In Flanders Fields: Ieper (Ypres), Belgium

Ieper at night

 Adventures with Jaap traveled to Ieper, Belgium on a chilly and gray weekend sometime in early April. My Australian friend Rosalie recommended it as a nice weekend getaway. This region of Belgium is probably most famous for the role it played in WWI. I will admit that a weekend trip to Ieper is probably only best for history buffs. I enjoyed visiting this little city and exploring the sad history around it.

Menin Gate Memorial

We spent our first night walking around quiet Ieper. We visited the Menin Gate, a memorial dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives in the battles around Ieper. There are over 50,000 names inscribed on this memorial. It's incredible. 

Saturday began with a visit to the In Flanders Fields Museum in the Market Square. It's definitely the best place to go and learn more about WWI and the history of this region. Although we noticed that there was nothing mentioned about the poem itself, It Flanders Fields written by the Canadian soldier John McCrae. Weird.

Next was a yummy Belgian waffle and pancake intermezzo. :) I love eating in Belgium.

Followed by a walk around the outskirts of the city.

We bought a map of the Ypres Salient region and were off on our historical journey of WWI by car. First stop: Tyne Cot Cemetery. 

Tyne Cot is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. It's a powerful image. Driving through this region can be depressing. Maybe the gray weather added to this vibe. I couldn't stop thinking about the soldiers who died here and the local Belgians who lost their region to war.

Our history site tour ended with a visit to the Bayernwald Trenches. What an interesting place. Come here if you want to see the typical trenches that come to mind when you think of WWI. It's a restored trench system that was built and used by the Germans complete with sandbags, woven branches, and wooden planks. Another thought provoking place to see, but the only thing I could think of was Matthew Crawley from Downtown Abbey though.

I can't remember the name of this site. Sorry. But the lambs were cute!

Our Ieper stay ended with the dinner at De Ruyffelaer. Eat here, if you ever come to Ieper. We enjoyed a delicious typical Flemish dinner with a very cozy, home-like atmosphere. Very rustic and simple, but yummy. Here's an action shot of Jaap's delicious Belgian beer as my pregnant self looks on with jealousy. :)

Our Mosel & Rhine Vacation: Burg Eltz

We have just returned home from our vacation exploring the Mosel and Rhine river valleys in Germany and already I'm thinking about our next trip back to this beautiful region. We had four days of relaxation complete with hiking, wine tasting of local Riesling (my favorite type of wine), drives through the country with spectacular views, and of course castles. Oh the castles! It's like a fairy-tale. 

Our journey began at Burg Eltz. I've become a huge Rick Steve's fan since moving to the Netherlands. His travel guide books have successfully guided us through Brugges and other places, so I did some research on his website before our trip.  He says that Burg Eltz is his favorite castle in all of Europe. I consider that a huge statement coming from Rick. 

Jaap knows that I'm obsessed with castles. My obsession stems from that fact that we don't have castles in the U.S. You're lucky if you find a building that's 300 years old, so the fact that these fairy-tale, medieval structures exists really fascinates me. 

Excited to hike!

Burg Eltz is pretty isolated in the middle of a forest, which adds to that enchanted feel. I read the best way to reach the castle is by hiking there. We chose a 30 minute hike from a car park about 2,5 km from the castle. Complete with new hiking boots and coat...we were off!

The hike was stunning. It was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. Beautiful fall foilage, tall pine trees, and crisp fall weather. It was a completely serene walk with only the noise of the nearby creek. We could not have asked for anything better.

30 minutes later and we're at Burg Eltz. I was anticipating the view from the trail and voilà! Scaffolding! We had to laugh. It's like when I saw the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin completely covered in construction and scaffolding. Oh well. But even with the construction, it's a nice view. 

The only way to see the interior of the castle is with a tour. We waited a few minutes for an English tour to take us through. The castle is still privately owned and has been in the Eltz family for over 33 generations. (That's over 800 years). Talk about family tradition. It's pretty impressive. Most of the furniture and interior decorations are the same as they were 500 years ago. The portion of the castle that we got to see was very well furnished and authentic. There was even a Lucas Cranach painting in one of the living rooms. 

Visiting the treasury

Thank you to the Eltz Family for maintaining your heritage for the rest of the world to see and admire. It's amazing how one family can make such wise and diplomatic decisions for an incredibly long period of time. 

Our visit to Burg Eltz was the perfect way to begin our German holiday. Auf wiedersehen!

Enjoying the walk back to the car

Last day of summer

Two weeks ago Maastricht was warm and sunny. We knew that it was going to be our last warm weekend, so we went outside to enjoy it. Fall is officially here now and it's my favorite season. I feel bad for the Dutch though. Their autumn season is ruined with all this rain. Bummer. I used to look forward to fall every year in New York. Central Park in September and October is the best place to be. Enjoying some people watching with my friends at the Sheep Meadow, followed by some glasses of wine at the Boat Basin on a Sunday afternoon. Oh New York, I miss you! Now I just have to get used to rainy fall weather. That's why we flock outside every chance we get. Sunny fall days in the Netherlands happen less often than in New York, but they still remind me of home. 

Jaap & our neighborhood Céramique behind him

We took a walk to get some fresh air and lunch. On our stroll we were lucky to find a group of musicians rehearsing for the Tuna Festival that was in Maastricht that weekend. The Tuna Festival is a celebration of Spanish and Portuguese music. We found this group on the other side of the Hoog Brug and watched them for about a half hour. 

It was a nice way to enjoy the last few days of warm weather. I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks. We have lots of nice things planned. Weekend getaways with friends, our upcoming vacation to the Mosel valley in Germany, and of course quality time with Jaap in Maastricht. Good-bye summer!

Walking through the Stadspark

Leeuwenmolen

My favorite view of medieval Maastricht, the Hellport Gate and the city walls

Glühwein time!

Trees and I ventured to Aachen, Germany today to visit the cathedral and explore the German Christmas market there. Of course we sampled some glühwein and I had to have some schnitzel while on German soil. Aachen is only an hour from Maastricht and even less by car.  I love how Maastricht borders Germany and Belgium and it's all so close to our home. 15 minutes by car takes you to French speaking Belgium and 25 minutes in the other direction takes you to Germany. It's incredible. 

We stopped first at the Aachen cathedral which has played an important role in Germany's history throughout the centuries. The cathedral houses the throne and remains of Charlemagne and served as the coronation church for German-Roman kings for over 600 years. It's stunning. My obsession with old things continues. Part of the church was first constructed in 800 A.D.

13th century shrine (Charlemagne's in the background)

The goods at the Christmas market were unique, fun to look at, and we each walked away with a souvenir. I bought a Christmas tree ornament for us. It's more special than buying gold balls at Hema. I now understand why Jaap doesn't like the Christmas markets in Maastricht. They're pretty much faux German Christmas markets. I'm glad we got to experience the real thing today. 

Beautifully hand crafted Christmas ornaments

My favorite table

And for me...one of the main purposes of this trip was to sample some hot glühwein. They even had white glühwein (which was much fruitier in taste), but we decided to go the traditional route and enjoy some red. Lekker!

Snowy Maastricht

We woke up this morning to more snow outside. I took a stroll after my doctor's appointment and took some pictures. (This was my first experience with the Dutch healthcare system and so far, so good). Since it was early, I was able to take some pictures without having lots of people in the shot. 

I'm obsessed with the old fortifications surrounding the inner city. They are so old! You just can't find monuments like this in the U.S. I'm always fascinated by them. 

I'm enjoying the snow this time of year. It really makes me feel like it's Christmas time. And unfortunately, the winter weather has given me a cold. :( I'll be resting indoors today drinking my 'winter tea' and reading Time magazine. But my invigorating walk this morning has given me an excuse to relax and nurse this cold today. :) 

Medieval fortifications

Onze Lieve Vrouwebasiliek