Tales of the beard 35

In Amsterdam, with more beer. What can I say? Its that part of the world.

The final day

Well Wednesday came and marked a very significant day for us. This was our last full day on this world odyssey. There’s something very weird in that feeling. For all the ways we are excited for the future, to jump into whatever God and life brings us next, there is that slightest bit of loss in knowing that this trip is behind us. It’s just something that’s been in planning for so long, it’s all so hard to believe that it’s nearly done. So we resolved to thoroughly enjoy our last day in Amsterdam.

My thoughts on Amsterdam: It truly is a city like no other. Two things invariably happen to you wandering its streets. You invariably get some sort of second hand high, without any further purpose of your own. There are just so many “coffee” shops and general pot smoking throughout every street in city center, that it simply can’t be helped. You also invariably become paranoid of walking. Because Amsterdam is divided into two groups: the assassins and the victims. Assassins ride bikes and rule the streets and sidewalks. The victims choose to walk. So without knowledge of the cast system prevalent, we became the victims without knowing it. Luckily, Kris and I never got mowed down by the assassins but endured plenty of close calls and more than a hand full of annoyed shout-outs and looks from these two wheeled marauders. We’d like to believe we stumbled on the day of benevolence amongst them all. Maybe they already met their quota for pedestrian run-overs for the month, I’m not sure. Anyhow, we have no broken bones and for that we are fortunate. I have two favorites for a comparison for this city. The first coming out in moments of near accidents and that being “It’s like Venice meets CHAOS!!!” But the probably more accurate description would be a three way combination of Venice (canals and old buildings), Paris (bustling European city) and Boulder, CO (for the bikes and “hippy” culture) Yet for all the “chaos” we really did enjoy our time there.

After exiting the enormous train station we quickly got to our hotel, thanks to the Duncans and quickly checked in so as to get the most out of Amsterdam before nightfall. We proceeded to walk through the city, snagging cheap and easy pizza slices along the way, to the Heineken brewery and museum, which I would have to say is, by far, the most informative and interactive brewery I’ve yet visited, complete with the whole history of the museum, a thorough description of the brewing process, a ride where you “get brewed” yourself, free samples and a gaggle of interactive exhibits which we tried out and even sent out (enjoy fathers…).

After the brewery/museum, we braved our way through more of the city where I got a chance to visit the Anne Frank House while Kris roamed about looking for a dinner spot and taking pictures, since she had already seen it before. I was grateful for the opportunity, growing up on the play converted for TV on videotape and knowing plenty about the story and background. There was such an appreciation in seeing this commemorated so well and yet a sadness in knowing the fate of 7 of the 8 hiding in the house, including Anne, who after 2 years spent hiding and hoping for the end of this atrocity was betrayed to the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp where she died a month before the liberation. I took a few pictures before being BOLDY told by a fellow guest, “Sir, they DON’T let you take pictures here.” Well then! After finishing, I met back up with my poor wife who had to endure 20 minutes of rain waiting for me. She’s a trooper. Dinner was delicious; our magnet search was a success as was Kris’s picture taking of the many, many crooked houses, seemingly leaning on the house beside it as a young kid would lean on their mother when the day was getting too long. Hilarious! We made it back to our hotel to enjoy the big bed, the hot shower and Cast Away on TV.

It was a fine last day to wrap up such a big trip. Though we know not what is next, we have taken steps in a future direction and are trusting God’s grace and plan to see us through. Final trip notes, reflections and statistics soon to follow.

P.S. - note the picture of the houses, like dominoes, seemingly ready to fall over save the building right next to it. Comical really.

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Another picture from Belgium at the locally famous waffle restaurant. We ate omelets. Hmmmm. This one is the Rochefort 8.

Belgian Brews

This is really only for those of you who enjoy beer, especially Belgian beer. Here are the 9 different types of beer I was able to try during my time in Brussels.

1. Guize – This is beer brewed very specifically at the Cantillon brewery. It is a type of Lambic brewed using a sporadic type of fermentation which lets in a lot of wild yeast strains during the process. It’s what helps give set it apart from other beers as does the three year cycle to brew a batch. It is denoted by a sour taste and lack of CO2, something I’ve only had one other time, at the New Belgium brewery with their wine casket brewed beer. It’s exceedingly unique and quite tasty. (Kris liked this one and the following one ladies)

2. Raspberry/Cherry flavored Lambic – This is also brewed at Cantillon. Like the Guize, but during the brew process they add in different kinds of fruit to enhance the flavor in different ways. They allowed us to sample the two above. Real good, and much more a true Lambic then you are bound to try on the US market

3. Westmalle Tripel - A dark, heavy Belgium beer. Brewed three times to enhance alcohol content and flavor (hence the Tripel). Had very fruity overtones and a high fermentation (10%)

4. V Cence – Recommended to me by the bartender after I told him I wanted something Amber, bitter, hoppy but still Belgium. It is all these things, along with having spicy/fruity aromas and taste. Very good. Liked this one a lot.

5. Val Dieu Grand Cru – Probably my favorite of the darker beers I tried. Very strong, definitely a sipper beer, at about 10.5%. Just a whole lot of flavor.

6. Chimay Bleu – Chimay is one of the six trappist breweries in Belgium still brewing and, along with Westmalle, probably the most commercial. This one was similar to Westmalle but I didn’t think it had as much flavor. Go with the Westmalle in my opinion. Still good though.

7. Rochefort 8 – This is a dark beer and a Tripel like a couple of the others I had tried already but maintains a more malty flavor in your mouth. It is served in a pretty shallow glass which makes me think it’s a beer that needs to breathe more than most. 8% alcohol content, like the name suggests.

8. Houldon Chouffe IPA – Maybe the best IPA I’ve ever had. IPA denotes a very high hop content, which makes them more bitter than most beers, which for me took some getting used to. Now I love them. Well this one had the hoppy flavor but also was very strong (10%) which is not quite like any IPA I’ve ever had. Like an IPA and a Belgium beer got together and had a baby beer. Delicious!

9. Radermacher Amber – Wanted an Amber after a few darker beers. This one had characteristics of usual ambers but also a lot of chocolate, caramel, even coffee overtones. Real nice finish. Would recommend to someone who likes ambers and stouts alike.

I had 2 more the next day in Amsterdam that I had bought on my way out but I forgot to notate their names. They were good, but no better than any of the ones listed here, so no loss. For you beer folks, hoped you enjoyed this. If not, why are you reading this?? 

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Both of these come from Brussels with some good Belgium beers in my grasp. The next blog explains these more. 32 (bottom one) includes a Westmalle Tripel while 33 (top one) I'm holding a Val Dieu Grand Cru.

Into a carbohydrate dream…

I’m coming to you from Brussels where we have spent out last 48 hours roaming around and trying to figure out this strange city. One thing I can say with all certainty: Healthy eating has completely gone out the window. Our bellies have consumed such items as brewskies, waffles, frites (fries), pasta and some more frites. In other words, as the title would suggest, a carbohydrate dream. Or nightmare. But we prefer dream.
Feeling the end of the trip and the amount of blogging this trip has taken I will sum up our time here all in this blog. We arrived in Sunday afternoon to the south train station and begin a long trek up to our hostel. We figured we could make a couple stops along the way and take in this new city. Well what we came across was not at all what either of us had expected from Brussels. Not really sure what to expect but what we found was, for a lack of a better word, kind of dirty. It took us about 45-50 minutes to get to our place and we just felt like we had stumbled across an abandoned area, devoid of much street/foot traffic in lots of places, trash in the streets and a general lack of upkeep. We arrived at our place a little out of sorts and desperately in need of bathrooms. Well the hostel was the start of the upswing. We got into our place completely furnished with the IKEA catalog. We quickly learned it was a common theme across the whole establishment. The room was big, the bunk beds decent and the internet nice and fast, and more importantly free!
We spent the next couple hours settling ourselves in, getting caught up on blogs, uploads and emails. Feeling in much better spirits we headed around the block, enjoyed some really good Italian food and I started my odyssey to try the best this city had to offer in beers. After eating a lion’s share of food we got back to our place and slept long and decent, to prep for another day of city exploring.
Monday was about the Belgian beers and we set out a map and plan to try places that I had researched and knew about and decided the rest of the day would fill in as it needed to. We took the train to the only brewery still open in Brussels, Cantillon, where they specialize in Lambic beers, a kind of beer that lacks more of the usual CO2 common in most beers and even presents something of a sour taste. It’s really quite good and one of the only places around that offers this type of beer. We got to take the tour on our own accord, wandering through informative rooms full of old wooden casket barrels and cobwebs. The place seemed very old, very natural and very much staying true to the traditions of what they wanted to achieve. We tried a few samples after the tour that even Kris enjoyed and purchased a set of coasters to commemorate the visit. We made our way to the city center which offered much of the feel of the city we were probably expecting and we began to realize the Brussels is much like most big cities, a city with its pretty parts, its ugly parts, its surprising parts and its very straight forward parts. The center gave me a chance to sample three more beers in three different bars, including the famous Delirium Café, advertising its 2,004 different kinds of beers on site. I had one.  And it was awesome!!
The rest of our afternoon also included super yummy waffle and fries stands, a visit to the touristy famous peeing boy statue (how tragically perfect that this statue is the national icon), a super cool old movie theater that we wandered around its lobby and the Grand Plaza. The beer was central to the day but we did quite enjoy the center of this strange city.
After getting back to the hostel that evening to heat up our Italian leftovers we made nice with our second set of folks sharing our room and hit the hay realizing just how close we were to making this trip a “was”. Now THAT’S strange!
Tuesday was more care free then the last. Sleeping in would have been great, save for the second set of roommates that needed to be up early for whatever. Sooo, waking up earlier than expected we took our time getting ready, doing internet type of things and headed out. We made it back downtown and did what any good world traveler might do: saw movies. No judging! After weeks of cramming ourselves with sights, cities, friends, shows and all the rest, vegging out in the movie theatre was a welcome change. Her and I split off for our first film and snuck our way into a second. This is affectionately known in younger (or poorer, however you look at it) circles as “movie buffet.” 4 hours later we re-hit the streets of Brussels with little else on the agenda. We needed to make sure we knew where to go to get to Amsterdam so we figured that out before eating our last Belgium meal. Plus sides: Great food, reasonable prices and fast service. Down side: A severely irritating case of fruit flies, which I have come to learn are all over this city. Seriously. It seems to be an issue that the locals have just learned to live with. Kind of gross, but not enough to not enjoy our fine omelets. I was able to sample a couple more beers for the night and we headed back to “home”.
Brussels is wacky, Brussels is fun. Brussels is smelly, Brussels is tasty. Not having a ton of expectations for this city, it charmed us in its own strange way. But the time has come for our last stop. Amsterdam is calling us for tomorrow and then sending us on our way. Back to America and whatever comes next.

Brussels... BEER!

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Marking the first appearance of the grand-dad hat! I've been trying on hats like this for years. Finally found that works for me.

The sun will come out….Today!!

Greetings families and mates! (I told you I would try using that phrase more. I’ve not been good about that up till now, but every commitment has a beginning right??) After two very satisfying days in London and its surrounding area, we had plans to head to Reading for the day, about a half hour’s train ride out of London central. Reading may seem like a very random stop on such a huge trip but it made our agenda because we had plans to meet good friends from our first Carnival contract there. Ross and Kylie are a super fun pair from Wales and Scotland, respectively, who danced a contract on the Paradise while we were there. Ross is now in the UK run of “Annie” and we had tickets to go see his late show that night. So Reading it was, but not before a (all together now…) WALK to our train station to get there. Honestly, I think our feet have given up protest and our now working with the rest of our bodies and not against them to help us achieve our never ending footed adventures. But with our ambitions to keep everything in backpacks that allow free hand and arm movement, our shoulders are starting their own line of complaints. It’s not without reason. Though we have managed to leave behind quite a bit on this trip, our backpacks are still heavy. They are still holding everything we’ve needed for these 6 weeks. So alas, walking always comes with some discomfort, but I really think we’ve done quite well and have avoided any serious injuries.

After our short ride, we made it through Reading town center to our hotel, which, much to our surprise, was a true hotel, the nicest of almost any we’ve had on this trip. Ironically, the place was 5-10 pounds cheaper than our previous 2 nights stay in London and probably 30 times nicer. I suppose that’s really a testament to London’s prices. So we were thrilled to be in the less demanding Reading for the night, awash in our huge bed with comfy duvets, a full on rain shower head and complementary breakfast and internet. I write this now from a train heading to Brussels, where I know the self-confessed hostel we are staying in will be nothing like that. So we enjoyed it as we could and took unnecessary showers before meeting up with Kylie. Ross had a matinee to be in, so we spent a couple hours catching up with her before the 4 of us ate in a restaurant, which has honestly been a fairly infrequent activity for us. Most of the time our trip has come down to either seeing this or eating that. We have mostly decided to see this, whatever this is. Food will come soon enough. The places we’ve seen will most certainly not.

After a delicious dinner we headed back to the theatre and enjoyed the two hour rendition of “Annie”, particularly Ross’ scenes and lines, which included a commendable attempt at an American accent. Before they had to set off to drive to Scotland through the night, we snagged a drink (Kris trying an apparently locally famous PIMMS) The night became late and sleep was short but sweet. Two trains today. One to London for our third and final time and an onwards train to Brussels, where my expectations are decidedly more earnest then Kris’s. This is my pilgrimage to take in the famous Belgian beers. Kris just wants to relax. Who could blame her?? More reports soon.

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At Wembley Stadium. If I look excited, well DUH!!

MUSE!!!

Clearly Muse, a personal favorite of both Kris and I’s, was going to be the highlight of the day. We had been waiting for this concert going on nearly 9 months now and had talked about our desire to see them play in their own backyard for years. Today we got to see the dream come true. Jiminy Cricket would be so proud. But before I give you the highlights, I’ll recap the rest of our day.

We allowed ourselves the chance to sleep in a little today. Sleep, on a trip like this, has definitely come in spurts. We take it where we can get it. After reading our confirmation email for the concert more closely (thank God we did!) we saw we needed to have the email printed out, so our first order of business was finding a place to print the email. 10 minutes walking we found our place. A pound and 20 pence later we were on the move again. We walked down to Covent Gardens and took in the shopping masses and street performers. We figured now would be as good a time as any, maybe our only time, to get our magnet and our “remember London” souvenir. We found both within an hour or so, as well as a new hat and scarf, for me and Kris respectively. We also made quick stops at Trafalgar’s and Piccadilly Circus. QUICK stops. It was getting later in the day and we had a decent train ride ahead of us to get to Wembley.

The train ride to Wembley was long and hot and rather amusing. You had lots of junior high/high school age kids getting on, clearly in their best “rock concert” outfits, intentionally trying to look unintentional in their dress. You also have the folks who wear the Muse t-shirts to the show, which in most concert circles, is a big no-no. I was not judging, but couldn’t help wondering if these people knew that or not. Really by the time you get to the stadium, they have t-shirt vendors everywhere and a lot of people throwing on their shirts. We both got one and Kris did put on hers, probably to keep warm as much as anything. We also noticed a significant increase in food sale prices getting closer to the arena, so after getting our tickets we headed back in to town to get much cheaper food, eating at a silly little place that I’m sure enjoyed concert nights for the quadruple amount of business they must get.

By the time we found our seats in the upper areas of the stadium, we got a chance to enjoy the band before the band before Muse. That being The Big Pink. They played a decent gig and gave way to Lily Allen, who was a lot of fun. A spunky British solo artist, she’s something of a Liz Phair/Pink type but with better music sensibilities and more enjoyable lyrics, in my mind. She finished by 8:15 and we were left with a half hour to wait for our band. You could feel the energy growing in the stadium, a gathering storm that would erupt as soon any indication of the start of Muse showed. And erupt it did! With the help of about 150 extras marching out with flags and the use of maybe 300 lights, sounds effects and props, Muse blasted right into the set with Uprising off their new album and did not stop until two and a half hours later with a glorious rendition of Knights of Cydonia. In between we enjoyed song after thrilling song, including Starlight (our recessional song at our wedding), Plug In Baby, Stockholm Syndrome, Super Massive Blackhole and even their latest, Neutron Star Collision. I think Tina and I spent the first half an hour or so with a permanent giddy smile on our face, like a kid at Disneyland for the first time. They really threw out a show for the ages, sparing no expense in the name of the performance, even including a Cirque de Sole-type dancer balancing from an enormous spaceship-esque blimp hovering above the crowd.

We spent the next 45 minutes after the show running and weaving like mad towards the train to try and get back to our stop by midnight, thinking we only had until then to exit the train on our day passes. As the minutes passed and our tension grew, we were given a permanent reprieve 10 minutes to midnight when a guy riding with us overheard our concerns and assured us we had until 4 in the morning to exit the underground. So the huffing and puffing was for not, but the relief of being able to get off the train without extra pay was more important. We made it back to the hotel, our voices shot, our bodies weary and our minds still racing from possibly the best live show we have ever seen.

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Thames! or Tims. Or whatever.

Jacked up for London! (Union Jacked that is…)

Thursday we completed our circle and arrived in London for the 2nd time. The train ride was smooth as a pickle, though we were surprised by the fairly thorough questioning by UK immigration patrol before the ride. About 15 questions or so proved that maybe relations between the US and UK weren’t quite what we thought they were. That or it’s just us, which is possible. We seem to be magnets for strange things, the both of us. Nevertheless, we arrived in London early and set our bearings on the hotel. Getting there early, we had hours to kill before we could check in. I set our course for the day’s events while Tina got a turn at the local Laundromat for our last load before home. We were able to check in by 1 and drop our stuff off.

Ok so our London hotel has some pretty goofy priorities. Hotel Langland, just north of Soho, it has the feel that you might expect from a local, cheaper hotel. But not all their services are even remotely on the same level. On the bad side, there were 3 bathrooms to share for about 20 rooms or so. We never had to deal with lines for them or anything, but being communal they got kind of gross and very unappealing. So with that in mind, it made for pretty small rooms with little sound-proofing. On the other hand, they offered free internet with decent speed and free breakfast that was actually pretty tasty. So, whatever, not a bad experience. Just a strange one.

After checking in and everything, we set out in London with the handy, dandy guide we got from Hans and Lisa (thanks guys!!) that gave a good experience for the day unlike the usual tourist one you might have. Making our way to east London we moseyed (always loved that word) down Brick Lane where the kids who try painfully hard to be hip sort themselves out. We got organic garlic bread, new shades for me, a couple café drinks, and sampled bagels from the battling bagel (beigel) stands two stores down from each other. It was a fun area. After that we rejoined the visiting masses to watch across the Tower Bridge, walk down the Thames riverwalk and get a chance to catch the London Eye (ferris wheel) and Big Ben/Parliament at sunset. This brings us to my favorite part of the day. The book we had gotten from the Robinsons contained a page talking about the oldest pub in London, Ye Olde Chesire Cheese. Apparently this place has been around for 300-400 years and is still running strong. Beyond their delicious food and drink options and reasonable prices, they dedicate themselves to maintaining the pub’s authentic feel, with little rooms, crannies and nooks everywhere you look. We settled on an arched spot close to old storage door in the cellar. It was clear this was a favorite spot for the after-work crowd but we felt like we had stumbled on a gem of a place, away from the lights of main thoroughfares and high prices. With bangers and mash and beer settling in my stomach and some tasty cider chicken in Kris’ we played some cards, taking our time to rest our, once again, weary feet before getting back “home”.

We were thankful to have gotten to take a bit of a different approach to London today. We still got good pics of the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, St. Paul’s and the Eye but also enjoyed places known only in some circles. We had both been to London in the past and didn’t feel the urgency to take in all the main spots. We’ll probably get in Trafalgar’s and Covent Gardens tomorrow before the concert but for today we’re happy to be locists. (tourist/locals)

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The lawn of Versailles. After about 20 shots trying to get the Palace behind me I finally asked Kris to take it.

Day Three in Pehr~Whee!

Day three of Paris, and we had two things left on our tourist agenda: Versailles and the Louvre. What’s important to keep in mind here is that at this point we might be crazy. Because I don’t think any sane person would choose to take on two of the largest things this city has to offer. And we’re not talking about grand appeal or fame, but, literally, two of the largest physical items in Paris’ repertoire. But at this point, the choice was not ours. For the good of our betterment and this blog, we needed to see these places. To Versailles, to Louvre, to life!

After another quick breakfast of machine-ready drinks and croissants we successfully navigated the Metro and RER to get to Versailles. Managed to pass by our Lady Liberty’s twin, resting south of the Eiffel Tower on the Seine, and thanked our stars we didn’t decide to make that a checklist item. It’s an item perfectly viewable from a fast moving train. Versailles, by size definition, covers right around 750 hectars, including the main palace, gardens, smaller palaces and grand canal. Don’t ask me how hectars convert, but I can tell you it’s big. It is impossible to see all of it in a day much less half of one, and honestly, seeing it all would have been far too overstimulating so we chose for the more focused approach. It goes something like this:
1. Wait the obligatory 15 minutes for Kris to go to the bathroom (no fault of her own. Every landmark contained a sizeable line that seems to be the cross to bear amongst females.)
2. Enter Main Palace. Marvel at the size and quickly gain a distinct feeling of claustrophobia, herding through tiny doorways amongst enormous hallways.
3. After taking in the Hall of Mirrors, hurry to exit, ready for fresh air and more than a few inches of private space.
4. Take in the gardens, walk for a good 1-2 miles, past the Grand Canal and on to the Grand Trianon, Louis XIV’s other, smaller estate.
5. Make our way to the Queen’s Hamlet, Marie Antoinette’s little oasis away from all the regal approach to everything. The Hamlet resembles a small English cottage estate, with a little Middle Earth mixed in.
6. Determine that we have now placed ourselves at the far end of Versailles and except the fact that we have another LONG walk to get back to the train station.
7. Walk
8. Walk
9. Walk
10. Eat
11. Ride train back to Paris. Rejoice!
12. Versailles: check!
With Versailles behind us and the Louvre in front of us, we gave our lower bodies a pep talk and convinced them another couple hours of “museum walk” was in the interest of the greater good.

The Louvre needs no explanation. The biggest, grandest of all Paris’ museums, it is home to the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo among millions of other pieces and the famed start for Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. Hmmmmm…that sounded like an explanation. Nevertheless, both inside and out, the Louvre does not run short on superlatives. With our handy, dandy museum pass we made our way right in and set about a plan to maximize this gargantuan building realistically. What we ended up seeing in our 3 hours there were the Mona Lisa and the 4 other Da Vinci works (including Madonna on the Rocks and John the Baptist), Venus De Milo, Mary Magdalene, some Raphaels, some Michelangelos, the medieval Louvre (remnants of the original preserved underneath the museum), ancient Pharaonic work and the Code of Hammarabi. Awesome stuff! What absolutely surprised me was the acceptance of cameras all over the whole museum, including at the Mona Lisa (just no flash). Smaller museums and cathedrals insisted against them but not the Louvre. For this I am grateful. I love the ability, for if nothing else but my own sake, to be able to record the things I’ve been blessed to see.

The Louvre behind us, we found the nearest train station, said our official goodbyes to tourist Paris and made our way back to the hotel. We feel a great sense of self-pride for our tackling of this huge city. We got a chance to see everything that was important to us, some things that initially were not and even practice our paltry French, my favorite being Kris’s: “Un deux trios, jumapel s'il vous plait?” Or in other words, “1,2,3, my name is…please?” That should take us far! So we close the book on Paris and look forward to our time in England, including our Muse concert!! (Note: The Muse concert was the first thing we booked, all the way back in December, insuring that we would indeed get out of the country come this summer) Later folks!

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Arc de Triomphe, Beard de Scary!

The checklist continues...

Tuesday began our first full day in Paris. Kris and I woke up partially sore from both the springy bed and loads of walking the day before and partially refreshed. We had a busy day and needed all our energy. Our feet would hate us again but we had a checklist and were determined to see it all through.

The morning was to be Versailles for us. Versailles is the grand, enourmous palace and gardens just outside Paris that was home to Louis the 14th and Marie Antoinette, among others. But after making our way to the train station we came to find out that they had a surprise close day. So we immediately came up with a plan B, and decided to tour the whole of the Champs-Élysées (that’s Shaump-Say-La-Say, not Champ-Ee-lee-sees . Ask Kris how long I took getting this right…) which included the Arc de Triomphe and the Tuileries Gardens. Brian, we thought of you a lot, picturing the mad finish of bikers on the Tour De France. The road encompassing the Arc de Triomphe is a madhouse of converging intersections (12 to be exact) into one madhouse roundabout that surrounds the Arc. Suffice it to say there are special underground tunnels to reach it. After the Arc, you can walk the Champ and picture what it would be like to be filthy rich and actually be able to afford any of the stores you passed. We decided to continue walking instead, making our way past the Obelisk, which was especially special for Kris as she has gotten a chance to see its twin in Luxor. We, soon after, made our great debate on whether to purchase a 2 day Museum Pass or not. After retreating from the sidewalk stand to make quick calculations, we figured we save the whole of a half euro by buying the pass, so we got it, knowing we’d save time in lines and be able to see other unexpected places. That move payed off immediately as we decided to take a peek in the Musée d'Orsay, just across the Seine.

The Musée d'Orsay picks up where the Louvre leaves off, full off Monets, Manets, Renoirs, Van Goghs and countless others. We were glad for the trip, getting a chance to see some of Vince’s most famous works along with some spectacular other works. Feeling immediately satisfied with our pass purchase, we got to walking (AGAIN) to the Sainte-Chapelle, a church near the Notre Dame with stain glass like no other. I got us a Panini, actually confirmed said purchase with a si instead of we (dirty looks!) and we got a quick snack before the chapel. The Sainte-Chapelle is not to be missed. Small in size, it makes up for in gorgeous stain-glassed and building color. Despite the fact that there was construction going on and a good possibility everyone in there was getting second high, we were very glad for the visit.

After the church, we made another Metro jaunt to get up to Montemarte and the Moulin Rouge and Sacré-Coeur (the gorgeous cathedral on a hill). This Metro ride was a little more then we had asked for. What I can say is that at its worst, New York and Chicago have nothing on a jam-packed Paris train. We waited for three trains, each one approaching the station looking like a huge moving sardine jar. It was really comical, seeing peoples bodies absolutely smooshed against glass and body. Well comical the first time maybe. After a couple trains, we decided that we had no choice but to join the comedy and assume the sardine position. Wow! Plus side to the experience: An older local, apparently humored by the whole experience was trying to talk to me about it all in French. I thought I could get by with a few chuckles here and there, but he kept going. Eventually, in my best French action I just said, with arms up, “Paris!” followed by a hearty chuckle as if to say “You know, that’s Paris for you!” Yikes, I’m such a poser. But apparently it was more then a suitable response as I received a good laugh and nod in agreement in return. Phew! Local interaction: Check!

After surviving our latest train ordeal we got a chance to see the Moulin Rouge, take half successful pictures of the place before sauntering over to the hill and Sacré-Coeur. Thi s cathedral was a perfect backdrop for our second Parisian sunset, as it sports views of most the entire city. We first viewed the church, with accompanying service in play, before buying the necessary souvenir or two in local Montmarte. After munching on maybe the most delicious crepes we’ve had, we staked out our spot for sunset, sundown and the the giant seizure-firefly display of the Eiffel Tower. We were pleased with our second day in the city, well on track to see all the things we wanted. Tomorrow would be Versailles and the Louvre but the only thing on our minds at this point was getting back to the hotel and dying to the world for at least a handful of hours. When I think that Paris is so ridiculously exhausting all I have to do is chuckle, bust out my dreadful accent and say “Paris!”

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In front of Notre Dame, our lady indeed. A sight even more grand then this beard!

From Paris with love

What a day! My senses applaud me tonight, yet my feet and knees entirely loathe me. In what has become the resounding theme of this entire trip, we walked a lot today. I can imagine there are a few of you reading this that have made the trip to Paris so let me break it down for you. First a walk to our train in Beauvais (roughly 50 minutes). Then in Paris, we walked, essentially, from the Gare Du Nord to Notre Dame and from there, Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower. Its so funny how things look a lot more manageable on a map…Nevertheless our day is complete and we are indeed satisfied with the results.

Before we could take in the City of Lights, we had to get there. The hotel gave us very funny looks about walking but our friend, Google Maps, assured us it was only a 45 minute walk. We allowed ourselves an hour and 45. And thank goodness we did. What should have taken 45, took us closer to an hour, and our “destination” brought us, literally, to the wrong side of the tracks. In true lazy fashion, we could imagine Google Maps saying (yes saying) “What? I got you to the train station didn’t I?” Right, GM, we had no interest in riding the train, just looking. Come on!! Another 20 minutes or so was spent circling a long way around, in increasing panic, until we found the road to advance to the right side. Crisis averted. Next stop, Paris!

We learned very quickly that the French do not care nearly as much about easing you along with English in every marked corner like much of the rest of the world we have seen does. It matters not. Using our 1 month refined and savvy skills, Tina and I found our hotel, checked in and set out on our odyssey. Clearing a couple of arrondisments and the Seine, we reached our first goal, Notre Dame. This cathedral is bigger than you think, regardless of what you think. I did my very best to mentally prep for it, but it failed to live up to the real thing. It may very well be that the Church spent far too much of its time concerned with many of the wrong things as it pertains to a faith in God, but their reverence to Him through these churches has really provided the masses with a real treat. All I can say is its worth visiting. Not just for the biggest sanctuary I’ve yet seen but for the added-cost trip to go up to the top, taking in a view of the city rivaled only by the Eiffel Tower. (Though that view does not include the Eiffel Tower, so in that way this view is better.)

Notre Dame checked off the list, we began our next trek to the ET. This trek was long, tiring and worth every single step. The Eiffel Tower is one of those monuments where every step you get closer, you think you can get a better picture then the step before. Suffice it to say, editing pictures of the ET was a lengthy process and we still have roughly 70 pics. *sigh* I feel no shame, and you should feel no shame for me. We did everything a tourist should do. We made our way up, took in the massive view, drank hot chocolate and waited until dark for the lights to make their grand appearance.

Now here is where things get interesting for me. Based on what we thought was good advice by fellow tourists, that then became crappy advice, before we found out it was good advice afterall, we prepped ourselves for the lighting of the Eiffel Tower being available only for 10 minutes on the hour, every hour. So at 7:54 Kris and I made an elaborate plan to attack from both sides. So Kris would stay up top to catch the lighting from there and I would run like murder down a thousand steps, across the Seine, all the way to the far lookout on the other side to snag the lighting from there. On the advice, I figured the lights would turn off at 8:10. This was not the case. In fact, they didn’t turn on at 8. So after exhausting myself in a dead run to get there in time, I waited around for 20 minutes to no avail. Thinking maybe Kris was down the tower by then not wanting to wait until 9, when I figured they would light them, I made my back to our meeting point under the Tower. It was now 8:30 and she was not there. I couldn’t be sure it she decided to wait or not so I wasn’t sure what to do. Do I go back, and hope she stayed up top? Or stay and wait? Well in the midst of my ponderings, the lights came on. CRAAAAAP! I dropped all questions and ran even faster the 500 yards and 75 steps back to my spot, thinking I had just made it in time for the lighting. I took more pictures then I can count while literally dripping sweat all the over the place. Its at this point, I can imagine everybody thought I had real issues. After a slow saunter back to the tower, I met up with Tina to review our plan and compare pictures and video. We figured the info we had been given was entirely bad advice. It was clear the ET was going to stay lit. At this very moment, the LIGHTS came on! The twinkling, sparkling, fantasic lights. Me: “Should I run??” Kris: (dramatically) “Yes, do it!” Another murderous 5 minute sprint later, I was on the other side, taking more and more and more pictures. Kris got video just in time to catch the lights, the very bright and awe-inducing lights, the very lights that indeed came on for 10 minutes on the hour every hour, go out.

We felt very satifisfied with our experience and our feet were totally ready to jump ship. So we found the nearest metro, got back to our neighbornood, ate like fiends, and crashed at our hotel. A long day, a tourist day, a walking day, a GREAT day!

Away we go (again...)

Sunday came about, and our time in Venice was nearing its end. Truth be told, we were ok with that. For all the charm and personal touches this city has, without the proper amount of funds (meaning we’re grtting broke fast!) and intense interest in the museums and galleries here, its not absolutely necessary to have anymore time then we’ve had. It goes something like this. Venice has been for the atmosphere, Paris will be the city for sights (museums, monuments and the like), London for music/plays, Brussels for food and beer, Amsterdam as our gateway home.  That is how we are justifying it, so there!

Sunday morning, we were treated to another hour of the Crinkle Twins. Well, I should say I was. My smart wife wore earplugs. So alas, sleep was less then we had hoped. After checking and storing our big bags, we got in one last wander around the city. We were starting to feel a major case of déjà-vu. So honestly, after snagging our “Italian” lunch, which was probably the most lackluster of our meals (and mot expensive, GRRRR!!) we were ready to move on. But Venice had one more surpise treat for us. Apparently we had made it on the weekend of the annual Regata, which we luckily found out about in time. So before we had to bus it back to Trevisio for our flight, we got the chance to see the grand parade on the Grand Canal, with lots of colorful boats, regatta teams and the mayor of Venice himself. It was a nice way to finish our time in the city we won’t soon forget.

Our time at the airport was less than ideal. After reading the fine print for our hotel in Beauvais, France that night, I found out that it was mandatory to inform them of a later then 11pm arrival time. Our flight landed at 10:45. Crap!!! So a nervous 2 hours was spent trying to connect to the janky airport wifi (not happening ) or making a potentially uber-expensive phone call to the hotel (definetly not happening!) So we said a prayer, took a chance and hoped the hotel would be forgiving. Well in all our fortune bestowed to us on this trip, we received a little more arriving in Beauvais. It turns out, the airport is little more then a small office building. Since Italy to France is considered domestic, no customs or immigration was necessary. So WHAM BAM, it was 5 minutes from our airport seat to the backseat of a taxi. 10 minutes later we hurried in to the hotel reception in a huff, 2 minutes before 11. Of course the lady knew exactly who we where, making an only slightly passive aggressive remark about us being the last people she was waiting for. What an entrance to France…Regardless, we got into our room, to enjoy the surprisingly extra-comfy bed and watch French-t.v. Chiao Italy, Bon jour France!!

Tales of the beard 24 & 25

day two in Venice... doing laundry of course.
day three in Venice... eating gnocchi in one of the many side streets

Lost in transition

Bon Giorno! Today was our only full day in Venice and we had a couple of things on our agenda, but beyond that we were indeed determined to “lose” ourselves, so to speak, in this beautiful city. A few things we have learned about Venice. First of all, Venetians, possibly Italians in general, seem to take a leisurely and relaxed approach at their day. If you, a tourist, are in a rush to get somewhere, you could be in for some annoying moments. If you, a tourist, are done with your meal and expect a check so that you can continue doing tourist things, ask for your check or else you could be waiting a while. If you, a tourist, want to get the full “tourist” experience, you will pay a lot of money. Fortunately Kris and I were ok making our own way and got by in this city relatively inexpensively.
Our day began a little earlier then we had hoped. In a room for five people, we were at capacity and the two girls traveling together wanted to get an early start on the day. What followed was about an hour and a half of noise-making that completely baffled us. They weren’t packing to leave so what in the world was the hold-up? And furthermore, did everything they bring on the trip come packed in plastic bags? There was a good 45 constant minutes of “crinkle crinkle crinkle” the likes of which made you believe you had woken up in a Ziploc factory. My rant, I know, and I will now move on. I feel better.
Making our way out into Venice after a simply delectable breakfast of pre-packaged croissants and yellow apples, we decided today would be our day to save our feet a little bit and make good use of the waterways and purchased a 12 hour Valporetto ticket that allowed you unlimited access of the water bus system for those 12 hours. After making our way to the small island of San Giorgio Maggiore that houses a beautiful church with a bell tower offering the best views of Venice around and grabbing quick and dirty sandwiches from “Sandwich Row” (Thanks Rick Steves!!!) it was time for our next order of touristy business: laundry…Right. Well maybe not on everyone’s to do list when visiting Venice, but absolutely necessary since my clean underwear supply was non-existent. So Tina took a nap and I took our clothes to the nearest Laundromat, typed on the computer for an hour, and presto! Clean clothes. Realizing the time, we hurriedly made our way to our dinner spot. (Remember things to learn about Venice? Right. Tricky walk) Our dinner spot? Well the same spot as the night before of course! We shamelessly ordered our drinks again before piling on the “Cincchetti” buffet food. Yet again, it was delicious and, yet again, it was pretty cheap. We had already decided our big pasta meal would come the next day so we had no issues whatsoever doubling up at this place. We consider it one of the best parts about our time in Venice. Our little “discovery”, off the beaten path and certainly not advertised in the Rick Steves book of Venice.  After a romantic-laced walk about San Marco Piazza we snagged the trinkets (Venetian mask and magnet, of course) and took a night boat ride back to our hostel.
What does a good full day in Venice bring? Satisfied tummies, slightly aching feet, fancy bridges, pretty buildings and clean clothes of course! Till next blog, Ciao!

Tales of the beard 23

In amongst the many side streets and canals of Venice, where every corner turned looks like a postcard. Seriously!

Be Italian!

Oh Fergie, you couldn’t have said it better. Her anthem from the movie ‘Nine’ was our personal anthem, for this day, our first in Venice. We have played the part well I think.

This morning came earlier than any day should, 3:30am to be precise. Our flight was at 6:30 this morning, but having been to our fair share of airports on this trip, we knew it could either go really fast or take forever and we didn’t want to take our chances. The airport provided only one slight scare. During our early morning breakfast, I was taking a couple experimental photos and apparently had put my lens cap on the tray, not noticing it stayed on the tray when the worker came to clear it. In a panic ten minutes later when Kris suggested that that might have been where my lens cap ended up, I was able to find the worker, directed to the right trash can and dig my way to my lens cap. Totally disgusting but relieved all the same. After a short flight, with little amenities and minimal leg room (it is Ryan Air after all) we arrived into Treviso and took an hour bus ride into Venice.

Words are hard to describe this city. Pictures help. But in the end, its being there, in the thick of it that puts it to justice. This city has clearly worked very hard to keep up its high decorum; colorful buildings, cobblestone streets, unique bridges every which way leading over small waterways and plenty of fancy churches, restaurants and monuments to boot. It is the only city I’ve ever been to where getting lost feels fulfilling and not frustrating. And believe me, getting lost is easy to do.

Most of the day was spent walking amongst the alleyways winding our way to see both The Rialto Bridge, the largest and most famous of the Grand Canal bridges and St. Marco Piazza, home of the basilica and government buildings. The afternoon food consisted of Gino’s Pizza and some freakin’ awesome gelato. Kris did get a chance to see the inside of St. Mark’s Basilica. I offered to watch the bags while she roamed around and vice versa so that we wouldn’t have to check them. Well as typical Matt luck would have it, they closed the doors on me right before I could walk in. That’s not even an exaggeration. There was one guy in front of me and we secured front row seats to the cold-hearted sealing of the front doors, with nary a “sorry” in the process. My solace comes in the fact that we’ll most likely make another trip to the area tomorrow. We were feeling the walk by the afternoon and began to wonder what in the world we would do with ourselves for the evening, beyond eating again. Being bored is not the right term for it. It’s more that we came to Venice with little agenda and with our budget not being enormous, were not in the mood for the museums or paying churches today, beyond our half-successful trip to St. Mark’s. It was at this point that our day took a turn for the more unique and even more satisfying. Hoping to catch a good shot of the Rialto bridge from further up the Grand Canal before finding a place to eat, we managed to find a short dock that protruded out into the Canal with Rialto on one side and a gorgeous panorama of north-west Venice on the other. After taking in the setting sun from our little haven, we noticed a bar behind us that seemed to be offering some good drink options. After Kris did some investigating, she found that the bar was also offering a cocktail hour buffet and for the price of only one drink a person, we could eat as much of the pasta and bruschetta as we wanted. This very much appealed to our backpacking senses and we jumped on it. 10 euros spent on some yummy wine and beer later, we had a very full and satisfied stomach and sat back out on “our” dock and listened to a full blown symphony entertain another restaurant across the Canal. It was a great night, and a terrific ending to our first day here. I managed to keep to under 200 pictures for the day and Kris managed to pass out within 5 minutes of getting back to the room.  She needs it and quite frankly, so do I. So I’ll end this blog. Right……now!

Pictures: Venice at sunset with the ever famous gondolas, St. Mark's Basilica, the many gorgeous back streets of Venice. It was hard to choose pictures for this blog. I will probably add more later when we have more internet access.