Waterfalls in Oregon

After chatting with Paul yesterday about life goals and whatnot, I've decided to revive this blog for our miscellaneous travels. We both really enjoy traveling and thinking about traveling, so it's nice to keep a record of where we've been that we can review when we are stuck in dreary Pittsburgh.

Right now, we are in Oregon. I have a conference that starts Wednesday, so we came out a few days early for some sightseeing. Yesterday, we rented a car (a Subaru Forester - nice car!) and drove to the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area to see some waterfalls. We stopped first at Latourell falls:

We hiked there for a bit - a nice loop trail that went up and over the falls - and enjoyed the moss-covered flora:

It's clear that Portland is very moist. Moss is everywhere, even growing on the barriers in the middle of the highway. I didn't manage to snap a photo of that though - too busy speeding along in the Subaru.

Then we drove on to Wahkeena Falls where we hiked up many switchbacks to the top and then along a trail that took us to Multnomah Falls. It got pretty rainy at points, so we got rather damp. Luckily we had thought to pack our rain jackets. Overall, it was a good few hours of hiking, which is just what I had been hoping to accomplish on this trip. Multnomah is pretty epic - a very tall waterfall:

By the time we reached Multnomah, we were very hungry. We'd only had a muffin and a scone for breakfast, and it was about 4pm. Multnomah is reasonably touristy, so they had food for sale. We had our hearts set on big dinners, so we bought some toasted (read: sugary) pecans and a large mocha coffee to share. Maybe not the best thing to eat on such empty stomachs, but wow, did those taste amazing. Then we drove another half hour to Full Sail Brewing Company for some beer and burgers.

I'm currently reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and there was nothing I wanted more than a long day's hike followed by a large meal. And I got it. But now I want another. :)

Nijmegen Addendum

Paul reminded me that I forgot to mention the cafe/pub at which we ate dinner both evenings in Nijmegen.  Paul read about it on a Reddit forum for the town, and we are so glad he did.  It's called The Blue Hand (Cafe In De Blaauwe Hand).  It had great beer - Paul tried a local beer supposedly made only for this cafe: Rooie something or other.  Yum!

The two wood boards in the photo above contain Flammkuchen.  According to the English menu, "It was dubbed Flammkuchen from the days when bakers used thinly rolled bread dough to gauge the temperature of the wood-fired ovens. Innovative bakers began to top off this dough with sour cream and other ingredients, and the Flammkuchen was born."  We tried a Mexican one but liked the sour cream, leek, and bacon one the best.  Delicious!  We also had a fried food mix the first night:

The second night, we tried the soup of the day, which was a surprisingly delicious lentil soup, and some more Flammkuchen. 

If you ever find yourself in Nijmegen, you must try this place.  Definitely one of our favorites from the trip for the food, beer, and ambiance.  As a bonus, it was not overrun with tourists.  

Brugge: The City of Beer, Chocolate, and Frites

Brugge was sweet.  Quite literally.  We ate a lot of sweets there, including waffles:

with whipped cream - Paul preferred this one

with chocolate - I preferred this one

and delicious chocolates:

This particular bag was from The Chocolate Line, which is known for its odd chocolate flavors.  Paul tried:

• Apple, which was described as "Caramel with apple balsamic vinegar and a praline with 'Granny Smith' green apple
• Paola: "Gianduja with a crown of caramelized hazelnuts"
• Piaf: "Marzipan with pieces of orange marinated in Cointreau"

I tried to be a bit more adventurous with:

• Earl Grey: "Milk chocolate ganache with Earl Grey tea"
• Chili: "Bitter ganache and marzipan with slightly smoked 'Espelette' chilli pepper"
• Miss Piggy: "Milk chocolate with almond praline and cripsy bacon with quinoa" - If you look closely, you can see this one in the picture.  It has a little pig face on it and says "bacon."

We both agreed that they were all quite delicious.  We opted not to try the cigar chocolate that contained tobacco leaves or the one that contained fried onion or the one labelled "Wasabi."  There was also one with a marijuana leaf on it in the store, but I don't see that one in the brochure.  Hmmm....

Don't worry, though, we got plenty of exercise to work off all this food.  The Airbnb place at which we stayed had two loaner bikes, so we took a ride around town:

All the park benches in Brugge seem to have dragons as supports - pretty neat!

Then we biked out into the countryside

And saw some sheep:

On our way back, the bridge was up.  Paul was amused at this unique method of raising a bridge:

Later, we took a boat tour of the canals

Paul claimed a monastery (as if he weren't already winning Carcassonne):

And we toured a brewery

that had a great view

And finally, we really liked this parking lot for bikes - clearly the best way to get around Brugge:

"Füssen" Means Feet in German

Liz again, back guest blogging!  We had such a wonderful time in Füssen, I couldn't cover it all in just one post.  The adventures continue.

Our one full day in Füssen was dedicated to a nice, long hike through the surrounding woods and mountains.  Füssen lies along a river called the Lech, which has an interesting milky blue color.  I don't know where the color comes from, but if I ever find out, I'll leave a comment to this post with the explanation.

Our first sight of the day was Lechfalls, where a bust of King Maximilian is carved into the rock wall bordering the river.  This is definitely how I want to be memorialized someday, except it would be better if my statute showed me driving a team of four lions (like on the Siegestor in Munich).

From Lechfalls we walked through some beautiful woods and along a few small lakes (Obersee and Mittelsee), before reaching a lovely lake right below the mountains called Alatsee.

After lunch along the Alatsee shore, I contemplated a swim, but the water was so cold that I didn't quite commit.

 We made our way partly around the lake, and then left it behind to climb a steep trail to a place called Salober Alm.  According to a brief Internet search, "alm" means a mountain/Alpine pasture.  I found it interesting to discover that Germany apparently isn't keen on switchbacks...for much of the way, the trail went pretty much straight up.

This part of the hike wasn't very long, and close to the top we found ourselves at a beautiful outlook with views back towards Füssen and Neuschwanstein.

And, best of all...there was beer!  All the way up there, by its lonesome self, stood the Salober Alm Berghutte ("mountain hut").  We had no idea it would be there, and were pleasantly surprised.  Naturally, we rehydrated ourselves, while enjoying the lovely mountain view, complete with even more cowbell.

Salober Alm was actually in Austria, just across the border.  For security, they had a sign:  "Attention, border!"

And there was a teeter totter!  I had to promise to behave myself, but Kate eventually agreed to play on it with me.

Back down at Alatsee, we found a beautiful spot for swimming and wading.

After that we made our way back to Füssen fairly quickly, as we were pursued by a bloodthirsty swarm of mosquitoes.  More beautiful forest.

And that was our hike!  Definitely a highlight of the trip for me, and I would love to go back some day to explore the area trails further.

Brussels with Friends

After two months of hotels, hostels, and B&Bs, we decided to try Airbnb. Hotels always feel unnecessarily fancy, overpriced, and actually provide few services other than a place to sleep. With Airbnb we could get a kitchen and a more comfortable place for down time (i.e. to write blog posts).

We decided to rent a small apartment for 4 days near the center of Brussels. We showed up at the appointed location and time. Met the owners and got the keys. They were very friendly and helpful---pointing out the nearest grocery store and offered to answer any questions we had. The place was as-advertised. We were very excited.

Sadly, their alarm system malfunctioned the first morning of our stay. It kept going off and they were unable to disable it. Not their fault, but definitely a little stressful for us. They found us a hotel to stay in our second night, drove us there, and refunded us the entire stay. Can't complain about that!

We then moved to another Airbnb apartment for our final two nights in Brussels. Again, the owners responded quickly to our inquiry and were extremely welcoming. We loved it.

My gradschool friend, Nico, is from Belgium. He connected me with his father, Jorge, a resident of Brussels. Jorge offered to personally show us around town. After spending some time with Jorge, I now know where Nico got his hospitality and love of food. Jorge insisted on giving us a driving tour North of the city our first night. I later went back with the metro and took some photos:

The Atomium.

Brussels basilica.

He also pointed out the residence of the Belgian king, although I didn't get a picture.

He then took us out for an excellent Italian dinner. The food was wonderful.

The next morning he met us bright and early and took us on a 12 hour walking tour of the city. We saw beautiful guild halls from the 1600s, ate the famous frites, drank cherry (Kriek) beer, saw parks, goverment buildings, EU buildings, and had a delicious traditional Belgian dinner (mussels and carbonade flamande).

Cookies!

Cherry beer (Kriek) at "La Mort Subite" (the subtle death), which is an old bar that's been run by the same family for four generations.

Guild hall.

Art Noveau architecture.

King's office/palace.  It's good to be the king.

Frites! (Thick fries fried twice to make sure the vitamins are sealed in.)

The next day we met up with our friends Nels and Brianne to visit Antwerp. We went to the modern art museum. Brianne helped us understand what we were looking at.

We had more beer (Belgium is famous for beer) and walked around town.

An interesting public art display.

The Antwerp central train station is a really neat building. There are several floors of train tracks under the building.

On our last day Kate wasn't feeling well, so she stayed at our Airbnb place to rest while I toured the city on my own. I dropped in on the Google Brussels office (everyone was super friendly. Thanks!), and went back to a few sites to take pictures (included above).