A few more photos are posted on my Picasa from the end of our time in Belgium, the Tour de France, and on return to Italy. Thanks all for a great trip!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Trying to find my way back through the fog to some sort of reality
Stumbling through the surreal experience that is international travel after 3 amazing weeks of having way too much fun has put me into a jet lagged stupor.
Tonight I'll spend the first night in my new house!
Right now I'm at work - not doing work, just using the internet to upload a slurry of pictures, since new house does not have internet yet - and I think I'll swing by Wilbur's on the way home, maybe see if I can find a Westmalle Tripel, or some other Belgian goodness to put the final cap on the trip as it were.
More posts to come when I'm more coherent, but for now I've got all my pics up on my Picasa page, so those of you who don't Facebook can check them out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dwisbon/
Tonight I'll spend the first night in my new house!
Right now I'm at work - not doing work, just using the internet to upload a slurry of pictures, since new house does not have internet yet - and I think I'll swing by Wilbur's on the way home, maybe see if I can find a Westmalle Tripel, or some other Belgian goodness to put the final cap on the trip as it were.
More posts to come when I'm more coherent, but for now I've got all my pics up on my Picasa page, so those of you who don't Facebook can check them out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dwisbon/
Friday, July 24, 2009
Bad beer
Our search for great beers took a turn for the worse as we entered France. Sunken hopes for something akin to New Belgium's 1554 saddled Dave with his first 1664 (Kronenburg as it turns out, and French indeed). The worst beer of the trip was the Grafenwalder Pils, a product of late night attempts to get rid of our remaining Euro cent coins at the campground. Find Dave here with his Respect Beer shirt and the unfortunate brew:
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Lambics
My last day in Brussels gave me an opportunity to visit the Cantillon brewery and museum which specializes in Lambic beers. Lambic beers are unique to Belgium and are distinguished by using spontaneous fermentation by the wild yeast and bacteria of the region.
After the barley malt and wheat has been mashed and heated to extract the sugars, the hot mixture called wort is cooled overnight in the fall and winter months in large, shallow, open topped copper containers such as the one shown here.
The louvers are used to control the air flow over the wort. This open air cooling inoculates the wort with the local microorganisms that are responsible for the fermentation. After inoculation the wort is placed into large wooden barrels to ferment and age for 2-3 years.
Finally, young and old Lambics can be blended to create Gueuze or a secondary fermentation with fruit such as cherries, raspberries or white grapes can be used to moderate the distinctive sour taste of Lambics. When I was there the brewery had just received a large shipment of cherries.
An interesting bit of trivia is that the use of large quantities of fruit attracts many insects. Since pesticides could get into the beer, spiders are used to control insect numbers. No cobwebs are swept up or destroyed in the brewery. Here is a picture of a spiderweb on a painting of a Lambic barrel.
After the barley malt and wheat has been mashed and heated to extract the sugars, the hot mixture called wort is cooled overnight in the fall and winter months in large, shallow, open topped copper containers such as the one shown here.
The louvers are used to control the air flow over the wort. This open air cooling inoculates the wort with the local microorganisms that are responsible for the fermentation. After inoculation the wort is placed into large wooden barrels to ferment and age for 2-3 years.
Finally, young and old Lambics can be blended to create Gueuze or a secondary fermentation with fruit such as cherries, raspberries or white grapes can be used to moderate the distinctive sour taste of Lambics. When I was there the brewery had just received a large shipment of cherries.
An interesting bit of trivia is that the use of large quantities of fruit attracts many insects. Since pesticides could get into the beer, spiders are used to control insect numbers. No cobwebs are swept up or destroyed in the brewery. Here is a picture of a spiderweb on a painting of a Lambic barrel.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Euro-cracy
I also had a classic encounter with Euro-cracy when I was trying to get to the airport. I went to the Gare du Midi to try to find a bus or a train to the airport. Upon asking someone which was the best option I was told:
"I work for the railway. The bus driver will tell you that they are the best and the taxi driver will tell you he is the best. I can sell you a railway ticket."
After establishing when the next train was and how long it would take to get to the airport I bought a ticket. After receiving the ticket I looked at it, but the track number was not listed.
"What track does the train arrive on?" I ask.
Ticket seller all but rolls his eyes and looks at the screen behind me. After a minute "Track 16"
"Where is track 16?" I ask.
"Over there" he points vaguely behind me and waves for the next person in line.
Needless to say I found the train and got to the airport in time but the whole episode was rather amusing in its absurdity.
"I work for the railway. The bus driver will tell you that they are the best and the taxi driver will tell you he is the best. I can sell you a railway ticket."
After establishing when the next train was and how long it would take to get to the airport I bought a ticket. After receiving the ticket I looked at it, but the track number was not listed.
"What track does the train arrive on?" I ask.
Ticket seller all but rolls his eyes and looks at the screen behind me. After a minute "Track 16"
"Where is track 16?" I ask.
"Over there" he points vaguely behind me and waves for the next person in line.
Needless to say I found the train and got to the airport in time but the whole episode was rather amusing in its absurdity.
Tour de France Stage 17
Stage 17 made for great watching after a morning of climbing. This time the grades were steeper, but the climb was shorter as only four of us (Linda, Laurie, Emily, and me) made our way up to the Cormet de Roselend, a Category 1 climb. The road out of Bourg St. Maurice runs up a beautiful canyon to a windy pass where we caught the riders coming through again. The rest of our crew stayed down in the town to catch the start (Maria has a stellar photo of Lance!).
The views up toward Mont Blanc were amazing:
And down the canyon:
Caught a decent shot of Mark Cavendish coming through:
Linda, Laurie, and Emily at the summit:
And back in town watching the stage finish at a local joint:
The views up toward Mont Blanc were amazing:
And down the canyon:
Caught a decent shot of Mark Cavendish coming through:
Linda, Laurie, and Emily at the summit:
And back in town watching the stage finish at a local joint:
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tour de France Stage 16
Our Tour de France portion of the trip begins! Stage 16 brings the riders in from Martigny, Italy to Bourg St. Maurice, France over the Cols St. Bernard and Petit St. Bernard. Our group rode up the back of the Col de Petit St. Bernard from Bourg St. Maurice to catch the riders coming up this last climb. Our climb was a total of 1,326 m (4,350 ft) from 862 m (2,828 ft) to 2,188 m (7,178 ft) over 30 km (18.6 miles) - an average grade of 4.4%. This would be considered a Category 1 climb from the France side as well as the Italy side (the way the Tour riders came), so we can reasonably say that we tackled a very solid Tour de France climb. Most of us split to climb at our own paces, but Seth, Laurie and I ended up together for most of the ride. There were spectators, tour benchmarks, and gorgeous views of the Alps to behold.
We parked ourselves on the Italy side of the Col to await the riders, getting updates from Kevin's mother via cell phone. Kevin is a Colorado guy too, and friend of Tyler, bike mechanic with Experience Plus, who happened to have the same great idea we had: bike portions of the Tour stages and watch some of this fantastic race first hand!
The scene was as exciting as it appears on television with spectators lining the sides of the road with all manner of flags and costumes. There were an amazing number of riders out to enjoy the course and make their way up to the summit unencumbered by a car.
We watched the riders come through in many groups, the climbs having splintered the peloton. The video below has Alberto Contador clearly visible in his yellow jersey. Lance follows in the same group. You also get a feel for the ridiculous number of support vehicles that ride with the Tour: police motorcycles to move the spectators back, team cars for communication and mechanical difficulties, and press vehicles. Not to mention the so-called caravan that travels ahead of the race with all the Tour sponsors throwing schwag (mostly useless crap) out to the spectators. The best of the schwag was the cycling caps (polka dot ones seen in the video) and snacks by Haribo.
We parked ourselves on the Italy side of the Col to await the riders, getting updates from Kevin's mother via cell phone. Kevin is a Colorado guy too, and friend of Tyler, bike mechanic with Experience Plus, who happened to have the same great idea we had: bike portions of the Tour stages and watch some of this fantastic race first hand!The scene was as exciting as it appears on television with spectators lining the sides of the road with all manner of flags and costumes. There were an amazing number of riders out to enjoy the course and make their way up to the summit unencumbered by a car.
We watched the riders come through in many groups, the climbs having splintered the peloton. The video below has Alberto Contador clearly visible in his yellow jersey. Lance follows in the same group. You also get a feel for the ridiculous number of support vehicles that ride with the Tour: police motorcycles to move the spectators back, team cars for communication and mechanical difficulties, and press vehicles. Not to mention the so-called caravan that travels ahead of the race with all the Tour sponsors throwing schwag (mostly useless crap) out to the spectators. The best of the schwag was the cycling caps (polka dot ones seen in the video) and snacks by Haribo.
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