Tag: vacation

Eurotrip: Part 1 (Reims, Trier and Dinant)

Days 1 and 2: Flying in, Reims, Trier, and Dinant

The past couple of weeks I’ve been on blog-silence due to vacation! What a wonderful reason not to post–as opposed to laziness or worse–writer’s block! I took a vacation with Doug, my sister, Stephanie, and my parents!

Usually I’m great at sleeping on the plane. In the past I’ve taken a hefty snooze, and woken up in time to put on makeup and look stunning (okay, that might be an overstatement) when I step off the flight. I don’t know why, but this time I was unable to sleep so I was a bit cranky the first day or two of the trip. Sorry, family! My parents rented a car and after we got 5 suitcases and 5 people (!) to fit in a car about the same size as our Pontiac Vibe we hit the open road and headed towards Trier, Germany by way of Reims, France.

Reims would be the perfect French city to move to, IMO. I was met with a good mix of old and modern, the buildings were slightly more colorful than those in Paris, and many people spoke English but not too many–I wouldn’t be tempted to use it as a crutch the way it’s so easy to do in Paris, where the locals like to condescendingly answer my questions (posed in French) with an English reply. The size of the city was less intimidating, too.

The gorgeous cathedral where French kings were crowned.

My family tried their best to look like tourists. ;)

After a quick meal we hopped back in the car and made it to Germany in no time. Well, it felt like no time to me–I snoozed in the back seat with Stephanie and Doug. I am such an indecisive person. At first I wanted to be a renter my whole life and have people repair home problems for me, then I wanted to have a huge house with a huge fantasy-land backyard, and now I want to like in a cute row house like this one we saw in Germany:

How can you blame me, right?

Well, turns out our hotel wasn’t in Trier, but across the river in Trier-Zewen which was much smaller and MUCH less English-speaking. Or French-speaking for that matter. Ordering dinner was an adventure. Three of us played it safe and ordered “chicken.” We were surprised with an intact deep-fried half-chicken. Yowza. Doug and Stephanie ordered schnitzel, which contrary to my Sound of Music loving mind was not a pastry, or to those who dine at Weinerschnitzel, was not a hotdog. It was a huge breaded pork chop topped with red bell peppers (in Doug’s case) and mushrooms (in Stephanie’s case). The schnitzel was better than the chicken, in my opinion, but I’m not a pork fan so I don’t know if I could have eaten it all.

Our room was small but comfortable.

Trier itself claims the title of the oldest city in Germany and was very nice. It boasted an impressive cathedral (complete with ringing church bells, like you’d see in a movie) in a very different style than the one we’d seen the previous day:

And had some cute mideval-style architecture. When we got there the town was just waking up–most stores weren’t open and it was very quiet and sleepy.

After a bit of exploring in the drizzle, it began to pour so we high-tailed it back to the car and headed for Belgium. Since our time in Trier had been cut short by the downpour, we took a meandering path off our planned route to explore some smaller towns nestled up in the mountains of southern Belgium. We happed upon Dinant–which was so picturesque, built on the two banks of a river. In the past, it had been home to a castle but the castle had been burned down hundreds of years ago.

The foundations of the castle had become a fortress, and we took a sky tram up to the fortress where we were met with a mediocre collection of cannons and war memorabilia. They did have a cool old plane though, and the view from the top was killer–made the whole excursion worth it:

After a brief lunch we piled back into the car to make it to Bruges by the evening.

My next Eurotrip post will cover Bruges and Brussels, and my third will cover Paris! I’d like to do an overall wrap up of my impressions after that, so if you have any questions please feel free to ask! 

May Exercise Resolution

My favorite thing about the fact that it’s finally MAY is that now I can finally say we are going to Europe “NEXT MONTH!” Which is exciting, because it’s so soon but also a little sad because the trip will be here and gone before we know it. Additionally, I’m weighing the pros/cons of not blogging during the trip, or just doing photo dumps every few days, or what. Feel free to weigh in on that as well.

Fair warning: this post is about weight, and weight loss. If that scares/offends/triggers unhealthy reactions for you, please come back tomorrow or the day after for a more home-decor related post.

May also means that time is marching onward and I have not met my vacation weight loss goal (numbers: undisclosed) but in fact I gained two pounds since December. Two whole pounds, you say! Oh the humanity! I’ll just say that my weight is frustratingly consistent. I am extremely grateful that I do not gain, but frustrated that despite my best efforts I do not lose, either.

This morning as I bolted out the door with my “breakfast,” a cup of coffee (with milk, always) and a mini wheel of cheese, I thought of one of my favorite quotes from The Devil Wears Prada (love the movie, detest the novel).

It’s for Paris, I’m on this new diet. Well, I don’t eat anything and when I feel like I’m about
to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight. 

Well, I am going to Paris, but despite the evidence of my meager breakfast I am not on this particular diet. Let me state the obvious: it’s not healthy! 

I have made a last-minute May resolution: work out 5 days a week. Yikes. As one who rates exercise right down there with mopping the floor (our entire house is tile or wood, too), I don’t want to do it but it must be done. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up liking it. Yesterday I stairmastered my way through half an issue of Real Simple. Perhaps I can justify my magazine addiction by equating it with exercise motivation? Maybe?

As for my “diet,” I’ll let you in on a little secret. Lots of vegetables, some meat, and I could probably make real progress just by cutting out some bread and pasta, but who wants to do that?

Any tips for one who wants to diminish her “spare tire” in six weeks? 

St Louis (Early Anniversary Trip)

Our anniversary is coming up on the 20th, but due to the anticipated arrival of Doug’s co-worker’s baby, we decided to take the week before off so as not to cause drama at the lab.

We tried to save pennies by staying closer to home (7 hours is not that far) but ended up splurging for a boutique hotel (the Moonrise Hotel) that I found online and couldn’t resist. We did score a deal by buying two nights and getting one free. The third night (the free one) I probably slept better than I ever have! Haha.

The Moonrise Hotel exterior at dusk.

The first day we were there, we shopped the street the Moonrise is located on–the Delmar Loop. The street really isn’t a loop but with interesting stores and restaurants on both sides, it’s easy to walk up to one end and loop down on the other side. Our area reminded me of Hillcrest in San Diego and had lots of ethnic restaurants; something impossible to find in our town. At one of a few resale stores, I scored a pair of Coach tennis shoes for $24! Actually, it was perfect because I had forgotten a pair of good walking shoes. Providence!! At another store, Doug scored some retro swim trunks because the ones he had last summer seem to have mysteriously disappeared.

The shorts. Actually, he has a v-neck in each of these colors except orange. They go with everything!

The following day we slept in as long as possible–we ended up getting up around 10. We went over to downtown to see the Gateway Arch, but since I had ridden up in it as a child and Doug had done it in 2009, we decided not to spend our money in that way.

At the Arch. Shiny!

Instead, we found out that while the team is away, Busch Stadium offers tours! At first I was skeptical of the $10 cost–not cheap, especially considering that there are two of us, but the tour actually turned out to be one of our favorite parts of the trip. We learned some insider info, including that there’s a buffet section! They offer tickets that include a great seat and access to an all-you-can-eat buffet. The price depends on how popular the Cardinals’ opponent is and what day of the week the game is.

The buffet area was set up for a baseball-themed wedding reception. Cool!

During the tour we got to go in the radio press box, in the fancy area where the players eat after the game, on the field (had to stay off the grass) and in the dugout!! It was very cool, Doug was in sports heaven, and our tour guide was very funny.

On the field! It looks bigger from the stands.

Sunday, we went to the St Louis Zoo (free!) in the morning and drove a couple hours to my Grandma’s in Illinois for the afternoon and evening. Some of my other relatives were there and it was so good to spend time with the lesser-seen side of my family.

Monday, yesterday, sadly, was the day to make the 7 hour drive back home. Unfortunately due to hauling a couch gifted by my grandmother (she got a replacement and this one was lonely in her garage) we drove the truck, a manual shift. This means that poor Doug had to drive the whole time and it was my job to keep him in high spirits. Fortunately, even though it was raining through Missouri, everyone and everything made it back in great condition and we even shaved 30 minutes off the estimated trip time (according to TomTom).

It was so great to get away for an extra-long weekend.