Hiking in the South of The Netherlands

September 9, 2007

On Sunday, I went for a hike with Ryan, Laura and Ellie from the south of The Netherlands to Belgium. It was unlike any hike that I have ever taken. We started in the south of the Netherlands and made our way into the north of Belgium for lunch and then back home to the Netherlands.

The Hike
Here's a nice map of the region where we hiked. You can see the towns and the border between the two countries, as well as the outlines of the farm fields.

Horse Pasture
Because I am still enamored with horses, I was delighted to walk though two horse pastures. The horses were beautiful Belgians and they were HUGE!

This picture gives you an idea about just how big those horses really are.

Lunch at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere

Just across the border in Belgium, we enjoyed lunch at a fabulous little restaurant. Lunch was wonderful! Together we enjoyed pancakes, Belgian waffles, an omelet, pumpkin soup, and hearty bread. I would highly recommend this restaurant to any of my friends who might make their way over here to the Netherlands. It's definitely a special treat, if you can find it.



Cow Pasture
On our way back after lunch, we took a different path. This path happened to take us right through a cow pasture full of cows and their calves. While Ryan bravely marched right in, Laura and I weren't as sure how we felt about being up close and personnel with so many hefty cows. At one point, one cow starting looking at us funny. (It's amazing, but it is possible to read the look of a cow's face just as you might read the look on a person's face.) We started to wonder whether we should turn around and RUN or if it would be better to just keep going. Fortunately, Ryan led us all away from the "Angry" cow and back to the safety of the other side of the fence. Whew!

By the way... watch out for the cow pies. They're quite fresh.


Green Green Green

It's been raining quite a bit here lately, with showers almost everyday. I guess there is a positive side to the icky weather... it's green every direction you look. Though it was cloudy and the skies looked threatening at times, not a drop fell on us during our hike.

Two Working-Days in Berlin

05-06 September 2007

Immediately following my return from Vienna, I headed to Berlin for another study meeting. This trip was a little more relaxed because my calendar wasn't quite as full and I was fortunate enough to travel out one day and back the next, instead of both directions in one day.

On Wednesday, the meetings began in the afternoon and ran into the very early evening. Then I had a little bit of time to rest and prepare slides for our Thursday meeting before we headed off to dinner at a neat Authentic Jewish Restaurant. The food was great and the company was wonderful. We had a very enjoyable time getting to know one another.

Thursday we had a very productive meeting, but as usual we found we could have used much more time. Though there are cultural differences between working in the US and working in Europe, the one strong commonality that I have observed if how quickly time speeds by while a group of people is intensely focused on collaborating to reach the shared goal of running a quality clinical study.

Thursday afternoon, I was presented with the opportunity to spend a little time wandering the streets of Berlin with a German colleague. I really enjoyed this experience. I find that I learn so much more walking around a city with one of my colleagues, or a local, than I do just exploring the city on my own with a map and travel book. There are so many nuances that I fail to see when I have my nose stuck in a map trying to make my way from place to place.

Anja and I visited Checkpoint Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate. I enjoyed taking in the history at both locations and I, once again, found myself wishing that I had more time to explore and take it all in. But that will have to be another time. I guess I'll just have to come back to Europe and when I do, I'll have quite the list of places to visit.

A few visual memories from my quick Berlin trip.

Checkpoint Charlie







Brandenburg Gate



Amplemannchen (Little Man)
This little pedestrian is hiking with his hat on. You won't find him anywhere except certain locations in Berlin.

Whirlwind Daytrip to Vienna

04 September 2007

At 03:30 the dreaded alarm began singing its ugly tune. Argh. I was in no mood to be getting up, showered and dressed. 03:30. It's just much too early. Fortunately, I do not have to push myself to my limits that way very often so I was able to drag myself out of bed.

At 04:30 the taxi driver arrived and I started my day trip to Vienna, Austria. I was on my way to the European Society of Cardiology Congress to attend the first presentation of the long-awaited results from the study on which I have been working.

The taxi ride and the flight were nice and quiet. Since I was awake anyway, I made use of the time to catch up on reading.

Upon arriving in Vienna, I stepped into a cab and headed straight to the Conference Center.

The one thing that I did have the opportunity to do while I was in Vienna was to try to Austrian coffee... several times. According to my travel books, Austrians are known for their coffee. The fact that I had been up since 03:30 in the morning, I felt, justified my 2 cappuccinos, 2 coffees with cream, and 1 espresso. In between meetings, I could be found hidden in a corner with my work papers and a steaming cup of liquid energy. I can attest that Austrian coffee is every big as good as "they" say it is... I enjoyed each and every sip from the beginning of the day to the end.

In the afternoon, I made my way to the Poster room where I found a former colleague (DD) from the University of Minnesota. We had a very enjoyable time catching up and chatting about Gent and Europe in general. I was sorry to have to run off to another meeting.

After a long day of several meetings, I headed back off to the airport and made my way home. It was a typical business trip.

Isn't It Ironic?

05 September 2007

There we were, on the Autobahn in Germany, sitting at a dead stop. The Autobahn... the road where a person can drive as fast as they like because there is no speed limit was backed up for 9 kilometers and we were at the back of the line.

Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately because I was a little bit frightened), I was sitting in a taxi on my way to the airport in Dusseldorf and the taxi driver is a very bold man. After about 15 minutes of sitting, he determined that we would not make it to the airport in time if we didn't get moving. So... he boldly pulled on to the shoulder and drove right past many of the stopped cars. Once in a while we would approach a rest area and he would speed off, slide into a parking spot for one second, and pull back out onto the entrance ramp.

After about 20 minutes of this weaving and shoulder driving, we made it past the congestion and back into free moving traffic. Whew! Eventually and just in time, we pulled up to the arrivals gate at the airport. There was just enough time to check in, pass through security (which is much faster than in airports back home) and enjoy a quick cup of cappuccino before boarding the plane.

What an exhausting morning, and the day had only just begun.