More Visitors!

We spent the weekend with our good friends Kari and Brian.  They came to visit us here and then we are meeting back up with them in Italy in 2 days.  We picked them up in Amsterdam and spent the weekend touring Maastricht and celebrating Brian's birthday.  Thanks for visiting us ... can't wait for our trip to Italy!

Brian's birthday drinks at Cafe t'Pothuiske

Visitors! (Amsterdam, Venlo, Cologne & Trip 15 to Heidelberg, Germany)

I just dropped my Dad and Cheryl off at Brussels airport after a wonderful week long visit.  We ended up touring a few cities in both Netherlands and Germany.
We spent some time here in the town of Maastricht enjoying the squares, cafes, the market and Queen's Day celebrations (Queen's birthday April 30) . . oh and lots of gelato!  We also spent a day in Amsterdam and a day in Venlo, Netherlands at Floriade, an international flower exhibition that the Netherlands hosts every 10 years.  Floriade made CNN's list of the World's Top Destinations for 2012 - http://www.floriade.com/visit-floriade/floriade-is-world-news/worlds-top-destinations-for-2012
For the weekend we went to Heidelberg and Cologne, Germany.  And it was a heat wave at 82 degrees!  We visited the Heidelberg Castle which was a very impressive Renaissance structure that was later destructed by lightning, wars and fires.  In Cologne, we visited the Cologne Cathedral where we climbed 533 steps to the top of the tower, walked along the Rhine River and Hohenzollern Bridge and of course we ate way too much German food (again)!

Netherlands

  Amsterdam, Netherlands

Canal Tour - got a shot of six bridges in a row!

 In front of the Anne Frank House / Ornate Street Lamp & Magna Plaza

 Market in Maastricht - purchased lots of white asparagus & fresh fish . . so good!

 Taking the Gondola over Floriade Park

 Beautiful flowers at Floriade


Germany

 

Heidelberg Castle

 Views of Heidelberg from the castle

 

 Castle / Gate of the old bridge

 The town of Heidelberg / Square where we stopped for drinks

 Cologne Cathedral / Hohenzollern or Locking Bridge

 Lunch at Colner Hofbrau Fruh in Cologne, Germany

Trip 14: Reims (Champagne), France

Over the weekend, we visited the Champagne Region of France.  We stayed in the city of Reims, the capitol of the Champagne Region which was a 3 hour drive from Maastricht.  On Saturday we took a private champagne tour, through La Vigne due Roy, of two small producers (Ernest Remy & Nicolas Maillart) where we got to visit and learn about the vineyards and growing process, tour the cellars where the champagne is aged, bottled and labeled and also got to taste many different styles of champagne.  Our favorite was Ernest Remy's BRUT Grand Cru Mailly Champagne - a cuvee made with 100% Pinot Noir grapes. The champagne from this region is made from only the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grape varietals and there are over 11,000 labels produced from Champagne.
After we returned to Reims we walked around the city and ate dinner at Cafe du Palais which I highly recommend.  I had the smoked salmon starter, scallops and pasta main course and dark chocolate cake for dessert and Jamie had the foie gras, Duck confit and dark chocolate cake.  It was all SO good!  :)
On Sunday we took a tour of a large producer, Taittinger, which was quite impressive as they are still using the cellars partly dating back to the 4th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_(wine)

 Countryside & Vineyards / Canola fields (this pic is not altered . . this is how brilliant the color really is!)

The city of Reims, France during the day & night

  Tour of Ernest Remy champagne house & cellars

 

Tour of Nicolas Maillart champagne house & cellars

  Tour of Taittinger cellars 

Champagne anyone!?!  Taittinger produces over 3 million bottles or about 400,000 cases per year.

 Champagne tastings!  :)

Trip to the Market

One of my favorite things about living here, besides being able to walk everywhere and all the specialty shops they offer, are the markets.  Today we walked to the large market that takes place every Wednesday and Friday in Markt square for lunch and to purchase some produce and fresh fish for dinner (fish tacos!).  I never get tired of walking around and looking at the hundreds of fresh flowers, plants, produce, fish and many other offerings.

 The general market in Markt Square

 Lunch at the market . . I think this is going to be a regular Friday occurrence!

A view of one side of Maastricht's city center during our walk back home

Trip 13: Istanbul, Turkey

We just returned from a great trip to Istanbul, Turkey.  Istanbul is one of very few cities in the world situated on two continents (Asia & Europe).  We decided to stay on the Asian side of the country which gave us a view of the less touristy attractions than the European side.  And I think for the first time since living in Europe we stayed in an American hotel, the Doubletree Hilton hotel in Istanbul Moda, which ended up being a nice treat with their accommodations of a pool, steam room, sauna and hot tub after a long day of walking the busy streets of Istanbul.  Staying on the Asian side also meant that we got to take the commuter ferries across the Bosphorus strait to the European side to see all of the sites.
We spent the first full day in the old town visiting and wandering the Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar, the oldest and one of the largest covered markets in the world.  It kind of reminded me of the souks in Morocco with all of the spices, nuts, dried fruits and other goods but was much more grand in terms of the structure, size, history and offerings (jewelry, carpets, etc.).  We also toured the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent and admired the beautiful views from the hilltop.  We ended the evening at a fantastic fish restaurant, Sur Balik, situated on the Sea of Marmara and then back on the ferry to Asia.
The next day we took the ferry over again to visit more sites.  We started with the Blue Mosque (built in 1609-1616), known by the rich blue color of the handmade ceramic tiles that dominate the interior and it's impressive scale with six minarets.  We also visited the Hippodrome (built in 4th Century A.D.), which was Constantinople's venue for chariot races and a place where the people of the city gathered and is now decorated with monuments from all over the world including the Egyptian Obelisk, Column of Constantine, Column of the Serpent and the German Fountain.  Then we walked the grounds of Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sophia (a former Orthodox church and now a museum), unfortunately not able to go inside as they had just closed so we ended our tour of the historic city with a tour of the Basilica Cistern, a large underground reservoir dating back to Byzantine era to 6th century A.D.  After our tour we enjoyed dinner outside at a Turkish restaurant and then purchased some Turkish delights for our stroll back to the ferry.

 Taking the commuter ferry across the Bosphorus strait from the Asian side to the European side of Istanbul

 

 Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge - connecting the Asian and European sides - taken from ferry

New District and Old District of the European side of Istanbul - taken from ferry

 European port of Istanbul / We saw these popular sesame bread rings sold all over the streets

Markets / Human Traffic Jam - literally stood here not moving for 10 minutes!!!

 Spice Bazaar

 

Grand Bazaar 

A view of the Golden Horn from on top of the old city

Dinner at Sur Balik restaurant overlooking the Sea of Marmara

Blue Mosque and the six minarets

 Blue Mosque

 

 Inside the Blue Mosque

 Hagia Sophia / Topkapi Palace

 Basilica Cistern 

Columns of the cistern / Medusa heads used as the base of two columns are masterpieces of sculpture art in Roman period

Turkish Delights - a confection of gel with dried fruits and nuts

Enjoying a Turkish Tea on the ferry (a very popular drink) / Jamie on the ferry

View of Istanbul at night from the ferry (click pics to enlarge)