The Best Beer in the World

…No, really.

Here in Belgium, beer is kind of a big deal. Beer shops are everywhere, filled with selections of hundreds of different beers. It seems impossible that one of the hundreds could actually claim the title of being the BEST, and that people could actually agree.

But people do. The Trappist Westvleteren 12 is continually ranked #1 on almost every beer rating metric or website in existence. If it were up to the Trappist monks of the Saint Sixtus abbey, there wouldn’t be so much fuss about their beer. It is brewed just to keep the monastery going, and isn’t marketed or sold publicly. There is a pub across the street where you can drink it on tap, which happens to be the only place where that is possible. In order to get a case of 24 bottles, you must call the beer hotline, hope to get through, then register your license plate number and show up on the correct date and time. You are allowed to do this 1 time each month. That’s it. The monks had to start doing this because people were buying up cases to sell to the general public. I guess that’s what happens when you “accidently” make the best beer around.

How did i manage to get my hands on a bottle you ask? Without a car? Without a reservation? Well, I went shopping on the Bruges Black Market of course! Before I knew the difficulty of getting a hold of the beer, I asked in a beer shop if they had it.

“No, it’s illegal to sell”

-“Wait, really?”

“Yes, you won’t find it, it’s illegal”

Conversation over.

So this was going to be a little bit more difficult than I thought. The next beer shop that I went into was a small Mom and Pop store by the hostel. The owner was a little nicer about the whole situation, but unfortunately he had run out of his supply and was hoping to get back up to the abbey on Monday. 0 for 2. The third try, however, was the charm. Just outside the city center was another beer shop that had what I was looking for. He had to go into the back to get it, but there it was: a label-less brown bottle with a cap bearing the Westvleteren 12 name and the Monk’s logo. Of course, I also bought the special goblet meant for drinking the beer. I figured I might as well go all out, it’s not every day you drink the best beer in the world, right?

So the mission was accomplished, I had finally found what I was looking for and all that was left between me and the beer was a day of sightseeing and 30 minutes of refrigeration. The nearly foamless, opaque brown nectar filled the glass perfectly, and went down as smooth as butter.

I’m not sure what was more enjoyable, the beer itself or the chase, but in the end, does it really matter?

Flirting with Death

Now that I have managed to get past all the not-so-safe parts of my trip, I figured now it would be safe to reflect on how I’ve escaped serious bodily harm so far.

How I made it through the running of the bulls with only a stained shirt and a little bruise on my shin is a mystery to me. I would like to think that it was my speed, agility, and quick thinking ability that got me through, but I would be lying to myself. It was pure luck. Plain and simple. If one of those bulls decided he was coming after me, I was a goner, and that’s all there is to it. For this reason, I think I will have a hard time recommending it to anyone who asks, for no other reason then I’d hate to be responsible for whatever may happen to them! Would I do it again? No. Do I regret doing it? Absolutely not. Should you do it? Ya, but don’t tell anyone I said so…

Moving on to Switzerland, I don’t think I necessarily flirted with death, per-se, but there were a few situations that could have ended a lot worse than they did. After we had found a campsite in front of the Matterhorn, we talked about building a fire like it was some kind of luxury. Turns out it was a necessity. Sub 20°F weather isn’t the most comfortable or safest thing to be in without a tent or an adequate sleeping bag, just ask Jason Carian. Luckily, we had enough heat to last part of the night, with the sun coming up just in time. During our other hikes, it was a crapshoot as to whether or not we were going to get rained on. Luckily, the dice didn’t come up snake eyes while we were asleep up there! The last adventurous stunt in Switzerland was Canyonning. It basically consists of jumping off cliffs, sliding down rock faces, rapelling down waterfalls, and shimmying between rocks above the river, you know, the usual. I managed to escape this with little more than a gash in my finger. That may have been because of the invincibility suit they had everyone wear. I was set with my double wetsuit, butt tarp, helmet, water shoes, and life jacket; I think I could have rolled down the canyon and been fine!

I thought I was done worrying my mother…until I got to Norway. Apparently, there’s a lot of adventurous things to do here! The picture you saw in the last post was on top of Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock). The rock formation is a shear cliff that jets out over the Lysefjord 2000 feet below. It’s a pretty amazing sight, especially with your feet hanging over the edge. The wind blowing up from over the edge was so strong that it felt like if I leaned over it would just push me back onto the rock. I did not, however, test this theory. The lougie I hawked, though, did immediately fly back over my head and into the air behind me. Today’s photo is of me on Kjeragbolten, a boulder wedged between two shear cliffs. What you can’t see in the photo is the fact that this rock is almost 3500 feet above the fjord below. Straight. Down. The heavy fog made the hop to the rock a little bit less terrifying as I couldn’t see down to the bottom, but I still knew what was below me, namely, nothing! I usually don’t get too nervous with heights, but I’m not going to lie, I was a little freaked out by the whole idea of stepping onto a little rock wedged between a couple cliffs. As if the boulder wasn’t enough, the hike to and from was just as treacherous. Cables were set up all along the rock faces that you had to scale, ALA Half Dome in Yosemite. Going up was fine, it was the going down part that provided a few close calls. Apparently in Norway they don’t really make trails, more like suggested routes that can get you places. Definitely not trails, though.

So there you have it, my thoughts on making it through a few close calls and risky situations. Now let’s hope I don’t get hurt falling off a bunk bed or tripping down some steps!

Headed to Belgium next…

Bergen, Norway

The train ride from Oslo to Bergen is world renowned for its changing scenery and picturesque views. The train traveled through everything from rolling hills to raging rivers to glacier filled mountains to the steep cliffs of the fjord. I have to say the ride definitely lived up to the hype. Bergen is a cool little city with a buzzing harbor and beautiful hills surrounding it. This picture is taken from one of those hills overlooking the city. I didn’t hike up here, I took the funicular (cheating, I know). I did, however, sleep on the hill, so at least I roughed it a little bit. More on that later…

From Bergen, it was off to Stavanger for my boat in the morning!

Oslo, Norway

Upon arriving in Oslo, I made my way to the tourist center to figure out how I would spend the upcoming couple days. The city guide brochure was titled:

OSLO: Visit Peace

I thought this was tragically ironic given the recent attacks in the city. After wandering around, however, it made perfect sense. 2 minutes outside the city center, sounds of birds, trees, bikes, and the occasional car fill the air. People walking don’t seem to be in a hurry and drivers don’t get impatient at stop signs because, well, there are none. The typical Scandanavian streets are lined with colorful houses and lead at some point or another into a park. I visited a park lined with over a hundred statues of humans in their barest form in various positions and states of emotion. It was actually really interesting. Out on museum island, I hung out in another park, looking back at the city across the water, with dozens of sail boats cruising around the islands. There aren’t a whole lot of sites to see here in Oslo, but somehow I took more photos in a day than I have in weeks. I think that says something about this place…

I don’t know if it’s because I am a little worn down from traveling, or if it’s because I am getting a little sick, or maybe that my subconscious was telling me so, but there is something about this place that truly is peaceful, and I am happy to for the experience.

A Reflection on Reflections

Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated with reflections. Whether it’s mountains onto lakes, buildings in puddles, or simply my shadow on the ground, something about seeing reality slightly distorted from a different perspective intrigues me. It is somewhat comical, but in looking at my pictures, I almost always have a picture of myself reflected in some puddle or fountain. Rarely do my self portraits make it through my daily deletion of unnecessary photos, but every now and then, I find a gem. Riding the rails from Sweden to Norway, I have passed by numerous lakes containing the reflection of the tree filled hills surrounding them. I am immediately reminded of my trip to Glacier National Park in Montana last summer. It was there, at Bowman Lake, that I saw the most majestic reflection I have ever witnessed.

I’ll be looking to top that as I explore the fjords of Norway in the next few days, but at the very least I’ll make some valiant Peter Pan attempts at capturing my shadow on the wall…

Stockholm

I spent the last couple days in Stockholm, Sweden doing what I do best: Walking around all day, getting lost, finding a park to nap in, and learning a thing or two about history. My hostel was located in Old Town Stockholm, a centrally located island that was a good base point to explore from. Stockholm consists of a bunch of islands and about 10 times as many bridges! Most all of them led to the old town island, so I was usually able to make it back just fine. The city was always buzzing, with boats coming in and out of the many harbors. I took a boat ride yesterday to an island called Birka, an old Viking town. While there wasn’t too much to see there, the tour guide told us a lot about the history and the ride there and back was beautiful and peaceful.

Like everywhere in Scandanavia, Sweden was very expensive, so, besides the Swedish meatballs, I had to stick to the trusty grocery store cuisine: bananas, apples, bread, and beans…mmmmm

Headed to Norway next!

To Be or Not to Be...

Since the morning train to Stockholm was all full, I couldn’t leave Copenhagen until the afternoon. I decided that I would travel around outside of the city for the day before coming back to take the train to Sweden in the afternoon. I mapped out my route to cover 3 suggested day trips in the span of about ¾ of a day. I started with a 7 am train to Helsingør, the location of Kronberg castle, famous for its affiliation to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Next stop was a coastal fishing village called Gilljete. After dozing off on the beach, I headed to another castle town before making it back to Copenhagen to catch my train. It was nice to get away from the busy city for a while, especially on a Sunday as the closed shops made the streets peaceful and the sights serene.

The photo is of the Hamlet castle, with its reflection in the surrounding moat. I wanted to strike a Hamlet pose, but I didn’t have a skull to hold unfortunately…

"To sleep, perchance to dream: — ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come…” -Hamlet

Copenhagen

On my own again, I’ve spent the last couple days in Copenhagen, Denmark. The first day was filled with nothing but rain, but I managed to tour the Carlsberg brewery, the 4th largest distributor in the world. The weather cleared up the next day and I was able to see everything the city had to offer. Copenhagen is a beautiful city with colorful buildings and canals winding all through it. I think there are more bikes than cars here; even in the rain, there are dozens of bikers around every corner. The picture you see is the traditional postcard photo you would see for Copenhagen…with the addition of yours truly!

Headed to Stockholm, Sweden tomorrow. Let’s hope for some sun…

Berlin

The last stop in Germany is Berlin. A city now filled with character, Berlin has gone through quite a bit over the years. During the walking tour we saw many important sights regarding both World War II and the Cold War. From Hitler’s bunker, to the site of Nazi book burnings, to the Berlin Wall, to Checkpoint Charlie, the city is riddled with historical points of interest from the not so distant past.

The East Side Gallery, a mile stretch of the recreated wall, displays various paintings and graffiti from artists around the world. Here I am on the other side of the East Side Gallery, doing my best to get over the wall. After a few failed attempts, I gave up and walked through the now open gate.

Crazy to think that was next to impossible during my lifetime, just over 20 years ago…

The Hamburg Fischmarkt

Yes, I spelled that correctly…

For the last couple days, I’ve been in Hamburg, a port city in northern Germany. Although not much of a sightseeing city, Hamburg is a great city with many parks, lakes, and unique neighborhoods. The feel of the town is very similar to Seattle. After checking out all the churches and some parks on the first day, we woke up early the next morning to go down to the market. Early risers and late nighters join together at 5 am to either get their weekly seafood fix or continue their party with a snack and a concert. Vendors like the one you see in the picture auction off goodie bags of fish assortments to their jovial customers, bickering and bartering with everyone they see.

It doesn’t stop at fish, though. Vendors auction off giant bags filled with anything from fruit to candy to giant plants, with their new owners happy to lug their haul back up the hill to go home. Watch out for Banana Fred, though. One unsuspecting market-goer walking by was whacked in the head by a stray banana being tossed into the crowd. He must have been dazed by the impact because he didn’t stop to pick up his free banana. Luckily for me, that banana was just what I needed to wash down the fish skewer and crab sandwich I had for breakfast…

Thanks Banana Fred!

Prague

Today I did the tourist thing in Prague: Free walking tour followed by some exploring around the city. The picture shows the Prague castle and its cathedral. The city itself is great; the streets have a lot of character and the views are awesome. I tried some traditional goulash and dumplings and I have to say that I approve of the cuisine! Can’t wait to see what else this city has to offer…

Also, I met up with my roommate Jason today, should be a pretty fun next few days!

More friends…

A classmate of mine, Mary, has joined me for the next couple weeks of my trip. We met up with some more Cal Poly friends that randomly happened to be in Munich at this time as well. After saying farewell to them (Rachel and Patrick) we met up with MORE Cal Poly friends. These friends happen to be locals, though, as they are both from Germany, but studied with us in California (Jonas and Marina). Here we are at the English gardens, a big park in the city. We swam a little bit and enjoyed the first real day of summer so far.

Now it’s goodbye to Bavaria (and the food and beer) and off to Prague!

Prost!

France was bread and cheese. Switzerland was bread and chocolate. Since being in Germany, however, my diet has consisted of two things that trump the previously mentioned delicacies: Sausage and Beer. Not just any sausage or any beer, but the best! It is a law here in Munich that only 3 ingredients can be used to brew beer: water, hops, and barley (or wheat). It’s simple, but it sure is delicious.

The picture is a group shot of some friends enjoying our litres of beer at the Augustiner brew house. The scene was filled with table after table of locals and tourists yelling and cheering and dancing, stomach’s full and lips wetted.

Das ist gut, ya???

Dachau

Today I went to the Dachau concentration camp outside of Munich. Dachau was the model camp that most others were designed to during Hitler’s reign.

The picture you see is the surrounding fence that kept the “workers” inside the walls. The combination of barbed wire and electric fence made it impossible to escape, if one even got that far. The moat to the left is preceded by “no man’s land,” a small strip of grass surrounding the camp, that held certain death for anyone that crossed into it. Prisoners were often times forced into this area by guards. They were then shot from the towers as they were supposedly attempting to escape.

The blatant lack of humanity exhibited by the Nazis is very difficult to come to grips with. Starving, sick people were worked, beaten, and tortured on a daily basis to the point of death. Images of piles of corpses and stories of innocent people losing their identity, dignity, and ultimately their life were forever imprinted into my memory as I walked through the museum and grounds. How this all could have possibly occurred such a short time ago, in a so called advanced society leaves so many questions…How? Why? These questions, though, have no answers.

There is a monument inside that says NEVER AGAIN in 5 different languages. It is inspiring, but it is more of an aspiration than a statement of fact. Genocide continues to occur in various parts of the world. The extermination of the Jews (along with others) during the Holocaust was a genocide that we are all somewhat familiar with on one level or another and understand as being evil, as being something that would not occur today…but it does. People continue to be mercilessly killed simply for who they are. Darfur comes to mind.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on the world’s genocides, and I am not actively involved in helping these situations, but I urge those reading this to really take a step back, look at your life, and be thankful for the gifts you have been given. None of us knows what torture feels like, what being worked to death feels like, what losing everything you own, even your name, feels like. We can, however, understand and recognize when things are not as they should be, when a level of humanity is being removed from society. All it takes is a little perspective, and I gained a lot today…

At Home on the Trains

After saying farewell to Cooper in Zurich, I had a day or two to kill before meeting another friend in Munich, Germany. All the cities that were relatively close by couldn’t be seen in just a day or so. So, I devised a plan. I would take two overnight trains in a row, saving on rooms for two nights, while still traveling someplace new. My destination? Ljubljana, Slovenia. (Leeyoobleeanna)

The plan was perfect until I found out I didn’t actually get a bed on the train. I found this out the hard way as I woke up to the conductor yelling at me in some language I’d never heard. He finally got the point across that I needed to pay or go sit in a regular seat. 12 hours later, there I was in Slovenia, my regular seat as uncomfortable as ever.

So with a sore neck and an hour of sleep, I explored Ljubljana. It’s a cool little city, worth the day trip. Great places to nap, too. I would recommend the park bench in front of the castle! I also fell asleep in a church pew, but that one was unintentional…

That night I jumped on the night train again, headed for Germany. Needless to say, I made sure to get a bed this time. Walking up to the platform around midnight I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I passed backpacker after backpacker attempting to sleep, one hand covering their face, the other with a death grip on their belongings. Such is the life of a traveler. Anyways, my assigned bed was one of six in a compartment about the size of a walk-in closet; it was going to be a cozy night. After positioning all my bags in such a way that I could actually turn over without hitting my head on the ceiling, I was settled for the night, headed to another country.

And yes, I slept like a baby…

Schynige Platte to First

After getting some advice from the locals, Cooper and I (along with a couple friends) set off to do “the” Alpine hike. The hike took us up and down the ridge, up Faulhorn peak, and down to First. On one side were the giant glacier filled peaks, while the other looked down over Interlaken and its surrounding lakes. The hike was tough, and took us about 6 hours to get to First. We weren’t done, though, as we had to make the 3 hour descent down to the town of Grindelwald, where we made our camp for the night.

Our feet were not too happy with us the next day, especially while we made the 12 mile trek along the river back to Interlaken…