherlands" list.  So, you can imagine that I was tickled when I found out about this trip.  To make it even better, since this was a school-sponsored activity, it was free!  And, since the individual rate is for a trip is about 20 euro, or $32, you can imagine that I was mightily pleased.

We rode the boat out to Kinderdijk which is a historical place full of windmills and wooden shoes.  We walked around for an hour or so and then, on the 1 1/2 hour trip back to Rotterdam, we got to enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet of pancakes with all kinds of different toppings.

While we were sailing along, though, I saw this boat.  It certainly the prettiest boat on the river that day.  =-)

This was a very Dutch thing, though (even if it is also a very touristy thing to do).  Because I don't think that there is anything more Dutch than pancakes and windmills.  So, here, just for the flavor of it, is a little more Dutch:

Here are some questions which the savvy traveler might ask before embarking on a Pancake Cruise:

Does hiking around a bunch of windmills on a chilly-ish, blustery day, with storms flying in from the Atlantic make pancakes taste really, really good?
Why, yes, yes it does.

Does crispy bacon, cooked into a thin pancake taste delicious when topped with ham and chunks of brie?
Yes.  It tastes very, very delicious.  Especially the first bit.  Unfortunately, if you don't eat it fast enough, the bacon can get a little slimy (also, there may have been two kinds of bacon and some of it was fattier and not so crispy, which made the second half not quite so delicious as the first half.)

Do thin slices of apple make nice additions when cooked into thin, crispy pancakes?
Yes.  Also, they are quite pretty.  Also, it makes the pancake healthy, even if you put miniature colored marshmallows on it.

Does candied ginger make a good pancake topper?
Well, it makes a strongly-flavored pancake topping.  It might be something you need to get used to.  On the other hand, candied ginger juice makes an excellent dip for miniature colored marshmallows.

Can there be too many different kinds of chocolate sprinkles, chunks, sauces, shavings, etc., available to put on pancakes?
What a silly question.

How many dinner plate-sized pancakes is it possible to eat, on an all-you-can-eat pancake cruise?
Well, if you are me, then about 1 and a half (I can feel Grandpa's disapprobation, so I am going to claim the fact that the cabin was kind of stuffy and the river was pretty choppy and I didn't really want to push my luck).  If you were the other girls at my table, then about 2.  If you were the people at the table next to us, who were having a pancake-eating contest, then about 8.

Does being very full of delicious pancakes inure one to the dangers of having the waiters twirl sparklers and carry them in their mouths while dancing around the highly-varnished, wooden boat, in the middle of the river, as a part of their entertainment routine?
Almost.


Now, if you want to ask why I, a Master's course student, was invited on a trip sponsored by the Exchange student department, that would also be a good question.  For some reason, despite the fact that this has been the plan for the last seven months or so, the EUR registrar's office still hasn't gotten the message.  However, a lovely trip to the windmills and a gigantic meal of pancakes is more than enough to make me forget the fact that, despite the fact that classes start next week I am still not registered for the correct classes.

Okay, almost enough, or at least a pretty good start in the right direction.