Hooters, Canyons and the Vissers

Balmer's Tents

The Vissers at Balmers

Our good friends, Dave and Angie Visser, have left us here in Geneva and moved back to Seattle. It has not even been a month since they left, but we already miss them.  As part of saying goodbye, we planned a trip to Interlaken for the weekend, to go canyoning, something Travers and I had done last summer, that the Vissers wanted to experience.

So we got a group together, and all headed up to Interlaken. Taking the train, we arrived Friday night, checked into our tents at Balmer's, and relaxed in the hammocks, by the bar, and by the pool, taking in the large mountains surrounding us. Now if you all remember, this was the site of the mouse incident last summer, when a mouse somehow snuck into my bag and ate an entire corner of a loaf of bread, then snuck back out. So, I was very adamant about not keeping any food out that that could happen again. We kept a cooler zipped shut, and other foods, high up on a table that we knew the mouse could not get to. And thankfully, it worked, as we were completely mouse-free this trip. Phew!

We then headed out to dinner at our friend Mike's favorite restaurant, Hooters!  And to be honest, we were all extremely happy to be going there for dinner, for some tasty wings, fries, and beer.  We had a tasty dinner, enjoying the night night, and made sure we were all back in our tents at a decent hour as we were being picked up at 7:45am the next morning for our big canyoning adventure!

For those that don't know, canyoning is basically walking, jumping, sliding, crawling through this canyon, through the water, sometimes dangling, sometimes rappelling, sometimes bouncing along through the water, over rocks, and down waterslides. Last summer we did the moderate canyon as it was our first time, but this summer we wanted to step up the challenge, so we opted for the more advanced canyon. I was a little hesitant as the guides really emphasize how dangerous it can be, but I knew that I couldn't let Travers go by himself, so I sucked it up and put on a brave face. It was definitely a more challenging canyon, but at the end, we all made it safely through, although I fell down once (on the walk from the car to the start of the canyon....when did I become so clumsy?), and gave myself a bit of whiplash on one jump, while bruising the backs of my legs. But all in all, those were minor injuries, and we were all pumping with adrenaline at the end of the day.

It was a wonderful day, and I think the Vissers enjoyed the adventure, especially as its something you can't easily do in the states. We ended the weekend, with more pool and hammock time at the tents, followed by a delicious mexican dinner in town.  

Sunday was spent with pool time again, and with a few shenanigans by the boys before hopping on a train back to Geneva.  It was an amazing weekend to say goodbye to the Vissers.  We saw them just one more time before they hopped on a plane back to Seattle. Its been strange not having them around, but we know they are happy to be back home, near family and friends, and they will definitely be our life long friends.

Belgium Waffles are tasty

 To finish up our travels in May, we trained it from Amsterdam into Belgium, spending a night in Brussels, and a night in Bruges. We arrived mid-afternoon and stayed at Le Meridien hotel right next to the train station. We had just under 24 hours in Brussels, and we tried to make the most of it. Luckily our hotel was just in the center of town, and we could walk that night into the old town area for some dinner and wandering the streets. It was a Sunday and a bank holiday weekend, so we weren't expecting much to be open, but everything seemed to be open and lively and filled with people. 

Sitting at Kelderke

We walked to Le Grand-Place, a large square lined with shops and restaurants.  And just our luck, there was a jazz concert going on in the center of it!  We walked around the square and settled at a restaurant on one end called Kelderke, listended to the music, stared at the beautiful architecture around us, and enjoyed a tasty meal. As the sun set, the lights in the surrounding buildings came on, and there was a beautiful glow from each of them.


After dinner, we strolled through the rest of the old town. It was extremely busy for a Sunday, but most people had the next day off, so they were extending their weekend fun. We walked through the cobblestone streets, past several restaurants and bars and found a place we would get lunch at the next day. Exhausted from our weekend in Amsterdam, we found a waffle shop, ordered one plain and one decked out in ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Since we can't use our waffle maker in Geneva (doesn't work with the power, even with a converter), we were very excited to have these waffles. And boy were they tasty!  Unfortunately, we ate them too fast for me to take a photo. Next time.

Le Grand Place

At Night

Monday we woke up and since we had limited time to see the rest of Brussels, we bought two tickets for the hop on, hop off bus tour. We had done this in Paris several years before, and in Barcelona last summer with Rosemary and Mike. Its a great way to see a city if you have a limited amount of time. And being a nice sunny day, we figured we'd get a nice tan sitting in the open top of the bus. We didn't end up actually hopping off until the end of the first route since we were limited in time, but we saw lots of great monuments and historical buildings.  We  grabbed a beer from a local brewery, and savory crepes from the restaurant we had found the night before, then we hopped back onto the second route to see the rest of the city. After a couple more hours, it was time to leave and head to Bruges. So we grabbed our bags, hopped on a train, and late that afternoon we arrived in Bruges at the Grand Hotel Casselbergh.

We decided to go to this little town mostly because of the movie In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.  And once we arrived, we knew it was a great decision. This little town is not so little actually, and we absolutely loved it. The architecture, the large plazas, the canals. It had a very romantic feeling to it, and it was a great end to our 5 day-3 city trip.

Again, we had less than 24 hours in this city so we tried to make the most of it. We dropped our bags at the hotel, and went out for a stroll to see the city and have a tasty dinner. We saw the Belfry of Bruges (although we did not go up it, as there is no elevator and we just weren't going to make it up those stairs). And we walked through several large plazas lined with shops and restaurants. We wandered down some cobblestone alleyways and found a few interesting restaurants to try.

We settled in at a Mediterranean restaurant called The Olive Tree, where the owner and his wife were the hosts and watiers, and were incredibly friendly to each customer, chatting us up towards the end of our meal, sharing some Ouzo with us and teaching us the best way to drink it: add a little water, a few ice cubes to keep it cold, and sip instead of taking it like a shot, which is what we usually do. I didn't like the taste of Ouzo at all, as you can see in this photo, so he brought me a tasty fruity drink instead that cleansed my palate and was a perfect refreshing end to the meal.  The entire meal was delicious, and the fact that the owner made it so personal and really cared about his restaurant made it such a great last night of vacation for us.


After dinner, we strolled through the streets again, seeing the most picturesque canals and buildings, and eventually settling in at a bar that had over 400 different types of beer. We got a few tasters, and chatted up some other Americans that were in the bar. Being a small town, they ended up asking us to leave before midnight as they were closing up for the night. After strolling some more, making some more friends along the way, we called it a night as we had a lot to do the next day before catching a train back to Brussels so we could fly back to Geneva that evening.









The next morning, we decided to rent some bikes so that we could see as much of the city as possible. We had breakfast at a cute place called Petit Maxim then found a nearby bike rental place.

We hopped on our bikes and rode all around town, seeing more lovely canals, old buildings, churches, and eventually making our way to see four large windmills that were just along the side of one the larger canals that circled the city.











We passed over several bridges, and saw some really interesting boats going by us in the canals, and saw some really interesting architecture throughout the city. After a few hours, we were getting close to catching our train, so we returned our bikes, did a little souvenir shopping, and got our bags from the hotel, before catching a bus to the train station.

Overall, the entire weekend was amazing. I had never been to Belgium before and I was so impressed by the architecture, the people, the beautiful canals, and the food.  


We got back to Geneva Tuesday night, exhausted, but happy with our trip. We had only a few days to rest though as we were leaving town again that friday for a canyoning trip to Interlaken with a bunch of our friends. The travelling continues...