Europe (2014) – Page 2

December 29, 2014December 29, 2014

Road Trip to Switzerland

After publishing my last post, I realized I’d forgotten to share some important pics. Cows!

Not just any cows, Belgian Blues, a very muscular breed.

I also forgot to share this image of a house with a thatched roof, which I took specifically for my mother-in-law (her sister visited Belgium years ago and told her about thatched roof homes).

BE_to_CH 011 — House with thatched roof.

And then there was this spider. There are lots and lots of these spiders in Annelies and Yves’ garden (yard).

Oh, and this brick barn. Everything is built with brick in Belgium, even barns.

Those images were captured on our afternoon excursion to secure provisions for our upcoming road trip to Switzerland. We were to leave once Yves got home from work.

BE_to_CH 042 — The Master Packer of Trunks

Yves really does excel at packing a lot of luggage and other stuff into small spaces.

In total, the drive to Tammi and Martin’s house, which is about 20 minutes northwest of Lausanne, Switzerland, was expected to take about eight hours. We decided we’d do about half of the driving on Thursday evening, so we’d have more time with our friends in Switzerland on Friday. Annelies planned a route that took us south through Belgium, into and out of Luxembourg, to Metz, France, where we spent the night.

Rather than eat at home, we decided to grab a quick meal on the road. That’s how we ended up at Burger King in a highway rest stop in Luxembourg.

They speak French in Luxembourg, so I decided to muddle my way through ordering. I was doing okay until the cashier asked if I wanted mayonnaise or mustard. What an odd question to ask about a burger. So I told her make it the normal way. You know, make it however it was usually served. She looked confused by that so I figured I’d make it easy on her and choose the mayo. It was only after my dinner was placed on the tray in front of me that I realized she was asking if I wanted ketchup or mayonnaise for my french fries!

Belgians claim to have invented french fries (pommes frites), and they typically eat them with mayonnaise, NOT ketchup. We got quite a few chuckles out of that whole experience.

Next is one of my favorite captures from that drive…

Minions, as seen at a rest stop in Luxembourg.

I’m still kicking myself for not buying that bearded minion.

The rest of the trip to met, while stormy and dark, was uneventful. And we rose bright and early the next morning to continue our drive to Switzerland.

Sunrise over Metz, France (from our hotel window)

Because we took Yves’ company car, Mike and I weren’t allowed to drive (we’d taken their personal car to the UK), and were relegated to the back seat. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to where we were, I just sat back and enjoyed the scenery. It was quite beautiful, really, especially as we crossed through the mountains west of Alsace, France. Colorful villages with the painted buildings I LOVE, old stuff (castles, churches, etc.), and vineyards.

I told Mike I wanted to return to that area via motorcycle one day. It was quite picturesque.

BE_to_CH 047 — As seen in a small town/village in France.

BE_to_CH 048 — As seen in a small town/village in France.

BE_to_CH 049 — As seen in a small town/village in France.

We stopped at a genuine French patisserie for breakfast, which made my day. The pastries were delightful.

A bit later, we stopped at a rest area for a potty break. The French know how to do road food. (Click on the image for a closer look.)

And we drove right through the heart of France’s Alsacian wine region.

BE_to_CH 052 — As seen in the Alsacian wine region of France.

BE_to_CH 056 — As seen in the Alsacian wine region of France.

BE_to_CH 057 — As seen in the Alsacian wine region of France.

BE_to_CH 062 — As seen in the Alsacian wine region of France.

BE_to_CH 063 — As seen in the Alsacian wine region of France.

BE_to_CH 066 — As seen in the Alsacian wine region of France.

There were vineyards everywhere. And it was harvest time. 🙂

If only we’d had time to linger…

Honestly, though, we were all anxious to see our friends, so we pushed on.

BE_to_CH 073 — As seen at a rest stop outside Basel, Switzerland.

Soon enough, we were overlooking the lovely valley where Tammi and Martin live.

The tall mountains in the background are on the opposite side of Lake Geneva, across from Lausanne.

We were all very happy to reach our destination that day.

BE_to_CH 081 — L-R, Annelies, Heather, me, and Tammi.

That’s cherry beer we are drinking, NOT red wine on ice.

BE_to_CH 098 copy — L-R, Martin, Tammi, Annelies, me, Mike, Yves, Timo, and Heather

Oh, and we can’t forget their sweet, crazy dogs.

We all enjoyed sitting on their lovely terrace, drinking, and chatting. In fact, we did that for hours. Later that night is when they served us Raclette, which I wrote about previously.

Mike and I are truly blessed to have such friends in our lives.

In my next post, I’ll tell you about what we did on Saturday, including our fun, impromptu visit to the nearby medieval village of Gruyeres.

December 28, 2014December 28, 2014

Walking Tour of Zaffelare, Belgium

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. It was a bit of a bust around here. Just a bit, though. We thoroughly enjoyed a visit from Shannon, who was here December 17 – 27. We got to spend time with my Dad and Mike’s Mom, too (they were here December 23 – 27). We were supposed to have a post-Christmas party on December 26 — our son and his wife, and my brother, sis-in-law, and nephew were going to come — but then Mike and I both got walloped with colds halfway through Christmas day. So, sadly, we had to cancel the after-party. It was during that party-that-never-happened that I’d been planning on taking pictures of everyone, so I have very few pics of the people who were here. Sigh…

Instead of a Christmas post, I’ll just get back to the vacation re-cap.

We made it back to Annelies and Yves’ house in Belgium on Wednesday evening, just in time for dinner. By Thursday, Mike and I were both ready for a down day, so we just relaxed around the house while Annelies worked.

At one point, I decided to go for a stroll around town. I wanted a closer look at the brick work I’d been admiring. As the below excerpt from a book I found on-line explains, Belgians are artists with brick.

Annelies and Yves currently live in the town of Zaffelare, which is part of the municipality of Lochristi, located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. Here’s a Google Maps link if you’re curious.

Neither of them think their town is particularly remarkable, but I find it quite charming. Especially when you look at the architectural detail, which I think they probably just take for granted.

It appears very well-maintained, too. There were lovely flowers everywhere, and the streets were very clean.

I found it a charming mix of old and new. There were a number of older, brick buildings being renovated and some new buildings being erected near the town’s center.

There’s even a small castle! (Kasteel van Zaffelare)

I thoroughly enjoyed my walking tour, and I collected quite a few images to share with you. Some of those images are included below. If you like, you can view all of the images I captured during my walk by following this link to my Zaffelare album on Flickr.

First is one of my favorite buildings. I love how the builder used different colored bricks to add detail. Up close, I was delighted to discover some of the bricks featured a ceramic glaze.

Zaffelare 003 — Green and White Glazed Accent Bricks

Zaffelare 004 — If I remember correctly, this is still being used as a school.

Zaffelare 006 — Church (even the steeple is brick)

Zaffelare 013 — Older building undergoing renovation.

Zaffelare 014 — The Castle (Kasteel van Zaffelare)

Zaffelare 036 — Steeple Fashioned from Black Bricks

I was also impressed by the Belgian builders’ use of different varieties of brick and stone. The following picture is a good example of this variety.

Zaffelare 043 — Look at that variety of brick.

I also noticed a lot of stained-glass windows, as seen in the image below (second storey window). I find the bump-out in that building interesting, too. Also, check out the window shades, which are sort of like little garage doors over the windows. These shades are very common on homes, and often have electronic open/close mechanisms (like on garage doors).

Zaffelare 049 — Leaded Stained-glass Window Detail

Another shot of my favorite green-glazed bricks, but this time with a bonus reflection.

Zaffelare 056 — I just love those green-glazed bricks.

Zaffelare 059 — Interesting variety of brick and stone.

Zaffelare 061 — Unique structural support.

Zaffelare 063 — Mix of old and new. Note the closed window shades on the left.

Zaffelare 067 — Cute, newer, modern cottage.

As I made my way back to the house, I was treated with this nice view of the sky while walking down Annelies and Yves’ street.

Zaffelare 085 — Annelies and Yves’ Street

Shortly after I reached the house, Mike and I went to the store for lunch provisions and more beer to take along on our upcoming road trip.

As soon as Yves returned from work, we’d all be piling into the car and heading south through France and into Switzerland for our planned rendezvous at Tammi and Martin’s house. I’ll save that for the next post.

Did you find the masonry as intriguing as I did?

December 23, 2014

UK Wrap-up

I am woefully behind on posting about our European vacation. Heck, I’m behind on blogging, period. It’s been hectic around here, and I just haven’t been motivated to post.

But here goes…

From Gloucester, I’d thought we could wend our way through the countryside, see a couple more cathedrals, and finish the day off in Brighton, a seaside resort town. But since we’d lingered longer than anticipated in Stow-on-the-Wold AND Gloucester, and still had a three-plus-hour drive ahead of us, time was getting tight. And by then, we were both kind of cathedraled out. One can only see so many of those absolutely amazing places in one short span of time before they start blending together. So I told Hubby to just let the GPS plot the fastest route to Brighton and off we went.

Fast routes are rarely scenic, and they’re not always fast either. The GPS took us down past London — on the southwest side — and then south on the M23 past Gatwick Airport. It was nearing rush hour, so traffic was rather heavy.

Our hotel was actually in Hove, a town to the west of Brighton. It appeared to me that the two sort of blended together. As it turns out, Brighton and Hove were merged in 1997 to form the borough of Brighton and Hove. Then, in 2000, the conjoined towns were officially granted city status. So I guess you could say we stayed on the Hove side.

We were both a bit loopy from hunger and fatigue, so after we checked into our hotel, we set out to find a pub.

There were two reasons I wanted to go to Brighton. One, to see an English seaside town, which I pictured as looking much like Wildwood, New Jersey or Ocean City, Maryland. You know, with a boardwalk, souvenir shops, tiny restaurants galore, small hotels and motels, etc. The second reason was to get real, authentic fish and chips.

It took a while, but we finally found Hove Place. And, as you can see in the image above, we secured some fish and chips. They’re commonly served with mushy peas, which I loved, too. Hubby, not so much.

The fish-and chips were seriously the best we’d ever eaten. As is to be expected when dining in a seaside, UK town, right?

Hove Place Collage CLICK HERE for bigger view — Hove Place Collage (click for bigger image)

After that lovely, delicious dinner and two very large glasses of beer, we crashed back at the hotel.

The next morning, we looked around Brighton a bit before heading east to Dover, where we were scheduled to get a 2:00-ish ferry back to France.

Brighton was not at all what I expected. It’s not a cute, quaint seaside town, it’s a bustling city — with tall buildings and everything — that sits beside the water. And we had to cross mountains to get there. The city itself is quite hilly.

It was still cool to see. We explored Brighton a bit the next morning. After finding a car park — aka parking lot — we headed for the water, which was a bit more challenging than anticipated since we were in the middle of a city. But we did it.

We were hoping there’d be restaurants or cafes on the boardwalk, but since there wasn’t a boardwalk, we had to head back into the city.

Look what we spotted in a little alley…

Since I’d never had a genuine English scone, we HAD to go inside.

I’m so glad we did. It was super-cute.

I snapped pictures while we waited for our breakfast to be served.

We both ordered scones and coffee. They were DELICIOUS, and were served on transferware to boot.

After that lovely English breakfast, we strolled around a bit more. Here are some of the fun images I captured.

beachwalk — Hubby waiting while I walked on the beach.

heart rock — Look what I just happened to see on the stony shore.

Finally, a bit of the seaside tackiness I love.

I thought that might have some sort of maritime significance, like a thing ships tied off to, but it’s just art, known as the Doughnut Groyne.

I had to laugh when I saw that, which immediately reminded me of the song, Shiny Disco Balls.

Here’s a collage of images for you…

It wasn’t long before we had to set off for Dover, which was a couple hours away. The drive was interesting, but mostly unremarkable except for some sheep.

Before too long, we were at the ferry terminal.

dover1 — Waiting to pay our ferry toll in Dover.

I used to think the Washington State ferries were big, but they got nothing on these English Channel behemoths!

If you like to see the full collection of pictures from that day, CLICK HERE to get to my Flickr album.

Next up… a walking photo tour of Annelies and Yves’ charming village in Belgium.

November 2, 2014

Delicious Dinner and Fun Social Event

I’m a bit behind on my posts about the Europe trip. While this one is sort of about the trip, it’s more about a delicious dinner idea you simply must try. Our Swiss friends, Tammi and Martin, fed it to us for dinner one night during our recent trip while we were visiting their home.

I knew immediately that I HAD to try it here at home. The only question was, would we be able to find the right cheese, or a suitable replacement.

Here’s a group pic from our visit…

I have the coolest friends. Really. I love these folks.

Anyway, back to dinner. It was called Raclette. It’s pronounced like rock-let. Essentially it’s melted cheese and stuff served over boiled potatoes. Not just any cheese, Raclette cheese. It’s actually a type of cheese, suitable for melting. Martin and Tammi thought maybe Gruyere might be a good substitute. Or any similar cheese that melts well.

Everyone figured it was probably available on-line. It is. It’s actually available through Amazon. But when I was searching, I found The Swiss Bakery, which sells on-line, but also happens to be sorta close to here.

Anyone who likes and buys good cheese knows, cheese ain’t cheap. Gruyere, which I tried first, is $20-$25 per pound at our local supermarket. The Raclette sold by The Swiss Bakery is “only” $17 per pound. And two people can easily eat half a pound of the stuff.

There are different tools you can use to melt the cheese. I’ve been planning to get a table-top raclette grill, AFTER I was sure I could get the cheese.

Since I had no plans for yesterday, and it was too cold and windy for a motorcycle ride (in my opinion), I drove my car to The Swiss Bakery for cheese.

Wanna guess what we had for dinner? LOL. It was darn good, too.

Here are some pics from that first dinner Martin and Tammi served.

BE_to_CH 106 — Martin & Tammi’s Raclette Set-up

There were eight of us, so they actually had two grills.

It was fabulous, really.

Raclette is traditionally served with cornichons (fancy, itty-bitty dill pickles) and cocktail onions, and accompanied by white wine. Apparently — according to Martin who is a chef and knows these things — the cornichons, onions, and wine all work together to help digest the cheese.

And that’s important. Simply put, picture eating a plateful of hot, melted cheese followed by a cold glass of water. The water would turn that cheese into a giant lump of goo in your gullet.

You start with boiled potatoes. You chop them up on your plate as your cheese melts, adding butter or not, depending on what you feel like. Raclette is also served with toppings, a lot like pizza toppings, that you can add to your cheese as it is melting. Diced bacon, dried beef, sliced grape tomatoes, olives, chopped leeks, diced onions, pepperoni, etc. Once the cheese is melted, you scrape it off of the little melting-tray onto your potatoes and voila, a nice little plate of deliciousness, prepared by you exactly to your liking.

For yesterday’s Raclette test here at home, I just put a cast iron frying pan under the broiler. Once it was hot, I removed it from the oven, laid the cheese, in 1/4″ slices, into the pan, added some diced green onions and dried beef, and then put it back under the broiler. By the time I’d put the boiled potatoes onto our plates, cut them up, and added butter, the cheese was ready. It melts well, so that part goes really fast.

Of course, I basically had a giant pan of melted cheese to portion out evenly between two plates, which is harder than having your own little Raclette tray, but I managed.

Here’s what my improvised Raclette looked like…

10734057_10204276547106932_6438601356785269706_n — Improvised Raclette

I served it in a pie plate to make it easier to eat in front of the TV. A regular plate would have been fine had we been dining at the table.

I wanted to get some air-dried Swiss beef — bundnerfleisch — but that’s hard to find locally, so I settled for Bresaola, which I found at Wegman’s. You could also use American dried beef, but the American version is much saltier. And drier. Prosciutto would work, too. So would pepperoni.

I’d really like to find some Speck (an Italian bacon from the South Tyrol region of Italy, which is rubbed with a mix of salt, pepper, juniper berries, other garden herbs, then dry cured, lightly cold smoked over beechwood chips, then stacked in aging cellars, where it is slow dried). Speck is similar to Prosciutto, but I think it’s better.

You can read a bit more about Raclette here, if you like.

Guess what I did before writing this post?

I ordered that Raclette grill I’ve been wanting. LOL.

You should try Raclette for yourself. But remember, the cheese is important. While the experiment with Gruyere was tasty, it wasn’t nearly as good. The Raclette is just a bit more-flavorful. Although boiled potatoes covered with melted Gruyere was far from the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, and I would eat it again in a pinch. But, if you REALLY like cheese and want to enjoy a more-authentic Raclete experience, buy some Raclette cheese. It’s worth it.

October 17, 2014

UK Continued: Gloucester

Early Americans may have been courageous travelers, but they were sure unimaginative when it came to naming places. I’ve been to Gloucester, Massachusetts and Gloucester, Vurginia. Now I can say I’ve been to Gloucester in South West England, too. It’s near the River Severn — when we lived in Maryland, we were close to the Severn River — and has a really big cathedral.

How big?

I couldn’t fit the whole thing into a frame.

Building of the cathedral began in 1089, but “Gloucester has been a place of Christian worship continuously for over 1300 years, since Osric, an Anglo-Saxon prince, founded a religious house here in 678-9 AD.” (If you’d like to learn more of the history, visit the cathedral’s Web site.)

It was VERY cool.

Here are some pics of the exterior, which itself is impressive.

BotW_to_Hove 109 — Statues/sculptures over door.

BotW_to_Hove 111 — Interesting support structure.

BotW_to_Hove 130 — Cloister Garth (courtyard surrounded by cloisters)

BotW_to_Hove 149 — Looking up at the tower from the courtyard.

BotW_to_Hove 153 — Interesting sculpted accent.

BotW_to_Hove 218 — Supports sculpted as if riveted.

garth_spires — LOVE the detail. (click on pic)

As grand as the place is on the outside, it’s even more amazing inside.

BotW_to_Hove 118 — Stunning, intricate cloister ceiling.

BotW_to_Hove 142 — Lovely stained glass.

BotW_to_Hove 123 — More lovely stained glass.

Harry Potter movies were filmed partly at Gloucester.

Stained Glass Collage (click on pic for bigger image)

BotW_to_Hove 166 — Closer look at sculpture below window.

BotW_to_Hove 177 — That’s what I call architectural detail.

BotW_to_Hove 192 — Painted ceiling (the whole room was painted like that).

BotW_to_Hove 197 — Hubby admiring some of the monuments/tombs/memorials.

BotW_to_Hove 201 — Very interesting arches.

shrines — Collage of memorials. (click on pic for larger view)

shrines2 — More memorials. (click on pic for larger view)

I am no historian. Sorry. You can take a virtual tour if you like.

And that was our visit to Gloucester Cathedral.

We roamed around, admiring its splendour for hours. I saw this road sign after leaving the cathedral grounds. It was near where we’d parked.

You can see all of my Gloucester pics on Flickr.

Can you understand how seeing a bunch of these amazing buildings in the span of a few days can get sort of overwhelming? And give one a sore neck?

October 6, 2014October 6, 2014

More UK Road Trip: Stow-on-the-Wold

After an all-too-brief-visit to Bourton-on-the-Water, we headed off to nearby Stow-on-the-Wold. Stow is larger, older (I think), and its sits atop a hill.

This is the town I remember from pictures my friend Janet shared when she visited in late 2013. Janet had been in England for an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint gathering. When she heard I’d be in Stow-on-the-Wold, she said, “You have to stop by and say hello to my friend, Jenny.”

My shy Hubby gets annoyed when I say we have to meet people I know on our journeys, so I figured that if we saw this shop Janet mentioned and had time that I’d pop in to say hello to her friend. Mainly because I knew it would make Janet’s day.

Stow was just as lovely as Bourton, with its limestone buildings and narrow, winding streets. It’s bigger and full of cute little shops.

We parked at the lower end of town and made our way uphill toward the market square. When we passed this restaurant, I marked it, mentally, as a place we should consider for lunch. Especially since Hubby loves old stuff.

I hadn’t read a ton about Stow, but I did know I wanted to see St. Edward’s Church.

St. Edward's Church (built between the 11th and the 15th centuries) — St. Edward’s Church (built between the 11th and the 15th centuries)

The north door of the church is said to have been JRR Tolkien’s inspiration for his drawing of the Gates of Moria in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

North door of St. Edward's Church — North door of St. Edward’s Church

BotW_to_Hove 045 — Inside St. Edward’s Church

BotW_to_Hove 040 — South Door of St. Edward’s Church

St. Edward’s is much smaller than the grand cathedrals we’ve visited, but it was still quite beautiful in its own right.

BotW_to_Hove 041 — Beautiful Stained Glass

BotW_to_Hove 048 — Interior carved plaque (I suspect this is not original to the church).

BotW_to_Hove 049 — Exterior adornment, crumbling.

We spent more time in and around St. Edwards’ than I’d anticipated we would have. It was lovely, really. But we had places to go, and we were both getting hungry, so we made our way back toward where we’d parked.

BotW_to_Hove 068 — Police Station in Cotswold Stone

BotW_to_Hove 028 — Interesting Nippled Glass

BotW_to_Hove 064 — Very Cool (my opinion) Old Stone Barn, Mid-town

We actually did eat at The Porch House. It’s over a thousand years old, how could we not?

The food was delicious, the atmosphere was quaint… it was a win-win.

After lunch, we continued toward the car.

Since we actually had to pass Jenny’s shop (Janet’s friend), I went in.

BotW_to_Hove 093 — Vintage & Paint, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) Stockist

BotW_to_Hove 094 — “Quirky Old Stuff” describes the place perfectly.

The funny thing is, I often like to visit ASCP stores when I travel. Because they’re all quite different. Vintage & Paint is truly unique. I think it’s my favorite, too.

BotW_to_Hove 082 — ToadMama with the Vintage & Paint Mannequin

I absolutely LOVED the shop.

BotW_to_Hove 086 — Part of Jenny’s GI Joe collection.

Jenny had actually run out to grab lunch, so I hung around for a bit and Hubby went to wait in the car.

BotW_to_Hove 089 — Annie Sloan apron-wearing mannequin.

BotW_to_Hove 085 — Fun boar’s head and more GI Joes.

I really did love the store. It’s me, right?

And I actually did get to meet Jenny, too, albeit briefly.

Hubby had been waiting for a while by the time she returned. And the shop was rather busy. Jenny was disappointed that I hadn’t called ahead so we could have scheduled a cup of coffee. I tried to explain that we were avoiding adhering to any sort of agenda. It’s a shame, though, because I believe a sit-down with Jenny would have been fun.

I’m sad I didn’t get a picture with Jenny, but she had customers to tend to.

When I told Jenny how much I liked her shop and how radically different it is from Janet’s, she admitted that she was a bit embarrassed when Janet showed up unexpectedly at her door.They’d only met for the first time at that ASCP conference I mentioned.

She’d gotten the impression that Janet’s shop was a bit more girly and frilly than Vintage & Paint, and she was afraid Janet may have been appalled at her eclectic, unusual collection. I assured her that, while many of her wares are not Janet’s cup of tea, I’m sure Janet, who is not uppity at all, enjoyed seeing Jenny’s unique, fun, expressive, and funky shop.

As I was leaving, I told Jenny I liked her mannequin. She said to me, with the dry British sense of humor and accent that I truly enjoy, “She’s a bit under-dressed today. She was wearing a coat yesterday, but someone bought it.” LOL.

And that wraps up our too-short visit to Stow-on-the-Wold.

Next up, Gloucester Cathedral. Be sure to check back, especially if you liked seeing my post from Canterbury. Gloucester Cathedral is absolutely amazing.