Belgium Trip Spring 2002 (Part 2)
By James Ritchhart
After leaving DeDolle, I traveled south in hopes of making it to St. Sixtus (Westvleteren) before they closed. Actually, I was hoping to get to 'in Der Vrede' St. Sixtus's off site restaurant before they closed. For those unfamiliar with Trappist monasteries, most do not allow visitors. The Brothers (monks) are cloistered for life. They do not allow visitors and frown upon any conversation, except conversation essential to edify the Lord. This precludes visits from outsiders that would ask questions about life inside the walls. Some monasteries do allow visitors, especially those in the U.S. and Canada, but the Trappist frown upon this. St. Sixtus, Westmalle, Achel, Orval, Rochefort and Chimay are included in the ones that don't allow visits. Now, all of these places do have visitor center's where you can sample their wares, but are off site from the actual monastery. (In Der Vrede is across the street, in a new modern building with an interactive exhibit showing the daily life of the brothers. This building replaced the old two story building that had been the visitor center since the forties. The old center looked more like a biker bar and on weekends became one, so the brothers tore it down and moved it further away to cut down on the noise. Anyway, when I got there about 5:00 it was closed. I later found out that it was some Belgium holiday and they had not been open that day. (If anyone ever goes to visit, keep in mind that in Der Vrede is ALWAYS closed on Friday!)
So I headed into Poperinge where I was staying my first night. I stopped into Brierard for a cold Hommelbier on tap and then drove to Watou to check it out. (I was scheduled to have dinner at t'Hommelhof at 8:00.) The trip to Watou takes about 7 minutes. 15 minutes by bicycle. On the way I saw the biggest Hog I have ever seen. The thing had to weigh a thousand pounds. I found out that it was feed on spent grains from the four local breweries. (A word of caution.) Watou consisted of one of the smallest town squares I saw on my trip. It was very quaint and forties looking. Back to Poperinge I checked into my hotel, which was right on the square and was built in the 16th century. My room was huge! The bathroom was about the size of the other rooms I would stay in on my trip. They had a very nice restaurant that was packed that night as well as a cozy bar with about 40 beers available. I made it to t'Hommelhof and had a fantastic dinner. Waterzooi for soup, rabbit in beer sauce and hop shoots for a salad. (Hop shoots were out of season, but Stephen (the chef) grows the shoots in a greenhouse.) Very Unique! After dinner I went back to Poperinge and stayed out way too late. It didn't feel like it, but when they started kicking me out of one pub after another, I got the idea.
The next morning, I got up early and headed to St. Sixtus. I had pre-arranged, through months of communications, a visit to the monastery. This visit was to be for the purpose of attending Eucharist. I was told in advance that there was to be no dialogue, no pictures and definitely, no tour of the brewery! Eucharist was great. I was in the dirt floor sanctum where the brothers take their daily devotional and have been for 150 years. I sat on some wooden benches in the back and they all filed in and made a semi-circle around the alter in the front of the room. The entire service was in Dutch, but they gave me an English missal to follow along with. Since I had German in High School it was pretty easy. Towards the end of the service the 6 people in the back were invited into the circle to take communion. This was one of the highlights of my visit. After the service, Brother Godfried, asked me to wait for him in the entryway, as he would like a word with me. Brother Godfried was the one that I had pre-communications with. After about a ten minute wait, Bro Godfried ushered me into a small conference room for the word with me. The word actually was a dialogue of about an hour. Seems Godfried had been to New York and Seattle once before his decision to join the cloth. He was very well educated and spoke English very well. I could tell he missed some of the outside world, but appeared content with his decision. (You must understand that once one joins the Trappist order, they never leave the grounds. They are there for life. No trips to town for the weekend. They live there and die there. I saw the cemetery.) I was able to snap a few discrete pictures. Not that I wanted to break the rules; I just wanted a reminder.
After the service I drove around to where I would purchase my case of Westvleteren 12 for $24. I found out later that $6. of that was for the wooden case and the bottles. (No the case wouldn't fit in my suitcase!) I then went over to in DerVrede and had a snack and a 6,8 and 12 before heading out to Brugge for my second night and more beer adventures.