To the Bruges!

The Basilica of the Holy Blood By Night

Yesterday was a travel day.  We slept in and bid farewell to a Luxembourg that was finally starting to come alive after the holidays.  But first, we had to stop at the Notre Dame Cathedral.  It was breathtakingly beautiful in a very understated way.  The columns were all carved stone; the tapestreys that covered the walls looked like they dated back to the 1500s; and the stained glass windows were simply divine.

It was a four hour train ride from Luxembourg to Bruges, with a change in Brussels.  We took advantage of a short layover to grab some hot chocolate (mine was white hot chocolate and it was amazing).  We got into Bruges at 4:00 p.m. only to find that the rain had beat us here.  Luckily though, it had mostly passed by the time we arrived and we only had to deal with a slight drizzle.

Bruges is unlike any city I've ever been to.  There's this kind of dreary yet mystical air to it that's very difficult to describe to anyone that hasn't experienced it for themselves.  I like the way that Kati described it best.  She said that it "feels Gothic."  After settling into our hotel - Martins Brugge - we grabbed our first Belgian beers from the John Martin brewery.  There was a strawberry lambic, a brown, and a brown scotch ale.  The lambic was by far both of our favorites.

By the time we finished our beers, it was well into the evening and we walked around exploring a little bit.  We stopped into the Markt for some Gluhwein and to peruse the shops before taking a stroll along the canal and killing a little time before dinner.

Me at Den Dijver

Our dinner was to die for.  We ate at Den Dijver, a gastronomic beer extravaganza.  The chef is world-renowned for his cooking.  He finds inspiration in different Belgian beers and then pairs the dish with the Belgian beer that inspired it.  Before the meal, they served us an apperitiv and a really light celery soup.  My first beer was a white ale made specially for the restaurant and Kati's was a cherry lambic that was to die for.  Kati started with mussels in a beer broth (paired with a blonde) that was really good.  The highlight of her meal though, was the main course, dory with eggplant and zucchini (paired with another blonde).  She finished up with a chocolate brownie with beer ice cream and a very good stoout.  I started with an incredible plate of quail with brussels in a celery sauce (paired with the breathtaking Rodenbach Grand Cru).  My main dish was phesant with pears and chicory (paired with a smooth brown ale).  Hilariously, when I was finishing the last of my phesant I bit down on...wait for it...a lead pellet from the shotgun that killed it.  Finally, I finished up with a creme brule (paired with an amazing dark beer).  It was hands down one of the best meals that I've ever had in my life!

After a leisurely three-hour gastronomic experience, we tried to stop in for a final beer, but found that most of the bars on my list of "must hits" were already closed for the night.  We settled for going to "The Pub" simply because it had an extensive beer list.  Kati got a glass of Bush (Belgian Bush...which is much better than American Bush) and I got a glass of the dark St. Bernardus 12.  We met some two very fun English couples from Birmingham, but had to turn in after our beers so we would have enough energy for our big day and New Year's Eve celebrations.

The Great Luxembourg Tour

Our big day in Luxembourg started at 8:00 a.m....well, mine did.  While Kati was getting ready, I set out into the city by myself to look for breakfast.  The city was deserted.  I was seriously the only person in the old town, save the Luxembourgish guard standing at attention outside of the Grand Ducal Palace.  The empty city was eerily beautiful through the soft drizzle.  Sadly, I couldn't find an open bakery to save my life, and we had to skip breakfast.

I was pretty nervous about the rest of the day because it was the first time that I had ever rented a car in a foreign country.  Luckily, I planned ahead and took a good roadmap of the country and I had a trusty navigator.  The car situation could not have worked out better.  The hotel owns two cars that the rent out to guests for cheap.  As an added benefit, the cars are already insured, so we didn't have to jump through any hoops to get international insurance.

It turns out that driving over here and finding your way is much easier than I had expected.  In fact, I like it a lot more than driving in the States because there's much less to remember.  We had the whole day ahead of us, so we decided to replicate our favorite day in Montenegro and go on a "Great Tour of Luxembourg."  (Though, without Georgi, our incredible Montenegrin guide that made our trip so much fun)

Our first stop, was the American Military Cemetery in Hamm, just outside of Luxembourg City.

Luxembourg, as the site of the Battle of the Bulge, is the logical place to have a large military cemetery.  I've never been to a military cemetery before.  It was a surreal experience.  It was exactly how I picture Arlington National Cemetery, but smaller.  The true highlight of the cemetery is the fact that General Patton is buried there.  For me, however, the most moving experience was seeing the graves for the unknown soldiers, marked with a cross that read "Here Rests in Honored Gory a Comrade in Arms Known But to God."  Even walking around a cemetery with a few thousand graves, it's impossible to  not feel the weight of the incomprehensible magnitude of World War II and the unfathomable loss of life that resulted.

After the cemetery we headed off for the Moselle Valley - the stop that I was most excited about.  The Moselle Valley is the smallest wine region in the world but includes parts of Luxembourg, Germany, and France.  The Luxembourg side of the Moselle Valley is famous for its white wines and especially for its sparkling wines (cremants).  Unfortunately for us, even though there are dozens of vineyards in the Moselle Valley, almost all of them were closed for the winter.  Luckily, I had done my research ahead of time, so we didn't waste time looking for open wineries.

The Moselle Valley is truly incredible, even in the winter.  The "Route du Vin" (Wine Road) runs the entire length of the valley right along the river that separates Luxembourg from Germany.  There are no huge towns.  Instead, there are just little villages, built on the hills, every 5 km or so.  The vineyards must have outnumbered the houses in the valley two-to-one.  Even though there were no grapes left on the vines, they were really impressive.

The only true winery that we stopped at was Poll-Fabaire in Wormeldange.  If we could only see one winery, I'm glad it was Poll-Fabaire.  They let us taste just about everything.  In terms of white wines, the three uniquely Luxembourgish wines are Rivaner, Ebling, and Auxerrois.  I've had several Auxerrois wines on our trip and they've all been fantastic.  The bartender at Poll-Fabaire, however, advised us to pass on the Rivaner and Ebling because they're just table wines and there are much better wines in the country.  We had an amazing Riesling, but the true highlight was the cremants.  Typically, when you're picking out a sparkling wine you have very limited options - brut, dry, and maybe a rose.  Here, the world of cremants is wide open.  We tried a Riesling cremant that was to die for, a Chardonnay cremant that Kati loved, and a Pinot Noir cremant that was truly divine.  Unsurprisingly, we stocked up on wines at the store.  (While getting so many wines sounded like a great idea at the time, my back is regretting that decision now.)

After the winery, we set out for to find a spot that I had picked out for lunch.  Ander Tourelle is a restaurant near Remich, right on the Route du Vin, that came highly recommended and had a great wine list.  I had done my research to confirm that it was open and to find the address.  My research, however, turned out to be flawed on both counts.  We spent about an hour driving around the valley looking for this place to no avail.  The trip was fun though, we got to see a bunch of vineyards, some incredible houses, and we passed through Schengen several times.  Schengen is a city in the southeastern corner of Luxembourg where Luxembourg, Germany, and France all meet.  It's famous as the place where the Schengen Agreement - establishing modern travel arrangements around Europe for European citizens, among other things - was signed.  In fact, the agreement was signed on a boat that they anchored in the middle of the river, right at the intersection of the three countries.  Finally, we broke down and asked some locals how to find Ander Tourelle.  They pointed us to completely different village than the one listed on the restaurant's website.  At that point, we found it easily, though when we did it was closed.

By the time we made it to the closed restaurant, we were both starving, so the hotel restaurant next door benefitted from our misfortune.  Lunch ended up being a bit pricier than we had anticipated, but it was pretty good.  We successfully stumbled our way through a meal where the menu had no English and the wait staff spoke very little English.  Kati got some shrimp scampi that was rather good and I got an (overcooked) cut of beef with the most incredible cabbage side that I've ever eaten.  We finished our meal off with a local luxury, lemon sorbet doused in a beautiful cremant.  (They tried to get us to substitute vodka for the cremant, but we declined)

After lunch, we decided to see the rest of the country, so we set off up the Route du Vin.  The scenery on the drive was stunning.  We got to experience what it's like to live in Luxembourg as we drove through countless villages and stopped off in a local supermarket to buy some more cremants.  We were in luck because they were doing tons of wine tastings in the grocery store.  Of course we partook and tasted some more fabulous cremants from a few of the vineyards that were closed for the season. We also grabbed two bottles of St. Martin's wines.  I wish that we could have stopped at the Caves du St. Martin.  It's one of the oldest vineyards in the Moselle Valley and their tasting room is built into the caves where they age and store their cremants.  But, like so many other vineyards, they were closed for the season, and they weren't willing to give the two of us a private visit.  Oh well.

Our intermediate destination was a city called Echternach, known for its quaint town square and the largest basilica in Luxembourg.  Along the way, somehow, we accidentally wound up in Germany.  We're not really sure when or how that happened, but we definitely came back into Luxembourg right before we entered Echternach.  The village was amazing.  First, we stopped at a stunning little church in the countryside on the outskirts of the village.  I thought that was great, but when we found our way into the city, it was even better.  The basilica lived up to the hype, as did the city.

Our final stop on our tour was in the northern city of Vianden.  We drove all the way up there just to see a castle that I've heard cannot be missed.  While we got there too late to visit the castle (it closes at 4:30 p.m.), it exceeded our expectations.  It was like something out of a fairy tale and we got there right at dusk.

Once we made it back to Luxembourg City, we went to dinner at Chiggari.  It is quite the unusual place.  It's tucked away in a very old house on a small side street in the heart of the old town.  The first floor is a beer garden and bar while, on the third floor, there is an old-school salon and a gourmet restaurant.  The restaurant looks very "tribal."  The walls are orange and black hand-painted designs and from the ceiling hang the frame of an old canoe and a bunch of decorated beams that look like, in another life, they traveled the world on a magnificent ship.  Chiggari has the best wine list in the country (it was even in the Guinness Book of World Records).  In fact, their sommalier has been recognized as one of the best in all of Europe.

Chiggari has a chef's menu, so we had a four-course meal of the chef's choice.  It was divine.  We started with what I would call the original wine cooler - a cremant mixed with sparkling water and a twist of lime.  The first course, a creamed celery soup with pecans in it, was followed with a perfectly roasted foie gras coupled with a heavenly fig marmalade.  Our main course was some sort of French white fish in two-tiered breaded "boat" and for dessert we had a chocolate ganache, cherries soaked in brandy, and a traditional ice cream cake-like dish from Alise.  The sommolier also paired wines with each of the dishes.  We had an incredible Luxembourgish pinot gris to match our foie gras and finished the meal off with a surprise - a muscato wine that both of us actually liked.  We were shocked.  I've tried muscato wines from many places and I hate all of them.  But this one wine from Spain paired with the dessert so well that we couldn't help but admire it.

After dinner, we took a walk down to the Chemin de la Corniche, known as the most beautiful balcony in Europe because it overlooks Grund.  You can see everything from the walkway along the top of the Casemates Bock.  The city was simply stunning.

I think that Kati put it best.  "Today was the perfect day."

Grund By Night

Casemate Bock at Night

It works!  We successfully avoided the ill effects of jet lag by sleeping away the time difference on the train ride from Brussels to Luxembourg City.  The fruits of our experiment have already been incredible.

When we landed in Brussels, the weather was phenomenal.  It was sunny and about 42 degrees.  Yet as we chugged through the countryside, the weather got increasingly worse.  By the time we arrived in Luxembourg City, it was dreary and raining steadily.  It was about a 1 km walk to our hotel.  Even though it was raininig, the walk through the city was really enjoyable.  It was almost like walking back through time as we moved from the train station, in the new part of the city, to the old town.

Our hotel, the Parc Beaux Arts Hotel, is located right in the center of the old town.  It's a beautiful hotel that they created out of several old houses.  The downstairs is also a restaurant and bar that, especially given the selections of soft jazz spilling into the air, makes you feel like you're in the 1920s and hanging out with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda.

We got into the city around 4:00 in the afternoon and quickly confirmed what I already suspected - everything is closed during the holiday season.  Yet neither that nor the weather deterred us from exploring the city.

Kati on the Wenzel Walk

The old town is really divided into two parts by the Alzette river.  The river, has dug out a very large area of the city.  There is the traditional "old town" (which I call the high town) and Grund, which is in the basin of the Alzette river "valley."  Initially, I just wanted to go to Grund to see the Neurumberg Abbey, but I'm so glad that we made the trip.  The Abbey ended up being closed for the holidays, but we walked around exploring nonetheless.  We must have been guided by our good friend St. Wenceslas (the patron saint of beer), because we stumbled onto the Wenzel Walk (his walk), which led us up to some stunning views from the plateau in Grund.  We could see the new city, the old town, the Casemates Bock, and everything in between.  The highlight had to have been walking along old ramparts and up and down stone fortifications and catching some of the most stunning nightscapes the city has to offer.

We wanted to grab dinner at Am Tiirmschen, a well-known local restaurant specializing in Luxembourgish cuisine.  The only problem was that they were booked solid until 9:00.  Our solution was to go back to the Beaux Arts restaurant and bar and waste a little time.  We grabbed a few glasses of wine and a plate of Luxembourgish charcutterie to tide us over until dinner (all of which were excellent).  Finally, it was dinner time and Am Tiirmschen lived up to the hype.  Kati got what I've been told is Luxembourg's unofficial dish, smoked pork in a cream sauce over broad beans.  It was truly some of the most incredible pork either of us has ever had.  I went for a lamb shank with vegetables (which was also very good).

After dinner, we weren't quite ready to call it a night, so we stopped in at Steiler, the oldest pub in Luxembourg.  It opened in 1691!  We had an amazing time amongst the Luxembourg locals, socializing to some interesting electronica remixes of popular songs.  The best part was really good beer was dirt cheap.  I got a Diekirsh amber ale, the darker relative of Luxembourg's most popular beer (named after the town it's brewed in to the north).  It was alright, but it couldn't compare to the beer that Kati got - La Chouffe, an amazing Belgian brew.  After two drinks at Steiler, we decided to call it a night so that we'd be well-rested for our big Sunday.

Bon Voyage Once Again

822 - The number of days since we returned from spending two months in Eastern Europe
821 - The number of days that I've been planning our next trip to Europe.

After months of planning, we're about to embark on a very brief jaunt to Europe - Belgium and Luxembourg specifically.  Until recently, I didn't think that Belgium and Luxembourg constituted "strange" or "unusual" destinations, though I've been assured they are.  I shutter to hear what people would say when they find out that my top five destinations are (in order): (1) Iran; (2) Cuba; (3) Madagascar; (4) Greenland; and (5) Russia.  Regardless, I'm excited.

This trip is so different from our last trip.  We're still backpacking, but we're staying in pretty nice hotels (not seedy hostels).  More significantly, we're only going for five days (not two months).  I've been told that the secret to taking a weekend excursion to Europe is to fly somewhere and immediately get on a train for several hours so that you can sleep through your jet lag.  That's our goal, to test this theory.

We'll arrive in Brussels tomorrow afternoon at 11:50 a.m.  Then we're going immediately hop on a three-hour train to Luxembourg City.  We're only staying in Luxembourg for two days, so we're going to have to make the most of it.  We'll be spending our time brushing up on World War II history and sights (including stopping to pay hommage at General Patton's grave) while enjoying gourmet food.  On Sunday we're going to rent a car - which, I must admit, I'm rather nervous about - and explore the country ourselves.  In particular, we're going to be driving through the Moselle Valley, the smallest wine region in the world.  Luxembourg is famous for its white and sparkeling wines, many of which are made with unique varietals that are rarely seen in the States.  If there's time, we're also going to stop in and explore Schengen, the namesake for one of the most famous European agreements in modern times.

After our short stay in Luxembourg, we're going to catch a train to Bruges for three days and celebrate New Year's Eve.  This second leg of our trip will be consumed (literally) with eating chocolate and drinking beer, with a good splash of culture and winter fun thrown in for good measure.  To prepare for our trip we watched In Bruges, which turned out to be one of the stranger movies I've seen in some time.  Five days is not nearly enough time to explore these two cities, but it's certainly better than nothing, and I couldn't be more excited.

Our Last Day On St. Thomas

Secret Harbor

It was pointed out to me after our Eastern European adventure that I never updated our blog with regard to our final two days in Turkey or, more importantly, the fact that we made it back alive.  While I make no promises that I will not make the same mistake in the future, I will do my best to avoid leaving our readers hanging and leaving our family and friends wondering whether or not we’re alright.

Today was our last day in the Virgin Islands, so we decided to get in just a little more relaxation before heading to the airport.  Alex took us over to Secret Harbor, which may be my favorite beach on St. Thomas.  It was small, secluded, and not very busy yet there was still a bar/restaurant and a dive shop in a private condo complex right there in the harbor.  We grabbed a few early morning tacos before heading down to the beach.  They were good, but nothing like the Wahoo tacos we cooked ourselves a few nights ago.

Secret Harbor was great because it offered me the opportunity to do a little snorkeling – something that our adventures in the Caribbean had yet to afford me.  Unfortunately, I stood alone in my desire to go snorkeling as Kati opted to read and Alex opted to not snorkel.  My solitude didn’t stop me from checking out the harbor though, which is known as a fairly good snorkeling location on the island.  Despite the jubilant cries of a mother who claimed to have found a “big” octopus just feet from the sandy beach, I saw no similar creatures.  I did, however, find my fair share of tropical fish, sea urchins, and coral.  I even found a few lonely sea anemones.  It wasn’t the best snorkeling I’ve done, but it was still really neat and I’m glad that I got a chance to venture into the ocean a bit before we left.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the beach and escaping the heat at the bar, after all I had to get at least one more painkiller before leaving the land of sugar and sweet.  Kati opted for the humorously named “nutwacker” instead, which was essentially a bushwhacker with peanut butter and chocolate – a delicious combination that tastes just like an alcoholic Reece’s cup.

It is sad to be leaving the islands, but it’ll be nice to get back to our own bed and our own routine.  We did, however, leave with the promises of meeting back up with Alex and Wes (and hopefully more of my pledge brothers) in the future for similar trips.  And Alex and I discussed the not-so-distant possibility of a big joint 30th birthday celebration in Southeastern Asia.  Now it’s time to start perusing the world and daydreaming about our next jaunt into that big blue ball we call the world.  Until next time…

The Marriott

The Marriott Pool

All of us were feeling a little rough yesterday after a long night out around the island.  Kati re-learned that ever important lesson that you really don't want to try to go drink-for-drink with a group of Wabash men.  Taking it easy was fine by everyone though, especially since Wes flew out in the afternoon.  We started the morning off with brunch at an Irish pub.  The food was mediocre, but eating anything significantly helped our physical condition.  Afterwards, we spent the rest of the day relaxing at the Marriott's pool.

The Marriott has just about the best location of any hotel on the island.  They built it on the very precipice of this rock jutting out into the ocean and St. Thomas Harbor.  The pool is pretty fantastic.  There are actually two pools, a normal pool and an "adult" pool with a swim-up bar, both of which are what I would call first-generation infinity pools and sit right on the edge of the cliffs.  It really is an incredible place and it was nice to act like hotel guests for a day, steering away from the sand and shells, and relaxing in a much more pampered place.  It also gave both Kati and me the opportunity to finally develop a little color - something that both of us had inexplicably failed to do but that I blamed on Kati subjecting me to high-spf sunscreen.  

Kati in Front of St. Thomas Harbor

From the pool at the Marriott you could see a very small island that I believe was called Buck Island.  There is absolutely nothing there except a lighthouse, and I can't imagine much wildlife resides on the tiny rock either.  Alex said that back in the days of sugar plantations, the slave-owners would take a misbehaving slave out there and leave him on the island with no provisions for a fortnight.  It would have been a brutal punishment, but it was apparently almost always effective in "breaking" a slave.

After the pool, Alex, Kati, and I cleaned up and grabbed a nice dinner at Fish Tails in Red Hook.  We got some Caribbean lobster, which was great, some Mahi, and even some shark!  I'd never had shark before and it was very interesting.  I expected something similar to swordfish but it was really more like a very tender white fish.  We finished the night at Latitude 18, listening to the Sun Mountain Band and their fiddler.  The band was great, and put a very unique spin on a number of very popular songs.  Overall it was exactly the kind of relaxing day that all of us needed to recuperate from the night before.  It's really a shame we only have one day left down here.

Beach Day - Magens Bay

Magen's Bay

Yesterday morning the cruise ships finally left port, at least temporarily, so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and hit one of the more touristy locations - Magen's Bay.  Magen's Bay is a beautiful, mile-long beach of the most ideal white sand.  Coupled with the fact that it's an easy trip from Charlotte Amalie, there's no wonder why it's one of the most populated beaches on St. Thomas.  We showed up around 11:30, after making a grocery run, and as soon as we stepped out of the car it started pouring.  Luckily, we had picked up some beer at the grocery.  Unluckily, playing drinking games during the hour-long shower destroyed our beer cache for the rest of the day.

Once the sun came out the day was perfect.  We did some sunbathing, played some frisbee, and generally relaxed.  Wes and I ran the length of the beach and back (I'd estimate about 1.7 miles total).  It was a great run until we got to the far end of the beach where the slant made it very difficult to run.  Still, it was nice to get at least a little run in while on vacation.

On our way home in the afternoon we stopped at a local ice cream shop called Udder Delight to get some alcoholic milkshakes.  Apparently the place is a dairy and a few years back there was a huge scandal because they were importing powdered milk, reconcentrating it, and pawning it off as fresh.  Despite that story though, the milkshakes were great.

We had dinner at a sushi place outside of Frenchtown called Enkai.  It's in probably the shadiest location ever - behind a bunch of warehouses in a not-so-nice looking part of town.  While its surroundings leave something to be desired, Enkai is great and it's right on the water, offering an amazing view of Water Island while you eat.  The sushi is supposedly the best on the island, and it didn't disappoint.  It's very American-style sushi with a Caribbean twist, but it may be some of the best sushi I've had anywhere.

Us and Morgan at XO Bistro

It was Wes's last full day down here, so we decided to celebrate and go out on the town.  We started in Frenchtown and played a few rounds of darts at Betsy's Bar.  While there we met this German highschooler down in the islands on vacation who was up for anything and kept trying to get us (or anyone) to arm wrestle him.  A bit later in the evening we left Frenchtown and relocated our darts competition to some bar on the top of a mountain.  For the life of me I can't remember what its called, but it was a pretty neat place.  We only stayed there for two drinks before heading down to Red Hook and finishing the night at XO Bistro.  One of Alex's friends, a local named Morgan who owns a clothing boutique, was there.  It was a great time. We came home and passed out in the early hours of the morning after yet another great day.

Hiking on St. John

At the Annaberg Plantation

Yesterday we decided to take a break from pure relaxation and head back over to St. John for some morning hiking.  We started out at Maho Bay and hiked over to Leinster Bay, where we took the Annaberg Trail up to the ruins of an old sugarcane plantation.  It was really cool to see everything from the slave quarters to the windmill and rum still.  There was also a guy there who cut open a few coconuts for us and gave us a taste of raw sugarcane (really good).  I also learned that cotton grows on trees!  Seriously, this could be another one of those "Jackson, you're an idiot" moments, but I never knew that cotton grew on a legitimate tree.  In the south you always see fields of cotton and it looks more like a bush.  Yet in the Virgin Islands, cotton grows on trees because they don't trim it or anything like that.  Who knew?

From the Annaberg Plantation we went back down to Leinster Bay and hiked the Leinster Bay Trail, which was really nice and followed the coastline of the island all the way around the bay.  Our ultimate destination was Coral Bay and our trip took us up and over a few "mountains" that provided great overlooks.  My personal favorite was a ruined house overlooking Leinster Bay from the peak of a small hill.  You could see 360 degrees from the remaining foundation and the view was just spectacular!  From this last set of ruins, the trail mostly followed one of the steepest and most ridiculous roads I've ever seen in my life.  It's amazing that people can even live on the sides of some of these mountains, much less access their houses with cars.

Finally we made it to Coral Bay which is as close to a town as you get on St. John once you leave Cruz Bay.  There was a neat Moravian Church that we walked past and the local goats had clearly been charged with keeping the grass in the cemetery and soccer fields short and manageable.

Kati at Skinny Legs

We stopped for lunch at a little bar called Skinny Legs that had great burgers and even better drinks.  I'm definitely getting my fill of overly sweet island drinks on this trip...but it's really hard to resist.  I became particularly fond of bushwackers at Skinny Legs...they're very good (and very potent).  As I would soon find out, the day was to be one of many coincidences.  The first came at Skinny Legs when Kati looked at me and said, "Jackson, they're Kentucky Colonels!"  Sure enough, hanging on the wall of the restaurant were two Kentucky Colonel certificates.  The second coincidence came when we hitched a ride from Coral Bay with a couple hailing from St. Louis.  We were making small talk and discussing college when we learned that the wife's nephew (I think) went to Wabash...and was a Sigma Chi!  It never fails to amaze me where the Wabash connections turn up around the world.  We ended up in Francis Bay, which was gorgeous and very peaceful.  We spent the rest of the afternoon there before heading back to St. Thomas for the evening.  Once again, we whipped up some fish tacos from our catch earlier in the week - blackened tuna and blackened rainbow runner.  Both were very good, but neither quite matched up to the Wahoo tacos from the night before.  

Me with the Kentucky Colonel Certificates

After dinner we went out for a bit in Red Hook.  We started in XO Bistro, but were quickly driven out by one of the most obnoxious people I've ever met in my life (obviously from NY or the like).  After a quick jaunt at ITP we decided to quell Wes's urge to visit Duffy's Love Shack.  It didn't even take getting a drink before even Wes had to admit that this tourist staple of St. Thomas may be one of the worst bars in existence.  We ended the night back at XO Bistro for one more drink before all of us turned in, exhausted from a long day of hiking.

Charlotte Amalie

Wes, Alex, and Me Standing at the ICMC Office

Wednesday was Monica's last day down here.  We woke up late and just relaxed around the condo in the morning.  Her flight left around 2:30 and she wanted to stop off at the Barefoot Buddha for lunch, so we all piled into the car at 11:00 to head over to Charlotte Amalie.  The drive should have taken 25-30 minutes, but the traffic was horrible and it took us an hour just to get to Barefoot Buddha!  We found out later that the reason traffic was so bad was because there was a "suspicious package" at the post office and they were diverting all traffic in the city away from the main road by the post office.  It's beyond me who would actually send a bomb or anything dangerous to a post office in the Virgin Islands (besides perhaps someone from the BVI), so the whole situation was a little ridiculous.  

The traffic left Monica in a bit of a pickle though.  You're supposed to get to the St. Thomas airport 2.5-3 hours before your flight because their security is as slow as can be.  Even if Alex dropped Monica at the airport immediately, she was pushing the 2.5 hour window.  Yet she desperately wanted this sweet potato wrap from Barefoot Buddha...so much so that she was willing to risk missing her flight to get it.  As fate would have it, everything worked out fine.  Monica got her wrap and made it to the airport with plenty of time because the airport was nearly empty.

While Alex was dropping Monica off, Wes, Kati, and I walked around some of the shops in the port.  It was exactly what you would expect from shops tailored to cruisers - alcohol and jewelry marked up beyond belief.  Alex swept us back up after about 40 minutes and we spent most of the afternoon in town.

Kati in Front of the Governor's Mansion

Prior to walking around Charlotte Amalie, I had thought the town was pretty dumpy, but when you get into the areas preserved by the historic society, it's really stunning.  Most of the buildings were made from balustrade bricks deposited by ships in the 1700's and many have been recently restored, giving them a very unique and authentic feeling.  We parked at Alex's office, which looked more like a king's palace (fitting because it's where the King of the Virgin Islands used to live and it's located on a street that translates from Dutch into King's street).

We stopped off at this old Synagogue that was built in the early 1700's.  It still has a sand floor.  It was a very simple yet beautiful building that really encompassed Caribbean life.  The funny thing is that the Synagogue was on a hill and they sold kitchy shirts saying "I climbed Synagogue hill"...what the shirts didn't say is that Synagogue hill is only about 100 feet up.  Still, from walking around town, I think that climbing that hill is probably the hardest thing some of those cruise ship types have ever done in their lives (their local Walmarts certainly have no hills like that and at least they can drive around Walmart in their Rascals).  It was actually scary how many fat or old people were driving around the broken sidewalks of Charlotte Amalie in their Rascals...and then complaining when they couldn't get somewhere or would have to stand up to get into a safari.  

After a little more wandering around town and looking at the buildings and shops, we headed to the beach.  By the time we were going to the beach, it was about 3:00 in the afternoon, so we decided to stick close to home and go to a little beach near our condos.  It was a great little beach and made for a relaxing afternoon.

That evening we cooked a bit more of the fish we caught the day before.  We whipped up another batch of ceviche (this time using some of the Blackfin Tuna) to go along with some blackened Wahoo tacos.  The Wahoo tacos were especially phenomenal and I think we were all a bit sad that we didn't have anymore Wahoo for another night.

To finish off the night we went to a nearby bar called Latitude 18 to listen to some local music.  It's called Latitude 18 because that's the nearest meridian to St. Thomas (St. Thomas is really located at 18 degrees and some number of minutes).  The music was good - very tropical and relaxing.  Afterwards we came back to the condo and called it a fairly early night.

Deep Sea Fishing

Alex Fishing

Tuesday was a big day, we went deep sea fishing.  I'd been looking forward to deep sea fishing for years, at least since our deep sea fishing plans fell through while I was in Bermuda for spring break during my senior year in high school.

We had an afternoon charter, so we decided to spend the morning at the St. Thomas Yacht Club.  Alex has eaten at the Yacht Club for three years without an issue, but our new waitress took issue with us not being members.  Luckily, they also recognized memberships in other yacht clubs...the bartender let us stay.  I decided that the High Rock Boat & Ski Club counts as a yacht club.  The beach was great.  We were the only people out there and the weather was ideal, with just enough wind to make it pleasant.

Our charter took off from Sapphire Bay.  We all had high spirits heading into the trip, but most of our moods were quickly dashed by the queasy seas.  We headed out to the South Drop, where the ocean depths raise from 160 feet to 70 feet and then tumble down to more than 1,400 feet.  The fish love that area where the seafloor drops off.  Eating and drinking beer before heading out on the seas was a very bad decision.  Despite the fact that we've all been fine on other boats many times over, everyone except Alex was feeling very nauseous.  Kati, unfortunately, was the worst and never really crawled out of her nauseous state.

Monica, Johnny, and Her Barracuda

We started by following the frigates to where the big fish supposedly hung out.  We tried to get some sail fish and Mahi, but the fish just weren't biting.  We got one really early bite that Wes took and reeled in a half-eaten Wahoo.  Catching a Wahoo was pretty cool because of my UVa background.  For those who don't know, while the Cavalier is the official UVa mascot, the students (and the administration) has embraced the Wahoo as an unofficial mascot (only God knows why).  The story is that they picked the Wahoo because it's known to be able to drink three times its weight in water and the students took that as a good mascot for their drinking endeavors.

The Crew and Our Catch

After that half-eaten Wahoo, we didn't get another bite for like two hours.  We switched to live-bait fishing and went after some of the smaller fishes.  We had some success with the live-bait fishing.  When my turn to reel in the line came up we had a Mahi Mahi hooked.  We'd seen it jumping through the waves in the distance.  Unfortunately, I got the Mahi right up to the boat and it shook the hook.  I watched helplessly as our only hooked Mahi disappeared into the depths.  Later we found ourselves in a school of Rainbow Runners and I reeled in my first fish.  Yet as soon as the fish was getting ready to be pulled from the water I had to pass the line off to Alex so that I could run across the boat and join Kati vomiting in a show of solidarity (of course that's the only reason I was puking).  Then the madness started.  The fish were biting left and right.  At one point we even had four fish on the lines at the same time.  We were primarily pulling in Rainbow Runners, but we also got another Wahoo.  Alex had a huge bite, but after a prolonged fight we realized that it must be a small shark and let it loose.  Monica got into a battle pulling in a three-foot Barracuda, which was quite a feat.

It was 5:00 and the day was wrapping up.  At the time our catch consisted of 1.5 Wahoo and about 8 Rainbow Runners.  The elusive Mahi had evaded us, as had the tuna that I was hoping so desperately to catch.  But then, right at the end of our trip, we got one more bite and, low and behold on the end of that line we found a fair-sized Blackfin Tuna!  After catching the tuna, we pulled everything in and set off back for St. Thomas, in view of an amazing sunset.  Everyone but Kati, who couldn't even stomach standing up, got a chance to reel in a few fish.  Despite the sea sickness, it was a great time.

Kati and Me, Feeling Better at Dinner

Once back at the dock, our crew filleted the fish for us to take home with us.  We stopped by the grocery store on our way over to Alex's friend John's house to fix up our fish.  John lives on Dragon Lane and his house is unbelievable.  He really is living the dream.  I cut up a little bit of tuna sashimi as an appetizer and Alex, Wes, and I made some ceviche out of the Rainbow Runner to go along with marinated fillets of Rainbow Runner and Wahoo.  Dinner turned out amazingly!  It was the first time that any of us had made a ceviche, but we couldn't have been more pleased.  Luckily, all of us were feeling much better by the time we got to John's, so we were all able to enjoy our dinner.  After dinner we came back to the condos and relaxed with a nice night cap of Cruzan Banana Rum before turning in.

Beaching on St. John

Kati and Monica at Maho

After a long day of boating, we decided to take it kind of easy on Monday.  We slept in and then caught the ferry over to St. John for a beach day.  St. John is cool and I think that I prefer it to St. Thomas.  The Rockefellers used to own the whole island and, when they donated it back to the United States, they did so upon the condition that a certain [large] percentage of it would remain in the National Park System.  Thus, the vast majority of the island is untouched.

From town we took a safari out to Maho beach, which was virtually empty compared to Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay, both of which seemed to be peppered with tourists.  The only problem with Maho was that the tide was coming up and the beach was very short.  By the mid-afternoon our spot had changed twice due to the rising tide.  Yet the tide didn't interfere with our frisbee, so we didn't mind too much.  We stuck around at Maho until about 3:00 when, because of a lack of safaris, we started hiking back to Cinnamon.  As we reached the Cinnamon parking lot, a safari was pulling out and we hopped on only to find out that it was filled with a bunch of tourists from Raleigh.

Alex, Wes, and Me at the Beach

We spent an hour or two relaxing in Mongoose Junction at the local "brewery."  The word "brewery" is used loosely down here because their beer is actually brewed and bottled in Portland, Maine.  They can't brew their own beer down here because they don't have enough water to see them through the process.  Nor do they have any of the facilities.  Alcohol production is strictly limited to rum for these reasons.

Alex, being the important businessman that he is, had a few meetings Monday night with "Asia" so he dropped us in Red Hook for the evening.  We ate at a place called Big Bamboo.  It wasn't bad and Kati has since become obsessed with their Chicken Roti, a signature West Indie dish.  After Big Bamboo we pretended we were locals and spent the rest of the evening at XO Bistro, Alex's favorite spot.  Alex finally finished being important around 11:00 and not long thereafter we called it a night because of the promise of a big day lurking right around the corner.

Cruising Around the Carribean

Kati and Me Boating

Our first full day in the Virgin Islands was fantastic.  We took a private charter from Red Hook and set out to explore the islands.  Alex's friends John and Ashley came along, as did their friend Sean.  It was a small, dual-engine speed boat, but it got the job done.

Not seconds after leaving the safety of the bay on St. Thomas, we hit rough water, and our captain, Steve, took this as a signal to hit full speed.  Between the size of the waves and the speed at which we were crashing over them, I found myself air born in the front of the boat.  Luckily, my (second) fall was cushioned by the conveniently located bean bags covering the floor.  After that, I learned my lesson and made sure never to be standing up while crashing through the waves again.

Our first stop was St. John's, Peter Bay to be exact.  This bay was unbelievable.  The water was pristine and we saw a sea turtle immediately upon pulling in (although further snorkeling revealed nothing of note).  Yet more impressive than any of the natural elements were the houses.  Peter Bay is where all of the filthy rich people with houses on St. John's live.  The former CEO of Qualcomm built a house there.  He built it for $36 million and had to turn around and sell it for $18 million when he led his company to one of the worst strategic moves possible.

After Peter Bay, we left the US Virgin Islands for the BVI.  We made a brief stop on Tortola to check in at the most run-down and least official customs house I've ever seen.  Then we set off around the island and stopped at the beautiful beach of Nanny Cay.  I think that Nanny Cay may very well have been the nicest beach we saw all day.  Yet the girls didn't even make it to the beach, opting instead to make drinks and hang out with Steve on the boat.  Unbeknownst to Alex, Wes, or me, they also moved the boat and forgot to tell us.  Luckily, just when we were contemplating which boat in the harbor we needed to steal, they showed up.

After Nanny Cay, we swung by Willy T's in Norman Bay.  Willy T's is a bar/restaurant located on a boat in the middle of the bay.  It was really cool.  We did some swimming, ate some conch fritters, and waited out the only rain we saw all day.  Wes and I were jumping off the second-story deck of the boat when, much to my surprise, Kati decided to jump off with me.  She didn't even hesitate.  It's amazing how far she's come with her fear of heights and the like.  Kati credits it to canyoning in Slovenia after which, she says nothing is really that scary.

[Almost] Everyone at the Soggy Dollar

Our last stop for the day was Jost Van Dyke and the mythical Soggy Dollar.  My parents have been talking about this bar for years, so it was kind of crazy to finally find myself there too.  It was awesome.  From the painkillers to the party on the beach, everything was great.  After days of unsuccessfully trying to hook the ring toss at my parents' house, she nailed it on her second try at the Soggy Dollar.  Unfortunately, I was waiting for the bathroom at the time (so it's questionable whether it even happened), but she was so excited and screaming so loud that everyone waiting in line with me also knew that she hooked it on her second time and that she couldn't believe "Jackson" wasn't there to witness it.

After getting back to Red Hook, we grabbed a bit to eat at a local pizza place before heading back to the condos.  Our intent was to clean up and have some more fun that night, but those plans were cut short by our sheer exhaustion.  Wes, Kati, and I were half-heartedly getting ready to do some drinking around 8:00 when Alex informed us that Monica had already laid down and passed out.  That was the last nail in the coffin for our night as all of us decided that sounded like a better idea and followed suit.

The Virgin Islands - Starting a Week in Paradise

Kati and I are traveling again - this time around the Virgin Islands.  My friend Alex, whom some might remember as having met us over in the Czech Republic for a week of fun and frivolity in 2011, has been living in the US Virgin Islands for the last three years.  We've been talking about making it down to visit him for years now and, in light of his upcoming move to Singapore, it was a now-or-never situation.  Thus, we cleared our schedules, booked our flights, and enlisted the company of one of my other pledgebrothers, Wes, to join us on our excursion.  This time we're going on a nine-day tour of the islands, anchoring out trip near Red Hook on St. Thomas.

Today, Saturday, is the first day of our journey.  After dropping the dear old Mox with our friend Jaime for the week (it's yet to be seen whether we're going to get her back upon our return or whether Jaime is going to run off with her into the sunset), we set off for St. Thomas.  It was an easy 3.5 hour direct flight from Charlotte to St. Thomas with no notable issues.  Our flight landed in paradise around 2:00 and upon disembarking we were immediately greeted with complimentary shots of rum.  The rum, of course, was Cruzan, made on nearby island of St. Croix (which we will not be visiting).  Needless to say, it was a very fitting way to begin the week at hand.

Alex and his girlfriend Monica met us at the airport, both having just flown in from New York themselves.  We made a quick stop-off at a nice little coffee shop called the Barefoot Buddha so that we could grab a quick bite to eat while Alex checked his mail.  The drive over to Cabrita Point, where we're staying, was eye-opening.  Some brilliant mind thought it would be a great idea for Virgin Islands drivers to drive on the left-hand side of the road...with American-made automobiles!  It really is a ridiculous set up and makes absolutely no sense.

Cabrita Point is about a 30 minute drive from the airport, even though the island is scarcely 12 miles across.  It's a small condo complex across the bay from Red Hook.  The setting could not be more picturesque.  We've got a small one-bedroom condo right next door to Alex's, and we're so far out on the point that the ocean crashes up along the rocky beach not even a stone's throw away from our porch.

The View From Our Back Porch at Cabrita Point

We spent the afternoon getting situated, meeting our temporary landlords, getting groceries, and relaxing.  It amazes me how expensive just about everything is down here.  We went to the most pathetic excuse for a grocery store that I've ever seen and got some eggs, a bottle of juice, ginger ale, a bag of oranges, and some sunscreen for $32!  It makes perfect sense seeing as we're on an isolated island with no real agriculture of its own, but I didn't even think about the price level being so high before we got down here.

Wes flew in at 10:20, so the four of us decided to grab some dinner and wait him out in Charlotte Amalie, the capital of St. Thomas.  We went to this tiny little pizza place called Pie Whole which, coincidentally, is owned by a lady from Muncie, Indiana and who's brother-in-law is dating (or married) to a Wabash biology professor - Amanda Ingram.  It's amazing how small of a world it is!  The food at the Pie Whole was phenomenal and matched only by the breadth and quality of their beer selection.  After an amazing pizza and a few beers, we went off to scoop up Wes at the airport.

On our way back to Cabrita Point we made a stop off on one of the mountain peaks to get a late-night view of the island and the amazing bays.  It really was breathtaking, even in the darkness, and the sky could not be clearer.  The rest of our night was spent relaxing and catching up before we turned in early, in anticipation of the long day barrelling down upon us.