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Europe Sabbatical
  • Will Hess
  • Will Hess

Europe Sabbatical

Une aventure de 28 jours par Will En savoir plus
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  • Début du voyage
    23 juillet 2017
    Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    1

    Dropping Mira off with my parents

    22 juillet 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    Drove up to Marinette with Mira to hand her off to my parents while I'm travelling. Will miss her tons. Bet she'll be huge when I get back.

    When I was a kid, I made a game out of finding vans with the rear ladders on them. Getting harder each year, but I saw one on the drive up!

    Been trying to wrap up work this weekend... Think I'll make it. Need to start packing -- flying out tonight!!! Will land in Rome on Monday at 4pm local time.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur

    Night in Rome

    24 juillet 2017, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    Made it to Rome. Got absolutely zero sleep on the plane to Copenhagen, and Laura and Caty were pretty tired during the three hour layover. Got into Rome on time, and once we checked in to the room we rented, we both feel awake to head out to dinner. Rome was alive, and we sat down at a cute little restaurant where we could enjoy the great weather.

    The food was great, and the wine fantastic. Plan is to sleep in, get breakfast, and walk around to see a few of the landmarks before catching the train to Florence in the afternoon.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur

    Walking around Rome

    25 juillet 2017, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    Woke up feeling 100x better after some much needed rest. We had breakfast at a little cafe, then set a brisk pace to see some of the relatively close landmarks to us. The Pantheon was impressive, and we also saw the Spanish steps, trevi fountain, campo de' fiori, and the Vatican.

    Had lunch and another small restaurant, and then booked it to the train station to take the 250km/hr train to Florence. Made it with 10 minutes to spare, and enjoyed listening to some interesting conversations the other passengers were having...    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    2

    Florence

    26 juillet 2017, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    Florence is beautiful. The place we're staying in is a building erected in the 12th century, and has a lot of character. While the hostess explained how to run the A/C and operate the locks (in Italian), I read the poorly translated sign and failed to make any sense of it, other than getting a sense of alarm. Laura and I had a good laugh after reading the Italian version, basically saying don't use the a/c and water heater at the same time or it would blow the fuse.

    We went out for dinner and drinks at one of the places Laura's friend Monia recommended, where Laura got along famously with the wait staff. I, on the otherhand, had my glass of wine taken from me (it was meant for another table). We had the bistecca alla fiorentina (T bone the size of my head) and a truffle pasta that was phenomenal. After dinner, we had a quick apéritif and some grappa at a nearby bar.

    Next morning, hit Florence and saw the major landmarks. The piazzale Michaelangelo offered the best view of the city.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur

    Florence pt 2

    26 juillet 2017, Italie ⋅ 🌙 73 °F

    Went to the market in the early afternoon, and had my first beer of the trip -- Chris seemed to be getting antsy that I wasn't recording anything in my beer tracker. We had lunch there at the End, but we could have made a meal sampling all the vendor's items (everything topped with truffles).

    Laura found a great wine tasting for us to do, and we had a blast learning about their vineyard and organic philosophy. Couldn't resist buying a few bottles to bring back (let's see how long they make it...)

    We moderated our food intake, because we had reservations at a Michelin star restaurant. The food was fantastic, but that's been true pretty much everything we've eaten.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur

    Journey to Cinque Terre

    27 juillet 2017, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    Left Florence this morning via train, which ended up running a little late, causing us to miss our connection in Pisa. Wasn't too long a wait, and we ended up making it to Riomaggiore relatively early in the day.

    After hauling our luggage up the stairs to our room (not an easy task, but manageable), we walked around the town. Laura had been looking forward to fried calamari since we landed in Rome, so we made sure to check that one of the list right away.

    We needed to burn that off, and we were both dying for a swim, so we suited up and headed down to the water. It's only rocky beaches in Riomaggiore, so entering and exiting the water is tricky, but once you're in it's fantastic. We swam for a good half hour, and then climbed up some rocks to rest, bask in the sun, and watch the waves break on the rocks. As we got back in the water, my foot started to cramp, I sustained a (minor) cut on my hand, and promptly got stung by a jellyfish, so it was time to get out.

    We headed back to the room, and enjoyed a bottle of wine on the patio before dinner. We hiked up to the top of town to eat dinner at a place with a beautiful view and watched the sun set. Being that we're on the coast, seafood was a must. As we headed back, we stumbled upon a classical music performance, which felt like the perfect end to the night.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur

    Hiking trails in Cinque Terre

    28 juillet 2017, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    Slept in until 9:30 this morning, which was wonderful. Once we dragged ourselves out of bed, we walked down to town and had an espresso and cornettos, and bought some focaccia/meat/cheese to pack for lunch.

    Some of the trails are still closed from natural disasters, so we took the train over to Cornelia (it was late, no real surprise) and began the trail over to Vernazza. The coastal trail we hiked was one of the more difficultly rated ones, and while it wasn't too difficult for us, it definitely gave us a good workout. The views were spectacular, and we had to make sure we stopped to admire the view, as the risk of admiring it while walking carried the risk of a twisted ankle.

    Going down was probably harder than going up, but once we made it to Vernazza, we had a fantastically delicious and refreshing lemon granita. We found a roped off cave (which we ignored) that lead to a beautiful beach.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur

    Dinner in Riomaggiore

    28 juillet 2017, Italie ⋅ 🌙 73 °F

    Ate dinner at a little restaurant right by the water. The food was fresh, clean, and yummy. A couple men played live music on a nearby balcony, and we enjoyed people-watching as we dined.

    After dinner we walked down to sit on the rocks and do some star gazing. After watching some kids jump in and swim, I felt the need to do the same, and stripped down and dove in for a midnight swim. The water is great!En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    1

    Last night in Riomaggiore

    29 juillet 2017, Italie ⋅ 🌙 73 °F

    Could definitely spend another week in Cinque Terre. Tomorrow we travel to Nice, but I thought about switching our train schedule so we could get another hike in in the morning.

    We putzed around a bit in the morning (after more cafe and cornettos), and ended up at the beach as the ferry was closed due to rough seas. Swam a bit, tanned, and rescued a little girl from the riptide, sustaining some minor injuries in the process. Italy has inflicted its fair share of minor injuries on both of us. Each time we went to the beach, we were highly amused watching people attempt to get in and out of the water on the rocky beach, including a fairly comical failure by a girl in a Badgers hat.

    We took the train over to Monterosso and rented a double kayak, and miraculously avoided sunburn during the sun's peak overv the sea. After burning off the wine from last night via heavy paddling, we made it over to Manarola to have a feast of seafood. I like to think I rocked the bib with style, but you be the judge.

    From there, headed back to Riomaggiore, and had a good laugh at some of the other people's waiting for the train panicking that they wouldn't get up in time for the train that blew through the station going 110km/hr. Laura is still in tears thinking about it.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    1

    Train ride to Nice

    30 juillet 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    Woke up early for one last swim (I let Laura keep sleeping) before we packed up and checked out. A series of delayed trains made our ride into France take a little longer than planned, but we made it with plenty of time left in the afternoon to walk around and have dinner.

    We went past kilometers and kilometers of beach, which made for an interesting view on the way over. Monaco and Monte Carlo were impressive as well, but I'm glad we're staying in Nice instead.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    2

    First Night/Dinner in Nice

    30 juillet 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    After checking in, we headed over to old town to stretch our legs after sitting still most of the day. Before we made it down there, we climbed up to the city's observation point to get a good view of Nice and see the very pretty man-made waterfall.

    After taking in the layout of the town, we headed down to see the cathedral at the center of town, have a drink, and do some people watching.

    The concierge had recommended a restaurant featuring live jazz, which caused Laura's face to light up, so we headed there for dinner and had another fantastic meal, wine, and dessert (apple tart flambe). It's a good thing we're doing so much walking to burn it all off.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur

    Driving in the French Alpes-Maritimes

    31 juillet 2017, France ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    We had booked a canyoning trip that required us to get up at 6am to get a rental car to drive three hours to the rendezvous point, but when 6am rolled around we both decided to consider the reservation fee a sunk cost and roll over for some additional sleep.

    When we finally did get out of bed, we decided to take a leisurely drive through the mountains, and see if we could find a mountain stream to take a dip in. We failed to find much in terms of rivers, streams, or lakes (at least nothing that seemed like it didn't carry terrible bacteria), but the drive was nice and the views staggeringly impressive.

    On the way up we stopped in a tiny town that had a outdoor restaurant, and had pizza and a half pitcher of the house wine. Feeling energized, we started zigzagging our way up and down the mountain roads.

    Our highest elevation point was probably at a tiny town called St-Aubun, which had a mountain trail tucked away in the very back of the town. I'm 60% sure that climbing it was at least discouraged if not illegal, but there was a cool ruined archway at the top I really wanted to check out.

    On the way back down we stopped at another time town to have a beer. We speak minimal French, and they spoke minimal English, so it was mostly gestures and pantomimes when it came time to order. No idea what kind we had, but it was fun to watch the town dogs while we sipped.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    1

    2nd night in Nice

    31 juillet 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    Since we failed in our quest to find a place to swim up in the mountains, we desperately wanted to hit one of the beaches Nice has to offer. The water was fantastic, and the surf made for a great swim.

    Feeling like we had gotten some much needed exercise after a day in the car, we headed back into old town to find a good place to eat. Once again, dinner was first rate. Nice is a great place to walk around at night, with a lively stretch along the beach and promenade.

    Also pictured was the tiny elevator in our hotel, which had a nasa-style rocket launch countdown as you ascend. Laura was not amused.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    Mine was strawberry, Laura's honey
    How I feel after 2 hrs of traffic jam with no end in sight

    Heading to Avignon

    1 août 2017, France ⋅ ☀️ 93 °F

    Our time in Nice was over all too soon, and we started to pack up to hit the road. Before hopping in the car, we realized we hadn't yet had a single crepe in France, and headed back into old town to correct that.

    We saw the flower market (which is really more a farmer's market), and bought some fruit to snack on during our drive.

    Getting out of the city was a bit rough, as our GPS failed to perform, and the maze of one way streets compounded our confusion. It was slated to be a pretty quick drive, but we hit a terrible traffic jam -- they had closed the other side of a major highway due to a logging truck going over the railing and spilling it's cargo all over the road. It probably doubled our drive time, and we were both very much ready to get out of the car by the time we pulled in to Avignon -- it was beer o'clock.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur

    Night in Avignon

    1 août 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 90 °F

    Avignon is definitely one of our favorite places we've been to on the trip, and was worth enduring the traffic jam. The place we stayed at was impressive, and you never would have known looking from the outside. A small square building contained a long hallway that opened up into a beautiful courtyard, with stairs leading up to a few sets of rooms. Our room was very nice as well, and we admired the stonework and general sense of history it exuded.

    I really wanted to try some more French beers, so we stopped at an outside bar to sample one.

    We walked around the city, and to the end of the Point d'Avignon. Somehow the official mistook my "can we go in" gesture for "I'm doing a bad job of it, but I'm showing you my tickets", so we saved a couple Euros and got in for free.

    We found another great little restaurant outside for our dinner and wine, and just hung out there sipping on a rosé until we called it a night.    En savoir plus

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    Palais de Papes

    2 août 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 93 °F

    Before leaving Avignon, we hit the Palace of the Popes, which was one of the coolest places we've gone in on the trip. The history of its construction, it's inhabitants, and the sieges laid against it through the years were fascinating for both of us.

    They were also using the space for an exhibit for African art, which seemed fairly mismatched. We largely ignored it and focused our attention on the architecture, history, and artifacts.

    We probably spent a solid two hours there, and needed to hustle back to the hotel to grab our belongings and hit the road to head west for Bordeaux. Laura always wanted to run out of gas on the highway of a country where we don't speak the language, so I pushed our luck a bit to make her happy. We made it, but returning the car to the rental place tested our patience. Time for a glass of wine...    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    1

    Biking around Bordeaux

    3 août 2017, France ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    Spent our first day in Bordeaux leveraging the City bikes to get around and see the various points of interest, stopping here and there for lunch or a glass of wine.

    We managed to find that little trinket that we had been looking for as a souvenir for Laura, a pretty little handmade bracelet from a small shop we happened upon.

    We've seen lots of very cool cathedrals in Italy and France, and Bordeaux is no exception. The place we rented on Airbnb is a legit mansion, and definitely the nicest of the trip.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur

    Second dinner in Bordeaux

    3 août 2017, France ⋅ 🌙 72 °F

    After having eating roughly half the baguettes in France over the past few days, I was dying for a lower-carb, higher-protein meal, so we booked a reservation at 'La Tupina'.

    When we walked in and were greeted by the sight and smell of meats roasting over a wood fire, I knew we had picked the right place. We had ham, scallops, duck breast, and duck confit paired with a bottle of Bordeaux wine.

    For dessert, Laura had red berry sorbet, while I had a pour of 30 yr old Armagnac.

    Delicious.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    I feel a connection to this shop

    Bordeaux wine tour

    4 août 2017, France ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    We had time to kill before we needed to board the van that would take us out to the vineyards, so we hopped back on the bikes and rode up to a lake on the north end of Bordeaux and had lunch.

    Once it was time, we hopped on the bus and started the 45 minute drive out to Château de La Dauphine. Our driver and guide was impressively knowledgeable, so the drive itself was enjoyable and we learned a fair bit about the land, local winemakers, and business.

    At the Château/vineyard, we got to see the Château itself, which was a very old building that had been abandoned/looted and then restored by the previous owner. We walked over to a plot of the actual vines, and learned about the upkeep, growth, and harvest. This year many vineyards lost a sufficient portion of their yield due two days of frost, but the place we were touring only lost about 10%. Since then, the weather has been great, hot and dry (the vines should struggle for water), so it's looking like it'll be a good year if things continue for the next two months until it is time for harvest. They only have 10 people working the several hundred acre land year round, with another 50 seasonal workers for a three week harvest. They run an organic operation, so they're constantly on the lookout for disease or bug infestations to contain and prevent further spread.

    From there we moved on to where they press and ferment. They have a state of the art gravity fed system, which is very atypical for the region. They explained how the seeds and skins rise to the top, and they run the juice through it twice a day for ~three weeks, giving the wine it's color and tannins.

    Then we saw the barrel storage area, and learned about the different barrel vendors and toasting levels that are used.

    At the end of the process, they end up with 100,000 of their 'first wine' - the one they get to name after their Château, and another 50,000 of their 'second wine'.

    We finished off the tour with a game of trying to guess several vials of different extracts by smell. The correct answers were Strawberry, Smoke, Vanilla, and Cherry. We got two of four right (way off on Cherry, but super close on smoke -- we thought it was either smoke or tobacco). They served us a glass of their second and first wine, imparting the methods of viewing, nosing, and tasting them.

    We hopped back in the van and role to another, more modest Château. We tasted the grapes there, had another few glasses as well as some bread/cheese/meat/chocolate.

    Finally, we took a short trip to the nearby town of St. Emillion, named after a hermit monk and walked through the cathedral and town. The cobblestones were a bit treacherous after the wine, but we both made it without any new cuts or bruises.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    1

    Paris

    5 août 2017, France ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    Headed to Paris as the finale for Laura's leg of the trip. We got in too early to check in, so we dropped our bags at the hotel and started walking. We were only a few blocks from the iron lady, so we headed straight there to take it in. It was fun to watch all the other tourists jump around and do other silly things while posing for pictures. We kept ours pretty simple.

    We had a quick lunch, and headed on over to the arc de triumphe. Took us a while to figure out that you need to go underground to actually get to it. We watched the chaos of the heavy traffic of cars and busses going around roundabout, and then hopped on a hop on / hop off bus to see the other landmarks.

    We rode for a good ~90 minutes, before hopping off at the Louvre. Our sunscreen was still in the bags at the hotel, and we were starting to turn a little pink sitting in the sun, and the music selection on the bus was more than a little repetitive.

    Once we finished admiring the glass pyramids, we walked to Notre Dame, and then back to the hotel along the river, stopping for another crepe (cinnamon).

    We had champagne and dinner at a French restaurant near the hotel, which seemed like the perfect way to end the trip.    En savoir plus

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    Arrival in Bruxelles

    6 août 2017, Belgique ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

    Laura made her way to the airport, and I made my way to the train station. The theme of the morning for both of us was "Security Lines". Laura spent an eternity trying to get on her first flight due to the line, but mine was merely annoying. (She made it back to Madison just fine.)

    Once I got in to Brussels/Bruxelles, I had beer on the brain, so I stopped for lunch and a tall pour. Checking in to my place was challenging due to a language barrier and some cell phone issues, but it worked out in the end. The place I'm staying at is modern, and a sweet bachelor pad. It came with a fully stocked bar -- too bad I'll be focused on beers. I did a little bit of walking around, and had street food for dinner (with frites).

    Also found a pretty cool place called "taste this beer", which let you have about 20 small self serve pulls of various Belgian beers. It was an interesting concept, but their selection wasn't too exploratory. Still, talking with the owner was fruitful about where to go to buy/try, so it was worth the €15.

    We had gotten up earlier than normal, and I was feeling fairly exhausted -- it's been an active trip, so I went to bed early and slept for 14 hours. Feeling refreshed, it's time to go exploring.    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    1

    Bruxelles 2

    7 août 2017, Belgique ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    When I woke from my hibernation, I was immediately ready for breakfast, so I set out to get an authentic Belgian waffle. It was hot, and accidentally placed in a little bit of chocolate, which was the perfect amount of chocolate for me.

    I then started the attempt to get myself good and lost exploring the city. It didn't take long, and I saw tons of cool stuff when wandering the streets. The flowers come out in a few days at the Grand place, but other places in the city are already gearing up for it.

    I plopped myself in À la Bécasse for lunch and a flight of beers, and passed the afternoon sipping and reading.

    I'd hit all the major Belgian flavors this point, save moules + frites, do dinner was my chance to change that. When you don't understand any of the three languages on the menus, sometimes what you think is a tomato bisque really is a tomato with mayonnaise, pretty much my two least favorite foods. At least I got the mussels right!    En savoir plus

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  • Will HessEurope SabbaticalVoyageur
    1

    Don't let the rain hold you back

    8 août 2017, Belgique ⋅ 🌧 59 °F

    Forecast called for a rainy day, so I figured it was a perfect day to spend inside some of Brussels' many museums. Went to the Musée Old Masters Museum, the Musée Modern Museum, tge Musée Magritte Museum, and the new Musée Fin-de-Siècle Museum.

    It was a bit of a struggle, given that most things of interest were written in French or Dutch, but there were some helpful kiosks that gave history and context to some of the more major pieces.

    I had skipped breakfast, and by the time I got out of the museums, I was half starved. Lunch was at Moeder Lambic, offering up a selection of fantastic sour beers straight from the cask. I went home and read on the balcony while the rain came down, and once it abated, headed out to dinner at Nüetnigenough. They were completely packed, except for the tables outside. The waiter was reluctant to let me have one of them for fear of rain, but I insisted. The weather held, and the food was sublime.    En savoir plus

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    Happy Meyboom!

    9 août 2017, Belgique ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    Today is the day of the Mayboom planting, a delightfully odd tradition born from a dispute over the taxation of beer in the 13th century. Each year, a parade of giants, marching bands, ceremonial soldiers, and a large birch tree make their way into the Grand Place with much pomp and ceremony. Afterwards, the tree is carried through the city until it is planted.

    I spent a good while figuring out when and where it actually started, and then decided to just get a good spot in the Grand place to watch the finale.

    The branches and leaves are distributed to the crowd and along the route, primarily to women and girls. Happy Meyboom :)    En savoir plus

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