Belgium: Brussels

Everyone told us before we got to Brussels that there wasn’t much to see besides a statue takin’ a piss. Literally, that is what they said, I wasn’t just being crude. That's because the main tourist attraction is a statue called Manekin Pis and is a little boy peeing into a fountain. There are several legends about why such a statue was made but no matter the origins, he is a famous little boy today. He also always gets dressed up, and while we were there a science expo also in town, so he was Einstein. We found other attractions while we were there, of course, and the first day we saw quite a few. We visited the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, the main square (Grote Markt), a famous brew pub and had some yummy Belgian food.

Grote Markt

Manneken Pis as Albert Einstein

 

MEAT AND POTATOES

And, a Brussels sunset

The second day we got our Belgian chocolate fix, visited the Royal Palace and the Palais de Justice. We also visited a museum called the Horta Museum. This is the architect Victor Horta's former house and an example of Art Nouveau style. We then mosied around a park and enjoyed some of our chocolates before we went back to our ‘inn’ for the night. Based on a recommendation from a fellow traveler in Norway, we stayed at a low-budget all inclusive place in Brussels called FunKey Inn. It was a switch up from our normal accommodations and we had a nice, spacious room with lots of free food and drinks!

The Grand Palace

It's hard to tell but there was a bug expo at the museum and the chandelier is covered in tiny beetle shells.

Hydrandgea bushes in the park

After Brussels, we flew to the Motherland! Yea, Britain, baby.

Belgium: Bruges

We loved Bruges! It truly is a fairy tale and I can see why anyone would think it to be an appropriate place to see before they died. We arrived in the early evening and even though our room at the bed and breakfast had a split level toilet and bed design, it was a great location right by the canal and an easy walk into the city. The first evening we found a quiet pub and had a pint of Belgian beer before we had a cheap dinner of sausage and the famous Belgian fries.

It truly is.

Belgian beer!

Magical. See?

The next day, I watched the swans in the canal pruning and diving for fish in the morning before we started exploring. We began by making reservations for a brewery tour and then visited the cathedral that houses the only Michelangelo sculpture outside of Italy, and then had lunch at a little soup shop. After the brewery tour, we walked along the canals and perused the open air market. Then it was a quick nap before dinner on the canal and an impromptu sing-a-long concert in the square. We did not realize that we planned to be in Belgium during their independence day. As part of the celebration, there was a large stage in the main square and a band playing a variety of songs, with the words printed in pamphlets for the crowd to sing along with. We didn’t need the pamphlet when they played Proud Mary and we belted it out with the rest of 'em.

 

Swan canal

So, these people had like 7 dogs in that cart... not a baby.

"Left a good job in the city..."

After breakfast the following morning, we hoofed it to the train station and headed to Brussels.

The Netherlands: The Hague

In The Hague, we stayed at an AirBnB apartment with two cats! They weren’t as friendly as our cat friend Gasperino in Rome but they were still animals and it was fun to pet them and watch their crazy cat antics. After arriving from Amsterdam in the morning, we went to the Mauritshuis museum. It is a small museum but houses the famed Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer and The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius. I was especially excited about seeing the latter as I recently read (listened to) the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Donna Tartt of the same name. I found it to be especially interesting to see the inspiration for a book that I enjoyed. We spent the rest of the evening wandering through the streets, enjoying the historic buildings and the atmosphere of the cafes and restaurants in the center of town.

The Goldfinch

Cats!

 

The next day we went for a nice run in a nearby park and went to the grocery store to get breakfast provisions. We were leisurely about the food preparation and didn’t leave the apartment until about midday for a jaunt to Delft. Delft is the city that is home to the famous blue painted Dutch pottery. This pottery has been a recurring theme for us during our travels. It seems to be the primary export of the Dutch during their infamous trading days because we encountered the blue painted tiles (usually a windmill) almost everywhere we went in Asia. This made it a priority for us to acquire a piece for ourselves and to see the city where it's made. We visited one of only two places that still hand paints the pottery (the others use a machine) and had a short little tour of the shop. After that, we walked into the town center where they were having a lovely Saturday market. We perused the stalls and wandered into the churches as well. Another, classically fun and Dutch day.

We went for a fun run

 

In the workshop

The process of the pottery painting

Looking up at the church in Delft

Check out those lily pads! 

Our last full day in The Hague we spent planning. We have to do a lot more planning in Europe in order to maintain our budget and it can be quite time consuming. The next day we were on a train heading for Belgium!

The Netherlands: Amsterdam

We left the land of cold and seemingly eternal sunshine for the land of the Dutch! First stop was, of course, Amsterdam. Or, A’dam. For the purposes of this post I don’t feel like it is necessary to abbreviate so I will use the whole and proper name throughout. We didn’t arrive until close to 10 pm and were in awe at the night sky. Stars, where have you been? Just kidding, that makes it seem as though Norway was some desolate, yet sunny place. While the sun was out 19 hours a day, it was rarely sunny and Norway is anything but desolate. Nonetheless, we made some (quite funny) jokes about the fact that it was 10 pm and actually dark outside. 

In Amsterdam, we stayed for five nights in a fun little place called a wagonette. We were still at a campground with shared bathrooms and a common kitchen space but we had a solid roof over our heads and real beds, even if in the form of a bunk bed.

Wagonettes!

Amsterdam/Holland is the first place we have been that I have visited and Jared has not. Now, it’s been a long 11 years since I was there but at that time I visited some of the major attractions. It’s a good thing I have a bad memory because I was pretty much game to visit anywhere Jared wanted to go. We left about midday the day following our arrival to go to the Rijks Museum and wander through the streets and canals. The Rijks Museum is home to some of the most famous works from the Dutch masters. It is highly regarded and it is easy to see why. The paintings housed there are different from those that we saw in Italy in both style and subject matter; much fewer scenes of the Passion and more portraits and still-lifes.

I Amsterdam. 

Van Gogh and I

 



The next day was a true ‘site-seeing’ day. We wandered around between Central Station and The Red Light District enjoying the old buildings, variety of shops (we found a whole store dedicated to Ben and Jerry’s) and the general scenery of the city. We went to the Anne Frank museum, but the line was too long and the time was too close to closing. Apparently, if you want to reserve a ticket for a specific time you have to book it months in advance. When it was close to dinner time, we headed back to our campsite with some groceries to cook for the evening. It was this evening that we discovered the deliciously Dutch stroop waffles. These are two incredibly thin waffles with a thin layer of caramel between them. They are delicious. One of us probably ate close to half his weight in stroop waffles. I won’t say which one to protect his identity.

Mandatory canal pic 

Our third day in Amsterdam we spent being huge lazies. It was raining so motivation was low and we decided to stay in and trip plan and watch Dr. Who all day. We definitely made up for it the following day though. It was bike day! We rented bikes from our campsite and headed to Amsterdam Noord. We biked a total of about 40 km and passed through small little Dutch villages and went by some windmills. At the end of the day, we felt very Dutch. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Brooks for the wonderful Christmas gift!

The quaint street we biked down

 

Bicycles and windmills

 

 

Jared got to fulfill his lifelong dream of getting stuck at a drawbridge

The next day we continued our Holland experience by moving on to The Hague.

Norway

We survived our first Ryanair flight with minimal damage. Our late arrival was a blessing in hindsight, as it gave us some time without sunlight, which we really wouldn’t get the rest of our time in Norway.

Midnight in Oslo

The next morning we had to finish up buying our camping supplies, so we went to the local sporting goods store and got our bedrolls, tarps, and a few other incredibly expensive items. Yes, expensive. Norway is expensive. We knew it would be, so it wasn’t a complete shock, but most things are double what we’d pay at home. So during our time there we only bought the necessities, like $4 gas station coffee and $3 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (you don’t understand, I hadn’t had any proper Reese’s in 6 months. Necessity.). Then we took a stroll around Oslo as the weather went through various combinations of sunny/windy/cloudy/rainy in 30 minute cycles. Oslo never quite feels like a ‘big’ city, and lacks the usual number of sites to see that you might get in other European cities. But what it lacks in sites it makes up for in beauty, largely because of its plentiful amount of green space and wide, walkable streets. I’m not sure what it looks like in winter, but in summer it’s wonderful. We visited the Oslo Cathedral, then went on to the Oslo Opera House, which has a slanted roof that you can walk on top of to get a better view of Oslo.

 

 The art on the wooden ceiling at Oslo Cathedral was quite different from anywhere else.

 

Oslo Opera House from below

 

Oslo Opera House from on top



We woke up early (but not before the sun) the next morning to catch our 6:30 AM train towards the fjords in western Norway. The main line between Oslo in the east of Norway and Bergen in the west is the appropriately named Bergen Railway. It’s more than just a train ride though, as the view outside the train window is permanently postcard-worthy Norway: small blue lakes, green and yellow fields, red barns, hillside villages, glaciers, and dozens of flagpoles with the Norwegian flag flying in the wind. We only took it just past halfway, as we were hopping on another train, the Flåmsbana. The Flåmsbana is a scenic train that slowly winds through the Flåm Valley. We were lucky to snag a seat by the left side window (the good side) and enjoyed the ride down to Flåm, a very small town that usually has one cruise ship at port every day.

Oslo is at sea level, so it was green and sunny to start, but the train kept climbing...

and climbing...



and climbing until we reached the highest point of the rail line at Finse,

 then back down through the Flåm Valley on the Flåmsbana.

 

We arrived in Flåm, set up our campsite, then headed out for some light hiking to the old Stave church in Flåm. Unfortunately due to a flood in late 2014, the church had been damaged and the inside was closed for restoration work.

 Our humble home

 

Stave church near Flåm

 The bustling port of Flåm in the background.

The next day we went hiking to the nearby waterfall, came back to the campsite for lunch and trip planning, then an afternoon hike to Otternes farm, a collective farm from the 18^th century that is still operational.

 

Early the next morning we took the 20 minute bus to Gudvangen to the highlight of our time in Norway, kayaking in the Nærøyfjord. Thanks to Joy and Terry for the thoughtful Christmas gift! The Nærøyfjord is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and had been on our (mainly mine) radar since the beginning of the trip. It did not disappoint in any way. Our guide was knowledgeable, safe, and generally fantastic. Oh, and the scenery was pretty good too.

Mostly cloudy but still perfect weather.

I went up this waterfall by myself. I found out later that I was supposed to wait for Christy.

All smiles, though we did have some "kayaking teamwork" issues a couple of times.

Our kayak guides took us to the nearest train station so we could get to Bergen. We arrived to our campsite outside Bergen a little after 10, but there was still plenty of sunlight to set up our tent. The next day we went into Bergen. Like Flåm, Bergen is a common cruise ship port, and is the usual gateway for most tourists to the fjords in Norway. Unlike Flåm, Bergen is large and populous, though it still feels more like a large village than any kind of city. Known for its picturesque wharf area, Bryggen, the weather held up well for us as we lazily strolled around and enjoyed all that Bergen had to offer.

The front of the iconic Bryggen.

 

 

I'm eating a skillingsboller, which is just a fancy Norwegian word for "cinnamon roll without delicious icing like in America." Still good though.

The next day our only agenda was our train back to Oslo, so we took our time getting up and out of our campsite, and went back into Bergen to walk through any of the little streets and alleys we may have missed the day before. Then we boarded our train that went the full distance of the Bergen railway, all 7 hours of it. Pretty, but long.

 

Back alleys of Bryggen.

Our next day in Oslo was our last in Norway. We did some laundry and went around to Oslo’s Palace Park area and wharf, then went off to the airport for our flight to our next destination, Amsterdam!

Italy: Turin

We arrived in Torino at the beginning of an Italian heat wave. The temperature was high and steadily climbing. Like many places in Italy, the apartment we were renting for four days did not have air conditioning nor did it have a fan. The first night we slept OK, the second night was pretty miserable so we asked our host for a fan. He provided one and it made all the difference in the world. The rest of our nights were nice and breezy. Our first full day in the city we had a mission to buy camping supplies (at least what we could manage to take on our RyanAir flight) in order to avoid the not only the high prices of Norway but the risk that they may not have what we needed. We found a nice little tent for cheap and a sleeping bag. We then returned to our apartment and had a nice salad for dinner. Torino is a beautiful, hip city and we went for a little walk around town before bed that night. The wide streets and majestic buildings create a relaxed, sophisticated feeling in the city.

See how sophisticated and relaxed we are?

Residences of the Royal House of Savoy

What a beautiful glow as the sun set

.

The next day we went to the famous Cinema museum (after another mail run) and had a great time perusing the exhibitions related to the history of film as well as modern day displays of costumes and set designs. My favorite parts were the sections made to look like different films or genres with informational signs explaining that particular section. It was definitely worth the effort and the euros to go see this museum in the historic and iconic Mole Antonelliana of Torino. We also tasted a delicious chocolate espresso creation (native to Torino) called a bicherin.

Yum! Bicherin!

The Mole!

 

Our final day, we went to the Royal Houses of the Savoy Family. This is one of several palaces in the Torino area as it is the city where royalty previously resided. The museum was pretty sparse but it was enjoyable to walk through the rooms of the palace and read about their history and also see some of the furnishings and paintings from centuries ago. Included with the price of admission to this museum was admission to the recently opened Galleria Sabauda. Neither of us have the ‘eye’ for discerning good vs. bad art but we are getting better at noticing themes and differences between works in the same museum or others that we have visited. As a result, our museum attention span has increased from around an hour to closer to an hour and a half. After that, we start to get antsy and distracted and we find ourselves just aimlessly walking through the rooms. As such, we left about 2 hours later and, since it was the 4^th of July, we went to get a hot dog! We then had to rush back to do some laundry so it would be dry for our flight to Oslo the next day. After getting it on the line, we went for one last apertivo in Italy and said our goodbyes to delicious pasta and gelato as well.

 

Jared was not happy about mustard on the bottom but I sure was...

 

Buuuut before we left we went to the World Expo in Milan! This was an incredible experience and I'm really, really glad Jared convinced his tight-wad wife to go. I could not have imagined what I experienced. Every country had a unique, huge exhibit focused on the central theme. It was a beautiful expression of global togetherness. At least, I think so.

In the beehive of Britain

Ooooooklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains

On the nets at the Brazil exhibition

 After a month in arguably the most scenic, cultured and historically important country we were sad to say goodbye. But, since goodbyes are always tough, we shouldered our packs anyway and got on a plane to Oslo the next day.