No Waffling in Belgium

After a leisurely week on the Gullet it was time to get back to the business of being Senior Nomads. First on the list was continuing our efforts to get Russian Visas so we could visit that country before  heading back to Seattle in September. We had tried several different approaches while traveling  including pleas into the intercom box at the Russian Consulates in Paris, Prague and Budapest. We believe what they said in Russian was "Go Away".

How many times do I have to say no!

In reality we knew you had to apply from the US, and obviously that wasn't possible, but Russia was so tantalizingly close that we racked our brains for a solution. Then, Michael remembered there was a a fellow Seattle Rotarian named Bill Robinson who traveled to Russia often and sent him an email asking for advice. He recommended we contact a company in Seattle called Red Star Travel. Michael jumped on the case and connected with Albina Netchaeva, one of their visa specialists! It would require filling out forms and sending our passports (gulp!) back to Seattle for a couple of weeks for processing, along with a sizable check but we decided to go for it. 

It wasn't too difficult to be exiled for two weeks in the land of waffles, chocolate and beer!

Since we would be without passports for two weeks, so we decided to camp out in Belgium while we sent our passports home and waited for our visa applications to be processed. Besides, by taking an Airbinb in Brussels we could host our 5 year-old grand daughter Colette for a week during a school break and it was easy for Mary to deliver her from Paris.

Colette loving her first class train journey to Brussels and excited about delivering the FT to Grandpa!

Our first apartment was about a 15 minute walk from the center of the city. Our lovely hosts, Elsie  and Irena were a delightful couple. They lived just down the street from our place (Elsie's brother's apartment) and when we arrived invited us up for drinks and delicious appetizers while they shared their favorite parts of the city. In addition to their day jobs they host occasional dinner parties in their apartment for travelers who love food through this website:  bookalocal.com As a welcome for us they prepared small plates of salad made with diced green apples, cucumber and red onion tossed with yogurt and dill topped with melt-in-your-mouth smoked mackerel fillets. So simple and so delicious! Here's a link to our apartment: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1849048

Our lovely Brussels hosts, Elsie and Irena. They were the best!

We had two days before Coco's arrival so on the first day we took the free walking tour of the city to get oriented. That night,  Michael set his alarm for 1:00 am and got up to cheer on the US Women's soccer team as they beat Japan 5-2 in the final of the Women's World Cup from Vancouver. Later that morning he caught-up on his sleep while I shopped for kid friendly provisions and made a photo scavenger hunt on my phone at Brussels main square, the Grand Place. Our hosts arrived to fuss over  Colette's bedroom set-up and lent us a great a game to play - Tumbling Monkeys!

We played Tumbling Monkeys many times - if you have a 5 year old, get this game!

Coco and Mary arrived by train and we had an hour with Mary before she headed back to Paris. I was pleased Coco didn't seem at all concerned about her leaving and easily settled in with us. She did have one night where she truly did miss her mother and shed some tears and had a few hiccuping sobs, but after some excellent back rubs by grandpa she fell asleep and was up early the next day asking for Honey Nut Cheerios.

I had a great time creating photo scavenger hunts on my phone. This lovely goose was high up on a building.

This Royal pup was stitched on a pillow in a shop window.

On our first day together we headed to the city for our scavenger hunt. The next day Michael was able to visit the European Union Headquarters and visited the Parliamentarium, an interactive exhibition that explains the inter-workings of the EU. Admission is free and he recommends it for anyone interested in recent European history and current events.

Michael heading to the EU interactive exhibit, a highlight for him in Brussels.

Coco and I played in the park and had a fine day out. But mostly we wanted to get home to play Tumbling Monkeys, the card game Happy Families and put the jigsaw puzzle together with Grandpa. If it sounds like I was in "Mooma Heaven" that would be true.

Fun at the royal park - nothing like a little fountain spray on a hot day.

The puzzle masters at work!

Soon it was time to pack up and catch the train to Antwerp where we had booked our second week in Belgium. This time, the rest of Coco's family would join us for a few days. Because there would be seven of us, we rented what looked like a fairly large and lovely house. Having said that, I may have fallen in love with it without fully understanding the layout. Here's the link: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4733497

Me standing in front of our latest Airbnb - the narrowest house in Antwerp.

Michael taking the half empty bags upstairs. Most everything else was taken up bit by bit.

With Colette in tow, Michael and I opened the front door and discovered, as our host proudly shared with us that we had rented "the narrowest house in Antwerp!" I knew the minute we walked in there would be serious challenges ahead. It truly was narrow, only 8 feet wide by four stories tall. That turned out to be 78 tight and winding stairs to navigate several times a day by tiny humans ages 1, 3, and 5, their parents and two Senior Nomads with hip and feet issues -all with no banister along the last open stretch to the main floor. And even though we were hoping Jacques might take his first steps while he was with us, we also didn't want his first one to be his last.

This was taken as the Mary's family were leaving, thankfully all in one piece!

When we weren't concerned with safety hazards we could appreciate the quirkiness of the house. It opened directly onto a pedestrian-only shopping street that made for a great play area (when it wasn't raining) and it felt like we were living in Antwerp 100 years ago. Except 100 years ago the alley behind the house wasn't covered in really cool graffiti. I quickly made another scavenger hunt that Marcel could master along with Colette. They both had eagle eyes!

The alley around the corner was perfect for another scavenger hunt!

Here's the first image of about 20 for the kids to find!

This was Marcel's favorite.

 Antwerp is an easy walking city and we found some great "dragon houses" as Marcel calls churches - and we even found a giant statue featuring several fire breathing dragons, a severed head and arm, a frog and savage women with water spewing from their mouths. Everything a three year old boy could ask for.

Climbing on the scary dragon statue in the rain.

Mary had been here before and had a few places she wanted to revisit including a take-away restaurant called Chips. Now the Belgians would argue there are no "French" fries and that in fact that delicacy was first created in Belgium. Chips is one of the finest preveyors of this deep fried dellicasy in the city so we loaded up with enough to feed twenty people along with seven different dipping sauces and called it dinner.

we devoured five  of these "small orders" of fries. Enough to fill a kitchen sink!

Jacques had the best vantage point for our long walk to the port.

The puzzle team hard at work.

Just outside the door was a great place to kick the ball with Grandpa.

Having survived "The crazy house" as Colette called it for three days, it was time for Mary's family to catch the train back to Paris. Michael and I still had a few days left in Antwerp. We'd heard from Red Star back in Seattle that our visas had been issued and that our passports were on their way back - Nostrovia!

Our precious passports returned. Thank you FedEx!

Russian visas secured! Now we could plan our trip.

The next day I spent an afternoon at the famous Antwerp Zoo. It was a lovely place to spend a summer afternoon - but once you've seen the Woodland Park in Seattle it's hard to appreciate anything else. The next Belgian experience had to be a dinner of Moules Frites. Mussels with French (Belgian Fries) a national specialty. As a seasoned traveler, I knew not to seek this dish on the main tourist routes - but even on the back streets this simple meal cost $25.00 at a minimum. I had a better solution - make it at home with local ingredients. A fine result was had with $7.00 worth of ingredients - it was a Senior Nomad moment.

I arrived just in time for the hippos to have lunch!

Speaking of hungry hippos ... my home cooked mussels were the best.

On our last day we took the train to Bruges. This city was almost too perfect - sweet canals dotted with swans and weeping willows reaching from their banks as if to take a drink. Beautiful brick-row houses proudly wearing their construction dates from the 1600's. Horse drawn carriages clip-clopping on the cobbles, traditional Belgian waffles with burnt sugar edges - and a 50% off sale at H&M. An excellent day out.

Continuing the eating theme - that would be my decadent Belgian Waffle on the left. Michael's on the right.

Back in Antwerp Michael headed to the Fedex pick-up facility and returned with our precious passports complete with our newly minted Russian Visas. We have several Eastern European stops before arriving in Moscow and St. Petersburg next month. Learning more about recent history of this part of the world has been fascinating, and Michael often says "we're taking a graduate course in 20th Century European History".

When we are done with this next month of travel we will have earned one of these!

Our next stop would be Cologne, Germany for a two day "pit stop" as we moved further down the game board towards Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova before exploring Mother Russia. 

Thanks for following along!

Debbie and Michael
The Senior Nomads

Oh Say can you Sea! Celebrating the 4th of July Along the Balkan Coast.

Our starting point. The UNESCO Heritage City of Kotor, Montenegro.

It was time for a break! A week aboard a boat where someone else would set the course, prepare the meals, drop the anchor and refresh the beverages over the 4th of July holiday sounded perfect.

This diversion came about when Michael was searching for an Airbnb boat option in Montenegro. When he couldn't find one he went surfing and up popped Experience Montenegro, a British tour company that specialized in affordable cruising in Montenegro and Croatia. For just a bit more than our Airbnb budget we could spend seven days on a Gullet (a Turkish made boat that sort of looks like a whaling schooner), cruising the Montenegrin and Croatian coastline with a cozy cabin including breakfast, and either lunch or dinner, depending on where we anchored. Ours was "The Jewels of the Adriatic" cruise that began in  Kotor, Montenegro and then made several stops in Croatia including Cavtat, Sipan, Dubrovnik and Herceg Novi, returning to Montenegro via Bigova, Perast and finally back to Kotor. Take a look at some of our stops.

 St. George's Island near Perast, Monetegro - the most beautiful village we visited.

Devouring our daily ice cream while taking in the scenery in Hercig Novi.

Sunset in Bigova reminded me of nights at anchor in the San Juan Islands.

We would be sharing this adventure with three other couples whom we didn't know - but that can be half the fun. Or half the nightmare.

Living in Seattle, surrounded by water, almost any occasion can be celebrated on a boat. Birthdays, anniversaries, office parties, etc. The usual itinerary includes at least a four hour cruise around Puget Sound or through the Ballard Locks into Lake Washington to ogle Bill Gates sprawling estate, and of course lots of alcohol and a fairly predicable buffet. My first reaction when invited to one of these potential all day excursions is to conjure up an immovable commitment. It’s not that I don’t love being on the water - Michael and I happily shared our sailboat boat for twenty years, the problem, at least for me, is mingling in tight quarters with strangers without an opportunity to gracefully back out the door when you’ve had enough.

Du Zamani boat mates, Doug, Jackie, Michael, Wendy and Graham

We could always seek refuge in our very comfortable cabin.

In this case - our boat mates turned out to be more than delightful. Our companions included Graham and Wendy from North Wales and Doug and Jackie from Dorset, England (the other couple had cancelled - which was a blessing) so it was just us two Americans and four Brits! Our two-man crew, Skipper and chef, Mishu and Meri, director, deck hand, navigator, and chief entertainer. They were funny, friendly, laid back and very capable.

Our trusty crew - Mishu, skipper and chef and Meri, everything else!

Meri was great fun and kept us distracted from any challenges.

When we arrived there was some confusion about which of the two boats sitting next to each other in the marina was the one we'd be sailing on. It turned out there was a surplus of guests who booked the "Jewels of the Adriatic" cruise, so a smaller boat was brought in that could accommodate the 8 overflow guests. We were on that boat. An initial side-by-side comparison made our Gullet look a little shabby, but after a week shadowing the bigger boat with their full contingent of 12 on board, we were very happy with Dus Zamani, our "Little Gulet that Could". She wasn't fast, but she was comfortable and certainly not over crowded. We also learned that these boats don't actually sail, which was disappointing, but if we had sailed, I doubt we'd have gone half the distance.

Our boat anchored just off Dubrovnik, one of the best stops on the cruise.

 We almost didn't have the fun of getting to know Doug and Jackie - they had booked the "Highlights of Montenegro" cruise but the company (not the most organized we discovered) failed to inform them that cruise didn't have enough takers and was cancelled - so now they were taking this trip instead. The news was delivered on-board before departure by a over-smiling, bumbler of a company representative who "hoped they were okay with that?" He apologized for the mix-up of course, but the good news was "they would not be charged the extra cost of this unexpected (but lucky them) upgrade". We knew we'd love these two when they shrugged and said "why not? We're on a boat and you lot (that would be the rest of us) don't seem too bad". I don't know many people that would do that. This would be the first of many running jokes about the tour company and how they operate, mostly around over-promising and under delivering. If this inspires you to take a trip like this, there are many companies that provide similar experiences - I wouldn't necessarily recommend ours, but here's the link:  http://www.montenegroholidays.com/gulet-cruises. 

Two happy Senior Nomads!

This was very close to a clothing optional excursion. Lucky we had these handsome men aboard!

A challenge that could have caused mutiny was the food. You know I love to cook and some of my happiest memories are from puttering in the galley on Butterscotch, so I had visions of being served freshly caught fish on the grill, juicy fruit, light salads, and interesting Mediterranean specialties all prepared by someone else while I was deep into a book. That was not to be the case. Our poor skipper and harried cook, Mishu did his best - but the daily menus were set by the dreary tour company in England and the provisions were already on board. We knew we were in trouble with the first breakfast - fleshy pink hot dogs, hard boiled eggs, mystery white cheese and slabs of white bread, all washed down with a mysterious "orange" juice. Or on other days bright "pink" juice.

The happy passengers enjoying lunch together. And look at all those clothes!

 Most of the meals were heavy and felt a bit institutional. I mean, who serves a hot soup course, followed by pork chops and mashed potatoes for lunch in 90 degree weather? In a fit of defiance Mishu bought ingredients out of his own pocket and made us Black Risotto from Cuttlefish ink that is one of his specialties - and made sure we had fresh watermelon for the 4th of July. Otherwise, we bought our own fruit and snacks onshore and enjoyed dinner or lunch on our own. I did take over the galley one afternoon to make Strawberry and Blueberry Shortcake for a 4th of July celebration.

Eventually I did share the watermelon.

Doing the best I can to make shortcakes from what was in the larder.

The final results for all to share and a rousing rendition of our national anthem. 

The wine and beer seemed to be in endless supply, along with soft drinks and water, so the six of us were relaxed and sun-dazed, and merrily went along with whatever was brought to the table and wherever we were taken.

Mishu extracting ink from a cuttlefish for his special black risotto.

Mishu's fingers were stained for two days - but it was worth it.

The final results: Cuttlefish Ink Risotto. A memorable dish.

One final challenge. We usually anchored out and Meri would take us to shore in two batches in the dinghy and then collect us when we were done dining and exploring. That worked well until the dinghy motor died a shuddering death. From then on we had to use our big sister ship's tender when we could - or we'd raft along side the bigger ship and crawl over both decks to shore. 

The yellow boat was the larger sister on the same cruise from the same company.

We encountered many mega-yachts on this trip. Here's a harbor blocker at 150'.

In the end,  not having a dinghy turned out to be a good thing - the "rats on the ship" as we called ourselves, convinced the crew to skip a couple of stops that required going ashore so we could spend more time in tranquil bays where we could swim and relax.

Having a fine day in the sun as we slowly make our way back down the coast.

The water was cold and refreshing. Unfortunately, the snorkelers in the group saw more junk than fish.

Doug and Graham toasting to whatever might be appropriate at the time.

After and hour of fishing this was my reward. He went directly in the soup pot.

I don't need to go too much deeper - especially since most of our daily journal entries included notes like: Read most of the day, napped, Played dominoes and card games, ate too much (even though dinner was weird). Caught a small fish. Went ashore in (insert stunning coastal village here), ate ice cream. Or ... don't remember. Who could ask for more? And again, the good news is we loved the people we shared these languid seven days with and hope to visit them in the future. 

Domino dominating the game table. Graham apparently doesn't like his hand.

Personally, we shall not seek independence from these particular Brits.

Thanks for following along,

Debbie and Michael
The Senior Nomads