Reaching the Isle of Islay

On the 5th of July we made our way by ferry to the Isle of Islay. It is well known as the island of scotch whisky with 8 distilleries currently on the island. What isn't played up as much is that it has wonderful natural areas, great sandy beaches, and nice little towns, making it feel so comfortable to just be there taking it all in. We were there from the 5th of July until the 8th of July, camping the first night and then spending the next two nights at a new bed and breakfast just outside of Bowmore.

Our days went a little like this:

5th of July, Friday

• Arrive in Port Ellen by ferry a little after 1pm (a lucky break meant we got to the island earlier than we had expected because we made an earlier ferry)
• Drive from Port Ellen up and around Loch Indaal to Port Charlotte and then the Port Mor campground (a great campground with modern facilities all for 16 quid for two people
• Set up the tent and get a bit antsy to do something
• Drive up to Bruichladdich Distillery and enjoy a late afternoon tour, which keeps us there beyond closing and the staff even pull out a guitar and sing before we leave.
• Drive up and out along along the southwest coast down to the southern tip of Portnahaven and Port Wemyss, enjoying the coastline.
• Drive back to Port Mor and have dinner at their small cafe.
• Enjoy the slow long sunset of the Scottish evening

6th of July, Saturday

• Breakfast at the Port Mor cafe
• Drive up to the newest, smallest, farmhouse distillery, Kilchoman for an excellent Americano and then a wee tour. They have only been open since 2005 so their product is still quite young.
• Change scenic locations, going down to the far southeastern end of the island and check out the Kildalton peninsula. Have a late lunch at the Ardbeg Old Kiln Cafe - fantastic place for lunch with great food and fresh coffee.
• Take the deluxe "Through the Decades Tour" at Ardbeg.
• Go out and see the Kildalton cross and then go out to the end of the road and walk along Claggain Bay (thinking a lot about what a fantastic place it would be to land a kayak)
• Get checked into our wonderful bed and breakfast Dha Uhlar and meet our host Jim and his family. It has only been open a matter of weeks when we stay there. He has also set up the house next door for a full house rental. Can't recommend it enough.
• Decide to go out in the rainy evening for dinner at the Harbour Inn Bar. Definitely upscale, not just bar food. We paid quite a bit but got to spend a nice slow evening there in the fading light and even had a great cranachan trio dessert with a dram of Ardbeg's 1990 Airigh Nam Beist.

7th of July, Sunday

• A complete Scottish breakfast at the bed and breakfast.
• Headed down to the Kildalton trio for a tour of Lagavulin, but see that we can easily wander over to the Dunyvaig Castle ruins for a small exploration before the tour.
• Head just a few minutes up the road to Laphroaig for both a tour and a food and single malt pairing taste session. We meet up with a couple from Sweden and Urse and Kevin, a father and son from Switzerland, enjoying a very leisurely afternoon of talking and getting to know each other.
• Drive back up to the seven mile beach along Loch Indaal. The drive out it treacherous because it was once a road but is so deep and heavily potholed that we bounced out to the beach. It was by this point that we nicknamed the car Tigger.
• Steph got her first taste of driving in the UK on the beach and then back up the road to the airport.
• Decide to head back into Bowmore and have dinner at the Lochside Hotel, which was definitely good comfort food and wonderfully fresh fish.
• The evening lingers so we decide to head up to Finlaggan, the ancient seat of the MacDonalds - Lord of the Isles, at its height in the 1300s and 1400s.
• Just a small road trip to Port Askaig to make sure we know were to try and catch an earlier ferry on Monday, with a peek at the port site of Caol Ila. (Technically we visited all eight distilleries, but only went through seven of them, this was the only one we didn't make.)
• A country drive along the Great Glen Road before making it back to our bed and breakfast.

8th of July, Monday

•  Another amazingly full Scottish Breakfast, this time Jim remembered the beans. He was great about saying we didn't have to rush out and could even leave our bags longer if need be. 
• Down the hill into Bowmore Distillery (the islands oldest surviving distillery) and a nice leisurely tour and lingering looks at Loch Indaal. We saw Urse and Kevin as we were leaving and they really tried to encourage us to stick around and do a tour with them. They were great gentlemen and made a wonderful plan of this trip to celebrate Kevin's 30th birthday.
• A stop up at Bridgend and Islay Ales. They had lovely ales and it was so surprising and nice to have local beer on the island home of scotch whisky.
• We are very early for the early afternoon ferry and decide to make a pitstop at Bunnahabhain Distillery. We convince ourselves that we are only on standby for the ferry, so why rush, thus sticking around for a tour. They have stopped production in order to fully clean everything, but it is still neat to see.
• We get down to the ferry terminal, 6th in the standby line for the ferry from Port Askaig back to mainland Scotland. We are fortunate enough to get on the ferry so that we can make it across the country to Chris and Donja's without it getting too awfully late or having to find lodging at the last minute.

It was a great start to this vacation and rather than discuss every minute detail we decided to do it through a slideshow.

Returning to the City of Peeing Statues

After yet another lovely breakfast the finally choice was made about climbing the Belfort, I would do it and Steph wouldn't. We came back up and got packed, which has become so easy and quick over these last couple of weeks that we each are all set to go in only about 20. In truth the price seemed a bit steep, 8€, to just climb a tower 366 steps, but it was another clear sunny morning meaning there would be good views up top. While I climbed the original model of a stairmaster, Steph went to find stamps and just wander a bit more. The plan was simple and worked out perfectly,coming back over to pick up chocolate from The Chocolate Line before getting checked out just after 11am and catching our train. The route between the two cities is so standard that we didn't have to concern ourselves with picking up a specific train at a scheduled time, it was much more a matter of just picking up whatever was available to us next in the day.

I can't say it is an overly memorable train trip, even with going through Ghent, then again it isn't like the places to really enjoy in Ghent are right in front of the train station. Big surprise! Arriving in Brussels, we got to enjoy a stop at Midi station, which is not all that attractive overall, but it is where the Chunnel train terminates. Just a couple of minutes later we got off at Bruxelles Centraal and had our shorter arrival trek to the hotel that we have had this trip, took about 5 minutes to get to the Aris Hotel. We walked in expecting to just put bags in their luggage room, but our room was ready for us so we checked in and took a few minutes to unpack things and settle into our space on the fifth floor. Turns out that if you opened the window and leaned out you could get a nice view of the upper reaches of the Grote Markt, which came in handy that night. As for unpacking, I don't know when it started, but I have always felt a bit more relaxed having things out of the duffle bag and hung up and shelved. Turns out that now I have Steph doing that as well. I think it has to do with the fact that when you have folds led that can wrinkle it is best to get them hung quickly, although it could just as easily be that I am a little Type A and feel a need to have things orderly.

It was then time to go through the stomping grounds so completely covered in March. As it was a late lunch time we stopped by La Brasseurs on the square for a bite of lunch and an adult beverage. This had been a pretty much daily stop during ITC, enough so that the weekday barman recognized me immediately. The biggest change was that we got to sit outside at a table and watch everything going on in the Grote Markt without having to be a direct part of it. The people watching was a great deal of fun, and in some ways even more pleasurable than Amsterdam because it was such a centrally important location and students, parents, tour groups, individual travelers, and a few locals found their way though here.

Around 3pm we decided we should get the mandatory stop out of the way, Manneken Pis. I don't think it is overstating the case that this is one of those underwhelming sights for tourism, and even Steph's reaction wasn't "oh wow" but more of a "that's it?" With such a reaction and with the warmth of being out we had enough time to go and do something a bit more memorable the Rene Magritte museum. I enjoyed it just as much the second time and Steph also was quite enthralled by his body of work, especially that in his impressionist period he did not eliminate surrealist elements to the paintings.

We wandered by the Royal Palace and park immediately to the north of it before sitting and enjoying the fountain and simply watching things go on around us for a little bit. By that point it was nearly 6pm so we went back to the hotel to relax and freshen up, a matter that was so much easier because the hotel was right on the edge of the market square on the Grassmarket. The more we had a bit of time, the more we realized that having a clean, albeit dated, place to stay in such a central location was not to be underestimated. We did not have that in Koblenz, but we did have it pretty much everywhere else, but nothing as truly close as being just 250 yard from the most central location of the city.

It only makes sense that when you are in the city of peeing statues you ought to see Janneke Pis, right in the alley where Delerum Tremens triplet of bar, cafe, and ministerium are. This statue is about the same size as its sibling, but it was more about the people there gearing up for the night's World Cup qualifier against Serbia. We stopped for the expected view of the place, and a glimpse of the beer bible and just how diverse and extensive their beer offering are, with well beyond 1000 choices. We chose not to spend too much time there as it was feeling like time to seek out something more substantial in the way of dinner, heading over to an Iranian restaurant Ken introduced me to, Caspian. If it hadn't been for his head's up I am sure that we wouldn't have stopped as there was nobody dining there. All of that changed within about ten minutes of our arrival, with four tables of people appearing in short order. The food is excellent, so very flavorful that is worth seeking out the block south of the row of Greek restaurants.

The long evening light led us to do two more things, seek out the last of the official peeing statues, Zenneke Pis, the leg lifting dog. This was the one I was least confident in finding, even with the map, because although the is some affinity for it, it is on an out of the way side street that I don't think many tourists would seek out. This may have been their intent, to have something more for the locals, but I am not convinced by that either. I knew roughly where it was, but the space invader street art was what led us to know we were in the right spot. In some sense I think it is the best of the three, but only because it has much more of a feel of accessible street art rather than something caged off and away so that people see it from a bit of distance.

Once I connected where we were at with being close to St. Catherine's cathedral we wandered up there to take a look at is as we were headed toward dusk and see the area that has the most specifically fish restaurants on the square that I know of in the area. The side light was seeing yet a fourth space invader tile art image. Based on it getting later we decided to head back east into the center of town and watch the second half of the game back at the micro-brewery we first stopped at lunch time. It turns out there were a few locals and then a bunch of guys from London, Chelsea fans to be exact, joined us for the half as well. It was all exciting and great fun to do. After the game we headed back to the hotel hearing all the reveling still going on to celebrate Belgium's win in the game. As we got to the room and opened the window they were lighting up the Grote Markt in blues and greens and reds so we got to see a bit of that right from our window.

I ended the night wondering whether or not we should have more actively pursued tickets to the football match. I felt so mixed about it because while it would have been wonderful to experience such a game in person they kept moving the game time back, and I felt less comfortable being so far On the edge of the city in an area that I didn't have the most inviting feeling about when I was there in March. Initially the game was supposed to be in the afternoon and I would have been much quicker to say yes, but for whatever reason the game start was moved to 8.30pm. This meant we would be coming home at night in situation that was potentially highly charged in an area that left only two options out of there, and neither was a simple walk. After the game was over I had that thought that maybe we should have, but by the same token what if the result wasn't a win for Belgium, would the feeling of people leaving the game created a riskier situation. Lots of what ifs and the only outcome to speak of was that we had a great day and a fun evening doing what we did.

Brugge and Out to Damme

The Salvator provided a comfortable stay and coming down to breakfast meant that there was a good meal to start the day awaiting us. Over breakfast we had some decisions to make since we did not actually have a plan of action for the day in place to this point, and we figured we should have some idea of what we intended to do with such a beautiful and sunny day. Steph and I had a good time biking in Koblenz, so we figured that maybe we should try a bike tour, the Pink Bear Bike Tour. The choice was based on the description identifying that it wasn't just of Brugge, but it also took you up along the canal further toward the coast to the town of Damme. A ride out into the country a few miles sounded just in line with what we wanted to do. It also had a good time frame on it, 3.5 hours, so it would leave us with some time in the afternoon.

The bike tour turned out great and we managed to fit in some of the sights on the north end of town before going further up the road to Damme. It was good getting out the hustle and bustle of the city itself and out into a more serene area, where the bikes are the most common mode of transportation seen since the routes really cater to bike traffic. The beauty of pedaling along the canal is in evidence in the pictures we have, including this one.

Our first stop out of town along the route was at an 1800s windmill, evidenced by the fact that only the top turret with the sails had to be moved rather than the whole mill itself.

That is our lovely group, two from New Zealand, two from England, two from Texas, one from Chicago, and the two of us. As we pedaled the last little bit into Damme we found that when the estuary dried up and left Brugge a greater distance from the sea, the shipping port moved up to where there was still water, Damme. Steph took the time to pose as we crossed the bridge into Damme.

Now Damme is back to being a very small, sleepy community because the estuary continued to dry up, leaving even it without direct access to the sea. We stopped in town to get a quick look and then a bit of a nosh, it was mostly about waffles and beer before heading back into Brugge. We stopped at the windmills on the north east side of town, which were 18th century windmills because they were all wood structures that had to completely rotate to find the wind.

We made it back right about 2pm, leaving us with plenty of time to walk about a bit more, especially going down to see the swans and Minnewater. We spent time walking around the green spaces on the  edges of the old town, feeling in no rush to get anywhere specific. The truth of the matter is that we wandered aimlessly taking in our surroundings and avoiding the rush from all of the other tourists for the canal boat tours, the walking tours, the bus tours, and the tour of the available tours. The sun and warmth were so very welcome and we took every opportunity to enjoy having them as constant companions at this point. It just turned out that all the advanced weather predictions were that it would be cool and damp or rainy so we kept our packing conservative and did not add in shorts, which we were now thinking would be a welcome addition to our baggage. By the same token we didn't have much interest in a shopping interlude in order to rectify the situation either, everything we looked at just reinforced the reasons why you see so many overseas travelers in the U.S. wanting to purchase clothes when they visit.

Our feet took us around the Burg and back around again to the front of the Belfort. The way the day was progressing led to the putting off of climbing the Belfort tower to another day, in fact we could make our way to Bruxelles at any point on Friday that we wanted since there were at least two trains each hour. It then just became a matter of how soon we would leave the appealing city of Brugge since the hotel had a noon check out and would hold a bag for the rest of the day if we chose. It was a discussion we waited upon, figuring dinner would give us a good chance to figure out what tomorrow would have in store. 

As the Salvator Hotel was immediately to the west side of St. Salvator's cathedral we had the good fortune to enter the oldest parish church in Bruges. The original sections date back to at least 1200. It is amazing not only the condition but also the understated adornment of the interior as well as the architectural exterior. Such factors led to a view of the beauty in the simplicity of form and function and just how much work it took to make it all come together.

After freshening up at the hotel we wandered over to the 'Zand for dinner. There is a long row of restaurants there and the choice was really a matter of whether we liked the prices of their offerings. They basically offered all of the same options, it was more about ambience and price. Needless to say, we were eating al fresco in the late day sun of post 7pm long days, and we ended up at a typical, run of the mill restaurant, but the special on offer was mussels, which is what we were both after. They were prepared au naturale, steamed and, as always, served with fries. They were satisfying, but not good enough to be the final word on that dish during this trip.

We wandered back to the hotel and had drinks at the bar before going back to our room, which actually had a nice outdoor patio. It was a quirky little space and only two rooms had access to patio space, but in the failing light of the evening it was nice and cool and felt good to spend even more time outdoors. It was here we talked of climbing the Belfort in the morning and catching a train to Brussels at about noon time so that we would have a good chance to wander there. We also had a nice opportunity to pose with local chocolates and beer.

Last Long Travel Day

There isn't tons to write about from Wednesday the 5th of June since we spent a great deal of time on the Benelux train system. We left the apartment at 9.30am and walked up to Amsterdam Centraal, making sure to stop along the way and get our now required bath duck photos as we got toward the station.

The trip for the day was Amsterdam to Rotterdam, Rotterdam to Antwerp, and Antwerp to Brugge. We had two nights in Brugge and made it there a little after two in the afternoon, checked in and realized we had time to make the short trip down to Brouwerij De Halve Maan and take the 4pm tour and tasting. I had gone on this tour in March with Ken, his brother Terry, and Amara and it was such a gem of a tour that I wanted to make sure that Steph got to experience it as well. It did not disappoint, the tour was just as witty and comical as the last time, then again it was the same older woman giving the tour this time as it was in March.

We wandered back up to the city center, The Burg, of Brugge and hit a few stops along the way just to enjoy the scenery, and even just a touch of fine Belgian chocolate at the Chocolate Line. We decided that we should just find somewhere close for dinner and ended up at a nice restaurant called Venice. The food was worth every moment's wait, they were terribly understaffed as the waiter did not stop moving at all during our time there, and we did have to do a fair amount of waiting after being seated. Even so everything worked out well for our shortened travel day experience of Brugge.

Got To Be Kidding Me, Three Consecutive Sunny Days

Amsterdam has treated us so well for weather that it feels like we are spoiled. Even Drew and his colleagues are stoked that they can put away warmer jackets even for a few days, but they may not be able to put them away in the evenings. When the sun starts to drop and evening approaches we are all looking for just a bit more coverage, well maybe not all of us, it is still Amsterdam. With this being our last full day, really last day whatsoever, we decided that we should at least take a run at one of the  museums. It was difficult to decide as the full Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum were both finally fully open. Steph twisted my ear a bit and we opted for the Van Gogh as we didn't want to lose an entire beautiful and warm day to the confines of the interior of a museum. (In truth she didn't have to twist my ear or arm, just a poor attempt at Vincent-related humor. I am writing this feeling a bit cheeky and am working to try and contain a few of the worst puns and inside jokes.)

The newly reopened Van Gogh museum is so well thought out and executed, with four floors of his work as well as a few of his contemporaries. While there always seems to be a line, we waited just 5 minutes to get our tickets and enter the museum, which meant no second guessing ourselves and our choice of museum. I won't bore you with photos of the art work as a simple web search will produce so many nice reproductions that there is little need to show the few shots we took in this space. Sorry to say that none of you will even be getting the couple of Van Gogh postcards we bought as we figured those would turn out better than any photos we could have taken.

*** Mini rant *** I keep talking about photos as I have found one of my mid-life pet peeves, those people who spend their entire time in a museum taking photos of everything possible and don't spend the time just looking at the art itself. The number of times I was pushed at or bumped so that they could get closer, feeling they had some divine right of the kings to push us non-photographing peons out of the way, actually had me so irritated that I would have had a field day if there was a central atrium camera drop available from the upper floors. Steph and I were taking time looking at his brush strokes and composition from different angles and distances which was something these people and their photographic brillance could never re-create, bunch of feckin'-idiots. The museum, it's contents, and the way it was set up were wonderful, but the camera bugs (jack wads) were wasting oxygen the rest of us would appreciate having at our disposal.

Steph and I ended our tour of the musuem wandering out onto the museumplein and finding a few spare feet of green space and just soaking up the sun and our stunning surroundings. Well maybe not just soaking it up based on the photo below, we were doing our share of people gawking and this shot has Steph taking a picture of the Van Gogh museum as I tak a shot of her having the Rijksmuseum in the background.

It was just a Tuesday so there were plenty of free square metered of space for people to occupy around us.

Next stop for us was the land of the rarely seen sun worshippers this spring in Europe, Vondelpark. We wondered the Vondel as people took every advantage of an increasingly warm and sunny day, but even this locale did not include the most clothing optional scene of the day. It was a much more restrained population in the park today, but it still was of great interest to watch all of the people doing everything they could to take advantage of the 70F temperatures. We grabbed a small nosh from one of the spots in the park before going over and taking a bit of time looking at the hostel my students will be staying at next spring for the International Traveling Classroom, the StayOk. It looks both comfortable and very bright orange throughout, but I do expect that the sun and the warmth will be something we will have to negotiate for as our time in March 2014 comes closer. Based on the couple of days here to get a sense of the place and its opportunities I think the students can come away having a great time in Amsterdam next spring without any Herculean effort.

As we walked back into Spiegelgracht, toward Drew's place we happened across a young lady admiring a sculpture that thousands of visitors are likely to have missed as they find their way to and from the museumplein. It is great in its simplicity and humor and must have been there for quite some time as the saw blade is being covered by the tree itself.

We stopped in the ticket outlet one last time after this just to see if there was any possibility of tickets for the night's Muse/Biffy Clyro concert and of course they didn't have any there and the only place you could actually get them was online with a chip and pin card . (I promise not to re-hash the other mini rant from day one Amsterdam, but needless to say this was so completely frustrating and disappointing for both Steph and I.)

We took a brief stop at the apartment to get refreshed before heading up to the Beer King bottle shop up around the corner from the Beer Temple we were at the previous night. I was intent on trying to pick up Sink the Bismark from Brewdog, but no luck at all on that front. The best I could do is pick up a Trappist Westvleteren 12, which I will have to patiently wait to experience as its full maturation isn't until February 2016. Quick trip up there done we headed back to catch up with Drew and take him to dinner as a small thanks for opening up his apartment to us for the couple days we were there.

Well there was one very somber and intense stop to make before we had dinner, the Anne Frank House. It was an experience that is really beyond words as you are in the exact location of their hiding during WWII. While I still won't stand in line all day to go through that experience again, especially since the line was only about a tenth as long at seven in the evening, it was worth every moment spent there and I have no way to figure out how someone could go through the tour untouched. Truly a stunning experience.

Such is the incongruity with which I tell you that we ate at De Prins in the Jaardin section, just up the canal from the Anne Frank House. It was a nice evening to sit out along the canal and see the wonderful houseboats along that section of the canal. I will agree with Drew that it is a shame that some of the more beautiful houseboats aren't a bridge or two further south on the canal so that they re in front of some of the more wonderful canal houses. We rounded out the gastronomical section of the evening with a stop by Winkel 43, a few blocks further up near Noorderkerk, on the east end of Westerstaat, for some very divine apple pie. Drew would not let it go that I hadn't told him that it was Steph's birthday during our time on the trip and had said there was no ending our time with him without getting this apple pie desert at some point, and there was no more perfect place for it than Winkel 43. We were not to be disappointed in the least, it was truly worth the wait to have it, regardless of when we had let Drew know of Steph's birthday. It actually became our phrase of that leg of the trip, "well if I had been told that it was Steph's birthday" was the mantra Drew seemed to be using with us regularly about such an oversight.

We finished the night with a leisurely walk back to his place along the canals enjoying the warmth and beauty of it all as things started to become lit up for the night. All in all it meant that leaving Amsterdam was going to be all the harder for Steph and I to do, we really just hadn't known what to expect of the place or the fact that it really had so much to expose to us, and everyone else who took time there.

Travel Day from Germany to Netherlands

With a bit of good fortune when looking at our train tickets to Amsterdam, it turned out we were leaving from Koblenz Stadtmitte rather than the Hbf. The advantage to this is that based on where the hotel was we could walk back to get our train rather than consider getting a taxi. We also got there early enough to take a train an hour earlier up to Cologne than what we had on the itinerary, meaning we could get a nice full view of the cathedral and seek out a lovely, refreshing kolsch before catching our connecting train to Amsterdam.

After two less than wonderful weather days, it would figure that our travel day was clear, sunny, and even getting warm. After the short hour trip to Cologne we got into the station and walked out to a fully sunny mid-day which made the cathedral look even better. It sure did look more inviting than the snowy day in March that found a way to suck all the enjoyment of such a wonderful view. It was even more awe-inspiring with the chance to fully go around it and see all of the intricacy and stone work that went into it. This time it was a chance to wander fully around the Dom at a semi-leisurely pace. It could have been fully leisurely if we had a longer layover and even more if we didn't have to dodge the more oblivious gawkers. The best of the bunch were the people who put down their luggage and walked away for better pictures just assuming that everyone was nice enough not to take their bags. It was not such a location for such trust as I had caught a few glimpses at people trying to pickpocket others. One of the more inept thieves got his hand caught in the potential victim's coat pocket and received a nice slap for his effort.

As we came back toward the train station it was time to start seeking out a kolsch, hopefully finding another good locale easily accessible to our train connection. It was just turning noon so the bells were fully in their cycle when we saw that Gaffel Brewery was right there and was truly in the shadow of the Dom based on its location at that time of day. We found a seat, dropped the packs, and the wait staff simply walked by with trays of 200cl freshly poured glasses and put one down in front of each of us. It was such an enjoyable experience and the taste of Gaffel kolsch was so much better fresh than even the night before on tap in Koblenz. We had enough time to fully enjoy a couple of glasses before catching our three hour tour to Amsterdam. On the way back to the train station I decided we needed another bath duck to keep our Freiburg baschle duck company and Gaffel was so good as to have one available, holding a kolsch no less.

The rest of the train journey was a quiet, but slightly long journey. We got in at Amsterdam Centraal station just after 4pm and were greeted by Drew Duggan, who is presently working over there and kindly offered to let us stay with him for a couple of nights. On the tram ride to his place we discussed going over to Utrecht a little later to see Iron and Wine in concert. We were feeling good and were up for the adventure so we just dropped our bags at his place, freshened up a little and headed back to the station in order to go over to Utrecht. There was a quick stop for food at a doner kebab shop, followed by our bit of travel to the concert. There were not only seats available, but it was also general admission so that we could find good central seats easily. It was a great concert and the trio This Is The Kit opened for Iron and Wine. I am actually a bit surprised that we hadn't come across Iron and Wine before, but now we will end up picking up at least a couple of the albums when we are back stateside next week.

Getting a fuller sense of Amsterdam was to be the larger goal over the next two days as we had a great first evening in the area with Drew.

First Full Day of Amsterdam

Finally the weather was turning in our favor and we were awoken by a fully sunny sky. It was starting a bit cool and we were in no rush to head out, which ultimately wasn't a problem because Amsterdam itself seems to wake up slowly and stay open later than other places. On our way to Drew's place yesterday I had seen the local chain Beans and Bagels so Steph and I wandered over there after a bit of coffee at Drew's. We enjoyed a bagel and fresh juice as we figured out a plan of attack for the day, which was a bit rudimentary and very flexible, which was a blessing of how we approach things.

We were close to the flower market so it seemed appropriate to take an early day wander through there. the flowers all looked so beautiful, too bad we couldn't just have all the plants simply exported back home for us. The first intended stop from there was to be the Anne Frank house and I don't remember if we took a picture at the time, but here is the advantage of that previously mentioned flexibility. The line went way down around the corner and along the side of Westerkerk, and people seemed to be perfectly willing to wait, and wait, and wait even longer. Steph and I on the other hand decided that we would come back later in the day, finding out that it was open all the way until 9pm. We then headed along the canal and ending up at the open market on the edge of the Jordaan neighborhood. It was a flea market and foods market all wrapped into one, and we did find a couple small things we could not do without, a pashmina scarf for Steph and a couple of canal house magnets for ourselves.

Based on our general wandering direction northeast we had gotten back to Centraal station, which was fortuitous since we figured we would just get our rail tickets for Brugge now, rather than wait until the last minute. One of the first lessons of being in Amsterdam is to be prepared to use cash. Even for train travel between the Benelux countries they would not accept any credit card that did not work on the chip and pin system. We were in the fortunate position of having just gotten an ATM so we could pay with cash, but in talking to the clerk, she said it is amazing the number of times they have to send U.S. travelers out to get cash in order to complete their travel transactions. For us though, nice and simple, and booked through with open tickets to Brugge on Wednesday.

*** Mini rant warning - The U.S. is going to have to finally stop trying to buck this trend that they know better and are the leaders of everything finance. Time to face facts, chip and pin is here to stay and you are making life damned difficult for people by not having the system in place. Make all the arguments you want, from it is no safer than swipe to the cost of retooling the system and the loss of possible finance charge revenues, the fact is we look ridiculously backward in Europe having to get "special treatment" to find a way to use a swipe card. This problem also cost us the chance to see Muse and Biffy Clyro live in Amsterdam Tuesday night. You could not use an "American" credit card to purchase tickets online or by phone and so we missed out on the perfect opportunity to see an amazing stadium concert. What a frickin disaster.***

From rant to frivolity, as we decided it was time to finally penetrate the red light district and get a sense of what it was like. While definitely not the most intimate of settings, including the ring of windowed doors right at Oude Kirk, which itself was such a great contrast, but even the public urination stands in the area. If nothing else, it does create discussion of the role of prostitution and of women, not just in terms of control over one's body and behavior, but legalization, regulation, and social control over the behavior. Unfortunately these discussions are not commonplace and most of the people wandering through were males, many of whom saw the place as a simple opportunity to justify thinking from within their trousers. While unique in just how much of a sex industry there is, it is the openness that surprises people most.

It is now early afternoon and Steph and I decided that it was time to take a tram out to the De Gooyer windmill. It was quite a walk and Drew was generous enough to ensure that we had tram passes at our disposal. The motivation for going out of the way was only minimally to see a traditional windmill up close, it was surely as much about the microbrewery that had opened up there. Browerij IJ has been there for quite some time and it was nice to try some fresh local beer of the Netherlands. Yes, there is the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam, but the beer isn't brewed there any longer and you all know by now that I am all about the local artisan breweries anyway. They provided us with some wonderful cheese and sausage in addition to their Pils, the Tripel, the Wit, and the Amsterdam Special. It was a fantastically beautiful warm and sunny day that there was not a chance that we weren't going to sit outside and have our beverages and snacks. We enjoyed the atmosphere and relaxed for a nice while, trying to figure out what else might be fit into our day. The decision was that we should head back across the city, stopping at Rembrandtplein to take a couple of photos of the Night Watch sculpture and Rembrandt statue above it. By about 5pm we had wandered back further west, finally stopping in Leidseplein for a bite to eat before meeting up with Drew and heading off to a beer tasting at the Beer Temple, and catching up with his colleague Brock as well.

The beer tasting was a great deal of fun, small tastes of unexpected beers. The licorice stout was pretty bad and even the "best" beer in the world, Westvledern 12 was more underwhelming than expected. We sat and discussed each one, trying to figure out styles and aromas and tastes, and then after the tasting sat even longer where a lengthy discussion on movies and sequels prevailed. The differences in ages was most apparent as we had this discussion and we did go so far as to see where people were on the Star Wars ewok debate. It was a lot of fun and gave the time to finally knock another important Brewdog Brewery milestone off the list. They had Sink the Bismark available and I couldn't resist the opportunity to try this high octane Scottish beer, especially since there are a few of us that have been on a long term quest to find it as our follow up to their Tactical Nuclear Penguin. It was quite spicy and had just a bit of a hops finish to it. The best I can now say is that I tried it and still think the Penguin is the better of these extreme beers. I think the best of the evening was getting to try the offerings from Mikkeller, especially the Walk on Water.

Steph, Drew, and I took a circuitous route back to his place, getting a chance to see some of the canals lit up at night. It was well worth the extra bit of a stroll, and provided the right end to our first full day in Amsterdam.

Koblenz And Rick Steves Need To Kiss And Make Up

Before we left we saw the very brief entry in Rick Steve's book on Koblenz and it gave the impression that he didn't have much good to say or even much appreciation for the city. Well we may have only had a couple of days, but we found that there was a lot to enjoy about the place. It is not a haute cuisine type of place, it didn't have stunning daily markets, or even the most amazing architectural building in the region, but it had a comfortable, if understated, quality as well as the ability to access all sorts of activities. It also has the second largest fortress in Europe, only Gibralter is larger, which looks stunning overlooking the Rhein and Mosel rivers from the hillside. Hell, even with the rain on Friday we found plenty to do.

Saturday started off even less inviting in the morning. At breakfast we looked at the dark skies and the constant wind, hinting at imminent rain. It was a good thing that we had a plan for just such a situation, an afternoon/evening boat trip south on the Rhein, to St. Goar and back. We headed down and grabbed our rental bikes from the hotel parking area for an easy ride tothe banks of the Rhein so that we could get our boat tickets early and go enjoy a little more of the area. I say easy even though we had to dodge numerous pedestrians because Steph had a bike bell that make sure people were aware of us (mine made more of a weak clunk sound). Even the getting the boat tickets was a bit of fun because of the attendant's surprise that we wanted to take the last boat down river to St. Goar and then 20 minutes later start e journey back to Koblenz. She questioned us to be sure that all we would want to do is take the boat down, get off, and turn around and get back on to come back. Yeppers, that was our plan indeed.

With tickets purchased and time to spare we decided to make further use of the bikes by going down the east side of the Rhein for a few miles. This side wasn't as scenic as the west bank of the river, and the flooding river banks seemed to still be rising since we arrived on Thursday. In fact, just north of the the bridge we intended to cross to come back into Koblenz, we had to backtrack because the water had risen above the trail far enough that ducks were swimming over it. Coming back up to the head of that section of trail we ran into German and English bikers who got a laugh when we told them that it was no longer passable since ducks were able to be swimming where the trail was supposed to be. We then took the road a bit further south to the rail bridge over the Rhein that had a bike way beside the tracks. This was not an ideal crossing for Steph but she was game enough to try it and predictably a cargo train passed on the tracks nearest us when we reached the midway point. Surviving that and having an otherwise comfortable ride back into town we dropped off the bikes at Zanger. They were so kind and personable, getting the deposits back was no hassle.

Next up on the day was taking a quick jaunt down through the shopping area, which in some sense reminded us of Sauchiehall in Glasgow. Steph finally broke down and picked up a couple of scarves. It was something she had been resisting since we got into Freiburg. The shopping center wasn't so impressive as to get us spending lots of money and being just after noon time we decided it was time for coffee. We stopped at Hoefer's and relaxed and enjoyed watching the world go by us for a little bit. I know you are figuring we stop for coffee often, and we do, but it isn't quite the same frou frou coffee culture as there is here. Yes, Starbucks does exist, but we have stuck with finding more localized or regional places. 

With a refresher in place we headed down to the boat docks and were not sure what we should expect of our boat tour because of the two groups that crossed paths. A stag party stumbled down the gangway off the boat and an equally loud hen party came up to the boat as well. (Both groups were german, so there was no room to complain about it being stereotypical American or English jerks.) to our good fortune it was only the hen party that joined, and they chose to be off on their own in a different section of the boat. The chance to see all of the castles and the vineyards at a more leisurely pace was immensely enjoyable. It also made us aware that there were a number of nice small towns along the Rhein that would be worth a visit or a stop over on a bike tour of the middle Rhein. In the 20+ mile stretch from Koblenz to St. Goar there were seven lovely castles to take in on the hillsides. Of course we still had a smaller stag party, we didn't know they were initially as there were only four of them who were relatively quiet, sitting near by. We couldn't get over how much alcohol they put away on the three hours up river, a six pack of Beck's for each as well as several shots of bitters, Underberg to be exact. They weren't bad to be near and Steph and I also got to enjoy some Sion kolsch on the ride to St. Goar.

St. Goar is one of those pretty Rhein towns, on the west side of the river. We had a few minutes to walk around and get a little sense of the place, of course we found the bakery before closing to get something nice for the river trip back. That is the two of them from back in the room later in the evening as we reserved our desert for an appropriately late time.

It did get a bit cool and blustery as we awaited the paddle steamer for the trip back. It turns out that the boat, The Goethe, was celebrating 100 years this summer and that was our ride back to Koblenz. It was a lovely and comfortable boat and it made great time up the river due to the faster current with such hi water. We couldn't get over just how high the water was creeping everywhere.

The evening was rounded off by a walk back through town, where there wasn't much of dinner that looked appealing, so we walked back out to the hotel. As we walked in to the bar/restaurant it turned out to be halftime of the German football cup, so we went up to the room, freshened up and went down to watch the second half and have a small bite of late dinner. All in all Koblenz has been great fun and we head out of Germany for the Low Countries on Sunday.

Prost!!!

Friday - Why Having Multiple Plans Helps

Thursday night Steph and I laid out a couple plans of attack for our two full days in Koblenz. One had us renting bikes and heading down the Rhine and the other was taking a boat tour down the Rhine or the Mosel Rivers. We even had the emergency backup, museums and indoor stuff (this is the last resort choice we keep on hand). On Friday morning plans took place slowly, due in large part to us figuring out just exactly what the weather had planned. As it turned out there were high chances of rain, and a storm front that was moving from east to west against winds that were coming out of the south. This all meant that the idea of renting bikes straight away and riding down to Boppard, 23+km south along the Rhein was going to be out on hold.

Our new plan of attack was to start by walking the old town of Koblenz and at least hitting the visitor information center. The city has some of the more eclectic of fountains we have encountered, and even the architecture can vary widely from building to building. After a bit of time in the altstadt we headed over to Deutsches Eck to take in the views associated with the confluence of the two major rivers, both of which are increasingly growing toward a bad flood stage. Steph's foot has been giving her problems so we decided that rain or no rain we should rent the bikes anyway and take a ride down the path along the Rhein as far as the weather would allow us to go.

We had looked at a couple of places the night before and decided that Zangmeister's was the place to start. It did not disappoint, and in fact far exceeded what to expect. Since it was already afternoon, and it was raining we were able to get two bikes for 20€ combined, half of what we expected. They also threw in the helmets and locks gratis. They were very nice, focused on being helpful, and an overall joy. Once we were all set up, Steph and I decided to continue with the idea of pedaling south and see how far the weather lets us get. Needless to say, we encountered sprinkling, spritzing, showers, and downpour conditions throughout the time biking. Fortunately I had a secondary part of the plan in mind, biking south about 6km to Koblenzer Brauerei for a bite to eat and a little sampling. I saw the brewery from the train on Thursday and noticed it had beer garden and restaurant. The original plan to go longer distance to Boppard fell through, but this showed up just in time as it was starting to pour. Thank goodness for Gore-Tex as we were mostly dry and had on quick dry trousers.

The brewery was a great place to have a bit of lunch and to sample their Pils, Bock, Kellerbeer, and Alt styles. We each found at least one to like, if not more and the food was excellent. Prices were awfully nice as well. Unfortunately they didn't have any tours or even a shop with which to work, but we came out happy and dry. They did not rush us at the brewery so that we were able to not only get dry but to out wait the rain. We were able to make a break for it back into town and only got a few showers along the way, meaning we were much less soaked than on the trip down there. 

Upon getting back into the old town we locked up our bikes and went in search of the 4pm coffee and cake. We were able to sit outside under the awning, and with outdoor heaters above us and enjoy a good coffee at Einstein's. After that we picked up some postcards, stopped in a couple of shops and wandered a bit more before grabbing the bikes and heading back to the hotel around 6pm. All told it was a very successful day in the rain and we enjoyed every moment of it, being able to explore things we would not be aBle to easily reach on foot or by public transportation.

Travel Day Thursday

Not grand and glorious things to report for Thursday as we took the train from Freiburg to Koblenz. It was Corpus Christi here so everything was pretty much closed except for transportation and the stores at the train station.

On the brighter side, the train followed the Rhine closely from Mainz up to Koblenz so we got to see all of the beautiful wine plants along the hillsides, as well as the numerous castles. We thought better of trying to get good pictures from the train since they likely would not have turned out very well anyway. We also figured that we would do a Rhine boat tour over the couple of days we are here. After some discussion in the afternoon we also figured we should try to rent bikes and ride along the Rhine as well since apparently the Rhine bike trails go all the way from Switzerland to the Netherlands. Now it is all just a matter of getting the weather to cooperate and that isn't looking promising at the moment.

Our hotel is on the Mosel river in Koblenz and from near the hotel you can get nice views of the city.

Freiburger Langes Rot Day

Wednesday ended up to be just what Tuesday left off as, a rainy, overcast, and cool day and it started inauspiciously with the case of the missing coffee. In true mystery form we were asked about coffee, yet 10 minutes later it had not arrived, truly not what we have come to rely on from the hotel. The rest of the breakfast was wonderful as usual,  it the coffee had disappeared. When some finally came it had some of the same intensity to the flavor, but we noticed about an hour later that it had lacked the same caffeinated boldness as the previous two days. The conversation on our walk in the rain turned to it being Nescafé or Sanka, just like the MacDonald house in Kinlochleven a few years ago.

First order of business, finally get our tickets for Koblenz since we are headed there tomorrow. Easy enough done and the automated machines worked just fine for us, not sure why I had previously waited in line. Think we will try and get the tickets for Amsterdam prior to our departure tomorrow. We decided to just take the train directly to Koblenz and get the lay of the land and where we are staying, giving us time over the next couple of days to determine which Rhine boat tour we are thinking of taking down toward Mainz.

The rest of the day was sprinkled with trips to the museums since the weather had not remained our friend this day. Since we had been at the train station, our initial stop was the Colombischossle archeological museum. It is a great little museum in a wonderful setting on its own hill. It is small enough to not be overwhelming but has objects dating back nearly 10,000 years from this immediate area, very cool. The next wander was further into the altstadt again and the Augustinermuseum of religious antiquity, much of which came from the Munster in town. The religious history of Freiburg is quite intense, and not just from the Munster and other churches, the monasteries, seminary, and other religious facilities.

After wandering our way through the Augustinermuseum it was time to finally get down to what we hadn't been hungry enough for on previous days, the Freiburger Langes Rot sausage from the market. Steph went to Lichts' and I went to Hassler's, and needless to say, our decision was that Lichts' wurst was the better of the two. It was fun because the owner served Steph and decided she was not worthy of having it broken in half so it fit the bun, but was rather extended on both ends. The other person in the booth was being kind enough to break it in half before serving it. We just figured it was a tourist test, eat the sides down to the bun or take the moment to break it so it fits, which is what Steph did. Hassler's was more of a knockwurst and didn't have the same flavor I had come to expect of the Langes Rot. Oh well we have one more day to give it a try and plenty of other options to choose from at the market before heading north.

All this left two more minor shopping stop after going to the Museum for Modern Art. The modern art changed their upstairs exhibit, so no more launching yourself off a platform to make your own smashed box art form, this time it was an ecology and art exhibit playing on the idea of Freiburg as green city. Together I think er both agreed that the slave city exhibit was disturbing and ingenious, but we wanted to see even more about it. 

After the museum we wandered over to finally get Steph a slice of Schwartzwald Sacher torte from Kolben Kaffee Patisserie under the shadow of the Martinstor. We got it to go so that it could be savored as desert later in the evening. It was then time to track down a baschle duck for Steph, and not just to take back, it needed a good ride down a baschle or two first. We were able to find an SC Freiburg baschle duck and then took the short walk down to Rufs bakery for the ritual of afternoon coffee. This time we had a companion for the coffee.

The little duck seemed to enjoy a bit of Steph's cafe au lait. 

We relaxed back at the hotel a bit before final y wandering out for the duck's initiation to the open water streams throughout the old town and what better place for a first time that the ones around the Munster. Appropriate pictures of that will be added later when I am able to download it from the camera.

We returned to Martinsbrau tonight as we weren't overly hungry and wanted an adult beverage instead. The Freierling brewery was packed to the gills already, so we headed to the first hausbraureri of Freiburg for a nice relaxing drink and a nosh. We then wandered a bit more through the university campus and around a bit more before returning to the hotel to finally have the Black Forest cake. Makes for a nice end to another full day and has left is feeling there will be another trip back here and this time we will start going a bit further afield into the smaller alpine towns in the Black Forest.

Hiking in the Schwartzwald

Right after breakfast Tuesday we got hiking stuff together for a wander up to the top of Rosskopf. It was about a 5km walk up the hillside, which Steph did a great job reminding me was continually going uphill. At one relatively early point we came across four senior aged ladies hiking down the hillside. All of them were in schnazzy track suits and well perfumed as they wielded their trekking poles down the hillside, meaning they were probably even more heavily perfumed to start since they had to get up that far to be coming down at that point.

We continued up to the top, where there was both a fire/lookout tower, four wind turbines and of course a cell tower. The cell tower made sense as there was a couple with a tween son who was on his mobile phone as we were wandering our way to the top. It was bright and sunny and I took the extra few minutes to go up the tower which provided great views of the entire area. The top of the tower it was 767m, and stable as could be for a steel girder construction from the late 1800s. There were a number of hikers that made it up there after us and there were quite a few mountain bikers headed up and back. On the way down we headed south-east and made our way to the chapels of St. Wendolin and St. Odelein, the first had room for about 10 people inside. The second had a restaurant and beer garden next door so we did the proper Schwartzwald hiking thing and stopped for a beer before heading down the mountainside.

Once down we got a glimpse of the hostel, which is much more hidden since everything has leafed out and the field is uncut grasses. We decided that before heading back to town we should stop for a coffee at Ambrosia, which is in the neighborhood near to the hostel and was a nice stopping point in March.

We made it back to the hotel and the sky opened up and it started pouring about 15 minutes after we got back, so we really could not have timed it better. It continued to rain all evening and finally we decided it was time for dinner and ate at the wonderfully quaint Gasthaus Zumba Kranz. It is a bit more out of the way and only a couple of tables really available in the whole place, but it was well worth the walk up to find. 

All in all a very full day and two days in a row with enough sun and warmth to truly enjoy outdoor activities up in the Schwartzwald.

Monday's Lessons In Patience

Monday morning we were awoken at about 4am by some very noisy and persistent birds. Sleep was a bit disruptive until about 6.30, when the alarm went off. From then on it was easy to sleep a bit more probably because of the earlier disruption. The Alleehaus has a great breakfast and good, well needed, coffee. After breakfast we wandered up to the information center and then to the post office for post card stamps. From there we wandered through the market and finally bought some apples and very juicy oranges.

After stopping for another coffee, au fresco on the Munsterplatz, we decided to take the cable car up Schauinsland to the top. The true source of patience was that on the way up the car stopped about 3/4 of the way up for about 15 minutes. I was so proud that Steph dealt with the time suspended up on the line so very well. Up at the top we wandered up toward the tower, which I climbed and Steph made a wise decision not to do. It wasn't overly high up there, but there were shadowy areas that still had little bits of snow trying to hang on, as well as on the higher peaks. We had a great walk up there, especially the time following the young boy with the intense crocodile tears. It was truly surprising that he was able to keep it up so continuously without taking deeper breaths. The hope was to go back to the restaurant at the cable car facility at the top, but it was undergoing intensive renovations and thus we were unable to have anything there. It was hoped that we could enjoy a drink while overlooking the western valley in front of us - too bad, so sad. On the way down the car stopped again, this time for only 5 minutes or so, but it just seemed par for the course Monday.

Upon coming back from Ruf's bakery, such a great place to be based on where the hotel is.   We looked at scarves for Steph again, picked up a wee nipper of scotch and then went to dinner at Martinsbrau, which is more varied in beer choices. We enjoyed sitting au fresco for dinner and some nice dark and light weizen biers. After dinner the next step was to go for a long walk up to the small botanical garden and then along the shoulder of the Black Forest without climbing into the higher reaches of it.

The Weather Ain't So Different, But So Much Else Is

After quite a long day of travel we have finally reached Freiburg and have settled into the hotel. The temperature isn't much different here than back home, maybe even a few degrees cooler. There is a nice light rain welcoming us to town as well.

The trip here was nicely uneventful. We got to the airport early yesterday and had a relaxing time in the Delta Sky Club or whatever they are calling it. It felt good to just take it easy for a bit before the flight. We arrived in Amsterdam ahead of schedule, leaving us plenty of time to just wander a little and stretch our legs before the flight to Basel. Nothing especially interesting in Amsterdam's airport on this occasion, then again there seldom is. The flight to Basel was nice and quick by comparison, only an hour in the air, but with the smaller plane it took about 15 minutes of taxiing to get to our runway. An hour wait and the we took the bus up to Freiburg, it was about a 50 minute journey in the rain.

What was especially nice was wandering from the bus station to the hotel in the light rain with Steph. It feels absolutely wonderful to be in this city again, and so shortly from March. It is all starting to leaf out and show signs of blooms, so it will be exciting to see how it all differs in a new season. We are off for a wee wander and then some dinner, or vice versa to make for a good end to a long travel day.

We ended up at Feierling Brauerei, maybe unsurpringling the fist night, but it is also just a couple of blocks from the hotel. It was very good, as I have come to expect, but can't say I was a major fan of the house tap, Inselhopf. It reminded me a lot of a recently manure spread field mixed with a hefeweizen. After dinner it was back to the hotel in search of a good night's sleep.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Over the course of this journey there are several things I look back upon and still think, wow, that was fantastic. This post is all about what makes those things so memorable as I wind down the trip. In fact I am sitting at the airport in Amsterdam awaiting the plane for the last leg of my journey. These are just off the top of my head and in no particular order, except, of course, for the first one.

Stephanie – Without her support and love such journeys would not be what they are. I depart knowing full well that she is right there with me. It is always more wonderful traveling with her but it is also amazing that she provides such encouragement for doing these trips. Not everyone is so lucky and it is something I can’t take for granted.

Modern Communication – Truth be told this is both a favorite and a hated thing, but within the context of friends and family it is a favorite. It is not seamless by any means, but once internet connections are strong enough in my locales, being able to regularly see and talk with loved ones is excellent. It is much more about the difficulty with connections and internet services that made this difficult. I did not miss having a mobile for most of the trip with access through these other means.

Experiental Learning – One of the most brilliant aspects of the International Traveling Classroom is choosing locations for your classes that allow you to make the most of your surroundings. As the program is all about doing things and learning beyond the classroom, the opportunity to truly provide an academic foundation for material, followed up by real world experiences is invaluable. Even better is being able to see that process in action over the following days. It makes this program special, one that has continually worked to find the balance between student experience and independent travel.

A Room with Toilet – It is just funny how things are assumed, especially when those assumptions are not upheld. For short stays in places I have not been concerned as much with the bathroom being en suite, but for a stay of more than a week, it took a great deal of patience not to have that facility available. I made the mistake of not identifying that while the room had an option of a shower in the room (which I chose) that did not mean you got a toilet thrown in with the shower. You always have to make the best of things, which I managed to do, but I also now know to not assume a room is en suite even if it has a shower.

Public Transportation – It doesn’t have to be just the large cities that have public transportation available, even the smaller cities have ensured that there are choices that don’t require having an automobile. Freiburg’s population is just over 200,000 and they had a highly effective tram system. There was no time that I was waiting for longer than 10 minutes for the next tram. Bruxelles was about 10 times bigger and had buses, trams, and subways connecting so much of the city. The waits here were even shorter and most of the time only had to wait 2 minutes or less when switching routes. It is amazing to see how effectively people can move about with just a little support for pubic transport.

Walking Distance – It is stunning to realize just how spread out American cities are, making it difficult to really consider walking everywhere. In contrast, most everywhere I was, felt very walkable and I spent a good deal of my time just walking about. While there were times I did take public transportation for speed between locations, there was even more time that was spent walking. In many cases I would even walk beyond the most immediate transportation stop, just to have the chance to wander a bit further and wider afield. It is also great that so many spaces allow so little automobile traffic in order to encourage foot traffic.

Live Sports – This does not mean “live on tv”, but rather seeing it live and in person. As you may have ascertained from the earlier post on going to the game, but I did have a good deal of trepidation about having the students in terraced ends. I hadn’t even been on the terraces before and did not truly know what to expect. In the end though, it was an amazing experience. The energy, the excitement, and the emotion of the crowd always make a sporting event more worthwhile. In fact I am quite excited that even after my nine hour flight today, Steph will pick me up at the airport and we will get up to the Minnesota Wild hockey game tonight. I will be tired from the journey, but going with such an intense Wild fan will surely energize me for the whole game.

A Brilliant Day in Mumbles (Swansea, Wales)

Mumbles is an area that is south and west of Swansea proper. It is the home of the first passenger railway and has absolutely stunning walks along the shoreline of the Bristol Channel (Mor Hafren in Welsh). I spent the morning catching up on correspondence, enjoying a few cups of coffee and generally not rushing to be anywhere. It was such a welcome and unexpected change from every other day of this trip. I can't say I truly took a day off or a day to myself during the ITC portion of the trip.

Beach at Langland Bay

Looking down at Langland Bay on my way to Mumbles Head

 

After tiring of being around the computer I decided to go for a walk, going to the east, with the intent of heading around Mumbles Head and on up into the downtown itself. I started by going down to the beach from Irfan and Farheen's place. It was at low tide and provided so much opportunity to just enjoy the sandy beach. Even got to watch a German Wirehair Pointer playing with his ball in the surf and on the beach. From there I had a great time following the trail and seeing just how rocky the shoreline was. It also had so many brambles and wild rose bushes that I can't imagine anyone would have ever thought this to be a hospitable place to try and land a raiding party.  There was also opportunity to get off the paved trail and up onto the overlooks through relatively easy climbs. I was able to even reach a spot up on Mumbles Head where I got mobile phone service and gave Steph a call. It was cold, clear, and was it ever blowing goats. Steph could hear the wind as we talked briefly (am I ever glad to have a working mobile again). I then got the chance to sit in the lee of the wind and drink a bit of coffee, enjoy an orange, and simply just be for a little bit.

Rock Garden exposed by the mid-day low tide

I even got to wear my sunglasses for the first time since Freiburg. There just wasn't much sunshine to enjoy in Brussels and by the time I would have considered pulling them out on a couple of days, the sun hid behind the clouds as if it knew that I was contemplating sunglasses.

The fingers of the tips of the bays back to the west were part of the later afternoon's trekking with Irfan and Kaivaan. The early walk, I would call it a morning walk but I didn't take off until after 11.30am, hoping to take advantage of any possible warmth that was in existence. It was great that even the daffodils were making their best effort at it in the protected areas on the hillsides. There weren't lots of them, but they did look awfully nice. This set had a protected locale being to the side of Castellamare restaurant. It had a great view of of the lighthouse from there, but it seems like scaffolding follows me everywhere. No matter what I am hoping to see it appears to be covered in scaffolding to foil my best attempts to see it the way it was finished. I stopped there as it was after 1.00pm and I wasn't in the mood for even more orange and coffee. It was actually nice to sit and have a small spicy chicken, sausage, and peppers pizza. I haven't often taken pictures of a meal, and especially when it wasn't phenomenal. It was nice and even better it was out of the cold wind.

As I sat there Irfan called and said he was able to be done at work early so we were able to get out and enjoy a walk together with Kaivaan going west toward Brandy Cove. It was a good additional five miles of hiking after the few miles earlier in the day. Again it was cold, a bit cooler yet when we hit the wind more head on, but it was fantastic enjoying the company and sharing great views. Brandy cove is past the second finger of land as you look at the center of the photo. We thought about trying to make it out to that last finger of land, but high tide was upon us and Irfan had heard that the trail dropped closer to the water's edge, so there was a chance we couldn't easily make it all the way anyway.

All in all, a fantastic day just exploring what was literally just down the lane from where I am staying. We had a simple supper at home and have been enjoying more good conversation and discussion about so many different topics.

Ah to be an American - Rant Warning

In the experiences I have had, especially on this trip, there are a few tell tale signs that apply to being an American abroad. While these could also apply to other groups, my view as an insider to the “Mericn” crowd has led me to see several interesting things.

  

Volume – We are not necessarily the loudest people, but groups of Americans are loud and distinctive. I think there is a multiplying effect of volume; each additional person in the group increased the volume two-, three-, even four-fold. Having taken the students on tours and visits, it is interesting to see the reaction of others and how quickly they recognize them as Americans. Possibly the loudest locale on this tour was the Parlementarium since they had several hundred students of all sorts of ages descend on them all at the same time, our group seemed more boisterous. I say seemed as I can’t say that I wasn’t being conscious of it as we were getting things wrapped up there.

Trust – This is not just about the students; this is about all the wonderful “ugly” Americans I encountered at Belgium National Airport this morning. In what world can you possibly think it is safe to leave your laptop, purses and carry-ons unattended at a table? They were nowhere near their stuff and I sure as hell wasn’t about to assume any guardianship duties over it. They just all took off and it was several minutes before they returned. I saw this on several occasions throughout my travels and it seemed to regularly be Americans most likely to take such a haphazard approach to their belongings. Again, I won’t say it was just Americans, but the most egregious examples of having way too much trust that people won’t wander off with your stuff. In Brussels there were regularly signs in public places warning of pickpockets and theft, yet people paid little attention.

Water – It is time to get over yourselves, you will not die from drinking tap water in Germany or Belgium or the U.K. It is amazing how long people hang on to the idea that the water isn’t of enough quality to just drink from the tap. I have even seen Americans buying bottled water and then emptying it into their re-usable water bottles. Come now, you aren’t fooling anyone and don’t dare say you are being environmentally friendly. First, do you even know what the water source is – hell it could be coming out of the tap in some cute sounding locale? Second, you may be recycling the plastic, but did you really need to buy it in plastic, just to transfer it to something else. Somebody ought to open a water bar where you can go in with your re-usable bottle and have it filled from a tap just like you would get for a beer.

Whining – I am quite jaded about this one as I encountered way too many Americans just whining and complaining at the airport about everything. It just seemed to be an extension of those same grievances most places I’ve gone. It often comes with the “it wouldn’t happen like this back home in America.” I make a point not to say anything back but if you want it only to be like America, stay in America; maybe Disney is a better place for you. There is a wonderful few that disprove this, but all too often there are at least a few. My favorites this trip “ewww there is horse poop, that wouldn’t happen back home,” “why don’t they pave over these cobble stone streets, it would be nicer to walk on, especially in my heels,” and “I need you to say it in English, I am tired of hearing things in French.” The reality check is that you aren’t in the U.S., you’ve chosen to travel abroad and you are the visitor, be nice, be gracious, be patient. The air of superiority just doesn’t suit. Even when I’ve encountered people who haven’t spoken the same language, we’ve found a way to accomplish our interactions with relative ease, ending with a smile and a knowing nod of recognition that we made it work. The students have been pretty good, but they have their moments of this and I think it has more to do with the fact that they are with their fellow students for the whole semester than with an continued overall orientation. I also was blessed by the fact that I caught up with them after they had been over in London, Berlin, and Verona already.

Need versus Want or Would Like - I am very attuned to how much we, as Americans, use the word need inappropriately and unnecessarily. It is funny that what I have come to find that almost always when traveling the start of the sentence "I need . . ." is accompanied by an American accent. I have started to hear it a bit more from younger Brits and Aussies, but it is such a clear give away that you are the foreigner. It could only be more stereotypically American if you started pouting and crossed your arms in front of you as you said it. Maslow's hierarchy of needs identify what is necessary for life and your "need" for a tourist waffle or frites or to have someone speak English is not a dire thing that you will die without having happen. Time to take a bit of a chill pill here, it goes back to being nice and friendly. It is amazing how much better response you receive when you use a phrase like "I would like...".

Merci, danke, s'il vous plait, bitte, bonjour, guten tag, au revoir, and tschuss - Even if not fluent in the native language, it will never be a bad thing to learn at least some basics. I will be the first to admit that I didn't do that well enough my first time in Paris, but have since learned a lot about just how far it gets you to put forth a little effort. While you may not be able to say anything else in the language, I have always gotten a positive response by just providing a greeting in their language. They typically know just from the way you pronounce it that it isn't your language and often they were simply kind enough to switch to English. At worst you ask if they can say it in English. If not they can't it becomes fun to try and navigate the interaction. My German is more rusty than the ancient fence gate that hasn't moved in decades, but over the course of my time there it slowly came back to me in fragments, more being able to understand what they were saying and being able to provide simple replies. Being in these countries should be all the motivation we need to consider freshening up any language skills we may have. I can easily identify that my biggest struggle was switching countries and languages. Day one in new places has led me to speak in the wrong language so often. Even arriving in the UK yesterday I was still slipping into using merci and bonjour without thinking about it. We'll see if that has abated today.

Starbucks - I know Starbucks is comfortable, it is familiar, and often has wifi freely available, but there are many great independent coffee shops in Europe that would love to have your business. Truth be told, it has to be the wireless being freely available that keeps people going there. I will admit that when I first landed I stopped at one because it was the only coffeeshop I could find at the Frankfurt Airport train terminal. I wanted to ensure Steph that I was on the ground safe and was on my way to Freiburg and I didn't have phone service so that became my conduit. Students in the program often went to the Starbucks and bought things just to be able to justify using their wifi for a while. If they had simply spent that money for wifi at the hostel they would have had continual access without riding the tram for half an hour. I searched for coffee shops based on quality rather than wifi so Ken and I spent several afternoons in Freiburg at a place called Ruf's that had been around since about 1900. They had very nice Italian style coffee. In Brussels it was a place right on the Grot Markt and it always had just a small smattering of people, never very full at all called Aroma. They were very kind at both places and had no problems with us just hanging out and talking.