A day to forget for Tami

Thursday, December 20, 2007

We again woke up for breakfast in the hotel, this time a little slower and with a lot more pain. After breakfast it was the same routine, head down to the slopes for snowboarding class. Greg was doing great at class and enjoyed it thoroughly. I had a mental breakdown on the slopes. I went about 1/3 of the way up the slopes (which was my typical spot) only once but it took about 6 or 7 tries to get there, and managed to come down, with a lot of falls on the way and decided that today was NOT my day to be doing this. So, I left class to sit and enjoy some hot chocolate and watch the rest of class.

Some skiiers and boarders on the slopes:



Greg going up the lift:



Christina from our class:


Once class was done I met up with Greg for some lunch at Mistral where we had clear broth soup with cheese toast, spatzli with cream sauce and pomme frites (french fries). If you hadn't noticed yet Germans like their clear broth soup and so do we. Perfect for me, nothing to pick out of it.

I then decided to try to practice some snowboarding, see if I could get over my nerves. Greg did help me a little but I was still a bit on edge so we quit after only about 30 minutes. We walked around town and did a little shopping before heading back to the hotel.

A large snowman that the town makes each year:



A meat house that the locals used originally:



We stopped at a nice clear spot and made snow angels then it was back to the hot tub for more relaxation.

Tami making her snow angel:



Greg making his snow angel:



Tonight was fondue night at our hotel so we enjoyed our salads and fondue along with some ice cream and wine. Then it was back to bed for an early evening.

Happy 9th Anniversary!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - Happy Anniversary!

We woke up this morning to get ready for class, again, but started with breakfast at the hotel. Then we headed down toward the slopes but stopped in first at a shop to buy hand and foot warmers. We then got to class but then Greg realized he had lost his ski pass, so he had to trek off for a replacement. He finally found his original one in his pocket.

Today was not a good day for snowboarding, at least for me. We moved to another slope in which I fell off the lift at least 5 times, before I finally gave up on class. I was so frustrated and upset that I had to give up on class about 1 1/2 hours early. Since it was our anniversary Greg left class early as well.

We decided to have a little fun and unwind so we headed up the sky buckets to Hannig Mountain where we did a 6 KM (3.728 miles) tobaggon down the mountain. It was so much fun and very fast, but not like what we had expected. It was really on the side of the mountain, you could fall down the side if you went to far over. We did have a blast.

Part of the tobaggon run:




Greg on his sled:



Tami on her sled:



We then went to Restaurant Tenne and had clear broth soup with croutons and some cheese fondue with our beer and wine. It was excellent.

Our lunch cheese fondue:



We headed back to the hot tub then a full body massage, that was much needed. After I (Tami) finished my massage I headed back to the room to get ready for dinner while Greg enjoyed his massage. Once he was done he got ready for dinner. We had to be at dinner at 6:30 because we had plans later that night. So, after dinner we went for a torch light walk through the forest, it was great. We each got to carry our own torch. We stopped ib the middle of our 1 hr 45 min walk to enjoy some local wine and fairy tales. After that it was back to the hotel for some shut eye and to get ready for the next day of class.

Greg on our torch light walk:



Me and my torch:

November 2007 Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/Greg.Ware/November2007Brussels

Ouch!

Monday, December 17, 2007

We woke up fairly early this morning to have breakfast in the hotel. We then gathered our gear to walk over to the slopes for our first day of Snowboarding school. We met our instructor, his name is Toast, who is from Germany. We learned to put our board, which is not as easy as it seems at first.

First, we learned how to come down the hill straight (board nose first). Next we got to learn how to come down sideways on the front side and the back side of the board. This was my (Tami) favorite way to do it, I am good at this. We also learned how to traverse, sort of. During class we did manage to fall ALOT!

3 hours later, we took off the boots and boards, and headed to lunch, we had worked up quite an appetite. We stopped in to eat at La Ferme, where we ate clear soup (beef flavored) and egg noodles with mushrooms. It definitely hit the spot.

After lunch I had to trade in boots for ones that fit better, then we headed back to the tourist office to book our husky sled ride for Friday. We were exhausted, so we went back to the room and enjoyed tea and a cappuccino. Then, it was off to the hot tub, much needed relaxation and work on the muscles. We headed back up to the room to get ready for dinner and early to bed, we needed the rest for day two of our class.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

We woke up very slowly and very painfully. We didn't have many bruises but we did have lots of achy muscles and pains in places that we didn't even know existed. We had our same routine, breakfast, then headed down to the slopes with our board and boots. However, this time we decided to look into renting a locker for our boots and board, so we would not have to carry them back and forth each day, it was about a 20 minute walk each way and the boards are heavy.

We started class by working more on front and back edge. The we began to learn turns. Once we worked on turns a bit we started to go up the lift. Greg was doing great with his turns and was able to get up the lift very easily, me not so much. I did struggle a lot on the lift, I fell off 4 times today, but I did keep getting up and trying again. I was doing okay with the turns but not nearly as well as Greg.

Greg boarding:




Another boarding move by Greg:



Tami Boarding:




This is how cold it is:


After another long, hard 3 hours we had lunch at Arvo Stuba where we enjoyed a wonderful cheese, tomato, and ham toastette. We then went back to the slopes for a little bit of practice and to take some pictures of us on the boards. After we dropped our boards and boots off at our lockers and decided to stop in at a bar to have a drink.

One of Greg's many bruises:



Next, it was back to the hotel for some time in the hot tub and to get ready for dinner. We had the most fabulous cheese and tomato crepes for dinner, yummy!

Our 9th Anniversary in a Winter Wonderland, day 2

Sunday, December 16 2007

Today was kind of a strange day. We had our snowboarding equipment, but the Snowboarding school didn't start until the next day and we weren't quite brave enough to go and try it ourselves, so we had to find other ways to amuse ourselves. We got up and had breakfast at the hotel we were staying (our accommodations were "half-board" which meant that they provided breakfast and supper every day). It was a nice breakfast, more than you would expect for one that was included. We then wandered around town a little bit to get acclimated... found out where we had to meet for ski school, that type of thing.

Tami in front of Saas Fee


A fire hydrant in town


Eventually we made it over to the Alpin Express which takes you up the Allalin Mountain. We went up two different lifts and an underground tram which takes you up almost to the top, which is 3500 meters (about 11,483 feet). They have a revolving restaurant at the top which is supposed to be the highest in the world. The view were excellent and the food was pretty good too. After lunch, we walked around a bit at the top, but it was very cold so we didn't stay long. It was cold enough at the top that the battery in our camera didn't work properly... we had to hold it in our hands to warm it up to make it work again.

Greg in front of some mountains from Allalin


The view from our restauraunt


The view coming down the lift


We then rode the lift back down (we knew that we wouldn't be skiing down it anytime soon) and walked over to where they had a "bobsleigh" ride. It was essentially a mini roller coaster, but it was a lot of fun. After that, we walked into a few little shops in the town and just killed time until it was time to meet our group for an orientation. The orientation wasn't too terribly helpful, but at least we got to try some mulled wine for free! After that, we went back for supper at our hotel and went to bed early expecting an exhausting day with our first snowboarding lesson starting the next day.

Our 9th Anniversary in a Winter Wonderland, day 1

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Today was to be an exciting day for us. We woke up early (3:30 am) for a car to pick us up and drive us to the airport at 4:00 am. We had to be at the airport at 6:00 am and none of the trains out there would have started running early enough so we had to get a drive, we got a great deal on it though. We got to the airport in plenty of time and ate breakfast before getting on the plane, good thing we did too. The plane was delayed over 45 minutes due to a passenger having a problem with their passport, so the luggage had to be unloaded so they could remove theirs. No big deal at all, finally we were off.

We arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, which looked like most any other city, although the airport layout is awful. We then boarded a bus that would take us to Saas Fee, Switzerland, about a 3 hour bus ride. We did not know that the bus would not have any food for us to buy or that we would not stop for a break on the way, so we were happy that we had eaten on the plane and that I had brought cookies just in case.

Most of the drive was great, lots of little vineyards on the side of the mountains and seeing Lake Geneva was great. It was a clear day and with the mountains behind the Lake it was breathtaking. The last hour of the drive to Saas Fee was the most spectacular drive that I have ever been on. The closer we got to Saas Fee the more amazing it became, more snow, more mountains, more curves, just completely picturesque. There were lots of little villages in the valleys, roofs all covered in snow, just like a Thomas Kinkade painting.

One of the valleys on the mountain near Geneva:



Lake Geneva:



A castle outside of Geneva:



One of the cute snow covered villages near Saas Fee:



One of the last mountains before we got to Saas Fee:


We finally made it to Saas Fee around 3:30 pm, where we had to unload the bus and wait for our hotel electric car to pick us and our luggage up. Saas Fee is a "Car-free" town, mainly the hotels, some restaurants and bars, and a few other places have little electric cars, it is quite nice there. We made it to the hotel, checked-in to our German inspired hotel, Hotel Europa, and immediately took off for the tourist information center where we picked up a few brochures to look at.

After 4:00 pm we were able to get our snowboarding gear, so we got fitted for boots and a board. This proved to be a pain in the rear to carry around, but what else are you going to do. Once done with this we headed to the hotel for our first of 7 5-course dinners. We immediately headed back to our room and crashed, it had been a long day.

By the way, our beds were Austrian doubles, which meant that it was just 2 single beds pushed together, on hard wood floors that is not a very good thing, every time you move while you sleep the beds move too. Oh well.

Merry Christmas from the Ware's

Wishing everyone a happy holiday.

Snowboarding class 101

You fall a lot!!!!

We are doing well, unfortunately only 1 day of class remains but still having a lot of fun, we have the bruises and sore muscles to prove it.

Will write more later.

Winter Wonderland

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Though today started very early at 3:30 am, it was well worth.

We have arrived in Saas Fee, Switzerland, it is so beautiful. The drive here was like nothing I could have imagined, all the snow around, on the trees and mountains, and the little villages hidden in the valley.

Mom, this is definitely where you would like to live.

Saas Fee is a German inspired village, our hotel is even German. So far we have not done much except get our snow boarding equipment but we are at least here and on our way.

Oh yeah, we have 4 * accomodations, which means a nice room with a balcony and good view of the mountains, along with breakfast and a 5 course dinner every night, not sure our waistlines can handle it, guess we need to work it off on the slopes.

Will update you as soon as we can but wanted to let everyone know we were here!!!!

Tami & Greg

Turkey and Penguins

Saturday, December 1st 2007

Our morning started out pretty laid back today. I went to do some Christmas shopping for Tami in the morning while she stayed home. She was able to complete her shopping for me on Friday since she had the day off. After I was done, we headed over to Stacey and Joe's flat for a late Thanksgiving dinner. We had met Stacey and Joe at Bodeans when we watched the UGA - Florida game. We have been meaning to get up with them, but they are heading back to the States soon, so they are really busy. There were quite a few people there, but we were the only other Americans, so we had to help teach everyone about Thanksgiving. That meant that we all went outside and threw an American football around, teaching them how to throw it. After that, we went back in and had a huge Thanksgiving feast... the kind we missed the first time around, followed by football!

Stacey, if you're reading this, thank you so much for the Thanksgiving meal... it was wonderful and we had a great time.


Throwing the ole pigskin around.

After we had digested our food a bit, we had plans to go skating at Somerset House at 10:30, so headed over there. It was really cool, they had a big skating rink out with Torches and other lights to light up the rink. We got there early, so we grabbed a hot chocolate and watched people skating around. Finally it was our time, so we laced up our skates and hit the ice (fortunately, not literally.) We did pretty good since neither one of us fell the entire time we were out there. Compared to a lot of people, we were pretty good. However, we didn't get too fancy, so you won't see pictures of either of us doing any jumps. We skated for about an hour before they closed the rink and we headed home.


The skating was sponsered by Tiffany's, so Tami posed with the Tiffany's boxes under the tree (and no, Tami's Christmas gift is not in one of those boxes)


People skating at Somerset House


Tami taking the penguin around for a skate



Tami and me out on the ice.

Beer, Chocolate and Coffins

Saturday November 24, 2007

We got up fairly early (although not as early as on Friday), got to take a nice long, hot shower (which we can't do at our flat nowadays.... trying to work with our landlord to get that fixed) and went downstairs to have a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant. It was a really nice buffet filled with waffles, tons of pastries and breads, cereals, yogurts, hot foods (the mushrooms were excellent), fruit and other stuff. After that, we checked out of the hotel and headed to pick up a Sightseeing bus.

We didn't have to wait too long, and rode the bus out to the Atomium. That is a huge replica of a metal molecule that was built for the 1958 Universal Exposition. It was much larger than we imagined, but still small when you compare it to something like the Eiffel Tower.

Greg with the Atomium in the background:


While we were there, we went to Mini Europe. It sounds really cheesy, and to some degree it is, but not as much as we expected. They have tons of models of famous landmarks from all over Europe. It was interesting and gave us a chance to map out things we'd like to see in other countries.

No, we didn't jet over to Paris, this is the miniature Eiffel Tower:


The most impressive model there was this one of Sacre Couer from Paris:


After we finished with Mini Europe, we hopped the sightseeing bus back into town until we made it back to Grand Place. Our first stop was to Leonidas, a chocolate shop that's supposed to be pretty good. We bought a few pieces of candy to bring back and went into a store called 250 Beers. I wish we could have spent more time there, but it was getting late and we wanted to grab some lunch. We ended up eating at 't Kelderke which was in the cellar of another restaurant. It was fairly small, but the food and service both were excellent. I had the Flemish beef and onion stew, which is braised in beer, and frites (french fries). Tami had cheese croquettes and a bowl of frites.

The interior of 't Kelderke. This is the entire restaurant.


After lunch, we went to a pub that Tami had read about while doing research on the web for our trip. It was called Le Cercueil bar, which translates into "The Morgue". It was a tiny theme bar decorated with coffins and lots of black. It was really dark when you walk in and they have black lights so everything white glows. The table we sat at was a coffin with a glass top. We both had a beer and it and it came in a ceramic skull mug. It was a pretty interesting place.

After we finished our beer, we walked over to the Sablon region and looked around the antique shops and market that was setup there. We didn't really find anything we couldn't live without, but Sablon has a lot of chocolate shops as well, so we went to Whittamers to get some tea and chocolate. Whittamers is a pretty popular chocolate shop in the area, and they have a restaurant. We both got tea and split a selection of chocolate cakes which was delicious. Now, fully stuffed with food, we walked to the nearest Metro station and rode it back to the train station to head back to London.

Our chocolate cakes:

In Brussels, but no sprouts in sight

Friday, November 23, 2007

We haven't traveled anywhere in awhile and decided it was time, we don't have another trip for three weeks, so we found a great deal online to go to Brussels, so we decided to go. We got up early this morning for an 8 am train to Belgium. When we arrived it was almost 11 am Brussels time, we decided to find our hotel to drop off bags before doing any sight-seeing. It was cold and a little rainy but still worth it.

We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel, a 5 star hotel that we got a great deal on, it was only 59 Euros a night. When we checked in we noticed the board on the wall that said the cheapest rooms were 499 Euros per night, woo hoo! After dropping off the bags we headed to the concierge desk to get a recommendation for lunch. The concierge pointed us to The Staff, a french restaurant. We were a little hesitant because the entire menu was in French, we had to try to figure out words from our translation book. The waitress came over and was extremely friendly to us, she helped us decipher the menu for the most part. We ended up eating penne pasta with ham, tomatoes and parmesan cheese and a curry chicken stir-fry with vegetables and sharing a half bottle of wine. It was actually very good, it was our best meal that we had while in Brussels.

Finally, we were off to see some sites. We took the bus out to Manneken Pis, the fountain of the peeing boy. This is probably the most famous thing in Brussels. He has over 600 costumes that they can put on him, and when he is wearing a costume he pees beer instead of water, oh well, no costume this time. He was actually much smaller than I had thought he would be.

Here is Manneken Pis, isn't he cute.



Next it was over to Grand Place, the big square in Brussels. We walked around here for a bit and then through the Galeries Royales de Saint-Hubert, a very upscale shopping arcade built in 1847. We did buy some chocolate but that was it.

This is the Maison du Roi (a Medieval style "kings house" set in Grand Place, though no king ever actually lived there). The crane is them putting up decorations for Christmas.



This is the Statue of Everard 't Serclaes (the myth is that you stroke the limbs for good luck, which we did, we are keeping our fingers crossed as well)



Next, we were off to the chocolate museum, yummy! We got a few samples and the lady who did the demonstration was fabulous to watch and listen to. She had such a great personality and knew her stuff.

Here is our chocolate lady with a 5 kilo block of chocolate:



The next stop was made at the Costume museum, I did enjoy it better than the one in Bath. All of the dresses were made by the same designer between 1989 and 2004, while some seemed to be from the early 80's. The drawings of the designs were neat to look at as well.

We ventured on to The Comic Strip Museum (Centre Belga de la Banda Dessinee) after a few wrong turns. I was so happy to find a Smurf statue in the lobby, I had hopes that I would see some comics of them. Most of the strips there were Dutch strips, so we couldn't read them but we finally got to a section of Jonah Et Pirlouit by Peyo in which the Smurfs were originally introduced in the 50's, I had no idea. They even had their own spin off comic book series before becoming so popular in the states as a cartoon. We really enjoyed going there.

Tami with the Baby Smurf statue:




It was time to rest and have a drink so we went to A La Mort Subite, a pub that I had read about that is supposed to be one of the best "fruit" beer bars. We each had 2 beers and split a plate of fromagge (cheese). Greg had 2 Trappist beers while I had a Cherry beer and a Faro (beer with candy sugar), they were all good. Next, we decided to walk to La Bella Maraichere, an upscale French/Belgium restaurant. We got there but really were not that hungry to pay that much for food, plus it was mainly fancy seafood, we were in the mood for something a little more low key. So, we decided to go back to Chi-Chi's, a Tex-Mex chain from the States, that we had passed a few blocks back. It was not Frontera but I guess it will do.

Time to go relax at the hotel, they have an indoor heated pool and hot tub, yes! We swam some laps, relaxed in the hot tub, swam some more laps, and relaxed a little more. We then decided to go have a drink in the hotel bar. They just so happened to have had a jazz band playing, so it was super relaxing, have a drink and listening to some jazz. At this time it was nearly 11 pm, we were ready to go to bed and get rested for day two.

Happy Turkey Day!

To celebrate Thanksgiving, we went to Bodeans, an American BBQ place, to have a Turkey dinner. While it was pretty good, it was definitely not an American style Thanksgiving and we were left craving real Thanksgiving food. However, there was pumpkin pie that was pretty good, so that made it worthwhile.


The pumpkin pie that made the meal complete.


We also found a place in town that sells some American food and bought a few things to remind us of home (most notably, Pop Tarts and grape Jelly,) although we plan to make a journey back to buy more stuff when we have more time.


Our American foods bounty... we even got Cranberry Sauce for later since Bodeans didn't include it in the Thanksgiving meal.