Birthday Backpacking Euro Vacation (Part 1: Belgium)

A classy bike in Brugges

For my thirty-third (??!!??) birthday, I decided to pretend that I was once again a college-aged vagabond and take a little backpacking voyage through a corner of the continent. With a few minor upgrades of course.

From Oslo it's a quick hour+ flight to Brussels, which puts you in the middle of Europe. From there it's pretty much a two-hour train ride to anywhere. With that in mind, I decided to use Brussels as my hub and tap into my network of friends to fill up my nine days of European vacation. I left Oslo with a sketched-out itinerary, but no set plans for my days, trusting that things would work themselves out. They did just that.

Brugges vs. Ghent

It's probably unfair to pit these two medieval Belgium towns against one another, but in consulting with friends, I was often told that while Brugges is nice, Ghent is cool. So I decided to do some day touring in Brugges and head to Ghent for a couple of nights. Correct decision. 

When in Brugges, don't think, eat the fries. 

In Brugges I wandered around, in awe at the beautiful architecture and the mass amounts of tourists, even in October. I didn't go into a single museum, but rather used food and drink as my guide. I started off with a hot cone of fries at Chez Vincent that I enjoyed while eavesdropping on some sort free tour for backpackers. I admit that I had a certain smug satisfaction in knowing that I no longer had to travel through Europe on a $15 a day budget and share dorm rooms with smelly strangers. 

Gourmet Food Festival

After a little bit more wandering, I decided to head back to the train station a little early, but on the way there got distracted by a major gourmet food festival at a park. This was a local event that featured professional chefs sampling their best dishes for a few euro a taste. Yes, Please. I got a handful of tokens for about 20 euro which provided me with four dishes and two beers. I had an Indian style burger, a waffle with fresh seafood, and a crem brule dessert. I chatted with locals who had traveled from neighboring towns for the events and listened to some live music. I had been ready to write off Brugges as a quaint old town ruined by tourism, but this stop saved it. 

Noodles in Ghent (plus beer, of course)

From Brugges it was on to Ghent, where I would spend the next two nights. My friend and travel buddy wouldn't be joining me until the next morning, so I decided to brave the rainy night for a hot bowl of noodles from a noodle shop I had passed earlier. Not since Seattle had I had a good bowl of ramen with homemade noodles, so this really hit the spot. 

When my friend arrived, trooper that she is, we headed straight out onto the town to find some champagne. We had read that on Sunday mornings there is a stand that serves champagne and oysters at the market, so we joined the navy blazer wearing locals and had ourselves a little morning bubbly. From there it was on to enjoy a day of shopping with a stop at a local brewery for lunch. On our way back to our AirB&B (an excellent way to stay) we ran across another street purveyor of champagne. Seriouly, two street carts selling champagne in one day, what an amazing place! We of course decided that having a little more bubbly was a good idea and got to chatting with the owners of the retro little cart. They were so excited to have visitors to Ghent, that they wrote down all kinds of fabulous places to go out that night. 

So after a nap and cleaning up, it was on for an evening in Ghent. By time I was totally convinced that Ghent was far superior to Bruges, but an unexpectedly eventful Sunday night sealed the deal. We had good food and good drinks, all at bargain prices compared to Oslo. We ended the evening at a little hole in the wall jazz club where we were treating to excellent music, and of course some of the best belgian beer I'd had yet. 

A fuzzy night at Hot Club de Gand

Ghent beautifully lit at night

 The next day before heading on the Brussels we put on our running shoes and took a jog around town, ending at the Ghent Castle. It is a small little fortress right in the middle of town, but does have a great little museum on the many ways you can torture someone. 

Torture Museum at the castle

Then, on to Brussels. Neither of us had any specific things to see in Brussels, so I don't have much to highlight other than saying there was food and drink. Brussels is very much a modern city, with some history, so we didn't worry about doing the touristy thing. We rested up for our last night as a traveling duo before my friend headed back to Oslo. 

Mussels, fries, and beer in Brussels

Our final night in Belgium was also my birthday, the whole point of this trip. Sadly, there are no pictures suitable for posting, but needless to say it was an excellent night. I had the good fortune of having a couple of Norwegian friends from Oslo in town for a meeting, so they joined us for a night of rockabilly swing dancing at some country bar somewhere in Brussels. Who knew?

The next morning we packed up, me to continue on to Germany and Luxembourg and my friend back home. Stayed tuned for part two.

Visitors and Nutshells

It's 75 degrees with a breeze on my 4th floor story balcony, which is where I now sit in disbelief at how quickly the last month has flown past. The landscape has utterly transformed before my eyes, one day a chilly urban streetscape covered in gravel and lacking any color, to todays technicolor portrait of green trees, fresh flowers, and Disneyland spotlessness. And it isn't just the physical that has transformed. Each day I find myself relaxing into this not so new life. As if I haven't always lived in a spacious European apartment with the sounds of the seagulls and ocean liners greeting me from the harbor every time I open my door.

So besides watching the trees bloom and getting my feet under me, the last few weeks were especially busy and celebratory, with holidays and visitors a plenty. My mom, step-dad, aunt, uncle, cousin, and her two kids all arrived in Oslo for whirlwind family reunion. It was my first major hosting experience, but it was great fun to be able to share my new home and city with my family. It was also a great chance for me to be a tourist in my own city, with my first visits to the Folk Museum, Viking Ship Museum, Polar Ship Fram, and a few others.

After my uncle, aunt, and cousins went back home, my mom and step-dad stayed around for another week to get the full Norway experience. We started off with the Norway in a Nutshell tour. I had been told by many folks that doing the Nutshell tour, while a typical tourist activity, is definitely worth doing early in my time here in Norway. I completely agree and am so glad I got see the mountains, fjords, and Bergen all in just a couple of days. Coming back to Oslo, I had a few days of work while the folks did some more relaxed touring, with a random Thursday holiday (Ascension Day) allowing for a quick trip down to Hadeland Glassverk.

After a sad goodbye, I had less than a week to prepare for Norway's biggest day of celebration, Syttende Mai (17th of May, or Constitution Day). I'll post on that separately, but enjoy some touring pictures below.

Stavkirke at Oslo Folk Museum

Viking Ship Museum

Mountain lake, somewhere in between Oslo and Norway

More beautiful lake scenery

Flåmsbana - the only way from the top of the mountain to the fjord

Flåmsbana makes it's way down the mountain

Small valley village near Flåm

Looking back up the fjord

Small village on the shores of the Nærøyfjord

Brygge area in Bergen

Bergen from the Fløybanen

http://servicecentered.blogspot.com/

things I did in the middle of Virginia

The last week was concentrated around back to back trips deep into the Commonwealth of Virginia, first with friends and second with my classmates. I actually travel every weekday to Virginia for training/work, but heading south of the beltway is a rare occasion.

First was a camping excursion with a group of my closest friends from college and Americorps. We've been planning this adventure for months now, as is required to properly coordinate the schedules of 8 busy professionals, but we pulled it off! Two nights at Sherando Lake in the valley below the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was one of the nicest campgrounds I've ever stayed at, with level, nicely graveled sites, huge tables, fire pits, and a hook for your lantern. It definitely wasn't the pull off the Forest Service road in the middle of nowhere camping that I was raised on, but still amazingly serene and fun. The lake itself was tiny, again, very different from the huge glacial lakes of Northern Idaho, but still lovely.  We roasted marshmallows and sausages (including of the tofu variety), did some hiking, and then took a break from camping to visit a local brewery. I know, roughing it. Despite sleeping on the ground in a tiny tent with a friend and her dog, I slept more soundly that I had in months, and returned to DC feeling refreshed and grateful for my vacation from A-100.

Once back in DC, I had a quick turnaround before heading back down into Virginia for an overnight retreat somewhere near Richmond. Our class participated in every kind of group bonding and team building activity you can imagine, and I think gained quite a bit from the experience. With such a huge class, it's been hard to get to know people individually, so I personally appreciated the chance to get to some people a lot better. No pictures to share from that event, but if you can picture the inside of a hotel/conference center, then you get it.

Now I have just 1 week until Flag Day! Trying not to obsess too much, but it's hard knowing that my country is floating out there somewhere and I have no idea where it is. I'm also excited to be able to plan my life past June 29th.

Sherando Lake from Above

Sherando Lake from the Shore

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sampling Beer

A trip home

I'm currently relaxing in a very decent airport bar in Denver International having just wrapped up a trip back home to visit the family. And sitting here it's hitting me that I really don't know when my next trip back to WA state might be. I start A-100 in just 5 days, and once I'm in class I don't really have the flexibility to take vacations that require 10 hours of travel each way.

That sad thought aside, I had a wonderful, if too quick, trip home. It always feels like such of whirlwind of activity, but this trip kept me busy but still allowed for some quality bonding time with the niece and nephew. The morning after I landed we piled into my parents' motorhome to visit the "Inland Northwest's Premier Family Destination," Silverwood Theme Park in Northern Idaho. I love Silverwood and have since I was little. It's not big or fancy, but it has some very thrilling roller coasters and plenty of small rides to keep the kiddos entertained. And it was a beautiful sunny, 80 degree day with zero humidity, so that didn't hurt.

Timber Terror - a crazy fast wooden coaster. 

The warning for Tremors, a wooden coaster than dives underground. 

Looking up at Aftershock - the only coaster I've refused to go on twice. So scary!

Silverwood is Western themed, which includes a train ride through an old "ghost town"

The rest of my time at home was spent running errands in my parents' new "dingy," aka the car they will pull behind their motorhome. The 1980 convertible 5-speed Rabbit would have been my dream car in high school, though I am secretly trying to figure out how to kidnap it and ship it to wherever in the world I end up. I also got to relax a little with my mom and sister, including a trip out to a local winery tasting room (Eastern Washington beats Virginia hands down on good wines) and watching my niece's soccer practice. I even managed to complete all the necessary paperwork to prove that I am indeed domiciled in Washington State.* I won't go into all the crazy details of taxes while living overseas (because I mostly don't understand these details), but I wanted to make sure that once I'm sent overseas that it's clear that all of my personal ties and interests lie in back in WA State.

So Monday the staycation ends and the chaos begins. I'll update more frequently as things like bid lists and Flag Day come flying at me, but first stop is Main State for my badge. I can't wait!

I love this car!

*Domicile is a legal term that is separate from residence. I can be a resident of DC, but if my intent is to return to WA State and I have most of my personal interests there, and I can prove all of this, then while living overseas I would then use WA State for tax purposes. WA State, unlike DC and most of the rest of the country, does not have state income taxes.

The Staycation List

So now that I've said a sad farewell to my job, I have three weeks (now less) of down-time to relax. I know that once I start classes I won't be able to take any leave for at least the 6 weeks of A-100, and probably much longer once I start my mystery language/skills training, so I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to use up a good chunk of my vacation time to see and do all those DC things I hadn't yet done. The following should be a good start.

• Visit some of the Smithsonian and other museums that I haven't gotten around to yet, including the Hirshhorn Modern Art Museum, the African Art Museum, and the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens and Museum. 

• Get a look inside the National Cathedral through the recently re-started Gargoyle Tours (they had been on hold for the past year due to damage caused by last year's earthquake). 

• Spend a an afternoon at the National Archives doing some family history research.

• Visit the Supreme Court and see if I can sit in on a lecture. 

• Restock my cupboards of all the things that I'd generally keep on hand back in Seattle - kaffir lime leaves, curry powder, rice paper wrappers, wontons, soba noodles - at some of the ethnic food markets that hide out in the DC suburbs. 

• Thanks to a well-timed Living Social deal, head out to Virginia suburbs and try my aim at a local gun range.  

• Do some running so I can beat my personal best at my third Capitol Hill 10k on May 20th (I think I'll need to come in under 59 mins). 

• As a reward for all my hard work, have a spa day with a massage and facial. 

In addition to getting out of my apartment, I've also been embarking on a great document purge. I bought a scanner and have been digitizing everything I can put my hands on: receipts, medical info, business cards, pictures, etc. It's tedious work, but with a full day to fill, it's oddly relaxing and the reward of getting to shred or recycle piles of old paper is amazing.

Finally, to top off all of this seeing, doing, relaxing, and organizing, I'll make a quick trip back to the other Washington to spend some much needed time with the family.

Seattle Vacation

Usually when I head out to Seattle to see friends and family, my schedule is so packed that I don't have much time to really experience the city. Having lived there for a couple years, I'm not exactly a tourist, but after a several years on the other coast, I don't exactly feel like a local either.

This past weekend in Seattle for a good friend's wedding allowed me to feel a little like a local and a little like a tourist, which was exactly the kind of trip I needed. I don't know when I'll be in Seattle next, so I wanted to do a couple touristy things, but I also wanted to sit in a coffee shop and read without rushing. And I did exactly those things. The rain came on and off, as it tends to do this time of year, so I spent a good amount of time on my friend's couch. During the sun breaks, and when I wasn't attending the wedding festivities, I walked around Pikes Place market, shopped, and ate multiple types of hot noodle soups. I drank hot, strong espresso while finishing up the first Hunger Games book (which was of course better than the still awesome movie). And most importantly, I watched a couple of great friends and amazing people get married.

So now it's a red-eye back to reality and just a month of work before I take a few weeks of vacation to get ready for A-100.