Southern Belgium, Orval and Bouillon
Took a weekend trip with Melissa and Stephanie from work to Southern Belgium. We went to the Orval Monastery, home of the trappist monks who make the legendary beer Orval, as well as some fantastic cheeses. The Orval monastery is beautiful, a mix of an old set of ruins, and a newer rebuilt monastery. Incredible place, incredible surroundings. The Orval logo is a fish with a golden ring in his mouth. The story behind the logo is that the countess Mathilde de Toscane was in Orval on a hunting party, shortly after the death of her husband. While sitting beside the well, her wedding ring slipped from her hand and was lost. All searches for the ring were in vain. After visiting the local chapel and praying, she went back to the fountain, where a fish emerged from the waters with the ring in its mouth, and returned it to her.
The Orval beer is made from the water from this spring, and I washed my newly purchased Orval ceramic mugs in the spring of Matilde for good luck and good memories (I just kind of made that up, there wasn’t a tradition, but if it works, perhaps it will start). I love my new ceramic Orval mugs. They are made my the monks of the abbey, very plain brown but perfectly formed, and with a ceramic version of the logo on one side. They are perfect to drink beer with, especially great beer like Orval.
Back from Dublin
Dublin
Dublin here I come
Warm up your singing voices, and lay another layer of green paint on the town. I am on my way to Dublin. 
Back in action…
The ultrasupergenius.com domain name hit a period of inactivity for a bit there. All due to some ridiculous choices I made ten years ago when registering the domain. 2009 seemed so far away. It is not easy to prove your identity to a Kansas based domain registrar when all of your phone calls are based out of Belgium. It took a trip to see the US ambasador to Belgium and a notarized letter from the US Consul from the Kingdom of Belgium, Provence of Brussels to get everything restored. What a couple of days it has been. Anyway, that is water under the bridge. Back in action. Sorry if anyone missed anything.
Quick post on Paris
I went to Paris over the past weekend, and thought I would put in a place-holder until I get a chance to expand a bit on the trip.
Eiffel tower is impressive. I climbed the stairs to the highest point you can take them (you need to take an elevator to go all the way to the top… and they make you pay for the ride up to the first floor if you didn’t pay at the bottom. Booo.
I met up with some fun Canadians at a cafe, and we hung out for a bit and killed a bottle of wine by the Eiffel tower.
I went to the Louvre, and explored a bit. I found a few items that I really liked… on the whole it is a very impressive place.
Lost in translation…
The building manager of my office building showed up a moment ago. He knocked on the door, peaked his head in and said “Mr. Hobson? Shall I disturb you?”
I pondered this for a moment, thinking to myself “… do I want this guy to do or say something disturbing to me?” The fact that only his head and one of his shoulders was visible as he peaked through the door led me to believe that he was wearing short shorts… or perhaps a mini-skirt and high heels. Perhaps he was holding something disturbing behind his back… A thousand thoughts and images flashed through my mind as I contemplated his offer.
In the end, I decided that since I am in his country, I should respect his wishes and allow him to do something disturbing. Turns out I called his bluff. He had nothing particularly disturbing to say… and just settled on asking me a few questions about the new office.
Things I like about Brussels…
- They say “s’il vous plait” when they bring you something, meaning “please, enjoy this”
- They say viola when they give you something, like change
- You don’t purchase a ride or a ticket for the metro - you purchase a ‘jump’
- The escalators start when you get on them, and stop when no one is riding.
- Balconies on buildings (also something I liked about Louisiana)
- The balcony at my apartment
- The deck at my apartment
- High ceilings and doors
- The high ceilings and doors in my apartment
- Two sizes of toilet flushes, and a combo button that allows you to choose
- Quirky, but they have never heard of a shower curtain, they use only folding glass walls
- They almost always use hand held shower nozzles
- Lots of flowers
- Squares and circles, with loads of shops and restaurants
- The Grand Place
- The Chocolate
- Bank holidays
- Thatched roofs
- Communities where every house MUST be a unique architectural design
- The bread is incredible
- The beer is incredible
- Every beer has its own glass. Magnificient
- The glass for Kwak - it is a short English yard design with a wooden holder. I thought this was a gimmick, until a colleague explained that this was designed eons ago so that carriage drivers would not spill their beer. The carriages have holders that clip the beer in place. The glass is an ancient design to facilitate drinking and driving. Brilliant. Thank goodness for smart horses.
- The coffee
- The fact that every time you get a coffee, it comes with a little something extra on the silver tray, like a chocolate or a cookie (but generally chocolate)
- Nice people, especially if you give them 1/2 a chance to prove it
On my way to Amsterdam…
Sitting in a smoky bar at the train station - Garre du Midi. Waiting for a train to Amsterdam. Always wanted to go. Glad that I brought a smallish backpack (Camelback) - it is the perfect size for quick trips. Caught the train, and there is a 10 minute delay (gasp!). Previous experiences in Europe has taught me not to jump on a train if it arrives two minutes before your intended train. It is likely not the right one. The trains run like clockwork out here. Shocking that there was a delay in the departure, but they will surely make it up on the way to ensure an on-time arrival.
Turns out my jacket has an iPod pocket with a hole and little guides for the headphones. Sweet.
Got to Amsterdam, and found a hostel for 25 euros. Wandered. Tons of bikes, tons of boats, tons of canals. Beautiful city. Not anywhere near what I was expecting, given the American viewpoint on Amsterdam. There were a bunch of pot-heads mulling about - but they just disappeared amongst the crowds of tourists there for other reasons. I didn’t go to the red light district. Just didn’t want to have my first memory of Amsterdam including that. I will likely go back and perhaps take a stroll down the red light district - but perhaps not. There is so much more culture in Amsterdam worth exploring. Neat place.
Drew in the Hostel sketchbook in the morning before heading out. Everyone was really nice.
Here are my photos of Amsterdam.
First grocery trip (although still in hotel)
First grocery run. Crackers, chocolate, and 7 single Belgian beers. Flickr’d the beers. Belgium has amazing beers.
Next adventure: Bank Account
After the meeting with my client - went to the bank to get an account all set up. Bank person was nice, and had a little fun with her in regards to my salary (she was doing a conversion from dollars to euros based on my yearly salary). She wanted to know if it was yearly, or monthly. I told her it was weekly. Hehe. We had a nice laugh, and then got it straightened out.
Jumped on a conference call with my US based client. It is late at this point - and I haven’t had a decent bit of sleep in about 30 hours. Feeling very international at this point, after two high profile meetings on two separate continents. Go me. So tired. Nighty - night.
Had a quick video conference with Mike and Karyn via Skype. Fun stuff.