Haggerty In The Hague

Ad for Altenahr Wine Festival

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.

Lindsey looking at the trail map for the Red Wine Hiking Trail

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.

One of the many wine cellars around the region

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.

A typical view in one of the many small villages we explored. This one is Altenahr.

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.

Many of the villages we passed through were small, picturesque villages. This one is Mayschoss.

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

Posing, amongst the vines

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.

They had wine tastings set up along the trail, and let you buy the bottles directly from them.

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.

This wine is called "Spatburgunder", which basically means a late harvested burgundy grape. Delicious!

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.

The colorful changing leaves and delicious grapes

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.

We ended our trip by hiking into the town of Ahrweiler, an old walled city.

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.

A nice park in Munich

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!

Surfing in the Englisch Gardens, Munich

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.

Beer and pretzels at the Hofbrauhaus

Liters of beer

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.

Andechs Abbey from the outside

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.

View from the Andechs Abbey

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.

Bill's lederhosen

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.

Prost! (Cheers!) A toast with the Brits

Inside of the Hacker tent

This chicken was a bit salty, but delicious

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.

The tent on day #2 - Hippodrome

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 Bavarian spread awaiting our tables

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.

Simmisamma band, die Oktoberfestband!

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…

The waitresses can carry lots of beers!

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.

Pre-gaming at the Chat Noir

Next we met up with Bill and Maura.

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 group at La Cigale

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

Fins up!

We were really close up!

Signing autographs

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

The ultimate Buffett fan

Walking from the show.

Moulin Rouge

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

Fall, France, Paris, Travel

Brussels Beer Festival

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!

Everything referenced the Mannequin Pis

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!

Delirium Bar

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!

Matt and I with our first beers!

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.

At Goupil le Fol

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!

They had hops surrounding the fence around the festival :)

Beer, Belgium, Fall