Germany and Check Republic

The final leg of the tour! And what a great one - I enjoyed Germany much more than I ever I expected I would. Perhaps I just entered with low expections?

Christie and I began in Berlin and were pleasantly surprised with a very shiny, new, quick-paced city. We learned so much about German history, politics and economics of the last century. So many buildings are stark reminders of WW2 and the holocaust - the buildings that weren't bombed down are literaly covered in bullet holes. (~80% of Berlin's buildings were bombed in the war). On our 2nd day we visited Sauchenhausen (sp?) concentration camp - the camp that served as a model camp and SS training facility. Though the visit was thoroughly disheartening, it did serve as an excellent time to reflect on a period of history that will hopefully will never be repeated. Berlin was also the place where we tried "Curry-wurst" which is a city specialty. Now that we've had it, we know how to make the secret sauce.... lots of curry powder + lots of ketchup. Mmmmmm! Oh one more thing about Berlin! We saw Katrina Witt's old apartment! Sweet.

We next skipped over to Prague which was a fabulous change from Western Europe. I mean, just the language so tricky! Luckily, Christie and I don't take ourselves too seriously. You should have seen the dinner we made... seeing as we couldn't read any labels, we just went by the pictures... what could possibly go wrong? Our spaghetti dinner was a ferocious shade of green. lol. Luckily it still tasted good. Most of our time in Prague was spent wandering the city and marvelling over the architexture. I especially liked the clock that had astronomical correlations. I also enjoyed the cheap-o beer; A pint cost less than a Canadian dollar. Nice! The next day however, I made a conclusion that Canadian gals like us do not have the correct enzymes to metabolize Check beer (based on big headaches!...it couldn't possibly have been the quantity....) :)

Munich was up next and I just loved it! Quite a lot smaller then Berlin, but with just as much or more to do. On the first night in town, we wandered into the main square and took in the sights. We had to tear ourselves away from the enormous displays of Birkenstocks! The prices were so low too! Ahh well. The next day should offically be called "Tour Day." We started out with a 3 hour walking tour of the city which was just excellent. Saw the Glockenspiel which was a little wimpy to say the least. After the city tour our guide mentioned that he was doing a "Beer-Hall" tour of Munich and the 1st 1 litre beer was included. What could we say? Of course we were going - beer halls are a huge part of Munich history! (This is where Oktoberfest is for those who don't know). So that tour was just wicked - about 16 of us trekking around the city pretty darn tipsy. We saw the HB beerhaus that Hitler used to speak at (the swastikas are now covered by Bavarian flags), and many others that were more like city parks with picnic tables. All good fun. When that came to an end, our guide mentioned that everyone on the beer-hall tour got to go on the Pub-Crawl for free. Yikes. So I made it about 2 hours before calling it a night in Munich. All in all a great day!

Belgium - Mussells in Brussells and Beer all the time.

Ahh, Belgium. A master of gastronomical delights and 3 National languages! (1. French 2. Flemish-Dutch and 3. German.) Chrisitie and I have decidied the 4 food groups of Belgium must be 1. waffles 2. Chocolate 3. Fries and 4. Beer. I won't lie to you... I ate and drank a lot in Belgium. And it was totally worth it.

We spent the first 2 days in Brussells which delighted us with countless architectural masterpieces. The Grand Place is a truly unbelieveable square - full of people, music and yes, food. The Moules Frites were delicious! It was here in Brussells that Chrisite and I started our quest of discovery of fine Belgian beers. Famourite so far: Leffe Radiuse (red). Christie says she like blonds better. lol. We toured the Catillion brewery where they told us to "forget everything you have ever been told about beer making"... hahaha...they were a little too intense for us!

Next we cruised over to Bruges which I thought was wonderful. It was a major European trading ceentre (for lace and such) until its sea route dried up leaving it isolated inland. We had a good laugh trying out our Flemish here - I was a little rusty! lol. We took a wicked canal cruise and were able to truly appreciate the beauty of this little city. Some people call Bruges the "Venice of the North".... the people in Bruges however call Venice the "Bruges of the South"! Chrisite decided that she was somewhat of a Belgian beer purist here and began drinking only trappist beers (ones made by monks in monestaries). She now declares Rockforth to be her favourite. And she is going to be a nun and start a trappist vineyard. hah. Christie actually disapeared from the world for about 3 days on account of reading the new HP. I'm glad to report she is now back (but now believes she has caught bed bugs!) IT's always an adventure!

The next day we took a full day tour of "Flander's Fields" which was amazing to say the least. I learned more about Canadian involvement in WW1 in a couple hours than I ever knew before. We viewed the Canadian war memorial, trenches, bunkers, graveyards, meuseums and the memorial to Dr. John MacCrae, the doctor who wrote the poem "In Flander's Fields" about his fallen friend. It was incredibly moving. No poppies though - our guide said they bloomed early this year.

Wine Country

I have just spent 2 glorious days in the Burgundy Wine region of France. What an amazing area! I based myself in Dijon (yes, of Dijon mustard fame) and then toured from there.

Upon arriving in Dijon, I was very thirsty (ie: ready to drink lots and lots of wine)... but wasn't sure quite how/where to go tasting. So, I signed up for a free 2 hour tour of the tastes/flavours of Dijon thinking they MUST be talking about wine. Nope - mustard and gingerbread tasting (the specialities of Dijon) - no joke! It was actually pretty cool though. I liked the hot mustards and the bread was also very nice, but pricey. I then took to wandering the cobbled streets and windowshopped at some vert glamourous places. I finally sampled some delicious burgendy red at sidewalk cafe with a glorious salad! The salad tasted terrific after so much bread! (don't worry Lindsay I'm getting my veggies!).

The next day may have been my best so far!

*** Okay - all you winos out there... you may need a glass of wine to accompany the reading of this section***

I started by hitting the open market and stocking up on supplies to make a killer bagette sandwich - AWESOME! I then made my way to Beaune (pronounced bone) which is about 20min away. Beaune is right in the midst of the best growing region. I started with a tour of one of the largest cellars which stretched for 5km underground - pretty unbelievable. I then reached the tasting area which consisted of 4 whites, 10 reds, 2 sparkling wines and then a taste of Cassis liqour. Did I mention the tasting was self serve... :) Don't worry, I was very well behaved. I had the little note book that they provided and wrote notes like "a sharp wine with a clean finish" and "full, bold taste". Most of it was bs - but fun to try; Everyones else was French so no one could read my notes anyways! The reds were much nicer than the ones that usually fall into my price range and the whites were lovely. The Cassis (blackcurrant) was so delicious! A certain set of parents may have some heading their way if I don't break it in the next 2 weeks. PS - Did you know that Pinot Noir is actually a white grape with red skin?? Now you know!

After all that wine, I thought a bike ride was in order! I rented my velo and spent the next 2 hours leisurly cruising the vinyards and stopping randomly for tastings. I would recommed this type of holiday to anyone. It was completely idyllic - the vineyards to my left and fields of sunflowers on my right. The whole day was relatively cheap too .... (you just have to watch how much wine you BUY at the end of the day!) I was pretty spent after that, so it was back to Dijon for a good night sleep. If I had more time, I would definitly head to the Champagne region next. Anyways, I've just arrived in Belgium so I'm sure there will be much to report shortly! Take care!