As the end of our year in Europe came closer, we knew we wanted to try to squeeze in a few more trips to places on our bucket list. Austria was a given based on the amount of hikes, gorgeous views, and 1 hour flight from southern Holland. We also knew that we NEEDED to see the sun soon or we were going to become vampires, so we wanted to plan our final adventure for somewhere warm, full of beaches, hikes, and lots of adventures. Kayak Explore had become our trusted advisor for finding cheap flights during flexible dates, and Corsica kept popping up whenever we started to search for flights to places. We didn't really know anything about it (seriously, we didn't really even know it was a place), but a nice couple we met in Chamonix had recommended going there at the beginning of our stay, so when we saw 50 euro round trip tickets that fit our dates perfectly, we said WHY NOT. We planned the trip for July 1st - 5th, with a few days back in Delft to say a final goodbye to our favorite town before heading back to America. So when the end of June finally came, we packed up our little apartment, said goodbye to our life in Holland, and hopped on a plane to sunny Corsica. We had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be one of our absolutely favorite trips of the entire year and our new favorite happy place on earth. We'll post more about details and what we did, but for now, I hope this video portrays how amazing this beautiful country is.
As you'll recall from this post, we spent thanksgiving in the english countryside with some of our favorite people. It was silly weekend with so much food and wine and laughing, and we made an even sillier video that warms my heart every time we watch it. We LOVE you Mary and Richard!! xo
Instead of having a traditional Halloween this year we instead met up with a few friends to ride our bikes to La Trappe brewery and to taste some delicious, authentic Trappist beer. Trappist breweries are rare- there are only eleven monasteries - six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, Italy and the US - that brew authentic Trappist beer. From the tour we learned that in order to be an authentic Trappist brewery, it must satisfy the following criteria:
1. Beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision.
2. The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery and it should witness to the business practices proper to a monastic way of life
3. The brewery is not intended to be a profit-making venture. The income covers the living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of the buildings and grounds. Whatever remains is donated to charity for social work and to help persons in need.
It was really neat seeing where they brew the beer and learning about the process. Plus, the beer was absolutely de-licious. Such an awesome way to spend the day with friends exploring a new part of Holland!
For those of you that have been wondering what life is like here, we made a little video to show a typical Sunday in Delft - riding bikes through the park, throwing leaves, and dancing around the town. :) Enjoy!
When we started looking around at the amazing, dramatic mountains we kept noticing something - the Swiss didn't just settle in the valley, they also built little villages right on the edges of cliffs, high in the mountains. From down below, these villages didn't look real. We needed to see some of this firsthand. We pulled out the map and saw that one of these villages, Gimmelwald, was only accessible by trail (or tram) so we ditched the car at the end of the valley and started hiking.
The hike up was gorgeous, with lots of waterfalls, dense forests, and glimpses of the towering mountains hidden in clouds. When we got up to Gimmelwald we were surprised by an adorable inn with a beer garden where we relaxed with some well-earned beers and took in the view. The "town" was made up of a handful of small homes, a hostel, and the inn, which had an "honesty shop" attached to it. It was filled with candy bars, ice cream, trinkets and post cards, all with recommended prices with the expectation that you would put the money in a box with a note. Right when we were finishing up it started to pour, so we ran like crazy back back down the mountain, soaked to the brim but grinning like crazy from an amazing afternoon in the mountains.
We also made a little video from the hike. We haven't quite figured out how to work the gopro, but enjoy!
Welcome to our blog, a space to document our year abroad in Holland. Check out our "Where We've Been" page to view our recent travels and city guides and our "Stories" posts for tidbits from our travels.
