Haggerty In The Hague

The town of Hvar

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.

View from our apartment

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.

Matt on the beach

Lindsey on the beach

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!

Sketch flag guy directing our train

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!

U2 concert!

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.

A church in Zagreb

This is how they weighed the olives we bought

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

A little over a month ago, Lindsey and I went on a weekend road trip to two regions in Northwest France - Normandy & Brittany.  Our first stop was the city of Caen, the port city just over an hour from our hotel.  This place had a nice little harbor and a really cool looking church (as we would eventually find out would be commonplace).

A church in Caen

Next, we headed to check into our hotel in the litte town of Ducey, which served as the perfect jumping off point for driving around the area.  The hotel was situated over a river:

The view from our hotel room in Ducey

The next day was our day for Mont Saint-Michel and the DDay beaches.  Mont Saint-Michel is an old monastery first built in the 10th century that is placed on an island one kilometer off the coast.

The view of Mont Saint-Michel from the parking lot

This place was beautiful when viewed from afar and just as interesting up close.  When visiting, one walks up the steep, narrow, winding streets through the village part until you get to the abbey at the top.  The abbey was very impressive and offered great views of the surrounding tidal area.

View from the top - up to 50 foot tidal variation around here

Next, we spent the greater part of a day seeing the WWII beaches of Normandy: Omaha Beach, the American War Cemetary at Omaha Beach, and Pointe du Hoc.  We saw the memorial on Omaha Beach before heading off the cemetary.  The American War Cemetary at Omaha Beach was very well kept with a museum and over 9,000 American soldiers buried there.

American Cemetary in Omaha Beach

Pointe du Hoc was one of the few places not “cleaned up” after the war.  This is where American Rangers scaled the 100 foot cliffs on DDay to attack a group of casemates that were set up as part of the German Atlantic Wall.  This place was littered with bombing craters 15 feet deep and the same distance wide.  Most of the casemates that were occupied by the Germans were still intact and we were able to walk around in them.

Pointe du Hoc - notice the craters scattered everywhere

View from inside one of the casemates

After the DDay stuff, we decided to stop off for some cider tasting.  While this area is not a wine region, it is littered with apple orchards and many people making and selling their own apple products.  At one of the places we stopped, a little French boy named Louie served us cider:

Louie was going to serve us cider before his Mom arrived

This stuff was delicious and we ended up tasting the apple cider, pommeau (mix of cider and calvados), and Calvados (apple brandy from the Calvados area within Normandy).  Throughout the weekend, we also had lots of crepes, as this area is famous for its galettes, or buckwheat flour pancakes used to make crepes for dinner.  A typical galette was filled with local apples, locally famous camembert cheese, and andouille sausage.

The next day was our city visiting tour.  We visited a number old towns: St Malo, Dinan, Vitre, and Fougeres.  While every town was unique, most had the same things in common: a beautiful church with scary looking gargoyles, old houses with the timber-framing from the Tudor style, and an old chateau that was more of a medieval castle.

Timber framed houses

Saint Malo is an old walled island city.  A lot was shut down when we arrived, but looks like a nice port of all if you were sailing around the area.  Rumor has it that the nurses at St Malo used the seawater as a substitute for blood plasma during the war.

On the wall of St Malo

Next we headed to Dinan, a beautiful little town that we all thought we could’ve spent a whole day at.  This place consisted of a large walled city that sat about 200 feet above the river below.  After walking through the walled town we headed down towards the lively port area filled with restaurants and shops.

The river by Dinan

Next we moved on to Vitre, an older and much smaller town with a really cool looking chateau and some of the oldest timber framed houses we saw.  There was even a band of young kids playing some American rock music right outside of the chateau.

Restaurant in Vitre. We ate here, but were scared the buildings were going to fall down the whole time

Vitre

Last on our list for the day was Fougeres.  This placed boasted the best chateau that allowed visitors to take a tour inside the various parts of the old structure.  We ended up getting the audio guide with our tour and learned a lot about the history of this castle and the central role it played during the 100 Years War.

Fougeres - with a proper moat and all

Don't be too impressed. Apparently this castle was successfully captured and recaptured over five times...

On the way home, we stopped by Rouen to check out the famous church that Monet painted over 30 times.  Unforunately the church was closed, but we were cetainly impressed with the exterior!  This was also the city where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and we saw the monument to commemorate her life.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen

A gargoyle

Overall this was a fantastic trip!

France, Summer, Travel

Lindsey and Matt in front of the famous water lilies

Lindsey and I rented a car to drive from the Netherlands to the Loire Valley for a long weekend.  Along the way, we stopped off in Giverny for the night.  After a nice stay at a quaint little hotel, we headed over to check out the Claude Monet home and gardens.  The water garden was definitely the highlight with beautiful water lilies and the japanese bridge.

Another shot of the pond and gardens

Monet's Japanese Bridge

The front of Monet's House in Giverny

Next we drove through Paris and onto the Loire Valley.  Along the way to our hotel, we stopped by Chambord, the largest of all chateaus in the Loire Valley.  This place was originally built by Francois I and was meant to serve as his hunting lodge.

The majestic Chambord Chateau

We stayed in the town of Chenonceaux near the chateau Chenonceau.  This was a great location in the heart of the Loire Valley, in the region called “Touraine”.

The view of chateau Chenonceau from its gardens

We walked the gardens of Chenonceau at night while classical music was playing in the background.  This chateau was built directly over the river Cher.  The next day we went to Villandry, which is mostly known for its magnificent gardens.

Lindsey in front of the Love Gardens, meant to symbolize four types of love.

A view of the Villandry chateau and vegetable gardens

Driving around the French countryside was beautiful - we saw lots of sunflower fields.

One of the many sunflower fields in the Loire Valley

Chateau l’Azay de Rideau was the final chateau of our trip.  This one was a nicely fortified chateau that was beautiful from the outside.

The view of Chateau d'Azay le Rideau

We stopped by a few towns during our adventure, one of which was Chinon.  We went into the caves for a degustation (wine tasting).  The temperature dropped 10 degrees just after walking a few feet into the cave.  After the tasting, we walked back into the cave and observed the huge crates of wine being kept there for storage.  We also saw a few prized old bottles being kept for a special occasion.

Lindsey outside of the wine tasting cave

France, Summer, Travel

Amsterdam Gay Pride Parade - a boat full of Robin Hoods :)

This past weekend, Matt, our friends Joe and Ted, and I went into Amsterdam for the annual Gay Pride parade that was held on the Prinsengracht canal.  It was definitely an experience to remember!!  The crowds were large and the beer aplenty as we all watched over 80 boats float down the canal during the parade.  This was actually the first time that gay Dutch police and servicemen were allowed to wear their uniforms in the parade-  I feel like we are a long way off in the US from allowing that to happen and it was pretty refreshing. We even saw a group of American’s get married during the parade!  If you are ever in Amsterdam during this parade, I definitely recommend checking it out  More pics/videos here if you are interested.

Supporting the Cause

I love this guy :)

Amsterdam, Netherlands, Summer

Kinderdijk

Last weekend Matt, myself, and a friend of ours went to the village of Kinderdijk (just outside of Rotterdam) to see its famous collection of windmills.  Kinderdijk is a UNESCO world heritage site and has 17 windmills dating back to the 1700s that help control the surrounding area’s water levels.  People still live and operate these windmills today.  To see the full set of pictures, visit my Picasa album!

Matt enjoying the sites

More windmills :)

Joe and Lindsey at Kinderdijk

Netherlands, Summer

Susan Tedeschi Concert - we were so close!!

A couple of weeks ago, Matt and I went up to Haarlem to see Susan Tedeschi in concert for my birthday.  If you don’t know Susan Tedeschi, she is this awesome blues artist who has gotten lots of awards and recognition in the Blues genre and she has an INCREDIBLE voice and is an AWESOME guitar player.  Anyway, so Matt got off a little early on Friday and we decided to take a tour of Haarlem while we were there.

Haarlem (aka the city the Haarlem in NY is named after) is laid out like most dutch towns-  lots of canals and cute streets, a plein (or square) where the government buildings are as well as many cafes, and a great big church.  The church was very beautiful and Mozart actually played the organ in this church when he was 10!

Organ that Mozart played when he was 10

After wandering around Haarlem and dinner, we went to the concert.   It was standing only and we walked right up to the front row!!   It was an amazing time-  I recommend her concerts to anyone.  Below are a couple of videos for you to enjoy

“It Hurts So Bad” - yes I was rocking out

Susan Tedeschi strumming on the guitar

Netherlands, Summer

Gouda Cheese Market

Since I absolutely love Gouda cheese, I figured it was only appropriate to visit the city where it all came from.  The city of Gouda is only about a 30 minute train ride from the Hague and the cheese market is held every Thursday morning in the summer.

Today, the cheese market is more of a tourist attraction to show how farmers used to gather to have their cheese weighed, tasted and priced.  Nowadays, all of this is done through other means (via phone, business contacts, internet, etc.) but it is still neat to see how it was performed.  At the cheese market, I was able to see how the cheese was made, how farmers negotiate the price, and how the cheese was weighed at the end of the day.

The cheese girls; they were giving out samples and posing for pictures

These two gentleman were bartering for the cheese; the guy in white is buying and the guy in blue is selling. They slap hands until they come to an agreement (you probably have to see it :))

Weigh house for the cheese

In addition to selling cheese at the market, vendor stalls were all around selling farm fresh cheese, meats, veggies, and clothing.  It also had vendors demonstrating clog making and buttermilk preparation.  Overall, I was very glad I was able to go and see the market-  and I got some great fresh cheese to take back!

Netherlands, Summer

I'm having an awesome time!

Rob, Matt, and Gemma love the beer bike!

And the video:

Amsterdam, Netherlands, Summer

Matt and I went to the AC/DC concert in Amsterdam on Tuesday with our friends here in the Hague.  It was a great time!  We went to a bar beforehand and then headed into the concert.  You can check out the pics and videos in my Picasa Photo Album.  Enjoy!

AC/DC in Concert!

Amsterdam, Summer

On our second day in Rome, we woke up early to head to the Borghese Gallery.  This museum in the North of the city houses a large collection of Bernini sculptures, amongst other art.  We saw such greats as Apollo and Daphne and the Rape of Proserpina.

Apollo & Daphne by Bernini

Closeup of the Rape of Proserpina, by Bernini

From the Gallery we walked over to the Spanish Steps - the large set of 138 steps climbing between Piazza di Spagna at the bottom and the church Trinità dei Monti at the top.  We spent some time people watching and relaxing here, and enjoying the nice day.  Next, we made our way towards the Pantheon and strolled along the fancy shops in the nice shopping area.

The Spanish Steps

The Pantheon was incredible.  This two millennium old structure was amazing, but tough to capture its immense scale in a photograph.  We walked around the inside of the structure and marveled at the how the top of the dome is open to the elements - which was evident because we saw the floor was wet from the rain earlier that morning!

View of the Pantheon dome

Next, we headed over to Piazza Navona, which was a larger scale of the Campo Di Fiora square we had visited the day before.  We made our loop around the area, checking out the several beautiful Bernini sculptures in the square.  All in all, we thought this area was a little too commercial for us, so we decided to head back to Campo De Fiori before dinner.

Bernini Fountain in Piazza Navona

Instead of going to a restaurant for happy hour, we decided to grab some Chianti, Pecorino Stagianato, and Salami Picante to enjoy while sitting in the square. Great relaxing time!

Lindsey in the center of Campo Di Fiore

Traditional Italian snacks in the square!

After a few hours watching the Italian kids try to soak each other with water balloons, we headed over to a pizza place for dinner.  The pizza was a great way to wrap up our fantastic Roman holiday!  We’ll certainly be back!

Italy, Summer, Travel