Beer, Waffles, and Chocolate- The Perfect Trifecta!

Back from an adventure in Belgium this past weekend.

First, meet Angela, one of my new travel buddies. I have a sneaking suspicion that she's a leading contender to be a regular travel buddy. We had a great time together despite the unfortunate weather you'll hear about shortly!

Angela spent the last 3 years in Barcelona, but is originally from New York.
She's teaching 2nd grade at ASM.

We arrived in Brussels Friday night and we're so happy to see that our hotel (Thanks Cece!) was gorgeous and directly across from the train station. Since it was raining, this was a plus!

The next morning we headed out to Bruges, about an hour away by train. Note to all future travelers...there are train discounts on the weekends, but they don't automatically come up on the kiosks. You have to search the weekend rates on the machines. Somehow this seems like an issue I'd expect to find in Italy, but not in countries I deemed more strict in their supposed organization. Belgium- 1, Carrie and Angela- 0. 

Found this little gem on the Coke machine in the Brussels Airport. Love, love, love.

We spent a gorgeous Saturday in Bruges. We did the short canal tour, which while fun, it was difficult to understand the guide. He spoke at least three languages, told everyone who was wearing a hat he loved it, and muffled everything he said into the microphone. Oh well. Chalk some things up to experiences and leave it at that.

walking into Bruges main square

frites! which originated in Belgium, not France.

After the canal tour, Angela and I headed off on our own. We wandered out to some windmills that edge the town. And I bet you thought those were only in the Netherlands. Well, you and I were both wrong!

Look, someone besides me who will take crooked pictures!

While at the windmills, I was ridiculously humored by a pair of women who were clearly posing for glamour shots. Hopefully, they weren't sightseeing, by my instincts tell me that they were, in fact, tourists.

Mind you, it was a little chilly. 

After all that excitement, we headed for a place called The Old Chocolate House. I had read on Trip Advisor that they had some pretty amazing hot chocolate. I was skeptical because last year I ordered a hot chocolate in a nearby Italian town and a cup of melted chocolate was delivered. It was by no means drinkable. So, I decided to cross my fingers and hope for a better experience. Oh. My. Goodness. The hot chocolate was spectacular. They deliver a mug of hot milk and a chocolate cup with bits of your chosen chocolate inside. You pour in your own chocolate and whisk it up. YUM!!!

No words. 

Next up was a brewery tour at the De Halve Maan brewery. It concluded with a beer at the end, so it sounded like an excellent idea.

There were 4 Henri Maes in the family before one had a daughter. She had a son.
So, the brewery is operated by the same family, but the names have changed!

one of the beers brewed at this factory

We moved on to a couple other bars later in the day, both of which ('t Brugs Beertje and 't Poatersgat) we'd recommend for beer, but probably not for food. That seemed to be one recurring difficulty in Belgium. The bars didn't seem to serve quite as many food options as we were used to so by the end of Saturday we hadn't eaten anything but breakfast and a basket of fries.

Pickle chips. 3 bags. Dinner.

There are a lot less pictures of the next day and a half in Brussels. That's probably because it rained, was windy and cold. Bleh. Our solution was to stay inside and there weren't a ton of museums or things to do that interested us, so we went from bar to bar and chocolate store to waffle maker exploring the culinary delights. We explored the Horta House museum, which was a cool example of a house filled with art nouveau touches, but it wasn't worth the €8 entrance cost. 

Mural outside the Metro station in an art nouveau style...
Was reminded of one I saw in Paris in a similar vein.

We had a beer at the Moeder Lambic bar (cool, modern, just okay during the day) then went to Mokafe for a waffle. It wasn't all dressed up like the waffles from the cheaper corner joints, but it was fairly delicious. Next, we were off to A La Mort Subite. I was greatly humored by all the street names in French that I had no idea how to pronounce. This old school bar was on a street I delightfully named "Mountains of Herbed Potatoes."

please note the actual street name

my waffle, with its chocolate dipping sauce

We also checked out the Delirium Cafe. I'm not quite so sure what the fuss is all about when it comes to this place. On Sunday, it was still raining and we headed out for breakfast and had an open faced omelette at Arcadi Cafe. We wandered about another part of the city and found the Royal Palace of the Belgian King. I wonder if he feels disappointed that the crowds don't gather outside his place like they do for Queen Elizabeth in London.

The Royal Palace

The rain was a real drag. It was coming down sideways and making it annoying to be outside and take pictures. I was determined to get a few though to capture the experience. Here's a few other sights along our rainy walk.

Barbed wire barricades set up and ready to go-
I guess this EU city is always ready for a good protest!

The Art Nouveau stylings of the Museum of Musical Instruments

I thought this clock was pretty cool. 

Then we decided it was time to shop for more chocolate and have a few more Belgian beers before we headed back. 

my weekend in beer- the Mort Subites were my favorite!

Despite the rain, I had a great time in Belgium. It was country #21 for me and I'm excited to see the list continue to grow. I'm off to present at a technology conference at the International School of Turin tomorrow and then looking forward to a relaxing weekend of getting caught up on a lot of things, including cleaning my apartment and reading my book (We're reading "A Tale for the Time Being" by Ozeki) for our upcoming book club meeting.

As always, I love hearing from those of you that read my blog. I'm especially appreciative of those who are willing to leave a comment here on my Blogger site! ; )

Year 3...And So It Began

Here we are four weeks into the school year and I've never been busier at ASM. I arrived back to Milan just about 5 weeks ago now, the same day as our 17 new teachers arrived. This year I wasn't helping out with the Orientation committee, but I love helping others get situated and learn the ins and outs of living here so I tried to be involved and get to know them. I've been lucky to make some new friends and am excited to get to know them better in the coming months.

Here's the 2013-2014 ASM Staff!

All of our elementary teachers received a new Dell laptop this fall and, this, in combination with challenging them to start right away integrating technology, kept me running at full speed the first three weeks of school. I feel like things are finally starting to settle into place and that I'm able to start focusing on some of the other projects I'd like to see happen in our classrooms. We purchased a cart of Windows 8 tablets and I worked to introduce them to our students through an International Dot Day project. You can see our work on my school website.

In addition to all of the work craziness, a few of us thought it would be a good idea to start a book club. I had been attending an English speaking book club in the city, but wasn't loving the conversations or book selections, so this was the solution. We met this past week to talk about Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed, which overall received high praise from our group.

Not much else is happening here, just life like everywhere else. We are planning a few trips for our upcoming long weekends...Brussels and Bruges, Belgium in October, an agriturismo outside Siena at the beginning of November, and Barcelona, Spain for Thanksgiving. I'm so excited for Barcelona. It's been on my list since my high school trip there dropped it off our itinerary.

Who's coming to visit this year? Southern Italy is still on my travel list, so I'd love to explore the region with some familiar faces!

But all is well here in Milan. So many have asked what I'm doing at the end of this year and the answer is fairly plain and simple. I just don't know. But, in the next few months a decision will have to be made.

Milan's Duomo...always beautiful!

Somebody's Having a Birthday!

I had a great few weeks at home this August. I spent lots of time with friends and family and Aunt Joni flew to Savannah while I was there to spend time with all of us.

Ladies' lunch at The Olde Pink House

My friends, Christy and Keith, were planning to celebrate Hudson's first birthday while I was home and I offered to make the cake. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun, and I wanted to share some of the pictures and highlights from the experience.

Christy wanted a cake in the shape of a one with primary color polka dots. I set off to try and make fondant for the first time, which I thought had about a 10% chance of working out. But, after several laughing moments with hands covered in sticky marshmallows and sugar (even though I rubbed Crisco all over my hands first), I had the fondant made. It's a shame there's no pictures of this part of the fun because it was quite hysterical! The trick would then be getting the fondant on the cake.

two batches of buttercream wasn't enough- I made a 3rd the next day

I cut the one after two margaritas! Not bad, not bad!

Rolling the fondant

Success! Mom and I laid it over our arms and draped it on the cake.

Mom and Aunt Joni were responsible for all the colored fondant cut outs!

the finished product!

Smash cake!

What a cutie!
Happy 1st Birthday Hudson!

I think that was my first and last attempt at that cake! Don't mess with success!

Ireland, again!

After moving in the Milan heat in late July, it was time to head back to Ireland for the Apple Distinguished Educator conference. I loved Ireland when Mom and I went earlier in the summer, so I was super happy to go back!

Instead of heading to Dublin, I was off to Cork and it proved much more difficult to get to than many other destinations! I flew out Saturday night from Milan and received word that my flight from London to Cork had been cancelled. So I spent the night in a Heathrow hotel and was put on a flight to Shannon, Ireland the next morning. Funny, I wasn't trying to get to Shannon. Once we arrived in Shannon, they put us on a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Cork. Hmmmmm....not exactly how I intended to get to my destination.

But, it all worked out in the end. The bus dropped us off at the Cork Airport, where I found a group of ADEs waiting for the shuttle to the resort. There were a bunch on non-smiling, non-talking men so I made friends with a bubbly blonde that looked like good company, and I was right! Lauren and I spent a lot of time together in Cork, so it was great that we met right from the start!

Lauren lives and works in London

Most of the week was spent working on Apple programs I have no idea how to use. But, I wasn't alone, thankfully. I have so much to learn. The resort was really nice, the food was heavy and plentiful, and the beer was, usually, free. (Though they did take that away one night after a broken flip flop led to a cut on the head, a hospital visit and several stern looks for those involved- and no, it wasn't me!)

Our little group from the ADE conference...
Back- John, Lauren, Marc, Shwa
Front- Me and Siobhain

Anyways, the week ended and I had an extra day before heading to the States. I had booked a room at a B&B in Cork and spent the day with another ADE waiting on his fiance to arrive from New York. We wandered Cork and found lunch at this great market and took the advice of two local ladies and hopped on the bus to Kinsale, a town on the coast. We walked to a local fort and savored some Irish cider while enjoy the view.

Kinsale Harbor

Playing with all the Hipstamatic lenses and films I bought during the week.

Charles Fort

Who doesn't like "Candy Floss"???

Shwa, showing off our last purchase in Kinsale

Next up, USA!!

Moving into Milano!

Between all my trips this summer, I spent a week in Milan moving into the city. I had been living in Opera, a suburb, but my favorite neighbors Kate, Simon and Tegan were all moving home so it felt like it was time to make a change. I feared staying in Opera, wishing for another year as wonderful as I had had previously, and thought it best not to have such high expectations.

Several people from our school were leaving, so I scouted apartments in the city early on. The apartment that I chose belonged to our Upper School counselor, Virginia, who was moving to Dubai. It is small, but has lots of charm, and despite its size, actually has more storage space than my bigger apartment did in Opera. It's located two metro stops from the Duomo, the heart of the city, and it's right along the tram line that takes me to school.

Here are some pictures!

Living room, with cute niches for displaying stuff!

View the other way...I've put a smaller chair in the place of the one in the corner now.

small breakfast bar...ooh, a microwave!
After two years without, I was given one (thanks Lisa!) so I happily accepted!

kitchen
This kitchen has an oven, which not every apartment does! What would I do without an oven?!?!?!

From front door- dining table to right, kitchen on left.

There's a bathroom between the front and back halves of the apartment.

My armoire holds all my shoes. That's good and bad...since it's full,
it means that I have to get rid of some before buying more~

the back room of my apartment has a set of stairs up to the bed

The most amazing stairs/closet I have even seen!
Every set of steps has a hanging bar and drawers! 

My bed is up in a loft. You can't stand up all the way.
Please excuse the messy bed! Have you ever tried to make a bed in a loft like this? : P

view from the bed down to the "closet"

Shout out to Ann and Sean for helping me move! I couldn't have done it without you!