Can't leave home without it...

The minute the ink was dry on my offer letter to start work in Belgium (in January of 2008), the wheels started spinning with travel ideas. Paris? Rome? Barcelona? Nah. Too overdone. Need to do something different. Something my mountain-loving BF would find extra special.

Somehow a ski trip in Austria popped into my head. With the always-reliable source material of movies & tv shows, I conjured up images of hot chocolate, quaint chalets, wool sweaters, furry boots, snowy Alps and apres ski amongst worldly Europeans. Could there be a better vacation for our first winter in Europe?

(BF and I skiing in Telluride this past winter. Had we taken this trip in 2008, perhaps I would have been capable of planning a ski trip in Europe.)

SO. For Christmas that year I bought BF the "Lonely Planet Guide to Austria" and bookmarked "Innsbruck." The Olympics had been held there twice. Surely it would be good enough for us?

Well, yes, it probably would. If I had ANY idea how to plan a ski trip.

Unfortunately, at the time, my experience with these things was rather limited:
a) I had never seen a proper mountain
b) I had never been to Austria
c) I had never been skiing

(Also, it should be mentioned I had no idea what "apres ski" was. Having never seen it spelled before I actually thought it was something along the lines of "a-PRAY ski" and involved religion. Turns out it involves drinking. Lots and lots of drinking. Which is totally similar.)

I searched dozens of websites, read articles, guidebooks, etc. but was completely and hopelessly lost. Between the German and French descriptions of resorts and chalets and confusing reviews and absurdly expensive packages... my head was spinning. So. I promptly booked a weekend in Paris (so much for original) and... well, let's just say that THREE years later, we still have not been skiing in Europe together.

However, thanks to our amazing friends, Janey and Jeroen (who are old pros when it comes to booking European ski vacations), we will finally be going on our Austrian ski trip! We leave this Saturday and will be staying there a full week with the aformentioned Janey & Jeroen as well as another two friends.

Which brings me to the point of this post... Belgian shopping lists. You see, we will be staying at a chalet with a full kitchen so the idea is that we will stock the place with basics for breakfast, lunch and a few dinners and then supplement that with a few dinners out. As they aren't sure whether or not there will be a reasonably-priced grocery store nearby, our dear friends pulled together a grocery list of ESSENTIALS for a week away. Many of the items would have been on my list (toilet paper, spaghetti, cereal) but there were a few that I feel are uniquely Belgian:

Still Water
Sparkling Water
Nutella
Baking Butter
Butter for Bread
Chocolate Sprinkles
Icebags (these are plastic bags you fill with water and then freeze. Like ice trays but disposable.)
Koningingenhapje (also known as "Flemish Stew" or "Beef Carbonnade")

Amazing, no? I love that two kinds of water and two kinds of butter are required. I can't wait to see what constitutes butter for bread. (Perhaps they mean stick butter and margarine? Somehow I think it will be fancy schmancy dairy butter vs. supermarket brand baking butter) Nutella should require little explanation but chocolate sprinkles??? Really???

Want to know why I love Belgians so much? They can't survive a week without chocolate sprinkles.

(The chocolate spread aisle at the local grocery store. The yellow boxes at the top left are Sprinkles. To the left of those are "Matinettes" - bars of chocolate that are meant to be spread on bread. The rest of the jars are Nutella, gourmet versions of nutella and "Speculoos Spread" - a bread topping made of speculoos cookies. It's a big deal here in Belgium.)

Carnaval, Belgian Style

For many, the word "Carnaval" means "that crazy festival in Rio de Janeiro." They immediately think of extravagant costumes and hypnotizing samba dancing. Like Mardi Gras in New Orleans but with a Latin flavor.

(Carnaval parade in Rio)

But spectacle aside, at it's heart it's just a four day festival that begins the Saturday before Ash Wednesday (though the parades start in earnest on Sunday, seven weeks before Easter Sunday). And you know what? It's not the only Carnaval festival in the world.

Venice is known to put on a fabulous show:

(Unfortunately we just missed Carnaval on our Venice trip last year)

And while not quite so elaborate as the one in Rio nor as full of intrigue as the one in Venice, Cologne holds a pretty interesting party each year:

(Carnaval revelers in Cologne, Germany)

[Sidenote: In 2009 we visited Cologne to see what all the fuss was about. Although there were some amazing costumes and hilarious parades, it was cold and rainy and just... icky. But that could be because Cologne itself is a bit of an odd city. Much of it was razed during the World Wars and the structures built afterwards are not exactly easy on the eyes. It's basically concrete, accented with concrete and topped off with more concrete. You can imagine how gorgeous it is in the rain. Shockingly, we have not been back. ]

(Celebrating Carnaval in Cologne, 2009. We started the morning off with more wigs but they were ruined in the rain...)

Now, if Rio's celebration is the "most feathery" and Venice's is the "most masked" and Cologne's is the "most gray and miserable" then Belgium's own Binche Carnival is easily the "most bizarre." In the world.

Although there are celebrations in various forms in the weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday, the events that draw the most attention take place on Mardi Gras. And they begin early.

As in 4am early.

With drums.

Dressed in traditional costumes (see picture below) that are passed down from father to son and can be 150 years old, the "Gilles" go from house to house, gathering their fellow men (gotta be a guy to be a Gilles) and greeting each other with champagne. Although it sounds a little crazy to be drinking champagne at 4am while in costume, this is apparently a very serious affair with many rules that must be followed.

(Gilles in traditional costume that consists of an ostrich-feather headpiece, green glasses, belt with bells and wooden shoes.)

Around 8am, the different groups of Gilles come together and have a breakfast of champagne & oysters. They then don special wax masks (I didn't get a picture of this myself as they took them off before the parade but see below for an example) and wait for the municipal authorities to give them the OK to begin the parade through town with their fellow Carnaval celebrators dressed up as Harlequins and peasants among other things.

While waiting for the festivities to begin, locals and tourists alike can be found packing the streets and spending the hours dancing, drinking and eating fair food. If they are REALLY cool they play with confetti:

Around 3:30 things get quiet and you start to hear the slow thunder of footsteps coming towards you. Which is when things get weird. (you know, because drums at 4am and ostrich feathers are totally normal...)

The low rumble is the result of 1,000+ Gilles, Harlequins and peasants slowly strolling through town carrying baskets of blood oranges which they gently toss to the waiting crowd.

(Orange AND confetti. Score!)

Note that is is what happens when you are nice.

If you taunt them, well, they don't so much "toss" as PELT.

So you better duck.

(The metal grates are not just for decoration...)

Looks like fun, no? Not too shabby for little old Belgium. If you think this is something you'd like to experience for yourself, it's not too late! Mardi Gras celebrations begin tomorrow at 4am!

For more information, check out the official Binche website HERE. (translated in English if you're French is a little rusty. Or non-existent.)