Belgium's Breweries and the Best Beer in the World

The second part of our trip started with a drive to Germany’s Rhine Valley.  This couple-hour drive turned out to be the hardest of the trip.  Usually, because of his reflux, Braxton is happiest in a car seat or in a sling.  That said, this morning he decided he really just didn’t want to be strapped in there.  AT ALL.  We stopped for breaks when he started to protest and as soon as he was out of the seat his tears would turn to huge grins.  We’re definitely on his time, not ours anymore!  We did finally make it and got on a half-day cruise of the Upper Middle Rhine that was as beautiful as we were told it would be.  There were ruined castles, quaint towns, and acres of vineyards along the steep slopes lining the river.  We started in Rudesheim and sailed a few hours to St. Goarshausen, then took the train back to our car.



Vineyards and cute towns along the Rhine River Valley

Sleeping baby with a ruined castle in the background.

I can't remember who got this adorable hoodie for us, but I love it!

Old customs building.

Ruined castle.

Workers in the vineyard

 

The last stretch of our trip went through Luxembourg, through Belgium, and then back home.  I had wanted to stop in Luxembourg City to walk around but Braxton was sleeping as we passed the exit and as the saying goes, we let him lie.  So instead, we kept on to Orval Abbey, a Trappist brewery in south Belgium.   Belgium has six of the ten total Trappist breweries in the world – Orval, Chimay, Rochefort, Westvleteren, Westmalle, and Achel.  To be considered ‘Trappist’, beer must be brewed within the walls of a monastery by the monks themselves or under their supervision, and the beer only produced to fund the monks’ austere lifestyle (any extra money is donated to charity).  Orval’s beer isn’t our favorite (and honestly doesn’t taste much like the other Trappist beers) but the abbey was incredibly beautiful and we were glad we stopped.  The monks live in a new abbey, which isn’t open to visitors, and the brewery is open only one day a year but we were able to walk around the gorgeous ruins of the old abbey and had an Orval beer and Orval cheese at a pub just down the road.  The whole experience was great except for the old man sitting at a nearby table who doled out as much parenting advice (namely, what we were doing wrong) as he could in broken English.  I shouldn’t have cared, but it’s the first time I’ve had scornful parenting advice from a stranger and it really got under my skin!  Ouch. 

We're suckers for gardens anyway ,but this medicinal garden was top notch.

Enjoyed the beer and cheese more than the parenting advice.

 

We thought about staying the night at the inn connected to the pub but wanted to drive a bit further while Brax would be sleeping, so headed to a well-rated hotel nearer to our next stop, Rochefort.  We were so thankful that we had decided to keep driving!  The GPS took us through some tiny roads through Belgium farmland and small villages, and the hotel was newly renovated, spotless, and had a bathtub!  It’s the little things, isn’t it? Some storms rolled through that night and whether it was the sound of rain on the windows or the rough day we had had, the night was the best we all slept in weeks.  To top it off, the breakfast served at the hotel included the best chocolate croissants I’ve ever had (and I’ve eaten my fair share), tasty prosciutto, excellent coffee, and amazing bread.  What a great start to the day!

Gorgeous Belgium countryside.

Most of the houses had this distinctive tile on their sides.

 

We packed up the car and drove the half hour to the town of Rochefort.  The monastery there opened in 1595 (!) but unfortunately isn’t open to tourists.  Chris wanted to have a Rochefort beer in Rochefort, though, so after stocking up on the 8% and 10%  beer and souvenirs we sat in a café and Chris had a 6%.  Yes it was 10:00 in the morning, but when in Rome…

Brunch of champions.

From Rochefort we made our way to the Saint Sixtus Abbey. Chris’s last ‘bucket list’ thing to do in Europe was to buy the best beer in the world at the Westvleteren Trappist brewery in the St. Sixtus Abbey.  The Westvleteren 12% (they also make a blonde and an 8%) has consistently been voted the best tasting beer in the world.  Apparently all major beer sights have come to the same conclusion, but most importantly we find it to be excellent.  The monks produce just enough of the beer to provide them with basics of food and shelter, so the demand is much, much more than the supply.  Although the beer is only about 2 Euro per bottle from the source it is difficult to find and very expensive in the States.  You can buy two cases of beer directly from the monastery IF you can get through by phone during a narrow window to make an appointment.  The line opens about a week out and I’m not exaggerating, Chris called 115 times before he got through!  The whole last bit of our trip was planned around getting to Westvleteren by our 2:00 appointment time and let me tell you, it was a CLOSE call despite leaving some extra time for Braxton. Close, as in we got there at 1:58. HAHAHA! Just adds to the experience, right?!  The two cases of beer pushed the luggage in our car to a ridiculous level.  And then we drove the 15 minutes to Saint Bernardus where Chris stocked up on 3 MORE cases of beer. His purchases certainly put the two bottles of champagne I bought at Moet & Chandon to shame.  The car was full before we left for this trip and by the time we got back to the Chunnel the tail pipe was almost scraping the road. 

Picking up the Westvleteren 12%

St. Bernardus

"I'm giving us a 20% chance of making it to Westvleteren, babe"... as we're driving along narrow farm roads in the middle of seemingly nowhere with 10 minutes to go until our appointment time.

Hops

We let Braxton drive for a while on the way back to England, and then he ate and slept the entire way from the crossing back to the house, another 2.5-hour stretch.  Our kid doesn’t take naps longer than 45 minutes as a rule, so this was an incredible feat!  It was the perfect end to an amazingly full week away from home. 

 

 

The Champagne Region of France and DODs Soccer Tournament

Chris is helping coach the Alconbury high school boys’ soccer team this year, and despite the fact that they had only scored one goal in the regular season (they’re a really young and inexperienced team!) has really enjoyed the experience.   The boys’ regular season has consisted of six games: against the three other UK bases and three NATO bases from Belgium.  To finish the year, all of the Department of Defense high school teams from Europe get together for a championship tournament which this year was held at Ramstein AFB in Germany.  Chris broached the idea of driving to the tournament about a month ago, when Braxton was about a month old, and I basically laughed in his face.  No WAY!  Nurses, friends, and family have agreed that we have been blessed with a SPIRITED child… he basically spent the first six weeks of his life crying his little eyes out, despite our best efforts with swaddling and every other “S” there is.  We’re not sure if it’s his personality, the fact that he spent the first week of life getting poked and prodded in the hospital, or maybe because he was in no way ready to be born when he was snatched out but we are hoping he continues to grow out of it!  Anyway, I distinctly remember Chris telling me about the tournament at the end of a day particularly filled with wails.  I also distinctly remember looking at Braxton, then at Chris, snappily asking him if 16+ hours in a car with a two-month old sounded like a relaxing or enjoyable endeavor.  Chris counter-offered with “well, I could just go.”  Pretty sure I just gave him ‘the look’ (and not the one that says ‘sure honey, you go’).  Fast forward a few weeks…  and here we are in Germany!  Not only has Brax turned a corner, but Chris knows how to sell me on trips. It’s only 8 hours in a car to Ramstein, he said, and the route happens to go directly through the champagne region of France (somewhere I’ve really wanted to go since we moved here three years ago) and the route home could easily include visits to three of the six Belgium Trappist breweries (which Chris has been anxious to visit.)  And lastly, we realized Ramstein was within a couple hours of the photogenic Rhine Valley.  Thus a fairly epic last (!?!) trip was born.  

Saturday morning we dropped Bailey at the kennel and then packed the car.  How does a 14-pound two-month-old take up 87% of the luggage space?!  I swore I’d be the mom to travel light but then decided we had to have the BOB stroller, thought it’d be in Braxton’s best interest to carry his Moses basket with us, and couldn’t decide on his outfits as I’ve never had to dress him for 80 degree weather.  We did manage to get it all packed in the car and were blessed with a baby that fell asleep five minutes into the 2.5-hour drive to the Chunnel and stayed asleep until we got there.  Chris and I had time to chat, which first-time parents may understand is a HUGE deal.  Most of the talk was about our little man, of course, but it was still wonderful to have that time.  I fed B when we were waiting for our car train to board and realized how many weird places he’d eat before the trip was done: in the backseat of the (parked) car in three different countries, on a train, on a boat, in a restaurant, at a vineyard, and watching a soccer game to name a few!

The rest of our drive to Reims in the champagne region of France was just as easy because of a very sleepy Braxton.  The trip took an hour longer than it would have with the two of us as we stopped when he got fussy, but we couldn’t have asked more from him!  We rested at the hotel for a few minutes before going in to Reims for an early evening walk-about and found the city to be remarkably charming.  It was Saturday night, and the sidewalk cafes were packed with groups of families and friends enjoying everything from coffee to juice to champagne.  One wild guess what I ordered :D  Since alcohol in breast milk mirrors the blood alcohol level (and doesn’t get ‘trapped’ there) there was a lot of planning as to what and when I could drink.  B may have had the equivalent to a sip or two but don’t worry grandmas, that wasn’t why he slept so well!

Cathedral Notre Dame in Reims

 

Sunday we had a lazy morning (B gets up around 6:00 and has his first nap around 7:30) and then drove the scenic champagne trail through the region admiring the vineyards and stopping in some of the region’s tiny villages to walk around and take in the vistas. 

 

Grapes

 

Chris and sleeping Braxton by some of the vineyards surrounding Verzy.

 

We landed in Eparney, the self-proclaimed champagne capital of the world.  The city itself was less charming than Reims or the rest of the tiny villages, but was so interesting in that we were able to tour the famous champagne house of Moet & Chandon.  It was such an interesting hour as a sweet guide explained in French-tinged English how the famous bubbly is produced and then toured about two kilometers of the 118-km worth of caves winding underneath the town.  The caves are cut out of the chalk and house hundreds of thousands of bottles of champagne in various stages of readiness.  Napoleon  (and most influential political leaders, it seems) had visited these same caves quite a few times in his day.  Little man literally slept from when we started the tour until after the tasting, with one quirk: he needed to hold Chris’ finger.  As soon as Chris took his hand away, Braxton would stir.  So stinking cute! 

 

Hundreds of thousands of bottles of champagne stashed in the caves.

Little fingers white from the death grip he had on Chris' thumb for the hour and a half he was asleep.

Tasting some grand vintage Moet & Chandon champagnes... yes please!

In front of the Moet & Chandon house in Epernay.

 

Bottles everywhere!

Dom Perignon was the monk credited with inventing champagne.

 

We had an early dinner at a small restuarant in Erpeney with six mini glasses of champagne from some of the area's smaller producers.

 

Eating dinner before mom tastes lots of different champagnes!

HAPPY Braxton!

The drive from Eperney to Ramstein took a few hours, including about an hour stop at gorgeous, grassy rest area where Chris took a nap and Braxton and I played in the grass under a tree.

So, Ramstein AFB is HUGE.  Massive.  A city.  It could’ve swallowed our tiny little Alconbury and no one would’ve noticed the difference.  The BX had a selection of hundreds of purses, including at least 30 Coach bags.  I guess that’s not impressive if you’ve never been to our BX but people from our tiny base will get the humor.

We tried to do everything in our power to keep Braxton’s schedule consistent, especially his bedtime routine.  We had to get creative when the hotel didn’t have a bathtub...

Bath time!

 

End-of-evening daddy Braxton chat time.

 

The boy’s were guaranteed three games in the USAFE tournament, and were seeded at the very bottom of their bracket.  Their first game was especially fun to watch as they scored their second goal of the season and were actually winning for a while against a team seeded much higher than they were.  They ended up losing 3-1 but played the best they had all year.  We were proud of them!  The second and third games were played against two of the top seeded teams and the results unfortunately reflected this.  We really enjoyed the weather and cheering the boys on.  Now the journey home through Belgium begins...

The boys warming up before what would be their final game.

Braxton enjoying the German sun on the beautiful quilt Sarah made him.

Someone had a big day!!

Grandma and Grandpa meet Braxton

 

Chris and I were thrilled to welcome his parents for a short visit.  Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt were anxious to meet you, Braxton!  “We’re here to help!”, they said… so Chris and I went on bike rides together,  I went SHOPPING and had my hair cut, and was able to complete a million tasks I hadn’t found the time to get to earlier.  Braxton turned a bit of a corner while they were here, which was such a relief!  He started going down for naps a little easier, although none ever lasted more than 45 or so minutes.  He’ll get it figured out eventually :D

We had a GREAT visit and were so thankful for the babysitting!

It's never too early to start bedtime stories.

Grandma getting some quality snuggles.

Grandpa putting Brax down for naptime.

Left Braxton with the grandparents and went for a great bike ride!

Me gets to drink a glass of wine while Chris gives the Little Man a bottle of the extra milk I expressed that first week in hospital (there was a lot of extra because of how little they let him eat... boooo)

Schmidt family photo

Schmidts are trying as hard as they can to win Packers allegiance early.  Uncle Cal, you have anything to say about this?

Braxton in a sweater and blanket knitted by his Great-Grandma Wais... soooo sweet!

Momma saves the day!

My mom had planned on coming to help out for a couple week’s when Braxton was born but moved her flight forward when he ended up in the hospital right after birth.  I was hesitant to have her spend the money for the ticket change but honestly am INCREDIBLY thankful she wouldn’t be talked out of coming early.  The days in the hospital were really tough, yes, but the first weeks home from the hospital were almost as difficult.  There were times I felt really crazy (sleep deprivation plus hormones plus the birth trauma plus time in hospital) and mom really helped to back Chris up when he told me to sleep.  She cooked, cleaned, and walking screaming Braxton around the neighborhood for more often hours than I can count… plus she gave me an extra hour of sleep every morning by taking Braxton as soon as I gave him his breakfast.   I really credit her and Katherine for helping us make it through that first tough bit! 

Walking around Brampton with Braxton.

Teeny tiny monkey

Skyping with Sarah and Cara :D

Mom worked half days from her 'home' office.

That teeny jacket looks huge next to Braxton!

Our first outing - in the sling on the way to the Co-op.

He loves to stick his bum out ;D

Brax sleeping, mom reading.

Getting to know our sweety pie.