Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Sooo Big!

We knew our first year in Amsterdam was flying by, but we recently had a wonderful reminder of just how long we've been here:


That's Andrew, who moved here a month after we did (and was born two months after that). Seeing how big Andrew is reminded us how long we've been living it up here in Amsterdam and that we haven't been home in a while. So, we're headed back home to see family and friends for the first time in a year.  

The first year's been amazing and we were so happy to have so many visitors. If you didn't make it this year, you're still invited to come (it's not like the dollar's going to get stronger anytime soon, so why wait?). But until then, if you'll be in Portland or the great state of South Dakota (for you Portlanders, it's about halfway between Portland and New York) let us know and we hope to see you when we're home!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Baarle-Hertog

Earlier this month, Rob noticed several blogs mentioning the town of Baarle-Hertog, near the Belgian-Dutch border.  The town is noticeable because it's both Dutch and Belgian, but in a very odd way.  Instead of one border running through the town, like along a main road or a river, the town consists of 24 plots of land, with some Belgian enclaves inside larger Dutch plots and some Dutch enclaves inside larger Belgian plots. 

So, as you walk through the town, you are constantly crossing between the two countries. Anyway, Rob looked it up and since it's only 15 minutes from Bier Paradijs, he dragged everyone there to check it out.  He's such a nerd.

If you didn't know about the town's unique property, you probably wouldn't notice just by driving through. On foot though, you discover several signs, some more obvious than others. We parked the car and wandered into the town center expecting a clear sign of the two countries' territories- something like little Belgian kids throwing rocks at their Dutch neighbors or something: "Dutchie, Go Home!" Of course, there's nothing so dramatic as that, and we wandered for a couple blocks, a little disappointed, until Paul pointed out that we had just crossed the border:

(As we were taking pictures, the townspeople in the nearby restaurants were getting a kick out of us.  Don't think they get too many tourists in Baarle-Hertog.)  The line of crosses becomes a line of raised silver studs as it enters the road, and as you walk through town you spot it frequently.  The line above splits two buildings, but there are several buildings and houses in town that are split by the border.  As the town changes between the Netherlands and Belgium, so do the street signs and the building numbers.  So, if the border intersects a street, the numbering system totally changes.  It's gotta be tough on a postal worker.  Somewhat helping simplify things, the house numbers feature the flag of whichever country they are in:


Anyway, it was a neat little detour and we were able to enjoy some Belgian food.  At least we think it was Belgian- we were definitely on the Belgian side, but we're pretty sure the waitstaff was Dutch... 

Day Tripping

It's been raining all week, but the skies cleared on Saturday and so we took advantage with a little day trip with our friends, Paul and Simon.  

Our first destination was the National Park De Hoge Veluwe, near Arnhem. The park was formerly the royal hunting grounds, but the only deer we saw were in pens. There is a wonderful free bike program, so we were able to tour through the forest on bikes. The park also hosts the Kröller-Müller Museum, a beautiful fine art museum with a large collection of Van Gogh and other European masters. Outside the museum is an immense sculpture park with over 100 sculptures, including this floating piece:


This piece, made of cable and aluminum, seems to defy physics- it looks like it should blow over or fall to pieces:

The view from underneath is pretty cool:

We could have spent the entire day in the park, but we wanted to stock up on 'supplies,' so we headed to our favorite border rest-stop: the Bier Paradijs.  Just over the Belgian border, the Bier Paradijs is an awesome warehouse full of Belgian beer at (relatively) cheap prices (it's still in Euro, after all). You can buy full racks of beer or fill racks with individual bottles.  This picture's a little blurry- we got there right before it closed and they were turning off the lights.  

We stock up whenever we're in the neighborhood, and with the help of Paul and Simon, managed to fill up the car:

Not a bad haul, huh? 

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Luxembourg

The last stop on our trip was Luxembourg.  The city is built on a hill, surrounded on all sides by rivers or deep valleys, which made it a virtually impenetrable fortress for centuries.  Most of the fortress walls were eventually destroyed, though not in siege, but as a demilitarization act after Luxembourg became a neutral state.  Now, only some of the city walls remain and two of the 'casemates.'  The city was fortified with three rings of walls, forts, and other works and the casemates were the underground tunnels used for storage, shelter, and other defense-related activities.  Most of the casemates have been sealed or destroyed (over 90% of the city's defenses are gone), but they weren't able to destroy the Bock casemates without seriously damaging the city, so it's been preserved.  


It was cool to wander around the tunnels, though there were more than a couple 40 ft stairways to nowhere- you mean we have to turn around, again? The casemates also offer a terrific view of the gardens below:


Finally, we wandered through the pleasant town center, found some lunch and enjoyed the view of the spectacular Pont Adolphe:


Ultimately though, Luxembourg got something of a short shrift from us.  We were tired and ready to be home (and to be sure, our hotel and its neighborhood didn't help.  Here's a tip- avoid the hotels across from the train station.  It's a very seedy area.  Lucky for Rob, he had the protection of two fierce women, so he was never too scared).  So, we piled back into the car for the last time and headed home.  

Somehow it's taken longer than the trip to write about it, but we're finally putting the pictures up on our Flickr page.  Enjoy!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Epernay and the Champagne Valley


After three days in "Champagne" we'd yet to see a vineyard, so we headed to Epernay, the "Capital of Champagne."  Seated at a major crossroads in the Marne River Valley, Epernay is at the very heart of the champagne region, surrounded by hills full of grapevines.  The city itself dates to the 5th century, but has a rough history of being pillaged and burned (at least 25 times!), so there is little in the way of Giant European Churches, etc.  It is, however, home to some of the larger champagne houses, arranged in grand splendor on the Avenue de Champagne.


This is a (small) part of the Moët & Chandon House.  Over 100 km of tunnels are dug into the chalk under this and the other houses on the avenue.  That's a lot of champagne!  Epernay was charming, but we had more important things to do (that would be lunch) so we packed back into the car and drove through the valley to the little town of Châtillon-sur-Marne.  There, we had a most wonderful picnic of French bread, cheese, and, naturally, a little champagne:


The view across the valley was incredible and after lunch and a bit of lounging, we met the local tourism office director, who was quite possibly the most enthusiastic, friendly, and eager-to-please Frenchman ever.  He stuffed map after map and guide after guide into our hands and even let us use his personal bathroom, which just solidified his outstanding reputation in our eyes.  We rewarded his unparalleled service with the purchase of 3 postcards and headed down the road to Hautvillers.

Hautvillers is one of several stunningly charming towns sprinkled along the valley.  In addition to the vast vineyards, each town in the region also competes for a special 'flower rating' based on each town's display of flowers.  Hautvillers is also home to the abbey where the Benedictine monk, Dom Pérignon, worked and dabbled in the improvement of the champagne process.  He's buried there:

We continued along the valley, enjoying the amazing view of the vineyards and the river Marne below.  Our trip to the champagne region was great, but we left feeling that an even better way to enjoy it would be to stay in a small hotel in one of the valley's towns, wandering each day to the next little town over and touring several vineyards and champagne houses of varying sizes. Thanks to the Number One French Tourism Worker, we have armloads of maps and books if we decide to go back.  However, our time in Champagne was up, and we drove on to luxurious Luxembourg...

Troyes

On a tip from an online article, we headed south for an evening in Troyes. Thinking it would be a lovely day for a drive, we forsook the tolled highway for the more scenic backroads.  We wanted to enjoy the French countryside- maybe see some vineyards?- and, after all, isn't that the purpose of a road trip?  As it turned out, it rained the entire duration of the drive and the road from Reims to Troyes does not travel through any vineyards.  Plus, Rob very belatedly realized that he didn't really know exactly what was so great about Troyes (he just does whatever the internet tells him to), so we didn't really know what to do once we got there.  The whole thing had the makings of a disaster.  

But, as we pulled into town, the skies cleared and the rain stopped.  We parked and walked into what turned out to be a beautiful old-town center.  The city center of Troyes is shaped like a champagne cork and still has a very medieval feel.  Many of the homes and cafés are in these wonderful, crooked wooden houses and the streets are narrow and winding.  


The town has its share of Giant European Churches, too, although it was too late in the day to go inside (a nice relief after Riems and Ghent), we did appreciate the tiled roof of one and the gargoyles of another:




After wandering around, we had a nice, people-watching dinner in a narrow street, while a French woman sang old Sinatra and Dean Martin songs.  It was a lovely end to a long day and we headed back to Reims to get some sleep in preparation for the following day in Epernay...