Kaiserwerth

After 4 months of winter, this was the first weekend that we had sun with mild temperature.  Spring is coming !!!! Our good friend, Anh, was visiting, thus we went up to a nearby town Kaiserwerth.  It is a cute little town 20 minutes outside Dusseldorf with castle ruins along the Rheine river and lots of cute shops, restaurants, and bakery.  We walked along the river and also enjoyed bier garten.  A great way to spend leisurely Sunday.

Carneval in Dusseldorf

We just witnessed Carneval in Dusseldorf.  The same Carneval that is celebrated in New Orleans and Rio.  Less obscenity here, but still big crowds, public drinking/intoxication, costumes, parades, etc.  It starts on Thursday when the women raid Altstadt and cut off men's ties.  Then, non-stop party through Monday.  Saturday featured a kid's parade, which we attended for Marissa.  A little boy in the parade tripped and did a total faceplant right in front of Marissa, and got up screaming and crying.  It looked so bad Marissa started tearing up.  She received some candy and we moved on.  On Sunday, everyone gets dressed up as a clown or other costume, and gathers in Altstadt to party in the streets.  I attached pictures of a group that gathered outside our apartment door (at 9:00 am), before heading off to Altstadt.  I also attached pictures and a video of the scene in Altstadt.  Monday was a holiday, Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), which features a parade.  Maybe it should be re-named Recovery Monday.  Overall, it was a festive weekend.  We will be prepared to fully share in this event next year, including having costumes (visitors welcome).

Happy New Year!  And let me tell you, New Year’s Eve is crazy here.  People go out into the street and light fireworks everywhere, to the point that it could be a little dangerous.  For about 25 minutes (just before midnight until quarter after) the night sky was filled with the flickering multi-colored glow of fireworks.  Our ears were filled with the sounds of church bells ringing, firecrackers exploding, and the whistling and popping of the aerial fireworks. It was quite a celebration!

As cool as the New Year’s celebration was, it did not overshadow our trip to Amsterdam.  Amsterdam is a wonderful place to visit, and it seems to have something for everyone.  It is easy to get around, very kid-friendly, and well suited for tourists.  We did the obligatory canal cruise, as well as visited the floating flower market, some cheese shops, and quickly walked through the red light district.  We also enjoyed walking through the Jordaan area, a revitalized area with nice little shops, restaurants and cafes.  Heather toured the VanGough museum, while Marissa spent some time at the Apple store playing games on the newest iPad.

Of course no trip would be complete without a visit to a microbrewery or two.  We found one called De Prael, that made outstanding Belgian inspired beers, and another called Bier Fabriek that featured marinated chicken roasted over a fire (delicious!).  There was also a brewery set in a windmill, which had great beers.  We met a Dutch couple there that travels to Dusseldorf regularly, to hang in Altstadt and eat pizza.  We really enjoyed talking with them, and they directed us to a restaurant called “Biertuin”, where they had great food and a variety of great beers on tap, including one from the innovative TV show “Brewdogs”.  A few pictures follow, and a video of Marissa at Christmas Market jumping in muddy puddles (Peppa Pig cartoon reference):

Planning Dates for a visit to Europe/Germany

For those of you that are interested in meeting up with us while visiting Europe, or in visiting us in Dusseldorf, Heather and I have compiled some suggested 2015 dates that work for our schedule.  Other dates may work as well, but we thought we would start with these to begin a planning process  July is not good for us, we will be in Baltimore for the last 2 weeks of July.

Here are our suggested date ranges:

February 14-22   Monday the 16th is Carnival, which has parades and celebration, so good for kids and adults.

April 23 - May 3  April 25 and 26 is a major beer festival in Leuven, Belgium (just outside of Brussels, about a 2.5 hour drive from us)  If interested, we need to plan ahead (NOW!) to get accomodations.

May 14-31         

September         The whole month of September is wide open

December 5 - 20 This is a good time to visit with small children, because the Christmas markets are open.

I hope this makes planning a visit to Europe easier, we would love to have visitors and share this European experience with as much family and as many friends as possible.  I can help you plan the trip from my end as well, since I am Chief Vacation Planner for the family.

We are entering the Christmas season in Dusseldorf.  Christmas is a big deal here, with Christmas Markets, Parades and many celebrations.  It started on November 6, with St. Martins day.  St. Martin is the patron saint of children and the poor.  Marissa's Daycare celebrated with a procession to a nearby park, to sing songs around a fire.  The children made lanterns that are illuminated by a small light on the end of a stick.  Tradition says that when you see a small child, you should give them a treat.  Marissa gets treats all over the place, from loaves of bread to lollipops.  It is quite nice.

Then came November 11th, when everyone gathers in the center of Altstat at 11:11 am, dressed up, and ready to get drunk and carry on.  Reminded me of the Mummers in Philly.  This date starts the religious holidays, but the dressing up part is a tradition to mock the French (Napolean) and others who have occupied the region at various times throughout history.

The Christmas Markets open at the end of November.  Dusseldorf has the best Markets apparently, with tourists coming from all around the region (The Netherlands, Belgium, UK, etc.) to visit.  We are looking forward to this event very much.  I will post some pictures when the time comes.  There are some great videos on You Tube as well, if you want to get a glimpse of what it looks like.

The cold weather has also ushered in some nice winter beer.  I found some bock beer (shown below) that is excellent.  A perfect balance of dry hoppiness and medium malty body disguises the 6.9% alcohol.  This a wonderful treat to enjoy on the cold damp nights here (while I watch Marissa's Papa Pig cartoons over and over).

And one last thought, our furniture came about 5 weeks ago, so we are much more comfortable now.

Trip to St. Bernardus brewery and Bruges, Belgium

Our first vacation while in Europe is complete.  We stayed 2 nights at a B&B attached to the St. Bernardus Brewery in Watou, Belgium, and then stayed 2 nights at a B&B in Bruges.  St. Bernardus brews one of the highest ranked beers in the world, Abt 12, which is a Trappist Monk recipe from nearby St. Sixtus abbey.  They also brew several other recipes from the Monks, and a few of their own beers.  The B&B was amazing, a personal residence until 5 years ago, when it was purchased and renovated.  An addition to the home actually attaches it to the brewery.  This was a wonderful place, we enjoyed it thoroughly.  Even Marissa seemed very happy and relaxed here.  The nearby town of Watou is right on the border with France.  It is a charming 300+ year old town, surrounded by countryside and farms (including hop farms).  We will go back again!  Oh, did I mention that the B&B has all the brewery beers in stock with an open bar policy?  I took full advantage, and then some, as you will see...

We then drove to Bruges, which is a beautiful city known as the Venice of the north because of its canals.  We would like to return to Bruges as well, but it is not great for small kids.  If anyone comes to visit us, this is a candidate for where we should go (without kids), because it has great restaurants (think mussels and pomme frites for starters), bars, and nightlife that we were unable to fully take in during this first visit.

A few pictures follow, and if people want to see more, let me know and I can add to the post.  There's a little beer commentary at the end too:

St. Bernardus, with phone number (for future reference), and the hop field in background:

A view from our window, and an afternoon picnic with beer (yea... Abt 12):

This is what they stocked the open bar with, and don't worry, there were multiples of these selections consumed:

 There was a nearby children's zoo and a beach, so we visited those as well:

 

And then there was Bruges:

 For my beer buddies, notice the Saaz and Styrian hops, and then Mosaic dry hopping (and 9.5% ABV).  If you can get this one in the US, try it!

I also had a triple and a blonde at the only microbrewery in Bruges , and a LaChouffe.  Would have loved to continue sampling, but with 240 Belgian beers available, there was just not enough time.

But the best beer on the trip was a local beer brewed in Watou by Poperinge Brewing, called simply Poperinge Hommelbier.  Hommel is "hops" in Flemish.  This is the beer that I would make if I could only brew one beer for the rest of my life.  This strong Belgian pale ale had a perfect balance of light but rich malt body (almost like a triple), with a hoppy lemony fruit in the middle palate, and a lemon peppery finish.  Honorable mention goes to St. Bernardus Triple, for its hefewiezen-like  fruity esters, but 8% abv.

As a very special bonus, I was given the last bottle in stock at the St. Bernardus brewery of their Extra 4, a limited run done for the first time in over 20 years this summer.  It immediately sold out, but they had one bottle left on display.  My beer knowledge and enthusiasm must have impressed, because they just gave me the last bottle.  It was a great trip!

First 2 weeks in new apartment (and beer report)

We are in our new apartment now.  Our first week was spent just getting used to it, the second week was spent dealing with our first illness brought home by Marissa from daycare.  This, our third week, is off to a better start.  Unfortunately, our stuff was just put on the boat in the US last weekend, so we have a 6 week wait until it shows up in Germany.  That is frustrating, because we only packed stuff to "get by" for 2 or 3 weeks, but now we must "camp" for 6 more weeks.  But I digress... this is Wednesday, hump day if you will, and I am ready to report back to my beer drinking buds about the beer here.

Franziskaner, and also the German lager type beers such as Warsteiner, really do taste better here.  Franziskaner especially, has a much more pronounced banana sweetness than back in the US, likely because it has not traveled as far in less than ideal conditions.  I just bought my first case of beer this morning, obviously it was Franziskaner, and trekked it back to the apartment.  Yep, 20  .5 liter bottles. Oh, but do not worry, I did not carry the case the 2.5 blocks back to my apartment.  I bought a small dolly for this task, so you guys can take a sigh of relief, I did not carry it all the way home.  And I have the proper tool to do  it again and again, case after case.  Please note the bottle conditioning notation and pouring instructions on the label:

Our first beer trip, I mean vacation, will be to Sint Bernardus trappist brewery, I mean Brugges, Belgium, so I should have some solid beer reporting, I mean lovely pictures, to share with you when we return.

Auf Wiedersehen