Florence: Home away from home

First of all, I’d like to apologize for those of you who have actually been trying to follow my blog.  I know that it has been close to a week since my last entry but life on this side of the world has been busy and to some degree very slow in terms of technology (I should have known better than to expect the small pensione to have internet access!).   Despite being too accustomed to constantly relying on computers as my primary source of communication, I guess my first part of my trip to Italy has also taught me an important lesson about travel:  I need to learn to think like the Italians and learn to take things at a more relaxed pace (Raphael can testify to my restlessness due to lack of technology, hahaha!).

 With these words, I will simply list the following highlights of the Florence portion of my small Italian adventure:

1.  Never assume that if a bus is scheduled to leave Pisa at 4:10PM, that it will actually leave on time; the reality is that our bus left half an our later, and it took about three hours to get to Florence due to road construction and peak traffic time!

2.  Mmmmm Gellato!  Need I say more?  Please refer to the pictures.  By far this was a one of my FAVORITE Florentine experience (i.e., another notorious  “What Diet?!” moment).

3.  Hospitality:  It’s difficult to find a place to call home, but  I would highly recommend Johanna 1 if you ever have a chance to visit Florence.  I strongly recommend www.johanna.it.  However, please keep in mind there is no guarantee that their wireless will be working.  Other than that…I really liked having an old italian lady greeting me every morning

 4.  Da Tito’s – The BEST trattoria experience I had in Florence.  I don’t think even “Let’s Go Italy” has written about this place! (The old lady at Johanna recommended it!)

 5.  If you want to visit the Uffizi Gallery…make sure you either make a reservation or get there at 8am!  My experience was that after a 3-hour wait to get to the front entrance, I was too tired to walk the 50 rooms full of significant masterpieces.

6.  Ponte Vecchio – JEWELRY!  Keep your girlfriends way unless you want to buy something nice!

7.  Florence’s  Outdoor Market – Learn to haggle before you get there! This place is filled with great leather merchandise and other touristy items that will cost you far more if you go to the main tourist shops.

8.  Go for the “Real Deal” and visit L’Academia – David is breathtaking!

9.  Walk…you can’t get enough of it in Florence.

10.  3 days is not enough…my trip felt like a crash course but well worth it in good company

 With these top 10 items, I leave you with my pictures.  Enjoy!

La Vie Quotidienne in Liege

Well, if I have not written in two days there must be a good reason, eh?  Well, in case I have not mentioned it before, the first part of this year’s European vacation to Liege is more of a family trip.  I am here visiting Raphael’s family, which pretty much means I go wherever I get taken and watch my drinking! So yeah, I am trying to be in my best possible behavior while at the same time finding good content to keep my postings somewhat interesting.  In a nutshell, and lieu of putting all of my readers to sleep, I have only gone to one Belgian bar in town which had by far the largest selection of beers I have ever seen– Vaudrée’s claim to fame is a menu with over 1000 beers.   The beers consumed last night by both Raphael and I included: Chouffe, Vaudrée Blonde (made by the bar), Eku Kulminator (which is supposed to be the strongest beer in the world) and Kwak. 

 Today’s highlight was the European Circus Festival.  Let’s just say that this event was so kosher, that I cannot exactly say it has “wow” material for me to go into further details.  Nonetheless, I will post a few pictures for later viewing once I get around to uploading them.

Brussels: Home to “Pee Boy”

Today’s Belgian excursion was to Brussels, also known as the central hub to the EU offices, home to the to  world famous “Pee Boy,” and also responsible for today’s frozen Belgian butts.  Okay…so that little last part was an exaggeration.  But seriously speaking, today’s daytime weather reached a record low and made it quite uncomfortable to walk around (I discovered today that DOUBLE socks don’t always work in Belgian weather!).  Nonetheless, some of today’s highlights included visiting the famous “Grande-Place,” known for its famous historical buildings, visiting the Christmas Market, and eating lunch in a tavern.  The trend during this trip for some odd reason continues to be eating food from Christmas Market vendors! 

More Pictures…Raphael and I visit Pee Boy before the “Asian Invasion”.

Maastricht’s Winter Wonderland

For those keeping up to date with my travels, I am sorry for the two-day lag in my next posting.  Unfortunately, my one-day excursion to Maastricht (the oldest settlement in the Netherlands) took longer than expected and by the time I made it back to Liege it was already dinner time.  To make a long story short, I am sharing a computer with Raphael which makes it difficult for me to demand “blogging time” when he needs his computer to get “real work” done.  Below please find yesterday’s posting:

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas on this side of the world, and my trip to Maastricht reinforced this special time of year even more.  While I have visited Maastricht in the past, it is surprising to see what this city’s transformation during Christmas time.  For those of you unfamiliar with Maastricht, the only thing I can say is that you can blame this small Dutch city for the devaluation of the American Dollar!  Maastricht is the place where the creation of the European Union became official with the signing of the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992.  Anyway, in lieu of carrying on with a lengthy entry, today I will try something different for the sake of time.  Below please find a small photo journal of  my visit to Maastricht

In my opinion, one of Maastricht’s most beautiful sights is the river bed  that cuts across the city.  One of the best ways to get to know this city is to take a fairy ride, but this time around it was a bit too cold for that!

To my surprise, Maastricht also had a Christmas Market, which is much larger than Liege’s and is well known for its beautiful double-decker carousel and ice outdoor skating rink.

More pictures….Sausages at Food Stand, Waffle Stand, Carousel Horse at Night, Faris Wheel at Night, Raphael eating fries, Me TRYING to ride a carousel horse

What Diet?!

In continuation to yesterday’s entry, today I will explore the dietary culture here in Liege and its relevance to the pleasures of life.  Being from California, I will be the first to admit that I am often a bit OVER-paranoid about my food and daily caloric intake.   However, since my arrival in Liege, the biggest challenge for me has been to learn to think to myself: “What diet?!”

 

Don’t take me wrong, people on this side of the pond are not fat in the least.  On the contrary, they are quite fit.  The only difference is that Belgians don’t seem to have restrictions nor a care in the world for what types of food they consume, especially during the holiday season.

 

As a key example, I would like to point out one of the best gastronomic experiences that I’ve had in Liege thus far.  Each year the city of Liege sets up its annual “Christmas Market,” which is quite unique to this part of Belgium.  The way that this special event works is that dozens of food vendors and unique artifact booths set up camp in the central square to sell the best food and crafts in Liege. 

 

Here is a list of the all-time favorites that can be found at Liege’s Christmas market:

Vin Chaud – Warm wine with spices that is made to keep you warm. If you are out on -4 Degrees Celsius weather, the way I was, this comes in handy!

Croquettes – Fried little appetizers that are filled either with cheese, shrimps with cheese or creamy chicken.

Sandwich au Cochon – This thing is GREAT!  It pretty much is a tender little piggy roasted outdoors, then thinly sliced on to a warm baguette and toped with some kind of gravy sauce. (See Picture Roasting Little Pigs)

Magret de Canard (with a glass of wine on the side)  -  Grilled duck served on a warm baguette.  As Rachel Ray would say, “DELISH!!!!!!!!!”

Lacquemant­­ – This is a very thin waffle filled with syrup.  This was a bit too rich for me, but if you have a sweet tooth, it might be good.

 

Other all time favorites that I did not try, but that I will definitely make the trip to the Market to try out in the next few days:

Tartiflettes­ – This is a creamy potato stew topped with either pieces of bacon, hams, or other toppings that I cannot really think of right now.

Camembert Chaud –  Hot grilled cheese.  Litterally just melted and eaten by itself or with sandwich au cochon. 

Tarte au Riz – This is a little rice pie.  I have not tried it, but it looks good.  So, I we shal see. 

Time and Legacy

Europeans’ concept of time is not unfamiliar to me.  Having lived in Paris for six months during my college years, I know that in comparison to American standards, days seem to be a bit longer on this side of the world.  As a college student, I always assumed that this slower pace was more related to my care-free “foreign student in Paris” lifestyle.  However, this time around I can see more clearly how this is perhaps the standard way of living in all of Europe, especially here in Liege. 

In yesterday’s entry I aspired to have more exciting information to share with you today.  To be quite frank, I have not done much over here – I have not yet had the opportunity to go to a Belgian bar and savor the wide variety of beers, nor have I tasted the notorious fries in a cone.  My vacation thus far has consisted of having “le petit dejouner” while writing my blog, followed by lunch with Raphael’s family at around noon (seven of us at the table), and then dinner together later in the evening.  Nonetheless, by saying this, I am omitting an important highlight of my vacation.  I know that to many, this may sound like quite an ordinary experience, but yesterday I met Raphael’s grandfather, also known as Papí.  This experience once again reinforced my belief that longevity is correlated to having a slower lifestyle combined with the simple joys of life, such as having a Pèket* before bedtime. 

 I will have to admit that I was in awe when I met Monsieur Dieu Donner** Saive.  Prior to meeting him, I had a mental image of a white-haired, prunish old man sitting by a window simply wishing for time to go by just a little bit faster for him.  To my surprise, he turned out to be the complete opposite!  As a 94 year-old and recently widowed man, Papí does not spend his days staring out a window nor is he “prunish.”  On the contrary, his face is unusually smooth and unwrinkled, his deep blue eyes and bone structure revealing the once-handsome soldier found in the shrine of photographs found around his room.  If you take a closer look, it is obvious that the only thing revealing his true age are the bluish veins and rippled texture of his hands.  Other than this, for Monsieur Saive life is about enjoying the life he has now; he keeps up to date with the latest news by reading the daily newspaper, reading at a minimum two books per week, playing puzzles, and winning his retirement home’s indoor cycling competition. 

To recapitulate the entire time spent with Papí would be pointless.  However, I will close with saying that while I may have felt a small stab of sadness in leaving the retirement home, I also left with a sense of knowing that this man’s legacy carries on:  take time to enjoy the now and make sure you savor each moment of it.  Perhaps this is why life here is slower on this end of the world…I see this lifestyle in every little moment that I have spent with Raphael’s family thus far, even if we have not done much.

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 *Pèket is the equivalent of vodka or Gin.  Monsieur Saive drinks a shot of it every evening before going to bed. I believe it may attribute to his good physical and mental state.

** Dieu Donner litterally translated into “God Given.” It is an old name Catholic name, no longer common in Belgium.

Day One in Liege, Belgium (Jetlag)

For those of who have experienced international travel, I am sure that that you are well-aware of jetlag…NOT PRETTY!  In fact, I would have to say that this is probably the least enjoyable part of this trip thus far, since my body is out of sync and I am now sitting here at 6am trying to figure out what to do: Should I eat, sleep or lie awake in bed?!  This being said is how my first entry begins; I needed something to do in the wee hours of the night when the rest of the world sleeps and I sit here in an indecisive state.  Who knows, perhaps my jetlag will bring out some positive writing in the long run.   In the meantime, however, I will try to get on a normal schedule that will allow me to go out and explore all that little Belgium <http://www.visitbelgium.com/liege.htm> has to offer – I need interesting content to keep this blog going.  

Hello world!

As my first official blog, I am not sure where to begin.  The typical thoughts of “What should I write?” or “Is there a theme I should follow?” and “What makes an interesting blog?” have already started to distract my writer’s flow.  So, in an effort to keep myself focused, this blog’s kiock-off should perhaps begin with my first trip to Belgium and the adventures that that will follow in the next ten days and thereafter.  How’s that for as blog start?!