Brussels

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - If I had to sum up Brussels in just one word, it'd be "quirky". In fact, I'd say it's the quirkiest big city I've been in. Brussels is the home to the European Union, NATO, and the self-proclaimed "Capital of Europe".

The aroma of the city alone is contradictory. Wandering around the city you'll smell wafts of chocolate and pee. In fact, the city's emblem is a tiny statue of a little dude peeing. A Belgian guy comes around every couple weeks or so and puts a new suit on him. And, funny enough, I noticed chocolate shop after chocolate shop surrounding this statue.. I even saw chocolate fountains. Chocolate and pee I tell you.

I've found the Belgian people to be so friendly so far. They are helpful, funny, self-depricating, generous, and humble. It seems that I can hardly go to any establishment without the staff giving me free stuff.. In fact, that has happened every single day we've been here.

Waffles
I hate to sound like a tourist, but the waffles here are so good. They are infused with about a pound of sugar, baked to a sugar-crunchy goodness. I imagine it'd be impossible to eat more than one.

Work
I found my office. I'd heard the cafes here described as "linger-as-long-as-you'd-like" cafes, and now I believe it. Yesterday we literally spent 8 hours in this cafe that has wifi so I could work, as our hostel doesn't have wifi. Not only did they not try to get us out of here; rather, on the contrary, they started giving us free drinks - even things we didn't order. Two days in a row, from different staff, did this happen.

Mocha
Today I ordered a Mocha and it was served as a glass of hot milk + espresso, then a tiny glass filled with chocolates. Am I supposed to pour these into the milk? I guess so.. I did, and what resulted was heavenly mocha goodness.

A Surreal Experience @ The Delirium Cafe

Belgian beers are a thing of art. From the brewing process, to the storage, to the custom glass made for each one, to the pour, to the examination of what you hold in your hand, to the variety of smell, to the taste: they are unique. For so long I've dreamed of coming to Belgium to experience this, and a few nights ago it came to surreality.

Delirium
One of my favorite beers for many, many years has been Delirium Tremens and Delirium Nocturnum. Way back when we were planning places to come in Europe, I chose Brussels nearly exclusively to come to the Delirium cafe.

The cafe itself is awesome. Over 2,000 beers available, 3 floors, decoration that must have taken years to establish. Our first day in Brussels we came to the cafe for lunch. I headed to the basement level of the cafe and we pulled up a couple seats at the bar. I sat enthralled watching the bartender pouring each beer in it's own custom-prescribed way, into it's own custom-made glass.

When I'm served a Belgian beer (or any good beer for that matter), I can't help but marvel over it before drinking it. Checking out the label, the color of the beer, the sediment in it, sniffing it like I'm some sort of beast. It builds up a tiny bit of suspense before actually tasting it.

Julian
I asked for suggestions from the bartender. He was more than happy to explore with Ana and I which Belgian beers exactly we would like best based on our tastes, which he did our first day there.

Day 2 we came back again during lunch and got our same spot right up at the same bar, with the same bartender helping us. This time there seemed to be no need to explain what we wanted; our bartender already had things in mind. He seemed a little surprised when we started getting ready to leave. He seemed like he wanted to ask a question, but I told him "Oh, we'll be back tomorrow." This made him happy & seemed to answer his question.

Day 3 we show up and it's almost like meeting an old friend. At this point he's bringing out aging Belgian beers that we don't even see on the menu. After trying some beers of which I rated 5 stars on our blog here, I hate to have to tell him, but we're leaving the next day so we gotta take off.

"Waitwait. I want to give you a beer."

"Give me one? You don't have to do that!"

"Wait. If I give you one, will you stay?"

I hardly think I need to tell you my response. So I finish this one and thank him tremendously, as we begin to gather our stuff to leave again.

"Waitwait. I want to give you another."

"You don't have to do that! Thank you so much, really; but we really should probably go now."

(He looks at Ana this time with a menacing little smile) "If I give you one, will you stay?"

I hardly think I need to tell you her response.

That Night
After work that night I went back to Delirium, mainly to see if our bartender was there. I checked downstairs but there was a different staff working. Checked upstairs as well but to no avail. However, one of the bartenders upstairs stopped me to ask what I wanted to drink, and I couldn't not order something.. So I pulled up a seat at the upstairs bar and ended up talking with Ansel - a musician from Minnesota, for an hour or so. A cool guy indeed, and enjoyed talking with him about music & travels. As I was getting closer to leaving, I notice somebody pull up a chair next to me at the bar. Our bartender from downstairs of course! He's off work now. This will be dangerous.

He goes on to tell me that Ana and I are a couple of the best customers he's had. He'd noticed how I inspect the pour, the bottle, the aroma, the taste - all the same things he does when he enjoys a Belgian beer. "I see myself in you!", which, coming from the bartender of one of the most famous biercafes in the world - a Belgian biercafe no less, inflated my ego like a thousandfold.

He then called up his girlfriend to meet with Ana and I. Now Julian begins to leave the table every so often to come back with very rare bottles of Belgian beers from the cellar. Bottles that have been obviously aging for years as noted from the collection of dust on them. Beers that are impossible to describe here on a blog. Turns out Julian himself is from France originally, but moved to Belgium almost primary because of the beer. I learned so much about beer that night. I also honestly don't remember how many Belgian beers I had, and I ended up, uh, having "food poisoning" as my bro-in-law Frank would say.

Something about Julian reminded me somehow of meu velho Marcelo back in Portland. The two of them are very pure souls.

When greeting each other in Brazil, the opposite sex (or just women) kiss each other twice, once on each cheek. Sometimes 3 (if you're from Sao Paulo). Ana and I had noticed the same thing in Belgium, except here it's 4 times, twice on each cheek, and even men greet each other this way. And this was how our night ended.

These are fantastically nice, generous, humble, kind people. This really was a surreal experience. I still get chills when I think back to that night, as it just didn't seem real. Never did I imagine I'd come to Belgium, my most long-awaited venue for beer, to be hosted by the bartender of a world-famous Belgian biercafe and enjoy their company so much. The 4 of us exchanged contact information and actually may travel together in the future, as the two of them have wanted to go to some of the same places we're going in Europe.

Luxembourg - a fantastic place to get lost

Saturday, September 19, 2009 - One thing I've grown to enjoy while travelling is to purposely get lost. I find this is when some of the most spectacular things are found. I would rate Luxembourg #2 on my list of places we've travelled for getting lost, just behind Edinburgh.

When we initially arrived we walked around the streets until we found our hotel. We noticed that the city seems to be built on the top of a gorge. The bridges are quite pretty and there seems to be lots of forest below. Today I kinda wanted to see if it was possible to walk around down there. So we headed toward all the main shops and such, took a couple unexpected turns, then found ourselves walking down beautiful, tiny, cobblestoned alleys with architectural influences ranging from Italian to French to something of it's own. Another couple unexpected turns and we're at the edge of the gorge, looking across a meandering river below leading to a castle, large remains of fortresses, and huge castle walls - dating back to 965AD. And all throughout the walls & gorge are little caves everywhere.

A couple more unexpected turns and we found ourselves walking through some of these caves, which the local proprieters seemed to have turned into little mazes of restaurants and stores. Once we emerged from one of these networks of caves and back onto the streets, we noticed that looking back, never in a million years would we have thought to enter in there. We found quite a bit of that really; it looks as if the Luxemburgish people have very much made use of these caves handed down to them.

Then we ascended down toward the below, to find that at the bottom was a fairytale city.. I had absolutely no idea this was down here - it is completely hidden from all the streets above where we've been staying and walking around. Beautiful, beautiful streets all along a river full of restaurants, beautiful parks, shops, pubs, quaint houses, and streets you could wander around in forever. It really was like discovering a lost city for me.

I was truly shocked, and very, very glad we decided to get lost today.

Luxembourg

Friday, September 18, 2009 - Last night I went to grab a coffee and saw all sorts of different languages on the menu. As I waited in line, I went through in my head deciding which language I wanted to order in. I ended on German for some reason. That's gotta be the first time in my life I've had to make that decision..

Luxembourg is pretty, and interesting. I'm getting a little antsy to get into Belgium though to be honest, mainly because I feel like Luxembourg has all the stuff I'd been excited to see in Belgium - except the beer....

When in doubt, speak Portuguese.

Thursday, September 17, 2009 - We caught a 9:30 train this morning from Cologne and travelled about 230km south to the little country of Luxemburg. We crossed a bridge over a river at one point, saw a sign that said "Luxemburg", and immediately everything in the streets was then in French.

This made Ana happier as she's more comfortable with French, but just added on another layer of confusion for me. In Germany, I was at least able to prepare myself for an embarassing conversation of bad German and lots of me saying "What the !@#! did they just say?" to myself. Now, I don't even know which language I'm supposed to do that in.

We are hearing a lot of French, some German, Italian, and then a little english if we're lucky and we ask for it. We went to a little pub for a bite to eat and a local brew. I asked the owner in French if she spoke any English "A, ummmm, leetle!" Something sounded familiar about her accent. As soon as Ana heard her speak she told me "Mo, it sounds like she has a Portuguese accent." So when she came back I asked her, "Fala Portuguese?" and got the first-person-conjugation-rather-than-yes-or-no response "Falo!".. That was almost like English to my ears. Then she immediately turned into probably the easiest person we've been able to talk with since we've been back in Europe.

Cologne

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 - My grandfather was born in Poland, but for some reason I am reminded of him here in Cologne. I don't know why. Maybe it's because the architecture here seems a little more Eastern-European to me.. Whatever it is, I will be interested to actually visit Poland, just to see what I feel there being in his home country. His story is quite an incredible one in my opinion; one which I will expound on more as we near Poland next year.

Cologne has been something of a little break from doing stuff since we left Brazil - it's been nice. All we've really done here is see the Dome here, and the Old city areas. Coming out of the Old City area, the Dome revealed itself, which I have no other word to describe except striking. The architecture is ridiculous. Upon first sight it appeared that it was going to attack me.

Tomorrow however we leave German-speaking territory and enter French-speaking territory in the little country of Luxemburg. But if we can find a train ticket from there to Munich this weekend that doesn't cost a fortune, we're gonna try. Oktoberfest has started in Munich, ya know..

Bacharach III

Sunday, September 13, 2009 - On Sunday we became tourists and did some "Rhine Valley Romantic Tour" thing that was supposed to take us to several different places around the valley. It was definitely beautiful, but I think they should have named it "Your Race Against Time", as we were hauling butt all over the place in order to not miss boats, trains, chair lifts, etc. It turns out we basically just paid 12 euros for admission to 5 different things, with the only possible itenerary on it for actually achieving all these things in 1 day.


After touring the castle (see previous post), we hoofed it to the river to catch a boat: that took us to the other side of the river. For me, the deflation of our 30-second ride was redeemed by the name of the village on the other side: Assmanhauser. We then took a chairlift to the top of the mountain, going over little villages and vineyards. Seriously, that was like a Disney ride.. Only, again, for real.



We finally made it back to our village of Bacharach (pronounced Bahahahhhhhhh) and ate dinner at a tiny restaurant that literally was an older German couple's house.. The owners were super cool, and the food was incredible home-cooked stuff. We seriously felt like we were eating in somebody's home.

Rhine Valley Castles

Sunday, September 13, 2009 - The Rhine River runs for miles through the Rhine Valley, and there are castles at basically every turn of the river. We toured one of the castles on Sunday, below are some shots. Also are several other castles we took pictures of.. Eventually I think we just stopped taking pictures of all the castles we saw because they're almost like Dairy Queens there.

Bacharach II

Saturday, September 12, 2009 - My sister said that Heidelberg looked like Disney; I thought she was right until we saw Bacharach.. This place is Disneyworld.

This area is also the most densely populated area of castles purportedly than any other area in Europe.. And it looks like it's true; there are castles everywhere ontop of hills overlooking the Rhine River. This place is too beautiful.

I also finally had my first german bratwurst here in Bacharach today, and it was everything I thought it could be and more. Coupled with a cold German Alt-bier, I was temporarily in heaven. We're still here in the castle, so I guess I'm still not too far from it..

Bacharach I

Friday, September 11, 2009 - We've definitely never stayed in a place as cool as this: a castle, high ontop of a hillside, plopped in the middle of vineyards, overlooking the Rhine River, in Germany. The castle is quite large, and the view is almost as pretty. The interior is a labyrinth of stone hallways in which is super easy to get lost. I was slammed at work so I didn't really get to do much, but I really can't complain; it's not every day that I work from a castle.

Heidelberg III

Thursday, September 10, 2009 - Today we walked around town (again), and as we were walking back, I saw a little alley that seemed to go upward toward the hills (we had a discussion about hills/mountains tonight), so we meandered on that way. At the end of the alley were some steep stairs going, uh, up. So we started going up them. After about the 3rd time we stopped to rest, we realized we were going up toward the Heidelberg Castle, which motivated us to continue going up, though it didn't magically heal my putrid physique.

The castle boasted incredible views of the red-roofed city, river, and hills. The castle was quite pretty as well, and it sits on a decently sized area of land within the hills. It really is beautiful here. The weather is perfect (70s during the day, 50s at night), the people are super nice.. I really like Germany so far.

Tomorrow we leave for Bacharach in the Rhine Valley.. Wait until you see where we're staying..

Heidelberg II

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - Yesterday a friend of ours from Portland, Audrey, was in Italy so she decided to come meet us here in Heidelberg. Unfortunately I've been pretty slammed at work as of late so was a little bit of a dud, but the 3 of us at least got to walk around the town a little and grab some more photos.

I really like it here. It's very peaceful. I didn't find the food in the UK to be bad, but I do find it to be much better here.. And the beer.. Ahh. Good in the UK as well, but, I have to say, better here so far. People are very nice, and pay very close attention to following the rules. On a small street, even if no cars are anywhere in visible sight, Germans will not cross unless the pedestrian light is green. I haven't figured out yet if it's because the cops will tag you for it or if it's just part of the culture.

I also met a theology student here at the hostel studying at St. Andrews in Scotland and had a nice discussion with him last night. I seem to find them pretty easily once I start travelling for some reason.

Heidelberg I

September 7, 2009 - Heidelberg is beautiful; Ana describes it as a fantasy. It's an old university town that's built on a river, which runs through mountains. On the left side of the river are huge german (obviously) houses up on the hills, and a very pretty park that runs along the river for a couple miles. People are all over the place reading, sleeping, playing volleyball, and swimming in the river. On the right side of the river is the "old town", with a castle up in the hills.

People actually do speak more English here it seems than Frankfurt, though I'm still trying to speak German. The folks seem very happy to help teach you a little.

Heidelberg has lots of streets that are closed off to cars and only allow walking or biking. These streets are lined with outdoor biercafes, outdoor restaurants, beautiful alleys, and all kinds of little shops.

The Beer
Aaaaaahhhlllmlmlllaaallllmmmmm. Soooo good. We ate at a restaurant today which mostly is seating outside in a little courtyard, right on one of the main shopping streets. Their beers are those made by monks in a nearby monastery. There I had a Hefeweisen (wheat beer) that was soooo solid. I have yet to rate one 5 stars, but gave this a 4.5.. I then had a Dunkelweisen (darker beer), both were cloudy, cold, and super solid. They serve beers here by the Liter, and these were both half-liters, which I believe is about 20oz. Many, many more to come...

Frankfurt

September 7, 2009 - We are in Germany!! We left Fortaleza Saturday at 8:00AM, and arrived to Frankfurt at 2:00PM on Sunday.. A long day and a half of travel.

I have been told by some, and also read, that English is pretty well spoken all throughout Germany.. I went out yesterday in Frankfurt while Ana rested and visited a pub, grocery store, and greek restaurant - none of them spoke english.. I had studied a tiny bit of German while we were in England, luckily a little bit of it must have sunk in, as I was able to at least sound like a moron trying to say German words. I now realize I am going to need to learn a lot more German, which I am excited about.

One thing that's been tough about that since we've got here is that when I'm trying to think of a word to say while speaking, I immediately want to say it in Portuguese. Something else interesting occurred to me yesterday - I've now spent a total of about 3 months in Brazil, and though I by no means sound very good speaking their language, I can at least converse a little. What occurred to me, however, is that we will be spending almost 3 months in this area; I'll be interested to see how much German I pick up in this time. One thing's for certain - I imagine I'll be fluent in all words that are bier or pub-related..

Europe

Friday, September 4, 2009 - Friday, our last day here in Brazil before we head to Europe. Since we really didn't plan on doing a whole lot while here but recharge, my plan all along was to study German before we leave. What I hadn't exactly planned on was the fact that I'd be consumed in trying to understand Portuguese while here..... So, I studied zero German. That might make it harder to understand & speak German.

In any case, it was great to see family, friends, and familiar faces; and completely veg out and do nothing for a month and a half. We were quite tired when we arrived; now I am ready for adventure again.

We leave tomorrow (Saturday) at 8:00AM and arrive in Frankfurt at 2:00PM. On Sunday. I consider tomorrow to be the real beginning of our European adventure, as we head to countries where English is not the primary language. I am excited..

Portuguese 101

Friday, September 4, 2009 - I've realized something about the Portuguese language that's been really tough for me to get a hang of - though they have the words yes and no (sim and nao), they rarely use them. Instead, they listen for the main verb being used in the question asked of them and simply conjugate it to the 1st person. Examples.

Q: Viajou para Europa? Have you ever travelled to Europe?
A: Viajei. I've travelled.

Q: Durmiu bem? Did you sleep well?
A: Durmi. I slept.

Q: Ja comeu? Did you already eat?
A: Ja. Already.

Q: Eles chegaram? Did they arrive?
A: Chegaram. Arrived.

The good news for me is that it's almost like everyday Portuguese is in the form of an organized Portuguese lesson. Aka, I will ask you a question in the 3rd person; now, you must locate the main verb in the question and then change it to the 1st person as your response. What?! Apparently people of the Portuguese language discriminate against the words Yes, and No.

Seu Jorge @ Mucuripe - Fortaleza

Burguesinha burguesinha burguesinha ...... so o file!

Interior Brazil

One weekend Ana and her family wanted to show me the interior of Ceara (Ana's home state), where her parents grew up, and where Ana spent a bit of her time growing up with her Grandparents.

We hopped from village to village via things that they called "roads" but I called open stretches of dirt and boulders. My brother in law Frank would have loved this.

Our first stop was a church (A Igreja do Sao Fransisco) in a town called Caninde.. In fact, this was kind of the central focus of the trip, as Ana's dad has a tradition to go to this church whenever he gets a new car in order to have it blessed by the priest there. The church reminded me of the cathedrals in the UK - I was quite surprised. The town was super cool too; very relaxed, calm, serene.

We stopped in another town to meet up with some relatives that own a bed & breakfast. After a delicious lunch & ridiculously cold beer, we were also afforded with the opportunity to take a nap, which I was all over. This town, as well, was a bit different than Fortaleza in regards to the tranquility, lack of traffic, etc. Overall, I very much enjoyed.

That night we went to what has become a Wednesday-night tradition here: Quiz Night. A local bar holds this each wednesday in competition for 10 free beers, so a bunch of us have started going each week. This has proved to be a really good Portuguese learning experience for me, as the host speaks into the mic very slowly, and perhaps more importantly, I really want to win the beer, so I pay very close attention. Each table competes against other tables, and we have now won the past 2 weeks!