Final Post

This blog has been fun to write and it was pretty cool to find out people were reading it. We are looking foward to having this blog as a way to remember our trip. Thanks for coming along for the ride, and I'm sorry I didn't have a thesaraus or dictionary along the way.

The last ten weeks have been the trip of a lifetime. We always talked about doing it, but never knew if we'd be able to really pull it off just as we wanted. We wouldn't change anything. Everything lined up, and, in the words of our Chianti wine tour co-passengers, we are, like, totally privileged. Hopefully, however, our acknowledgement of how lucky we are for having this trip comes off with a little more sincerity.

Here are some things we will miss about traveling in Europe:
- the fun of trying to communicate the simplest thing (e.g., where is the bus, what animal does that meat come from) with someone who doesn't speak English
- train travel
- delicious, cheap house wine and Belgian/Czech/Austrian/German beer
- the adventure
- the surprise of walking into your hotel room and not knowing what you'll find
- minimal safety requirements, maximum emphasis on take care of yourself (see Cinque Terra & Interlacken)
- soccer! (I mean futbol!)
- despite getting sick of the repetive nature of the 20 minute loop of CNN/BBC International news, getting another perspective of news was cool (although I think the Michael Jackson coverage was ridiculous)
- the views/scenary

With all that said, ten weeks is a long time for us to be away from home and all that goes with it, so we made a list of some of the things we miss:

- Having a dresser, closet, laundry facilities, and not living out of a suitcase
- Food selection (we can walk across the street for a burger, any direction for Italian, drive 5 minutes south for Mexican on National, and to our kitchen for whatever we want)
- Driving a car
- Playing guitar (including the new one, thanks again Mom and Dad)
- Watching more than just BBC and CNN International on the tube
- Sleeping in our bed, not on two twins pushed together
- Having normal outlets and not needing plug adapters
- Using a phone without a calling card or fear of huge costs
- Not having to convert anything (dollars to euros, forints, czechs, and francs; temperature; time; distance; and speed)
- Being able to check emails and use the internet without having to walk blocks searching for WiFi
- Most importantly, family and friends. We look forward to seeing everyone when we get back.

Au Revoir
Aufwiedersehen
Adios
Ciao
(insert Czeck, Hungarian, and Dutch goodbye)

Day 70: Brussels & Dublin

We checked out and left our bags at the hotel so we could squeeze a little more Brussels in before our 7 PM flight to Dublin. We walked through the king's Palace, through a few churches, and stopped for one last bit of Belgian Chocolate and for a first truffle, which was created here.

Our big stop for the day was the small Cantillon Brewery. They still use the open-air/wild fermentation process and their beers sourness showed it. This was a cool self-guided tour because we walking along their actual brewing equipment. They only brew a few months of the year because they need the cool temperatures outside to cool their beer down after the hopping stage. They supposedly export Milwaukee, so go out and try one and support a small Belgian brewer trying to stick to tradition.

We went back to the Grand Palace square for lunch, a final waffle, and a final Belgian beer from the 1600s pub (where Michael Jackson's "Beat It" appropriately played). Then it was off to the airport and we arrived in our Dublin hotel at about 8:00.

We got dinner at an Irish pub in the Temple Bar area along with a final Guinness (or two), and the musician appropriately played "I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane" as we finished our last sip. That wrapped up our final night in Europe. Awesome end to and awesome trip.

Day 69: Brussels

Today we took the scenic route by walking into town instead of using the metro. We saw cartoons painted on buildings (Brussels is know for their comics) and a flea market. Our first real stop was a beer museum in the main square. If you ever go to Brussels, skip this museum. It's basically a cellar bar with old beer making supplies, a Belgian beer making movie on loop, and a pamphlet. The highlight was a sample of a "special beer," but it wasn't that great.

We made a quick recovery by getting a waffle and later heading to a pub from the 1600s and having a real Belgian beer.

We also took a ride out to the Atomium, a large structure in the shape of an atom of iron made for some World's Fair (it seems everything in Europe was made for some World's Fair).

When we arrived back in the main square, a 30 person band made up of people under 25 or so were putting on a show. A crowd gathered very quickly because they were really good, but apparently didn't get their permits. Cops eventually shut them down while a crowd of a few hundred booed.

The rest of the night we walked around Brussels, got dinner, and a beer or two. I'll keep it short today because it's our last night on mainland Europe, crazy . . .

BK Europe 2009 Map

Here's a link to a map recapping our trip courtesy of map aficionado Posti.

Link:
<http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=106485472403871731705.00046eedaf832afe55e71&ll=48.107431,6.196289&spn=15.882119,51.416016&t=p&z=5>

Week 10 Top 5

1) Amsterdam Brewery
2) Van Gogh Museum
3) Brugges Brewery
4) Vama Veche Festival in Brugges
5) Pit stop on Brussels bike tour for fries, beer, and meeting the group

Runners-up - Cantillon Brewery in Brussels, eating lunch and waffles in the Grand Palace in Brussels, Brugges bars with large selection

Day 68: Brussels, Belgium

Our first stop this morning was for a waffle from the same walk up window as yesterday. Then with a quick check out, off-road walk to the train station (fun with rolling suitcases), and an hour ride, we were in Brussels.

Our first 15 minutes in Brussels was not ideal. It was raining and smelly and we were wondering around looking in vain for the bus we need to catch on our way out of Brussels in 2 days. Things started looking up when we got to our hotel, which was huge, modern, and had a single queen (not the usual two twins).

Although still raining, we headed for the central square called the Grand Place. There we found a bike tour that was highly rated and about to start. The bike tour didn't really compare to Mike's Bike Tour in Munich, mostly because of our weird Argentinean guide (we think Cesar was high or something). The Belgian tour guide that was in-training was a lot more fun.

That said, we were glad we did the tour because we saw a lot of the city and met some interesting people. We got to know our group when we stopped for beer and fries (we were made fun of for ketchup, but we're ok with that because they had mayo). Two people were Australians that were working in Dubai, one was Australian living in London, and one was from Malaya (I'm sure this is way off, but some African country somewhat close to Congo).

We got adventurous for dinner. We went to a Moroccan place with French menus. With a little luck, and knowing chicken and vegetables in French, we had a good meal.

Our last stop was to Delirium Cafe, a bar named after the famous Belgian beer and known for having two thousand types of beer. The bar was OK, but not as great as we expected. After a beer (one of us had a Delirium, although we are not sure who) we headed home.

Our last activity was to watch the only non-news English channel on TV, which was showing Die Hard III or IV, whichever one had Samuel L. Jackson. Awesome.

Day 67: Brugges

Our morning began with a hotel switch because the rate for our perfectly located, clean, and modern hotel shot up on Saturday. Our other hotel was a little bit south, and it worked out because 1) it gave us a new area to explore and 2) the De Halve Maan Brewery and beer museum was only a block away.

The Half Moon Brewery is the last one inside the Brugges city center. It's a small operation in a small location, they only brew 3 days a week and even outsource the filtering and bottling. This small size, however, makes for a good tour and great tasting Belgian beer.

We spent the afternoon stopping in shops and grabbing snacks. We stopped and had a hot waffle from a walk-up window and had some more fries from a place called Pickles. We have definitely been well fed and had our thirst quenched our entire stay in Brugges....

At night we went back to the same restaurant as yesterday before heading to the Burg Square. A week long festival (we think called Kilnkers) was in process in the square and an American was in the line-up. The backdrop of old buildings was amazing (like Prague), but after about 15 minutes we grew bored. The music wasn't that good and the crowd was not our age group. One funny thing we saw was a drunk guy with a great party trick of balancing a full beer on his head while weaving through the crowd and dancing.

We moved on back to Vama Veche, the festival we were at the night before. Here we ended the night by listening to good music and having a cheap Belgian beer. We weren't the only people to switch venues; the party trick man brought his moves too.

Brugges has treated us very well, but tomorrow it's on to our last real stop: Brussels.

Happy Birthday JonathAn

Happy Golden Birthday to our one-year old godson & nephew JonathAn.

Day 66: Brugges

We slept in again. We realize we're getting real close to making a complete switch over to Mexico/beach vacation mode, but we're ok with that. Wake up, eat, bum around, eat/drink, sleep, repeat . . . it's nice.

In the morning we rented bikes and rode out to some windmills. We also saw a church, a school of some sort, and more canals, and stopped for a drink. Bikes have been a good way to see cities and get to places we otherwise wouldn't walk to.

When we returned the bikes we made what is probably one of our last European tower climbs. We must be in shape, the 366 steps to the top of the bell tower in the main square were no faze.

Although not fazed, we still felt we earned another stop at the 2be bar/store. Kevin tried a Rochfort Trappist 10, an 11% dark beer, while Brooke had a blonde 8%. They make strong beer here, and after the drink, we felt we earned a short nap.

On our hotel break we got delayed because we finally have a few English channels that aren't just a 20 minute loop of international news. A 1992 Step-by-Step episode and Ice Road Truckers episode have never been so engaging.

While we were walking to find dinner, a guy on a double decker bike rode by and went to a small park ahead of us. We followed him, obviously, and he led us to the free Vama Veche Festival. After eating dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant, we spent the rest of the night at this small local festival. The festival was great. There were under 1,000 people there, we had to buy tickets and take them to the beer/soda tent like a church festival back home, and they had a great band. We actually bought the band's CD. We're interested to know if they were as great as we remembered or if the Belgian beers clouded our judgment. Either way, another great day in Brugges.

PS- Happy 2-year anniversary to the TFB on owning 1438-40 Main St. Hopefully we're at least halfway there!