After many many attempts to call in and make a reservation, I finally got through and ordered three crates (one for Daf and two for me) ready for pick up on Oct 30. After nearly a week of waiting, the day finally came. Because you can only pick it up in a car, as there are not accessible train stations, we rented a small car and headed out. As I quickly learned, Europeans have a much different definition of small car than we do. I give you the Hyundai i30, ladies and gentlemen.
That's 1400 cc's of raw, winding power and about 7 foot of car. It was the smallest car I have ever been involved with. Surprisingly enough, it was reasonably roomy inside, considering.
From there we headed out for Belgium. With the assistance of the nice British lady inside the navigation system, we made it in about three hours. Unfortunately there were no high speeds seen in my last drive in Europe, as the Belgians restrict speed more so than zee Germans.
After a long winding road we had hoped to see leading to the monastery, we come to out destination. I'm not going to say we were disappointed, but I had kind of hoped to see a bunch of thatched roofs and monks dressed in robes (non Klan outfits for those of you out there that might be confused). But It just looked like they were selling it out of their garage. Which is nice in it's own way.
Below is the line for the beer, which I'm sure is like that all day
And we finally had a "boot" full of delicious beer.
We stuck around the village a while and grabbed a bite to eat and a drink of another abby beer, which was delicious as well. We then went to the market and picked up a ton more beers from the region, so the Westvleteren would last longer. The ones I have tried so far have been excellent. Due to the quality of all these beers, I will never again slander the supposed country of Belgium again.
Here's the trunk at the end of the day
Needless to say, it was a great day, that might just be repeated in the future.
