Belgium - Ghent/ Brussles

Back in the states my typical work travel consisted of middle of January trips to South Bend, Indiana, and frequent trips to small towns in Illinois where the best lunch spot was McDonald's and the best hotel was a motel, where the entrance to the rooms was on the outside of the building. Built more for hourly service, than that of the comforts required by a traveling business-woman.

Our jobs here in England, however, have afforded us a great opportunity to take impromptu visits to various countries. In January, after a work visit to Paris and Dusseldorf, Brett met me for a weekend in Belgium, where we spent the weekend exploring the medieval town of Ghent, drinking delicious Belgium beers, eating Belgium waffles, and experiencing our first Jenever (flavored Dutch gin) bar.  I guess the weekend was a bit glutenous, but what holiday isn't!


Ghent is also home to the famous Ghent alterpiece, a super old artwork that was stolen during the Nazi occupation of Belgium, and thankfully safely returned post-war. This artwork was featured in the movie Monuments Men.


We spent Sunday night in Brussels so that we could hop on the first Eurostar train back to London, in order to be back for work on Monday morning. While in Brussels, we expanded on our bar crawl, by opening it up to a bar crawl and frites (french fries) crawl.

Frites is a way of life in Belgium, where the best frite places often include adjectives such as handcut, double fried, and duck fat, with more sauce options than one can count- our favorite being the spicy sauce, a combination of mayonnaise and hot sauce. Ketchup, on the other hand, is for amateurs.

There are annual rankings of the best frites in Brussels, and we were fortunate enough to try two of the best places. Our first stop could easily be described as the point in time upon which all future time is measured against, Fritland. The place was packed with college aged travel abroad students, looking for a cheap meal, regardless of the impact on the waistline. And the other place we went was Friterie Tabora. I think the final verdict was a tie.

If you like beer, do yourself a favor and visit Belgium!

2015 travels

Our 2015 travel season has finally started and I am so excited about all the new countries and cities we get to visit this year.

Quick shout out to the brains behind our travels -Brett, without you, none of this would be possible. Although I coast along in this fairytale life here in Europe, it takes a lot of financial planning, and organisation in order to sustain this level of travels.

The organisation or flights, hotels, where to stay, where to go, is all Brett. I however, can't keep all our travels straight, and most often cram the week before a trip, studying up on what to buy and where to eat. Thanks for all you do- wouldn't want to be on this rollercoaster with anyone else.

So far this year we have visited Ghent and Brussels, skied the French Alps in Val d'Isere, and toured the old stopping grounds of Constantine, Istanbul.

Here is a list of our upcoming trips in 2015:
Marrakesh, Moracco
Rome
Prague, Budapest, Vienna
Ireland, Paris
Valencia, Spain
Italian wine country, Lake Como
Marseilles, France; Barcelona
And to end the year... Thailand for Christmas!

Here's hoping that I can keep up the blog with all these wonderful trips!

Monaco, France: The lives of the rich and famous

Monaco, France

Actual Date of event: Early June

On our second day in Nice, we took a train to visit the city of Monaco. A city know for the rich and famous, the city is most well known for their world famous F1 race- the Grand Prix, their ultra fab casino- the Monte Carlo, and their banks- known to harbour foreign money. 

We visited Monaco, the day after the Grand Prix, while the stands and the track infrastructure were still in place.  



We started off the day by walking along the track and then up to the palace where Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene live. This was quite a view to be had as on either side of the palace was a beautiful vantage point for pictures of the city, landscape and the harbour.

Through Brett and my travels this year, we are a firm believer is always maintaining the proper level of food to alcohol to sightseeing ratio. If we sightsee for too long… endless museums, too much walking…. The day quickly turns from “this is the most amazing place I have ever been” to hunger, irritation and general tiredness.

After our hike to the top of the palace, we headed down to enjoy a refreshing drink and some food to prod us along. After a much needed refuelling, we visited the outside of the Monte Carlo. Entrance to the casino costs 10 euros and there is a requirement to have a jacket to enter. As we were just casual travellers, we forewent going inside.

Front of the Monte Carlo

Back of the Monte Carlo

Total days required to see Monaco: 1 Day

After a quick lunch, we jumped back on the train and headed back to Nice where we were staying for one more day.  Everything in Monaco is expensive, so I don’t think we would stay here again, but it was a really beautiful city to visit as a day trip.

Until next time-

Mary

Nice is nice

Location: Nice, France
Actual date of event: Late May

A costal town along the Mediterranean Sea, Nice is a beautiful city where hiking to the top of a vantage point or sharing a bottle of house wine are the only items on the itinerary. With the picturesque buildings all in a different shade of orange or pink, it is a dream to an expat with a DSLR.

Our first day in Nice, we walked along the boardwalk and took in the scenery. We enjoyed a casual lunch, along the cobblestone streets of the old town, with house wine and Napoli-style pizza.

One of my favourite parts of visiting cities in Europe is their old town areas which include, narrow cobblestone streets, quaint 10 table restaurants and more cafes than one can count. Where drinking a glass of wine at 11am is normal and the pace of life seems to move much slower. Like for example in Nice, one morning we were enjoying our morning pastry and café and the gentleman next to us was drinking a glass of red wine while reading the paper and wearing a dinner jacket. To which we then said "When in Nice..." and shortly thereafter got ourselves a glass of wine as well.  

There are a few staples that we look for when visiting a new city- the local deli and cheese shop, the local bakery for freshly baked bread and pastries and the local wine shop. Although it is easy to think that a city like Nice is only inhabited by tourists, there most often is a very lively local community that depends on those shops. Another perk is that these shops are not very often frequented by the tourists. Our first day in Nice, we found a cheese shop and a wine shop where the house bottle of wine cost 3.25 euros. We enjoyed cheese and wine while we cleaned up and got ready for dinner.

We went to dinner that night at a small restaurant called Papayou, where we dined on pate, homemade mushroom ravioli, seafood pasta and lots of wine. There is some saying where dinner is about the people and that the food can only complement the company and conversations being had. So the company was perfect (Brett’s parents), the atmosphere was perfect (Nice is nice) and the wine and food were perfect, hence a perfect evening in the south of France.

Wine shop: Caves Caprioclio 

Pastry Shop: La Fougasserie

Dinner first night: Papayou

Dinner second night: Bistro de Antoine

Until next time-

Mary

Bombers in London

Shoreditch is a neighbourhood in London, that is known for their eclectic variety of anything- be it street art, food or vintage clothing. Typically I rock a solid Taylor Swift wardrobe... classic and contemporary, but every time we head to this neighbourhood I channel the Brooklyn stylings of my best friend to find a pairing in my closet that would be deemed appropriate for that neighbourhood.

One weekend a while back, Brett and I were browsing the markets when we stumbled upon a starter jacket from Brett's high school in Cincinnati.

I could say it was unbelievable that we found this jacket, hanging so perfectly perched in the corner of the market, but honestly so many weird moments like this have happened to us, that our initial reaction now is "sure... standard". I can't tell you how often I run into people from Ohio while traveling- Most recently- Clifs of Moher, Ireland; Clifs of Dover, England.

One customer I had at the butcher shop grew up not 10 miles from me in my home town outside of Cincinnati. And when we first moved to Clapham, we bought a second hand coffee pot off craigslist from someone who graduated from our Alma Mater, without even knowing that they were American beforehand.

Just goes to show you how small the world is! Too bad, it takes forever to see it all.

Just a short post today, but it was a really special memory for us, that I wanted to document. Go Bombers!

Cheers- Mary

Challenges of speaking a different language- English that is...

Brett and I were keen to move to London due to the big city life, close proximity to mainland Europe and most of all... that they speak the same language as us! Or so we thought....

95% of our languages are the same, however there have been a few instances where both parties are waving the white flag of defeat because neither of us can understand each other.

The other day, I tried to ask for salmon on my salad- the waitress and I went back and forth three times before we realized we were having communication problems, at which point I did my best Queen Elizabeth II impersonation, stuck my nose up and prestigiously pronounced "salmon" the way a Brit would.  The link below has both the UK and the US versions of this word. Same thing for tomato and zed (for the letter z). Don't even get me started on the pronunciation for zebra.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/salmon
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/zebra?q=zebra

Our vowels are harsher than the British, therefore our speech at times can be unrecognizable, especially when speaking to people where English is their second language and they learned British English. Similar to Americans learning Latin American Spanish verse Spanish Spanish.

Growing up in America, I always had these preconceived ideas of what the English were like. Most of these notions came, I'm sure, from Mary Poppins. Before moving over here, I didn't believe the Brits would say things like: "... skip to the loo", "Jolly good", "Top of the morning", "Bloody hell", "Cheerio", ect. ect. ect. Because it was so stereotypical English! But guys, I have heard them all! And every time I hear someone use the term "Blimey!", I get overjoyed thinking that Austin Powers was an accurate reflection of the English.

If you recall, I worked at a butcher shop temporarily before finding my permanent job in the city. And due to the grotesque nature of the business, I was sometimes shocked by what I saw in the butcher shop. Do you know what phrases this well educated and sophisticated American (gag) taught these English blokes? "Oh. My. God" and "Holy crap". It's like when the English first encountered the Native Americans and blessed them with smallpox. To this day, when I walk into the butcher shop, the guys greet me with a cheerful "Oh my God, it's Mary! Holy crap!"

I created a quiz on Sporcle (a quiz and trivia website- or what I like to call, senior year of college) to demonstrate some of the differences I experience between UK English and US English on a daily basis. Have a go at it if you are bored, and let me know how you did! The link is attached below.

Link below:
Can you pick the US equivalent to the UK word? - Sporcle Games & Trivia



Cheers/ Ta- Mary

Rainy day activities: Malaga, Spain

After spending three days in Seville, we took a short train ride to Malaga, which is on the Southern tip of Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea.

Although Malaga is one of the oldest cities in the world, (evidence dating back to the eighth century BC) it only recently has become tourist destination. The implementation of the high speed train connecting Madrid to Malaga in the 1960's put Malaga and the rest of the Costa del Sol on the map.

Being that we were on the "Coast of the Sun", Brett and I were expecting to soak up the rays and enjoy the rare opportunity to do nothing!

But ironically enough, it was rainy and cold the first two days we were on the "Coast of the Sun". And it wasn't just sprinkling. We get that type of rain every day in London. It was pouring! Which made it difficult to just toughen it out.

So what did we do when it rained on vacation?

Wine Tour

I honestly can't think of a better way to spend a rainy day on vacation, than drinking and eating Spanish tapas all day on beautiful vineyards! 

We hired a semi private tour guide/ car hire to drive us the 60 minutes from Malaga up the winding mountain to the Rhonda region. Only one other couple joined us on our tour, so the tour was still very intimate.

We went to three vineyards:

•Bodegas Garcia Hidalgo:

Our favourite of the three vineyards, this winery is 100% owned and operated by as a family business. We were greeted for a private tour by the owner and winemaker himself (apologies, but I forget his name). The winery produces a very small amount of wine each year, and it is evident as all of their barrels and current stock fit in a storage room no bigger than a household basement. The owner does everything from trim the vines, to making the wine, bottling and labelling. The only time of year he requires assistance is during harvest.

While the four of us and the owner split three bottles of different varieties, the owner's wife, Isabel, continuously brought out homemade tapas: Iberico Chorizo and Manchego, tortilla (potato omelette), Mini Chorizo sliders (probably called something more romantic in Spanish). Guys, this was the best food I have even eaten in my life! Well that might be a stretch, but the atmosphere, the people and the wine all made the food taste even better.


We bought three bottles of wine to take with us back to London- all under 10 euro, which is remarkably cheap if you compare that to a bottle from a vineyard in Napa.

We bought two bottles of the Zabel, a full bodied red wine similar to that of a Zinfandel or a Cabernet. In his broken English he explain that he named the bottle after his wife, Isabel (pictured above), as a romantic gesture for his love for her (queue the awes and tears). Break my heart!


Here are the other two vineyards that we went to that we also very nice, small and quaint. However on a 10 hour boozing wine tour, the last vineyard is never going to be your favourite. By the last vineyard I was probably 2 bottles in for the day, so my memory isn't very good and the wine was going down like water.

•Joaquin Fernandez Bodega

•Chinchilla

Arab Bath House/ Massage 
On the second day it rained in Malaga, we tried to toughen it out and make it around the touristy spots, however, our 3 euro ponchos, mixed with torrential downpour and cold weather made the efforts not worth it.

So we cut our losses and decided to spend the day "at the spa", which we quickly learned was not like any spa we had been to in the States.

A Bath House, whether it be Roman, Arab ect., is similar to a sauna or steam room at the gym, where the room or rooms are super humid, and you just bake for an hour at a time. Contrary to what I thought... there is no pool or Jacuzzi, to which I was severely let down to find out.

So we signed up for an hour in the bath house and then an hour couples massage. What was quite different than our spa experiences in the States was that, although there are plenty of signs that tell you to keep your towel on, this practice is not always applied. Considering that the baths were coed, Brett and I got quite the "show", as we were the only ones who kept their towels on.  There are a few images I will never be able to erase from my brain (shivers). 

But overall it was a really fun way to spend a rainy day in Malaga, and I am glad we have that experience to add to our European travels list. 

---------------------------------

Although we would have preferred an all sunny time in Malaga, our rainy day activities actually were some of my favorite/ most interesting parts of our vakay.

Also the world cup starts today, and England is super pumped about it. And Wimbledon is coming up as well! Exciting stuff on the horizons for London Summer!

Mary