It has already been 6 weeks since we have been back to Phoenix.  We still share many stories with our friends and family about our crazy experience living abroad.  We realized we have never written a post about our time in Dusseldorf Germany.

• Urban City living.  We had the opportunity to live right in the middle of the action.  We were walking distance to all everyday necessary and weekend activities.  We really enjoyed our  900 sq. ft. apartment.  Although small by U.S. standards, we were surprised by how comfortable we became in this small arrangement.
• Food and Drink.  It is not surprising we love everything about German food.  We will not forget Schweinehaxe (Pork Knuckle) from Schweine Jane's, potato pancakes with apple sauce from Christmas Market,  Schnitzel with mushroom sauce from Marie's Bender, Pretzels from Aldi, fresh whole grain bread, weisswurst, and most importantly...rotisserie chicken from Rewe.   Let's not forget the Altbeer style beer native to Dusseldorf.  
• Friends.  Germans have hard exterior, but soft interior.  Despite our very limited time and the language barrier, we made new friends.  We are grateful they opened their hearts to welcome us.  
• Green living.  Things we really want to do more.  Walk and bike more, waste less, eat food of higher quality but do it with smaller portions, avoid processed foods, and enjoy the simple things in life with our family and friends.

Paris

Last time I visited Paris,  I was a teenager traveling with my mom and my brother.  This time, I am returning solo (thanks to my dear hubby staying home with M) and I get to experience Paris again 20+ years later. 

My first stop is Musee de l’Orangerie, an intimate and small museum that housed Claude Monet’s Water Lilies (Les Nymphéas).  Late in Monet’s life, he bought a piece of land in Giverny and converted it into water lilies garden where it became his subject of 250 creations.   The paintings are housed in 2 elliptical rooms as continuous loops that encourage the visitor to gaze in endless contemplation.  He wants to experience all variation of lights and also experience lack of boundary between water and sky.  It gave me chills as I walked in.  I also learned, Monet created these works and intended to create a haven for peaceful meditation after the horror of WWI.  I am so glad I visited this museum first.

Since It was a sunny afternoon, I decided to do what Parisians do best, people watching with a big ice cream in my hand in the Tuileries Gardens.  A hour later, I headed to Musee du Louvre.  I went back to revisit Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and the Egyptian sections of Winged Bull.   I only managed to see 1 out of 4 wings of the museum.  Beyond admiring the masterpieces,  a fact comes back to me continuously is that I was in awe of the speed and the effort in removing all the artworks and big fragile status in such short amount of the time during WWII (6 days with 1,400 people).  Wow, a new level of appreciation.

                                                                    Look at the architectural detail on the roof of the Louvre.

 

I started my 2^nd day with a nice cup of coffee with a rooftop view of the Paris building across the street.  I love every building has its decorative details from statue to wrought iron gates, to planted flower pots.  I reminded myself often to look up.

I then made my way to Dominique’s home, the location of my French cooking class.  We first accompanied him to a nearby Farmer’s market where we purchased the of freshest ingredients.  We created a 3 course meal: Salade de courgettes au chevre-Zucchir (zucchini with sundried tomato and fresh goat cheese), chicken with caramelized onions and rosemary potatoes, and Clafoutis aux cerises-Cherries ( plum tart).  They are all simple, but elegant enough that I look forward to duplicating this at home.  We enjoyed our hard labor with, of course, French wine.  

                                                                    Look at this cute French boy helping his daddy to sell fresh goat cheese.

Then, I went to 16^th district and visited Musse of Marmotten which housed more Monet water lilies paintings, along with other Impressionist artists.  I took the scenic route home after visited iconic Eiffel Tower.

My last day in Paris.  I visited a Sunday Farmer’s Market and sampled more crepe and chocolate croissants.  Then I went to visit Musee d’orsay.    It is supposed to be  the 2^nd most popular art museum, following the Louvre.  Anticipating long lines to get in, I pre-purchased all museums tix on-line, so I got in immediately with a separate priority entrance.  All the paintings are housed in a converted train station. The architectural look is just as incredible as the artworks it houses, including those from Van Gough, Paul Cezanne, Rodin…  I finally got to see see some Rodin statues!  The Rodin museum itself is closed for a 1 year renovation.  Rodin’s museum will definitely be one of my stops next time.   After grabbing a quick bite to eat, I had to say goodbye to Paris and headed back to DD.

A few lessons learned:

- Do not go to Paris in August since all locals are on vacation.  City is less crowded, but all major attractions are crowded with tourists.  I think Fall would be a great time of the year to visit.

- Plan at least 2-3 hours everyday of doing nothing by enjoying a nice cup of coffee or ice cream cone at a Bistro.

-  Prepare a nice picnic basket and enjoy it in the outdoors.

I am looking forward to my next return trip with my hubby and M and hopefully it won’t be another 20 years. 

Stuttgart weekend getaway

We decided to do a farewell weekend with Marissa's BFF, Wilma, and her family.   We hopped on a train and went to Stuttgart.

Stuttgart is a very nice city in the southern region of Germany.  It is home to Porsche and Mercedes. They were having a "Sommerfest" in their downtown area, so it made for good timing to be there.  Tents with food and goods were set up everywhere, along with music and many beer tents.

Saturday was predominantly walking around the markets and center city area, spending time picnicking in the park, and then having some incredible food specific to this area.  And....a stop at the local outdoor watering hole for some beer:

That night, we left the girls in the hotel room (Motel One, our favorite) with Wilma's mother and went to the Sommerfest.  There were three bands playing in different sections of the festival, and funny enough, they all played British and American popular music.  No German songs.  This is common around Germany, almost all of the music is either techno (young crowd, dance clubs only), or American/British pop music.

Sunday was all about the zoo.  Polar bears, monkeys/apes, elephants, and a few recognizable creatures shown below.  They also have a very beautiful water lily pond, Heather's favorite part of zoo:

And then, before we knew it, we were on our way back to DD.

Special thanks to Jens and Daniella for planning the weekend for us.  It was a great get-away!

London for High Tea (a.k.a. happy hour)

Hot on the heels of our trip to Chimay, we were off to London.  We stayed at the Motel One at Tower Hill. Anyone travelling to London should stay in this hotel, we highly recommend it for the quality, price and location.  We arrived by plane, figured out how to get from Heathrow to the hotel by express train, and got checked in, all by 3:00.  We were hungry (and thirsty for a London ale), so the concierge recommended a pub down the street called Mary Jane's.  It was a nice place that featured imported beers.  They only carried one English beer on draft, which was out of stock.  So I had my choice of Anchor Steam, Sierra Nevada, Rook Hook, and Guinness.  Yea, I came all the way to London to have my choice of American beers!  They did have one English micro brew in bottle, an American Style IPA from Meantime (Greenwich Mean Time reference I believe), so I went with that.

When you go to a pub, you always need WiFi and some Cars cars (and a sippy cup), and a server with a lot of patience:

We finished the evening walking around the area, which was on the edge of the financial district, very upscale, to get our bearings and organize our thoughts for the next day.  A few nice pics from the district:

The old London Stock Exchange (now a shopping gallery and cafe):

London Eye with Westminster Palace

Our first day was a visit to the Transportation museum, one of the only museums that is not free.  Marissa loved it.  We though it was going to be a 1 hour visit max, but she did not want to leave, and we were there over 3 hours.

The next day Heather took M to a puppet show (Three Little Pigs) on a barge in an area called Richmond.  Heather said the area reminds her of NY Hampton.  M would recommend the puppet show, she talked about it for days.  The show was so lively that it managed to capture the attention of 30 toddlers for 1 hour plus 10 minutes of intermission.  M was just laughing and laughing.  Unfortunately, no pictures of the visit to the puppet barge.  On the way, however, they stopped at the Natural History museum (a free museum):

While Heather and M were off to the puppet barge, I had a chance to go to the Imperial War Museum (another free museum).  Awesome stuff there, especially their WWI exhibit.  A must see for anyone visiting London with an interest in war history.

After the museum, I went back to the financial district to visit a pub I had noticed while walking around.  It was an independent pub owned by Shepard Neame & Co., London's first brewery commissioned the King of England. This brewery makes Bishop's Finger, a favorite English ale of mine.  While hanging out there, I was talking beer with the bartender, I told him about drinking Bishop's Finger in the US, and other beer geek speak.  After talking with him a while, he disclosed that he happened to be a great, great, great grandson of the founding Neame family.  He admitted that he does not tell anyone this, but I seemed really enthusiastic and well informed about beer.  He went on to tell me about the history of the brewery and what they are doing nowadays to survive in this wildly competitive industry.  I went back to the pub the next night to buy a couple of beers "to go", and in the crowded pub, full of "suits" from the financial district, three deep in line, he saw me and said "what'll ya have?", so dressed in my tee shirt and running shorts, I made my way past the suits in line, and got my beer.  I got some looks, and I know what they were thinking (because I was one of those suits in a past life), and it made me feel pretty good.  And one of the beers I bought was a Bishop's Finger, ... for the "suits" ;)

Our third day, another museum.  This time the Maritime Museum, in Greenwich.  M loved this one too, and really raised a fuss about leaving.  Greenwich is a nice college town, on the river outside of London, about a 40 minute train ride from the hotel.  This is also the place where time begins (GMT).

 Playing at the play seafood market:

The Cutty Sark, docked in the Greenwich harbor:

On our final day we went to the Borough Market, just over the London Bridge from our hotel.  Good food from the various vendors, and quite popular with the tourists.  There was also a glassblowing studio (Peter Laytons) nearby. Although the furnace was closed for maintenance, the glass work was on display.  They had some of the most impressive glass work we have ever seen.  Heather was very impressed!

We flew back later that day.  Thank God we did not take the train to London, because this happened to be the week when 2,000 African and Syrian refugees tried to enter England illegally by walking through the Channel Tunnel.  The same tunnel that the train uses to cross the English Channel.  Trucks and trains were at a standstill for days as a result of this issue.

Honorable mention to the Thai Restaurant across the street from the hotel, which had great food.

Chimay, Belgium vacation (more of God's work)

Another family vacation/doing God's work, in Belgium, home of many of the Trappist Breweries, including Chimay.  For those that do not know, the Trappist monasteries that make beer (and other products), use the proceeds to fund their monastery, their charity work, and other associated causes, hence...God's work.

We started our vacation by driving straight to Orval, a Trappist monastery near the border of Belgium, France and Luxembourg.  We stopped for lunch, beer and pictures, on our way to Chimay.  Orval has a beautiful Monastery in a densely forested area.  The Monastery allowed for tours of the ruins of their original site (destroyed over time, and WWII), but we took a pass on that.  We were allowed access to the courtyard of the monastery, however, and took a few pictures:

And the lunch was excellent.  If you ever get there, absolutely get the croquettes made from the Orval produced cheeses.  And the BEER!  Excellent!  They featured a delicious hoppy ale on tap, only available at the restaurant.  And then the Petite Orval and the old Orval.  These are the same 2 beers, but the Petite is aged less than 6 months, the Orval is aged over 6 months and up to 3+ years.  Mine was aged over 3 years.  The beer is unique, it reminded me of a triple style, but more on the wheat beer side.  The petite was more of a complex hefewiezen, fruity and slightly hoppy, while the aged Orval was more bready and had complex sugars/malt character.  These are some of my all time favorites.

After the wonderful lunch, we drove up to Chimay, where we stayed in the Chimay B&B called Auberge du Poteaupre. We checked in and went straight to the restaurant for some Chimay. All beers were on both draft and bottle, so I did a flight of Chimay drafts, which included an exclusive light ale for the non-beer people and/or drivers.  We also got the croquettes made from the Chimay cheeses.  If you think the beer is good, try the cheeses, they make amazing cheese!  They are proud of the life cycle of their beer.  The beer is made, then the spent grains go to local farmers to feed the cows, then their milk is used for the cheese. The B&B was nice and modern, however, it did not have wifi (contrary to their claims).  The disappointing part of our stay here was the flies and bees that are drawn to the restaurant and patio.  I understand that if I were a fly, I would spend my day at the Chimay restaurant too, trying to get in everyone's drink for a sip, but as a human, I found it terribly annoying.   The savior of our stay here was the mini-bar in the room, which was stocked with the three beers, Dubbel (red label), Tripel (white label), and the Quad (blue label).  Umm, the Quad is amazing, to say the least.  And I tasted it over and over, just to make sure.  Malty and bready on the front a mid palate, balanced hops hidden in the background, smooth silky mouthfeel with a clean slightly fruity finish.

Fortunately, we found a nearby brewery and restaurant that made great Belgian style beer (especially the dubbel), had a big playground for Marissa to enjoy while we relaxed, and had great mussels too!  The waiter played basketball for St. John's in New York, so we bonded over talk of past basketball glory, and he made us feel right at home (he comp'd us dessert and several beers too)!  So when in Chimay, go to Brasserie des Fagnes.

Nearby to Brasserie des Fagnes was a cave with an underground river boat ride.  Marissa was very good and seemed to enjoy both the cave and the Brasserie's playground:

The actual town of Chimay, about 10 minutes from the brewery, was very nice.  I found a good restaurant called Casino Brasserie, with mussels and a variety of Belgian Beers:

 The Kwak brought me back to Monk's Cafe in Philly, where this beer was on tap.

Also in the town of Chimay is a Butterfly house, where hundreds of species of butterflies fly around, and even land on you.  And yes, that's Heather's butt:

And finally, while in the Chimay region, we had to visit Hitler's bunker.  From this camp, he oversaw the German advance into France, and eventually Paris.  You cannot visit Belgium without doing some homework ahead of time.  Belgium has a tragic history from both World War I and World War II.  To truly appreciate your visit here, you must understand the utter devastation that occurred, and the fortitude of the people to re-build.

On our way back to Dusseldorf, we stopped at a town called Rochefort, home to Rochefort Trappist Brewery.  Unfortunately, Rochefort does not have a tasting room, restaurant, or store associated with the Monastery, so we went into town for lunch and to try some fresh from the brewery beer.  Since Heather was driving, and it was the last day of vacation, I tried several beers:

I will interject here...I love the Rochefort 8, and the Westmalle triple was absolutely delightful.

For those who know the movie "Beerfest", I had to rotate the horn in order to drink the beer without spilling, just like Das Boot.

As a recap of our trip to Chimay, the area is beautiful, and full of history.  You can visit Orval, Chimay and  Rochefort all in one trip, and even drive up to St. Bernardus.  We found plenty of things to do with Marissa, and I did not even mention her favorite thing yet, a nearby waterpark called L'le Verte!  Staying at Chimay might be better during a different time of year, when the flies are fewer, but as an alternative, the town of Chimay is very nice.  For anyone looking to hike or bike, there seemed to be a few rustic B&B's nearby Orval that would provide a great entry to the forested landscape there.  St. Bernardus has been our favorite destination to date, so make sure to stay there if you can (see our earlier blog on that trip).  We love Belgium!