The Jo Show

We’re in Germany!

It’s officially been a month since I joined Brev in Germany for the year! It’s hard to believe that this is our fourth season abroad, and I’m excited to be able to live in and explore another new country.

This season Brev will be playing for the HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). Back when Brev was playing basketball at Wisconsin, alumni and coaches told him that the BBL would be a great opportunity/fit for him, so I’m very proud that he was able to make this happen.

Stay tuned for another year of blogs chronicling our European adventures.

Belgium 2022 – 2023 Reflection

Time flies when you’re having fun!

I can hardly believe that I’m back in the U.S. after spending nine months over in Belgium with Brev. It was a great year, but I am very happy to be home and to see my friends and fam who I’ve missed so much.

Overall, this year was wonderful. For the first time ever, I was able to stay for (basically) Brev’s entire season, we had our own car, and two-bedroom apartment. His team this year was a lot more equipped than previous years with superior facilities, merch, and operations. The people that are a part of the Leuven Bears, from their business office to their dedicated group of supporters, were so nice and welcoming.

This year was also some of the best basketball Brev has ever played! Brev had two 30+ point games and a bunch of 20 point games (during the playoffs he averaged over 20+ ppg). He was his team’s leading scorer and in the top ten in the league at 16.5 ppg. He also shot 41.3% from three on 6.7 attempts per game!

On a different note, we had more visitors than ever before (shout out to my parents, Brev’s parents, Brev’s uncles, Brianna, Alyssa, Sandy, Jami, Taylor, and Maddie). I was also able to meet up with the girls I met in Serbia Brev’s first year playing abroad and visit my friend Amelia who is currently living in Italy.

I traveled like crazy and visited ten countries this year: Belgium (multiple cities), France (Paris twice), The Netherlands (Amsterdam three times), England (London, Bath, Stonehenge) Finland (Helsinki), Norway (Oslo, Bergen, Flam), Germany (Cologne), Italy (Milan and Rome), Austria (Vienna), and Luxembourg (City).

This year was also difficult as times. Brev breaking his thumb and needing surgery in the beginning the season, getting hit on the highway during some bad weather, and experiencing the homesickness and FOMO that comes with moving to a different country and leaving everyone behind.

All that’s to say, we feel so lucky for this unique and adventurous life we’re living and the opportunities that come with it. I know we will be talking about these experiences, memories, and stories from this phase of our life forever and there really is no one that I would rather do this with than Brev.

Now we’re going to enjoy summer in WI. Until next season!

Belgium Recommendations

While it’s still fresh in my mind, wanted to compile a list of all our Belgium recommendations. In general, Belgium is so easy to get around, there are lots of great places to visit, and everyone is very friendly.

Belgian cities to visit (starting with our most favorite): Brugges, Brussels, Leuven, Antwerp, and Ghent.

Chocolate: Neuhaus (top tier) and Mary

Beer: Stella Artois, Duvel, and Jupiler

Fries: Visit a Frituur and get some fries with mayo, they’re everywhere

Brugges

Things to do:
- Canal tour
Food/Drink:
- Jean de Bruges chocolatier for great truffles

Brussels

Things to do:
- Grand-Place (Grote Markt)
- Royal Palace of Brussels
- Manneken pis
- Free walking tour
Food/Drink
- Delirium Cafe bar for a meter of beers
- Mappa Mundo bar and fun area
- Maison Dandoy for waffles
- NONA Pasta for an Italian dinner
- Wolf Sharing Food Market for lunch

Leuven

Things to do:
- Stella Artois brewery tour (books out pretty far in advance)Free Botanical GardensGo to a Leuven Bears basketball game (duh 😉 )
- White Oak Spa (outside of the city but the best spa we have ever went to, so much fun to get a day pass there and relax)
Food/Drink:
- Oude Market (a bunch of bars/fun going out area)
- Leo Pancakes for brunch
- Madmum for coffee/brunch
- Baracca for dinner (if you could only go to one place in Leuven, we’d recommend this one. Make a reservation beforehand)
- Zoff restaurant for Italian
- SUD SUD Bistro: Mediterranean tapas
- De Hoorn restaurant for dinner (note: outside of city center)
- World Kitchen for Indian (this is far away from city center but has a great outdoor seating and the nicest owner)

Ghent

View the Ghent Altarpiece, also called the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb

FYI, the Thalys is a French-Belgian high-speed train that can take you from Brussels-Midi to Paris or Amsterdam in under two hours.

Stella Artois

After trying to visit the original Stella Artois Brewery in Leuven all year (the tour books out months in advance), I was finally able to go on Saturday.

In comparison to other brewery tours I’ve been on, like the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam, this was much less of a curated experience. Instead, we were given neon construction vests and walked through the factory.

The tour was about an hour and half, followed by two free Stellas at their bar, and a giftbag with three different types of beers.

Fun Facts:

Stella Artois was originally called the Den Hoorn brewery founded in 1366 in Leuven, Belgium. This is why there is a horn in the logo.
A master brewer, Sebastian Artois, bought Den Hoorn and changed the name to Artois.
When Artois released a new Christmas beer, called Stella Artois (stella meaning star), it was extremely popular. The name stuck and was officially changed to “Stella Artois.” You can still see a star on every bottle today.
Stella Artois is enjoyed for its fruity malt sweetness, crisp hop bitterness, and soft dry finish. We learned the secret is in the yeast, and that’s what truly differentiates all beer.
Stella should be enjoyed from a narrow lipped, tulip shaped glass with a stem (to keep your beer cooler longer).
Stella Artois is the second largest sponsor of Brev’s team, The Stella Artois Leuven Bears.

Baloise Antwerp 10 Miles

In March, Brev’s team photographer and I made a bet that we would run the Baloise Antwerp 10 Mile race and the loser had to buy dinner. Spoiler alert: I won. 😉

On Sunday, April 23, we were two of the 31,000 runners that took part in the annual 37th ten miler.

The atmosphere was a lot of fun, there were SO MANY fans, music, and cheerleaders along the way. We also got to run through Antwerp’s scenic city center, on the highway, and through car tunnels.

Unfortunately, it rained the entire time and the slick cobblestones with train tracks were hard to run on. Not to mention that it felt like the entire race was uphill AND my headphones died with three miles left.

But regardless, I was proud of myself for doing it and it was even more fun that Brev had the day off and was able to come cheer us on.

Luxembourg

On what was probably Brevin’s last off weekend of the season, we trained to Luxembourg, Luxembourg for the night.

We had such a great time and definitely think Luxembourg is an underrated country. It was so beautiful and unique, with its fortress and architecture. If you get the opportunity, go visit Luxembourg city for a night or two (you won’t need more time than that).

About Luxembourg:

It’s a small European country, surrounded by Belgium, France, and Germany. You can see the influence from these countries in Luxembourg’s language and cuisine.
One in 15 people are millionaires in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg is a founding member of the United Nations in 1945 and NATO in 1949.
The country’s capital, Luxembourg City, is home to about 130,000 of the country’s 640,000 residents. Foreigners make up 70% of the city’s population.
Public transportation throughout the country is free (which is why our tour guide recommended riding the free tram loop throughout the city to see everything).

Recommendations:

A free walking tour of the city (like always) via goldentours.lux
Pfaffenthal Panoramic Elevator (a free glass elevator to see the city)
Grund: a neighborhood in the valley
Urban Bar and Restaurant for food and drinks
Amore for brunch

Happy 20th Birthday, Leuven Bears!

Brev’s making a cameo on the blog, to discuss all things basketball:

Today the Leuven Bears celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the club’s founding. In 2003 two basketball clubs, Vastiau-Godeau Leuven and INS Basket Wilsele, joined to create the Leuven Bears. Today the program has over 450 players and more than 40 teams, this includes youth teams and lower division adult teams. The Bears even have a wheelchair team called the Bears on Wheels.

Today also marks the close of the cross-border portion of the BNXT season. We have been competing in the Elite Silver division of the league, after we failed to qualify in the top five to make Elite Gold.

Starting next week, we will be playing in the Belgian Domestic Playoffs as the sixth seed against the third seed (Mechelen) in a best of three series. If we win, we will move on to play in a best of five series for the semis. Following that, would be another best of five series for the Belgian Championship.

We will also be playing in the BNXT playoffs in May. These playoffs are a best of two, home and away, based on points.

I’m looking forward to getting the post-season started!

You can watch today’s game at 1:30 CT here: https://bnxt.tv/ (note: you’ll need to create a free account)

Tulip Season🌷

In early April, I was lucky enough to be able to go to Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam with Brev’s family.

Dubbed the “most beautiful spring garden in the world,” Keukenhof is a garden in Amsterdam that’s only opened for eight weeks out of the year to showcase Dutch floriculture.

The park has 7 million (!!!) spring-flowering bulbs and because we went relatively early in the season, we were able to see the blooming crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths, and early tulips.

The park is absolutely massive (79 acres) and addition to the trails and exhibits, there are flower bulb fields that grow over 800 species of tulips.

I’m so happy we were able to see the tulips bloom this spring, because the tulip is basically the symbol of the Netherlands.

Dutch Tulip History

Tulips made their way to the Netherlands from Turkey in the early 1500s and eventually Carolus Clusius, a prominent botanist of the time who directed a botanical garden in Leiden, got his hands on the bulbs.

It turns out that the Netherlands has the perfect growing conditions for tulips (mild winters, cool springs) and soon tulips became a major trading product.

Today tulips are still very popular. They’re celebrated at festivals, millions of people (like us) visit Keukenhof Gardens each spring, and local residents and businesses continue to grow tulips in their private gardens.

Fun Facts

The Netherlands is the world’s largest commercial producer of tulips (about three billion tulips exported each year).
During WWII, Dutch people ate tulip bulbs because they were nutritious and easy to cook. While they didn’t taste the best, they saved many lives.

Cologne, Germany

Brev and I were able to make it to Cologne, Germany for a night when he had a weekend off a couple months ago.

It was my first-time visiting Germany, so I was excited to see another new country, but Brev had been to Germany a couple times to play some preseason basketball games last season.

About

Located on the Rhine River, Cologne has been a key inland port for trade throughout history, especially between Western and Eastern Europe. In the Middle Ages it also was an important city when it came to art and religion.

The religious ties are still prevalent in Cologne today, as the city is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and the largest Gothic church in northern Europe. When we visited the church, the archbishop was holding mass so we were able to see his ornate traditional Mass vestments and headdress.

Unfortunately, during WW2 almost all of the inner city (which is where most shopping, restaurants, and businesses reside) was destroyed.

Today, Cologne is Germany’s fourth largest city (behind Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich).

Food

We tried classic German potato pancakes, Kartoffelpuffer, which were served with applesauce and hot honey sauce. Brev gave them a 10/10. 😋

Margherita Pizza

If you know anything about Maddie and I, it’s that we absolutely love pizza (and ordered it way too much in college, honestly).

We decided that Rome was the perfect place for us to go, in part because Italian food is our favorite. And yes, for the three days we were there, we ate nothing but pizza, pasta, and gelato. Mamma Mia! 😉

We learned that margherita pizza was originally created to honor the visit of Italy’s Queen Margherita (1851 – 1926). Supposedly, the pizza was inspired by the colors of the Italian flag with its green basil, white mozzarella, and red marinara sauce.

Also, in Italy (and basically everywhere else we have been in Europe) pizza is ordered individually (one person per pizza) and eaten with a fork and knife instead of by hand.