Ladies and gents, boys and girls, it is that time. It seems like just yesterday I was getting to the airport here in Belgium for the first time, and now it is six months later and on Monday I am off at sunrise.
I may not get a chance to post in the frantic next few days, but this is how I am feeling, what I have done lately, and what I will be doing the next few days before leaving Belgium.
At the moment, I feel a mix of many emotions... sad, excited, confused, curious and much more. Sad to be leaving the wonderful people of The Cats and a country that has continued to grow on me since my arrival. Excited to see family and friends and of course for my brother's wedding. Excited too for the Australian adventure that lies ahead. Confused in many ways. A lot of times when I am asked a question, my response is an unintentional combi of English and Dutch with the occasional Spanish mixed in. Instead of saying yes I often say ya, even when asked in English. My horrid spelling has gotten worse... linguistically I feel like a mess. I don't see that improving in the near future. I am curious for what the future hold, how my new teammates will be, and the list goes on.
I have spent my last few days as I typically have for much of my time in Belgium. A lot of time during the day alone and with teammates/housemates at night. I have gone to hit the last 12 days in a row. I taught the Merchtem police how to play baseball. I mowed the grass at the field. I spent one last night out in Leuven. I have biked and ran all over Opwijk and Merchtem and Aalst and Londerzeel and everywhere in between. I led practice for the minimen team, which went awesome for the last time. I ate delicious meals at the Cassiman residence. I built part of a brick wall. Took the train. Shared a gaze with farm animals as I passed by on bike. Almost got hit by a car several times on the bike. Typical stuff.
The next few days will pass wuick, I know. Tomorrow was a planned trip to Bastogne but due to how difficult it is to reach, I have since had to cancel the trip. Instead I will spend tomorrow packing things up and getting ready to go. Friday I am off to West Flanders for some WWI history and sightseeing with Bram's mother, Mieke before returning for a last meal at the Wambacq residence.
Saturday morning will be spent setting up for the Spaghettis Zweer, the annual Cats fundraiser spaghetti feed. After setting up, I have a front row seat to the laser show that will be the Cats offense against Gent in the final and deciding game of the season. Then I will cash in my won bet for the batting title, sorry Kleine but you never had a chance. Then back to the zweer for a celebration/drunken debauchery/feast. Sunday is again the 2nd day of the zweer and then hopefully one last drink with the fellas before taking off the next morning Cali bound at 7am.
I then have less than 24 hours to get from SF to Sac-Town, where I will spend the whole next day flying (again) up to Alaska.
Then next two weeks promise to be great and I will try to keep everyone posted on what is going on. Stay tunned! Hope everyone is doing well, much peace and love.
Tot Straks
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Unable to stop the bad KnightTime in Gm 2
This weekend was the openning two games of our playdown series versus the Gent Knights. Dan Matthews, better known as D-Matt, was also in town to catch a game and seee some Belgian sights. Friday we kicked around Brussels, showing him the main tourist sights and meeting up with Joris, Winne and eventually Bram for dinner and drinks. It was a great time and great to see him. He got the Belgian experience in one day... Beer, Chocolate, frietjes, and Waffles. Fast forward to the next day and the game...
Before game one on Saturday, I told the boys to have their popcorn ready because it was about to be a show. Actually, it was more like "GETCHA POPCORN REEEADY!" but you get the point. A show is what transpired, but it was not as planned. The lovely Belgian weather decided to show up and show up in a big way. Rain and Cold. Daaaaamn.
The beginning of the game started out pretty well. All my pitches were working and other than an unearned run, I was dealing with 6Ks through 3 innings and we had a 2-1 lead. Then came the rain. I had just finished pitching the top of the third and it started pouring rain for about 20 minutes. After the 25 minute (or so) delay, our offense woke up with a 5 run inning. If you do the math, that is a lot of sitting around letting the arm get cold.
When I got back out to the mound, my arm didn't feel so great anymore and the mound had morphed into muddy swamp. No problem, time to get on the grind. It definitely was a grind. The zone was floating like a Wakefield knuckle ball, the landing was different every pitch, but I turned out a good outing... going 8 innings and giving up one earnie.
My bat was definitely not altered by the weather and with popcorn on hand, the show was delivered. My teammates set the table for me time and again with patient quality ABs and like a good Belgian guest, I cleared the table. I ended the game 4 for 6 with a double, triple, 7 rbi and 3 +/- 1 runs. My last rbi was a walkoff single (could have been double if I had ran to second) that scored Kleine and sealed the 10 run rule victory, 14-4.
Things were looking good, everyone was happy and we were contemplating not letting D-Matt leave the country before our season was over. We decided to celebrate with frietjes and a movie at the Kinopolis in Brussels. This is when our fortune started to turn.
1. We went for a drink while waiting for our movie to start. First bar we tried, we couldn't get in because Bart was wearing shorts. I guess his model legs are getting too old to show off and the bouncer wasn't feeling it.
2. We ended up in a bar with crazy decor and lights.
3. We went to see "The killer inside me"... turns out it was not the most uplifting movie ever. Intense for sure.
Fast forward to Sundays game...
4. Setting the table... It pretty much had been raining in Belgium non-stop for about 12 hours.
5. We get to Gent's cracker jack box of a ballpark and it is more like a swamp with bases and a mound. Well, kind of a mound but not really.
From there it was a story of missed opportunities, bad everything and disappointment. We started the game with bags loaded and 0 outs and only got 2 runs. Two times we had bases loaded with 1 out and hit into inning ending double plays. Not to be a Negative Nancy, but to be a Negative Nancy but we simply put blew it. We left millions of runners on base, chased bad pitches, and the list goes on. We never should have lost, but that is baseball and next week we come out swinging.
In the end, we still had a chance. Down 3 runs in top 9 with two on and me on deck, the game ended.
We never should have let D-Matt leave...
I finished the game 3 for 4 with a walk and 2 rbi, but flied out in a critical two out, two runners on situation. I want the AB back so bad, but it will have to wait til next Sat when we play the 3rd game of the best of 3. Winner stays/goes to first, lose is in 2nd Division for next year.
I am getting the ball on the bump, I hope you have your popcorn ready...
Before game one on Saturday, I told the boys to have their popcorn ready because it was about to be a show. Actually, it was more like "GETCHA POPCORN REEEADY!" but you get the point. A show is what transpired, but it was not as planned. The lovely Belgian weather decided to show up and show up in a big way. Rain and Cold. Daaaaamn.
The beginning of the game started out pretty well. All my pitches were working and other than an unearned run, I was dealing with 6Ks through 3 innings and we had a 2-1 lead. Then came the rain. I had just finished pitching the top of the third and it started pouring rain for about 20 minutes. After the 25 minute (or so) delay, our offense woke up with a 5 run inning. If you do the math, that is a lot of sitting around letting the arm get cold.
When I got back out to the mound, my arm didn't feel so great anymore and the mound had morphed into muddy swamp. No problem, time to get on the grind. It definitely was a grind. The zone was floating like a Wakefield knuckle ball, the landing was different every pitch, but I turned out a good outing... going 8 innings and giving up one earnie.
My bat was definitely not altered by the weather and with popcorn on hand, the show was delivered. My teammates set the table for me time and again with patient quality ABs and like a good Belgian guest, I cleared the table. I ended the game 4 for 6 with a double, triple, 7 rbi and 3 +/- 1 runs. My last rbi was a walkoff single (could have been double if I had ran to second) that scored Kleine and sealed the 10 run rule victory, 14-4.
Things were looking good, everyone was happy and we were contemplating not letting D-Matt leave the country before our season was over. We decided to celebrate with frietjes and a movie at the Kinopolis in Brussels. This is when our fortune started to turn.
1. We went for a drink while waiting for our movie to start. First bar we tried, we couldn't get in because Bart was wearing shorts. I guess his model legs are getting too old to show off and the bouncer wasn't feeling it.
2. We ended up in a bar with crazy decor and lights.
3. We went to see "The killer inside me"... turns out it was not the most uplifting movie ever. Intense for sure.
Fast forward to Sundays game...
4. Setting the table... It pretty much had been raining in Belgium non-stop for about 12 hours.
5. We get to Gent's cracker jack box of a ballpark and it is more like a swamp with bases and a mound. Well, kind of a mound but not really.
From there it was a story of missed opportunities, bad everything and disappointment. We started the game with bags loaded and 0 outs and only got 2 runs. Two times we had bases loaded with 1 out and hit into inning ending double plays. Not to be a Negative Nancy, but to be a Negative Nancy but we simply put blew it. We left millions of runners on base, chased bad pitches, and the list goes on. We never should have lost, but that is baseball and next week we come out swinging.
In the end, we still had a chance. Down 3 runs in top 9 with two on and me on deck, the game ended.
We never should have let D-Matt leave...
I finished the game 3 for 4 with a walk and 2 rbi, but flied out in a critical two out, two runners on situation. I want the AB back so bad, but it will have to wait til next Sat when we play the 3rd game of the best of 3. Winner stays/goes to first, lose is in 2nd Division for next year.
I am getting the ball on the bump, I hope you have your popcorn ready...
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Last Regular Season Games
This weekend was our last regular season games of the second part of the season. Yesterday we dropped a close one, 3-1 with me on the bump. They scratched a few runs across early before I settled into a rhythm not giving up any runs after the 3rd inning. I couldn't find the floating zone and walks proved to be the killer. Despite hitting ball hard, we failed to get the clutch hit we needed and ended up leaving a lot of runners on base. On the positive side of things, our defense didn't make any errors and it was the first game in a while where people were obviously enjoying being out there and playing the game.
Today Bram took the hill and I played my first game at shortstop in ages. Bram threw really well but a few untimely errors put the comeback out of reach and we lost 8-4. Again there were a lot of positives, and we are playing much better baseball heading into our last 2 and most important games of the year. Next week we play in the best 2 out of 3 play down series against the 2nd place 2nd division team from Gent. There is a lot on the line as the winner of the series earns the final spot in 1st division for next year.
On a personal level, since we have had the funky second half of the season schedule where every two weeks we have an off week, I have yet to have any consistency at the plate.
Next week is go big or go home... actually I am going home either way, but I am looking forward to getting some hits and us getting some wins to end the season on a positive note.
Lastly, a question to consider: If baseball was played with 89 feet between the bases, how would the game be different?
Today Bram took the hill and I played my first game at shortstop in ages. Bram threw really well but a few untimely errors put the comeback out of reach and we lost 8-4. Again there were a lot of positives, and we are playing much better baseball heading into our last 2 and most important games of the year. Next week we play in the best 2 out of 3 play down series against the 2nd place 2nd division team from Gent. There is a lot on the line as the winner of the series earns the final spot in 1st division for next year.
On a personal level, since we have had the funky second half of the season schedule where every two weeks we have an off week, I have yet to have any consistency at the plate.
Next week is go big or go home... actually I am going home either way, but I am looking forward to getting some hits and us getting some wins to end the season on a positive note.
Lastly, a question to consider: If baseball was played with 89 feet between the bases, how would the game be different?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Lagos, Baby!
Troy's Cameo... tell me what you think about his post and maybe he can get another crack at it...
The Way I Remember It
July 15, Lagos, Portugal
First came the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, then the Moors and Christians. Somehow the Australians discovered this land and they invited all their friends, almost completely wiping out any sounds of Portuguese. Then came Rachel, Anj, Bart, Ethan and I. My memory of our arrival in Lagos is a little blurry because I was asleep as we entered town. I do remember beaches, seagulls and a long journey through another Carrefour. Ethan and I went crazy over finding canned fruit, and to our delight, everyone else was grossed out by it. With no exact destination for the night, I thought I found an answer in the grocery basket of a group of American girls. They had a lot of toilet paper and were coming from the beach. When asked if they were staying at a campsite they looked at me and said, "Do we look like the camping type? We are stocking our beach house." We checked out and drove around town looking for a campsite.
The splendor of seeing the outrageous Australians reminded me of the scene in Road to Perdition when Tom Hank's son sees Chicago for the first time from the back seat: Impressed, overwhelmed, and ready to explore.
Eager to go out and see what else Lagos had in store for us, we tried to set up the tent fast, but on this night it would take some time. Up until now we had improved our tent building skills immensely, but the hard ground and wind from the ocean slowed us down. We tied the tent to any support we could find: light post, van, tree trunks.
After losing a lot of precious money at a terrible Indian restaurant in Lisbon, we were all in need of cheap, American-sized portions. The Three Monkeys is pretty much an American diner run by Australians and a cook who looks like Manny Ramirez with dreads. A better find than even a gini in a bottle, we were brought a large plate of comfort food and all the beer you could drink in one hour; all for ten euros. This power hour we found ourselves in didn't go by clear cut rules, but started as soon as we received our first beer. Our Irish waitress brought Bart the first beer of the night. In order to get our moneys worth we decided we would make her work a little harder tonight. When she came back with my glass Bart had already emptied his and then I did the same before she came back with Ethan's. This little circus we started continued for another round and each time she came back she pretended to not believe we drank everything. Hell, when would we ever find a deal like this again?
Our power hour went into fifteen minutes of overtime and once again Bart was telling Anj about his vegetarian theories, we all stared at Rachel's odd looking dish, and Ethan and I narrated a small video in order to capture the scene of the bar. More Australians sat at the table across from us and soon we were talking to them about places to go out to in Lagos. The bartender came over, we chatted him up, and he said, "I was supposed to leave two days ago, but I was hanging on the beach, partying, and ran into a friend of my sister's who offered me a job here." We figured out we were all staying at the same campsite to which he replied, "LET'S TAKE SHOTS!" He brings over a cocktail mixer and one at a time has us lean back and pours some of that sweet nectar into our mouths. Feeling at home we stay until close and agree we will meet up with our new friend at a bar called The Three Blind Monkeys. The bar promoter, another enormous Australian, tells us how great his bar is but didn't need to since we were going there from the beginning. We enter the bar to a crowd of people dancing on the rail and beer bongs hanging from the ceiling. Behind the bar there is a board showing how many beers have been funneled by visiting countries. We dance through the night and eventually return to the campsite. We all wake up either in the van or in the tent. Another success.
The Way I Remember It
July 15, Lagos, Portugal
First came the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, then the Moors and Christians. Somehow the Australians discovered this land and they invited all their friends, almost completely wiping out any sounds of Portuguese. Then came Rachel, Anj, Bart, Ethan and I. My memory of our arrival in Lagos is a little blurry because I was asleep as we entered town. I do remember beaches, seagulls and a long journey through another Carrefour. Ethan and I went crazy over finding canned fruit, and to our delight, everyone else was grossed out by it. With no exact destination for the night, I thought I found an answer in the grocery basket of a group of American girls. They had a lot of toilet paper and were coming from the beach. When asked if they were staying at a campsite they looked at me and said, "Do we look like the camping type? We are stocking our beach house." We checked out and drove around town looking for a campsite.
The splendor of seeing the outrageous Australians reminded me of the scene in Road to Perdition when Tom Hank's son sees Chicago for the first time from the back seat: Impressed, overwhelmed, and ready to explore.
Eager to go out and see what else Lagos had in store for us, we tried to set up the tent fast, but on this night it would take some time. Up until now we had improved our tent building skills immensely, but the hard ground and wind from the ocean slowed us down. We tied the tent to any support we could find: light post, van, tree trunks.
After losing a lot of precious money at a terrible Indian restaurant in Lisbon, we were all in need of cheap, American-sized portions. The Three Monkeys is pretty much an American diner run by Australians and a cook who looks like Manny Ramirez with dreads. A better find than even a gini in a bottle, we were brought a large plate of comfort food and all the beer you could drink in one hour; all for ten euros. This power hour we found ourselves in didn't go by clear cut rules, but started as soon as we received our first beer. Our Irish waitress brought Bart the first beer of the night. In order to get our moneys worth we decided we would make her work a little harder tonight. When she came back with my glass Bart had already emptied his and then I did the same before she came back with Ethan's. This little circus we started continued for another round and each time she came back she pretended to not believe we drank everything. Hell, when would we ever find a deal like this again?
Our power hour went into fifteen minutes of overtime and once again Bart was telling Anj about his vegetarian theories, we all stared at Rachel's odd looking dish, and Ethan and I narrated a small video in order to capture the scene of the bar. More Australians sat at the table across from us and soon we were talking to them about places to go out to in Lagos. The bartender came over, we chatted him up, and he said, "I was supposed to leave two days ago, but I was hanging on the beach, partying, and ran into a friend of my sister's who offered me a job here." We figured out we were all staying at the same campsite to which he replied, "LET'S TAKE SHOTS!" He brings over a cocktail mixer and one at a time has us lean back and pours some of that sweet nectar into our mouths. Feeling at home we stay until close and agree we will meet up with our new friend at a bar called The Three Blind Monkeys. The bar promoter, another enormous Australian, tells us how great his bar is but didn't need to since we were going there from the beginning. We enter the bar to a crowd of people dancing on the rail and beer bongs hanging from the ceiling. Behind the bar there is a board showing how many beers have been funneled by visiting countries. We dance through the night and eventually return to the campsite. We all wake up either in the van or in the tent. Another success.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Baseball, baseball, baseball
It has been ages since I have written about baseball, which is partly due to lack of time/computer, frustration from how the season has gone, and the fact that since June, there really haven't been that many games.
It has been a frustrating season on the diamond to say the least. We are 5-25 or something like that and have suffered many losses that easily should have been wins. Through the ups and downs, I have been able to keep a perspective that I don't think many could do and an optimism that I wish was more contagious. I still go into every game thinking that we are going to win and still get fired up by bush league acts and bullshit calls, of which there have been many. I also recognize that baseball here simply cannot be like baseball in the United States for obvious reasons.For starters, working full time and playing baseball full time while having a family is simply not possible. However, when running our practices or youth practices I have still tried to instill a sense of the right way to play the game and prepare yourself for success. I hope that some of this has stuck, especially with the younger guys.
Personally, I think I have been able to learn more things from the failures of the season than I have from our successes. As someone who aspires to coach in the future, seeing what hurts a team and what not to do can be as helpful as seeing a great program. I should say flat out that I love the Cats Organization and wish that the season had taken a different direction, but with several games left, we still have the opportunity to finish strong.
Anyways, enough blathering about it... here is a run down of the last two months or so of baseball.
I experienced some problems with my liscence which caused me to miss two games at the end of June against the Hoboken Pioneers, a team I had been looking forward to facing since the first time we played them early in the season. These were Aaron's first games with the team.
Aaron had a bit of bad luck and tore his hamstring in his 5th game since being here. It really hurt to lose him as a player and he came back to pitch a gem against the Angles, but rushed back too soon wanting to help the team. He ended up making the injury worse and is now out for the season. Aaron was a huge asset to the team, both on the field and off. He had some of the worst luck while pitching, and even though someone who didn't know the game might think that his performances were nothing special, had he received good support behind him, we definitely would have won a few more games and competed with the leagues best. It was also a shame that we never got to pitch the way we had in college, with me starting and him closing the games out. I think that would have been a powerful combination but will have to wait until next time we play together. After he got hurt, he led us to two wins as a coach.
I had a few very disappointing weekends on a personal level at the beginning of the second round, but have since got back in the swing of things. I feel like I have played well and consistently all season and at the moment I lead the team in all major batting and pitching categories. When Kleine is there, him, myself and Bram provide a nice start to our lineup. Last weekend of games I was 4 for 7 at the plate and also threw 10 innings giving up 0ER and getting the extra inning win against Mortsel.
The Balachelijk (ridiculous): I'm not one to criticize umpiring and I think that way to often bqd umpiring is used as an excuse, but I have never experienced anything quite like this. Whether they are trying to or not, the umpires here influence the outcomes of the game. They are not invisible, as a good umpire should be. I am sure they are great people and mean well and this should in no way be considered a personal attack... I hate umpiring and appreciate that there are peole willing to do it.... BUT, 1)you do not have to come set for 2 full seconds to avoid a balk 2)If you only have 1 eye, you should not be allowed to umpire competitive games 3)a ball at the top of the knees anywhere over the plate is a strike and lastly, believe it or not, it is possible that a curve ball is a strike even if the batter doesn't swing at it.
Looking forward: We have upwards of 5 important games coming up and can finish strong.
After this season is over, I have agreed to a deal with a team in Australia and will be moving to Perth with Rachel for the Summer (Oct-April). I will be playing for the Balcatta Bears in the provincial league of WA, and am looking forward to the opportunity to compete for a championship. That said, I am not looking beyond this coming weekends games with Namen.
I think that about brings things up to speed, hopefully I didn't forget anything. Hopefully have 4 wins coming up and will have a higher batting avg that kleine for the season, winning a crate! Until next time, Go Cats!
It has been a frustrating season on the diamond to say the least. We are 5-25 or something like that and have suffered many losses that easily should have been wins. Through the ups and downs, I have been able to keep a perspective that I don't think many could do and an optimism that I wish was more contagious. I still go into every game thinking that we are going to win and still get fired up by bush league acts and bullshit calls, of which there have been many. I also recognize that baseball here simply cannot be like baseball in the United States for obvious reasons.For starters, working full time and playing baseball full time while having a family is simply not possible. However, when running our practices or youth practices I have still tried to instill a sense of the right way to play the game and prepare yourself for success. I hope that some of this has stuck, especially with the younger guys.
Personally, I think I have been able to learn more things from the failures of the season than I have from our successes. As someone who aspires to coach in the future, seeing what hurts a team and what not to do can be as helpful as seeing a great program. I should say flat out that I love the Cats Organization and wish that the season had taken a different direction, but with several games left, we still have the opportunity to finish strong.
Anyways, enough blathering about it... here is a run down of the last two months or so of baseball.
I experienced some problems with my liscence which caused me to miss two games at the end of June against the Hoboken Pioneers, a team I had been looking forward to facing since the first time we played them early in the season. These were Aaron's first games with the team.
Aaron had a bit of bad luck and tore his hamstring in his 5th game since being here. It really hurt to lose him as a player and he came back to pitch a gem against the Angles, but rushed back too soon wanting to help the team. He ended up making the injury worse and is now out for the season. Aaron was a huge asset to the team, both on the field and off. He had some of the worst luck while pitching, and even though someone who didn't know the game might think that his performances were nothing special, had he received good support behind him, we definitely would have won a few more games and competed with the leagues best. It was also a shame that we never got to pitch the way we had in college, with me starting and him closing the games out. I think that would have been a powerful combination but will have to wait until next time we play together. After he got hurt, he led us to two wins as a coach.
I had a few very disappointing weekends on a personal level at the beginning of the second round, but have since got back in the swing of things. I feel like I have played well and consistently all season and at the moment I lead the team in all major batting and pitching categories. When Kleine is there, him, myself and Bram provide a nice start to our lineup. Last weekend of games I was 4 for 7 at the plate and also threw 10 innings giving up 0ER and getting the extra inning win against Mortsel.
The Balachelijk (ridiculous): I'm not one to criticize umpiring and I think that way to often bqd umpiring is used as an excuse, but I have never experienced anything quite like this. Whether they are trying to or not, the umpires here influence the outcomes of the game. They are not invisible, as a good umpire should be. I am sure they are great people and mean well and this should in no way be considered a personal attack... I hate umpiring and appreciate that there are peole willing to do it.... BUT, 1)you do not have to come set for 2 full seconds to avoid a balk 2)If you only have 1 eye, you should not be allowed to umpire competitive games 3)a ball at the top of the knees anywhere over the plate is a strike and lastly, believe it or not, it is possible that a curve ball is a strike even if the batter doesn't swing at it.
Looking forward: We have upwards of 5 important games coming up and can finish strong.
After this season is over, I have agreed to a deal with a team in Australia and will be moving to Perth with Rachel for the Summer (Oct-April). I will be playing for the Balcatta Bears in the provincial league of WA, and am looking forward to the opportunity to compete for a championship. That said, I am not looking beyond this coming weekends games with Namen.
I think that about brings things up to speed, hopefully I didn't forget anything. Hopefully have 4 wins coming up and will have a higher batting avg that kleine for the season, winning a crate! Until next time, Go Cats!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Catching up on life Back in Belgium... FInally all caught up
Since I arrived back in Belgium from my travels, I have lived in 3 different spots. All of them have been very different, but AWESOME! I have had the best luck with host families and I continue to be welcomed into amazing peoples’ homes, where people bend over backwards to make me feel welcom.
Our first two weeks back in Belgium, Rachel and I lived smack in the middle of Brussels with Winne, a friend on the softball team. She was a great host and her apartment had an amazing location. It was a short walk to all of the cities main attractions and we were surrounded by good food, good bars, and great company. Troy came into Brussels several times a week and we got to know our way around Brussels quite well. For such an international city, the city city is actually quite easy to walk from end to end.
Highlights from our time in Brussels:
Becoming good friends with Winne
Edward Duvel/Kebab hands in the park across from the Kings Palace. Drinking in the park with the Brussels Hash runners.
Meeting Winne’s friends
Brussels’ Asia town, with awesome Asian cuisine and grocery stores
Trips to Delirium
Living 5 minutes from the Grote Markt and the rest of Brussels sights
Algarfijf dance party in Merchtem, where an old barn is turned into a dance party with lights, smoke machine and the whole nine
After two weeks at Winne’s, we moved to Londerzeel to live with my teammate Stef and his family. Living in the small town of Londerzeel was quite different from Brussels for obvious reasons, but was an absolute blast. The Wambacq’s welcomed us into their family with open arms and treated us like family, but better. They spoiled us from the start, having graciously built an apartment above their garage to give Rachel and I some privacy. The apartment had a shower/bathroom, cable TV, internet access, radio, and they stocked it with chocolate and toiletries.
We were spoiled with pretty much everything, as they always treated us and filled us with great food and many pintjes. They have a beautiful family and Rachel and I enjoyed spending a lot of time with the kids, Jens (6) , who is a baseball fanatic and Britt (11) who is good at everything she does. The grandma, Oma, also spent almost all of her time at the house helping out with the kids, cooking, cleaning, and pretty much anything else you could think of. Oma helped me out a lot, giving me rides to practice and making sure I always had a pintje.
The first week I was there was also the Merchtem Kermis (town fair), which is a really big deal. The whole town comes out for the week long event that features a lot of live music, rides and games for the kids, dance parties and plenty of good fatty food and booze. The weeklong party also coincided with Elka’s (Stef’s wife, who is awesome I might add) birthday on the 21st and mine on the 22nd. That week we went to two concerts and one dance party, on Tuesday it was Duk, a local cover band that rocked it and put on a really good show and on Friday/Saturday for Elka’s birthday and Ringing in my birthday was another cover band, The Flying Thunderbirds, who are big in Belgium and also rocked it. Each of the concerts were great, as the guys from the team got together for the shindigs, drinking way too many pintjes and staying out until the night dancing and partying. For Elka’s birthday, we also had a party/bbq during the day with bomb food and drinks before heading to the concert. I must admit that I am falling in love with the Euro music, and when the concerts were over, the DJ continued to keep the good beats coming until the wee hours of the morning.
For my birthday, the Wambacqs took us to their beach house in De Haan on the North Sea to spend the day. Another example of how they spoiled us and made us feel right at home.
Highlights from my time in Londerzeel:
The concerts, birthdays, drinks, dancing, and Kermis
De Haan and the beachouse
Playing with the kids
All the good food and drinks (especially Oma’s mussels and frietjes!)
Rachel and I made a trip to Ypers for a day and went to the In Flanders Fields WWI museum
Anytime Tonight’s Gonna be a Good Night came on
I could go on and on.
Rachel left for the states at the end of August and about a week later I moved from Londerzeel to Denderbelle with the Huttener family.
One would think that after living with such nice people, that moving out would come with disappointment, but this family is just as welcoming and awesome as the others have been.
Denderbelle is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, and the family mom+dad, Kristien and Wim, and two baseball/softball playing kids Quinten and Indy live on a farm with no shortage of cool things to do. They have also spoiled us, (Troy is living here too) giving us our own room again with cable, bathroom again with toiletries (I could seriously start a toiletry store with all the stuff I have, especially since Rachel left all of hers), brommers (moto scooters) for us to drive, horses, big trampoline, and the list goes on. Troy and I bromm all over the place and have coined the terms “brommen out of control” and “ET bromm home”. It is 17 Km to the field and we make the trip by brommen most of the time.
They have also been stuffing us with great food and bending over backwards to help us out. Yesterday, they took us Horseback riding (they have 5 horses) and today my legs and ass are absolutely killing me. Apparently when it was my turn, Wim told Aaron that he was gonna have the horse ride hard so I would feel it the next day haha. It was a lot of fun but I don’t think I am cut out to be a cowboy. The horse, Montana galloped about 20 km/hr and I though I was going to die. I can’t imagine riding a horse at full speed or for any longer than half an hour.
Yesterday was another wild night, as it was Kleine’s bachelor party. He is getting married in 3 weeks, and to celebrate we went out and kept the drinks coming. We started in Mollem, went to dinner in Merchtem, then a bar in Merchtem before heading to the final party spot. There was a dance party by the baseball field, again with a DJ and bar. It was pretty funny, especially since the average age at the party was somewhere around 15 or 16 excluding our group of “old men”. Needless to say at 5 am this morning, I was lying on the floor of the cantina with Bart and Troy trying to convince me to go sleep at Bart's, which I eventually did… otherwise I would probably still be on the cantina floor.
Today is recovery day, but the gist of this is that I have still been having an awesome time.
Highlights from time in Denderbelle
Kleine's bachelor party
Riding Horses
Brommen out of control
Watching discovery channel
Being given way too much good food ;;; becoming a trend, I know
again, could go on and on but will stop here. The cats are a bunch of really great people
I haven’t talked about baseball in forever, but will make a post soon bringing everyone up to speed on this season and my future plans of moving to Australia to play for the winter. Pictures will come sooner or later but probably later than sooner. Hope everyone is doing well… peace and love
Ethan
PS after I wrote this they took us out for drinks at the Bierpaterstoel in Dendermonde. It was an awesome time. The good times keep rolling.
Our first two weeks back in Belgium, Rachel and I lived smack in the middle of Brussels with Winne, a friend on the softball team. She was a great host and her apartment had an amazing location. It was a short walk to all of the cities main attractions and we were surrounded by good food, good bars, and great company. Troy came into Brussels several times a week and we got to know our way around Brussels quite well. For such an international city, the city city is actually quite easy to walk from end to end.
Highlights from our time in Brussels:
Becoming good friends with Winne
Edward Duvel/Kebab hands in the park across from the Kings Palace. Drinking in the park with the Brussels Hash runners.
Meeting Winne’s friends
Brussels’ Asia town, with awesome Asian cuisine and grocery stores
Trips to Delirium
Living 5 minutes from the Grote Markt and the rest of Brussels sights
Algarfijf dance party in Merchtem, where an old barn is turned into a dance party with lights, smoke machine and the whole nine
After two weeks at Winne’s, we moved to Londerzeel to live with my teammate Stef and his family. Living in the small town of Londerzeel was quite different from Brussels for obvious reasons, but was an absolute blast. The Wambacq’s welcomed us into their family with open arms and treated us like family, but better. They spoiled us from the start, having graciously built an apartment above their garage to give Rachel and I some privacy. The apartment had a shower/bathroom, cable TV, internet access, radio, and they stocked it with chocolate and toiletries.
We were spoiled with pretty much everything, as they always treated us and filled us with great food and many pintjes. They have a beautiful family and Rachel and I enjoyed spending a lot of time with the kids, Jens (6) , who is a baseball fanatic and Britt (11) who is good at everything she does. The grandma, Oma, also spent almost all of her time at the house helping out with the kids, cooking, cleaning, and pretty much anything else you could think of. Oma helped me out a lot, giving me rides to practice and making sure I always had a pintje.
The first week I was there was also the Merchtem Kermis (town fair), which is a really big deal. The whole town comes out for the week long event that features a lot of live music, rides and games for the kids, dance parties and plenty of good fatty food and booze. The weeklong party also coincided with Elka’s (Stef’s wife, who is awesome I might add) birthday on the 21st and mine on the 22nd. That week we went to two concerts and one dance party, on Tuesday it was Duk, a local cover band that rocked it and put on a really good show and on Friday/Saturday for Elka’s birthday and Ringing in my birthday was another cover band, The Flying Thunderbirds, who are big in Belgium and also rocked it. Each of the concerts were great, as the guys from the team got together for the shindigs, drinking way too many pintjes and staying out until the night dancing and partying. For Elka’s birthday, we also had a party/bbq during the day with bomb food and drinks before heading to the concert. I must admit that I am falling in love with the Euro music, and when the concerts were over, the DJ continued to keep the good beats coming until the wee hours of the morning.
For my birthday, the Wambacqs took us to their beach house in De Haan on the North Sea to spend the day. Another example of how they spoiled us and made us feel right at home.
Highlights from my time in Londerzeel:
The concerts, birthdays, drinks, dancing, and Kermis
De Haan and the beachouse
Playing with the kids
All the good food and drinks (especially Oma’s mussels and frietjes!)
Rachel and I made a trip to Ypers for a day and went to the In Flanders Fields WWI museum
Anytime Tonight’s Gonna be a Good Night came on
I could go on and on.
Rachel left for the states at the end of August and about a week later I moved from Londerzeel to Denderbelle with the Huttener family.
One would think that after living with such nice people, that moving out would come with disappointment, but this family is just as welcoming and awesome as the others have been.
Denderbelle is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, and the family mom+dad, Kristien and Wim, and two baseball/softball playing kids Quinten and Indy live on a farm with no shortage of cool things to do. They have also spoiled us, (Troy is living here too) giving us our own room again with cable, bathroom again with toiletries (I could seriously start a toiletry store with all the stuff I have, especially since Rachel left all of hers), brommers (moto scooters) for us to drive, horses, big trampoline, and the list goes on. Troy and I bromm all over the place and have coined the terms “brommen out of control” and “ET bromm home”. It is 17 Km to the field and we make the trip by brommen most of the time.
They have also been stuffing us with great food and bending over backwards to help us out. Yesterday, they took us Horseback riding (they have 5 horses) and today my legs and ass are absolutely killing me. Apparently when it was my turn, Wim told Aaron that he was gonna have the horse ride hard so I would feel it the next day haha. It was a lot of fun but I don’t think I am cut out to be a cowboy. The horse, Montana galloped about 20 km/hr and I though I was going to die. I can’t imagine riding a horse at full speed or for any longer than half an hour.
Yesterday was another wild night, as it was Kleine’s bachelor party. He is getting married in 3 weeks, and to celebrate we went out and kept the drinks coming. We started in Mollem, went to dinner in Merchtem, then a bar in Merchtem before heading to the final party spot. There was a dance party by the baseball field, again with a DJ and bar. It was pretty funny, especially since the average age at the party was somewhere around 15 or 16 excluding our group of “old men”. Needless to say at 5 am this morning, I was lying on the floor of the cantina with Bart and Troy trying to convince me to go sleep at Bart's, which I eventually did… otherwise I would probably still be on the cantina floor.
Today is recovery day, but the gist of this is that I have still been having an awesome time.
Highlights from time in Denderbelle
Kleine's bachelor party
Riding Horses
Brommen out of control
Watching discovery channel
Being given way too much good food ;;; becoming a trend, I know
again, could go on and on but will stop here. The cats are a bunch of really great people
I haven’t talked about baseball in forever, but will make a post soon bringing everyone up to speed on this season and my future plans of moving to Australia to play for the winter. Pictures will come sooner or later but probably later than sooner. Hope everyone is doing well… peace and love
Ethan
PS after I wrote this they took us out for drinks at the Bierpaterstoel in Dendermonde. It was an awesome time. The good times keep rolling.
End of the Trip: Pompeii to Rome...back to BE
July 31:
We caught the early 6:30 am bus from Minori to Pompeii, arriving at 7:50, a good 10 minutes before the ruins opened. We went into a café to get a cappuccino and talked to an awesome old guy who helped us order, warned us of dangers of traveling in Italy, and gave us a hard time about our future plans and reminded me how lucky I was to have a beautiful girlfriend. After finishing our drinks, we headed for the old ruins of Pompeii.
As we walked by the main church, a dog came running out after us and started following us. When we went into restaurants in search of a cheap lunch, the dog waited patiently for us outside. When we entered the old city of Pompeii and the ruins, the dog joined us. We gave her the name of Pompita and let her lead us through the ancient streets of Pompeii.
Pompeii was amazing, and I recommend it to anyone who is able bodied enough to walk around the cobble stone streets. I wrote a lot more about it but lost it for some reason when my computer froze, despite saving. Basically it was amazing and we spent a good 8ish hours walking around. We then caught the train to Rome via Naples. There were some hecklers at the train station and it was hilarious. We got into Rome circa 9 pm.
Rome:
Aug 1:
At our hotel in Rome, we started off with an uh oh here we go moment. After the long day, I got in the shower only to have the shower knob fall off completely. They switched us to a different room and we were happy to find everything in working order and no bed bugs.
The next day we got up early, cashed in on the hotel buffet breakfast and then headed for the center of Rome. The number of people everywhere was absolutely insane, and the man purse did work in keeping all our belongings safe. Being the tough manly man that I am, of course the first thing we went to was the coliseum. We signed up for a guided tour of the coliseum and the adjacent Palatine Hill where the wealthy Romans lived. A fun fact, the term coliseum actually came from slang/abbreviations/laziness. There used to be a huge statue of Nero outside the structure which served as a nice meeting point, so people said lets meet at the colossal statue of Nero, which turned into lets meet at the colossal statue, which turned into colossal and eventually gave way to the Coliseum. The tour was very informative and skipping the line to get in on your own made it well worth the money. The Coliseum was an impressive structure with its intricate underground hallway system, dungeons and cages, and sheer size. It was fun to go inside, but the best part of the tour was when we got lost and joined another tour whose guide was better and funnier. We went through Nero’s Hallway, saw Cesar Augustus’ palace, got a view of the Circus Maximus ruins, saw two of the three remaining arches, walked around the forum and on the old senate building steps where Julius Cesar was not killed, went to the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and of course got ice cream. We finished the day off at Piazza del Popolo, with more ice cream and watched a Michael Jackson impersonator dance.
Aug 2:
We started our second full day in Rome off at my favorite place in the city, Piazza Navona. The piazza boasts 3 awesome fountains, including my favorite, the Fountain of 4 Rivers, and by night is buzzing with people, performers and life. Next stop was Vatican City where we toured the art galleries, saw the famous Sistine Chapel, where no one listens to the countless reminders to not take pictures, and caught mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. I thought about baseball pretty much the entire time we were listening to the drones ramble on and I have since decided that that would be a good last church going experience for my life.
We left Vatican City in search of food, and ended up close to Piazza Navona again. We found a good restaurant to eat at and enjoyed a nice long meal. Afterwards, we headead back to Piazza Navona which was now full of life. At one end was the Miss Roma beauty contest, where the mainly not so attractive contestants were going through the rehearsals and what we think were Italian celebs began to show up. On the opposite side of the plaza were several really good street performers and people playing music. One guy impressed with an awesome rendition of Angie, which he played flawlessly even while holding a cigarette in his hand. Our last sight seeing in Rome was Trevi Fountain which was impressive, but hard to appreciate since there were half a million people standing around it.
Rome was quite an impressive city and the number of ruins and things that seem to be important is just flat out ridiculous. Everywhere you turn are reminders of the Roman Empire. I would summarize my feelings on Rome as such… It was nice to see Rome, but also nice to be done seeing Rome. Because there is so much to see and so many people trying to see it, it was pretty exhausting, but definitely a great way to finish out an absolutely amazing 6 weeks of travel.
Aug 3:
Travel days are always hectic, but this travel day was particularly crazy. It took us 2 hours to get from our hotel to the airport by public transport, then we flew for 2 hours, and then it took us another 2 hours by public transport to get from Charleroi to Opwijk.
Immediately upon arrival, we were told that we had an hour to pack up all our stuff because we were moving to Winne’s place in downtown Brussels after practice. After frantically packing things up, I went to practice, then hauled all our stuff into Brussels. What a day.
We caught the early 6:30 am bus from Minori to Pompeii, arriving at 7:50, a good 10 minutes before the ruins opened. We went into a café to get a cappuccino and talked to an awesome old guy who helped us order, warned us of dangers of traveling in Italy, and gave us a hard time about our future plans and reminded me how lucky I was to have a beautiful girlfriend. After finishing our drinks, we headed for the old ruins of Pompeii.
As we walked by the main church, a dog came running out after us and started following us. When we went into restaurants in search of a cheap lunch, the dog waited patiently for us outside. When we entered the old city of Pompeii and the ruins, the dog joined us. We gave her the name of Pompita and let her lead us through the ancient streets of Pompeii.
Pompeii was amazing, and I recommend it to anyone who is able bodied enough to walk around the cobble stone streets. I wrote a lot more about it but lost it for some reason when my computer froze, despite saving. Basically it was amazing and we spent a good 8ish hours walking around. We then caught the train to Rome via Naples. There were some hecklers at the train station and it was hilarious. We got into Rome circa 9 pm.
Rome:
Aug 1:
At our hotel in Rome, we started off with an uh oh here we go moment. After the long day, I got in the shower only to have the shower knob fall off completely. They switched us to a different room and we were happy to find everything in working order and no bed bugs.
The next day we got up early, cashed in on the hotel buffet breakfast and then headed for the center of Rome. The number of people everywhere was absolutely insane, and the man purse did work in keeping all our belongings safe. Being the tough manly man that I am, of course the first thing we went to was the coliseum. We signed up for a guided tour of the coliseum and the adjacent Palatine Hill where the wealthy Romans lived. A fun fact, the term coliseum actually came from slang/abbreviations/laziness. There used to be a huge statue of Nero outside the structure which served as a nice meeting point, so people said lets meet at the colossal statue of Nero, which turned into lets meet at the colossal statue, which turned into colossal and eventually gave way to the Coliseum. The tour was very informative and skipping the line to get in on your own made it well worth the money. The Coliseum was an impressive structure with its intricate underground hallway system, dungeons and cages, and sheer size. It was fun to go inside, but the best part of the tour was when we got lost and joined another tour whose guide was better and funnier. We went through Nero’s Hallway, saw Cesar Augustus’ palace, got a view of the Circus Maximus ruins, saw two of the three remaining arches, walked around the forum and on the old senate building steps where Julius Cesar was not killed, went to the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and of course got ice cream. We finished the day off at Piazza del Popolo, with more ice cream and watched a Michael Jackson impersonator dance.
Aug 2:
We started our second full day in Rome off at my favorite place in the city, Piazza Navona. The piazza boasts 3 awesome fountains, including my favorite, the Fountain of 4 Rivers, and by night is buzzing with people, performers and life. Next stop was Vatican City where we toured the art galleries, saw the famous Sistine Chapel, where no one listens to the countless reminders to not take pictures, and caught mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. I thought about baseball pretty much the entire time we were listening to the drones ramble on and I have since decided that that would be a good last church going experience for my life.
We left Vatican City in search of food, and ended up close to Piazza Navona again. We found a good restaurant to eat at and enjoyed a nice long meal. Afterwards, we headead back to Piazza Navona which was now full of life. At one end was the Miss Roma beauty contest, where the mainly not so attractive contestants were going through the rehearsals and what we think were Italian celebs began to show up. On the opposite side of the plaza were several really good street performers and people playing music. One guy impressed with an awesome rendition of Angie, which he played flawlessly even while holding a cigarette in his hand. Our last sight seeing in Rome was Trevi Fountain which was impressive, but hard to appreciate since there were half a million people standing around it.
Rome was quite an impressive city and the number of ruins and things that seem to be important is just flat out ridiculous. Everywhere you turn are reminders of the Roman Empire. I would summarize my feelings on Rome as such… It was nice to see Rome, but also nice to be done seeing Rome. Because there is so much to see and so many people trying to see it, it was pretty exhausting, but definitely a great way to finish out an absolutely amazing 6 weeks of travel.
Aug 3:
Travel days are always hectic, but this travel day was particularly crazy. It took us 2 hours to get from our hotel to the airport by public transport, then we flew for 2 hours, and then it took us another 2 hours by public transport to get from Charleroi to Opwijk.
Immediately upon arrival, we were told that we had an hour to pack up all our stuff because we were moving to Winne’s place in downtown Brussels after practice. After frantically packing things up, I went to practice, then hauled all our stuff into Brussels. What a day.
Friday, September 10, 2010
From Etna to the Amalfi Coast and Italian Mainland
After getting back from Mt. Etna, we were pretty much starving. We asked the old man who ran our hotel and after he argued with his assistant for a while, he gave us two suggestions. We ended up at Trattoria Saltimbocca da Giancarlo, where we had an amazing Italian dinning experience, something I desperately wanted to have on this trip.
We arrived at the Trattoria while they were still setting up, but were helped by a man I assumed to be the restaurant owner who spoke English. After taking a look at the fresh seafood display on ice, we sat down with our menus. I asked the man, who was sitting at a table by himself, whether it was his restaurant and he laughed. Our new friend, Salvadore Capone, was actually just a regular customer who worked as an international fish salesman and like this restaurant for its nice selection of fresh seafood.
Rachel and I ordered a pasta with mixed seafood and swordfish to split over a bottle of wine. While waiting for our food, we enjoyed a glass of wine, bread, and spicy olives that were also brought out as an appetizer. We continued to chat with Salvadore, who said that he had ordered a pasta dish with really small white fish called Moccu at this place but known elsewhere as Biancci. You would not find this on any menu, he explained, as it is illegal to serve. The tiny white fish are caught when they are babies and served as a delicacy, eaten lightly cooked or not at all. When his food came out, he had asked the waiter to put some of it on a small dish for us to try. So here we are, in Sicily, eating black market fish and chatting it up with a local fish salesman. I was already thinking how sweet of a situation this was, but it was just the beginning. When we got our food, Salvadore sent over another bottle of wine as a gift. The food was delicious, the wine equally as good. When we finished our dinner, I was a little sad that the dinning experience seemed to be coming to an end. Turns out it was still just beginning.
Salvadore explained that he was so busy with work during the day that he rarely ate lunch. When he did go out to dinner, he liked to eat a lot and eat slow. His next course was a cake, which Rachel and I decided we also needed to get. It was delicious, but now the dinning experience was surely coming to an end, right? Wrong. Salvadore sent over two lemon sorbetos, a cross between lemon slushy and lemon sorbet. He said that he took his mixed with Absolute vodka, but we had the virgin variety. If it is possible to have something taste better than the frozen lemonades at Disneyland, this was it. It’s bitter sweet taste was so refreshing and good. Salvadore explained that he liked to eat a long hearty meal, get drunk, get on his motorcycle, go home and go right to sleep before waking up for work at 4 am. We weren’t sure how the drunk and riding a motorcylcle really fit together, but he had helped us find the quintessential Italian dinning experience… great food, great company, and lots of wine. Before parting ways, he showed us some pictures of a private island he rented in the Maldives for a week, the best place he said he had ever traveled to. He also told us to have a lot of kids together and call or email him if we needed anything while in Italy. We left the restaurant full and happy, another great day in the books.
July 28:
Our first travel day in Italy. We took the train from Catania to Salerno, including one leg of the trip where the entire train was loaded on a barge and taken from Sicily to mainland Italy. If we had not yet seen the true beauty of Sicily, the last 24 hours including this train trip offered us a glimpse. We passed old, beautiful farmland that lead all the way up to the base of Mt. Etna, lemon groves, row after row of grape vines, and the beautiful and secluded beaches of some of the lesser known and less touristy towns. The train wound its way down the coast, along cliffs, through mountains, and beach towns. We ended up in Salerno, where we hopped on a bus that took us along the scenic Amalfi Coast, another crazy if not nerve racking drive along big drop offs full of blind turns, crazy bus drivers, and confusion on where to get off. We reached Minori, the small town where we would stay the next 3 days. The rest of the day included a trip to the beach, dinner, a walk around town, and it concluded with gelato.
July 29:
Another memorable day on the Amalfi. We spent the morning/afternoon on the beach, but the real highlight came at night. We decided to walk from Minori to Ravello, an Amalfi town that instead of being right on the water, was perched up on the hills above, providing a gorgeous view of the coastline for miles and miles. We left in the late afternoon, walking up the narrow paths, climbing stair after stair for about an hour and a half, stopping frequently to admire the fading orange sky behind the Amalfi coast below and distant coasts across the water. We wandered up through lemon groves and small farms set into the hills in front of the sea. It was a beautiful sight, a perfectly harmonious blend of nature and society. The human elements only adding to the natural beauty of the surrounding area. As we got higher and higher, our view of the sun set and coastline continued to improve, a sight well worth all the mosquito bites.
We made it to Ravello as darkness took over. After a brief pit stop to check out the church, we started our search for food. We narrowed the possibilities down to two before indecision took over. After flipping a coin, we decided on going to the first restaurant we came across despite the fact that it came up short on the coin toss. It was Rachel’s intuition that led us against the coin flip and it couldn’t have been a better decision. We feasted on roasted chicken, gnocchi al sorrentino, veggies, cake and of course wine. In the end, the feast turned out to be one of our best and cheapest meals and we left happy campers.
The walk down in the dark offered us another stunning view, the shadowy outlines of the hills and towns framing the sea below, shimmering in the light from the full moon above.
July 30:
We woke up early for our next adventure, a boat ride to Capri, the island vacation spot of Roman emperor Tiberius. The Mediterranean was as rough as I have ever seen it, throwing people all over the boat and making a good number of people sea sick. Despite the poor conditions, the trip offered amazing views of the Amalfi, this time from the sea looking up into the hills, natural bridges, protruding rocks, and a number of caves that turned the water crazy cool colors. We explored Capri, checking out Augustus’ gardens, ruins of the palace of Tiberius, the palace of Nino, and countless beautiful views of the Capri coast, the Gulf of Napoli, and Mt. Vesuvius. Right before we were set to take another rough boat ride back, I had the once in a lifetime experience that everyone who is traveling and not doing something they shouldn’t be hopes for… I saw someone I knew unexpectedly. There in Capri, I saw Patrick Philley and some other Carls. I shouted at him and tried to get his attention but they didn’t hear or recognize me with my sweet long hair and before I knew it they had disappeared into the crowd. Sad Days.
My thoughts on Capri are admiration for its natural beauty but disgust for the human element on the Island and many of its rich and annoying tourists. While it did have some beautiful villas and farms, the town itself was full of pricey shopping and food. Not for me.
The ride back was even wilder that the way there and everyone was ordered off deck and inside. Rachel and I had started up top and when we came down there were no seats left. We weathered the ride better than most in seats, many of whom were sick, pale, and sweating like crazy.
When we got back, frustrated by not taking advantage of seeing someone who I knew, I cut my hair so in the event that it happened again they may recognize me. It was interesting going to an Italian barber with little communication and I ended up with a haircut I had never had before. He only used scissors and I was left with pretty long hair on the top and shorter on the sides, not quite flock of seagulls status, and for 7 euro I will take it.
While the dinner from last night highlighted all that can be good about eating in Italy, dinner this night was quite the opposite. We paid out the ass for hardly any food, not great service, got slapped with a 6 euro service fee….because of course when it says 3 euro cover it means per person, got no bread and left still hungry and unsatisfied.
On the way back, we happened upon a beautiful concert taking place in a small side street square. The violinist was unreal and adding to the atmosphere was an old man sitting in his window a few floors up, enjoying the concert with his dinner. It was a great scene to end our time in Minori, when it started to rain a bit we headed back to the hotel and started to pack up and get ready to leave the next morning at 6ish to catch the bus to Pompeii.
We arrived at the Trattoria while they were still setting up, but were helped by a man I assumed to be the restaurant owner who spoke English. After taking a look at the fresh seafood display on ice, we sat down with our menus. I asked the man, who was sitting at a table by himself, whether it was his restaurant and he laughed. Our new friend, Salvadore Capone, was actually just a regular customer who worked as an international fish salesman and like this restaurant for its nice selection of fresh seafood.
Rachel and I ordered a pasta with mixed seafood and swordfish to split over a bottle of wine. While waiting for our food, we enjoyed a glass of wine, bread, and spicy olives that were also brought out as an appetizer. We continued to chat with Salvadore, who said that he had ordered a pasta dish with really small white fish called Moccu at this place but known elsewhere as Biancci. You would not find this on any menu, he explained, as it is illegal to serve. The tiny white fish are caught when they are babies and served as a delicacy, eaten lightly cooked or not at all. When his food came out, he had asked the waiter to put some of it on a small dish for us to try. So here we are, in Sicily, eating black market fish and chatting it up with a local fish salesman. I was already thinking how sweet of a situation this was, but it was just the beginning. When we got our food, Salvadore sent over another bottle of wine as a gift. The food was delicious, the wine equally as good. When we finished our dinner, I was a little sad that the dinning experience seemed to be coming to an end. Turns out it was still just beginning.
Salvadore explained that he was so busy with work during the day that he rarely ate lunch. When he did go out to dinner, he liked to eat a lot and eat slow. His next course was a cake, which Rachel and I decided we also needed to get. It was delicious, but now the dinning experience was surely coming to an end, right? Wrong. Salvadore sent over two lemon sorbetos, a cross between lemon slushy and lemon sorbet. He said that he took his mixed with Absolute vodka, but we had the virgin variety. If it is possible to have something taste better than the frozen lemonades at Disneyland, this was it. It’s bitter sweet taste was so refreshing and good. Salvadore explained that he liked to eat a long hearty meal, get drunk, get on his motorcycle, go home and go right to sleep before waking up for work at 4 am. We weren’t sure how the drunk and riding a motorcylcle really fit together, but he had helped us find the quintessential Italian dinning experience… great food, great company, and lots of wine. Before parting ways, he showed us some pictures of a private island he rented in the Maldives for a week, the best place he said he had ever traveled to. He also told us to have a lot of kids together and call or email him if we needed anything while in Italy. We left the restaurant full and happy, another great day in the books.
July 28:
Our first travel day in Italy. We took the train from Catania to Salerno, including one leg of the trip where the entire train was loaded on a barge and taken from Sicily to mainland Italy. If we had not yet seen the true beauty of Sicily, the last 24 hours including this train trip offered us a glimpse. We passed old, beautiful farmland that lead all the way up to the base of Mt. Etna, lemon groves, row after row of grape vines, and the beautiful and secluded beaches of some of the lesser known and less touristy towns. The train wound its way down the coast, along cliffs, through mountains, and beach towns. We ended up in Salerno, where we hopped on a bus that took us along the scenic Amalfi Coast, another crazy if not nerve racking drive along big drop offs full of blind turns, crazy bus drivers, and confusion on where to get off. We reached Minori, the small town where we would stay the next 3 days. The rest of the day included a trip to the beach, dinner, a walk around town, and it concluded with gelato.
July 29:
Another memorable day on the Amalfi. We spent the morning/afternoon on the beach, but the real highlight came at night. We decided to walk from Minori to Ravello, an Amalfi town that instead of being right on the water, was perched up on the hills above, providing a gorgeous view of the coastline for miles and miles. We left in the late afternoon, walking up the narrow paths, climbing stair after stair for about an hour and a half, stopping frequently to admire the fading orange sky behind the Amalfi coast below and distant coasts across the water. We wandered up through lemon groves and small farms set into the hills in front of the sea. It was a beautiful sight, a perfectly harmonious blend of nature and society. The human elements only adding to the natural beauty of the surrounding area. As we got higher and higher, our view of the sun set and coastline continued to improve, a sight well worth all the mosquito bites.
We made it to Ravello as darkness took over. After a brief pit stop to check out the church, we started our search for food. We narrowed the possibilities down to two before indecision took over. After flipping a coin, we decided on going to the first restaurant we came across despite the fact that it came up short on the coin toss. It was Rachel’s intuition that led us against the coin flip and it couldn’t have been a better decision. We feasted on roasted chicken, gnocchi al sorrentino, veggies, cake and of course wine. In the end, the feast turned out to be one of our best and cheapest meals and we left happy campers.
The walk down in the dark offered us another stunning view, the shadowy outlines of the hills and towns framing the sea below, shimmering in the light from the full moon above.
July 30:
We woke up early for our next adventure, a boat ride to Capri, the island vacation spot of Roman emperor Tiberius. The Mediterranean was as rough as I have ever seen it, throwing people all over the boat and making a good number of people sea sick. Despite the poor conditions, the trip offered amazing views of the Amalfi, this time from the sea looking up into the hills, natural bridges, protruding rocks, and a number of caves that turned the water crazy cool colors. We explored Capri, checking out Augustus’ gardens, ruins of the palace of Tiberius, the palace of Nino, and countless beautiful views of the Capri coast, the Gulf of Napoli, and Mt. Vesuvius. Right before we were set to take another rough boat ride back, I had the once in a lifetime experience that everyone who is traveling and not doing something they shouldn’t be hopes for… I saw someone I knew unexpectedly. There in Capri, I saw Patrick Philley and some other Carls. I shouted at him and tried to get his attention but they didn’t hear or recognize me with my sweet long hair and before I knew it they had disappeared into the crowd. Sad Days.
My thoughts on Capri are admiration for its natural beauty but disgust for the human element on the Island and many of its rich and annoying tourists. While it did have some beautiful villas and farms, the town itself was full of pricey shopping and food. Not for me.
The ride back was even wilder that the way there and everyone was ordered off deck and inside. Rachel and I had started up top and when we came down there were no seats left. We weathered the ride better than most in seats, many of whom were sick, pale, and sweating like crazy.
When we got back, frustrated by not taking advantage of seeing someone who I knew, I cut my hair so in the event that it happened again they may recognize me. It was interesting going to an Italian barber with little communication and I ended up with a haircut I had never had before. He only used scissors and I was left with pretty long hair on the top and shorter on the sides, not quite flock of seagulls status, and for 7 euro I will take it.
While the dinner from last night highlighted all that can be good about eating in Italy, dinner this night was quite the opposite. We paid out the ass for hardly any food, not great service, got slapped with a 6 euro service fee….because of course when it says 3 euro cover it means per person, got no bread and left still hungry and unsatisfied.
On the way back, we happened upon a beautiful concert taking place in a small side street square. The violinist was unreal and adding to the atmosphere was an old man sitting in his window a few floors up, enjoying the concert with his dinner. It was a great scene to end our time in Minori, when it started to rain a bit we headed back to the hotel and started to pack up and get ready to leave the next morning at 6ish to catch the bus to Pompeii.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Palermo to Catania
July 25:
In the morning, we met our hostel-mate, Steve who was also going to Catania later that day. We decided to walk around with him and then take a bus to Catania later in the afternoon. Italian sense of time and organization makes Spain look good. We walked across Palermo to catacombs, only to find that the tourist guide was wrong and they were closed. Despite this disappointment, it did offer us a chance to see a lot of Palermo which in my opinion was not very impressive. There was trash everywhere and despite being right on the coast, there were no beaches and the coast was all very industrial, spoiling the potentially beautiful views down the coast. To sum it up, it was dirty, noisy, congested and the beautiful buildings and sights were marred by poor upkeep/trash. To be fair, we were there on a Sunday and Barcelona is a tough act to follow, but like I said I was not impressed. Having had enough of Palermo, we decided to catch the bus to Catania. It was fun to walk around with Steve, a seminary student turned marine from Rochester, NY, who was now studying abroad in Italy. He was an interesting guy and fun to walk around with. It's great the people you end up meeting through travel.
We arrived in Catania, and had only a short walk from the bus station to our hostel. We checked in to find our hostel was more like a hotel for the price of a hostel. It was a very nice place and the old man who ran it was quite hilarious. We checked in and went to dinner. We split a huge salad and pizza for cheap. The best part of the meal, however, was the fact that as an appetizer for our pizza they gave us pizza. It was pretty funny, especially since the appetizer pizza was actually better than the dinner pizza. Of course we followed dinner up with ice cream before heading back to sleep.
July 26:
Walked around Catania all day. Highlight was definitely the afternoon street market where you could literally buy anything from snails to used underwear and everything in between. It was here that I caved in to the rumors of getting pick pocketed in Italy and bought my first man purse, a stylish tan murse that I rocked like I had done it a million times. We walked to the center and to an old castle with Roman ruins. At red pesto for lunch and then a bunch of coffey type shops for dinner. The little pizza pockets and calzones were definitely not as good as the first night, but amazing none the less. We made plans to go to Mt. Etna the next day and went to bed relatively early.
July 27:
We woke up early and caught the bus for Mt. Etna, one of the most active volcanoes in the world that erupted as recently as 2001. We opted for the self guided tour of the craters and lava fields, rather than splurge 50 Euro for a guided one. We momentarily had a great view of Sicily until the clouds cut it short, but it was a lot of fun/really interesting walking around and being able to see exactly where the lava had flowed and destroyed everything in its path. I couldn't help but think how good of a field trip it would have been for my PHS geology students. On the ride up to Etna, you could see houses on the side of the road that had been destroyed, with the roof tops now at ground level and the rest buried in volcanic rock.
The bus ride down from Etna at rush hour was almost as interesting as the volcano itself. It was absolutely insane. Motorcycles and mopeds weaved around the bus, dodging out of the way at the last minute before getting crushed. The driver seemed to make a game out of speeding up when a vehicle or bike was in the way. We picked people up from the side of the road and you pretty much could make your own stop. For example, Rachel and I had him stop in the middle of the road and let us out in front of our hotel. We also went around a number of blind curves, which were handled as follow... Blind curve comes. Bus Driver honks 2 or 3 times. Steps on the gas and continues full speed ahead.
Driving without a horn in Italy would be like playing baseball without a ball.
In the morning, we met our hostel-mate, Steve who was also going to Catania later that day. We decided to walk around with him and then take a bus to Catania later in the afternoon. Italian sense of time and organization makes Spain look good. We walked across Palermo to catacombs, only to find that the tourist guide was wrong and they were closed. Despite this disappointment, it did offer us a chance to see a lot of Palermo which in my opinion was not very impressive. There was trash everywhere and despite being right on the coast, there were no beaches and the coast was all very industrial, spoiling the potentially beautiful views down the coast. To sum it up, it was dirty, noisy, congested and the beautiful buildings and sights were marred by poor upkeep/trash. To be fair, we were there on a Sunday and Barcelona is a tough act to follow, but like I said I was not impressed. Having had enough of Palermo, we decided to catch the bus to Catania. It was fun to walk around with Steve, a seminary student turned marine from Rochester, NY, who was now studying abroad in Italy. He was an interesting guy and fun to walk around with. It's great the people you end up meeting through travel.
We arrived in Catania, and had only a short walk from the bus station to our hostel. We checked in to find our hostel was more like a hotel for the price of a hostel. It was a very nice place and the old man who ran it was quite hilarious. We checked in and went to dinner. We split a huge salad and pizza for cheap. The best part of the meal, however, was the fact that as an appetizer for our pizza they gave us pizza. It was pretty funny, especially since the appetizer pizza was actually better than the dinner pizza. Of course we followed dinner up with ice cream before heading back to sleep.
July 26:
Walked around Catania all day. Highlight was definitely the afternoon street market where you could literally buy anything from snails to used underwear and everything in between. It was here that I caved in to the rumors of getting pick pocketed in Italy and bought my first man purse, a stylish tan murse that I rocked like I had done it a million times. We walked to the center and to an old castle with Roman ruins. At red pesto for lunch and then a bunch of coffey type shops for dinner. The little pizza pockets and calzones were definitely not as good as the first night, but amazing none the less. We made plans to go to Mt. Etna the next day and went to bed relatively early.
July 27:
We woke up early and caught the bus for Mt. Etna, one of the most active volcanoes in the world that erupted as recently as 2001. We opted for the self guided tour of the craters and lava fields, rather than splurge 50 Euro for a guided one. We momentarily had a great view of Sicily until the clouds cut it short, but it was a lot of fun/really interesting walking around and being able to see exactly where the lava had flowed and destroyed everything in its path. I couldn't help but think how good of a field trip it would have been for my PHS geology students. On the ride up to Etna, you could see houses on the side of the road that had been destroyed, with the roof tops now at ground level and the rest buried in volcanic rock.
The bus ride down from Etna at rush hour was almost as interesting as the volcano itself. It was absolutely insane. Motorcycles and mopeds weaved around the bus, dodging out of the way at the last minute before getting crushed. The driver seemed to make a game out of speeding up when a vehicle or bike was in the way. We picked people up from the side of the road and you pretty much could make your own stop. For example, Rachel and I had him stop in the middle of the road and let us out in front of our hotel. We also went around a number of blind curves, which were handled as follow... Blind curve comes. Bus Driver honks 2 or 3 times. Steps on the gas and continues full speed ahead.
Driving without a horn in Italy would be like playing baseball without a ball.
End of the Crazy Hat Trip
July 23:
July 23 marked the end of the crazy hat road trip. Aaron and Bart left Barcelona in the morning to take Anj to the airport and then to start the drive back to Belgium. From the sounds of it they had a crazy night in the Pyrenees with horses and other good stuff but that is for them to tell. Rachel and I still had a day and a half until we left Barcelona for Sicily, and used it to the fullest. We spent the 23rd walking around and exploring El Born. We also took a walk along the beach again, this time running into the famous Barcelona Elephant man. As I described in an earlier post, this older man walks around wearing only the tattoo of a speedo he has and flaunting his massive third leg. A few cool places we found while wandering...
Las Cuevas del Sorte, a bar restaurant that looks like a cave on Carrer D'En Gignas 2
If you are a vegetarian, there is a veggie and vegan row of restaurants on Carrer Dels Escudellers, of course Rach was sucked in and got a huge veggie burger.
At night, Natasha came with us to meet Kevin for a drink. Again in typical Kevin fashion, we found him with about 10 other people. This time, he was celebrating the birthday of a door man for a restaurant below his flat. Nick and Micheal, the English and Welsh guys from the first night in Barca were there and also a German brother and sister from Cologne. Igor kept the sangria and drinks coming (eventually leaving Kevin stuck with a huge bill) and it was a good start to the night. We left the port side restaurant for the streets of El Born and a few bars there. While waiting to go in, Nick, Michael and I sampled several different empenadas from the street vendors and discussed the status of street vendors and their marketing schemes. Although they all claim to be independently working for themselves, we decided there is a boss somewhere with an endless supply of canned beer, empenadas, and other things they sell. The food, and conversation wet my appetite and a kebab was in order. We eventually settled into the bar for a bit before it closed. Kevin went home somewhere in the middle, wasted off of Igor's sangria and wine combined with the beer. The rest of us stayed in the square outside the bar, finishing our beers and chatting. When the street sweepers and police came, it was time to go home and we went back to Natasha's. Another good night with friends in the books.
July 24:
We woke up late after the early morning having recovered some much needed hours of sleep. We still had a while until we had to head to the airport and so we decided to eat at our new favorite pita place and a veggie restaurant before meeting Kevin at the beach. When we got to the beach, we took a dip and the water was absolutely perfect. Not too cold, not to warm and the normally calm Mediterranean actually had some waves. It was a great way to spend our last hours in Bcn and good to see Kevin again before we left. When we got to the airport, our flight to Palermo was delayed and we didn't get to Italy until midnight. We had a sketchy walk from the bus station to our hostel down the dirty Palermo streets, my first glimpse at the crazy Italian drivers who make the running of the bulls seem safe. When we finally found the street where our hostel was it was like happening upon a huge street party. The street was packed with bars and clubs playing loud music and people spilled into the streets and surrounding restaurants.
After checking into our hostel, we went to find a midnight snack. We walked into the little Rosticceria Candelai where two guys older guys with slicked back hair, beer bellies, and wife beaters were making and serving up pizza and other snack type food. We got calzones and pizza which were absolutely amazing. The food was cheap and exactly what you think of when you think of good food in Italy. Sicily definitely had some amazing food that we were sad to leave behind. After eating, we went back to the hostel and went to the sleep to a medley of loud club music coming from about 4 different places at once.
July 23 marked the end of the crazy hat road trip. Aaron and Bart left Barcelona in the morning to take Anj to the airport and then to start the drive back to Belgium. From the sounds of it they had a crazy night in the Pyrenees with horses and other good stuff but that is for them to tell. Rachel and I still had a day and a half until we left Barcelona for Sicily, and used it to the fullest. We spent the 23rd walking around and exploring El Born. We also took a walk along the beach again, this time running into the famous Barcelona Elephant man. As I described in an earlier post, this older man walks around wearing only the tattoo of a speedo he has and flaunting his massive third leg. A few cool places we found while wandering...
Las Cuevas del Sorte, a bar restaurant that looks like a cave on Carrer D'En Gignas 2
If you are a vegetarian, there is a veggie and vegan row of restaurants on Carrer Dels Escudellers, of course Rach was sucked in and got a huge veggie burger.
At night, Natasha came with us to meet Kevin for a drink. Again in typical Kevin fashion, we found him with about 10 other people. This time, he was celebrating the birthday of a door man for a restaurant below his flat. Nick and Micheal, the English and Welsh guys from the first night in Barca were there and also a German brother and sister from Cologne. Igor kept the sangria and drinks coming (eventually leaving Kevin stuck with a huge bill) and it was a good start to the night. We left the port side restaurant for the streets of El Born and a few bars there. While waiting to go in, Nick, Michael and I sampled several different empenadas from the street vendors and discussed the status of street vendors and their marketing schemes. Although they all claim to be independently working for themselves, we decided there is a boss somewhere with an endless supply of canned beer, empenadas, and other things they sell. The food, and conversation wet my appetite and a kebab was in order. We eventually settled into the bar for a bit before it closed. Kevin went home somewhere in the middle, wasted off of Igor's sangria and wine combined with the beer. The rest of us stayed in the square outside the bar, finishing our beers and chatting. When the street sweepers and police came, it was time to go home and we went back to Natasha's. Another good night with friends in the books.
July 24:
We woke up late after the early morning having recovered some much needed hours of sleep. We still had a while until we had to head to the airport and so we decided to eat at our new favorite pita place and a veggie restaurant before meeting Kevin at the beach. When we got to the beach, we took a dip and the water was absolutely perfect. Not too cold, not to warm and the normally calm Mediterranean actually had some waves. It was a great way to spend our last hours in Bcn and good to see Kevin again before we left. When we got to the airport, our flight to Palermo was delayed and we didn't get to Italy until midnight. We had a sketchy walk from the bus station to our hostel down the dirty Palermo streets, my first glimpse at the crazy Italian drivers who make the running of the bulls seem safe. When we finally found the street where our hostel was it was like happening upon a huge street party. The street was packed with bars and clubs playing loud music and people spilled into the streets and surrounding restaurants.
After checking into our hostel, we went to find a midnight snack. We walked into the little Rosticceria Candelai where two guys older guys with slicked back hair, beer bellies, and wife beaters were making and serving up pizza and other snack type food. We got calzones and pizza which were absolutely amazing. The food was cheap and exactly what you think of when you think of good food in Italy. Sicily definitely had some amazing food that we were sad to leave behind. After eating, we went back to the hostel and went to the sleep to a medley of loud club music coming from about 4 different places at once.
Barcelona Day 2
July 22:
So you have one day in Barcelona and you have never been, what do you do?
This is the situation we found ourselves in because Aaron had never been to Barca and was leaving early the next morning with Bart and Anj to take the van back to Belgium.
We kicked it off with the Sagrada Familia. The line would have taken all day so we did a circle around it, admired the amazing structure and decided not to wait to go in. We continued the Gaudi tour, heading from Sagrada Familia to Parc Guell. After walking around Parc Guell for a few hours and taking a picture of Barcelona sprawled out below from the parks highest point, we headed to my favorite restaurant in Barcelona... La Champaneria. This bar restaurant has been around for over a century and remains pretty much the same as when it opened. It is small and gives off the feel of a butcher, with patas de jamon (cured pig legs) hanging above, some still dripping the last few drops of blood. There are no seats and if you have ever been there at rush hour, you know why. People cram in like sardines to have the sandwiches and enjoy drinks. At La Champaneria, when you buy 2 reasonably priced/absolutely delicious sandwiches, you get a free bottle of Cava (Spanish Champagne). We each got at least 2 sandwiches, and if you do the math, we ended up with 5 or 6 bottles of cava. My favorite part about this particular trip was meeting our new friend, Antonio. We talked with him in Spanish for practically the entire time we were in there (over and hour), talking about everything from good books to the World Cup. As soon as we left the champaneria I was ready to go back, but that trip will have to wait till next time. It was now 4 or 5 in the afternoon and we had a good buzz going. We headed from the Port Vell area of the Champaneria down to the beach and Barceloneta. We walked the beach to the Hotel Vela where we were going to meet back up with Antonio, but could not find him.
We left Barceloneta and walked through the Barri Gotic to the center, where Rachel and I left the group to go have dinner with Alberto and Fernanda, my host family from my study abroad in Bcn two years before. We stopped at Bar Tomas to pick up our contribution to dinner, the best patatas bravas that Barcelona has to offer and a florist and then headed to my old residence in Sarria. I was a bit nostalgic walking the streets and we had 2 conversations with a pair of old ladies, one who was walking her dog and another who was at the flower shop. We got to Fernanda's for dinner, after I accidentally pressed the wrong floor to buzz us in. It was a feast as usual, with Paella, pan con tomate, salad, cheeses, drinks, and a host of other things. It was really nice to go back and see everyone and we were joined by their oldest son, Joaquin, and two young Sweeds who were staying with them for a few weeks on an exchange program. They had spent the day at the beach in Sitges without sunscreen because it was cloudy and now looked like lobsters.
To my surprise, they actually thought that my Spanish had improved and were happy to see that I hadn't lost any of the stuff I gained while living there. It was a really nice dinner and we topped it off with the traditional Carujillo, and advice from Alberto. After a few hours, we parted ways and we met the rest of the crew back at Natasha's. It was late already and we decided to go to the famous Absinthe Bar in El Raval, a place once frequented by all the great artists and writers. Like La Champaneria, this place has been unchanged for year and if you didn't know it was there, you would walk right past it without thinking twice. On the walls are bottles so old that they seem to be melting into the wall. It is small, crowded, old and the absinthe will put you on your ass. After two drinks, it was time to go and we found our way back to Natasha's, sad that the other bars were already closing at 2.
So you have one day in Barcelona and you have never been, what do you do?
This is the situation we found ourselves in because Aaron had never been to Barca and was leaving early the next morning with Bart and Anj to take the van back to Belgium.
We kicked it off with the Sagrada Familia. The line would have taken all day so we did a circle around it, admired the amazing structure and decided not to wait to go in. We continued the Gaudi tour, heading from Sagrada Familia to Parc Guell. After walking around Parc Guell for a few hours and taking a picture of Barcelona sprawled out below from the parks highest point, we headed to my favorite restaurant in Barcelona... La Champaneria. This bar restaurant has been around for over a century and remains pretty much the same as when it opened. It is small and gives off the feel of a butcher, with patas de jamon (cured pig legs) hanging above, some still dripping the last few drops of blood. There are no seats and if you have ever been there at rush hour, you know why. People cram in like sardines to have the sandwiches and enjoy drinks. At La Champaneria, when you buy 2 reasonably priced/absolutely delicious sandwiches, you get a free bottle of Cava (Spanish Champagne). We each got at least 2 sandwiches, and if you do the math, we ended up with 5 or 6 bottles of cava. My favorite part about this particular trip was meeting our new friend, Antonio. We talked with him in Spanish for practically the entire time we were in there (over and hour), talking about everything from good books to the World Cup. As soon as we left the champaneria I was ready to go back, but that trip will have to wait till next time. It was now 4 or 5 in the afternoon and we had a good buzz going. We headed from the Port Vell area of the Champaneria down to the beach and Barceloneta. We walked the beach to the Hotel Vela where we were going to meet back up with Antonio, but could not find him.
We left Barceloneta and walked through the Barri Gotic to the center, where Rachel and I left the group to go have dinner with Alberto and Fernanda, my host family from my study abroad in Bcn two years before. We stopped at Bar Tomas to pick up our contribution to dinner, the best patatas bravas that Barcelona has to offer and a florist and then headed to my old residence in Sarria. I was a bit nostalgic walking the streets and we had 2 conversations with a pair of old ladies, one who was walking her dog and another who was at the flower shop. We got to Fernanda's for dinner, after I accidentally pressed the wrong floor to buzz us in. It was a feast as usual, with Paella, pan con tomate, salad, cheeses, drinks, and a host of other things. It was really nice to go back and see everyone and we were joined by their oldest son, Joaquin, and two young Sweeds who were staying with them for a few weeks on an exchange program. They had spent the day at the beach in Sitges without sunscreen because it was cloudy and now looked like lobsters.
To my surprise, they actually thought that my Spanish had improved and were happy to see that I hadn't lost any of the stuff I gained while living there. It was a really nice dinner and we topped it off with the traditional Carujillo, and advice from Alberto. After a few hours, we parted ways and we met the rest of the crew back at Natasha's. It was late already and we decided to go to the famous Absinthe Bar in El Raval, a place once frequented by all the great artists and writers. Like La Champaneria, this place has been unchanged for year and if you didn't know it was there, you would walk right past it without thinking twice. On the walls are bottles so old that they seem to be melting into the wall. It is small, crowded, old and the absinthe will put you on your ass. After two drinks, it was time to go and we found our way back to Natasha's, sad that the other bars were already closing at 2.
Barca Reunion
July 21:
I woke up the next morning in Alicante, sweating like a motha. The morning sun turned our tent into an oven, but it was a good excuse to get the day started early.
On our way to Barcelona, we stopped at the Belgian capital of Spain, Benidorm. Bart had been talking about this town since we planned on going to Spain. It was essentially Belgium and a bit of the Netherlands implanted on a beach vacation town in Spain. We listened to Dutch speaking radio hosts and got a little bit of back in Belgium. We had a quick lunch there and then finished the drive to the best city in the world, Barcelona.
Again, we were welcomed into Barcelona with a drive down some of its narrowest streets. We were trying to find the place we were staying in El Raval. We survived the streets yet again before putting La Zino into a garage. It would be the last time that I would see the van, which handled the trip and abuse like a champ. We found the place we were staying, smack in the middle of El Raval on Calle Sant Climent. This was the perfect location to start exploring Barcelona, with the center and beaches within walking distance. We found the place through an old friend of mine, Kevin, who I had met two years earlier while traveling in Prague. He had been traveling around for over a year to all parts of the world, making up his itinerary as he went. He had now settled in Barcelona to try to open a hostel of his own, and set us up with staying at his friend Natasha's place. If you are ever going to BCN, and want a cheap place to stay (hard to find in bcn, especially during the summer) I highly suggest staying here, drop me a line and I will give you the contact info.
El Raval is kind of a seedy neighborhood in some spots, but also a fun and up and coming neighborhood. I remember from my study abroad program, El Raval was in the red zone, meaning places that we should avoid. As long as you don't mind seeing prostitutes and are comfortable with the idea that people are going to try to steal your wallet, then El Raval really isn't bad. Its just a fact that in Barcelona, at some point in time, someone is making plans to try to steal your bad or wallet. I reacquainted myself with El Raval as we strolled the streets, looking for a place to eat dinner. We found a nice spot and enjoyed a good dinner. With Rachel still feeling a little under the weather (She had been a trooper in our eastern Spain stops, never letting her fever stop anyone else from doing anything), we walked the girls back to Natasha's and then headed for Parc Ciutadella, a big park just outside of the center of the city, to meet Kevin and some of his friends.
We found Kevin, sitting on a blanket in the park with about 10 other people. It was great to see him again, and pretty typical to find him with 10 other people from all over the world. He seems to be the glue for bringing different people together. With him were 2 guys from Angola, 1 person from Spain, 1 from Whales, 1 from England, 1 from Ireland, 2 from Holland, Bart from Belgium and the rest of us 3 from the States. We sat and caught up, watching the gray blue clouds pass by the moon and orange Barcelona sky. It was the perfect way to get reacquainted with Barcelona and let's just say it didn't take long for me to fall back in love with the city. I also happened to notice that the two girls from the Netherlands were speaking to each other in English, rather than Dutch. I thought that was funny, but probably not funny enough for your guys to be entertained by me telling it to you...sorry.
After a few drinks, we broke out the guitar and started a little sing along. One of the guys from Angola started the jam off with some songs from his country, Bart continued with a little redemption song and then our new friend from Whales finished it off with both an English and Gaelic version of Clapton's "Down and Out." It was a very typical Barcelona local experience, gathering in a public place with friends to drink and hang out.
We the park keepers kicked us out, we walked back to our place, going through Las Ramblas, avoiding scammers, druggies, drunks, and prostitutes. Man, it was great to be back!
I woke up the next morning in Alicante, sweating like a motha. The morning sun turned our tent into an oven, but it was a good excuse to get the day started early.
On our way to Barcelona, we stopped at the Belgian capital of Spain, Benidorm. Bart had been talking about this town since we planned on going to Spain. It was essentially Belgium and a bit of the Netherlands implanted on a beach vacation town in Spain. We listened to Dutch speaking radio hosts and got a little bit of back in Belgium. We had a quick lunch there and then finished the drive to the best city in the world, Barcelona.
Again, we were welcomed into Barcelona with a drive down some of its narrowest streets. We were trying to find the place we were staying in El Raval. We survived the streets yet again before putting La Zino into a garage. It would be the last time that I would see the van, which handled the trip and abuse like a champ. We found the place we were staying, smack in the middle of El Raval on Calle Sant Climent. This was the perfect location to start exploring Barcelona, with the center and beaches within walking distance. We found the place through an old friend of mine, Kevin, who I had met two years earlier while traveling in Prague. He had been traveling around for over a year to all parts of the world, making up his itinerary as he went. He had now settled in Barcelona to try to open a hostel of his own, and set us up with staying at his friend Natasha's place. If you are ever going to BCN, and want a cheap place to stay (hard to find in bcn, especially during the summer) I highly suggest staying here, drop me a line and I will give you the contact info.
El Raval is kind of a seedy neighborhood in some spots, but also a fun and up and coming neighborhood. I remember from my study abroad program, El Raval was in the red zone, meaning places that we should avoid. As long as you don't mind seeing prostitutes and are comfortable with the idea that people are going to try to steal your wallet, then El Raval really isn't bad. Its just a fact that in Barcelona, at some point in time, someone is making plans to try to steal your bad or wallet. I reacquainted myself with El Raval as we strolled the streets, looking for a place to eat dinner. We found a nice spot and enjoyed a good dinner. With Rachel still feeling a little under the weather (She had been a trooper in our eastern Spain stops, never letting her fever stop anyone else from doing anything), we walked the girls back to Natasha's and then headed for Parc Ciutadella, a big park just outside of the center of the city, to meet Kevin and some of his friends.
We found Kevin, sitting on a blanket in the park with about 10 other people. It was great to see him again, and pretty typical to find him with 10 other people from all over the world. He seems to be the glue for bringing different people together. With him were 2 guys from Angola, 1 person from Spain, 1 from Whales, 1 from England, 1 from Ireland, 2 from Holland, Bart from Belgium and the rest of us 3 from the States. We sat and caught up, watching the gray blue clouds pass by the moon and orange Barcelona sky. It was the perfect way to get reacquainted with Barcelona and let's just say it didn't take long for me to fall back in love with the city. I also happened to notice that the two girls from the Netherlands were speaking to each other in English, rather than Dutch. I thought that was funny, but probably not funny enough for your guys to be entertained by me telling it to you...sorry.
After a few drinks, we broke out the guitar and started a little sing along. One of the guys from Angola started the jam off with some songs from his country, Bart continued with a little redemption song and then our new friend from Whales finished it off with both an English and Gaelic version of Clapton's "Down and Out." It was a very typical Barcelona local experience, gathering in a public place with friends to drink and hang out.
We the park keepers kicked us out, we walked back to our place, going through Las Ramblas, avoiding scammers, druggies, drunks, and prostitutes. Man, it was great to be back!
Granada to Alicante
As always seems to be the case, the places you go for the least amount of time turn out to be the ones that you wish you had more time in. Like Salamanca, Granada fits on this list. With limited time, we had decided that we wanted to go to Sevilla for the most time and then either pass through Cordoba or Granada for a day. We settled on Granada and were not disappointed.
We woke up early the next morning and Aaron and Anj decided they wanted to brave the lines for a chance to get tickets into La Alhambra. They ended up getting in and while they explored the palace, Rachel, Bart, and I walked around Granada and made our way up to La Alhambra to meet them. Granada was a beautiful city with the snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains overlooking the city from the back drop. The city also seemed to make a conscious effort to have a lot of art and desirable public spaces. It also gave off the good vibe that I got in Lisbon and Salamanca.
We met with Aaron and Anj and actually ended up getting to sneak into La Alhambra for a little bit. It seemed really nice and well worth it for them to have gotten up early and wait for tickets. Unfortunately, we were only there for the day and I would not have another opportunity to do that myself. We stopped at a place to eat sandwiches and smoothies and were making our way back to the car when a rare thing happened.
As we walked, we passed a girl that must have been Rachel's long lost twin. I was looking at this girl thinking that and I am pretty sure that she was looking at Rachel and thinking the same thing. After a few steps and thoughts, I asked if anyone saw her and Aaron said the same thing. We were now talking about it for half a block when my slow thinking mind thought of the idea to go back and get a picture. We turned around and booked it to try the find the girl but she was gone. Damn. It would have been one hell of a picture and I am pissed that once again my slow mind failed to think of it in time. I guess the twin photo will just have to wait til next time their paths cross.
We left Granada, La Zino now with a nice scratch to go along with the broken window. Finally we had found a narrow street that Bart could not conquer (we tried to use the scratch remover paste that you always see in infomercials but it didn't work). The drive east through the Sierra Nevadas was beautiful. It always makes coming into and going out of places better when there is something to look at, but this part of Spain seemed to take this to a new level.
We made our way across the country, again winding up in Alicante just as it was starting to get dark.
We woke up early the next morning and Aaron and Anj decided they wanted to brave the lines for a chance to get tickets into La Alhambra. They ended up getting in and while they explored the palace, Rachel, Bart, and I walked around Granada and made our way up to La Alhambra to meet them. Granada was a beautiful city with the snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains overlooking the city from the back drop. The city also seemed to make a conscious effort to have a lot of art and desirable public spaces. It also gave off the good vibe that I got in Lisbon and Salamanca.
We met with Aaron and Anj and actually ended up getting to sneak into La Alhambra for a little bit. It seemed really nice and well worth it for them to have gotten up early and wait for tickets. Unfortunately, we were only there for the day and I would not have another opportunity to do that myself. We stopped at a place to eat sandwiches and smoothies and were making our way back to the car when a rare thing happened.
As we walked, we passed a girl that must have been Rachel's long lost twin. I was looking at this girl thinking that and I am pretty sure that she was looking at Rachel and thinking the same thing. After a few steps and thoughts, I asked if anyone saw her and Aaron said the same thing. We were now talking about it for half a block when my slow thinking mind thought of the idea to go back and get a picture. We turned around and booked it to try the find the girl but she was gone. Damn. It would have been one hell of a picture and I am pissed that once again my slow mind failed to think of it in time. I guess the twin photo will just have to wait til next time their paths cross.
We left Granada, La Zino now with a nice scratch to go along with the broken window. Finally we had found a narrow street that Bart could not conquer (we tried to use the scratch remover paste that you always see in infomercials but it didn't work). The drive east through the Sierra Nevadas was beautiful. It always makes coming into and going out of places better when there is something to look at, but this part of Spain seemed to take this to a new level.
We made our way across the country, again winding up in Alicante just as it was starting to get dark.
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