Oostende, Belgium

Last week we took a small little family holiday to the waters of the North Sea. It was the perfect place to get away and relax. We rented an apartment right on the beachfront and made no plans for the week. But before we did our relaxing we had to check off one last Trappist monastery on our Belgian Beer list... Westmalle.

Westmalle is a small little town half way between us and the beach- perfect! We stopped and had a nice little lunch and a short walk of the area. J. and I have both had this beer before, and it is delicious, but we were surprised to see that this is the only trappist beer sold out of a keg... imagine having a keg of trappist beer at your house! (My pants would no longer fit!) Most Trappist beers are bottle fermented so this was a novelty for us as well as a nice little completion to our tour of Belgium Trappist beers- one left in the Netherlands to check off still!

And now for the fun: many a hour were spent on the sand and in the surf in Oostende with a few ventures inland and up the coast to see what was about. We did a lot of lounging and did our fair share of sampling the local cuisine and little of anything else. Although I did manage to fall into the ocean and kill my ipod. All in all it was a nice family trip that we will all look forward to repeating.

PHOTOS

Mecca of Beer

Five down and two to go... Trappist monasteries that make and sell their own beer that is. This past weekend's travels took us to the little town of Westvleteren, Belgium. Westvleteren is the home of The Abbey of Saint Sixtus where the little known and well loved Trappist ale is brewed.
Let me start at the beginning though. Westvleteren is a three hour drive from where we live, and for little ones, driving in the car for more than 10 minutes is boring. We decided to stay the night in the town of Poperinge which is about 10km from the Abby. Poperinge is well known for it's history in WWI & WWII but also for it's hops. The town is home to the national hop meuseum and several historic buildings. We were able to secure our lodging at the Hotel Recour in their beautiful Urania suite. The town in itself boasts many dining opportunities and the chance to taste local and country beer.
Being so close to the French border we were surprised to find that the food as well as the language spoken is Dutch/ Flemish. Being in Flanders we should have known better, but we did not. The meals were not the best we've ever eaten in Belgium, but the beers we had to accompany them made up for any shortcomings.
The Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren is one of the most exclusive monasteries to sell beer. You must make an appointment on the day they specify on their website and then you are given a day and a time that you're able to pick up your beer. You also must give your license plate number and are only allowed 3 crates of beer on your pick up. You are not allowed to sell this beer that you've then purchased nor are you allowed to come back again in the month to pick up more beer. So, I spent over three hours trying to get on the queue for the phone, three hours in the car to drive there, a day to visit the area and then almost four hours to drive home (lots of traffic). This has to be the most expensive beer we've ever owned! Oh, and we brought home the Westvleteren 12 for those interested.

On a side note; apparently the Belgians cannot be without bread for even a moment:

PS: I found love in Belgium too.. shsssh, don't tell J:

Brugge and the English Channel

This past weekend we packed the car and headed out once again to Belgium. Our destination only 2 ½ hours away, and a place where old Europe lives. Brugge, Belgium is about an hour from Brussels situated in the northwest corner of the country. The old part of the city is a beautiful reminder of times past where the streets are all break-your-neck-cobblestones and the roads have no discernable pattern. The houses are small but built well, and the churches are magnificent. There are several squares and many more chocolate shops. There are also horse drawn carriages that will take visitors around the old city and give a limited tour of what old Brugges has to offer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruges
Being the horse lovers that W. and I are, we opted for the buggy ride, and J. didn’t object. This time of the year day light is of limited quantities- because of the latitude and because of the constant cloud cover. Our ride was at twilight, the city shops were lit up and there were oodles of pedestrians out strolling the city streets. The experience was very fairytale, and W. and I enjoyed ourselves very much. J. not being much of a horseman was gracious the half our journey it took to tour the city.
Accommodations in Brugge are expensive, but we were able to find a reasonable hotel at the Hotel Groeninghe using a Rick Steve’s recommendation: http://www.hotelgroeninghe.be/ This hotel included a great European breakfast and was centrally located. The only disappointment I would point out was that you have to park your car at the train station and have a ten minute walk back to the hotel. But not that I’m complaining…
For us, a complete day was enough to see in Brugge, so we loaded back up into the car and drove another 20 minutes away to the Belgium shore town of Oostende which over looks the English Channel. This cute little town was once the vacation hotspot for royalty, but now is open to all sorts of tourists. The beach reminded me of an Oregon beach- cold and windy with drizzly rain. There were no boulders sticking out of the sea, but there were loads of misshapen rocks (small enough to fit into your hand) and all the sea shells a girl and her mom could carry. Belgium: a very fun place to visit!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oostende

Yet another monistary visit

What do you do on a lazy rainy Sunday? Well if you're an Archer living in Europe, you visit a Trappist brewery. Today happened to be our lucky day, and being only an hour and a quarter drive from fine beer prompted us all to load up in the Subaru and head over to Belgium. Once there we enjoyed delicious sandwiches at the monastery cafeteria, and of course Achel beer- both the blonde and brun for those interested. They also have fantastic soup and soft serve ice cream which W. can attest for. There is a small wooded area with trails, and horses pulling buggies in the street. The monastery property is located in both Belgium and Netherlands, so you really can be two places at once! We weren’t able to tour the grounds- but we did see a couple of monks. What a treat for a Sunday in Europe!

And because I didn't bring my camera with me, here are some shots of W. practicing the backstroke in the tub. Enjoy!

Summer fun

Wow, the time is just flying by. I can't believe that it's already August! Only a few short months and the weather will turn and for most of us that will mean sweaters and mittens and steaming mugs of deliciousness. However it is still summer and we are enjoying the spoils of the season. As a family we haven't been 'doing' too much of anything, so we decided we needed to go some where. Luckily we live in such a place where there's plenty of some where’s to go. We really haven't done too much camping since W.'s birth, and so it was decided that now is as good of time as any to go. Off we were to one of our favorite countries; Belgium. Where not only do they have rock climbing- which I've been jonsin' to do, but they have beer.

My first tip that something might be amiss is when we drove into the campsite, and I didn't see any other toddlers. We searched for the perfect campsite by driving in a circle around the park, and choosing one of the three available remaining spots. W. was a great helper while we set up camp. She was in charge of driving the parked car, and is now a master at using the horn, much to the annoyance of her mother. And it wouldn't be camping if there wasn't an abundance of food. J. found a comfy seat in the tent and proceeded to teach W. how to feed him. She is now a master at opening the cooler and rooting for junk food. They both seemed to love this, and who am I to discourage father-daughter bonding?
Sleeping with a two year old is not really my idea of a good time. All night you're getting kicked elbowed or having your blankets removed. Not withstanding the physical discomforts, as a mother I am constantly worried that something might happen while W. is asleep, and I won't know about it. So when she is lying next to me, every time I move, I need to check on her. Sleeping on the ground affords many of these opportunities. But the real obstacle camping with a toddler is getting to the sleeping part. Saturday was very exciting for W.- so much to see and do that she didn't take a nap. (Not for a lack of me trying to convince her to take one) So by 8pm, I thought that she would be exhausted. NOPE! Being in a tent is awesome, and who in their right mind would want to sleep? Finally at 10pm her little eyes shut, and soon after mine did too.

It seems in Europe you need to belong to some sort of mountain climbing club to be able to climb the rocks. So unfortunately we were left on the sidelines admiring the boulders from afar, but we've got a pretty good idea of what to expect for next time. In Belgium almost all of the land is privately owned. In order to climb, you need to get the land owners permission, and pay a fee. However the countryside is beautiful and the rocks are enticing, so we'll be back...

We did however check out the Chimay monastery and sample all of their delicious beers and cheeses. This is one of the nicer Trappist monasteries that I’ve been to. If you’re ever in the area, check them out, you’ll be glad that you did. http://www.chimay.com/en/intro_58.php

Here's a few parting shots from when we came home, and were putting our supplies away. (Many days W. pretends that she's a cat. She'll meow and make slurping noises like she's licking something. As you can see, she is also taking on other feline characteristics!)

Brussels, Belgium

On Friday the 11th of April, the Archer family decided that we'd had enough of Germany, and that we needed to see the sights in Belgium- that and we were running low on good beer. So we loaded up the Subaru and ventured the short way to heart of the European Union- Brussels.


What a beautiful city! What crazy drivers! Now if you've never driven in a large European city, you're in for a treat when you visit Brussels by car. Not only are the streets incredibly narrow, but there are little to no road markings. It's like running with the lemmings... you're all going somewhere, you have an idea of where, but most likely it's not going to end up the way you thought. Thankfully we have our trusty GPS. Not that she does a lot of good when a double Decker sightseeing bus is double parked in your lane, but she helps.


So we arrive at our hotel in the center of Brussels. A nice place with in walking distance to all the places you'd like to visit or take the tour bus to. We were able to comfortably walk around the city with a toddler and a stroller. http://www.eurostarshotels.com/en/hotels-in-belgium-bruxelles-eurostars-grand-place.html

The first stop on our afternoon walking tour was of the Grand Place. Considered by many to be one of the most beautiful squares in Belgium, I now could see why. The Hôtel de Ville is a now the town hall for the city of Brussels; it is absolutely beautiful, and you can read more about it here: http://www.trabel.com/brussel/brussels-town_hall.htm

The Grand Place was bustling with activity, and a weekly market was just coming to a close. There were all kinds of unusual sights to behold- did you know that the Belgians walk their children on leashes? What a great place!

Over the next few days we gorged ourselves on waffles right off the iron, chocolate goodness on every corner, and the main staple we were here to get: BEER! If you love beer as much as we do, this is the place to be. Every cafe has a different taste, and you will never get tired of trying them all. That is unless your toddler starts wanting to have a beer party instead of a tea party... but I digress.

There is just about everything that you could want to try here. And lots of sights, here are a few that we visited: Palais de Justice, Bourse (Stock Exchange), Market Place, King's House, The Town Hall ( Hôtel de Ville), The Guild houses, The Royal Palace, The Royal residence, The Heysel with the Atomium, the St. Hubert gallery (has fantastic chocolate!), and of course Manneken Pis (adorned in his karate outfit). To read about where we've been, check out this web page: http://www.trabel.com/brussel/brussels-buildingsandmonuments.htm

And now I'll leave you with a few parting shots!