|
| |
USA meets
Europe! - Part IV
July 10-16,
2003
A report on
Carli's visit to Frank and his family.
|
3. Belgian beer
After we returned home from The
Netherlands on the second day and some very funny pronounciation
lessons (Dordrecht!!) in a traffic jam, our beloved guest suddendly
started to protest. She was still waiting for her first Belgian
beer! I said JA! How could we forget that? As soon as possible we
got back in the car with the whole bunch and headed to a local
café/restaurant that served a nice selection of the finest beers.
After this evening special care was taken to ensure that Carli would
be able to taste a maximal variety of these abbey beers!
This day we went out shopping for
my Hilde's delayed 30th birthday party. We visited the local market
to taste the atmosphere there. Not only the atmosphere was tasted,
but also more Belgian beer! During the party itself Carli started
drinking in such a pace that we got worried! We "know" the power of
these beers and you're drunk in no time. Most luckily Carli knew
when to stop and we had quite a cheerful evening gathered arond the
barbeque fire with the other guests. Carli's comment the next
morning said it all though! Ugh, my mouth tastes like I licked a
cat! Yes, this sounded very familiar and proved she had been
drinking just enough for not having a hangover: clever girl!
|
Carli:
Now onto my TRUE love…the Belgian beer! Hooray for Belgium!
Frank made sure that I tried every kind possible on my trip, and I
have decided that there is nothing in the world that compares to
Belgian beer of the thick, sweet, and dark variety. I sampled
Affligem, Duvel, Geuze Lambic, Tongerlo, Ciney brown, Maredsous, and
many others, it seems, but my particular favourite was De Verboden
Vrucht, or Forbidden Fruit. Dark Corsendonk was possibly a close
second, and I was rather excited when a friend found a local liquor
store here in my own town that sold some Belgian Abbey beers,
including Corsendonk. |
|
4. Histrical cities.
Our mediaeval Belgian cities get
much visitors from all over the world, so why not take a look at
them? Of course they lack the grandeur of the bigger European cities
like Paris, Rome, Athens or London, but nonetheless there are some
attractive districts that breath out an atmosphere from days long
gone. I'm not going to tell everything about them though, but just
let you enjoy the pictures with comments like we enjoyed the
surroundings!
Carli at the entrance of "Het Steen" or translated
"The Stone". This picture seems to be
taken directly from a touristical catalogue.
The Antwerp city hall and Carli standing in front
of Brabo.
Carli, Matthias, Catho, Hilde near the river
Schelde and also the obliged cool beer!
Anyone wants Belgian
chocolate? This Neptune definitely looks delicious...
|
|
Carli: Of course, one cannot
talk about the things that Belgium is famous for and not mention the
chocolates. Frank and Hilde made sure I was able to sample many
different types of Belgian chocolates in addition to my varieties of
beer. The best thing I saw was in Brugges (or Bruges), where we saw
a Neptune made entirely of chocolate in a Chocolatier’s window!
This leads us to Brugges
itself…the best part of seeing Brugges was a boat ride down the
canals, which was a simply beautiful tour, complete with a tour
guide. We also saw Antwerp (Antwerpen), which I enjoyed immensely
for its tourist value. The fries were wonderful, though Antwerp
itself seemed rather dirty to me and not near as nice as being in
Brugges or Beerse (which I loved!). However, the little café where
we stopped for a beer by the water was very enjoyable after the long
walk through Antwerp |
| Continued in
next
page |
|
