Haggerty In The Hague

Since Matt was going to be in Lisbon for work for a week, we decided it would be the perfect opportunity for the both of us to go  (Matt’s travel paid for by work!) and see a city we had heard wonderful things about.  Not to mention, it was a great chance to get away from the winter weather in the Hague and go to much more “spring-like” climate!

We arrived Friday night and took a taxi to our B&B where we were met by the best host we could have ever had in Lisbon - Luis of Zuza Bed and Breakfast.  He showed us our room (which had snacks and port for us to try!) and sat down with us to talk about our plans.  He also gave us a cell phone so we could call him in case we had any questions while in Lisbon (he was true to his word-  I can’t rave enough about this place). It was relatively early (around 9pm) and he recommended a place to try Portuguese cheese and port in Barrio Alto - it was SO good!  After that we ran into Luis and he treated us to a drink at a bar outside the B&B.  It was a great first night in the city!

The next morning we ate breakfast and ventured into the city.  We walked through Baixa and Alfama (the historic area - all of the streets are tiny and the houses are lined with tiles - very cool) and went to a flea market where we picked up some pottery at a great price.  We then walked to the Castle St. George which sits on top of the highest hill in Lisbon.

The views from the castle were great and we could see many things that we couldn’t while walking through the city, including the Cristo Rei - its a big statue of Jesus (looks like the famous one in Brazil) and overlooks the city of Lisbon from across the river.  It was pretty foggy on the river the day we went to the Castle so we got some interesting shots of it.

After the Castle, we grabbed lunch at a great spot in Chiado (A Brasileira - apparently a gathering for Portuguese literati) where we got salted cod (a Lisbon specialty) and another fish dish.  We then decided it would be a great time to do some port tasting- we went to the Instituto Do Vinho Do Porto - or the Port Wine Institute - to taste all sorts of different ports for 1-5 euro per tasting.  It was a great way to figure out what we liked - we even picked up a delicious 10 year tawny.  This is the port we realized we really like and was in our price range - we may be new port drinkers!

We rested a bit at the B&B after the tasting and then had a great dinner at a restaurant at Barrio Alto recommended by Luis.  We filled up on great portuguese dishes and then made our way back to the B&B to get some well needed rest.

Sunday was rainy, but we decided to go to Sintra which was about a 45 minute train ride outside of Lisbon.  Then entire town is a UNESCO Historic Site so we knew we would have a lot to see.  We got there late morning and hiked up to the highest point in the town to see Pena Palace. This is apparently one of the most beautiful castles in the world, with an amazing view - unfortunately we could not even see the outside of the castle because it was so foggy!!! Nonetheless, the inside of the castle was extremely pretty and very interesting - we thought it was a better interior than any of the castles we saw in France.  After viewing the castle, we took a bus down as the rain had really picked up.

Our next stop was Quinta da Regaleira - a very neat Harry Potter-esque castle just outside the center of the town.  There were mystical gardens and hidden caves (which you needed a flashlight to traverse) all throughout the grounds of the castle - we had a great time exploring!

After feeling like wizards at Hogwarts (well at least Lindsey did :)), we went back to Lisbon and settled in for a quiet night of portuguese sausage, wine, and cheese.  It was raining REALLY hard and although we felt bad about not going out, we were not motivated enough to brave the weather.

Monday morning we slept in and I had to go back to Den Haag, while Matt got to stay in Lisbon for the rest of the week for work.  I was extremely jealous as Lisbon was such an awesome city - we would both go back in a heartbeat.  Check out our pics here!

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At the end of January, we decided we should leave the cold and dreary Hague and travel to Ireland - which was equally as cold and dreary, but hey, it was still Ireland.  We arrived in Cork on Thursday evening and decided we had to experience a typical Irish pub.  We went to John Henchy’s which was very close to the B&B we were staying at.  We enjoyed Guinness, Beamish (Cork’s local brew), and a fantastic Irish band.  Great start to the trip!

The next day we got up early and made our way to the bus station to visit Blarney.  Along the way, Matt got a fantastic shot of the River Lee which runs right through the middle of Cork.  Looks like the camera is paying off!

It took about 20 minutes by bus to get to Blarney so we were able to see some of the countryside.  When we arrived, it was VERY foggy, a bit rainy, and cold, but we decided to brave the weather and walk around the grounds of the castle for a bit.  There were many interesting things, including an “enchanted” forest, and some beautiful gardens and waterfalls.

We finally made up to the castle and walked through the building and up to the top where we got to kiss the stone and per legend, get the gift of gab!

After walking around some more we the fog finally lifted and we were off to a great start of the day.  Our next stop was the Jameson distillery in Midleton.  We took a very interesting tour, and even got to do a bit of whisky tasting!

After the Jameson tour, we made our way back to Cork and had a delicious Irish meal and another great night at a local pub where they were playing traditional irish music, fiddles and all

The next day we wandered around Cork a bit before got on the train to our next destination - Dublin.  We saw many of the historic sites in the city and also went to the English Market which was a huge indoor market full of fresh meats and veggies.

After the market, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the train to Dublin. As soon as we got there we checked into our hotel and started exploring.  We walked and saw the Molly Malone statue (big boobs and all) and grabbed dinner in the Temple Bar area.  At that point it was fairly late so we decided to go back to the hotel and rest up for our next big day of siteseeing.

Sunday we started the day by viewing St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  The church was absolutely beautiful and was actually the site Handel played The Messiah for the first time in Ireland.

We looked around the church and then walked to Trinity College to see the famous Book of Kells.  The college itself was interesting as it was completely gated so you could only enter the campus from certain points along the street. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures of the Book of Kells or of the Library where the Book is held (which was incredibly impressive with books stacked what appeared to be 4 or 5 stories high), but if you ever go to Dublin it is a must see. Very interesting!

Our sightseeing continued after lunch where we saw Christ Church.  This is the “state church” where the Irish government attends Mass.  We were able to explore the inside of the church as well as the crypts below the church.  The crypts were very cool and had some very old, interesting things in them-  even had some gallows from the 1600s!

Our final stop for the day was the Guinness factory.  This was pretty typical for a brewery tour but the Guinness you got at the end was the best Guinness you will ever taste.  It was divine - AND it came with a 360 degree view of Dublin!

After a long day of touring, we were starving so we stopped in the oldest bar in Dublin for another tasty Guinness and some well needed rest.  We then went to the Temple Bar area again for a tasty dinner of Irish meats and cheeses and some local brews.  Overall a very successful day!

The next day was our last day in Ireland so we did a bit more wandering- we saw St. Stephen’s Green which was a beautiful park in the middle of the city and also saw some of the local shopping areas.  By late morning, we unfortunately had to catch a plane back to Den Haag, but despite the weather, we really enjoyed Ireland and would love to go back again!  If you’d like to see all of our pictures, check them out here and here!

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Lindsey and I decided to take a long weekend in London during the winter.  We got in late on Thursday night and started the tourism early on Friday morning.  First stop was the Tower of London, which was introduced to us by an excellent Beefeater tour.  The Beefeaters, also known as Yeomans, used to be the people looking after prisoners and watching the crown jewels, but nowadays mostly serve as tour guides.

The Beefeater gave us a tour of the grounds, showed us the Inner Ward, the famous ravens, and an old church.  After this, we went into see the crown jewels, which was impressive, especially with no other tourists around to share them with.  We also viewed an exhibition, “Dressed to Kill”, on the history of armor which was very interesting.

After the Tower of London, we walked around the town to see some of the major sights.  We walked on the London Bridge and checked out St Paul’s Cathedral.

We ultimately made our way over to the Government section of town to see the PM’s house at 10 Downing Street (not too impressive, the Parliament building and Big Ben (very impressive), and Westminster Abbey (excellent).

We spent the better part of the afternoon in Westminster Abbey.  We started off with getting a tour by one of the Abbey vergers.  The Abbey has a number of vergers that are non-religious positions used to support the church and its operations.  The verger took us around the entire church, showing all of the great people that are buried there, including Darwin, Dickens, and William & Mary.  The verger recommended we stay for that night’s evensong and saved us a seat in the pews nearby the young boys who sing there - the service was exceptional. We topped off our night with a visit to a Cornish pub recommended by our friend Rob, which did not disappoint - offering a good selection of tasty cask ales.

The next day we started off with a walk through Hyde Park.  This large park was quite nice and was just nextdoor to Harrod’s Department store, which we went to after the walk.  The department store was amazing - unlike any other department store we’ve been to before.  They had a huge Wizard of Oz display in the display windows and outside the store.

After Harrod’s we went over to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  The place was packed with tourists, but we stll managed to get a decent spot nearby a statue in front of the palace.  The show itself was interesting, but probably something we don’t need to do again.

Next we went to check out some of the shopping areas in the middle of town, including Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus.  There was a lot going on around these areas, as there was a shopping festival being held to get people out shopping for Christmas.

That night we went to dinner and a show at one of the theaters around Leicester Square.  We saw 39 Steps - a comedy play adapted from the Hitchcock film.  It was in a quaint, old theater, so we felt like we got a good experience.

On the last day we went to the British Museum before we left town.  The highlights of this were the Assyrian, Eqyptian, and Greek exhibits.  On really cool part was the special exhibit on the pieces from the Parthenon.  In the early 1800s, Lord Elgin legally obtained the pieces from the Greek government, because they were unable to care for them.  The whole exhibit is a controversy now, as Greece maintains it’s able to care for the marbles now, but the British do not want to give them back.

No trip to London would be complete without seeing some Harry Potter fanfare.  We saw the Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter novels, which is the start of the track for Hogwart’s Express.

We ended our trip with a nice Sunday meal, taking advantage of the many Sunday roasts available.  The food in this country was perfect for cold weather food that will warm you up!

Click here for a link to all of our pictures from London!

Travel, United Kingdown, Winter

In mid-November we joined four of our friends to explore the city of Istanbul!  We were very excited about this trip as we had heard such great things about the city and its culture.  We arrived on a Friday evening after a long day of traveling and decided to explore the city by foot before we grabbed dinner.  We were able to get some great pictures of the major sites at night, and it was a good primer since we were going to tour many of these sites during our trip.

After sightseeing we got to have one of our many delicious meals during our trip.  Mediterranean influences meant we had lots of stuffed grape leaves, lamb, hummus, and other amazing things.  The first night we had food that came in clay pots which were broken to reveal the meal.  Its was SO good (although you did have to watch out for the bits of clay!).

We went out for a few drinks after our meal and then went to bed to prepare for our first day of real touring.

On Saturday morning we arranged a boat cruise along the Bosphorus Strait.  We began by taking a bus up to Pierre Loti, which was a lookout point that was name after a French novelist who used to write there.  We had great views of the city, although it was very foggy so it could have been better.  Definitely unique to have Turkish coffee atop the hill though (little known fact:  if you can read the pattern leftover from your grinds in your coffee to tell your fortune)!

After taking in the view we began our boat tour.  We started by touring the European side of Istanbul and then turned around and made our way down the Asian side (first picture in the post is from this tour). This was really neat because we got to see a lot of the city that we wouldn’t have gone too except for this cruise.

In the afternoon we made our way to the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar.  The spice market was incredible-  so many colors and so many different spices!  We ended up getting some Iranian saffron and some Turkish Delights there.

In both the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar the shop owners constantly stopped you and asked you “You want to spend your money?  Come into my shop.  I can help you.”  Haha  This was a bit annoying, but it was worth it to be in that atmosphere for a bit.  In the Grand Bazaar we did a bit of rug browsing-  we saw some absolutely beautiful rugs there, but did not end up buying one (although we probably should have).

Later that afternoon we decided to try some Hookah at the local bar.  No worries- only smoking dried fruits but it was a great experience.  That night we ventured to Taksim Square which was the center of much of the nightlife in Istanbul.  We had fun exploring some of the different bars and restaurants in the area (one in particular had a drag queen singer!).

The next day was our final day of sightseeing and we went out in full force.  We hired a tour guide who provided us all of the history and interesting details of each of the sights.  We saw the inside of the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome area, Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace, and the Cistern.  So many places and so much history!  Out of all of these I think Hagia Sophia (or the Eye of Sophia) was the most interesting.  It was originally a Christian church, but when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople, it was converted into a Mosque and most of the beautiful mosaics were plastered over.  This plaster is now coming off today and revealing many of these mosaics.  It was fascinating!  We took many pictures at each of the sites and all can be found here.

That night we had another delicious dinner down by the harbor.  It was incredibly fun and seemed very traditional.  We were served Raki (a digestif/appertif very popular in Turkey) and had musicians playing for us in the restaurant.  We then went to our favorite bar right near our hotel (the bartender/owner was actually from Richmond!).  A great way to end our trip!

Overall I think Turkey was one of the most interesting trips that we have done so far due to the cultural differences that we experienced.  The call to prayers went off every day, five times a day which was something most of us had not heard before.  The food was very different but extremely delicious!  And the city was beautiful.  What more can we say-  we need to go back to Turkey another time!

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In October, as the leaves started turning from green to brown in the Netherlands, we decided to leave the country to find some good old fashion fall colors.  We took the train from Den Haag to Cologne, and from there took the regional train down to the Ahr Valley.  The Ahr Valley’s main attraction is the wonderful “Rotweinwanderweg”, or the Red Wine Hiking Trail.  This 35 kilometer (21 mile) long path winds through the vineyard terraces and connects the winegrower’s villages in the “Valley of the Red Grape”.  The plan was to start in Altenahr, at the westernmost point of the trail, then hike our way eastward until we reached the town of Ahrweiler.

We found a hotel in the town of Mayschoss, which happened to be having a wine festival that weekend.  This small town, with a population of 1000, must have tripled in size that weekend for the numerous tourists coming to taste the wine.  They had plenty of wine caves and tasting rooms to accommodate the wine purchasers.

Upon arriving late Friday night we headed out to grab dinner at a local restaurant, but forgot to bring our German dictionary.  The menu was entirely in German and the waiter didn’t speak any English, which made the experience that much more interesting.  The next morning we got an early start in the town of Altenahr, then began hiking eastward.

The trail took us high up on the ridge lines, down to the local towns, right through the middle of the vineyards, and through wooded forests.  Every turn surprised us with another fantastic view of a little town.

We stopped plenty of times to take scenic pictures.  Working on my modeling career here.

There were plenty of stops along the trail, with the local wineries offering tastings for cheap prices.  We often stopped to try out the Spatburgunder and Fruhburgunder wines.  They always asked if you wanted the trocken, halbtrocken, or suss wein - translation: dry, half dry, or sweet wines.

We found the quality of wines in the region to be fantastic, especially the slightly older and more expensive wines.  We ended up buying (and hiking with) 6 bottles, most of them Spatburgunder trocken wines.

The colors throughout the hikes were gorgeous.  The red grape leaves had started turning color to red, while the white grape leaves had started turning color to yellow.

We ended our trip by hiking into the beautiful walled city, Ahrweiler.  This town had plenty of areas to explore with numerous restaurants and shops.

This was a fantastic trip, there might need to be a repeat next fall!  Click here to see the entire album of pictures!

Fall, Germany, Travel, Wine

Update: See the whole album here!

After a great time seeing Buffett in Paris, it was time for our first Oktoberfest experience.  A friend at work, Matt, is German and graciously set us (and a group of about 30 others) up with tickets to the tents and hotel reservations.  We left Paris by taking a flight from Charles De Gaulle airport to Munich.  Upon arrival in Munich, we decided to go check out the city before heading down to our hotel.  After figuring out the metro system, we went to the center and walked around town.

We got close to the Englisch Gardens, but never quite made it there.  A friend was there the day before, and got some pictures of people surfing the river that flows through it - pretty cool!

After our tour around the city, it was time for some beer and German food, so we headed to the famous landmark - the Hofbräuhaus.  This restaurant / beer hall had a great atmosphere, with a full 6-7 person traditional band, picnic table style seating, and delicious food and drink.  We got our first liters beers and pretzels of the trip.

The next day a small group of us took a trek to the Kloster Andechs, an abbey on the western edge of Munich that brews fantastic beer.  After an hour metro ride, we had to hike for about an hour in the woods uphill to reach this place.  Fortunately, it was a beautiful day, so the hike uphill was a welcomed excuse to be outside.  The abbey itself was beautiful from the outside, and although we never thought to go inside, we found out later that it’s even better from the inside.

The abbey also had a large deck area for hikers - a perfect place for a few beers and some food.  We purchased some excellent haxen (pig’s feet), potato salad, and beers and sat down to enjoy the view.

After spending a few hours relaxing, it was time to head back and buy some Lederhosen and a dirndl before heading out to the tents that night.

The first night, we went to the Hacker tent, and met up with our British friend Rob and a bunch of his British friends.  They had been at tables outside the tent for about 5 hours by the time we met up with them (and it showed), but they were nice enough to share their limited seating with us.  We hung out with these guys for a while, until we decided to venture into the tent.  Great night overall.

The next day we had to get an early start for the next tent reservation at noon.  Unlike the previous night, this time we were able to fit all 30 of us together at adjacent tables in the Hippodrome tent.  The group made it there on time and started the fun all over again.

We started off with some traditional Bavarian appetizers placed at the table.  This food was delicious, although I was a little startled when I learned that one of the “spreads” was lard…

The live band was right in front of us, and each member chugged a full liter of beer before they played a note.  Never seen that before, but it definitely set the mood for the rest of the day.

It was great day all around, and we all enjoyed each others company and the music/entertainment that the band provided.  I’ll definitely be coming back next year…

See below for a video of the song “Ein Schoner Tag”, which means “A beautiful day”.  This song was a fantastic sing-a-long song and by the end of the day, the entire audience was doing the hand motions that go with the chorus.

Fall, Germany, Travel

We decided to start off our Oktoberfest holiday with a Jimmy Buffett concert in Paris.  We took the train down to Paris on Saturday morning which got us in by 12.  After grabbing a bite we toured around one of our favorite areas - Montmartre.  Next we went around to gather materials for our tailgate - French wine, bread, sausage, and cheese.  Then we met up with Bill, Maura, and Sara to start the tailgate.  We first started at the Chat Noir with Jeff and Sara.

Next we met up with Bill and Maura.

All of us together at the show.  We were 30 feet away from stage and the venue only had 1000 people in it.

The concert was great.  Of course “Fins” was played.

We were really close up!

We saw this guy throughout the show, so I had to talk with him afterwards.

Walking from the show.

Next up - Oktoberfest.  The next post is coming soon!

Fall, France, Paris, Travel

The first weekend in September, Brussels held there annual Beer Festival where beer vendors take over the Grand Place for 3 days of beer drinking and festivities.  I left the Hague on Friday afternoon and met Matt (who was in Brussels for work) to attend and I must say, it was a very fun weekend.  We spent Friday afternoon touring around Brussels as neither of us had been there.  We ventured into chocolate shops, saw the Mannequin Pis (Brussels famous statue), and of course had some Belgium waffles and moules frites (mussels and fries) - delicious!

Friday night we went to the Delirium Bar-  they had 2004 bottled beers and hold the world record for the most beers at a bar!  It was a very cool bar-  and we got to try some beers that I’m not sure I will get anywhere else!

Saturday we went directly to the beer festival to try the hundreds of beers that were available. We were joined by several of our friends and co-workers and we spend almost 6 or 7 hours at the festival trying all types of beers.  You paid for the beers with these coins they gave you (1 coin = 1 euro) and none of the beers we tried were over 4 coins!

That night we continued the festivities with a great dinner on the water and then went to bars.   We went to this one awesome bar that we found in the NY Times article on Brussels.  It was called Goupil le Fol which was a 3 story bar that used to be a former brothel.  There were old records over all of the walls and they had old French music playing on the jukebox.  We really enjoyed it and stayed there for a few hours before heading back to the Delirium Bar for one last beer.

The next day was our last in Brussels and we went back to the beer festival for one last time.  Sunday we were able to try the Westvleteren Abbey beer.  This beer is not sold commercially, and to get it at the abbey you have to call between certain hours of the day and give your name and license plate number (so they know you are not a vendor) in order to get 1 case.  It has been named the best beer in the world and was incredibly good- and we only paid 4 euros for a glass!!  It sold out very quickly at the festival so we were lucky to get a glass-  and it was a great way to end a great weekend!  If you’d like to see more pics, be sure to check out our Picasa Album!

Beer, Belgium, Fall

Back in August right before I started work, we ventured to the beautiful country of Croatia for 3 nights in Hvar and 1 night in Zagreb to see U2 in conert.  We arrived in Zagreb by plane and had to get down to Split in order to catch a ferry to the island of Hvar.  We decided the easiest way would be to take a bus - although we were VERY pressed for time as the last ferry to the island of Hvar left at 8:30pm.  We left Zagreb by bus around 3pm (first one we could get).  The bus ride was very nice and we got to see the beautiful countryside along the way.  I really didn’t know what to expect about Croatia, but I certainly did not expect it to be as gorgeous as it was.  Everyone on the bus was very helpful too, as they knew we would be cutting it extremely close to make the ferry.

We arrived in Zagreb at 8:25-  Matt ran to get ferry tickets and I got our bags and made our ferry with 1 minute to go- PHEW!  The ferry took about 2 hours and we arrived in Hvar exhausted from a long day of travelling.

In Hvar we stayed in an apartment with our friends Chris, Katie, and Eric.  We had great views of the beach and spent the next couple of days relaxing and enjoying the Hvar sights.  The beaches were very rocky so it was different from what I was used to but still great.  The second day we were there we rented a small motorboat and went to some of the surrounding islands.  This was fantastic and we found some really neat bars on some of the islands.

We were very sad to leave Hvar as it was such a nice change from our other vacations- instead of running around sightseeing, we actually got to kick back and do nothing!  But we had a U2 concert to get to so off we went to Zagreb after our 3rd day in Croatia.  We took the ferry back from the town of Hvar to Split around 8am, and then caught a train to Zagreb (so we travelled by air, ferry, boat, train, bus, and car while we were there!).  The train was sketchy to say the least  The trains all shared one track and there was a man with a flag telling the train conductor whether or not he could go-  what if the flag guy wasn’t there??!!  We tried not to think about that!

We arrived in Zagreb around 5pm and got ready to go to the U2 concert.  We saw lots of people tailgating although we arrived to late to do that.  The Croatians know how to tailgate well-  there were people grilling and selling ears of corn everywhere - something you cannot get in the Hague very easily!  We got into the concert just as Snow Patrol was finishing up (who were really good as well) and then the show started.  The U2 concert was absolutely amazing-  the money spent on the set was sinful but it really made the concert spectacular.  If you ever get a chance to go to a U2 show I would highly recommend it.  They played lots of songs from their new album but played plenty of their old songs as well.  So glad we went!

The day after the concert we were flying back to the Hague, but Matt and I were able to do a bit of sightseeing in Zagreb as well.  We saw a bunch of very nice parks, churches, and even came across a market where we bought a lunch of bread, fresh olives, fresh goat cheese, and meat.

We were sad to have to leave this country (and I was sad to have to start work!), but we had a great time!  If you want to see more pictures from our trip be sure to check out our Picasa album!

Croatia, Summer, Travel

So we know we’ve been delinquent on posting blogs so we are going to get caught up!  In the next couple of weeks you will see posts on our Croatia trip, Brussels Beer Festival, Oktoberfest, and the Ahr Valley.  Stay tuned

HITH