The Romans are coming!

Our poor feet! We walked so much today. The amphitheater was a little further than I expected...The route we took was almost a mile and a half one way, but it was worth it. We decided to start with the amphitheater, which was the furthest away, then work our way back to the market square.

Trier is among the oldest cities in Germany and is home to Germany's oldest Christian church. According to legend, Trier was inhabited by Celts for 1,300 years before Rome existed. Trier was founded in 16 B.C. by Augusta and it was called Augusta Treverorum. When Emperor Diocletian divided the Roman Empire into four sections (the first Tetrarchy), he made Trier the capital of the western section--Galliae. In the 4th century AD, Trier was one of the five largest cities in the known world. Emperor Constantine lived here. Trier fell when Rome fell.

The amphitheater was built around 160 and 200 AD and it's estimated that it could seat up to 20,000 people.

Below the arena in the cellar

A Vomitorium. Crowds entered and exited through this passage to their stands to watch the games.

From the amphitheater we moved on to the Imperial Baths. The Kaiserthermen in German. You can see part of an old medieval palatial structure (called Alderburg castle) that was built over top of one of the Roman frigidaria. 

underground tunnels and foundations 

the baths were never finished

The best way to describe the baths in Trier is to think of Fort Casey and then instead of poured concrete think of large bricks that make of a structure whose remains are 1700 years old. It was fun to explore below the surface for a bit. Unfortunately neither the Amphitheater nor the Baths had many placards in any language let alone English, and neither had any audio tour setups. I personally think this is major point of improvement for the educational purposes of both sites. Knowing more about what you're looking at right as you are looking at it, gives a significant amount more context and makes the whole place more interesting.

The Archaeology Museum was next. This place was large and complicated. They had a bit of neolithic stuff, and had an interesting enough (free) audio tour. They had a very large amount of Roman artifacts as a result of the Roman activity in the area. It was fun to see some larger burial related structures. Nothing as big and complete as in the British Museum, but I would say the amount of Roman content rivals the British Museum's. There were a few things that bothered me about the place, but those had nothing to do with the amount of or quality of the content. I think we were both getting kind of worn out after spending four and a half hours walking around and needed something to eat so we moved through the end of (or what seemed like the end?) of the Roman galleries and navigated fairly quickly through the Medieval bits and out the door to get something to eat. I would have liked to spend more time there but I was having problems focusing on content rather than how tired, sore, and hungry we were. 

After getting a bite to eat (two pizza-ish things and an underwhelming pretzel) we walked to the Bascilica Of Constantine. We were really excited at the opportunity to enter the largest current standing Roman structure outside of Rome. If it weren't for the stupid organ! So, the Bascilica of Constantine currently houses an Evangelical church, and said Evangelical church is getting their organ worked on. This for some reason means occasionally they have to close the building to visitors. And just our luck, today was one such day so we didn't get an opportunity to see inside the immense structure. 

Onward to the Cathedral (Dom). This is the oldest Christian church in Germany. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his reign, Constantine began construction on this church, and St. Peter's in Rome in 326 A.D. The Roman cathedral was about four times as large than the church is now.

We ended our sightseeing at the Porta Nigra, or Black Gate. This gate was built along with the city wall between 160-200 A.D. 

View from the top. The Dom is on the left and the town square is straight down the street.

Tomorrow we are off to Cochem!

Read More

A long train ride to an old city

We made it. Three train changes, and five-plus hours later and we've arrived in Trier--one of the oldest cities in Germany.

We left Gent (I'm spelling it as Libby has become accustomed to) at around 9:30. From Gent stopped off in Brussels and Luxembourg before arriving in Trier. The journey was fairly uneventful. The first train out of Trier was quite crowded, and we had to wait in the standing area where the doors to embark and disembark the train open into. While standing there, we met a Canadian and an older fella with his wife who were from New Zealand. The Canadian had been in Amsterdam, and Rotterdam and was on his way to Leipzig. Much to our surprise he said he was familiar with Bellingham, and used The Postal service as a point of reference. The Kiwi had been on a six-week odyssey that had taken his wife and him on at least one cruise ship and were on their way to Paris.

Our train from Brussels to Luxembourg was pretty empty, and the last train to Trier was a--get this--double-decker! There are two levels to the thing. Two! Neither of us had seen these types of trains in Britain and were pretty stoked at the chance of actually riding one.

Upon arrival we made the 15 minute trek through town to our hotel. The Astoria Hotel. A hotel that will likely not deliver similarly fond memories from childhood like Goonies never saying die.

Our hosts are. . . odd. Upon entering the hotel lobby we were presented with a card to fill out, and a complementary adult beverage. The catch was we were expected to drink said beverage in the very cramped lobby with all our luggage on our persons, or strewn around the then smaller lobby. There was absolutely no give to how things were going to be done, and this seems to be this place's M.O. You will drink this now. I'm not even going to suggest you go to your room, put your bags down, and come back to enjoy this complimentary beverage in area WE HAVE SET ASIDE SPECIFICALLY FOR CONSUMING FOOD AND BEVERAGES. The other thing that kinda irks us, and this is reflected in Trip Advisor reviews that leaned toward the negative side, is their seeming slavishness to rules. The previous anecdote notwithstanding, their WiFi, though free, is limited to one device. One. Eins. What year is it?! We have five internet enabled devices of which we enjoy using on the internet and would have used all five in our stay here. We wouldn't be watching movies on all five at the same time thus slamming their internet connection (which is the only legitimate reason I can think of the restriction). There is a prohibition on consuming drinks from outside the hotel in one's room. This is probably due in no small measure to them having their own refreshment service in the aforementioned room. The pillows are thin, having the same thickness as the duvet, the bed isn't as great as the last one, but the room is clean and there aren't any mosquitos!

Not baguettes! Our delicious dinner. I had pumpkin pesto pasta and Tommy had regular pesto pasta with turkey. Very good!

There's a legend that Trier was founded  pre-Roman occupation, but extant records indicate that Rome created a settlement in 30 BCE after defeating a Germanic tribe named the Treveri.

It should not come as a surprise that tomorrow will be consisting of seeing some Roman things. Seeing some more Roman things. And then seeing even more Roman things. The Bascilica of Constatine (aka Aula Palatina), built by (guess who) Constantine, was constructed in 310 CE as part of a larger Roman complex. There is a Roman gate (Porta Nigra), Roman baths, and a Roman amphitheater. Trier is also able to boast having Germany's oldest cathedral in the country despite having gone through some rocky times during it's more than a millennia of existence.

Spoilers! If you don't want to hear about dusty old Roman things, skip tomorrow's blog post. If you love us however, you won't skip tomorrow's blog post.

We hope hope your Mondays are going very un Monday-like!

Read More

Manneken-Pis

Today we spent an enjoyable half day in Brussels. I say half day, but Tommy would say whole day. You see, we spent probably 3 and a half hours in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Tommy loved it. I was glad I had my ipod with me.

After I was finally able to pry Tommy away from his beloved paintings (don't worry about him, he'll see more in Amsterdam), we headed to St. Michael's Cathedral. The cathedral was build between 1200 and 1500. This church is where royal weddings and funerals take place.

Can you find Tommy?

From the cathedral we headed to the Grand Place, or main square. The Grand Place has been Brussels' market square for 1,000 years. The square is made up of the Town Hall on one side, the King's House on the other and former guild halls filling in the rest of the area. It's a beautiful square. We got a couple sandwiches and fries for lunch and sat on a curb in the square to eat.

they grey building on the left if the King's House, now home to a museum

former guild halls

Town Hall

panorama of the square

After lunch we wandered down a few blocks to find the Manneken-Pis statue.  For some reason, this tiny statue is a landmark in Brussels and there was a sizable crowd around the statue. The city commissioned the Manneken to show the freedom and happiness of living in Brussels. Visiting VIPs from other countries bring the statue an outfit, but the statue didn't have on a costume today. The statue isn't really very exciting but I did get to "accidentally" bump into some rude tourists who were not watching what they were doing.

We did some chocolate window shopping and finally settled on a shop to buy some chocolates in. We got some chocolates to take home and some chocolates to have while we're here.

Next time we write we will be writing from Trier, Germany! The train will take about 5 and a half hours, with a few train changes in between. We hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Read More

Why are you here?

Editor's note: Bolded text has been added when text is also a link. I've discovered the theme being used does for this blog does not make the text that is hyperlinked the traditional blue color. Let us know in the comments if this is redundant and that it was already clear in the past what text were also hyperlinks. 

Read More

Onder de maan schuift de lange rivier

First things first. Gent is awesome!

We started out the day by walking about half a block to a bakery and small market to get breakfast which made us feel ever so much like locals. We got some pastries, yogurt and juice. There is one of those stove top espresso contraptions in our studio, which Tommy has mastered in short time. Our breakfast was therefore quite lovely.

After breakfast we walked over to the Gent City Museum, abbreviated STAM. (We're not sure why it is called that). The museum is in a Gothic abbey and follows the history of Gent from its pre-history through the Medieval era when Gent became a clothing trading boom town, on to it's involvement in wider European politics in the Early Modern time period, and all the way up to today. There weren't as much English on the description plaques as Tommy would have liked, but that's probably good because otherwise we'd still be there with after closing time looking at the exhibits with flashlights.

The nuns used this as a dining hall. In 1715 the nuns decided to modernize and add a dropped, stucco ceiling and plaster walls. Can you imagine?!

After we were finished at the museum we caught the tram, in the manner of a local, to the city center, and found a little cafe that seemed quite popular for lunch. It was delicious. Baguette bread is my favorite, and the tomato soup was different from what we have at home, but still really tasty and fresh.

The tomato soup soup was so good!

Feeling energized after our lunch, we decided to climb to the top of the belfry (aka belfort). I'm not sure how many steps there were, but I do know that the Gent belfry is the tallest in Belgium. In fact it was up until 2012 (or 2010) the tallest building in Gent. Between the two belfries we've climbed and the steps up to our studio, my legs have been sore!

The belfry. We climbed to that area just below the clock

Saint Nicholas' Church from the top of the belfry

Unfortunately, this is the view of Saint Bavo's Cathedral

After we climbed back down the belfry, we headed to Sint-Baafskathedraal (Cathedral of St. Bavo) and Sint-Niklaaskerk (St. Nicholas' Church). Unfortunately, there were no photography signs inside St. Bavo's so I can't show you what the interior looked like. It was very cool to be back inside an old, giant cathedral again. I have missed them.

Here is the inside of Sint-Niklaaskerk. This  church was undergoing some  renovations/restorations as well.

We also took a very enjoyable boat tour this afternoon. Here was our guide:

The boat wasn't full so he took the time to talk to each of us and find out where we were from and a little about what brought us all to Gent. He was very personable and an entertaining tour guide. Here are some gables and canals.

Onder de maan schuift de lange rivier translates to "Under the moon slides the long river". It's the first line of a poem that was painted along the canal

And Gent at night:

Tomorrow we're going to head to Antwerp. Have a great day!

Read More

Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan and on to G(h)ent

Today was our last day in Bruges and first day in Ghent (though locally spelled "Gent"). We spent the majority of the morning about as far from our B&B as possible, as the two last sites we wanted to visit were 15-20 minutes away.

The view of the Market Square facing away from the Belfort

First on our list was the brewery in Bruges -- Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan (henceforth referred to as Halve Maan). The name roughly translates as "The brewing house of the half moon" and is the only brewery currently in the city of Bruges. In fact, our tour guide said there were other breweries at one time and that in order to stay competitive Halve Maan actually operated a delivery service . . . TO YOUR DOORSTEP! How rad is that?! Another cool fact about the brewery is that it was founded in 1856 and has been in the same family ever since. 

Henri Maes founded the brewery and passed it down to his son, Henri Maes, who passed it down to his son Henri...well, you get the picture

Anyway, the tour was really fun. Our tour guide was an American, but we weren't able to ask her how she got her job. The tour started off in a room with four giant tanks. They were very clean and attractive. Their aesthetic quality was primarily for the tour; to give those coming through the brewery something pretty to look at initially. We then went up to the roof of the brewery, stopping off in a few rooms on the way as the history of the brewery and what the beer making process is like. She talked about how there were approximately 1500 different beers in Belgium, and despite the claim that each type of beer has it's own type of glass, the practical and demonstrable purposes for having a specific and unique glass for a specific beer is limited. Different shapes do alter the experience but for some beers is it is merely a marketing ploy. 

view from the brewery roof

In the room just before the roof the floor had been turned into an enormous shallow reservoir made of copper. Once on the roof we were presented with a commanding view of the city. We even saw part of the canal our tour from the previous day went through. Our tour guide explained the copper reservoir at this point.  Libby and I disagree on this point but since I'm writing this I'm going to write my version. I contend that she explained that the copper vat was a result of the brewery attempt to create a beer where yeast was "spontaneously" added.* There was another contraption that acted as a radiator to cool the wort. This is what I think she said was used normally. 

After reaching the roof we went all the way back down to the basement. Going through the brewery was like going through a submarine at times. The difference being a whole lot of up and down rather than side to side. There were a few staircases where we were asked to walk down them backwards due to the pitch of the staircase.  

We ended the tour by going through the part of the brewery currently in use just below where we started, and finally were presented with a beer. The beer in question was their Bruges Zot Blonde. The Zot Blonde was introduced in 2005 and seems to have been responsible for a great influx of cash.  They currently have to ship the beer to a bottling plant 3 kilometers away to be bottled and distributed, but largely due to the success of the Zot Blonde they are building a beer pipeline--yes, I said BEER. PIPE. LINE--from the brewery to a new bottling plant on the edge of town. 

After the tour, and our lovely beer, we visited the grounds of the convent of Begijnhof. The grounds you accessible to the public consisted of  domiciles outlining three sides of a square, with the fourth side their church. In the center was a path and road that lie between the nun's homes and a  large plot of grass with very tall trees. We walked on a path that cut the square in half and listened to the breeze rustle through the leaves..That was pretty much the only sound we could hear which made the whole grounds very peaceful. The church was small but smelled wonderful and had some great art in it.

We left the church and got lunch near by. We both had a curry chicken sandwich and shared a small waffle with chocolate on top.  Libby was very excited about lunch because not only was it a very good value for money (as the saying goes here), but it reminded her of Coronation Chicken in England. Libby here, I LOVE baguette sandwiches!!!!

After lunch we made the trek back to where we had stored our bags and caught a bus to the train station to continue our travels to Ghent!

Once in Ghent we walked ten minutes or so to our host's (Tomas) home. We're on the fourth floor in the attic. The room is literally an attic with no original door separating it from the rest of the stairwell let alone the house. A door has since been added and a block of wood placed over the gap between the hand rail and the steps to provide more privacy. It's more jerry-rigged than anything else, but works well enough I suppose.  

After we rested a bit we went to check out the museum pass. We read that it came with a tram ticket for 48 hours. We were advised to get it in the morning the next day to maximize our time with it. Before we left we met an Anglican priest from Canada that stopped to talk to us because of our North American accent. We chatted a bit and he gave us a tip and even gave us one of his tram cards that had 2 trips left. He told us about "black riding" the tram which apparently is when you get on the tram and don't pay. The term isn't racially infused at all and is more connected to the "Black Market." It sounds like tram tickets are very infrequently checked. He himself had only been checked once in three years. Apparently, not paying for your tram ride is the local way to do it.

We left the museum and took a tram to the historic center, wandered around a bit and grabbed a bite to eat at a place called Ellis. They specialize in burgers, and even mention the name "hamburger" originating from Walla Walla, Washington on their menu. Libby had a cheese burger, and I had the "Bollywood Special." It consisted of chicken marinated in some Indian spices, a chutney and some lettuce and tomato. It wasn't bad. I didn't like the onion though. We both had the same beer but we can't remember the name off hand. After dinner we came home.

*(If you want to know more about Lambic beers read on, otherwise stop.) Lambic beer is beer where the addition of yeast to the wort is done spontaneously. Yeast floating through the air acts makes contact with the cooling wort and acts as the fermenting agent rather than yeast being manually added to the wort. (Wort is the liquid from the mash before the yeast has been added.) The challenge here is to get enough yeast added while not allowing the beer to become contaminated. It turns out,  that for some reason there is a very high concentration of naturally occurring yeast in the air around Brussels in the Zenne valley. This is why most Lambics are brewed around and to the southwest of Brussels. 

Read More