Week 64: Meetups in Belgium and on Bikes

[I apologize for the lateness of these last posts. Between our recent move and other activities, it has been very difficult to catch up. After this post, there are two more coming.]

With the cool summer weather holding on for quite a while in the Eifel, we spent yet another weekend outside. On Saturday, we went to a Meetup member's house for Belgian National Day. As previously noted, Belgium has an uneasy truce between its two biggest groups: the Wallonians and the Flemish, but the national day does not so much celebrate this union as the creation of an independent Belgian state that served as a buffer between the major European powers in the early 1800s.

Much like Americans do for our Independence day, the Belgians celebrate with BBQs, fireworks and other summer outdoor activities--though they do end it with a tented and liquored dance party! We enjoyed it all (okay--minus the dance party) with the Meetup group, despite the cool weather and the rather small fireworks display thrown together in the village where we spent the afternoon and evening.

Spotted on the Way to Belgium: a River Full of Recent Rains

Sunday lived up to its name and we joined some other Meetup-ers for a bike ride along *yet another* section of the Mosel. For this ride, we started in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg. For many, the name Schengen may sound familiar due to the Schengen Agreement, which is the reason why it has been so easy for us to travel from one country in Europe to the next without any boarder controls. The agreement was signed in Schengen in 1985 and removed boarder controls between its signatories. There is a small monument to this event next to the river (and across from the bike rental location where we met up with the group).

View Larger Map

Our ride took us from Schengen to Oberbillig, Germany, up the Mosel river and mostly along bike paths that were lined with Dutch and German Wohnwagons (motor-homes). And the wonderful part of Germany in the summer? Festivals! We found a wine fest, stopped and had some Kaffee, Kuechen and other goodies while listening to the local choir and other choice musical performances. We didn't drink enough to be wobbly on our bikes, but we had enough cake to slow us down a bit. The ride was a total of 35 km (22 miles) and ended at a nice cafe with a beer and a chat before Jason and I caught the train back to our car.

An International Group

The Choir...with a Viking Ship?

Later that week, we did some driving through the countryside near our place and found, as there always seems to be around every corner, a playground with some choice equipment. Not only was there an old school steel merry-go-round (in this bone-crunching style), but there was also a great zip line. Jason was kind enough to get a nice blurry shot of me enjoying the ride!

Being Blurry Makes it Even More Fun!

Week 32: Weihnachtsmaerkte

It seems like two weeks behind is about how it working. So, a few weekends ago we visited our first Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in Trier. We met up with a Meet Up group of ex-pats from Luxembourg City and spent the afternoon drinking Gluewein (mulled wine), eating an assortment of German fair-style food and checking out the stalls of crafts people. As you can see in the picture below, the market is very popular, with people coming in from the surrounding area to enjoy the festivities. 

Crowds at the Trier Weinachtsmarkt

One of the problems with having a wine that is heated, is that sometimes you have to wait for it to heat up. Gluewine is not a particularly "good" wine--one of my German colleagues calls it "horrible", but he also hates the very idea of Christmas markets, so take from that what you will. It really requires being heated to taste at all appetizing. The stall that we found selling the wine for cheaper than anywhere else (it was for a good cause! building schools in Africa, or some such thing) had a problem keeping up with the demand for heated wine and we had to wait on more than one occasion for the big warming pots to do their thing. Nothing like standing out in the cold in a big crowd waiting for cheap wine that brings you closer to your fellow man. Kumba-f'ing-ya.

Present at every Christmas market (at least any that I have seen so far) is a large Christmas pyramid. While I've had the below picture for about two weeks, I had no idea, until just searching on Google two minutes ago, what it was called. Yet again, the Internet saves the day. Anyway, they can be very intricate sculptures, with many various scenes and quite a bit going on. The one below, again from Trier, is a bit simpler than some of the others we have seen.

Weinachtspyramide in Trier

Following our visit to Trier on Saturday, I was off on a work trip that Sunday afternoon to Nuernburg, which is located about a 6 hour train-ride west of us in Bayern (Baveria). Nuernburg is famous for a number of things, including its particular type of sausage (which are spiced similar--at least in my mind--to an American breakfast sausage), Lebkuchen (a type of cookie that tastes similar to gingerbread), Nazi rallies during WWII, WWII related trials and, of course, the Christmas market.

I was told by multiple people, and the Internet, that the Nuernburg Christmas market was not-to-be-missed, so I took a slightly earlier train that I otherwise would have to spend some time walking through the market. It is is a very large market, with many different crafts people and a wide selection of food. Since I was there on a Sunday evening, the crowds were light and I had a nice time wandering through the market. Unfortunately, since it was so dark out, I was unable to get any good pictures of it with my phone, but when I ran across the children's area, I saw the carousel in the below video--it has two floors! Luckily, the video is a bit more forgiving that the still camera when it comes to light, so you get to enjoy it as well. 

Week 23: Rainy Columbus Day Weekend

(I am about a week behind on posting. I will, hopefully, fully catch up later this week, as for the first time in a while, I'll have a full week with no travel.)

Our long weekend was a bit wet, so we did some more inside based activities, including our first trip to a climbing gym here in Germany (they have *no* pads on the floors in the top rope area--just industrial tile on concrete; despite the fact that I knew Jason wouldn't drop me, it took a while to get mentally over that), followed by a stop by IKEA.

The stop by IKEA was primarily to finish up the living room--or get it *closer* to finished than it was before. As you may remember from an earlier post, since our walls are really bumpy and not really white, I built a screen for the projector. I finished that maybe six weeks ago, finally finding some appropriate material for the screen, and getting a can of white paint. The result isn't too bad, as can be seen below. The picture is a little uneven in places--I think I'll need to do a second coat of paint at some point.

The screen in place

The big gain, though, from the trip to IKEA was to finally get the projector high enough above our heads that we didn't have to squinch down on the couch while watching TV. We ended up deciding on one of IKEA's modular units, which is just about the right height for the projector, when placed upside-down on the top most shelf. I like this position much better as it is going to be great for Wii playing during these long winter nights--something I should have done long ago when we had this setup in RI. I do want to paint the unit. Any ideas for anything interesting? I was thinking a 'film' pattern on the legs...

The projector: Standing Tall

We did get out late on Sunday and went by a local Weinfest in Piesport. We had some sausage, wine and then...Waffeln am Steil! And I thought Americans had cornered the market when it came to putting things on sticks. The stand where we bought them had this great little waffle iron that could make up to four of these babies at once. It was a delicious find, with a little powdered sugar.

Jason and the Waffeln

Piesport is a big wine area (as can be guessed by it having a wine fest in the first place). After indulging in the festival food, we took a walk out next to the Mosel, by some vineyards. In the picture below, the hill behind me is covered in vineyards. There were more vineyards behind Jason. Those have already been picked clean. We still don't know just how they do it. We assume by hand, but it is a huge project, so I was expecting to see a roving band of migrant laborers completing the task, but haven't yet seen proof of that guess. Until that point, I will assume it is gnomes. They are in everyone's gardens.

Mosel valley

Week 11: Aachen and Weinfeste

Our weekend revolved around two trips. The first, on Saturday, was to the Mosel river, where we rode our bikes between two towns that were each having a Weinfest (wine festival). We had some great weather and  soon after riding into Zeltingen-Rachtig we came across a small parade, where the local wine queens waved to the crowd and TWO marching bands (one before and one after the wine queens' float) took turns playing some tunes.


View Larger Map

We weren't quite expecting the parade, and didn't know where the wine fest was taking place, so we followed slowly behind, being careful to not parade without a permit. That turned out to be a good tactic, as it brought us directly to the festival ground, where we followed the bands into a tent, got a glass of wine and a beer and watched the bands and some folk dancers do their thing.

Wine and Folk Dancers! Best Saturday Ever!

After enjoying the hospitality, we rode back to Brauneburg, where we had dinner at our second wine festival of the day. This one also had a marching band, though we missed the parade. Soon after we arrived we found the food stand. Jason had a curry wurst, which was made using this amazing kitchen tool that cut a sausage into many pieces in a single swipe. I had an enormous schnizel in a broechen. It was fantastic after our bike ride.

On Sunday, we drove to Aachen, Germany. The drive there went through Belgium. If you have happened to follow any international politics, you would know that they haven't had a government in 13 months. From what we could see, there haven't been any ill effects in the countryside. The cows don't seem to mind. Anywho, Aachen is particularly famous for its cathedral, which holds the remains of Charlemagne. Unfortunately, you can't get close enough to that portion of the church when you aren't on a guided tour, but we did get to see the below, which was nice. Listening to this group helped to remind us just how perfect churches are for such music.

Aachen cathedral also has some of the most beautiful stained glass I have ever seen, as well as some incredible mosaics. So, the designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site is not based on just who is buried there. I am not nearly a good enough photographer and do not have nearly a good enough camera to do the windows or walls any justice. But do take a look at the pictures at the bottom of the Wikipedia page to get a sense of just how spectacular the place is--we will be going back there for sure.

Since we were in Aachen on Sunday, none of the stores were open, but we did do a little window shopping. Below is a picture of one of the windows. See if you can guess which of the key chains was the reason for the photo. I'll give you a hint: for two people I know, it would be a very appropriate gift.