Janna's Folks - Highlands part 1

Janna's folks have come and gone. It has been such a crazy few weeks that we are just getting relaxed enough to blog. Shortly after they arrived we headed to the Highlands. Along the way we stopped at our favorite castle, Dunnottar. We spent the first night in Kilravock Castle near Inverness, which has been turned into an amazing christian run B&B. Being in the Highlands one had to at least attempt to see Nessie. So the next day we took a boat tour onto Loch Ness, and guess what? Good old Nessie swam right up to the boat.


Near the B&B we saw the Clava Cairns, which are Bronze age tombs. After leaving Inverness we headed north to the Isle of Sky. Along the way we stopped at Eilean Donan Castle.


Once on the Isle of Sky we took the long way to our B&B in Uig and checked out the scenery. There weren't many places to eat in Uig, but we new we had found the right one when we came upon the Ferry Inn... and of course Jack can't resist a boat no matter the condition.

ROME

Last stop Rome. One can't go to Rome and not see the Colosseum. I was shocked to learn that it was built about 2000 years ago. It really makes one think that our world had a lot of knowledge back then that was some how lost for a time.


Near the Colosseum there is what we would call a park full of amazing old ruins. We spent some time exploring and then decided to follow in the footsteps of one of Janna's favorite movies, Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn. Anyone who has seen the movie will recognize the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps.


...and of course the food...and a car even smaller than ours.


Our last day...We had heard nightmare tales about the line to get into the Vatican, but it would be hard to go to Rome and not check out the Pope's house. The expression on Janna's face tells you all you need to know about the 3 hour line in the hot sun. Then when inside we were herded like sheep to the point where all christian thoughts one should have in such a place were lost. Oh well, we did get to see the Michelangelo painting on the Sistine chapel ceiling. No pictures where allowed inside...except in the cafeteria. Drinking beer in the Vatican...got to love it.

FLORENCE

Then on to Florence. It is an amazing city plum full of more old stuff. The Santa Maria del Fiore (huge old church) is well worth a visit. The dome would be a feat today. The fact that it was built 600 years ago is hard to grasp. We climbed the 463 stairs to take in the view from on top the dome.


We visited a few other old sites and one had a very strange statue.


...and of course the food. Throughout our Italy trip we saw many street performers, but the one pictured below was particularly funny. He pulled a few people out of the crowd and of course he made fun of the American. He even took the guys shirt off and made the him stand there with his belly hanging out. I am glad we where in the rear of the crowd. By the way, when a gelato stand says "grande cone" they mean it.

VENICE

Venice was our next stop and our favorite place in Italy. The city is completely void of cars, so it was very easy to walk everywhere without worrying about being run over. You will have to ask Janna for any details on the sites as all the old building start looking the same to me after awhile. That doesn't mean that the architecture wasn't just amazing. I have no idea how they built such amazing building so long ago. But, I am usually more interested in the little details of people lives in these different places.


One of the these details that I noticed was how the lack of cars doesn't stop UPS. Check out the logo on the rudder of the blue boat. Almost every movie people see of Venice has a shot of Saint Marks Square and all the pigeons. There where vendors selling corn to feed the pigeons and they definitely weren't afraid of people. The funny thing was that we saw almost no pigeons anywhere else in the city. They obviously have figured out where it food is at.



And of course I have to mention the food. I am drooling again just thinking about the pizza. It was everywhere, it was cheap, and I ate a shit load.

BELGIUM

What can I say, we had an eventful holiday last week. I'll start with the part of the trip I planned...Belgium. Belgium makes some of the most amazing and unique beer in the world and my goal was to visit some of the legendary beer sites and of course try their product. But along the way we also found out that Belgium has great people, amazing history, and awesome food (the waffles are awesome). We where able to spend time in both Brussels and Brugge, both are highly recommended. Brussels is big and full of amazing sights (old stuff). Brugge is small unique and our favorite place of the trip. The old part of town is ringed by a canal which has caused all expansion to happen outside the canal. Inside it has remained largely undeveloped and somewhat isolated. It is hard to explain but there was just a great old time vibe about the place.


Of course while in Belgium we had to try the waffles and the chocolate. Yummy, but it was just a speed bump on the road to amazing beer.


I have been reading a book that mentions a brewer in Belgium who is keeping the old time traditions alive and of course brewing amazing beer...so we headed to the little town of Esen to see the De Dolle Brewery. The brewer was around talking to people and serving beer while his mother guided the tour. She was the funniest old lady I have ever meet and a true asset to the brewery. In addition to having great information on brewing, she kept cracking us up with hilarious stories about things like prostitutes and by hearing an elderly lady repeatedly say “Mad Bitch” (one of their beers).


We also made it to the Cantillon Brewery where they brew the lambic beer style. This is one of the most unique styles of beer as they expose it to the wild bacteria and yeast only found in Belgium. The beer is also aged in oak barrels and bottled for many years. Other beer adventures included a couple of famous pubs, one of which claims to have 1000 different beers (I did my best but only tried 4, after all Belgium beer are often over 10%)



But after all that beer we saved the highlight for the last day. It was a trip to The abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren. It is one of the six monasteries that still brew beer and the most infamous. A few years ago it beer was rated the "best in the world" and since then it has been very hard to get. This truly is the holy grail of beer and it was awesome.