A few more photos...

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!

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/

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:

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.

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.

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:

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.

Beer Fears

This is the way that Keith describes the "morning after" anxiety that can occur after a big night out. We had major beer fears last night after we left Nathan at his hotel in Brussels and headed back to work in London after a "big week out" with all of you in Belgium.

Yesterday was actually a great day. When ME dropped us off at the station, we found a vending machine at the train station that sold tubes, oil, and other bike parts! Such a bike friendly area! After an hour long train ride, we had a minor brush with European bureaucracy when we couldn't figure out how to get all of our bikes on the train. It was the classic story of everyone sending us everywhere else...until we circled back to the original folks and they magically took our bikes from us.

We then walked out into the Brussels sunshine to look for Nathan's hotel to drop our stuff...only to get mildly lost and stuck with all our stuff in a serious downpour. We waited out the rain for about 10 minutes and then made it to the hotel, checked out Nathan's cool pod toilet, and then headed out to check out the hood and get some lunch. The neighborhood was really interesting...very artsy, a little bohemian, with a strong Muslim population. We enjoyed our last belgian wafffles and then Jeff ran off to Midi to catch his train (he was literally running down the street).

Then Nathan, Keith, and I took a walk and ended up on the Avenue Louise, the fancy shmancy shopping district. We window shopped and ended up in a Vitra store http://www.vitra.com/nl-be/home/ , which had amazing furniture at outrageous prices and we happily sat our weary butts on everything in the store. Then we went and watched an interesting game of Belgian handball but like baseball that had drawn quite a crowd in the Grand Place (I have googled but can't find any info).

After shopping, we stopped for our last Belgian beer which Nathan treated us to because we were out of Euros (Thank you Nathan!) and picked up our stuff at the hotel and headed off to the train...which is where the beer fears started to settle in.

What an amazing holiday! Thank you all so much for making it really special. We look forward to seeing you again on the next adventure.

Enjoy France! Keith and I have decided to swear off all cheese and ham products for the next few days to let our systems recover.

A feeling of perfection

Dave here - quick post -

Right now, I am totally at peace with the world. I am truly enjoying a perfect Belgian Kriek, strawberries and bananas dipped in melted Belgian Chocolate, listening to some very chill music by Alexi Murdoch and greatly enjoying the company of 11 wonderful friends.

Last night in Belgium - couldn't be any better.

wza out. :)

Slideshows

Take a peak at some photos from the trip, starting on arrival in Venice and continuing through today. I'll continue to add photos as the trip continues.

Watou to Oudenarde

Today found us embarking on our longest (and last) leg of the trip...a metric century from the brewer's house at St. Bernardus Brewery to the Refuge Kappelberg near Oudenarde. This was a well-planned wind-at-our-backs cruise with a stop in Ieper for some cash and lunching stuffs and in Dadizele at the Rosarium for lunch and to swap drivers and riders. Dave and Jeff drove the first half of this while Linda and Lindsay drove the second.

The Menenpoort in Ieper commemorates the 54,896 commonwealth troops who died in WWI and have no graves.
Also in Ieper, the handiest dandiest little bike feature to assist in moving your bike below the train tracks at the station there:Also en route, this sweet canal fortification:
And, oddly, there were many witches set up around Beselare...more info on the phenomenon is here. One of the many witches we saw:
Once in Oudenarde, we found our way to the Refuge Kappelberg, a really really nice restored farmstead where we stayed for two nights under the watchful eye of host Tom, an unabashed talk-your-ear-off Belgian who thinks French soccer players are "pussies" and loved to promote Speculous, the Belgian-designed award winning and patented cinnamon flavored spread. It was in ice cream in a lot of places, but we hadn't had it in all it's forms until the Refuge. Thanks again for that Tom!

The Refuge:

The Refuge

Tonight and tomorrow we are staying in a wonderful little Bed and Breakfast that is South-East of Oudenaarde. We are having a splended evening enjoying the fabulous beer that we brought from St. Bernardus, where we stayed last night. It was a tough 100km ride with the first real hills that we have encountered here but it was well worth the effort. The place we are staying is a radically remodeled old farm from the 1780s. We have enjoyed an excellent group meal prepared by Jeff and fantastiche beer and wine.

LKR: The meaning of Trappist

Thursday morning CJ and I volunteered to take our turn driving and navigating, which suited me fine because I was starting to come down with a cold, and because it would give us more time in Bruges. We had fun perusing some shops and adding chocolate truffles to our lunch menu. On our drive to the Westvleteren Abbey, or Abdij St. Sixtus, we happened upon a great bike shop where I was able to get replacement parts from the great mechanic there (some things, like numbers and bike parts, are universal in language) and we found Emily a nice set of the paneers she was looking for.

I think someone has probably already blogged about the rarity of Westvleteren beer – the monks make only a limited supply and most beer stores run out early in the season – so I thought I’d add a bit about where the name “Trappist” comes from, as I’d been wondering our entire trip: (*Dave, note also…I think I’ve discovered where the “1664” beer name comes from…)

From Wikipedia: The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.: Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae), or Trappists, are a contemplative Roman Catholic religious order (see list of Catholic orders), that follows the Rule of St. Benedict. They are a branch of the Cistercians and like the other Cistercian orders they also have a women's branch commonly referred to as the Trappistines.

The order takes the name of "Trappist" from La Trappe Abbey or "La Grande Trappe" in Normandy in France, where it began as a reform movement in 1664, in reaction to the relaxation of practices in many Cistercian monasteries. The reform was led by Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, originally the commendatory abbot of La Trappe. As commendatory abbot, de Rancé was a layman who obtained income from the monastery but had no religious obligations. After a conversion of life between 1660 and 1662, de Rancé formally joined the abbey and became its regular abbot in 1663.

The 48th chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict states "for then are they monks in truth, if they live by the work of their hands." Following this rule, most Trappist monasteries produce goods that are then sold to provide an income for the monastery. The goods produced can range from cheese, bread and other foodstuffs to clothing and coffins. As the order does not require abstention from alcohol, some monasteries produce and sell alcoholic beverages. Some monasteries in Belgium and the Netherlands, such as Orval Abbey and Westvleteren Abbey, brew beer both for the monks and for sale to the general public. Trappist beers contain residual sugars and living yeast, and, as bottle-conditioned beers do, will improve with age. These have become quite famous and are considered by many beer critics to be amongst the finest in the world.

LKR: Bruge and Damme - The home land

Wow! Bruges! Fun to return! And I feel very fortunate and thankful for the connection Jeff had! Jan (pronounced ‘yawn’ – or John in Flemish) - the father of a woman Jeff works with in London - lives in Bruges. Jan is a retired economist and former ambassador to Pakistan, who occasionally works for the local tourism office (I think?!) leading walking tours in Bruges. Jan led us all on a very wonderful and informative walking tour of Bruges and helped me appreciate, once again, how great it is to meet local residents who are willing to share their knowledge of a place with which they are intimately familiar.

Later in the afternoon CJ and I rode 6km to Damme – the motherland as I’ve been calling it. My maiden name, Van Damme, literally means “from Damme” and I learned from Jan that Damme, or dam, refers not just to a dam but more specifically to a separation of sea and salt water, as Damme used to be more of a port town. Belgium is slowly rising, and now the sea is much further away than it once was. Still, a canal built to transport goods from Damme to Bruges exists, and is accompanied by one of the most well known bike paths in Belgium. The small town of Damme was fortified in a star-shape during the Eighty Years’ War, and though the wall no longer remains, trees have been planted in its place so one can still see the outline of the star from the tower of the Church of Our Lady. I thought I’d also mention, mostly for Darren Wood’s sake, that in 1997, Damme was “promoted to Book-town, just as Hay-on-Wye.”

LKR: Around Gent and drafting to Bruges

There was a lot to see in Gent, and the heart of town was so attractively surrounded by canals, cobble streets, narrow bridges, castles and churches and small cafes that we were drawn back to it Tuesday morning. Our ride from Gent to Bruges scheduled for this day was also much shorter, so we figured we had more time to finally do some exploring on foot. Jeff and Dave were the van driver and navigator respectively this day – they drove the van closer to downtown and the rest of us met them near the Gravensteen castle – a quintessential castle complete with moats and turrets, built in the 12th century to “protect the townsfolk as well as to intimidate them into law-abiding submission” according to the lonely planet guide book.

Some members of our group found koffe (espresso) and later viewed the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb – an early and famous oil painting by Jan Van Eyck, while CJ, Laurie, myself and later, Emily, followed the walking tour described in the guide book, climbed the spiral stair case of the 14th century World Heritage-listed belfy for great views of the city and an up-close playing of the carillon (which is like a big music box), and then also viewed the Van Eyck painting – one that has quite the colorful history.

By about 2pm the four of us figured we ought to start our ride to Bruges. Initially led astray by the wrong canal, we eventually got on the right bike path on the right canal and followed it all the way to Bruges. For awhile we were pulled by an extremely fit 50-something Belgian cyclist (we drafted behind) and we also rode along two horse-cart racers. The horse’s long, gorgeous extended trot carried them away much more quickly than we rode – very fun and graceful to watch!

Our first evening in Bruges was relaxing – and now I find it humorous that the only trouble we had with rain on the entire Belgium part of the trip was during our dinner – where our die-hard selves insisted on eating in the outdoor courtyard of the restaurant we chose. After being outside all day, we still couldn’t give up the thought of remaining outside – a testament to the like-mindedness of the group, and probably also to how much most of us have to work inside the rest of the year. While we debated about how long the sprinkles would last, the rest of the outside guests moved in, and soon we had no other choice. But the waiters were quick to start pulling out all of their terrace umbrellas to ensure that we stayed and after a few variations of umbrella arrangements, we were soon happily consuming pasta and stir-fry dishes and continuing our Belgian beer tasting.

LKR: On the way to Gent - Belgian Bowling and Kasteel Beer

Monday morning we convened at 8 a.m. for our included breakfast at the bed and breakfast on the quaint and primarily pedestrian cobblestoned street in Antwerp. Breakfast consisted of the usual – rolls and croissants, sliced cheese (much better than Kraft) and ham, and butter. The yogurt was at this point an added delicacy, as was any fresh squeezed orange juice or fruit. This morning began our official use of the number system website and Seth, Lindsay and I made a trip to a nearby grocery store to use the copy machine to make a single back up of our maps. After a morning tour around the diamond district proper and down the Cogels Osylei – a bazaar of all possible house styles (we took lots of pictures for Mark N.!) we began our search for the beginning of our bike route to Gent.

Perhaps the most eventful part our bike route this day was the pedestrian elevator and escalator that lowered all ten of us (Ryan had at this point returned to Brussels via train, and Keith and Ellie drove the van) under ground to the pedestrian tunnel that led underneath the Scheldt river. No wonder the bike numbered route was a bit difficult to follow at first – we were looking for a bridge, and what it turned out to be was a tunnel. Only at the end of the tunnel did we notice the 5km/hr sign – CJ had definitely gone faster than that!

After being gently lifted back to the surface, we began in ernest our scenic ride from Antwerp to Gent. We stopped for lunch in … some small town… (see CJ riding the brightly colored bicycle statue) – a meal of lara bars and snacks purchased from a grocery store.

Comfortable enough with the numbers we would follow en route to Gent, the group split into three in the afternoon, Laurie, CJ, Jeff and Emily stretching their legs and riding quickly ahead, taking turns leading while the remaining three drafted in the slipstream. Maria, Lindsay and Nathan fell into their own comfortable pace, and Dave, Seth and I (Linda) cruised along in the rear, giving the three of us a chance to chat and catch up. We also got stuck behind a large group of older riders – must have been 20 or so in the gray-haired group, none of whom wore a helmet, and all of whom rode at least two abreast, making it difficult to pass. We decided with a kilometer to go to our junction, we wouldn’t make a big deal about trying to get past them. Their leader would use a whistle to signal to the rest of the group to narrow to single file when a rider/riders were coming from the opposite direction, but unfortunately, their rear-most rider did not have the same capability, so it seemed nearly impossible to try to get around them.

When we finally did break free, we settled back into our faster cruising speed, riding along a canal and comfortably shaded by clouds. We were pleasantly surprised to find Nathan, Maria and Lindsay happily pulled over and sipping beers at a small café near the canal and drawbridge some 10 km or so from our destination, and we joined them for cold, brown bruin – I ordered a Kasteel myself, and passed it around for fear of falling off my bike had I consumed the whole thing – I found later that its ABV was a whopping 11%!

Our final leg of our route this day brought us past a defunct nuclear powerplant cooling tower, a short but eventful ferry boat ride across a canal, and past Belgian bowling in a park.

We rolled into the campground outside Gent near the 6:00 hour I think. Keith and Ellie had graciously unloaded all our gear to the three, two-bunk cabins we had reserved, gone grocery shopping for a group meal, and then suited up and rode in our direction, hoping to pass us as we rode towards them. As unlikely as it seemed, we unfortunately missed them en route, which left the first group of riders locked outside the cabin. However, true to style, the campground - which I would liken to our KOA-style campgrounds - was complete with a café/restaurant, so we all sat down and ordered beers of course, and happily waited for Keith and Ellie to arrive.

While the group enjoyed a delicious meal of arborio rice, veggies, sausage and salad, I got ansty to get into downtown Gent to investigate the nightlife and a bar I had read about in the guidebook that mentioned live music on Monday nights. As we would only be there on Monday night, I had to satisfy my curiosity. Those who know me probably know that too much information can be a dangerous thing for the girl who can’t say no – but such was the case… I had to investigate, and once at the Café Trefpunt, we happily entered into an hour of live gypsy rock in a crowded bar – the band was lead by a wonderful clarinetist! I took it as a sign I was meant to be there!

http://www.lebocha.be/lebochaIndex2_beeldwever.html

Biking, Camping, Beering and Gypsy Rock - Welcome to Gent

Hey folks - Dave here!

Yesterday was our ride from Antwerp to Gent. A total of just under 60 miles road through some great countryside, nice bike paths, little villages, and some cobblestone roads that may have knocked a couple of CJ's fillings out. As Jeff has reported on his twitter: Bikes and cobblestone streets do not mix. Luckily, there were only a few cobblestones streets, and the rest were pretty nice paths.

We left our great rooms above the restaurant in Antwerp around 10:30 and biked through Antwerp - through the Diamond District, and although I was keeping my eyes peeled, we didn't see any dropped diamonds on the ground. Then we headed out of Antwerp and broke into a couple groups - those who wanted to sprint (not me...) and those who wanted to go at a more reasonable speed ;)

A little more than halfway to Gent Seth, Linda and I pulled up to a cute canal side cafe and saw Nathan, Lindsey and M.E. enjoying a sit down in the shade and a beer - so of course we were delighted to join them. Nothing like a nice beer break during a spectacular bike ride through the countryside in Belgium.






Keith and Ellie had taken the van and got us all checked in at our campsite so upon arriving to our site on the outskirts of Gent all we had to do was enjoy a well deserved beer at the cafe and a nice long shower. We were all completely new people :)




Dinner that night was an amazing spread of some wonderful risotto, sausages, bread, salad and various other snacks and our group claimed the picnic tables and had a pretty spectacular outdoor meal. Beer and wine was drunk, food was consumed, and fun was had by all.



After dinner a group of us went into the city center and went to a cool bar with live music. They were preparing for the big festival in Gent which is happening in a couple of weeks and a great band was playing - kind of a Gypsy Rock scene. We had some great beer, listened to some great music and generally had a great time!

wza out.

LKR: Brussels to Antwerp: Unraveling the numbers

Leaving Brussels on Sunday morning worked brilliantly! There was very little traffic Sunday morning at 11 when we finally departed the hostel – all on our bikes for the first time. The empty streets lent themselves well to our group of 11 riders (Seth and Maria drove the van the first day) as we navigated through the city to the bike path that lead north. Laurie and Ryan did an excellent job of navigating, and as we continued we began to notice the numbers that marked intersections of various bike routes. We were later to find that these numbers were the key to unraveling Belgium’s wonderful network of bike paths and trails! And these numbers then meant that our group could split, allowing members to ride at their own pace, and find their way should they decide to deviate for a beer along the way! To discover the wonder of this network that a progressive Belgian politician put forth many years ago, check out: http://www.fietsnet.be/routeplanner/default.aspx


It didn’t take long for our group to fall into a groove that I can only assume is typical of bike touring groups. We rode primarily single file in more heavily trafficked areas, passing down our line the phrase to be communicated at the time of importance… “stopping” or “car back” or “car front” or “slowing” would get sung down from lead to rear, and hands might get flicked on the left or right to warn the biker behind of some pot-hole or other hazard. It was fun to watch our group from the back as we approached stop lights or intersections… like dominoes we would fall to the left or right of our bikes as each of us unclipped our preferred foot to lean at the stop – and though our group was large, there was also for me a sense of safety in our critical mass, for often, like it or not, traffic let us pass and for the most part allowed us to stay together.

We also met other friendly creatures along the way...

For lunch, we stopped in Mechelen – worth mentioning for the interesting fact that Mechelen “boasts the world’s most prestigious school of campanology (bell ringing) and is home to a cathedral topped by the country’s heaviest carillon.” True to form, everyone also ordered a new beer at lunch – never an opportunity to try a new one was to be wasted.

Settling for the evening in Antwerp included the prerequisite beer appetizer, and then the hunt for an eatery that served something different then omelets or ham and cheese on toast. We settled on a kabob shop… Seth, thanks again for the leftovers! And Ryan, thanks for enduring your standard late night fare once again for the sake of the group.

-Neat story about Antwerp: “Legend tells of Druon Antigoon, a giant, who lived at the bend of the Scheldt and forced passing shipmasters to pay a toll. Those who refused losta hand. Along came silvius Brabo, a Roman worrior, who killed the giant, chopped off his hand and chucked it in the river. Hand werpen (hand throwing) subsequently evolved into Antwerpen (Antwep).

LKR: Brussels - Quick and Glorious!

Brussles was quick and glorious. We arrived late Saturday afternoon and left Sunday morning. None of the breweries were open on Sunday, namely the Cantillon Brewery known for its lambic beers… glad Nathan was able to stop here before his departure! It was wonderful to see Ryan again and get a glimpse of his life in Brussels – he accompanied us for a drink at the Grand Place, then a traditional dinner of a bucket of muscles, then we got to see his office and many of the architectural models of the projects he and his firm have proposed and/or are building. Then, more beer tasting at a bar in a crowded pedestrian square not far from his office, and finally, some late night catching up at his apartment before he, CJ and I forced ourselves to bed in order to be able to muster some strength for our ride to Antwerp on Sunday.

Jenever

Hey folks - Dave here (I'm using Nathan's computer, so his login).

From the Wikipedia entry for Jenever - which we tried yesterday evening across from our restaurant/hotel. Nathan and I both thought it was quite good, we had the Hopjenever and it had a mild anice taste and was similar in some respects to a smooth non smokey whiskey. Emily had a different opinion: "It's a little sweet, and a little like gasoline".

Jenever (also known as junever, genievre, genever, jeniever, peket or in England as Holland gin), is the juniper-flavored and strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France (Nord département), from which gin evolved.[1] Believed to have been invented by a Dutch chemist and alchemist named Sylvius de Bouve (in Latin: Franciscus Sylvius), it was first sold as a medicine in the late 16th century [2]. In the 17th century it became more popular for its flavor. Traditional jenever is still very popular in the Netherlands and Belgium. European Union regulations specify that only liquor made in these two countries, two French provinces and two German federal states can use the name jenever. [3]

Jenever was originally produced by distilling maltwine (moutwijn in Dutch) to 50% ABV. Because the resulting spirit wasn't palatable due to the lack of refined distilling techniques (only the pot still was available), herbs were added to mask the flavour [2]. The juniper berry (Jeneverbes in Dutch, which comes in its turn from the French genievre) was chosen for its alleged medicinal effects[2], hence the name jenever (and the English name Gin).

There are two types of jenever: "Oude" (Old) and "Jonge" (Young). This is not a matter of aging, but of distilling techniques. Around 1900 it became possible to distill a high-graded type of alcohol almost neutral in taste, independent of the origin of the spirit. A worldwide tendency for a lighter and less dominant taste, as well as lower prices, led to the development of blended whisky in Great Britain, and in the Netherlands to Jonge Jenever. During the Great War lack of imported cereals, and hence malt, forced the promotion of this blend. Alcohol derived from molasses from the beet-sugar industry was used as an alternative to grain spirit. People started using the term ‘Oude’ for the old-style jenever and ‘Jonge’ for the new style, which contains more grain instead of malt and can even contain plain sugar-based alcohol. In modern times, jenever distilled from grain and malt only is labelled Graanjenever. Jonge jenever can contain no more than 15% malt wine and 10 grams of sugar per litre. Oude jenever must contain at least 15% malt wine but not more than 20 grams of sugar per litre. Korenwijn ("cornwine") is a drink very similar to the 18th century style jenever and is often matured for a few years in an oak cask; it contains from 51% to 70% malt wine and up to 20g/l of sugar.

Hasselt, Belgium, and Schiedam and Groningen, the Netherlands, are famous for their jenevers.

Dutch-based Lucas Bols produces and sells oude genever, known as ginebra in Spanish, in South America. Ketel One is now more known for producing vodka, but started out as, and still is, a jenever distillery. Other well-known Dutch (Schiedam) jenever distilleries are Melchers, Henkes, and Hasekamp (also with much export to Africa).

Jonge jenever is sometimes served cold from a bottle that has been kept in a freezer. However, the higher-quality oude jenever (and korenwijn) is usually served at room temperature. When jenever is drunk with lager beer as a chaser, it is referred to as a kopstoot (headbutt).

Antwerp is Awesome

We had our first day of riding today. We traveled from Brussels to Antwerp along bike paths and rural highways. It was a great ride with lots of interesting scenery, including a nuclear power plant, emus, many cows, at least one goat. All told we travel approximately 76km or about 45miles, much of it along canals. Navigation was a bit of a challenge but we were able to overcome most obstacles and avoid major misdirections. I think that we have successfully deciphered the bike route numbering system and that things will go smoother tomorrow.

Midday was spent at a nice cafe in Mechelen were we had a great lunch and beers and managed to miss the only rain of the day. Afterward we road around a bit in the centre of town and did some sight seeing of a massive church bell tower that is how to a famous bell ringing school.

We arrived in central Antwerp around 6:30pm. After figuring out room arrangements at a great little bed and breakfast we went down the street to a bar at the corner that served an ample selection of Belgian beer. It also severed a Belgian form of gin called genievre, that was dangerously delightful. Once we had collected everyone we moved on to find dinner and ended up at a place called the Alexandria that served Mediterranean cuisine.

After a fine dinner of pitas, kabobs, and curried mayonnaise (not to mention more great beer) we moved onto to the central square. So far every town that we have visited in Belgium has had a central square that is basically a cobble stone plaza surrounded by important medieval buildings. These plazas had spectacular architecture and we will post pictures of them as soon as we have a chance.

Well, we have an early morning tomorrow. The Ride to Ghent is a long one and we have plans to take a brewery tour around two so we need to get on the road early. Every one else is asleep and I should be as well. Stay tuned for more exciting updates tomorrow if we can find internet. It sounds like we are staying in cabins so it may be a bit before we get a chance to catch up.

Internet FYI

The internet access between driving, biking, and drinking has been sporadic. This combined with the fact that free internet does not seem to exist in Europe has made it hard to keep up with posts as often as we'd like. We will try to fill in things in as and when we get the chance. I have a feeling it will get harder to get access as we move into less urban environs.

LKR: The Zurich getaway and our first belgian beer

As CJ says in the Zurich post, all these are after the fact, but appropriately so, as we just couldn’t seem to bring ourselves to sit down in front of a computer for the last two weeks. There was simply so many other, better things to do – people to talk with, places to explore, bikes to ride, and we needed to let our bodies do more of what they’ve evolved to do – move.

For me, this was somewhat of a return trip to Belgium… though I had only been to Brussels and Bruges in 2003 when I had come through before during my month-long spring break that was part of a study abroad stint in Swansea, Wales. It was exciting to return this time with CJ, some of our dear friends from Fort Collins, and new equally wonderful people from other stages of Seth and Maria’s lives. This time I was ready for more of an outdoor experience, fewer museums and souvenirs, and using a bike as my primary mode of transportation from city to city.

After we did indeed jump heist-style into the European style Ford van Maria and Seth had rented, we drove the 300 or so miles through France to Orval in southern Belgium – our first planned beer destination: the Abbaye Notre Dame d'Orval and home of Orval beer. It is worth mentioning that in transit, we stopped at a gas station and were disappointed to discover that none of the credit cards within our group were accepted at the station. As it was after hours and there was no attendant, we began hoping for another person to drive through the station to whom we thought we might be able to pay cash if they would be kind enough to use their credit card in the machine (it turns out a chip is now required for credit cards in France, and much of Europe). Thankfully, a couple drove up to get gas, and CJ began the renewal of his French language skills by asking them the favor. Turned out our kind samaritan had shaken Barak Obama’s hand when he had been in Stuttgart for his first visit to the UK, and was happy to help us. It’s not to say he wouldn’t have helped us had Obama not been elected, but the fact that he was happy about our newly elected president made a world of difference to me, especially in comparison to the last time I had traveled through Europe in 2003.

We made it to La Nouvelle Hostellerie d’Orval, near the Abbaye Notre Dame d’Orval at 1:00 in the morning, silently crept up the stairs to our awaiting rooms so as not to wake the other guests and promptly fell asleep. After nearly 48 hours, this was our first opportunity to lay flat – what a wonderful thing we take for granted! Our morning exploration of the Abbey was relaxing and enchanting. With a small entrance fee we were free to wander old ruins of the old chapel, herb garden and residences of former monks. The newer, existing chapel, grounds, and brewery are closed to tourists except those who wish to stay for three or four days to learn about monastic life.

The name and legend that surround the Abbey entail the 11^th century Countess Mathilda of Tuscany, who accidentally dropperd her wedding ring, a present from her deseased husband, into a stream near the Abbey. In despair, she prayed to the Virgin and her ring was returned in the mouth of a fish. At this, the Countess exclaimed that she was truly in a valley of gold or vale du or – and now the Orval abbey and beer are marked by a fish with a ring in its mouth.

A case of Orval beer was purchased, I insisted upon a loaf of freashly baked organic bread from the café near by, and we were off to Brussels.

In addition to the Orval history, it is appropriate to explain a bit of Belgium’s beer history as well! Here is what the guide book tells us: “It is St. Arnold, the patron saint of brewers, who must be thanked for this bevy of beers. When plague broke out in the Middle Ages, St. Arnold convinced locals to drink beer rather than water. As beer was boiled and water wasn’t, this so-called ‘cure’ worked. Beer became an everyday drink – a ‘liquid bread’ to supplement an otherwise meager diet. Honey and spices were added to enhance the flavour, as was gruut, a belnd of herbs and flowers such as rosemary and myrtle. Coriander is another favored spice, believed to protect against hangovers.”