November 2013 - Page 5 of 6 - My Healthy, Happier Life

ashleyd / November 5, 2013

November Goals

Happy Tuesday! November has arrived and with that, the promise that winter is quickly approaching! Check out the view from my desk this morning. Yes, that white line is the first snow which fell in the mountains last night! Soon we will be spending our weekends skiing and enjoying the cold weather but for now, I’m more than happy to enjoy a few more weeks of Autumn in Geneva and London. Afterall, the meteorologists and Farmer’s Almanac all predict another year of colder than normal temperatures and heavy snow for Europe. In advance of Winter and the holiday chaos, I find November to be a great month to reset after marathon training.

Now that the marathon is over it’s time to redefine my goals. A creature of habit who needs constant motivation, I never like going more than two weeks without an end goal in mind. November is all about strength, both in mind and muscle.

Mind: This evening Renaud eagerly asked me when we could begin running together. I laughed, not taking him seriously. Then I realized he wasn’t joking. “You have a trail race to win in June afterall Ashley.” I laughed at him knowing damn well that there is no way I’m going to win a trail race in June. In fact, I’ll be lucky if I can run the entire thing considering the elevation change and the fact that it will be my first. But, then as he continued to ask me when we could run and if he can coach me, I realized that my mind was getting in the way. I absolutely loved running the Saleve with Renaud back in February when I was a guest in his home and had no choice. Why is it that I’ve lived here for four 3.5 months and haven’t been back up those challenging trails? My goal is to run with him at least once a week this month beginning with an after work trail run tomorrow night followed by a jaunt up the Saleve next Saturday. It’s going to be hard but until I get out of my own head I will never get stronger.

Muscle: Since moving to Geneva, strength training has taken a back seat. While I am still climbing stairs and walking a great deal daily, I would like to regain some of the strength I built during my year of personal training and then Barry’s Bootcamp and Uplift classes. I am doing this by getting back into the habit of doing pushups and planks daily in addition to two dedicated strength workouts each week. Today I finally took advantage of the lunch time Body Pump class offered in my office gym. It was fully in French and the weights were in kilograms which resulted in some weight and plate confusion but overall I loved every, sweaty minute! It was also a good wakeup call as I could feel my glutes engaging and left the class quivering all over. Bodypump 87 is definitely a challenging workout filled with lots of squats, lunges, chest presses, and clean and press!

BodyPump

I’ll update you all each week on this month’s goals through training updates!

What are your goals this month in advance of the chaotic holiday season?

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ashleyd / November 4, 2013

Brussels: Mussels, Architecture & Beer Oh My

I am back in Geneva after a quick weekend trip to Belgium. We spent the weekend exploring Brussels and Brugges, two very different cities in Begium. Arriving in Europe, Brussels as a whole seems like the ugly duckling. It’s rare to hear people talking about the beautiful architecture, delicious food, beer, or the convenient proximity to Geneva and London. But, after 48 hours in the country, our group of four people can’t recommend it enough to anyone who finds themselves in Europe!

Without further adieu, here are our recommendations for places to stay, eat, drink and see while in Brussels. Later this week I will share the same information for Brugges.

Transportation: When flying into Brussels, we suggest taking the train from the airport instead of a cab. The train is both faster and less expensive while being simple to navigate and very convenient. It took us 15 minutes to go from the airport to the Brussels-Central station. The train can be accessed from the bottom floor of the airport.

Hotel: We were able to snag a great deal at Hotel Amigo which is located in the heart of Brussels, just a few steps away from the Grand Place. The hotel staff was very accommodating the entire time, helping us find our way through the town, hold our luggage after checkout and provide suggestions. Our hotel rooms were quite large for European standards and included a queen size bed and large bathroom, complete with a range of toiletry items and blow dryer. In addition, the room came with complimentary water, wi-fi and a morning paper. This hotel came highly recommended via Trip Advisor as well.

Drink: Multiple co-workers from Brussels and the surrounding areas suggested we spend Friday evening at Delirium Cafe. We thought it may end up being too crowded or just a tourist trap but we were pleasantly surprised. The binder of beer will overwhelm and amaze any beer fan while the service is better than expected for a crowded bar. There are three large floors, each featuring a different atmosphere and feel but we found ourselves on the main floor for most of the time. The music they played was loud enough to hear but not overwhelming and the Friday night crowd was very friendly. The beer decor covering every wall and ceiling was a fun touch as well!

Eat: A woman of moderation, I had a very hard time maintaining moderation in Brussels. I wanted to try everything since we were only there a short time. Therefore, for the 18 hours we were in town we dined on nothing but mussels, waffles and fries. I mean really, how can you refuse when a country has established its reputation on these things? We didn’t do any formal research in advance so I thank Yelp for pointing us in the direction of Chez Leon. Other than that, we chose our waffles based on how delicious the waffle truck smelled and our fries based on the number of sauces and if there was a line. Like I said, there was no art to it but everything was delicious yet so simple! See: Our friend Renaud put together a great walking map of Brussels with suggested sites. We used this is as our guide and would recommend it to anyone else visiting the area. It was complete but not overwhelming and highlighted the key sites.

A. GRAND PLACE: the first logic stop is the Grand Place, amazing architecture and historical breweries there. You can have Belgian fries and Brussels waffles there – they are quite good.

B. MANNEKEN PIS: a little statue, very touristic of a boy peeing. Nothing crazy but quite emblematic of Belgium.

C. LE SABLON (GRAND SABLON & PETIT SABLON): very nice architecture, beautiful place for a drink on the terraces if the weather is nice. You should visit the best (IMO) chocolate maker in Belgium (maybe in the world) there: Pierre Marcolini.

D. LES MAROLLES: historical area with lots of little bars etc (e.g. Havana Club is nice by night). From there, this is the place where you can take a free open air elevator that will bring you to place Poelaert. Alternatively, there is a small street going up.

E. PLACE POELAERT: one of the best views on the city from the center. From there, if you look to the South, you can see the Atomium building. The Palais de Justice is also nice there.

F. PLACE ROYALE: nice area with the Palais de Bruxelles, the statue of the guy on his horse and the art museum. You also have the Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) which has a very interesting architecture

If you are planning a trip to Brussels, feel free to send any questions my way! Also, let me know if you like this format as I have plenty of travel posts and am trying to find the best way to meet readers’ needs!

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ashleyd / November 2, 2013

A Night in Brussels

This is the first trip we’ve taken where we made no plans other than hotel reservations – one night in Brussels and one night in Bruges.

We arrived in Brussels around 7:30pm ready to check out the night life. Our hotel for the night, Rocco Amigo, was conveniently located near the Grand Place, or Brussels’ town square. The rest of our evening was spent meandering the narrow cobblestone streets past small restaurants and bars. We luckily found our way to the three story World of Delirium bar! It was the perfect spot for the four of us to enjoy beers – it was a mix between a dive bar and a club because this was clearly one of the Brussels hot spots for both tourists and locals alike. Each floor was packed yet we were able to find a table within minutes. The service was friendly and there were over 2,500 beers available in bottles and more than 100 on tap!

After a few too many beers we found our way to a mussels and frites filled dinner – the perfect ending to our evening. We stumbled across Chez Leon which had a huge line and decided that the packed quarters meant one of two things – it’s either very good or just a huge tourist trap due to its proximity to the Grand Place. After sharing their mulles frites we can say that it is a tourist trap but the food was really, really good!