Week 13

I started the week off basically just getting ready for Jen to get here, which really consisted of sitting around for two days doing nothing, and that was just fine by me.  When she did arrive on Wednesday morning we went and got her some coffee and a snack, then hit the streets of Munich. We walked around for a few hours before meeting up with our friend Scott, part owner of the Breakside Brewery and his friend Brian. Scott had just flown and that morning as well so he and Jen were pretty jet lagged.

We went and had an Andechs dopplebock , then walked around a little more.  For dinner I decided to take them all to Augustiner Keller, we tried to go to Hofbrau house afterwards but it was too crowded. We ended up at an Ayinger house, which was just fine by me.

The next day was more walking around and meeting up with Scott and Brian at Seehaus, which is a nice beer garden in the English garden. After that we went our separate ways. Jen and I decided to go up to the Olympic park and climb the hill to get a nice view of Munich. Well worth it.

Later we met up with Scott and Brian at UnionsBrau for a Maibock, then on to Hofbrau Keller for dinner and more beer. Afterwards we said goodbye. They were headed to Austria the next day and we went headed to Brussels.

We arrived in Brussels with no problems, except trying to figure out the public transportation. After we finally found our hotel, we walked down to the Grand Place to check the sights and get dinner. We decided on a little restaurant and ordered mussels steamed in Belgian blonde ale and salad.

The next day we got up had some breakfast, then went to one of the spots I was most excited to visit, the Cantillion brewery. We took a tour and has a glass of gueze at the end. The place is very old and full of character. Afterwards we had booked a Brussels beer tour and went off to the meeting place for that.

The tour was actually really fun. The guide was the owner of the business, and made sure that people got to taste some Belgian beer that wasn’t just the run of the mill stuff we see in the states all the time. All together we tried, Bourgogne des flanders, Malheur Blonde, Rocheforte 8, Cristal Pils, Tripel Karmilate, Petrus, Chimay blue, Panther and Westvletern 12. All in all it was a nice tour and we met some really nice people as well.

We left the tour and met up with some of Jen’s friends that live in Ansterdam, and had come down for the day. We basically just bar hopped all night.

Sunday Jen and I met up with those guys, had some breakfast and walked around the Grand Place for awhile. We also visited the Belgian Brewers Museum which was kind of neat.

After another dinner of mussels we jumped on a bus to meet up with one of my classmates who is staying for a few weeks in Brussels while we are on break. We met Robbie at an irish bar to watch a football match. The night was filled with nice conversation and a few Orval’s. 

 

It was a very exciting  first week of traveling  and nice to not have it be school related. Next it’s off to Paris for a short visit, then on to Italy….can’t wait.