Mussels in Brussels

When you think of Belgian food, what do you think of? Waffles? Chocolates? A chocolate waffle?

While Brussels does have these delicious treats, one dish has stood out to us as being truly Belgian: mussels.

They are on the menu at just about every place and the restaurant we went to last night had about 20 different ways they were being served (with cheese, fried, in soup, in pasta, with garlic, etc). Who knew mussels were Belgian?!

One other thing we stumbled upon that is very popular in Brussels is Lambic beer. We did a brewery tour at Cantillion Brewery where we learned about the process and tasted these unusual beers.

In conventional beers, yeast is added which allows the wort to ferment and create sugar. Lambic beer is created by spontaneous and natural fermentation from the wild yeasts and bacteria in the air (no yeast is manually added). It is rare to brew beer this way because it takes a lot longer to make. The beer is actually pumped into old wine barrels where it is left to ferment for 1-3 years and then is sometimes aged in the bottle after that. 

The taste of Lambic beer was just as interesting as the process to make it is! I would describe it as dry and cidery with a strong sour aftertaste. Often times, fruits are also added to the beer (like cherry and raspberry). While it wasn't our favorite, we can appreciate Lambic beer and it was a very Belgian experience!

And of course, we visited the chocolate museum to learn about the history and process of producing chocolate. We also watched a chocolatier make truffles filled with caramel and cream, and got a taste. Now that's one sweet trip! : )

Amsterwham Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in an unusual way: Aaron's parent came to London on Sunday and then we met Jake and Katie in Amsterdam on Christmas Eve. We've always been home for Christmas but after only being in Europe for 2 months we felt it was too soon to make a trip back for the holidays.

We rented a flat here so it feels a bit more like home : ) and it is nice to be with some of our family.

On Christmas Day we visited the Anne Frank museum, the Van Gogh museum and then went out to dinner. The Anne Frank museum is by far one of my favorite things that I've ever done in Europe. It was really touching and eye opening, and I would highly recommend it. I also have more of an appreciation for Van Gogh having seen the museum's collection. 

We ended our Christmas with dinner at a nice restaurant and drinks at the 3 Sisters Pub. (Chels and Lacey- it was just too perfect, we had to go in). An unusual Christmas but a really great one : )

The Newlyweds Abroad wish you all a wonderful Christmas too from Whamsterdam*!

*thanks to Aaron's cousin, Erin**, for the clever name!

**no thanks to John for the confusion of two Aaron/Erin's in the family : )

Don We Now Our Christmas Sweater

Everybody in London wears Christmas sweaters and I love it! It's festive and cozy : )

I finally decided to jump on the sweater bandwagon, so I bought Aaron and I these beauties the other day. Only one problem- despite the fact that they said one size fits all, Aaron's does not fit at all...

So I guess that means Merry Christmas to me!

Mind the Language Gap

I had a pretty funny encounter with our dry cleaner the other day.

Me: Hi there, I have five shirts and two pants to drop off
Him: Hahahaha!
(I am looking very confused)
Him: You mean five shirts and two trousers...

Trousers are pants here and pants are underwear. Whoops! Now I know why the guy thought it was so funny....

There are a few other word swaps we've had to get used to:

British English = What it means in American English
Biscuit = Cookie
Crisps = Potato Chips
Chips = French Fries
Fancy Dress = Costume (like Halloween)
Fly Tipping = Littering
Holiday = Vacation
Lift = Elevator
Lorry = Truck
Rubbish = Garbage

And I'm sure there's many more that we will discover along the way : )

A Tourist's Eye

I spy the London Eye and the London Eye spies all of London. Say that 10 times fast.

Christmas Market from the London Eye

Someone who has lived in London before made an interesting recommendation to us the other week: don't forget to be tourists in the city.

It was an unusual recommendation. We've heard other advice like "find the spots that locals go to", "Ashley should get a job to make the transition easier","make sure you take advantage of how easy it is to travel in Europe", but this advice was different. It's very easy to skip the touristy things and adapt to life in London by fitting in, beginning a normal routine and exploring only Europe. You forget all there is to see in the city where you are living.

We went to a Christmas market on Monday night in the Southbank area of London. The market stretches along the Thames river from bridge to bridge and ends at the London Eye. Going on the London Eye is a huge tourist attraction, but we thought it was the perfect time to take advantage of the advice we received.

Left photo with flash; Right photo without flash

It really was an incredible view and I think that going on it at night was a great choice. It was slightly raining which looked pretty cool in some pictures and made me think of Seattle : )

Sometimes it's fun to stand out as tourists and other times it's good to fit in and get into a routine... which I will be doing on January 6 when I start my new job : ) It's back to the real world for me!

Panorama view from the London Eye

The Two Person Pub Crawl

This weekend we had one friend who was sick and our other friends took a trip to Ireland, so we had a lot of free time on our social calendar : ) We decided to explore the Fulham restaurants and bars, and thus, the two person pub crawl began.

Friday Night

We went to the Northeast area of Fulham and had dinner at a pub we've both wanted to check out, The Fulham Mitre. This pub is awesome; it has a beer garden out back and a nice cozy interior. There was also an extremely drunk gentleman who came and laid on the couches behind us while we were having dinner and had a hilarious conversation of gibberish with himself - it was 8pm.

Afterwards we headed to a locals pub. You can tell that it's a locals place when there's only 7 people in the bar and they all turn to look at you when you walk in (who are those newbies?) We watched a professional darts competition on the TV which was actually pretty entertaining

Finally, we ended the night at a pub that had housed two Christmas parties earlier... needless to say we made friends pretty quickly there because they were all quite a few drinks in! One guy was also  convinced we were Canadian... no, Seattle is near Canada but not IN Canada.

Saturday Night

This time we went South and had dinner at another restaurant we've been wanting to check out - Brown Chicken Brown Cow (It's actually called Brown Cow but if you say the name really fast like this it's way more fun!) This restaurant was amazing; we loved the atmosphere and both our dinners were delicious. So far the food in London has been mediocre - we've had a few pretty good meals but usually the food doesn't stand out. We were both very impressed with this place.

Next we headed to an Oktoberfest pub which was really fun. The place was pretty packed, there was a full band dressed in lederhosens and dirndls, and they invited people up on stage for beer challenges. We watched the girls beat the guys at the drinking competitions... I'll prost to that!

We ended the night at another pub, The Durell Arms. Similar to the pub the night before, there were also a few Christmas parties finishing up. People were decked out in Christmas clothes - one girl had even wrapped Christmas lights around her dress. Santa was at the bar and the whole pub played limbo with a guy's neck tie. The British sure know how to have a good jolly old time!

So our two person pub crawl ended up being a really fun weekend with my favorite date! And now that you've had a look at a few Fulham bars, where do you want to go when you come visit? : )

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Christmas in London is spectacular. I don't know why I didn't expect it but there's so much to see and do: lights strung up on every street, shopping everywhere, Christmas Markets... and Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.

The best way to describe Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park is a Christmas-themed, adult version of the Puyallup Fair x 10,000.

Let me walk you through a Winter Wonderland:

• Stands with mulled wine, beer, tea and hot chocolate everywhere you look.
• Two huge stretches of Christmas markets filled with crafts and gifts
• Rides, rides and more rides! They look larger and faster than the fair ones, and there are some that would not pass American safety inspections (or so we think)
• A magical ice kingdom which houses ice sculptures and an ice castle. It's 5 degrees Fahrenheit inside and they don't give you anything to bundle up with like fur jackets, mittens or hats. Inside you walk up the ice castle and slide down an ICE SLIDE... yes, we totally did this. Did I mention there's also an ice bar inside?
• Carnival games galore! We were shocked to see a few games that included air soft rifles and bow and arrows which seems a little dangerous.... Our favorite was a reindeer racing game: you were competing against 15 other people and had to play skeeball to earn points to get your reindeer closer to the finish line (similar to the water pistol horse racing carnival game).
• Tons of themed bars. To name a few:
• Mirror Bar - an outdoor area surrounded by disco balls and mirrors
• Nordic Bar - a bar made to look like a traditional Swedish house
• Bavarian Village - bratwurst, German beer, dancing and live bands inside a huge tent
• Après Bar - modeled after a ski lodge look and feel
• Carousel Bar - they basically removed the plastic horses from a carousel and put a bar in the center of it. And no, that's not the alcohol giving you the spins... the bar actually does slowly spin like a carousel!
• Santa's Village where you can get a picture taken with old St. Nick
• And of course the classic ice skating rink in the center of it all

And amazingly entrance into Winter Wonderland is free! The only thing that could've made it better was snow. I am still hoping to see a little snow this Christmas.

And the answer to your other question is yes. Aaron and I will be going back there this weekend : )

The Universal Language

I'm not talking about English. I'm referring to the sport that is played just about everywhere and provides a common interest between countries, fans and rivals: soccer

Aaron and I love going to Seattle sports games so when our friend approached us before we moved over to London and asked if we wanted to be season ticket holders for Fulham football with him we said, sure, why not!?

We've now been to four or five games and I've noticed a few differences between our American sporting game experiences and the Fulham ones:

1) Ads - In the states you are constantly bombarded with advertisements at games. From the multiple screens that flash them to the swag sponsored by a company, brands and logos are everywhere. At Fulham games there is a very small banner that runs along the outline of the field that changes between logos every so often - a little bit different experience!

2) Beer Drinking - Good old 'Merica, where you can enjoy your Bud in your seat because it's a free country! At Fulham games you can buy pints but you can't bring them back to your seat with you. This means you either have to watch the game from the concourse TVs or wait until half time to enjoy a luke warm one.

3) Obscenities - I'm sure Qwest Field has it's fair share of obscenities screamed but it's not every fan or every other word. Here it is expected and constant. If you bleeped out what someone was saying at a UK football match, it would sound like Morse code.

4) Noise - Both experiences have noise, just in different ways. In the US noise goes like this: fans cheer, loud speaker announcement, Rhianna music, more fans cheer, more loud speaker announcements, Keisha music, more fans cheer, another loud speaker announcement, Macklemore music... you get the idea. In the UK noise is made up of chants - just one chant to the next. There is no music and are rarely announcements. I took a video of perhaps the funniest Fulham chant. It happens every time the other team has a goal kick: 

"Woahhhhhhhhh....... You're sh*t, Aaaarrrgggghhh"

And here are a few of our other favorite chants:

• "Come on Fulham, come on Fulham..." 
• "Oh when the whites (oh when the whites), go marching in (go marching in), oh when the whites go marching in... I want to be in that number oh when the whites go marching in" 
• "Stand up if you love Fulham, stand up if you love Fulham" AND "Stand up if you hate Chelsea, stand up if you hate Chelsea" 
• "Take me home, Al Fayed, to the place I belong, Craven Cottage, by the river, Al Fayed, take me home" (Craven Cottage is the Fulham stadium name and Al Fayed was Fulham's long-time owner) 
• "You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you, you'd be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much, at long last love has arrived, and I thank God I'm alive, you're just to good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you.... I love you Fulham!"

If you're curious, you can listen to these and even more of them here : )

Finally, I want to get this in writing for Aaron's sake- The current owner of Fulham also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. When we first arrived here, they were playing the London NFL game. Aaron said, "I bet that the Jacksonville Jaguars move to London within the next couple of years." Let's see if he is right!!

The Scariest Way to Travel in London

is by pedicab.

My mom and I decided to take a quick trip in one on our way to meet Aaron for dinner, and we almost died about five times. Insane traffic, tons of pedestrians and large buses do not make for a very smooth ride. Check out the short videos of our nail-biting experience below.

Yes, we just cut in front of that huge bus. It's not way bigger than us or anything... At least we only had obscenities yelled at us once during our ride.

I think from now on we'll just "mind the gap" and stick to the tube! : )

The Art of Afternoon Tea

My mom and I decided to try out an English pastime: afternoon tea. And while there is an art to it, we haven't mastered it yet!

Step 1: Choosing the Place
It's like trying to decide which restaurant you want to go to: are you in the mood for fancy, creative, Christmas-themed? We decided to go with a recommendation from Ted and Julie and went to the Landmark hotel.

Step 2: The Tea Selection
There are more items on the tea menu than the actual menu which can make selecting just one difficult. I have not mastered the flavors either, so I'm really picking blind: a housemade blend, black tea, flavored black tea, black tea blend, herbal infusion... too many to choose from! This is where you just close your eyes and point at one.

Step 3: A Selection of Sandwiches
There is no choosing what you get on this round - out comes a few different small finger sandwiches. But still more questions arise - can you eat these with your hands (knife and fork would be awkward, right)? What are the different kinds? Do we have to finish all of them in order to move on to the next course? And the question we ran into most often, am I allowed to fill up my own teacup if the teapot was set on a tray across the table and I physically have to stand up to get it?

Step 4: Warm Scones
This step does not need any explanation. In my opinion, this is why you go to tea - freshly baked scones with homemade strawberry preserve and lemon curd, just like in lemon meringue pie. Yes, this is by far my favorite : )

Step 5: Traditional Delights and Desserts
Dessert after dessert after dessert... okay, this is where we start to feel sick. This is my thought process during this stage: "Ughh, I'm so full and feel sick. But I should try everything: they all just look so good and they're small bites, right? Yum. This chocolate peanut butter bite is sticking to my mouth and I'm really thirsty for more tea. But it's across the table and I have to stand up to pour it. Will other tea-goers think I'm rude? Will I draw attention to the fact that we are new to afternoon tea? Ah, screw it, here goes nothing. Oh, nobody cares? Okay."

Step 6: The Bill
Afternoon tea is not cheap, but it's a tradition. Many of the Brits on our Turkey trip said they actually have afternoon tea in place of dinner. (We've also found that they have pints in place of dinner too but that's a different story). In the UK if you don't ask for a bill at the end of your meal, you will be waiting all day. They think it's rude to bring a check as you are finishing up- it's like saying, "please leave my restaurant now." So if you don't ask for the bill, you will be asked to leave when they are closing : )

One down, many more to go! We still have a lot to learn about the art of the afternoon tea... anyone want to "tea"ch me?

Fit for a Queen

Taken from inside the Castle courtyard

This weekend we took our first getaway in the English countryside! We left by bus Saturday and headed to Windsor. Located about an hour from central London, the town is home to Windsor Castle, Eton College, Legoland and the Royal Theater. We'd booked two rooms at a local bed and breakfast that was recommended by my UK guide book which turned out to be wonderful! It is run by a woman whose son lives in San Francisco and daughter lives in New Zealand: I think my mom and her bonded from both having children living so far away from home : )

The castle is located in the heart of town

Our first stop was Windsor Castle which is the Queen's official residence and the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. It is almost 1000 years old and covers 13 acres. We were able to tour most of the castle besides the Queen's area of residence including:

• The staterooms - these were gorgeous; gold, silver and marble adorned rooms with tons of history
• Queen Mary's dolls house - it has working plumbing and electricity... Really Mary?!?
• The Drawings Gallery - who knew Prince Charles painted with water colors
• St. George's castle which has the tomb of Queen Elizabeth's parents - movie buffs, think the King's speech

Afterwards, we shopped and ate dinner at an amazing restaurant called Bel and the Dragon. Aaron's coworkers had recommended it and we are glad they did!

The Long Walk... looks long indeed!

Finally we headed to the Royal Windsor Theater to see Miracle on 34th Street, the musical. Yes, I said musical. This amazing, holiday classic should not have been turned into song: the musical breakouts were awkward and the plot felt rushed. To give you an idea of how it was, my mom nodded off for a minute in the first half and Aaron asked if we could leave during intermission - okay, so maybe it wasn't my best idea. But the highlight was during intermission when, I'm not kidding you, I counted 21 people eating small tubs of ice cream. Everyone from children to adults to grandparents were digging into these little tubs. Apparently ice cream at plays in the winter is huge here!! We were in shock. But obviously they knew something we didn't know and were stocking up on sugar to stay awake for the second half : )

The next day we saw the start of the Long Walk, a 2.6 mile path that also leads to the Queen's entrance to Windsor Castle, before heading home. Although we didn't see the Queen, it was a great trip... and there's always next time!