2016 Photochallenge Week 13: B&W Street Photography

At the end of last year I discovered Photochallenge.org.  This is a small group of photographers who set forth a weekly challenge to other professional and amateur photographers.  What I was drawn to with this weekly assignment is that is pushes you to try new techniques and get out and take pictures on a weekly basis.  I'm taking part again this year and will also do a quick blog post about each of them.  The rules of the challenge do require that these are new pictures, not from your back catalogue.  With my busy work schedule, I may not be able to get out each week and do this, so I will likely add a few of my older photos on the blog--taking the opportunity to look at the plethora of pictures I've taken and actually do some processing and weeding.

Photochallenge.org Week 13: Black & White Street Photography

This week's challenge was to try out street photography.  Strangely this does not mean taking pictures of a street or curb!  The idea here is to take photo's of everyday life going on around you.  Most classic street photography is done on-the-sly without the subjects knowing they are on film--getting more candid and less posed shots.  This one was a tough challenge for me to do.  I'm naturally very shy (and Minnesotan) and taking pictures of unsuspecting people threw me off a bit--while doing so is not illegal here in the USA, it is still potentially invading someone's personal space.  The other issue I had was that I live out in a pretty rural town where street scenes during the day are pretty quiet.  Add on the rain and even snow most of the week and I struggled.  I'll be heading downtown soon and will make up for it.  In the mean time--here are a couple of older shots.

1) Rainy alley: I went back into my older photos and looked for some pics that would fit the bill.  I found this one from our trip to Belgium a few years back that I took with my iPhone.  Rain was dripping on us and my friends Chris and Hassan were walking ahead of us, followed by my rain-drenched wife off to the left.  I don't think they noticed me falling back to take photos, so this was very much unposed.  

2) Ghent:  This one was taken from a tour boat on the canal.  While the subject is really the amazing architecture along the street and canal, the folks sitting along the side of the canal relaxing during the day were a happy bonus to the shot.  Rain came out and drenched us about 5 minutes after I took this photo.

3) Sunset in Bruges:  This one was also from my iPhone on our first trip to Bruges, Belgium.  My group had walked ahead of me and I was struck by the long shadows they were leaving on the shiny cobblestones.  

To Ghent! Day 5 of Beertrip 2014

Day 5 of our fabulous trip took us from Brussels to join the rest of our organized tour through Beertrips.com in Ghent. 

We awoke this fine day to a return of sun and pleasant weather in the mid-60's.  We didn't have a lot of time left in my new favorite city, but were able to wander the cobbled streets and take in a bit more of the town.  We poked our heads into a few bottle shops and had some perfectly crispy frites right across from the Bell Fort. 

Back to the hotel for a quick pack and to catch our minivan cab to the train station.  Our cabby was quite the jokester and in straight dead-pan told us that without chocolate he would not drive us to the station.  Later Chris discovered some wrapped dark chocolate in back of the cab and handed it to a somewhat surprised cabby!  The next 10 minutes literally flew by in a mad spinning and drifting hell-ride through the narrow cobble stoned streets of an ancient city.  The whitened and widened eyes of horrified pedestrians flashed past us.  Horses drawing carriages reared in terror.  Bladders clenched.  Prayers were quickly said.   It was white knuckles, brown trousers time!  With an insane Tokyo Drift and squealing of tortured tires on stone, we pulled up inches from the curb at the train station.  Our cabby (who had possibly been watching too many Fast and Furious movies) commented, "I can't get you all the way into the station..."

After blood flow to our clenched hands recovered, we quickly bought tickets and made our train with only minutes to spare.  We would have missed this particular train if the Belgian Vin Diesel hadn't rampaged the streets for us, so hats off good sir!

Is this so wrong?

The trip was only about 30 minutes, but Hassan produced paper Starbucks cups that he had impossibly received while we were all hustling our luggage to the platform.  He apparated a Rochefort 8 and a Fort Lapin Quad and we all cheered our Bruges cab driver and the upcoming city of Ghent!

Photo from the canal by Sj

Our formal tour began at the Waterhuis aan de Bierkant, a large canal-side restaurant and pub with an incredible array of great beer selections.  There, our foursome met up with Carol and Kevin (friends of ours from Happy Gnome beer dinners back in Minnesota), Arthur (an adventurous fellow from New York), and Mike Saxton (our illustrious tour guide and owner of Beertrips.com.)  I ordered a Hercule Stout--a roasty but mild stout with some Belgian yeast character.  With a raucous group toast our tour had officially begun!  After sharing sips of our various beers, with Sj swigging Cantillon out of the bottle like a heathen, we walked a few blocks down the canal to board a canal boat for a welcome tour of Ghent.

View of Ghent from the canal

Our boat had overly foamy bottles of Gentse Tripel waiting for us to spill all over ourselves upon opening.  Plates of local cheeses were provided for our consumption whilst drinking, and pitchers of orange juice glistened in the waning sunlight.  Other tour boats and pedestrians alike looked on in jealous appreciation of our beer-laden boat!  A few minutes into our tour the rains began.  Diluting the beer only slightly, but not bothering most of us, the rains continued through much of our tour.  Suddenly the bottom dropped out, with heavy fat raindrops spattering upon us, and several large umbrellas were passed around.  Sj's umbrella caught some wind and that full pitcher of orange juice tipped as if in slow motion toward my waiting crotch.  With nowhere to dodge to I took the spray and laughed it off.  I had beer in my hand and was on a wet boat in Belgium!  Soggy groin be damned!  At least no beer was wasted!  I know Sj felt terrible about it, but hey, stuff happens, and at least it was me and not one of our traveling companions.  Seconds after the boat docked the sun returned to spite us.  We took a quick detour back to the hotel for fresh pants and then headed back out to explore the city!

Drinking foamy beer on a canal!  (Beware the OJ!)

The next stop (after dry pants of course) was to 't Galgen Huisje, a tiny pub located at the end of the Groot Vleeshuis (midievil meat market building).  This place had space for about 12 people on the ground floor and an even smaller upstairs seating area.  A small bar provided a decent but not stellar mix of Belgian ales, a few on tap.  Our group of 8 had to be split up due to size, a few at a small booth, a few happily chatting with some locals, and two of us standing.  I do have to say that from the time I walked in to having a dripping full glass of Kaiser Karel Blonde was under 60 seconds.  I was still standing by the doorway while my compatriots were getting situated!  This was the quickest I was served a beer in all of Belgium.  The beer was light, slightly hoppy and very refreshing, and served in its very own glass of course!  This little side trip helped us kill time before dinner and get out of the cool drizzle that had started up again.

None of my pics of this place turned out so you can look at my beer instead!

Next was another short walk back to the same building where we had originally met up with our tour group.  Dinner was in the attached Chez Liontine, which luckily had the same impressive beer list as at the outdoor pub.  We were seated in a warm and crowded upstairs dining room.  I ended up ordering a Flemish stew with pig cheeks, braised in Trappist ale.  It was fantastically flavored and the pork was beyond tender, and went amazingly well with a Rochefort 10.  We then had a Kriek-Off between a few of us, comparing several of the local cherry sours.  Carol had the Beersel Kriek--I gave it a 3/5 because it was back sweetened too much.  Sj had the Girardin Kriek--I gave it a 4, but it had a little skunky aroma I didn't love.  And I won this round with the Hanssens Oude Kriek rated at 4.5--almost no carbonation, but so tart and puckering!  By this time we were all full, happy, slightly tipsy and perhaps drove out the other upper floor residents with our American boisterous activities.

An amazing beer!  

Our three new tour mates had all just arrived in Belgium early that day and all three decided to stumble home to bed.  Chris, Hassan, Sj, Mike and I all still had a bit of energy left to spend on the day.  We walked along the moonlit canal.  Large spotlights embedded in the walkways shone up upon the looming stone walls of buildings that had been built before America had even been imagined.  Gargoyles, ornate crosses and various other intricate stonework designs were brought up in stark detail and shadowed contrast by this treatment, giving the city a truly ancient and dreamlike quality.

Ghent by night!

We ended up at Herberg de Dulle Griet, an old beer bar in the heart of the city, not far from Mad Meg the enormous red painted cannon that is a city landmark.  They had a beer list of over 250 options and were open late!  They had a lot of sours and I ended up trying the Boon Marriage Parfait Geueze which was quite tart and refreshing--and lower in alcohol.  A large group of folks from Bristol, UK were crammed into the booth next to us and we talked a bit about beers (of course!)  We watched each of them get the special house beer Max of the House, served in a yard glass (think Kwak glass but three times bigger).  Since so many of these glasses used to go missing the bar takes one of your shoes as collateral for missing or broken glasses.  So watching a rowdy group of Brits all wearing one shoe and trying not to spill from these tall glasses was quite a treat!  After this most of us were too tired and full for more beers so we shambled back to our hotel for a much needed rest.

Blurry?  Now you know how I felt!

Coming Up:  A travel day and more time in Ghent!

Ramble On! Beertrip Days 3-4

Continuing the tale of our trip to the Netherlands and Belgium:

The third day of our trip to Amsterdam started with a bright sun shining happily into the Hotel Fita's breakfast nook as we partook of wonderful pancakes and other sundries.  As a seasoned librarian, Sj had planned far in advance to book us entry to the Anne Frank House that morning.  It has been a long time since I read the book, but I have certainly learned more about WW2 and all the associated monstrosities of Nazi Germany since reading this in junior high.  We walked on a circuitous route over nearly abandoned (for once) canals and past just-opening store fronts.  We arrived at the Anne Frank Huis to find incredible lines of people twisting around the block, but we were quickly buzzed in an alternative entrance for those who had booked ahead.  Word to the wise with any of the museums in Amsterdam: book ahead or get there crazy early that time of year.

Our visit to the museum was a mixed bag.  The place was very small and included three levels of a restored old spice store.  Various quotes from the book were on the walls, as well as pictures of the family members and helpers.  Glass cases with items from the home/office were on display, but difficult to get close enough to look at.  They had us crammed in like sardines and the place was HOT!  It took over an hour to move through the small home, perhaps took too long for comfort.  Our experience was also marred to some extent by a terribly disrespectful group of school kids (about 10-13 years old) who were laughing and fighting with each other while standing right in front of a TV playing clips from Auschwitz.  Not cool.  Despite all that, seeing the reality of a young girl forced to hide in an attic suite with her whole family while trying to find solace in writing about it was heart wrenching and somewhat chilling to me. 

After decompressing from our museum visit, we met our friends Chris and Hassan for a wonderful lunch at a cafe right next to a park.  Sipping on Belgian ales while watching bikers and pedestrians wander past on paths was quite nice.  Next up was checking out of our hotel and dragging all our luggage aboard a tram to the central train station.  There, we heard an announcement about a train to Bruges being canceled, which put us into high alert since that was our destination!  We found a conductor located in front of the info desk who was incredibly rude to us and wouldn't answer our questions about the train.  We eventually discovered a fellow traveler who had been scheduled for the previous train (which was indeed canceled) who helped us figure everything out.

We had about an hour before our train, and the station didn't really have any place for sitting.  To kill time we took a free ferry across the river and ended up hanging out in front of a strange industrial looking art school coffee shop/bar/rave venue.  They had tons of Mexican beers in bottle, and had several craft beers on the list, but apparently were out of all of them.  Eventually the bartender found a few room temperature bottles of Brouerij 't IJ Dubbel for us and we were happy once again!  The beer struck me as dry and pleasant with a light nutty aftertaste.  The young lady behind me ordered coffee and apparently he didn't really know how to make that and I saw her come out after us with two bottles of dubbel as well.  We discovered later that the place wasn't even supposed to be open and our bartender/barrista  was really just watching the place.  Still a fun little way to spend an hour before heading out for Bruges!

We took the fast train to Brussels with comfortable seating and room for our luggage, taking about 1.5 hours or so, coming in late due to some sort of delay.  At the Brussels station we found that all the trains were running late and struck up a conversation with a fellow traveler on his way back to his home town of Ghent.  He gave us some great ideas for local Ghent beer bars that we later used for evil.

The train ride to Ghent was a terrible experience!  Every seat was already taken when the train pulled up at the stop and only a couple of people got off in Brussels.  Sj and I ended up standing in the tiny enclosure between cars (right by the bathroom) with 11 other people, luggage, and some one's baby stroller.  There was nothing to hold onto in that area and every time the train would slow or brake all of us would end up in a sweaty human pig-pile trying not to end up on the floor.  On lady was crammed up against the outer door and it cracked open at one point like it was going to jettison her onto the swiftly passing tracks--freaking all of us out in the process!  During this hellish trip several people with large bags from other cars kept barging their way through, trying unsuccessfully to find better seating.  About half way through the hellish trip a little girl needed to use the restroom and literally had to climb over and under people to get to it.  Luckily she was very small!  We made one stop and finally several people left the train.  Chris and Hassan, who had been able to make it into the car in front of us tried to get a group of four seats for us but a teen with a skateboard snaked one and wouldn't give it up for another across the aisle.  When the conductor came by later, said teen tried to act like he was with us and was eventually found to be traveling with an expired or invalid student pass.  When  the conductor walked back toward the front of the car, the teen tried to make a run for it toward the front of the moving train, but the conductor was no dummy and spotted this.  When we arrived at Bruges there were some very official looking train authorities waiting to question our surly friend.  At least the free entertainment made the time go by quicker. 

We were able to catch a minivan cab from the train station to our hotel.  Nestled in a few blocks from the heart of the city this hotel is wonderful!  They were featured in the bizarre crime film In Bruges and are right on the canal as well.  With the long travel day we were too tired to go explore much, so had dinner at Erasmus, the restaurant attached to our hotel.  The food was excellent.  I had a Flemish beef stew made with Westmalle Dubbel and frites that really hit the spot!  We shared some beers including Westmalle Dubbel, 3 Fonteinen Kriek, and others.  Last time we stayed here they actually organized a beer pairing dinner for us that was amazing.  Their beer menu is extensive with 4 on tap and at least 30-40 in bottles.  The look of the place is more French fine dining than beer restaurant, but I highly recommend it.

After dinner it was now dark, but we were invigorated by food and drink and able to head out for one more destination.  We ended up at Cambrinus, managing to get there just as the late dinner crowd was thinning, and seating was available.  This place is one of the best beer bars in the city and the beer menu is a huge two inch thick beast with wooden covers!  It took us quite some time to narrow down our options while faced with a seemingly endless amount to choose from.  I ended up ordering a tart and wonderful Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus, also sharing a Girardin Framboise and Rodenbach Vintage 2011 with our group.  We did not eat there this time, but last trip we found the local Flemish fare to be wonderful and often included beer in the preparation.  We finished by splitting a Pannepot strong ale from nearby brewers De Struise.  Despite our tire bodies and minds we actually closed down the bar and headed back to our hotel for some much needed rest.

Epic tomes of beer at Cambrinus

Upon waking the following morning, no worse for wear, Sj and I sat in the well lit breakfast dining room of our hotel, overlooking the canal.  Having seen most of the museums and climbed the Bell Fort last visit, this time we planned to just wander and take in the sights of the city.  Bruges was one of the few cities that didn't really get invaded in the World Wars and hence still has an amazing amount of unmarred medieval architecture to observe.  Around the outskirts of the old city, it is ringed by bike paths, windmills and an occasional fortified entry gate left over from when the city was walled.  We took this sunny and pleasant morning to view these sights and get some much needed walking in. 

When we tired of the windmills we found ourselves at De Halve Maan Brewery, (The Half Moon), a place we had visited last time we were in Bruges.  This is an old historic brewery that has been updated in the 2000's and re branded to some extent.  They have a great patio area nestled in a small courtyard between the brewery buildings and serve a limited food menu and their own beers out there.  Taking advantage of the weather we sat outside and struck up a conversation with some neighboring tourists from Canada.  I really enjoyed their Brugse Zot Belgian blonde ale that was bright and fresh and somewhat hoppy.  Sj had the tasty Dubbel and I liked that as well.  They have a full service restaurant inside the main building and also offer brewery tours in several languages through out the day.  We went on the tour last visit and it is well worth the time--you get to walk across the old copper coolship to see a remarkable view of the city from the rooftop!  This brewery is under rated as Belgian breweries go, but I think they have a good set of beers and a great vibe.

Next we met up with Chris and Hassan for more wandering and a medieval pub crawl!  They had scoped out a place on their own wanderings named Herberg Vlissinghe, a pub opened in 1515!  Now that is impressive!  The inside was quite small with old and well used woods and a prominently displayed wood stove and iron warmer in the center.  Out back there was another cozy courtyard filled with smoking Europeans.  Their beer list was limited but included some of the Trappist ales.  I tried a newer brewery Fort Lapin's (rabbit) Tripel which was light, fruity and perfect for the environment.  At one point there was a large crash from a neighboring table as a chair catastrophically failed on a poor patron.  No one seemed too injured thank goodness!  This was a fine place to have a drink and catch up on our day, but I wish it had a better beer list to recommend it.

Quite a spread!

So, a beer in a pub from 1515...where to go from there?  We ended up just rambling about the tight cobble stoned streets enjoying the weather and scenery, eventually getting ourselves turned completely around.  About the time we felt the urge for another beer, we stumbled upon one of the other best beer bars in the city: 'T Brugs Beertje.  Named "Bruges' Little Bear" the pub was opened in 1983 and has been a mecca for good beers ever since.  This is another small building with tight, or intimate, seating.  They offer 300 beers in bottle, with about 4 on tap.  Tap beer is just not a big thing in Belgium.  We ended up sitting next to a contingent of friendly folks from Sam Adams (Boston Beer Company) who were nearby for an industry conference in Ghent.  These are some of the folks responsible for R&D and creators of the boundary pushing Barrel Room beers.  We enjoyed discussing American and Belgian beers with those three quite a bit!  Since we had such an outrageous beer list to choose from Sj and I split a Cantillon Kriek and a Boon Mariage Parfait Kriek.  Both were wonderful, but anything next to Cantillon pales...

Beer (Bear) Heaven?

Not to give up on our quest to discover new beer adventures in Bruges, we went searching for Staminee De Garre.  This was in one of Chris' guidebooks as an old pub on the smallest street in Bruges.  They are known for having a special De Garre tripel that is made for them and only available at the pub, which prompted our quest.  We wandered in circles around and around a large block looking for the place with the aid of a paper map and two different mapping apps on our cell phones.  When we were about to give up, Hassan managed to get the directions from a cranky chocolatier (that likely gets this request often) and we were off around the block again!  The opening to the "street" is really a tiny alley that looks like a store front entrance, truly a hidden little place.  Walking into this street, I felt like I had just been transported to Diagon Alley or perhaps Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter.  Very strange.  The pub within instantly transported us to a lost time.  The special De Garre beer was served in an enormous bowl glass that looked more suitable to goldfish than a drink!  We initially requested to share one, but that is not allowed, so we were all served a smaller and easier to handle version of the glass.  The beer was 11% ABV, but dry and drinkable with a slightly sharp finish, and was served with a small bowl of cheese cubes.  This place is fun and well worth the effort to find it!

We eventually found a Moroccan restaurant for a late dinner.  The menu outside was intriguing and they made mention of slow food, and sourcing local ingredients.  There, we had the slowest service we had in all of Europe, even worse than De Kaas.  It was 30 minutes (yes I checked) before we even had our drink order taken.  The only server in the place moved like he was walking and talking though thick syrup.  The beer list was very small, but all the beers were Bio (European version of organic).  I ended up ordering a Kriek that the server promised me was not sweet, but ended up tasting like cough syrup.  Blech!  The food eventually came and the Tajines were quite tasty, making up somewhat for the interminable wait.  This place truly lived up to "Slow Food"!  I felt somewhat bad for the couple who just sat down as we were leaving (two and a half hours after arriving), hopefully they were able to eat before midnight. 

Up Next: Bruges to Ghent!

Belgium Day 8: Rodenbach and Gluttony

Meeting up early for breakfast our group discovered that the female contingent was not going to be joining us on our day trip to Roselare.  Sj was still feeling sick, and Candy and Chris were both overly tired.  No problem, we would make this a guy's trip to see a manly brewery!  We hopped a cab with a singularly cantankerous driver to the rail station.  There, we hopped a train for the small Belgian town of Roselare. 

The Rodenbach brewery is the origin of the Flanders Red style of beer, and as such is a keystone to understanding that style of beer.  Having brewed three versions of this beer myself, I was very excited to see how this is really done.  The brewery itself is located in a huge sprawling complex, that includes a lot of old buildings that are no longer in use, such as the malting house.  The place was very quiet and nearly empty of workers, resulting in a strange post-apocalyptic deserted feel.  We were greated upon entering the grounds by a very friendly lady who ushered us into a room to watch a movie about the Rodenbach family and brewery.  The film was iffy, but she served us all hot coffee which made up for it.  Two very nice hipster guys from the states managed to get into the tour with us and they apparently had been at a lot of the same places we had been, including Cantillon Quintessence.  We then got an extensive tour of the brewery.  We were able to actually enter the kiln and the malting tower as well as several other museum-piece areas.  Watching our 6'7" tour-mate Rich try to fit into the kiln brought up vivid mental images of Winny the Pooh getting stuck in the tree.

We were able to walk through one of the old copper lined open fermentation tanks, which was fairly unusual.  The next stop was the coolest part of the trip:  The foedors.  These hare huge oak vessels that tower above you and seem to extend forever.  As I understand it the fermentation is a mixed ferment with acetobacter bacteria (for the sourness) and brewer's yeast.  They do an initial ferment, then a secondary, then transfer to these enormous wooden tanks to age.  They keep 2 coopers on staff to do repairs on the foedors as needed, and each year they take them apart and steam clean the staves.  No other breweries use this technique.  We watched another short film that featured an animated yeast cell, and all of us had a hard time maintaining our cool and not laughing outright.  A few years back Rodenbach was bought out by Palm Brewery and now the bottling is done elsewhere.  While there has been some backlash about the selling, the company would not have stayed in business if not for that.  Interestingly we found out that the local Flanders Red brewers (mostly in Roselare area) are trying to get a special label with goals similar to that of the Trappists or the Champagne area of France.

They use several areas of the brewery as lecture halls, student housing and rented out for weddings.  They are booked out 2 years ahead for weekend weddings, so get on the list now!  Our final stop was the cavernous tasting room.  We got to try the regular Rodenbach which is made with 1/3 aged sour beer and 2/3 fresh beer, resulting in a nice tart and refreshing red ale.  Then we tried the Grand Cru which is made of 2/3 aged and 1/3 fresh beer.  That one was much more complex and rounded with some subtle cherry notes.  We were fortunate enough to get a sample of the aging beer right out of the foedors and that was very sharp and tar.  I think I was the only one who really liked it.     We also tried the Grand Cru from the bottle which seemed more mellow than on tap, probably due to the natural bottle fermentation for carbonation.  Last, but not least, we talked them into parting with a bottle of the Vintage 2010 Rodenbach that is made entirely of the aged beer.  This was the stand-out winner for everyone and I would highly recommend trying it if you can search one out.  Tasting all these beers took us a while and we chatted for a bit with our hipster friends.  So far our guys only tour had been a great success. 

Walking into Roselare, we found a cafe that had a good selection of beers and food.  More beer pates and beers were had.  Things were taking a bit longer than Hassan and I had expected and both of us were feeling that we had left our womenfolk behind for too long.  Discovering that we might be able to catch the early train home we bolted our beers and took off.  We were late, but Hassan's luck held out and so was out train!  We ended up back home in time to track down our wives and get back to exploring Bruges.  Sj and I headed back to Half Moon Brewery to try the other beers we hadn't tried previously.  We also bought a large quantity of Belgian chocolates to take home to our loved ones.

Courtyard of Halve Maan Brewery

Belgian Chocolates

What else could we possibly do for our last night in Bruges?  Why not have a beer pairing dinner at the Erasmus Restaurant?  Luckily this was just off the lobby to our hotel, so we did not have far to go.  The restaurant owner greated us and sat us in a quiet corner (quiet for now, but beer dinner to follow!)  We started with a set of cute and tasty appetizers paired with De Struise single hop Montueka beer.  The beer was light and hoppy, but with that Belgian balanced nature.  Second course was scallops paired with a secondand more hoppy De Struise beer, Catso.  This one had a firm grapefruit flavor that was mirrored by use of grapefruit in the puree below the scallops.  Yummy pairing!  Third course was Veal and sweetbreads cooked to perfection, served with De Struise Rose (a mediocre brown ale.)  Not the best beer, but the sweetbreads were decadent!  Desert was a huge mouse cake served with Alvinus Kriek.  Both were gut-wrenchingly good.  Just as we were getting up to hobble/roll to our rooms, a fellow from another table brought over a half full bomber bottle of barleywine to share with us.  Going to need a diet when this is over...

Day 7: In Bruges (Like a @#&*! Fairytale)

For those who have not seen the movie In Bruges, see it now.  I believe I mentioned it in a previous post.  We saw most of the spots from the movie, and the deck/courtyard of our hotel was featured in a chase scene.  Incidentally, like the movie, they were shooting another film around town on one of the days.  They often do this since the town is a throw-back to medieval Europe.  One street was covered with sand and we could see horses covered in heraldry waiting for their cues.

Church of The Blood

We began this auspicious day with a 10 AM walking tour of Bruges.  My words cannot properly describe such a city that is steeped in history, art, architecture and commerce.  I love Bruges, and want to go back already.  Every turn brings a new building covered with Gothic spires, ornate ironwork, marble statues.  Gargoyles peer down at you with stony glares and lewd expressions.  Bears (the symbol of the city,) Madonnas and saints adorn walls, building corners, and pedestals all over the city.  I took nearly 50 pictures of different doors and iron grates.  Enormous cathedrals drip with gold, incredible stained glass, intricate and overwhelming woodwork, and religious splendor.  Cobbled streets echo with footsteps and horse drawn carriages clatter past.  It really is a fairy tale city, especially in the morning before the crowds and cars really get rolling.  Shallow, but picturesque canals wind through the city, with tourist boats, ducks and huge white swans all zipping along them happily.

Can you say "Gothic?"

Our tour was very enlightening, but we perhaps spent too much time looking at marble and bronze statues.  There is one hideous modern art monstrosity that looks like a honeycombed car-wash set down in the center of all that ancient glory.  Yuck, what were they thinking?? We did get to go into the Church of the Blood: an extremely Gothic church that supposedly has a few drops of Jesus' blood brought back from the Crusades.  Yes this is an incredibly old city.  That place was beautiful and the painting of the walls, ceiling and pillars inside was very different from anything I've seen before.   For lunch I had more frites with mayo, and may start trying that at home...call me a convert!

After our light lunch Sj and I decided to risk the bell tower.  This amazing structure literally towers over the center of the city, and has 366 steps.  For a fee you can walk up all 366 and get a great view of the city.  The steps are tiny and steep, getting progressively smaller and tighter the higher up you go.  Passing people on these stairs is near impossible, prompting you to crush up into a corner and hold on when folks need to pass you.  The enormous bells are run by a carillon.  Keep in mind I am not a fan of heights.  We made it, but were a bit winded after our climb.  Down in much easier.  And if you are overweight...don't attempt this climb!

This afternoon we wandered back to the Half Moon brewery that we had passed on our earlier tour.  We met up with Chris and Hassan for this and just missed the deadline for a tour of the brewery.  Somehow Hassan managed to pull some strings and they brought out a second tour guide for us and a few other English speakers who were around.  Initially the tour takes you into an active modern brewery.  Something I have not seen in a brewery like this was cut-out view ports in the mash tun and brew kettle.  We then went on a tour of this very old Maes brewery, that was mostly museum.  Fantastic old plate chillers, grain mills, crates, and cooperage equipment were strewn about with reckless abandon.  We actually walked atop the copper coolship to get to the rooftop, where we had an incredible view of the city.  The old brewery did their own malting and we got to see the old malt and grain equipment as well.  I could just imagine the steam rising from the huge chimney and very tiny Europeans trying to haul grain and barrels up those tiny stairs.  We actually had to walk backwards down two sets of stairs to get back to the basement where the old kilns were located.  There is no place for handicapped people in Belgium.  We saw two portable metal ramps our entire visit.

After the tour we got a full chalice of the Bruges Zot blond beer, that was hoppy and fruity and very very drinkable.  They also make a Zot brown that I didn't get to try.  The logo for these two have a drunk looking jester on them, very sweet!  They have a Tripel and a Quad that they brew under another label called Straffe Hendrik.  The Quad was decent, but lacked complexity.  Overall, a very interesting tour and a great view of Bruges.  Too bad I don't like heights!

Next up was a touristy boat tour of the canals.  We were crammed in there like sardines, but luckily the trip was short.  Some interesting views of the buildings from that angle, but we were moving a bit too fast to get good pics with my iPhone camera.  We did pretty close to running down some pissed off swans though.  They don't like tourists either.

After our slightly disappointing boat tour, I dragged our group to the tasting room for De Struise Brouwers, a local brewery that has been making world class craft beers for the last few years.  Their Imperial Stout (Black Albert) has been mentioned in the same breath as Surly Darkness and Dark Lord.  I'm not sure the Belgians quite know how to deal with these guys and their very American range of craft and extreme beers.  They had a cooler with three medicine-ball sized plastic containers lined with mylar that they were using as kegs.  Like boxed wine, only beers!  They had three experimental beers that didn't even have names yet:  A tasty and classic tripel; a wine barrel aged quad; and a bourbon barrel aged stout.  All were great.  We also split a bottle of Black Albert.  Wow that was really good!  I brought back a bottle of the Bourbon aged Black Albert and a bottle of Kabert (a collaboration with Portsmouth Brewery, maker of Kate The Great RIS.)  Oh for more space in my luggage!!

Carbonade!

The very kind and tolerant purveyor of De Struise beers pointed us toward Cambrinus for dinner.  We met up with our whole party of 6 and made our way there.  When we first walked into the bar the hostess gave us one look and barked "NO!" Then turned away and left us to gape at her retreating back.  We milled about outside for a few minutes, trying to come up with a second plan.  Some space opened up at the bar and we decided to grab a beer at least and think about other dinner options.  Again, somehow Hassan managed to get us a big table in back.  I have no idea how this man manages to always make things work out in his favor, but I'll take it!  Despite the cranky hostess we had a very flavorful meal with a ton of great beers here.  I had the Carbonade, a traditional Flemish beef stew made with beer, and it was heavenly.  For desert a creme brulee made with Abbey style ale.  Boon Marriage Parfait Kriek and Geuze (the good sour ones not the overly sweet regular versions,) Westvleteren 8, and many more great beers.  So full.  Need to find an accessory stomach for next time...

Belgium Day 6: Trappist Madness

Day six of Belgium, and still going strong.  Our small band of weary but happy travellers gathered in the taxidermied eating hall of our antiquarian hotel for a low-key breakfast and watery coffee.  Most of us really didn't want or need more food at this point: see day 5 post!  We headed off bright and early, (or rather overcast and drizzly,) for our first stop of the day.

A brief word on the driver of our full sized coach.  Johann was an unusual but funny dude, in love with everything American.   This was evidenced by his Warner Bros ties as well as his penchant for playing John Denver, Billy Joel, and the 80's most poppy tunes.  Oh and lots of ABBA, not American, but very very 80's.  John Denver singing Take Me Home Country Road as we drove through the countryside of Belgium was strangely appropriate but also slightly off.

Soon we arrived at our first destination, the Trappist monastery of Orval.  Our tour director had managed to get us a personal tour of the brewery, which is unheard of nowadays.  The brewery is located within the walls of the Orval monastery, though the monks are not actually involved in the brewing process.  The head monk does oversee major decisions relating to the brewery, though, so they are still technically a Trappist product.  The proceeds from sales of the beer keep the monks in food and even pay for other Trappist monasteries.  They have 6 large conical fermenters and are now at capacity.  Our tour guide explained that she spends much of her day dealing with distributors and beer fans who are complaining of difficulty getting the beers.  They cannot expand the brewery as that would extend it beyond the walls of the monastery...though they did dig down below the place to fit more equipment in the past.  The bottles are predominantly recycled and we saw an impressive bottle washing machine and bottling line in action.  Seeing the freshly cleaned bottles go through a sensor that automatically kicked out scratched or nicked ones  was very cool.  Lavern and Shirley would not have a job here...  We saw a huge warehouse filled with aging beer, since they cellar the beers for some time before releasing them.  They only make one beer, based on a recipe from the early 1900's with a small amount of dry hopping based on old English styles. 

The old monastery was destroyed by the invading French back in the 1700's and the ruins still lay strewn about, next to the rebuilt buildings from the early 1900's.  We wandered the ruins and the "new" construction in an early morning clearing of the hazy weather.  The lack of city noise, the muted echo of footfalls on cobbles, and the occasional caw of a crow was peaceful and somewhat otherworldly.   This was a unique experience marred only by the fact that Sj was feeling quite ill at the time and I was worried about her.  She was a trooper though and hung in there for the rest of the day.

From the monastery itself we walked down the drive to have a seat in the modern Guardian Angel tasting room.  This early in the day we were the only patrons.  We had some Orval Trappist cheese and of course Orval beer.  They serve only Orval beer in several ways: old, new, warm, cold.  With several of us here, we were able to taste the differences in serving age and temperature.  I liked the old warm the best, more tartness from the brettanomyces, but more mellow hop flavors from age.  This is also the only place you can get the Orval Green, a lower strength version of the beer, originally brewed for the monks.  I liked this one quite well, and felt it would have fit in at any craft beer bar in the states as a flavorful session beer.  I picked up a special small Orval glass with the Guardian Angel wings on it there.

Back into the coach and feeling relaxed and more awake, (except for Sj who was feeling lousy,) we drove further to the Chimay restaurant.  Chimay is another Trappist brewery, but rarely allow tours anymore.  I had a very tasty lunch of steak in Chimay ale sauce with frites (yes dipped in mayo!)  I also had the Tower of Trappist (my naming, not theirs.)  A small chalice glass of the red cap, a dubbel style ale; another of the white cap, a tripel; one of blue cap, a strong dark; and last of the lighter version of the white cap, the patersbier.  The latter was much the same idea as the Orval green, just not quite as good.  My favorite was the blue, strong and flavorful.  This was the first Trappist and maybe even the first Belgian beer I ever tried back in the ancient history of my beer adventures.  After this we returned to the coach where Rich promptly broke back into the Bink beers from the prior day and the rest of the trip is a bit...blurry.  We did ride into and out of France a few times, where Johann claimed they drive much worse than in Belgium.  I would agree from the limited sample size I saw.

Next stop in the Belgian countryside was a small town that looked almost like any of the small towns I had seen in Ireland, just less sheep.  This is the hometown of Brasserie Dupont.  We were not able to get a tour of the brewery this day, but were able to stop at La Forge bar just down the road which is the official tasting room/cafe of the brewery.  We had the ever fantastic Saison Dupont, the Moinnette,  Avec Les Bons Voeux, and the Bio apple beer.  All very good, but I was feeling a bit over-full after all the beers I'd had that day.  I had small portions.  To take a quick break and get some fresh air, the guys all walked down the road to the actual Dupont building.  The brewery was pretty much closed at this time, and really is in an old, but large farmhouse.  There is a more modern addition, where a couple of attractive ladies with French accents let us in to buy some Dupont signs and glassware.

Then back on the bus, which seemed to have developed the ability to spin around sideways whilst driving forward at warp speed.  There was no more drinking of Bink beers on this leg of the trip.  Most of us were fairly passed out at this time.  An occasional loud comment about French drivers from Johann, and the smooth sounds of John Denver were all that I remember of this time.

My blacksmith friend Martin would love this place!

We arrived in Bruges right around dusk, checking into the very cool old Hotel Erasmus.  We had a comfortable bed with small pillows, (but not made of marble,) and an actual stand-up shower!  Our room had a small (2 by3 foot) look-out over the street with an excellent view of the bell tower on the main square.  Sj and I staggered about in the darkening streets looking for food, and then back to bed for the night.  More on Bruges later...