Finally in Belgium: Antwerpen! (Saturday, Aug 23rd)

Another guest post by Bridget! Nena's comments in [italics].

We woke up early to pack (again) and walk to the train (again) [Oh Bridget, stop whining]. This time the destination was Belgium, where we are currently spending a week with Nena’s extended family! After groggily getting out of bed and showering, we braced ourselves for rain and headed to the station. Halfway to the station it began thundering, and we increased our pace to reach cover before the downpour [mostly successfully]. I commented, "It's no wonder Europeans wrote such depressing novels, with such weather!" and Nena reminded me that I had already made a similar remark three times. Whoops.

Dark skies over Delft

We tentatively scaled the tall sketchy metal stairway to the other side of the tracks [3 steps at a time!]. We somehow made it safely to the awning before deluge. We caught our train, accidentally got off at the wrong stop (Rotterdam and Rosendaal -- both start with R, so it was an easy mistake), and eventually made it to Antwerpen. We waited for Nena’s Belgian friend, Cosme, to meet us.  Without a working phone, and no wifi in de trein station, we had just arranged a time and place to meet, which somehow worked…

Nena in her natural environment - the Antwerpen train station 

Cosme is a well-traveled, international character. He was born in Brazil, is from the French-speaking part of Belgium, and has U.S. citizenship because his father lives in New York. He and Nena know each other from their M. Eng. program at Cornell. He lives in Brussels and was our tour-guide of Antwerp (even though it is not his city) and Belgian culture for the day.

Buildings in old Antwerpen

We briefly looked at the entrance to the Antwerpen zoo, one of the oldest zoos in Europe, but then proceeded to the Grote Markt, where they had amazing selections of waffles, cheese, olives, fruit, and other delicious food. Apparently eating is the thing to do in Belgium. After stuffing our faces with 8 different kinds of Belgian waffles (they were small, and we shared them between 3 people, so really it was only 2 1/3 mini-waffles each, although Nena and I kept stealing more while Cosme was not looking…), a Turkish feta-cheese-filled crepe, and a million samples of cheese and olives, we decided to walk to the old part of town. Here we stumbled upon the annual Bollekesfeest, which showcases local products including the amber beer Bolleke and Antwerpse Handjes (a pastry meaning “Antwerp Hands” made of almonds, which symbolizes the Antwerp folklore).

Antwerpen town hall, with a statue of the giant Antigoon throwing a hand into the river.

Cosme (and Wikipedia) explained that Antwerpen was named after a mythical giant named Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt river, and required those crossing the river to pay a toll. If they refused, he would cut off their hands and throw it into the river. Eventually, Antigoon was slain by the hero Brabo, who cut of the giant’s hand and threw it into the river. The name Antwerpen literally means “hand throw”. Apparently hand-cutting used to be a normal practice in Europe, where the right hands of men who died were cut off and sent to the feudal lord as proof of death. Weird.

Cosme and Bridget snoozing by the pond

Next we ran into the Snorrenclub (Mustache Club) of Antwerpen, which was the highlight of my trip. A bunch of Belgian men spend their time grooming their mustaches and drinking Belgian beers. I was so impressed – they all wore matching straw hats and club jackets, had mustache necklaces, and, of course, extremely impressive mustaches. Cosme chatted with them for a bit and asked if they were affiliated with the Brussels Snorrenclub. Their webpage has more amazing photos of the group, and their calendar of activities. Check it out!! http://snorrenclubantwerpen.be/bestuur.htm

Bridget with two impressively-mustached gents

After meeting the Snorrenclub, we walked to the Scheldt river, where we saw a castle, and interesting statue of two men looking up at another giant man, and there were more festivities going on.

Left: lady with parachute pants looking over the Scheldt River. Right: statue of two little men looking up at the crotch of a giant man, with a hello-kitty purse in the foreground.

Castle on the Scheldt River

Next, we went to the newer part of town, where there was a Red-Bull promotion event going on, and competitors were wake-boarding along the river using a zip line to pull them across. We also saw some pretty impressive slack-liners. We then walked to a park [the Stadspark], where I took a nap in the sun, and Nena and Cosme chatted. I tried my first Belgian Beer at a nearby bar. It was pretty good, but not quite as good as Pacific NW IPAs [beer snob]. Lastly, we ordered some Belgian fries, with two delicious sauces that Cosme recommended. Mmmm fatty foods.

Fast forward and we are with Nena’s family, staying with her aunt An, and cousins Marie-Anne (21), Matteo (17), Nathaniel (younger), and Emilia (10, almost 11). Emilia is my new best friend even though we don't speak the same language. We ate some delicious Vogelnest (bird-nest, or Scotch-eggs on Wikipedia), which consists of a hard-boiled egg surrounded by ground meat. Mmmm. Sadly I didn't take a picture, but Wiki has a pretty good one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_egg.

After dinner, we went for a walk around the block, drew pictures on the sidewalk with chalk, played hop-scotch, and saw who could throw rocks the furthest into an algae-filled pond [hmm... roadside ditch]. Nena’s cousin Nathaniel won, and Nena was second (thanks to her softball background).  Before heading home, we jump-roped to the Dutch ditty: “Beertje-beertje draai je om. Beertje beertje tik de grond”, which translates to “Little bear, little bear turn around. Little bear, little bear, touch the ground”.

Bridget, Emilia, and Tante An playing jump rope

Their family has the best collection of pets, including an adorable Portuguese water dog (hond) named Noa, which An explained is bred for helping fisherman, and has webbed feet and special water-resistant blue skin. They also have two cats (poezen) named Rosemarijn (Rosemary) and Rosjefluffy (Fluffy Rose), a hamster (hamster) named Marte Filomein, a fish (vis) named Freddy, three birds (vogels), and two chickens (kippen). Emilie is making up new names for the birds (they were previously named after of the significant-others of her siblings), and candy bars: Snicker, Mars, and M&M or Twix. They also have a lot of stacked wood and a wood-stove, which made me really happy.

Emilia has a hard time pronouncing my name, calls me Beer-shit, and spells it Britgit. We have been braiding each others hair, dancing, and doing other fun pre-teen activities that fit my mental age perfectly. At night, we watched a bit of Harry Potter (in English, with Dutch subtitles), then shortly thereafter passed out, only to wake up and eat some more.

Windmills at Kinderdijk (Friday, Aug 22nd)

Guest blog post by Bridget! My comments in [italics], as usual :)

On Friday we woke up early to do my favorite activity – looking at windmills! We decided to go to Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where a complex of windmills were built to prevent the flood-prone region from flooding. I don't want to bore you with all the history here [THIS IS NOT BORING! People have lived in this region for a long time, and until the 13th century it was dewatered (by humans) using gravity. Since it is naturally a peat bog, dewatering led to decomposition of the peat (when peat is exposed to oxygen it breaks down and releases carbon into the atmosphere), which makes the ground sink over time. Now lower, the region flooded more often. The inhabitants built levees and water storage ponds, where they could store flood water. The 19 windmills at Kinderdijk (built in the mid 1700s) served to pump water from low-lying areas into these storage ponds. Today, the windmills have long been replaced by electrical pump stations and the mills remain for tourist enjoyment.] If you are interested to learn more, you can find a good description on this website: www.kinderdijk.com. 

When we first arrived, we saw a beautiful Dutch couple taking wedding photos in the mill – it was ridiculously picture-perfect scenery. Nena thought she saw the husbands tooth sparkling. At the visitor center, the docent was providing a history of the region. We eavesdropped on the tour (it took me a while to realize that it was in English and not Dutch…), where the man was explaining about the 1953 flood which devastated the entire country. We desperately needed coffee, so we attempted to use the complicated coffee machine, which required carnival tokens. Nena managed to spill all the coffee out of her cup, resulting in only foamy milk and making quite a ruckus.

We signed up for a boat tour (€4.50), which allowed us to float along the canal, boarding and disembarking throughout the day. We boarded the boat (on the wrong side of the canal, but it all worked out) and crossed to the other side of the channel, where we picked up an Asian family. From there, we floated past windmill after windmill. I was in heaven. We spent the rest of the time trying to avoid the masses of tourists [fairly successfully].

It looked like people live in these windmills, which seemed sketchy in terms of the imminent floods, but I suppose they are tall enough that if they lived on the top story they might be able to survive. I told Nena she should move into a windmill if she stays for a PhD, and just kayak to her neighbor windmill friends' houses. She said she would.

I was so excited that I took over a hundred photos (while Nena rolled her eyes). It was really hard for me to choose which ones to include, but here are a few that are representative of the day:

Panorama of Nena walking along the levee path

Left: classic Holland (I can call it Holland because we are in the Zuid Holland province).  Right: interesting windmill that looks slightly different from the rest.

Left: Nena in a giant wooden dutch shoe wheelbarrow, obviously. Right: Our picnic spot. We ate at 10:45am. Thus began our massive binge that is continuing to this day. 

After our long journey back, we made some delicious mac’n’cheese with arugula and pepper – which we (or at least I) had been craving the whole time. We rested for 20 minutes before departing for TU Delft to get Nena's ID card and have another appointment about insurance. It was pouring outside, so we geared up, and arrived completely drenched. [It's like raincoats are designed to drain onto your jeans and soak them instantaneously.] I waited on the couch for Nena to finish her appointment, and promptly fell asleep after reading a few pages about the dos and don’ts of networking. Nena woke me up so we could trudge back to her apartment. This time we were not only deluged, but we had a close encounter with nearby lightning that was immediately followed by a load explosion of thunder. That quickened our pace, but somehow we made it back without getting struck.

We were supposed to go get pictures of ourselves dressed up as the Vermeer girl and as other traditional Dutch characters, but lost the motivation due to the rain and our exhausting, damp day. Plus, we had already done such a good job of dressing Nena up last night, that it no longer seemed worth the €15. So instead we stayed in an “worked”, meaning that Nena worked while I perused the internet, checked my facebook, chatted with Elizabeth, and generally did what I do best: procrastinate.

Adventures with Julia and Thundery Kayaking

Warning: This post is too long and I know it... I promise I'll try and keep it more concise from now on!

This weekend I met up with the lovely Julia Schoen in Portsmouth, NH for a weekend of sunny beaches and other adventures. But since this is a kayaking blog, I will cover that part first!

After Julia and I sadly parted ways (she's off to Brazil for a year), I was due to meet up with some kayakers from the NH AMC paddlers group at Odiorne Point State Park in Rye, NH. There were 5 of us in total. The tide (! that scary thing that doesn't exist where I come from) was really low when we put in, so the banks of the shore were SUPER muddy and I almost lost my chacos getting in. Normally I try to keep my feet dry when I'm getting in my boat (call me a wimp), but there really was no getting around it this time (and of course I couldn't seem like a wimp around these new peeps!).

Date: 6/20/10
Distance: ~4 miles


As we were first heading out, we heard some rumbling in the distance, but the trip leaders said it was from a nearby bridge. It was definitely thunder. But as usual, I figured these NH'ers knew what they were doing and followed blindly (do you see a theme? if not, read the previous post). We paddled along the beaches at the park and then cut across to circumnavigate Leachs Island. On the way over there we had to pass under a bridge that kind of constricted the water, and since the tide was coming back in we were flushed right through. As I was being rushed towards the bridge, it occurred to me that a couple of the bridge supports were closer together than the length of a sea kayak, and definitely would have made for some good strainers. I only realized this at the last moment and had to resort to a hasty yet somewhat effective side slip. Woohoo!

The way back through the bridge was a lot harder because the flow rate had increased and the downstream water was churning in all kinds of directions. I hopped in an eddy before ferrying across and paddling as hard as I could upstream to get back to the other side (COE whitewater class is highly recommended!) .

Once we were on the other side of the bridge the rain started coming down and the thunder picked up again. I was not so cool with that, and the end was in sight, so I paddled in as fast as possible. Just as I got my boat up onto my car there was a HUGE crack of thunder directly over our heads. I probably jumped 1.5 feet into the air and decided to make the trip home in my wet clothes. For some reason everyone else seemed less phased than me... maybe I should add thunderstorms to my list of fears (right after spiders), or maybe I just have a very conservative attitude towards kayaking in thunderstorms.

ANYWAYS, I made it home alive, only slightly dusted with dried salt water and frizzy hair. I miss my Rochester and Ithaca paddling buddies!

This is the part where you stop reading if you just care about kayaking (perfectly valid).

Rewinding now to Friday night. Julia and I both pulled into the parking lot of Shel-Al Campground (we think it's a contraction of the superbly sweet owners' names) exactly 2 hours later than planned. I managed to leave my tent in the backyard and only realize once I was halfway to the coast, and she locked her keys in the car and printed out the wrong directions. It worked out quite well!

There really aren't many places to camp along the NH coast (correct me if I'm wrong). Shel-Al was the only one within a reasonable driving distance of the coast, and it's mainly focused on trailers. But it worked out quite nicely since there were very few tent-ers there this weekend.

Both Friday and Saturday night we went into Portsmouth and explored. It's a really lovely city with a bunch of streets with *local* restaurants and shops. I'd love to return when my mother is in a shopping mood (is that terrible of me?). After making a stop on Newcastle Island (just had to do it. brown ale is just too good), we had dinner downtown at a little seafood restaurant with a very friendly waitress. After dinner we sat on a big rock by the ocean and listened to the waves.

On Newcastle Island:

On Saturday we drove up and down the coast (Route 1A, Ocean Blvd) multiple times, testing out Odiorne Point, Rye, Jenness, Hampton Beach. Julia made me get in the water, which was good because I'm a chicken when it comes to these (icy cold) things... While in search of a surf shop we discovered a delicious little cafe on 7th street in Hampton called KB Bagels. Highly recommended.


Saturday night we cooked couscous and black beans for dinner, and I took an ice-cold shower to dampen the terrible sunburn I managed to acquire. Around dusk we decided to make some hot drinks and the mosquitoes decided to join us. They came out in droves and we fled to the safety of the Volvo. We put the seats back, sipped our hot cocoa with Bailey's, listened to Jack Johnson, and watched our classy neighbors setting off fireworks (just for us of course). Magical.

The next morning we woke up to the 4am alarm and dragged ourselves back to the coast to watch the sunrise (5:03am). At first we were worried that it would hide behind the clouds, but around 5:30am it revealed it's cheery face. It was quite a relief since Julia would have hated me forever if it hadn't.


After another trip to KB's for some much needed coffee and a frigid swim (by Julia), we parted ways. Now you can scroll back to the top and start over! (This is the post that never ends... and it goes on and on....... sorry.)

Putting my legs to good use! (Mt. Lafayette and Mt. Jackson)

So this may become my outdoor adventures blog since there are lots of other fun things to do in NH! Like climb mountains!

Last weekend (6/12 - 6/13) I joined some people (Dave, Peter, Julie, Simon, and Travis) from DEKA (where I'm doing my internship) on a one night camping/hiking trip in the White Mountains. The drive up to our campground (Lafayette Campground in Franconia Notch) took about 1.5 hrs. We claimed our turf and promptly walked to the trailhead across the road to being our trek up Mt. Lafayette. There were thunderstorms in the forecast, due to arrive at 2pm. Exactly when we planned to reach the summit. They seemed cool with that... so I put my life in their hands.

Lots of people here are into hiking the 48 peaks above 4000 ft in the Whites, so the two mountains we climbed were both on the list. 46 to go! (ha.)

Below are the trail maps for the two hikes we did (Mt. Lafayette on Saturday and Mt. Jackson on Sunday). For Mt. Lafayette we took Old Bridle Path to Greenleaf Hut and Greenleaf Trail to the summit. We came back down the same way since it was raining and Falling Waters Trail would not have been fun (as the name suggests). 8 miles total.


The top was completely above treeline, which was a really neat (and exhausting) experience. Unfortunately we were completely covered in clouds. Every once in a while a breeze would blow the clouds away and allow a view, but mostly it looked like this:


The next day we met up with Jed and took the Webster-Jackson Trail up to Mt. Jackson, where we were very excited to have a beautiful view! Then we cut over to the Mizpah hut and headed back that way.

Feeling small on the top. One of my favorite feelings :)


On the way home we stopped in North Conway to check out some gear shops that have consignment sections where people sell their used gear at a good price. I bought my first backpacking pack (Osprey)! We had dinner at Moat Mountain Smokehouse - a place that the Deka guys were super excited about (for a good reason!).

All in all a great weekend: beautiful mountains, fun bunch of people, amazing food, and a pair of very sore legs to remind me for the next three days!

Circumnavigating Cayuta by Canoe

It’s a cute little lake located about ten miles southeast of Watkins Glen. It's named after the Senecan Princess Kayutah, whose mother filled the lake with tears after her daughter was kidnapped. The east and west shores are lined with houses and trailers. The put-in is at the north end.

We canoed around the lake, stopping to check out the inlet and outlet at the north and south ends of the lake, respectively. We saw some big beaver dams (one completely blocked off the outlet channel). The ferns looked really pretty in the evening sun. I would show you a picture, but I decided it would be a good idea to set my camera on the back of my car before driving away along the bumpy dirt road.
oh well. maybe it will turn up.

Thunderstorms were in the forecast, so it was quite exciting when the wind picked up and the temperature dropped just as we reached the far end of the lake.

Date: Thursday May 28th, 2010
Distance: 4.5 miles