Travels through Belgium, Luxembourg and Scandanavia With Family

It may have been over 2 and 1/2 years from the original time we had planned it, but my cousin Keith, his fiancé Suzanne, and Paula and I finally made our trip together through Belgium on a beer hunting mission. We started off on Tuesday, September 22, when Keith and Suzanne arrived in Brussels and we quickly wisked them off to Brugge and the surrounding countryside.

Brugge
Our first destination near Brugge, after a quick stop in the town of Roeselare for lunch, we were off to a personal visit to the new Struise brewery in an old school. Upon arrival at the brewery, we were greeted by Urbain and his great hospitality. He treated us to several of his cutting edge beers and a tour of the current setup of the brewery and what is to come.

Check our pictures from our afternoon visit to Struise!

After leaving struise we were off to Brugge and a cute little B&B we had stayed at before, just a few blocks from a working old windmill. Once we checked in we headed out into the city for some site seeing and then dinner at Erasmus, one of the best restaurants in Belgium. Erasmus is known for their excellent food and equally excellent beer list. After dinner, Paula and Suzanne headed back to the B&B and Keith and I made our way to two different beer bars..the famous Brugs Beertje and then a cool little cellar bar, Poatersgat.

A few of our pictures from Brugge

After a day and night in Brugge, we were planning to spend Wednesday the 23rd in Antwerp, Belgium but we had a few stops along the way. First, we had a 10 am tour appointment at Rodenbach to roam around the massive wood foeders where they age their fantastically tart Rodenbach Red and Grand Cru beers. Although we had joined a tour of Dutch senior citizens, it was alot of fun to just roam around this historic brewery and to get two samples at the end of the tour.

After the tour, we were looking for lunch and had one place in mind, De Zalm in Roeselare, just a few blocks from Rodenbach. Besides having a nice lunch menu, De Zalm is most well known for serving on handpump the very rare Rodenbach foederbier which is Rodenbach straight from the wooden foeders so it is completely flat and very sharp and sour.

Check out our adventures at Rodenbach and De Zalm

Once we had filled our stomachs with some good Belgian lunch food, we were back on the road and how heading in the direction of Picobrouwerij Alvinne Heule, Belgium. Alvinne is run by brewers Glenn and Davy who are both great guys that happen to make some wonderful beers. Paula and I have visited Alvinne on a few occasions in the past year and have enjoyed their beer offering, their great beer store and their hospitality. This day we were heading to Alvinne for a visit with Glenn and Davy and some shopping. Glenn and Davy were gracious enough to let us come in for a tasting that included 4 different versions of their Melchior beer including: regular Melchior, calvados barrel aged, bourgogne barrel aged and bourbon barrel aged. Having all 4 of these wonderful beers side by side make the differences due to the different barrels come out really well.

Can I Blend a Lambic in Luxembourg?

That is the question I have been asking myself for nearly 2 years! Luxembourg is a wonderful country in its own right and with the close proximity to Belgium and all the wonderful beer that country has to offer, I can't really complain. Not too much at least. Luxembourg does lack a bit in the beer department, especially when it comes to my favorite beer style...lambic.

Earlier this year I read online that you are able to visit certain lambic brewers in the Payottenland outside of Brussels and purchase jugs of lambic straight from the barrel..no bottles. A few months back Paula and I made a day trip up to the Girardin brewery outside of Brussels and purchased a 10 litre jug of their young (jonge) lambic straight from the barrel! We brought it to a party that evening and had it to drink in our apartment for several night and it was a hit! Fresh, tasteful, yet inexpensive.

This got me thinking...if I could purchase one jug of lambic from one brewery, could I purchase several jugs and "blend" my own gueuze or fruit lambic? Of course this experiment would be for fun and informational purposes only as what I would be don't is not brewing.

Fast forward to a recent weekend in September and Paula and I decided we needed to make another trip to Brussels and to spend the night. Aside from visiting some of our favorite bars and sites, we also stopped at 3 lambic brewers on our way into Brussels.

Our first stop was to Lindeman's, the lambic brewer that people are probably most familiar with due to the huge success they have selling their framboise, kriek and other lambics in the U.S. and around the world but those fruit lambics are usually sweetened with syrup and not real fruit like more traditional brewers do (see Cantillon and Drie Fonteinen). Lindeman's does however brew their lambic in the traditional method with spontaneous fermentation and they do sell this lambic directly from the brewery if you ask nicely. We showed up on this Saturday and it took about 20 minutes to find someone to help me. I wandered around the warehouse with crates and crates and kegs and kegs of their beer everywhere, destined for various parts of the world. I finally got the attention of a worker who was cleaning the brewhouse and he took my plastic jug and dissappeared behind some huge tanks and came out about 10 minutes later with my jug full of 10 litres of jonge lambic. After paying the equivalent of about $18 (what a steal for what amounts to about 13 wine sized bottles of lambic) we were off to our 2nd destination.....

...Girardin. We returned to this great little brewery to claim our second jug of lambic or to refill our first jug I should say. This time we got a 10 litre fill of their old (oude) lambic as I wanted something older to help with the blending of a gueuze. We were in and out in 10 minutes and on the road into Brussels and to our 3rd and final destination.....

...Cantillon! My favorite of all lambic brewers and probably my first or second favorite brewer of any kind. We had visited on several occasions before and have become friendly with the brewer Jean. I arranged ahead of time to pickup a 5 litre "bag in a box" of their lambic. It was a real treat for me knowing that I could get a box of Cantillon to take home. Before we left Cantillon we sat down for a complimentary glass of Rosé de Gambrinus! What a great way to start our day in Brussels.

After spending the rest of this fine day and night in Brussels, we were back in Luxembourg on Sunday before 5pm or so and then it was on to the task of trying to blend my beer purchases and how to blend these 3 different vessels of beer without having alot of extra containers to blend into. I took out a pen and pad of paper and a number of tasting glasses and I was off. First I was looking for a solid blend of all 3 beers for my "Luxembourg gueuze". I settled on a blend that included approximately 6 parts oude lambic from Girardin, 3 parts Cantillon lambic and 1 part Lindeman's. I next moved onto the idea of a 10 litre jug of a blend to be used as a fruit lambic. This blend was mainly Linedman's with a few litres of Girardin and a touch of Cantillon.

What did I do with the remaining 5 litres or so of beer that did not fit into the 2 jugs containing 10 litres each of my blends? Well I put some of it in a ceramic Cantillon pitcher we have and th rest in some plastic cereal containers to store in the fridge and to drink over the course of the next few nights.

On Monday I purchased 16 packages of fresh Belgian raspberries and blanched them and then added to the blend I made for this fruit lambic. What a sweet, sweet and messy process but boy did it smell amazing. Most of the fruit fit in but I had to drain some and drink it to make room for the full 16 packages. We tasted the beers we had to drain from the jug and it already had a slight pinkish color an taste of raspberries. I put both jugs in little coolers and put them down in our cave to age.

A few days later I went to check on them and noticed that the framboise blended was fermenting again due to the addition of over 1.5 kgs of raspberries! I was amazed. Over the next few weeks and months I will take samples of each blend to see how they are doing and when they are ready to be bottled. More updates on that to come in the future!

In the meantime, check out some pictures from our adventures....

Luxembourg Beer Festival at the Cactus Supermarket

A Visit From Paula's Mom and Cousin

Near my birthday in June (June 22nd for those that don't know) we got a visit from Paula's Mom and her cousin Melissa and we made the most of it by traveling to Brugge, Belgium and throughout Luxembourg and neighboring Trier, Germany.

2009 Tour de Luxembourg

This week the Tour de Luxembourg was held throughout the Grand Duchy this week and the final stage ended with a few rounds of a very hilly course in the Clausen section of Luxembourg City. The race consisted of 15 international teams with the 2 main riders from the Saxo Bank team, Frank and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, who are national heros around these parts! Paula and I showed up about 2 hours early to get something to eat and drink and to take in the sites and sounds of yet another cool event in Luxembourg. We planted ourselves about 50 yards from the finish where we had a great view of the riders as they were crossing the finish line.

The crowd was crazy each time the riders came around the course and especially when Frank Schleck won the overall Tour!

Our Favorite Bar Dog

A few times over the last several months we would visit a corner bar in Strassen. Although it is a bit smokey inside and it is locals bar, the main reason we go is because there is a dog that hangs out at the bar that comes over to talk to us and let us pet her. Her name is Tricksy and she is very friendly and seems to greet everyone that comes into the bar. During the warmer months they leave the front door open and the comes in and out from time to time to check out what is going on outside the bar. We realized that Tricksy does not speak English so she really doesn't understand what we say when we talk to her but she is friendly all the same!

The Luxembourg Festival of Lights and Trees

A week ago Saturday, the 15th of November, Paula and I met up with a group of Americans to take a walking tour of the Luxembourg Festival of Lights and Trees. I could try to describe it all to you but it would probably be better if I just lifted some words I found on the internet that describe things....

The tress & lights festival concept was started in Geneva in 2001, with 18 international artists involved, but the concept of having open-air art festivals in Luxembourg started in 1995 when Luxembourg was the European Capital City of Culture. And credit also goes to Prince Felix who recommended that the festival be brought to the Grand Duchy.

This festival will see 10 artists' creations across the city, including four Luxembourg creations and three created specifically for this festival.

ArcelorMittal and LEO (Luxembourg Energy Office) are credited as main sponsors, the latter contributing to a 100% sustainable energy source for the festival exhibits.

The festival opens on Friday evening (24 October) at 19:00 on the Place Guillaume with a "Nuit du Festival", until 30 November. Jugglers, musicians and open fires will amuse visitors to the exhibits, and roasted chestnuts, tea and gluwein will also be available. And a tourist train will start from the Place de la Constitution at 20:00, taking visitors to all the exhibits. Additionally, three guided tours will depart from the Hotel de Ville on the Place Guillaume at 19:00, 19:30 and 20:00. The LCTO will also be organising free guided tours throughout the festival on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 18:30, starting in front of the Hotel de Ville.

The artists and their creations are listed below:
- "Brothers and Sisters" by Ron Haselden (England) at the Place des Martyrsds
- "Light Trees" by ACT Design (Belgium) at the Place de Metz
- "Focusing Life" by Marco Godinho (Luxembourg) at the Place de la Constitution
- "Hana-mi" by Simona Braga (Italy) at Bld Roosevelt
- "Le Trésor" by Cédric Le Borgne (France) at the Pont du Grund
- "Cohabitation" by Géraud Périole (France) at Square Robert Brasseur, sponsored by KPMG
- "TransGleditsias" by Elvire Bastendorff (Luxembourg) at the Grand Rue
- "Cellule originelle" by Studio CS (Switzerland) at the Bld Royal
- "Ouni Titel (7m héich)" by Mertens & Quetsch (Luxembourg) at the Place d'Armes
- "L'envoi" by Jean-Francois Arnaud (France) at the Place Guillaume II

Check out some pictures from our 2 hour journey around Luxembourg City at night to take in the lights!

Running My First Bar in Luxembourg!

Ok, it was not a bar I own or even a real "bar" but today Paula and I volunteered to help with a stand at the Discover Luxembourg day in Luxembourg City and we were put in charge of running a Bofferding beer tent. We had originally wanted to sign up a team for the Discover Luxembourg event which was basically a scavenger hunt through town but we didn't get registered in time so we opted to volunteer. We thought we would just be assisting those actually running the tent but they basically turned the tent over to us when we showed up but all was good. We were only selling beer, soda, orange juice and water. We were talking with our other volunteer neighbors who were selling pizza and cremant (sparkling wine). I was in charge of the beer all day and poured about 250 beers or so! There was only one option for beer but I was pouring from 2 taps at the bar. It got busy at times and it took awhile to learn the best way to pour without losing too much beer as the beer was coming out with alot of carbonation and very fast. Plus the glasses were only 30cl so they filled quickly. After many pours and samples, I found my groove and the night went well. After about 5 hours or so we were done and ready to head home! It felt like I was back in the days of working a stand at the Moscow Country Fair with my family although for the fair we did not sell any alcohol so this was more fun! I think this is good practice for the day when we own our bar either here in Luxembourg or back home in the Paoli area.

Check out the fun we had....

My Beer Glass Collection

In just around 11 months living in Luxembourg I hav amassed a pretty decent collection of beer glasses. This is on top of the sizable collection I have stored away in boxes in a few places back in Pennsylvania. All the glasses I have in our Luxembourg flat were either purchased on our travels through bars and breweries in Belgium, grocery stores in Luxembourg or different markets here in Luxembourg. There are also a few from a brewery in Switzerland we visited in October for their 10th anniversary party.

Enjoy the pictures!

Ed and Kelli's European Visit - Part 1

We had our first family visitors to Luxembourg and the surrounding countries when my brother Ed and his fiance Kelli came to visit from 5 September through 15 September. We first met up with Ed and Kelli when they arrived in Brussels. We spent the first 2 days in Brussels, then moved on for 2 days in Brugge. After playing around in Brugge and the surrounding countryside, we moved on to a day in Antwerp and then to Luxembourg for the remaining time.

Brussels - On 5 and 6 of September we cruised around Brussels. On Friday the 5th we started with a beer and lunch at Poechnellekelder right across from the Manniken Pis. We then wandered over to the Cantillon brewery for a tour and some extended tastings. In addition to the 2 samples you get in the tour at Cantillon, we also got to try their draft faro, straight lambik and also Broucsella straight from a bottle coming off the bottling line from the brewer. We also got to talk with the brewer a bit which was cool. We mentioned that we were from the Philadelphia area and they said they had some good friends in Philly including Tom Peters from Monk's Cafe. It just so happened that Tom was at the Cantillon brewery the day before to choose the barrel for their next Monk's Cafe Gueuze. Darn, we missed him by one day!

On the 6th we started our the day with a trip to the Brussels city museum and then off to the lambik countryside and lunch at Drie Fonteinen. Aside from really good food, they had their draft faro, kriek and a few others. After lunch we walked around the corner to the brewery and brewery shop to pick up a few bottles. When ready to leave Ed mentioned that we were from Philly and that he had seen the brewer Armand at a few events in Philly in March with my cousin Keith. Much to our surpise that was enough to get us a great tour of the brewery and their newly opened Lambik Droom tasting cafe. Lydie, partner at the brewery with Armand started by giving us a great tour of the brewery and then the barrel room down below in the cellar. Not only did we get a vip tour but Lydie grabbed a pitcher and cracked open a barrel of lambik and gave us several sample straight from the barrel. There is really no other place on earth to have their beer as pure as this as it would not travel well or and it is not bottled in this state. We moved on from the barrel room, after many pictures, over to the Lambik Vroom for more tasting, this time with Lydie and Armand the brewer! We were treated to gratis samples of their oude gueuze, oude kriek and kriek straight from the barrel. Side by side with the bottled kriek, the kriek straight from the barrel was hard to beat!

After about 2 hours with Lydie and Armand, we said our goodbyes and headed further into the countryside to take in a beerfest at De Heeren Van Liederkercke, a great restaurant outside of Brussels. We wanted to visit anyway as I have heard they have a great beer cellar and excellent beer cuisine but they were also having a beer fest that included a good deal of the beers they had on their menu. We were able to try some stellar beers for only a few euros each including the rare Drie Fonteinen Hommage and their J & J Blauw! We also stayed for dinner and had a great time listening to a band play music and watching kids in spiderman outfits running around while their parents drank great beer. Overall a great day.

We headed back to Brussels in the early evening and hit a few more bars for good measure including Morte Subite and Porte Noire. Brussels is one great beer city.

Brugge - After 2 days in Brussels, we headed off to Brugge about an hour away. We spent Sunday and Monday (7th and 8th of September) in this walled and watered town. I was stoked because our B&B we were staying in was on the outside of town, outside of all the crazy one way cobblestoned streets and all the people. When we arrived I was delighted to find I had my very own garage to park in and at the cheapest rates of the whole trip! The owner of our B&B was very nice, had several cats and knew alot about beer. When we told her that we were visiting Westvleteren on Monday to pick up some beer, she knew all about it and said she had a few crates at home and really liked the 8.

On Sunday and again on Monday evening we visisted a good deal of the Brugge beer bars including 't Brugs Beertje, Cambrinus Restaurant, Staminee de Garre, Brasserie Erasmus and De Zolder Keldercafe. Check out some pictures from these great stops.

On Monday the 8th we headed started the day off with a great sightseeing tour on the canals of Brugge. Check it out.

Later in the morning we all piled into the car and headed west to the Abbey at Westvleteren for lunch at the In De Vrede cafe next to the Abbey and then we had an appointment at 2:45 to pick up 2 crates of Westy 12, one of the best and some sought after beers in the world. We were not sure how we would fit 2 crates of beer in the car after we loaded in all the luggage and other things we purchased along the way but it all worked out.

After the great stop at Westvleteren we headed over to the Struise Farm for a visit and some sampling of the great beers they produce. Although the brewer, Urbain, was hard at work doing some bottling, he was gracious enough to spend time with us sampling about 5 beers including Fedeltà, a slightly sour blonde beer that Urbain said he had recently brewed at Allagash in the U.S. Next up was the Tsjeeses Reserva from a 750ml, a beer that is not even released to the public but that Urbain keeps on hand for samplings. After that we moved on to Dirty Horse, a fantastic beer that I had been waiting to try for some time. The beer was 5 years old and served from a really cool wine decantor. This the Struise take on a lambik style beer and it also has some flemish sour characters. The next beer was Pannepot Grand Reserva from a 750 ml bottle which I have never seen before. Another great beer. With some of the PGR left in Paula's glass, Urbain talked about a new beer he had recently brewed for a group in Sweden. This new beer, Black Jack is billed as an imperial porter with a special coffee used in fermentation. I think the coffee is Columbian. Urbain pulled some of the beer from the barrel and mixed it into Paula's PGR and it was a fantastic beer. The coffee aroma from the Black Jack was noticable once you got your nose just close to the glass and it was wonderful in the taste as well. Even after letting the last 1/2 ounce of the beer sit in the glass for 10 minutes or more, the coffee quality was still strong. I will surely be searching out this beer in Sweden if need be! After another great visit to Struise we were off to Brugge for the evening and a great dinner and some drinks at 't Brugs Beertje and the Garre, two great bars.

Antwerp - On Tuesday the 9th we headed off to a brewery tour at Rodenbach. Although the tour was only in Dutch, the brewery was good enough to let us join along with about 30 Dutch senior citizens and it was a great time. In addition to wandering around rooms full of huge wood foeders aging wonderful Rodenbach beer, we also got some nice samples at the end of the tour. After the tour we were on to Antwerp and a mission to spend a few hours at the Kulminator, one of the best beer bars in th world and they probably have the best aged beer cellar in the WORLD!

I could go on for days about the Kulminator but I can only type so much before I have to go to bed so I will hit some of the highlights. On two trips to the Kulminator that night, we had several great beers including Struise Earthmonk and Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva and we did a little blending experiment and it was damn fine. In addition to that we cracked into their vintage collection and pulled out a 750 ml bottle of Felix Oudenaards Kriekbier from 1975, a beer as old as me! Despite being as old as dirt, it tasted damn fine also. The cherry taste was very present and there was also some carbonation. One fine beer and served in a cool basket so it was all good. We also had a 1995 De Neve Gueuze that also had a fresh character to it and was another excellent aged beer. After sharing those 2 beers from breweries no longer in business, I moved on to a 1979 Oud Hoegaards Bier Blanche which is basically an early version of Hoegaarden and aside from no carbonation, this beer also held up very well. Between all of this Paula had a bottle of Kwelchouffe from 2000 which is no longer made. At the end of the night Ed and I shared a bottle of 1982 Thomas Hardy's and it was a great way to end the night.

A Cruise on the Moselle River in Luxembourg

Since it was such a great day outside today, Paula and I made our first visit to the Moselle wine region in Luxembourg. This wine region runs along the Moselle River on the East side of Luxembourg which boarders Germany. We headed to the town of Remich which is less than 30 minutes from our flat and very easy to get to. When we arrived the town was completely full with people everywhere. There were many motorcylces running around town and many people lining the Moselle River, sun bathing and unfortunately some of the were wearing speedos!

We hopped on a cruise boat that takes you up and down the Moselle River for about 1 hour. For only €7 per person this was a deal and a good way to get some sun while taking in the sites. On the Luxembourg side it seemed like there was nothing but wine fields and nice apartments facing the River.

Check out some pictures from our day in the Moselle Valley

2008 Schueberfouer in Luxembourg

On 25 August the 668th edition of the Schueberfouer opened up on Luxembourg City. The Schueberfouer is a huge fair that takes over the large Glacis parking lot in the Limpertsberg section of Luxembourg City, right in from of one of my company's offices. There are tons of rides to thrill kids and adults including a farriswheel, a bunch of things that left you up and spin you in all sorts of directions and even a little water ride!

In addition to the rides, there are tons of stands to win all sorts of prices from stuffed animals to Playstation 3's, Nintendo Wii's and plasma tvs. If would not be a fair in Luxembourg without tons of food and drinks and there is plenty of that. We have been to visit 4 different days already and have had several meals here and a good sampling of the drinks as well.

The fair runs until 10 September and during the week is open from about 11am to 1am and on the weekends runs until 2 am! We were there this weekend until after midnight and it is still packed with people of all ages enjoying the rides, food and drinks but there tends to be more punky kids at that point.

Check out our pictures so far from the Schueberfouer...we will be back several more times before it ends!

Is There Bocce in Luxembourg?

We asked that question when we arrived and several months ago Paula found some bocce courts in a park near her office in the Kirchberg section of Luxembourg. About a month ago I finally found some bocce ball sets at our local supermarket, Cactus. We had looked in several places for awhile and found nothing and one night while at Cactus I decided to look in the kids toy section and found a bunch of outside toys including the bocce (or boules) balls. That is right, instead of calling it bocce, it is called boules but seems to be the same. We bought one set of 6 balls and the palino marker ball. Knowing that we needed 8 balls, 4 for each team, we also bought a set of 3 so in total we have 9 balls. Molly plays with the 9th ball at home. All the balls are silver with no other colors on them so we bought some blue tape to mark 4 of the balls from the other 4.

We have now played a few bocce games just by ourselves on a few Sunday afternoons, including today. I won't say who won but I am not happy about it.... Paula was walking by this park during the week and noticed that around lunch time there were 4 games going on in the 4 courts and it was full of office workers in suits (no coats) and dresses. The guys had their ties tucked into their shirts. People were sitting around watching, eating and drinking (some beer and wine). There is a little café not far from the courts so we will have to play some games during lunch to take in this odd display Luxembourg lunch breaks!

Check out our Luxembourg bocce practice!

A Saturday Night Out in Luxembourg City

Paula and I decided to have dinner in Luxembourg City so we took a bus into the city at about 8pm. Although the city was still busy with shoppers and those out eating and drinking, it was not as busy as usually due to the holiday season when many Europeans are somewhere else on vacation. We thought this would give us a chance to get a good table at one of our favorite restaurants. We head over to El Campenero, a Cuban style restaurant for some tapas. We thought we could get a table inside but apparently they were full or at least full of later reservations. We found a table on the front deck which worked out well, despite it being a little cold outside. After a few mojitos and some excellent tapas, we were off to a café a few steps away for an after dinner drink.

I am not sure the name of this café but it is right behind the Grand Palace and they have very reasonable drink prices. By this time it was about 11pm and was getting more and more busy. We are still trying to master the technique of going out for dinner a bit later so that we can stay out later at much of Europe does. After a drink at this café we headed for the bus back home to Strassen.

On the bus ride home we decided to get off a few stops early to get a drink at a Strassen bar we have visited once, Benelux. It is a locals corner bar but we felt welcomed in here. When we entered a noticed that there were a bunch of tables with poker being played at WWE wrestling on a tv! After sitting down with a drink, we noticed that there was a cute dog hanging around one of the poker tables. A few minutes later the dog came over and sat next to us to let us pet him. We found out his name was Tricksy and he just loved to be pet.

A few minutes later a guy came in with a poodle type dog on a leash and he sat down at the bar and his dog sat down at a barstool next to him. A bit later, Tricksy the dog jumped up on a barstool to sit next to some guy that walked into the bar with no shoes on. We figured this guy lived above the bar but still don't know why he would walk around with no shoes.

It was too funny to see 2 dogs sitting at a bar with their owners just enjoying the night. When we open a bar someday, we are going to have to institute a dog at the bar policy because it just makes for a happier bar!

A 4th of July Celebration in Luxembourg

Euro 2008 Futbol (Soccer) Championships

I am a little late in posting this but last Sunday, 29 June, was the final of the 2008 Euro Championships in futbol. Although Luxembourg did not qualify for the tournament, it was still a big deal throughout the entire tournament in Luxembourg. Although I am not much of a soccer fan, watching games throughout the tournament was alot of fun and I even got into collecting stickers for the Euro. I am sure the sticker books were geared more toward kids, it was still interesting to collect and brought back memories of collecting baseball stickers from back in the day.

For the final on 29 June, there were a huge screen setup in the center of town and there were a bunch of beer and wine stands and all kinds of food. Since the final was held in Austria, there was some Austrian food as well. Paula and I went a few hours early and walked around and took in the sites of all the crazy German and Spanish fans watching the game. By the time the game started there were about 6,000 fans going crazy. The game was exciting and fun to watch but the crowds got a little too much to handle so we too off in the second half and walked around a bit before heading back home. When the game was over, Spain won 1-0 and they partied late into the night.

Check out some pictures from the final game and my obsession with collecting the Euro stickers!

The American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg

Luxembourg National Day

What does Luxembourg National Day entail you might ask???? Well let me just say it includes alot of people, alot of beer and wine tents, plenty of food, a touch of heavy rain, wonderful fireworks and many other things. Give us some time to relax and sleep after this great night and we will report back! And since tonight (22 June)was my birthday you can understand why I am slow to report.

Cheers,
Greg

What Does a $45 Pound of Cheese Look and Taste like?

Well check back over the next few days and we will let you know. Paula and I went to a Spring fair last weekend in Luxembourg and ran across an Italian specialty stand that had some great cheeses and meats. We tried a few different cheeses and bought a little block of one thas was about €6 or $12. Not so bad. Before leaving I spotted a block of cheese that looked very interesting so I asked for a taste and was greeted with a slice of a very sharp cheese with Italian Brunello wine grapes on top. Not only was the cheese great but it was covered with some of the most expensive wine grapes the world knows. They were dried but still very tasty. I asked for a little block and almost fainted when I saw that it was €60 for a Kilo which is a little over 2 pounds so that is about $90 for a kilo or $45 a pound!

The Counting Crows in Luxembourg

Last night, Saturday 31 May, Paula and I went to see the Counting Crows in Esch sur Alzette, a town about 15 minutes from us in Luxembourg. The concert was at a very modern and new looking placed called the Rockhal. It is right next to a huge old steel plan run by Arcelor-Mittal the largest steel company in the world and probably the largest employer in Luxembourg. It is also right near a huge new RED bank building complex for Dexia, one of the larger banks in the country. Although the building looks huge from the outside, the actual concert area was fairly small and maybe held 2,000 people or so. It looked similar on the inside to the main floor of the Electric Factory in Philadelphia but was not as deep.

We didn't know what to expect as we have been to a ton of concerts back in the U.S., mainly Dave Matthews, and we usually get there several hours to tailgate and avoid all the crazy traffic. The doors were to open at 8pm for the show that started at 8:30pm. We showed up at about 7:15pm as the drive was very quick and we hit no traffic. As the concert venue is right next to an old steel plant and a huge bank complex, all of which is still under construction, parking was odd but easy. We were the only car in line when we entered and quickly found a nice spot near the exit. For only €2 (or $3) we were able to park where we wanted with no little annoying kid with an orange wand telling us there to park and how close like you get back in the States usually. As this was our first concert in Luxembourg, we were unsure about potential tailgating ability and we didn't really find anyone doing it but I am sure we could have.

It was about a 300 yard walk to the venue but it was easy so no big deal there. There was already a line of several hundred people waiting at the front door to get in before the doors opened at 8pm. As it was a general admission concert I was worried we would be too far in the back but that ended up not being a problem. Instead of going right to the line we went to the beer truck and got a quick drink. Paula got a cremant (Luxembourgish champagne) and I got a typical Luxembourgish beer, Diekirch, a deal at €2. No ridiculous concert beer markup here. This is basically the price you pay at a bar or festival or anything in Luxembourg so I was happy for that. It is always nice to be able to buy a drink with a coin and the little €2 coins come in handy for things like this. After getting the drink we got in line and waiting for 20 minutes or so until the doors opened. Once they opened it was organized and easy to get in and get a good view. As the venue only held 2,000 or so, we were able to get near the front of the stage, maybe 20 feet away, pretty quickly. For the most part we had enough room to move about without having someone breathing right on your neck.

The show was set to start at 8:30pm and did right on time. There was no mention of an opening bank so when the band came out at 8:30pm we thought for sure it was the Counting Crows. We had not seen them in a long time and had not see pictures in awhile so when the lead singer had straight brown hair, no dreadlocks as the lead singer Adam always had, we were a bit suprised but thought it was just the fact we hadn't seem them in awhile and maybe they changed their appearance. I also thought there were 7 members to the band instead of 5. Anyway, after a few songs that we didn't recognize and words from the lead singer in another language, we realized this was an opening band called Dreamcatcher or something like that. I think they were actually from Russia but sang most of their songs in English and were pretty good. One song was called "f*** you" which was funny.

Once the opening band ended and some time passed to clear the stage, the Counting Crows came on and we knew for sure it was them as there were dreadlocks, t-shirts and guys looking high. They sounded just as good as they had in the past and played alot of the songs you are used to hearing from them and some new songs as well. The crowd was a mix of people from Luxembourg, France, Germany, Belgium and some Americans like us. We were chatting with a couple behind us from Germany that were big fans of the Counting Crows and they traveled all the way to Lux since they were not playing in Germany this tour. It was also very interesting to watch people in Europe at a concert. A good of them were obsessed with taking pictures on their mobile phones or cameras. There was no restriction on pictures I guess and I am kicking myself for not bringing our camera as we were really close to stage. It was also interesting to see a few people near us that wanted to clap at every song that played. I don't mean clapping at the end but it seemed like they wanted to start a group clapping during every song and they got it started several times but it died out quickly.

The Counting Crows played for about 2 hours and ended with one song for an encore. There is a curfew in Luxembourg and apparently that is 11am so they had to stop playing by then. After the encore song they played California Dreamin' over the PA system and Adam the lead singer remained on stage to sing along with the crowd to the song which was pretty cool to see. Most people in the crowd seemed to know the words to the song which was also cool to see. Seems like it was the think that the band does after all their shows but not sure.

The exit out of the venue was just as quick as the entrance. After a 5 minute walk we were at our car and in another 15 minutes or so we were heading into our parking garage at home. That is how a concert should be but most are not. Since Luxembourg is so small, I guess the concerts are as well. Despite the small size there have been and will be some really good concerts here besides the Counting Crows including Jame Blunt, Seal, REM, Avril Lavigne, Little John (YEAAAH!), Backstreet Boys, Mika and coming soon....KISS!

After getting the concert bug I went home last night and looked up some other concerts in Europe and was thrilled to see that Jack Johnson and G. Love & Special Sauce are playing throughout Europe in the next month. They will be in Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Germany and France. They will also be in London so it looks like we are going to try to get tickets and turn it into a little holiday to London around the 4th of July. If we can't be home with family and friends for this holiday, at least we could be in a fully English speaking country for it!