re: European Vacation Pics- Spain, Belgium, Amsterdam

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Apparently, they're trying (with little success) to clamp down on the nefarious "Lad's Weekends" (Or Stag Do's) known throughout Europe for their behavior as well. Seen them in droves in Barcelona and Prague and they're not something you want to run into.

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You see those groups in most every decent size euro city and yea, they are obnoxious. We don't spend much time in tourist areas so don't have to deal with them much. I'm glad amsterdam or any city is trying to do something about them.

My wife packs more than that when we go orange beach for a 3 day weekend.

Awesome journey, thanks for letting us tag along

As you head toward Amsterdam, I wanted to ask about accommodations. On two previous itineraries we’ve booked AirBnb’s (first on Weteringschans near Leidseplein, then on Singel near Raadhuistraat).

However, it looks like STR’s in those areas are almost nonexistent as we look ahead to our trip next April. Any suitable alternatives you’ve come across? (It’ll be four adults and two young kids)

Will be keeping up as your trip continues, but grateful for any advice you can provide

We spent 3 nights in Antwerp and hated to leave but headed for Brussels. Now I've voiced my opinion on Brussels in the past, its not my favorite city. But there was some beer stuff there I've never been able to do since the breweries have been closed for holiday when I've been there in the past.

We did the quick 30 minute train ride to Brussels and luckily were able to get into our airbnb early, thats always a tricky timing thing to deal with when your travel between cities is so quick. We found most airbnbs want you out by 11am but you can't check in until 3 or even 4pm. I always ask if we can at least drop our bags off early and many hosts will accommodate us. As soon as we checked in we hopped another train to the town of Beersel which is 30 minutes away where Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen is located. It was founded in 1887 but has struggled economically through the years producing lambic and gueze which is fermented in open vats (coolships) where the natural bacteria and yeast in the air ferments the beer rather than using yeast produced in a lab. In the last few years they have had a resurgence in popularity and now seem on solid financial footing. 3 Fonteinen is one of the few remaining geuzestekerijen.

Now, we had to walk 10 minutes to the brewery from the train station which is not a big deal for us but it was pissing down rain and lightining when we got off the train. It was 2pm and they stopped serving at 4pm so we set off in the rain, no uber or cabs serve this area. My wife was a real trooper.



We made it, not too wet.





Got a jug of lambic poured directly from the barrels.



After having our fill of lambic, we headed back to Brussels and just walked around and had a few more beers.





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We were pleasantly surprised by Brussels for a couple of days

Much appreciated

The next day was Cantillion day! If you are a beer nerd you understand, if not, it is an iconic brewery known worldwide for their lambic style beers. Lambic is a style closely related to the way beer was brewed hundreds of years ago before scientists had isolated yeast strains. Lambics are fermented using the natural yeast and bacteria in the air, no lab created yeast is added. This results in a tart, sour beer and often this beer is re-fermented on various fruits such as the two most traditional, raspberries (Framboise) and Cherries (Kriek). This helps balance the sourness of the base beer and is very, very tasty. All sorts of other fruits are also used, some of them fruits I've never heard of. The couple we met earlier wanted to come back so we met them and shared some bottles.













After 3 bottles my wife and I did the self guided tour of the brewery. It is very small and they still use equipment that is original to their founding in 1900 and the same family descended from the first owner still owns and operates the brewery.







This big copper vat is called a Coolship. After the beer is boiled, its not beer yet but called Wort, it is transferred into this Coolship and left to be inoculated by the bacteria and yeast floating in the air. The bacteria and yeast from previous brews is apparently clinging to the wooden rafters and drops back down into the Coolship to ferment the next batch.



After the beer is fermented it is transferred to barrels where it ages for 1,2 or 3 years.







At the completion of the tour they give you three small pours of the base lambic beer, a Gueuze which is a blend of the 1 year old and 2-3 year old aged beer and their Kriek aged on cherries.



After buying a few bottles to bring home, its very difficult to find their stuff in the US, I needed some sustenance and some more beer. So we headed to Moeder Lambic, a very well known belgian beer bar.

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Now when we arrived the door was locked and I stood there looking for the times they are open, often places are closed for a few weeks in the summer. Then the owner opened the door and asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted to drink some of his beers. He looked at me with disdain and told me to go somewhere else. I told him I wanted to experience his wonderful bar and he shooed me away. I kept talking, knowing he wanted to make sure I was a serious beer connoisseur so started name checking obscure Kriek beers but he was not impressed. Then I finally said I wanted to "taste" the beers and he nodded his head and said ahhh, that is different than drinking a beer. He motioned me in and he told us to sit at the end of a table with another couple. The man sitting there, a swede who now lives in los angeles laughed and said he thought I was not going to get in. Apparently if you research online, you find out you have to say you want to "taste" beer, not drink it. I totally pulled the secret word out of my arse. I felt victorious!

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Sorry, I would have warned you. He's infamous for being a bit of a grouch. However, I'd wager he has the best selection of aged trappist ales in the world. (Amongst a million other absolute gems)