The End

After 2 hours of sleep (!) I got up for the taxi this morning and was at the Brussels airport by 4:45 am. Checked in my beer bag, it weighed just over 30 kg! The lounge opened 30 minutes late so I had to cool my heels a bit in the hallway, then spent a pleasant 90 minutes drinking coffee and surfing the internet. Then it was off to London; I slept the entire flight.

Once at Heathrow I went through the terminal-transfer shenanigans then parked in the lounge there for a good 2 hours. They had bacon sandwiches so I had a couple, yum! I eyed the bloody marys, but decided my liver needed to detox.

The flight home was uneventful - I watched This is 40, Hyde Park on Hudson and Hitchcock, and while they were fine I was glad I hadn't paid to see them.

New pannier

I did have a few heart-pounding moments as I watched the bags come off the conveyor, and more and more bags came down without mine appearing. I was on the brink of freaking out when it finally popped out, whew! Sadly when I got home, the malty aroma of delicious beer greeted me when I opened my bag. In 14 years of travel, this was my first bottle casualty, and it was a difficult to get beer. I had a moment of sadness as I cleaned up the mess.

But I did still have 13 bottles of great beers, and I have my super fun pannier for the girly bike. Not to mention tons of great memories and some new friends.



This trip by the numbers:

Cities visited: 7
Orders of frites eaten: 4

Beer loot!

Waffles eaten: 1 (WTF???? Not sure what happened there!)
Beer events attended: 3
Beers tasted: 100?
Beers broken in transit: 1
Cheeses purchased: 3
Cheeses donated to beer drinkers: 2
Bell tower steps climbed up: 641
Miles biked: 24
New acquaintances: lots!
Ribald stories heard: 23
Go-arounds: 1

ZBF Day Two

This morning I slept in a bit. I didn't have to leave for the train until 9:45, so that was nice. I got to Leuven around 11:05, and ZBF around 11:30. I got 2 more tokens  (jetons) and looked for the FTers - they weren't there, but Mary and Craig called out as I walked by so I settled in at their

History geek + beer geek = ROCK STAR

table which was also a wonderful group. I eventually deposited my cheese & bread that I couldn't take home (boohoo) and it seemed to go over well. It was really wonderful to be in a big group again, as you get to taste so many more beers.

Eventually I saw the FTers, they got there a bit late, and actually Win saw me - so I introduced him to the table. It's a little weird sometimes, as my job is connecting people and I find my personal life echoes that, but it is cool to make connections. Eventually Keith came by as well (after I yelled hey HEY HEY! at him!) and met Mary & Craig, and they discussed Milwaukee beer spots.

At some point I was invited to a brewery tour and, while feeling a teensy bit guilty at ditching the FTers, grabbed at the chance.We took a 30 minute bus ride to the brewery and got a personal tour thanks to Chuck Cook. The brewery owners/brewmasters included a gentleman who had been at InBev with Stella Artois; he was a lovely man and a pleasure to chat with.

Last beers!

It was 9 pm before we got back to Leuven due to funky Sunday bus schedules. We contemplated eating, but decided to have a beer instead (shocking!). That turned in to 2 rounds before I had to head to the train, pouting.

Now it's 1 am and my taxi will be here in 3 short hours... ! I've enjoyed do much the acquaintances and strangers who have become friends on this trip. I hope to stay in touch with many, if not all; they are truly wonderful folks.

Beer Festival (ZBF), Day 1

Crazy!!!

So. On Saturday I got up early and bought groceries (overloaded on Fanta Zero because I love it!), went to Catillon and bought a bottle, then was completely frustrated by public transit trying to get to the train station. Every train/tram/bus had a 10-20 minute wait to get to a station 5-0 minutes away walking. I ended up walking a huge loop, rather than 30 minutes in a straight line, and missed the express train by 30 seconds. Ugh.

Then, the gratis bus to the fest was a scrum - so much pushing and shoving it was shameful. One woman had a panic attack on the bus. Lines to buy tokens (jetons) and glasses were crazy. I nearly walked out. Thank goodness I didn't, as calm ruled when I walked in. I found my fellow FlyerTalkers and spent a wonderful day tasting and sharing beers, chatting, and goofing off. I was the only chick for most of the day,which felt a little weird, but luckily I have a 13-year-old-male sense of humor.  :-) We left around 9 pm as t got too crazy, got dinner, and took the train back to Brussels where I drank a "crap" beer and went to sleep.

I Grew Up On a Farm....

(If you don't recognize the title, it's the beginning of a quote from In Brugge. Yes I think I quoted it the last time I was there; no, I don't care.)

At the top of the bell tower

Today was my day for Brugge. I love Brugge. I can't explain what it is, but it really makes me happy to be there. When I was there in January 2012, the bell tower and the brewery were both closed for renovations, so I didn't get to do either typical tourist activity. So today I got them both in. When yesterday was so gorgeous and rain was predicted today, I guessed that the line for the bell tower would be short today - as it was! No line no waiting. Just up 366 steps. (Whew!)

I made it up and down the tower in time to check out 2 beer shops and get to De Halve Maan, the local brewery, for the 11 am tour. It was a nice little tour with a free beer at the end; while drinking mine, I met a lovely couple from Bellingham, WA who took my picture and vice versa. We had a good chat about travel while downing our beers.

Then I had a few hours to just play around. I bought some beers, went to the De Struise tasting room and chatted with the daughter of the owner for a while as I was the only one there, and got some chocolates. Eventually it was time to grab my (very heavy!) bags from the B&B and head to the train station.

The train ride was very uneventful but it was the first time a train I was on was late. Then, I looked at the metro map and realized I should have gotten off the train at Midi, not Nord, because I now had to backtrack to get on the goofy line to the apartment. Crankypants time! The metro was no big deal once I worked it out (and I have since found a tram/metro combination to avoid backtracking).

The apartment is teeny!!! The bed is up in a loft. But it is cute, and quiet, and in a lovely neighborhood that I like more than last weekend's.

After I settled in, I set off to meet my internet pals at Delirium Cafe. That damn place was SO hard to find! I wandered for quite a while, which meant they were that many more beers ahead of me when I arrived. It was odd, but good, to see them in a different country, and we had a nice chat before heading out to look for food. I'd eaten but figured I would get a drink. In the end, 3 people went back to the hotel and the rest of us got frites, which I shared. And missed the metro closing time, so took a taxi back to the hotel... one less beer for me.  :-(

So, off to bed - tomorrow is the big beer festival in Leuven!

Enjoying my Bruges Zot

R&R in Brugge

So for the past few days, I've been trying to figure out the logistics for doing everything I want to do. Specifically, I was really trying to cram in a 4 hour roundtrip train ride, plus biking. Lats night at dinner I was talking to Mitch and he said "You can't do everything." Seems pretty obvious but when he said it, I began to let go of this crazy side trip.

This morning, I woke up at 6:45 am. I thought my watch said 8:45 am, though, and was bummed out that it was dark and rainy... until I realized I was far too tired to be qualified to read a watch, and went back to bed.

When I woke up (take 2) at 8:15 am, it was bright and sunny. And with that, the last of my "do everything" mentality slipped away. All I wanted to do was ride a bike. Spending 4 hours on a train in sunny warm weather sounded like hell.

After breakfast, I asked my host about using a bike and she showed me which I could use and gave me a map to the super cool Flanders bike routes, as well as directions out of Brugge. The Flanders bike routes use a number system, so you bike from say 20 to 21 to 13 - and the signs tell you which way to go to the next point. Very simple, no Flemish required! Anyway - I said I would take a walk then be back for the bike.

I walked to the bell tower, which I really want to do... but 8 Euro?! And a long line. Bah. I went to 2 bottle shops and got a lot of beer... this cannot all come home with me, I don't have enough clothing to pad it!

Then it was off on the bike. I thought I would bike an easy 5 km from Brugge to Damme. Well, last year's vacation should have told me that 5 km would easily become 7 or more with wrong turns. Then, after lunch in Damme, I thought I would ride a bit more to Ostkerke...until I saw signs to Sluis, Netehrlands. Then I needed to do that.

Sluis was very cute. Nice little city center that I walked around before having a pannekoeken with chocolate and a beer. I bought a ton of cheese, too, at the little fromageries. And I was incredibly pleased with myself for biking to another country! So much so that I meandered on the way back, taking at least twice as long as necessary. But oh, it was nice to bike. And to get a teeny sunburn. And to know I biked at least 20 miles today!

I skipped dinner tonight, opting for some of my cheese instead. I have an action-packed day planned tomorrow, and pretty much through the end of the trip... so I as very, very glad to have had it pointed out to me that you can't do it all. Sometimes you just have to let go of something to make time for the things that make you smile.

Antwerp

When I was originally invited to attend the Great Belgian Beer Dinner on April 24th, it was planned to be in Oostende, a coastal town that's about a 15 minute train ride from Brugge. I figured that's a GREAT excuse to stay in Brugge, and booked a B&B. Well, the restaurant in Oostende closed and the organizers had to scramble for a new location for the dinner. They ended up finding a place in Antwerp, which is about a 1.5 hour train ride from Brugge. The organizers arranged a bus ride back for me, but being on my own to get there I figured I'd spend the day checking out Antwerp.

Antwerp has an amazing train station. I decided to follow the walking tour in to the center that is in my Rick Steve's guidebook. It was a really nice introduction to the city. I stopped at the Rubens House museum and was delighted to learn that entry is free on the last Wednesday of the month! The house was stunning and the art work was just incredible. (But, I am a big Flemish painters fan!)

My next cultural stop was the cathedral, where I was incredibly lucky to see much more art than usual and a Rubens in the place it was intended to be - due to the art museum being renovated.

Other than that I wandered the streets. I didn't want to eat or drink too much and spoil dinner, so those options were out. I really enjoyed Antwerp - I love the vibe of it, and would like to go back for a longer stay.


I did find, in a sporting goods store, exactly the type of pannier I want for my girly bike. I was terribly excited and bought it. Then I found a little boutique a while later with cool, crazy stuff, and they had the same type of pannier - for 20 Euro less. !!! I hemmed and hawed for a bit, then hustled back to store #1 and asked if I could return the pannier. They said yes (no questions; the only odd thing was I got cash back for a credit transaction - free cash advance!) so I then hustled back to store #2 and bought the less expensive version.

It was about time for the dinner, so I wandered over and right away spotted Mary & Craig waving to me through the windows. We had time to chat before everyone was herded outside for starters & apertifs. And then - I ATE A RAW OYSTER. It was pretty damn good! I also ate a piece of herring later. When we were directed inside, we were directed to specific tables; there were 6 persons at ours. The guy next to me introduced himself as Mitch and, taking a leap of faith that he might be the Mitch whose email about packing beer was forwarded to me, I asked if he knew Win (a frequent flyer acquaintance of mine) in the Chicago area? And - he does! Too funny. Mary and Craig were at the table as well, and a couple from Brussels who Mitch is staying with. It turned out to be an interesting mix of people and I enjoyed the conversation over the amazing, 8 course dinner (with beer pairings).It was really a wonderful experience. I also got to meet Chris Lively of Ebenezer's Pub, which was cool.

It was 12:25 am all too soon, and time to find the bus. I was riding back with a tour group from the U.S., who were also a good bunch. I met Dean Rouleau from San Diego, as he was on the tour. The bus was not in theplace we expected it to be, then the driver missed an exit, so all in all it was 3 am before I was back in my bed at Art & Soul, exhausted but incredibly happy with the day.

Ypres with My Adoptive Family

Today was my trip to Ypres with Karla & Chris' Belgian relatives, Karel & Kristin. I called Karel last night and he told me their friends Luc and Bea (who Chris knows) are joining us. Rounding out the bunch is Karel & Kristin's daughter, Caroline, who is a judge and a tour guide in Ypres.

 There was no problem finding each other- as soon as the car pulled up to the B&B, we knew we were all in the right place! We had a brief ride to Ypres, and as we parked, Kristin said something in Flemish - all I recognized was "apertif" which made me giggle. Sure enough, Karel asked if I was up for a drink before the museum. Thus we were drinking at about 10:30 am! It was a nice little ice breaker.

Next we headed to the museum, In Flanders Fields. What an amazing museum - the coolest thing, to me, was a selection of vignettes where actors played persons from the war and read from diaries as though they were telling you about their experience. It was very moving and had me in tears several times. Hearing what the local citizens went through, as well as the soldiers, was heartbreaking. The exhibits overall were incredibly well done. They also use RFID bracelets; you sign in at the beginning and at certain exhibits, it tailors the content to you. At the end it tells you if any relatives were in Flanders Fields (not surprisingly I came up empty).

The bell tower is newly opened, so Karel and I climbed up 315 steps to the top. We could almost see France. It was a very cool overview of the geography of the area and how that influenced the battles.

The last exhibit was about the U.S. program to send food to the people of Flanders after the war. There was a film of people describing what it was like, and Karel shared his memories as well. I had no idea that the U.S. had done that - if I'd once learned it, it was forgotten - along with aid to rebuild the town (which, by the way, is gorgeous!).

After the museum, we met Caroline for lunch and then she gave us a lovely walking tour of the Menin Gate Memorial, the ramparts, the cathedral and Anglican churches, and a small British cemetery. She did a marvelous job of informing and answering questions. She mentioned that to be a guide, she had to take a total of 3 exams! Clearly the Flemish respect their history and want to protect the sharing of it to ensure the accuracy.

We said goodbye to Caroline and returned to Brugge. After parking, we found a cafe where I "presented Guido's beers" - Guido is a friend of Chris and Karel who loaded my SIM last fall for my Austria trip, and I had hoped to buy him a beer but he was walking the Camino Santiago de Compstelo, so Karel kindly offered to accept his beer instead.  :-)

All in all it was an educational and interesting day with some deeply kind and wonderful people, and highly enjoyable!