Nauryz (also spelled Nauriz) is the Kazakh word for March, and it's also the name of the big spring holiday here that celebrates the first day of spring, despite the fact that we're still a winter wonderland at this time of year.
This year, Nauryz will be celebrated Thursday, 22 March.
I'm typing this post quickly to update anyone in Astana on what I know is going on for Nauryz this year. I know that I know very little, there probably is a lot more going on than what I will post here.
Each year I go to the celebrations by Beyterek Tower. (See my entries from 2010--part 1 and part 2--and 2011.) It's not super-fancy, but there are yurts there, people in local costumes, and some singing and dancing. Last year there was arm wrestling and real wrestling; two years ago there was a camel and some Kazakh swings (large swings that fit about 6 people, standing).
I read on-line that "Lovers' Park"--the park across from Khan Shatyr--will have some stuff (singing, dancing, etc) for Nauryz.
Also, all the malls usually have something--dancing, singing, etc--and are usually super-crowded.
Today (Wednesday) and tomorrow Mega Mall has an exhibition where you can buy handmade things. We're going to go later today.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Congress Hall is having an exhibition, from what I can tell, this also will include handmade items and local items and items for sale. Also, across from Congress Hall I saw them setting up yurts and stages for something to happen tomorrow.
The Opera House will have a free Kazakh opera on Thursday, at 3:00 pm. Friends who went last year said that they didn't have to buy tickets in advance.
That's all that I know about. Feel free to add a comment if you know about something else!
*UPDATE: There was nothing at Beiterek Tower this year, surprising myself and several others. The park across from Khan Shatyr had plenty (yurts, music, dancing, wrestling, swings, horse & pony rides) and I was told that across from Congress Hall there was stuff.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Mass in French!
My first month here I discovered the English-language Mass, which is every Sunday at 6 pm at the Catholic Church on Tashenov Street. (There's only one Catholic church in town.) Sometimes we go to the Russian-language Mass at 11 am, which is about twice as long as the English-language one.
A few days ago I learned that there's a French-language Mass at the same church! It occurs only once a month, and is at 7:15 pm, so not long after the English one ends. How had I not noticed before? Once every month, there have been French-speakers entering the church as I'm leaving.
My mom is visiting Astana for our spring break; she arrived Saturday at midnight. Sunday we took her to Mega and Duman to see the aquarium. Then we took her to Eagilik, the English-language library with an American-style coffee shop, and from there to French Mass. She doesn't speak French, but luckily she's a good sport and understood how much I wanted to go. I used to speak French almost fluently, but have lost most of it due to want of practice, so I like to get in some French when I can. When I lived in Paris for a year, I attended Mass every Sunday and many weekdays, and so French Mass is something I can understand fairly well.
The church was practically empty for the Mass--about 4 famillies; I was told that there's usually more people, but because of the holiday, many were gone. I'd seen the priest before, but he doesn't speak English, and I had never learned that he is from Switzerland. He spoke with a clear accent, and I could understand much of what he said.
After Mass, there was a little reception--some people had brought food--and I met the other people attending, including the ambassador of France!
Luckily, everyone spoke English, and so Mom and I got to socialize and enjoy some French food and wine. Mom had brought her ipod touch, and Sophia played that with some of the other children. I learned that Miras school opened a French program this year, which explains why we have no French-speakers at our school this year! Last year, French seemed to be the 3rd language at our school--in the corridors and on the playground, you most frequently heard English, then Russian, then French. This year there are no French-speakers!
It was a nice evening, and hopefully I'll be able to attend French-mass again. (And bore poor Sophia, of course!)
A few days ago I learned that there's a French-language Mass at the same church! It occurs only once a month, and is at 7:15 pm, so not long after the English one ends. How had I not noticed before? Once every month, there have been French-speakers entering the church as I'm leaving.
My mom is visiting Astana for our spring break; she arrived Saturday at midnight. Sunday we took her to Mega and Duman to see the aquarium. Then we took her to Eagilik, the English-language library with an American-style coffee shop, and from there to French Mass. She doesn't speak French, but luckily she's a good sport and understood how much I wanted to go. I used to speak French almost fluently, but have lost most of it due to want of practice, so I like to get in some French when I can. When I lived in Paris for a year, I attended Mass every Sunday and many weekdays, and so French Mass is something I can understand fairly well.
The church was practically empty for the Mass--about 4 famillies; I was told that there's usually more people, but because of the holiday, many were gone. I'd seen the priest before, but he doesn't speak English, and I had never learned that he is from Switzerland. He spoke with a clear accent, and I could understand much of what he said.
After Mass, there was a little reception--some people had brought food--and I met the other people attending, including the ambassador of France!
Luckily, everyone spoke English, and so Mom and I got to socialize and enjoy some French food and wine. Mom had brought her ipod touch, and Sophia played that with some of the other children. I learned that Miras school opened a French program this year, which explains why we have no French-speakers at our school this year! Last year, French seemed to be the 3rd language at our school--in the corridors and on the playground, you most frequently heard English, then Russian, then French. This year there are no French-speakers!
It was a nice evening, and hopefully I'll be able to attend French-mass again. (And bore poor Sophia, of course!)
Saturday, March 3, 2012
The Vet
I can't believe we've had Balthazar for 6 weeks now! We finally got around to taking him to the vet today.
Another teacher brought her cat over from the US, and used to the school secretary to take her to the vet. The secretary has a dog, and the teacher said that she really liked the vet the secretary uses.
So I arranged to meet the secretary at a shopping area near the vet this afternoon (Saturday). She called us a taxi, since we don't live near there (she does). We borrowed a cat carrying case from the teacher (who'd bought it here at a cat show).
Balthazar is an energetic, curious cat, and he meows nearly constantly. I think the meowing comes from boredom--he wants attention! So he hardly meowed at all for the whole experience--it was just so interesting for him.
The vet's place is not even labeled, it'd be impossible to find if you weren't with someone who knew. It's just a few rooms on the first floor in the back of some generic apartment complex.
I think they were doing surgery on an animal in the back room; we had to wait a long time. No one was in the front office, a tiny, cramped room, or the second room, another tiny room, with two chairs and a table. A tiny and incredibly thin kitten rested in a cage in this second room.
We talked a bit to the other people who waited with us. There was a woman who was bringing the kitten she'd recently found. A woman with a pretty 13-year old cat. Two women with a German Shepherd puppy whose leash looked too tight.
Our cat carrier was the fanciest around. Some people had their cats in cloth handbags; one woman came with her cat wrapped in a blanket.
Finally it was our turn. Balthazar was placed on the table and the vet quickly examined him. He has ear mites--she took a swab and examined them under a microscope. Sophia was curious and she let Sophia see. I was too grossed out to look.
She cleaned his ears and gave me instructions on how to clean them and to bring him back in 10 days. (Of course, my Russian's not that good! The secretary did the translating.)
She also gave him some vaccinations and clipped his nails. He did NOT like this and even hissed!
When we come back in ten days, we'll talk about getting him fixed.
She guessed his age at 1 year, which is older than we were guessing. I think he's grown since we got him! He doesn't seem that small!
The cost was 2600 Tenge ($17).
We said good-bye to the secretary and I decided to take the bus home. Balthazar was doing quite fine in his cat carrier. We rode the bus home with no incident, and had a short walk. If the weather had been colder, I would have taken a taxi of course.
As we walked around Mega (the mall), a man nearly ran into Sophia. Smiling, he pointed to the wine box he was carrying. It wasn't carrying wine, but a small kitten who poked its head out and meowed. The man reached to give Sophia something--at first we thought he was handing our cat some food, but he was giving 5 tenge to Sophia. Interesting...
Balthazar had finally had enough as we neared our house and he started meowing. We got inside and let him out.
He seems fine and hopefully we'll get him fixed soon!
Another teacher brought her cat over from the US, and used to the school secretary to take her to the vet. The secretary has a dog, and the teacher said that she really liked the vet the secretary uses.
So I arranged to meet the secretary at a shopping area near the vet this afternoon (Saturday). She called us a taxi, since we don't live near there (she does). We borrowed a cat carrying case from the teacher (who'd bought it here at a cat show).
Balthazar is an energetic, curious cat, and he meows nearly constantly. I think the meowing comes from boredom--he wants attention! So he hardly meowed at all for the whole experience--it was just so interesting for him.
The vet's place is not even labeled, it'd be impossible to find if you weren't with someone who knew. It's just a few rooms on the first floor in the back of some generic apartment complex.
I think they were doing surgery on an animal in the back room; we had to wait a long time. No one was in the front office, a tiny, cramped room, or the second room, another tiny room, with two chairs and a table. A tiny and incredibly thin kitten rested in a cage in this second room.
We talked a bit to the other people who waited with us. There was a woman who was bringing the kitten she'd recently found. A woman with a pretty 13-year old cat. Two women with a German Shepherd puppy whose leash looked too tight.
Our cat carrier was the fanciest around. Some people had their cats in cloth handbags; one woman came with her cat wrapped in a blanket.
Finally it was our turn. Balthazar was placed on the table and the vet quickly examined him. He has ear mites--she took a swab and examined them under a microscope. Sophia was curious and she let Sophia see. I was too grossed out to look.
She cleaned his ears and gave me instructions on how to clean them and to bring him back in 10 days. (Of course, my Russian's not that good! The secretary did the translating.)
She also gave him some vaccinations and clipped his nails. He did NOT like this and even hissed!
When we come back in ten days, we'll talk about getting him fixed.
She guessed his age at 1 year, which is older than we were guessing. I think he's grown since we got him! He doesn't seem that small!
The cost was 2600 Tenge ($17).
We said good-bye to the secretary and I decided to take the bus home. Balthazar was doing quite fine in his cat carrier. We rode the bus home with no incident, and had a short walk. If the weather had been colder, I would have taken a taxi of course.
As we walked around Mega (the mall), a man nearly ran into Sophia. Smiling, he pointed to the wine box he was carrying. It wasn't carrying wine, but a small kitten who poked its head out and meowed. The man reached to give Sophia something--at first we thought he was handing our cat some food, but he was giving 5 tenge to Sophia. Interesting...
Balthazar had finally had enough as we neared our house and he started meowing. We got inside and let him out.
He seems fine and hopefully we'll get him fixed soon!
Sledding Day
Last year, Sledding Day was at the beginning of February, and it was a relatively warm day. This year, Sledding Day was planned for the beginning of February, but it was very cold. The day kept being put off, until finally we realized we had to do it before the snow melted!
Okay, I know, we do have a full month before the snow melts, but it is already getting unseasonably warm--up to 0 degrees this weekend! There's mush outside already!
So Sledding Day was on the 2nd of March, which also was Pajama Day. We stressed repeatedly to the children that, yes, they could wear pajamas to school, but they also had to dress appropriately for sledding!
It was another "warm" day, meaning about -10º Celsius (14º F) and sunny with mild wind. Like last year, we took school vans plus parents' and drivers' cars. Unlike last year, the high schoolers were going to go. But then the principal learned that many high schoolers were simply planning on skipping Sledding Day and going home--so she canceled Sledding Day for the older kids and made them attend classes.
This year, we went to the riverbank by the Radisson Hotel. This super-fancy hotel had agreed to let us use their bathrooms if needed (I am surprised!) In the end, no one used them, but still quite nice!
On the riverbank here, someone has made a huge ice-slide, with even ice-bricks on it sides. This seems super-fast and slightly dangerous to me. On the weekends, it is quite popular.
Due to the nature of this kind of slide, we had to be organized--the older kids (4th - 6th grade) went further down to another similar slide. I stayed with the younger kids. A teacher and a few parents stood at the bottom of the slide to keep an eye on kids coming down. Another teacher and I stayed at the top--the teacher would give the kids the "all clear" to go down, one at a time, while I helped them form a line.
The kindergarten teacher helped the younger kids hop the fence that separates the walkway from the river's steep embankment. This area is covered in snow, not ice, and is a much safer place to sled!
It was fun, and the kids had a blast. They went down on sleds as well as without, screaming and squealing all the way down, on their faces expressions of sheer delight.
It wasn't all fun and safe, though. As one kid went zooming down the slide, a snow-mobile plowed fast across the river. The kid kept on going after the slide ending, sliding across the river, and he barely missed being hit by the snow-mobile. There were two snow-mobiles racing across the river; someone went to talk to them but that didn't stop them!
I didn't notice that last year; but about a month or two ago, I went with Sophia and my friend and her daughter to sled at the river. It was super-crowded with kids trying to slide; and snow-mobiles raced across the frozen river. Not safe!
Luckily, the teacher and parents at the bottom kept eyes out for the snow-mobiles, and we stayed safe. No more kids went down when snow-mobiles were nearby!
I went down twice. The first time, I realized just how fast it was, and I screamed the whole time down. The force or something dislodged my contact lens and I panicked (considering my contacts are hard contacts and about $100 each!) Luckily, it had just shifted in my eye and soon came back in place.
Towards the end of our 2 hours, the older kids came back to us. I talked to my notoriously shy student, a 9-year old Korean boy. Earlier, I had talked to his sister, asked if he even wanted to come to Sledding Day. She assured me that he did. Now I asked him how many times he had sledded. None!! He'd been too shy to try!
Now, if I hadn't been sure that he actually wanted to try sledding (from my earlier conversation with his sister), I never would have done what I did--I forced him to go down the slide with me. The slide has two sides, and one is shorter. If you go down without a sled, you go more slowly, and so we did the short side without a sled. I held his hand and down we went!
It was so fast!! I guess I'm just a scaredy-cat! As I neared the bottom (after letting go of the boy's hand), I suddenly realized that a 5-year-old was at the bottom. (Where the slide ends, there's about a foot-tall "wall" of hard-packed snow, since the snow had to be cleared to make the ice-slide. Which means if I rammed into him, I'd be ramming him into that snow--not good!) Thinking quickly, I managed to pick him up and carry him, so we crashed into the snow together. He laughed and seemed to think this was great fun. Crisis averted!
Later, I asked the shy Korean boy what he thought about sledding--he admitted it was a bit scary. I told his sister that they should try to go sledding sometime, but maybe not at the ice-slide. (By the way, she thanked me for going down the slide with him that one time.)
Our last near-crisis was when a 5-year old girl went down the super-fast slide. Her mother had asked her teacher to make sure she didn't do anything like that, but this was near the end, and her teacher much have been looking elsewhere. The teacher helping the kids go down the ice-slide was a bit wary of letting her go down, but let her go down. I was at the bottom when this happened--she flipped. I thought she hit her head, but in the end she just hit her bottom and was more scared than hurt. I was quite terrified until I learned that she hadn't hit her head.
So, no real crises, no one really hurt, and no temper tantrums or crying fits. The kids all seemed to really enjoy themselves. (And Sophia did get hot and take off her coat. I wish I'd taken a picture--she was wear her short-sleeved nightgown underneath her snow-pant overalls!!) Although next year, I think we'll try to find someplace that doesn't have fancy ice-slides. A good, old-fashioned snowy hill is good enough for me!
Special Olympics Part 2
The Special Olympics also wanted volunteers, and so I volunteered to help at the awards ceremony on Sunday. They requested 24 volunteers, 8 each at 3 different events, and asked for us to be there from 11 to 1 pm.
We met in front of Mega, the mall near our home, at 10:30 pm. The teacher who lives in my building was also going, and so I got a ride with him.
We noticed that the people who didn't have rides were waiting for the bus at the bus stop in front of Mega. We tried to tell them that no bus goes to Alau from here. But they didn't listen. And I wonder if it's in part my fault; I told the principal that buses 12 and 43 go to Alau, and she had probably told them. What I didn't think to add was where those buses stop, which is on the other side of Mega and across the street, not directly in front.
We arrived at Alau and entered. Sometime after the last year's Asian Winter Games ended, Alau opened for public ice skating. I had asked the principal if it would be open for us, after the ceremony, and she had said that she'd been told no. She was wrong.
We went down and under the speed-skating track to come up in the center. In the middle Alau has two ice skating rinks, as well as a small cafe-area, with seating and some booths for food. Lots of people were ice skating, and they looked as if they had no connection to the Special Olympics. I really wish we'd brought our ice skates!
We waited for a while. A booth was selling pizza-in-a-cone, and I ordered one for Sophia. She'd had one before, at the airport in Almaty, and had liked it, but this one was gross--they microwaved it! Ew! Sophia didn't eat much.
The group who'd been waiting for a bus arrived--they'd taken a taxi.
I never heard anything directly; few of us spoke Russian, and so when a Russian-speaker heard news, it was passed along the lines until it got to me. But apparently whoever was organizing this event didn't know why we'd shown up so early. They told us we could watch the first awards ceremony, get an idea of what we'd have to do. Well, we watched, and there didn't seem to be any volunteers or any need for any!
Sophia attends an hour a week of religious education -- preparation for First Communion -- and she'd missed last week, so I had her take out her "First Penance" book and read and do her work. Near us was a group of Special Olympics athletes; one was very interested in the book and asked to look at it. I let him, and he spent quite some time carefully looking through the book. I wonder what he thought of it....
Finally, we decided that we could leave and we did. On the way out, I asked about ice skating -- 1000 Tenge to rent ice skates, so around the price of the "Ice Club" we usually go to. They also rent speed skates here, that'd be fun to try one day!
We then went to Mega to eat lunch with friends; after that, we went across the street from Mega to ice skate in a parking lot. After watching others ice skate for an hour, I was really dying to go!
We had about 30 minutes of ice skating before it was time to leave for church. We ran into 3 boys who go to our school. They enjoyed ice-skating towards the edge and then jumping into a pile of snow.
And so that was my attempt to volunteer.
We met in front of Mega, the mall near our home, at 10:30 pm. The teacher who lives in my building was also going, and so I got a ride with him.
We noticed that the people who didn't have rides were waiting for the bus at the bus stop in front of Mega. We tried to tell them that no bus goes to Alau from here. But they didn't listen. And I wonder if it's in part my fault; I told the principal that buses 12 and 43 go to Alau, and she had probably told them. What I didn't think to add was where those buses stop, which is on the other side of Mega and across the street, not directly in front.
We arrived at Alau and entered. Sometime after the last year's Asian Winter Games ended, Alau opened for public ice skating. I had asked the principal if it would be open for us, after the ceremony, and she had said that she'd been told no. She was wrong.
We went down and under the speed-skating track to come up in the center. In the middle Alau has two ice skating rinks, as well as a small cafe-area, with seating and some booths for food. Lots of people were ice skating, and they looked as if they had no connection to the Special Olympics. I really wish we'd brought our ice skates!
We waited for a while. A booth was selling pizza-in-a-cone, and I ordered one for Sophia. She'd had one before, at the airport in Almaty, and had liked it, but this one was gross--they microwaved it! Ew! Sophia didn't eat much.
The group who'd been waiting for a bus arrived--they'd taken a taxi.
I never heard anything directly; few of us spoke Russian, and so when a Russian-speaker heard news, it was passed along the lines until it got to me. But apparently whoever was organizing this event didn't know why we'd shown up so early. They told us we could watch the first awards ceremony, get an idea of what we'd have to do. Well, we watched, and there didn't seem to be any volunteers or any need for any!
Sophia attends an hour a week of religious education -- preparation for First Communion -- and she'd missed last week, so I had her take out her "First Penance" book and read and do her work. Near us was a group of Special Olympics athletes; one was very interested in the book and asked to look at it. I let him, and he spent quite some time carefully looking through the book. I wonder what he thought of it....
Finally, we decided that we could leave and we did. On the way out, I asked about ice skating -- 1000 Tenge to rent ice skates, so around the price of the "Ice Club" we usually go to. They also rent speed skates here, that'd be fun to try one day!
We then went to Mega to eat lunch with friends; after that, we went across the street from Mega to ice skate in a parking lot. After watching others ice skate for an hour, I was really dying to go!
We had about 30 minutes of ice skating before it was time to leave for church. We ran into 3 boys who go to our school. They enjoyed ice-skating towards the edge and then jumping into a pile of snow.
And so that was my attempt to volunteer.
Special Olympics Part 1
About one week ago, the Special Olympics came to Astana, and our school was asked last-minute to help out. Things around here always seem to happen last minute. The high-schoolers went on Friday to help at the British international school, while the elementary classes were to go to the opening ceremony. At first, they wanted our high school girls to be part of the opening ceremony, in Kazakh dresses, but then they were able to arrange models for the part, letting down our high school girls.
We hurried to get parents' permission slips and arrange transportation, and on Friday we loaded into the two school vans plus parents' (or drivers') cars and went to Alau, the speed-skating arena that had been built for last winter's Asian Winter Games.
Inside, we found our seats and soon realized that we were about the ONLY spectators. Perhaps a dozen people other than ourselves--and we numbered only about 45 kids, plus teachers and a few parents.
The ceremony was nice--the torch came in, and then the different teams marched in after being announced in Russian, Kazakh, and English. There was one group from Austria, one from Russia, one from Uzbekistan, and several from different Kazakh oblasts. (Oblasts are like states or regions.)
We cheered for all the teams, and we had two school banners to hold up.
Then a bunch of important people made speeches. I was pleased that my listening skills were good enough to decipher when someone was speaking with an accent. One guy stumbled over his Kazakh; his Russian was smoother but I could still discern a definite foreign accent. (I'm not good enough, though, to be able to determine where he was from, though!)
It wasn't anything fancy, but I do think it was a good experience for our students.
Line Brew
Kenessary Street is one of the bigger streets in the old downtown; it crosses Respublika, which is like the Main Street of the old downtown.
If you're driving down Kenessary Street, you may pass by a building that looks a bit like a castle. This is Line Brew, an upscale restaurant. I've heard for a while that it's really nice, so a few weeks ago a friend and I decided to try it out.
In the entrance area, where the coat-check is, there was a knight-in-shining-armor suit. The coat-check lady was a plump lady with an extremely low-cut blouse. I quickly noticed that all the female staff wore extremely low-cut blouses (for the wait staff, this seemed to be part of the uniform--for the others, maybe a dress code?)
There was one small table available; we were told that usually it's best to make reservations. There is an upstairs and a downstairs; we were downstairs, at a small wooden table, near the bar and an open fire where shashlyk (and perhaps other food) was being cooked. (Shashlyk is like kebab).
My friend had a sore throat, and had earlier mused that she'd like some mulled wine, which she wasn't even sure if we could find in Astana. She asked, and Line Brew does have mulled wine, and it was very delicious, and not until the bill came out did we realize the price--2500 Tenge per glass! ($17!)
The menu items were quite expensive, and we settled on sharing a salad and beef fondue. The salad was good, although its simplicity surprised my Kazakh friend--lettuce, a oil-like dressing, and parmesan cheese. I've only had fondue once in my life, and that was about 15 years ago, so I can't quite compare. It was good, although it'd be nice to have more for your main course than just meat. I dropped my fondue fork onto my lap and burned myself picking it up.
We then shared a divinely delicious tiramisu for dessert while my friend drank tea and I had a wheat beer that was on draft, and which wasn't very good. Someone had recommended their dark beer, I'd wager that they do have good beer and I'd just ordered the cheapest one. I guessed that Line Brew is trying to be Belgian, based on the castle and decor, the food, the beer, and a sign that was in French. (One of the main beers that they serve, Leffe, is Belgian.)
Our bill totaled $100--wow! I think the fancy Chinese restaurant was cheaper! And this place was full--even people with kids were there. I don't think I'm ever taking Sophia there, she won't appreciate the food enough for me to spend that much money on her.
For most of the time, not-too-loud music played, and since my friend was going hoarse, we could manage a decent conversation if I leaned in close to her. But a live band was there, and when they played, we didn't even try to talk. I don't understand why restaurants and bars think it's cool to have loud music playing, so that their customers can't hold conversations.
It was a good evening, and definitely a place worth going back to--as long as you're prepared to spend the money!
If you're driving down Kenessary Street, you may pass by a building that looks a bit like a castle. This is Line Brew, an upscale restaurant. I've heard for a while that it's really nice, so a few weeks ago a friend and I decided to try it out.
In the entrance area, where the coat-check is, there was a knight-in-shining-armor suit. The coat-check lady was a plump lady with an extremely low-cut blouse. I quickly noticed that all the female staff wore extremely low-cut blouses (for the wait staff, this seemed to be part of the uniform--for the others, maybe a dress code?)
There was one small table available; we were told that usually it's best to make reservations. There is an upstairs and a downstairs; we were downstairs, at a small wooden table, near the bar and an open fire where shashlyk (and perhaps other food) was being cooked. (Shashlyk is like kebab).
My friend had a sore throat, and had earlier mused that she'd like some mulled wine, which she wasn't even sure if we could find in Astana. She asked, and Line Brew does have mulled wine, and it was very delicious, and not until the bill came out did we realize the price--2500 Tenge per glass! ($17!)
The menu items were quite expensive, and we settled on sharing a salad and beef fondue. The salad was good, although its simplicity surprised my Kazakh friend--lettuce, a oil-like dressing, and parmesan cheese. I've only had fondue once in my life, and that was about 15 years ago, so I can't quite compare. It was good, although it'd be nice to have more for your main course than just meat. I dropped my fondue fork onto my lap and burned myself picking it up.
We then shared a divinely delicious tiramisu for dessert while my friend drank tea and I had a wheat beer that was on draft, and which wasn't very good. Someone had recommended their dark beer, I'd wager that they do have good beer and I'd just ordered the cheapest one. I guessed that Line Brew is trying to be Belgian, based on the castle and decor, the food, the beer, and a sign that was in French. (One of the main beers that they serve, Leffe, is Belgian.)
Our bill totaled $100--wow! I think the fancy Chinese restaurant was cheaper! And this place was full--even people with kids were there. I don't think I'm ever taking Sophia there, she won't appreciate the food enough for me to spend that much money on her.
For most of the time, not-too-loud music played, and since my friend was going hoarse, we could manage a decent conversation if I leaned in close to her. But a live band was there, and when they played, we didn't even try to talk. I don't understand why restaurants and bars think it's cool to have loud music playing, so that their customers can't hold conversations.
It was a good evening, and definitely a place worth going back to--as long as you're prepared to spend the money!
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