August 11 - Magical Orval

Today was absolutely magical. We woke up early and took three different trains and finally arrived in the small village of Florenville in Belgium. We waited for the bus to come and take us to Orval...and waited, and waited... until a troop of boy scouts came by who could actually read the schedule. They told us that there were no buses to Orval on Tuesdays...so we walked 2km in the rain to downtown Florenville where we hired a taxi for the remaining 8km. The rain was a lovely Seattle like rain, and it felt just like a big cozy Northwest blanket, the kind that just makes you long for a cup of Ivars clam chowder....yummm....Ivar's clam chowder...well, back to Orval. We arrived an hour late, but lucky for us so did the preceding tour group of Belgians.

Francois finished up his tour in French, and then took us on a lovely tour of the brewery. Because of other tours we have been on, Sean learning from Lance about brewing, and Joel being a home brewer himself, Francois didn't spend much time explaining the brewing process and instead dove into the beautiful and rich history of the region, monastery, and brewery. After the tour Francois shared a lovely lunch with us at the monastery's tourist pub. Most items on the menu were made with Orval cheese, bread, or beer. We toured the beautiful ruins (the French DESTROYED this beautiful place, and hundreds of years later it was rebuilt), and then Francois personally drove us back to the train station. We ate dinner back in Brussels, and then hit the sack.