Real Swiss fondue

Tonight we had real Swiss fondue for dinner. The bread & cheese was
delicious, the hashbrowns were okay (better with cheese) but the
sausage. Well, let's just say sausage should be grilled not boiled.

Mark Twain wuz here

Mark Twain described the "Dying Lion of Lucern" as "the saddest and
most moving piece of rock in the world". We think it's also pretty sad
that we keep showing up to see things on cleaning day.

Williams. Matt Williams.

Lucern has a casino. A real life casino. The kind of casino that takes
your money when you bet on black and the little roulette wheel's ball
lands on zero.
Only we didn't stay long enough for a "martini shaken, not stirred"

Bridge to nowhere part 2

They have this one bridge with an old prisoner tower in the middle of
it. Carrie tried to leave me there. Lucky for me the old prison is now
joe's souvenir & stuff shop.

Bridge to nowhere.

They have a ton of really stinking cute bridges in Lucern. Unlike,
Ketchikan, AK they don't seem to have a cruise line tourism industry
that wants them to consider one big enough for a cruise ship to go
under.

Supermarket

We're the kind of people that go to a grocery store in a foreign
country just "to see". We found that in Switzerland, they can
accomodate all of your horse meat needs.

Swiss time out

We've made it to Lucern. We're planning on taking tomorrow off and
sleeping in. A little "time out" before we venture into Italy. We'll
check out Switzerland then head on.

Spell check

Yes, I am aware just how many misspellings are in this blog.
Are you aware how hard it is to type on an iPhone in a moving car/bus/
train?

I will fix the typos after we return to the states. Also as far a
proper names of places, well I'm a dumb American... I'll fix those
later too.

My grammar probaly sucks too. That ain't gonna get fixed.

Yeah the whole day

Referring to the earlier post:
That's night time out the window, we've been traveling all day.
Yep. Travel DAY.

Luxemburg

Train stopped for a few minutes in Luxemburg. Long enough to get food?
No. Long enough to stand on the train platform so that we can to have
"been" in another country? Yes.

Good people.

We would like to extend an extra large "thank you" to the Marchals for
welcoming us into their home and entertaining us, feeding us, and
generally taking care of us. Without friends like them I dont know if
we would be able to make it through Europe. Staying with them, and
visiting with the Oslers has been a perfect combination of catching up
with friends, living with a local European family, and feeling like
we're back at home.

Thanks to Hank we might have to seriously consider living in belgium
for a couple of years.

Day of Travel

We have planned our trip so that we have "travel days". While this may
be normal for most, let me attest to the fact that our travel days are
indeed days. They last all day. Whether it be on the train, walking to
the train, reading the schedules, or what have you. All. Day.

Okay that's just cool

I'd never before seen nor do I expect to see again a wooden framed
escalator.

Royale with cheese (pulp fiction)

Vincent wasn't messing around when he said they put mayonaise on their
French fries.
A lot of mayonaise.
We meant to take the picture first but we were hungry.

Manekin pis

We found the statue of the little boy who constantly pees. If you
think the picture looks like he's peeing on Carrie's head.... That's
on purpose.

School day

I walked to day care today with Hank & Rose. We stopped to say hello
to the sheep.

Worthy of a stop

Babies poop. Fact of life. Sometimes a baby's poop smells so strong it
is worth taking the next exit to change that diaper, not just for the
baby, but for everybody else in the car.

I'm a sucker for waterfalls

What is it about warefalls that makes them so super cool?

Walk in the park

Today we drove about an hour out of town to enjoy a day at the park.
The day began with a walking new Orleans style jazz band. We walked
with them as they played music through beautifully manicured gardens.
About halfway through we stopped at a cute gazebo in the woods and
enjoyed a delicious plastic cup of port wine.
From there we made our way to the barbecue area where Hank grilled a
delcious variety of sausage. We ate laughed, watched the kids play,
and of course enjoyed some really good beer (it's a track team reunion
in Belgium! Of course we're drinking beer)
After our bellies were full we made our way to the playground where
Dave convinced felix to call me jabba the hut. But I think dave's just
trying to compensate for his small carbon footprint.
Sadly, it was then time to say goodbye to Megan & Dave. We will miss
them and their GPS. Hank took them to the airport. Carrie, Stephanie,
the children, and went down to the lake and we took a row boat out on
the lake. The boys were so well behaved we all got an ice cream :)
To end the day at the park we took a long walk back to the car.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Pibb!
Sorry we missed the party:(
I'll definately drink an awesome beer for you.

The Swedish piece

Dave and Megan have taught us about the phenenom known as the "Swedish
piece". It refers to the effort of the Swedish culture in order to be
polite to never take the last piece of anything. To accomplish this
they will cut in half the remaining piece of cake, candy bar, bread,
or in general any community food that began as a single unit.
As a result, there is almost always a tiny, tiny morsel left.
This picture represents the Swedish piece of our Snicker's bar just as
we jumped on the train to Rixensart.

Whew!

We made the train. Hank & Stephanie had to run home early from Bruges
to pick up Felix from his birthday party ( Happy Birthday Felix!). We
stayed behind to visit De Garre (see previous posts) this picture was
taken before we realized that this train didn't have a bar.

Garre

This is beer I was telling you about. It was so great I thought it
needed it's own picture.

Mecca

We found (okay, Hank showed us), Mecca. This is the entrance to De
Garr. This is the home of 11.5% alcohol content beer. It's so strong
they will only serve you 3 in a 24 hour period. We had 2 each. It's
good we stopped when we did, or we may have missed our train back to
Rixensart.

The tallest belltower

I'm trying to retace our steps of the day(I'll explain later)
Collectively,
Carrie, Dave, Megan, and I think Hank told us that at one time this
was the tallest belltower in Europe. It's pretty tall.

Lover's Lake

Here we are at "lover's lake", if is nestled in among the churches and
canals. It's right next to the convent. It's also home of the famous
Bruges swans.

In Bruges.

We are a little disappointed that Colin Farrel isn't here but we'll
make the best of it! This place is almost as beautiful as my wife.

It's like we never left.

We packed up the car to go to Bruges today. It is a beautiful day, the
sun is out. That means that a lot of people are going to the coast.
The traffic is pretty bad. It almost feels like L.A. traffic, Reuben
and I both need to pee, we've got 15 kilometers to go, I hope we get
there soon.

Next stop, more beer.

We visited another lambic brewery that was very different from the
first. We tasted a kriek, which was made with cherry syrup. It was
very sweet, but every bit as delicious.

True Lambic

We toured the only true lambic brewery in the world. The Cantillon
brewery in Brussels brews true one of the only open air femented beer in the
world. Their fermentation process is unique given that they use the
natural yeast in the air in Brussels. For More info Visit: http://www.cantillon.be/br/Cantillon.php?lang=3&page=1

I'll show you mine...

There is a famous fountain in Brussels.
They are a very fair people in Belgium.
Here is the "sister" fountain.

B is for beer.

We are in Belgium with friends and we have just finished having a beer
at the delerium cafe. They hold the Guiness world record for the
largest selection of beer in the world. Pibb I know you're jealous,
it's only going to get worse.

The end.

The end of Paris that is. And we thought it only fitting that the end
of Paris should be Jim Morrison's grave.
Bubba, I gave him your regards.

2 ducks

The French people really like duck.
Tonight we ate at a very traditional French restaurant. Carrie had
mushrooms as 1st course and filet mignon as her entrée. I had foie
gras and duck a l'orange. We had an aperatif before dinner, a bottle
of cote du rhone with dinner, and to top it all off creme brûlée that
was singed at the table with an iron instead of a blowtorch. This was
easily the best meal we have had in Paris. If you ever visit Paris and
don't eat here you should be jailed. Or if you were a queen of France
you should be beheaded.
So that you are never without the info, bookmark this now. http://www.lesdeuxcanards.com

Bon appetit!

Picture/posting shortage today.

Note to self: make sure when you take picture with iphone, turn it off
before you put it back in your pocket or else plan to run out of
battery at the greatest museum in France.

Charts and Graphs

For all of you at HQ making charts and graphs, rest easy knowing that
the packages are absolutely, positively, expensively getting there
overnight.

The most famous painting in the World.

The masses have come to pay homage.

The Mona Lisa.

This is about as close as we could get.
But it's still pretty bitchin' even from this far away.

Suck it Getty

That's right we are at the Louvre. The Mona Lisa. The Venus de Milo.
The DaVinci Code. Yeah, that Louvre.
So put that in your uncrowded free admission pipe, Getty, and smoke it.

Take two.

It's raining, it's pouring. No one here is snoring. We got up. Ate
breakfast. Walked to the louvre. We got in. I am so excited I had to
write about it right away! More to come.
On to see the Mona Lisa!

The French cuisine.

We have eaten out for every meal in Paris. The food here is divine.
Every diner has been accompanied by a bottle of wine. Tonight is no
exception. We found a covered alley with a bunch of restaurants we're
gonna try the cutest one.

Moliere!

Moliere! Thanks again for Tartuffe... The Deus Ex Machina is a lot of
fun to play especially when your play is adapted for the 60's in
Memphis.

Oops.

We enjoyed the gardens so much we forgot to take a picture with the
iPhone. Here's a picture of the map to hold you over until we get home.

WTF

Jeffry Koons, an American artist, has an exhibit within Versailles.
It's giant ballon animals.
Seriously.

Paintings and statues

Carrie really enjoyed the veritè of the statues of Versailles.
The hall of mirrors, the paintings, the busts, wow! There is a lot of
stuff at Versailles, and we haven't made it to the gardens yet.

Lunch at Versailles

After a short train ride we got to Marie's house. They wouldn't let us
bring our lunch into the palace so we ate it on the steps. Carrie
makes fun of the faces French people make while she eats.

Baguette, salami, cheese & wine. That's a real lunch.

Versailles or bust

Finally on the way to see the palace of the "sun king". Transportation
inspired by the musical group "Berlin". OMG we are sooooo European.
*except we wear deodorant.

Closed for cleaning.

Word to the wise: if you get up early to go to the Louvre museum, make
sure it's open. For the record, you can't see the Mona Lisa on Tuesdays.

When in Rome... Wait we're in Paris!

We woke up early to go to the louvre today. We didn't have any water.
I was thirsty. The saying goes... "when in Rome do as the Romans do",
so I thought why not have a glass of wine for breakfast!

Ah Paris....

The seine river

We took a river boat tour along the seine. It was fun. Now it's cold.
Carrie took lots of pictures of bridges... Just not with the iPhone.
You'll get to see them later.

Pour ma mere

Dans notre dame.

A late lunch.

Before heading into Notre Dame we are stopping for a quick bite.
We have discovered the people who aren't rude in France.... The waiters.

P.S. For the Gore family, we have discovered what jambon is. It is
French for Ham, D'accor.

Laundry day.

We woke up really late today. So we did some of our laundry. We are
going to see Notre Dame. We found a shortcut through the courtyard of
the Louvre.

Sorry it's been so long.

We've had a little Internet trouble in Paris... The hotel issues
prepaid cards to their guests and they gave been out of them until
today. So we just got all of your messages! Thank you so much! It's
really nice to hear from some people who speak English!

A picture of what?

For those of you who know me (Carrie) well, you know I have a little
obsession with Christmas, especially Christmas trees. See the little
triangles in a row in the center of this picture? Next to the water.
Perfectly manicured triangle trees begging to be chopped down, taken
home and decorated! If I wasn't so afraid of the police (see previous
entry) I would bring one home.