Bike Ride #1

We had originally planned to do a 90 km bike ride through the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium on Saturday morning. Our first obstacle was the weather - instead of heading out at 9am like we planned, we had to wait until 11:30 when the rain stopped.

After the sun started shining we took a 4 km ride out to St. Pieterberg - an old Roman fort on a hill. This is when we discovered all of Holland isn't flat; Limburg has hills. Big hills with steep ascents and descents. The 90 km plan was officially canceled.

After visiting the fort, we started a 40 km loop through Gulpen to Valkenburg and back to Maastricht. The countryside was beautiful and the hills added a nice change in scenery (and a burning feeling in our quads).

The first stop along the loop was the Nederlands American Cemetery and Memorial. It is a beautiful tribute to the soldiers that died during WWII, particularly those that gave their lives at Operation Market Garden.

Next we coasted down a large hill into the town of Gulpen - where they make the popular Gulpener Pilsner. We stopped for lunch at a local cafe and enjoyed mustard soup (a regional specialty), a melon and parmaham salad, and Gulpener Pilsner.

Next we climbed - and I mean climbed - out of Gulpen and headed to Valkenburg. On the way we took a little detour off-road to ride by the Oud Valkenburg Castle.

The town was too touristy for us - their was chintzy swag being sold on every corner - so we only stopped long enough to try Leeuw Pilsner - another local beer.

We got back to Maastricht just before the store hit and were treated to a view of complete double rainbows over the Maas River. How often does that happen?

We were exhausted after the ride and hung out in the boat's bar watching The Netherlands beat Scotland 3-0 in the a World Cup qualifier and playing Scrabble. It was a great day in Limburg.

You can see the rest of the pictures from the day here.

Maastricht

Maastricht is billed as the "crowned jewel of the south" and as far away from canals, windmills, and wooden shoes as you can get but still be in the Netherlands. Maastricht is where Dutch, German, and Belgian cultures intersect. We headed out there to complete a three countries bike ride, but as you will read about later the weather was bad and the hills were worse.
After checking into our botel, anchored on the Mass River, we headed to the Take One beer cafe. The bartenders were very friendly and happy to suggest local beers based on taste and preferences. Matt enjoyed a Budels, while I enjoyed the beer of the month: Artevelde Grand Cru. While sipping our beers, we munched on peanuts and played Scrabble. It was quite interesting to play with the Dutch assortment of letters; we determine the letter 'ij' = 'y' and 'q' automatically became 'qu'. Matt finished the evening with the Budels Parel and I tried the St. Louis Kriek.

Haarlem

We ventured out of our apartment on Saturday into a sea of dense fog to travel to Haarlem. The guidebooks tote Haarlem as a quieter version of Amsterdam. It was a nice city, but I think it lacks the excitement and sites of Amsterdam and the charm of a smaller Dutch town. It was just kinda in the middle. Although, their Saturday morning market did include much more fish than our similar market in Delft. I wanted to buy the fresh sardines, but thought our neighbors on the train back would not appreciate the air freshener.
The impressive church in town, the Grote Kerk van St. Bavo was an odd combination of white-washed walls, frescoes, modern stained-glass windows, and models. The most impressive thing in the church was its beautiful pipe organ.It seems every Dutch town has its master painter from the Gold Age of Holland, and Frans Hals is Haarlem's. The Frans Hals Museum included an interesting and informative history of Haarlem in the Golden Age through the paintings of Frans Hals. They took prints of his paintings, blew them up to wall size and explained the landmarks, people, and other properties of the paintings in the context of the history of Haarlem. We spent the rest of the tour learning about his new style of group portraits that eventually influenced Rembrant's style. His innovate group portraits were the first to break-out of the simple rows of patrons' heads. He added life, emotion, and a story to the expertly arranged compositions.After grabbing a bite to eat in the roof top cafeteria in the V&D department stop, we headed to Teyler's Museum - the oldest museum in the Netherlands. The display rooms, complete with their original descriptive labels punched out on a typewriter, are stuffed full of fossils, scientific instruments, and paintings from the Golden Age. The museum had an impressive collection of fossils, including quite a few dinosaur fossils. One of my favorite parts was pondering over one of the first batteries built of 25 Leiden Bottles.

We had planned to sit in the one of the cafes on the various squares and enjoy a glass of Jopen - the local beer, but the sun had left and it was a bit too chilly to enjoy a cold drink outside. Instead we grabbed a few bottles at the grocery store to try at home with dinner (Jopen Koyt, Jopen Hoppenbeir, Adriaan Rose, & Jopen Bokbeir).

Sometimes We All Judge a Book by the Cover...

...just like sometimes we judge a drink by the glass. You know martini night with the girls wouldn't be nearly as much fun if those festive, bright-colored drinks came in boring tumblers.

Belgian beer makers are snobs about their glasses, too. And rightfully so, it's not like they are serving Miller Lite over here. Sometimes when I go into a bar I want to tell the bartender I will have whatever comes in "that glass". But that would be so un-beer-sophisticated of me.

So instead I spent hours pouring over Belgian beers and glasses on the internet to find out the name of the beer that has a monopoly on "that glass". You know "that glass"; it the one with the bulbous bottom that needs its own wooden stand to stay upright. The all too collectible glass that sometimes requires your shoe as a deposit, that is "that glass". And I wanted a beer served in "that glass".

Kwak

Kwak is the beer that comes in "that glass". And the Beerhuis on the Water served it in "that glass". It was a definite on our list of sites to see in Gent.
The beer was nothing special, but it came in "that glass". Maybe next time they will give a Duvel served in "that glass".

Lovely Leuven...Seriously

In a country known for chocolate, that has over 300 micro-brews, and considers waffles acceptable food for three meals a day plus snacks, it is impossible to have a bad visit. We made sure we experienced all three during our visit:

Chocolate

We snuck Galler's chocolate bars into the movie theater - way better than over-priced M&Ms. The dark chocolate with Grand Marnier filling is to die for and the milk chocolate with sweet coffee filling is absolutely delish! (Sorry about the lack of chocolate photos, but we didn't think it was wise to call attention to the fact we were sneaking food into the movie theater.)

Beer
We visited the Domus Restaurant and Brewery, where we sampled all three of their brews: Con Domus, Nostra Domus, and their special winter brew - Engel. My favorite was the Nostra Domus - a dark beer with a light flavor; the Con Domus was too bitter for me.

Waffles
Forget a sandwich for lunch, I enjoyed a Belgian waffle with warm cherries and a side of whip cream. My pants are thankful we aren't living the land of endless waffles.

Lovely Leuven

I did my homework. I bought Benelux weekend return tickets on sale, picked out a lovely hostel, and researched the "must-see" sites - all five of them. I was not deterred; every weekend does not need to be jammed-packed and we were due a relaxing one.

Unfortunately, the big "must-see" site was soon crossed off the list, as I learned the weekend we were visiting Leuven, the Stella Artois brewery was only giving tours in Dutch. No big deal, we still had one brewery, a church, a town hall, and a garden to peruse. Plus, it meant we could sleep in until 7am, hop on the train, and still be in the Leuven by 10am when the town would start to come to life.

After arriving in Leuven, we made our way to the tourist office to get a map and find out where the movie theaters were in town (our fail-safe cold night activity). We were greeted by a lovely lady, who was eager to show us all the wonderful things Leuven had to offer. She offered us a set of maps for a mere Euro that had two walking tours, a bonus detour, and 76 sites of interest. 76 sites! I had only found 5.

I happily handed over my Euro and we walked out the door to discover Leuven.

We started at #10, so we wouldn't have to back track and with 76 sites I was sure we could skip a few. We were promptly greeted with a wall of construction and no #10 (College of Liege) in sight. It's okay, we could walk right around the corner and visit #11-15. Except we walked right into another wall of construction. However, someone had kindly cut holes in the barriers to allow us to see through - to more construction.
Hey - wait. What's that? It that a bug stuck on an upside down needle? Why? More importantly, why isn't that on my tour?

We passed some "friendship" statues (#20-22) the men of a town erect on their 40th birthdays when they join the Jaartal, but before they are an Abraham, and came upon "the beautiful parks". Well, I am sure they are beautiful in the spring, summer, and fall when there might be a tinge of green somewhere on the hectare , but right now the most interesting thing was the levels of broken ice on the ponds.

I was starting to feel like I should have spent my Euro on a waffle.

After passing countless old building that in other towns would definitely have not made the walking tour, we reached a chapel for women with crying babies. Ummm...don't all babies cry?
More old buildings, more statues.

And then finally, the star of the show: The Great Beguiage. It seems every Flemish town has one of these - an old courtyard surrounded by buildings and a church that were reserved for the use of women of faith. This one happens to be the largest we have seen yet and it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I wonder if that stops the rambunctious activities of today's inhabitants - the university students.












Having seen enough of the sites of Leuven, we abandoned the tour and went off in search of dinner.

Foxes and Hounds and Pigs! Oh my!

No, we did not visit a British petting zoo, but rather took a pub walk through Chelsea. With promises of seeing celebrities' houses, visiting real English pubs, and a walk through the most exclusive borough of London, we set off with Claire, our guide from London Walks.
Our first stop was the Fox & Hounds where we were told to drink only "real beer", AKA cask ales, or else risk banishment from the tour. Cask ales are served much warmer than lagers and other carbonated beers because they are served at cellar temperature (just imagine the beer in the summer months). The casks are stored in the cellar and the bartender siphons the beer into the pint glass up by pumping the tap. We joined the crowd and tried Young's Special and Bitter. The Fox & Hounds was a lovely Victorian pub, with wood paneled walls, decorated ceilings, and beautiful furnishings. As you entered the building, you stepped back into time.

After finishing our (half) pints, we walked through the heart of Chelsea. We passed the Old Royal Chelsea Hospital and the houses of:

• Paul Getty
• Eric Clapton
• Mick Jagger
• Brian Adams
• Keith Richards
• Richard Rogers

• And, the most important residence, of James Bond, 007. You can see the street sign from his street in the first photo. Unfortunately, he wasn't home.

Our next stop was The Phoenix, a "tarted-up pub" according to the guide. It looked like the cross between a Starbucks and cosy wine bar inside. Fearing exile from the group, I tried an English cider instead of an ale. Fortunately, my Aspall Draught Suffolk Cyder was approved by the tour guide since it was made in England.

We finished the tour of Chelsea in The Pig's Ear, a pub across the street from Eric Clapton's house. Needing to get up early the next morning, we skipped the last drink and headed back to the hostel for the evening.

Giraffe Beer

After the concert at the Estates Theater, we stopped by a bar to get a drink before turning in for the night. I selected a bar/brewery, that in addition to the traditional light and dark Czech beers, also brewed specialty brews.

Since Pivovarský dům was listed under the bars category in the guide book, we expected - well- a bar. It is really more a restaurant & brewery. Since we felt bad about taking up a table during prime Saturday dinner time, we added dessert to our drink order of a Banana and a Vanilla beer. When our crepes with beer jam and fruit-filled dumplings arrived at the table, we were very glad we had decided to have dessert. While the banana beer Matt had sampled in Brussels was probably a one glass wonder, this brewery's banana beer could have been sipped on all night. The vanilla beer just called for a ice cream float to be made with it (Stubbie's style).

As we enjoyed our desserts, we noticed the next table over enjoying a "giraffe" beer. If the half-liter glasses beer is served in over here isn't enough for you, skip the pitcher and go straight to the "giraffe". The "giraffe" beer is a FOUR liter container of beer with its own spout that is meant to be shared among a table.
We enjoyed the food and drink so much we came back the next day for a sampler of all eight of their beers (light, dark, coffee, sour cherry, banana, nettle, vanilla, & wheat) and a traditional Czech lunch. What can we say - when you find something you like, enjoy it!

Long Awaited Lunch

By the time we finished the castle, it was past 3 o'clock and our stomachs were reminding us all the nourishment we had taken in that day were poor cups of cappuccino from the airport lounge. After consulting the guidebook and reading up on the budget options in the neighborhood, we headed to Restaurant Bar Bar in the Mala Strana area.

The restaurant was hidden below the streets of Mala Strana in an artistically decorated cellar. We perused the menu to find we could enjoy and gourmet meal and beer for less than a sandwich from a sidewalk vendor in the Netherlands. We were in!

We started the meal with 30 Kc (€1) half-liter Czech Beer - Staropramen. I enjoyed the half dark/half light variety, while Matt sipped on the light version. Everyone is right - Czech beer just may be the best (and cheapest) beer in Europe. It was crisp, clean, and smooth - perfect for an afternoon break from site seeing.

Our lunch was probably the best food we have eaten since arriving in Europe. Matt enjoyed salmon with a pesto and sun-dried tomato sauce and I feasted on a Parma ham wrapped pork loin with an apple and plum sauce. Amazing. There were even quarter slices of fresh pineapple on the plates as garnish.

Even more amazing was our bill was less than €15! We enjoyed it so much we came back the next day for the 120Kc (€5) lunch menu consisting of soup, an entree, and a drink. The cornflake-crusted fried codfish I had the next day was hands down the best fried fish I have ever had!

If you visit Prague this is a can't miss lunch spot. Go early in your trip because you might want to visit it twice!

Prague

On Friday we arrived in Prague, the city of a 1000 spires, where the streets are paved with gold. Err...umm...cobblestones - of all shapes, sizes, designs, and dimensions. What's a few blisters and sore feet, when the travel guides promise the best beer in Europe, cheap food, and a great introduction to Eastern Europe?Prague did not disappoint - and we will share how we ate our way through the capital of the Czech Republic, discovered €5 operas, fell in love with Moorish inspired architecture, and found the smoothest (and cheapest) beer in Europe.

2000+ Beers

We finished Saturday night at Delirium Cafe, which boasts a stock of over 2000 beers. It was a warm friendly bar, located right off "restaurant row". Rush past the high pressure sales pitches of waiters hawking mussels and fries, and step into a bar anyone could appreciate in their home town.

Matt started off with a Kenyan inspired, African-Belgium beer, Mongozo Banana and finished with a Hercule Stout. I kept with the season and sampled the Gouden Carollus Christmas beer and the Delirium Christmas beer. At the rate of two beers a night, it would take use over 3 years to sample all the beers available in the bar.

It was the perfect end to the perfect day.

Brussels Christmas Market

Lights on buildings, Christmas trees, warm Kriek beer, ice skating in the square, Ferris wheels, Merry-Go-Rounds, carolers singing, mulled Christmas wine, crafts, snow...

It's time for Christmas Markets!

We planned our trip to Brussels to coincide with the Christmas Markets and it was definitely the highlight of my trip!












Warm Kriek Beer & the view from the top of the Ferris Wheel.













Ice Skating in the square.

Grand Place

We started our visit to Brussels with a trip to the Grand Place - the historical and cultural center of the Belgium capital city and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The square is dominated by the town hall building and surrounded by guild houses built in the 17th century.The guild house on the left was the brewer's house and houses The Museum of the Belgium Brewers today. The museum shows an uninteresting 10 minute English film about beer brewing and has a room full of beer brewing equipment. Perhaps the museum might have been more interesting if the room with the equipment and explanation was not constantly dark due to the film showing in continual repeat. Oh well, the museum was included with the purchase of the Brussels Welcome Card and came with a free beer at the end. It gave us a chance to sample Belgium Paradise beer; we both had the dark and it was quite good.

The Swan house on the left is the former home of the Butchers' Guild. This also the place Karl Marx and Frederick Engels lived when they wrote the Communist Manifesto. Today it is an expensive restaurant.

We overheard a conversation among the statues atop the guild houses.

*based on the Rick Steves Guide Book to Amsterdam, Bruges, & Brussels.

We couldn't leave the square without checking out all the chocolate shops and the Brussels invented pralines (filled chocolates). Our first stop was to window shop at the original Godiva store. We checked out the displays at Nuehaus and Galler along the way, but we chose to buy our chocolates from Leonidas. They may not be handmade but we got a lot more chocolate for our Euro!
We enjoyed munching on the chocolates for the rest of our visit in Brussels.

"I'm on H"

"No, this is J"

"I'm on J."

"You're on K"

"But where is H?"

Sony Center at Potzdamer Platz

This was the conversation that greeted us as we strolled into the movie theater at Potzdamer Platz in Berlin. The square is a stunning combination of new and old architecture that was built out of war ruins by Sony, Daimler-Chrysler and other major corporations. Situated around the square are many touristy restaurants, a Lego Discovery Center, and many high-tech stores showing products of the future.

Canopy at the Sony Center - is lighted to turn different colors throughout the night

The interior of an old pre-war building turn exterior of a new modern hotel

But in the center is a large movie house that shows films in the original versions. For us, this meant a night at the movies to see Quantum of Solace. Once again, a movie theater is the perfect place to see the different attitudes towards alcohol in Europe and in the US. Served right along side popcorn (salty or sweet - you choose) and nachos, are cocktails and beer. Heck, you can even BYOB or BYOC to the movies over here. A few other differences an experience at the movies brings are assigned seats (love this and hence the conversation above) and even more previews/commercials at the beginning of the film. There were over 45 minutes of commercials and previews before we got to the good stuff - James Bond.

Jugs & Jewels

After spending Tuesday morning exploring science at the Deutsches Museum, we headed to the Viktualienmarkt in old town Munich. The Viktualienmarkt is outdoor beer garden surrounded by brat stands, gourmet food shops, fish venders, produce stalls, and butcher shops.

A fruit stand at Viktualienmarkt.

Many of the stands had interesting food items on display, like pig heads or this fish.

We quickly assembled a picnic of stuffed, whole squids, feta and spinach salad, a pickled herring sandwich, and bratwurst and headed over to the beer garden. Beer gardens in Bavaria are BYOF and picnicing is encouraged as long as you buy a jug of their beer. In the Viktualienmarkt the six beers of Munich are rotated weekly and the beer garden serves up whatever is on tap that week in liter and half liter mugs. Since we had a lot of sightseeing left for the day, I tried a Radler with my lunch. I was surprised how much I like the half beer, half lemon-lime soda drink.

Laura with her bratwurst and Radler.

After our lunch fit for kings, we visited the Bavaria treasury, which was full of the king's jewels. It was a ten room display of all the friends a girl could ever want. Our favorite jeweled piece was the Statue of St. George, a beautiful jeweled relicuary box with a knight slaying a dragon on top. We also enjoyed crucifxes made out of sea toroise shell, cups made of rhinosaurous horns, and jewel encrusted swords. Of course, I would have been happy to take home any of the jeweled tiaras :)

Statue of St. George

Land of Fairytales

After arriving in Munich on Saturday morning, we quickly stashed our bags in the train station lockers and headed out to countryside of Bavaria to see two fairytale like castles. The landscapes were stunning - small picturesque towns at the foot of the Alps with lakes in the background.We arrived in Hohenschwangau with a few hours to kill before our appointed tour times at the castles. We walked around the outside the town of Fussen hoping to catch a few rides down the luge, but unfortunately it was not open. Then we stopped in a local restaurant to grab a bite to eat - and it was the most wonderful bite to eat. I had a homemade macaroni and cheese type dish that was topped with fried onions and pan fried pork. The noodles were even homemade and it was delish! The town even brews it own King Ludwig beer; Matt had the light version and I enjoyed the Dunkel version.After lunch we made our way to Hohenschwangau Castle for a peak inside the Royal Bavarian life. The castle was built in the 12th century, but destroyed by Napoleon. Maximilian rebuilt it in the 19th century and it looks much like it did in 1836 today. While the tour was dry and short on information, the inside was immaculately preserved.
Apparently the Hohenshwangau Castle was not enough for Maximilian's son Ludwig II , so he commissioned the building of three more castles in Bavaria. We visited the Neuschwanstein Castle that is just up the mountain from his father's castle. Neuschwanstien in the ultimate fairytale castle; it was the castle Disney based Sleeping Beautiy's castle on and where Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang was filmed*. The castle was designed by a painter and then planned by an architext and is truly an example of Romanticism from the 19th century. The entire castle was dedicated to Richard Wagner and is decorated with paintings of his operas.
Unfortunately "Mad" King Lundwig II died, from a highly suspicious sudicial drowning, and the castle was never finished. The short tour, again dry and lacking information, took us through the third of the castle that was completed. Once again the interior has been excellently maintained and most of the wall murals look as if they were painted last year.
We also visited Mary's Bridge, named for the wife of Maximilian. The bridge offered a fantastic view of the castles and the nearby town of Fussen. I tiptoed out a few feet onto wobbly wooden bridge and then happily handed the camera over to Matt to take pictures of the breath taking scenery.
Fully exhausted from walking up the mountains to see the castles and short on sleep the from the train ride, we headed back to Munich for a early night in our hostel with some Munich Beer and Bratwursts.

*Christina ~ I know you are dying to come visit me and visit the castle from Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang. Maybe we can even tour the children's dungeon...