Saturday August 24
Long day, flight from San Francisco to Amsterdam was 10 hours. Met Aurélie at airport at 11:00 (3 am Boise time). Drove 3 hours to her friend, Barbara’s house. Had picnic on the campus of her University. We are exhausted.
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| Aurelie and Barbara |
Sunday, August 25
Took train into Brussels and walked for several hours. I bought 3 small pieces of Belgium tapestry and sampled famous waffles and ice cream after in line for one hour! They were worth it! I abstained. Trying very hard to lose weight so I can hike without pain! Bread and cheese seem to be staples at every meal in Europe! All the signage here is in French and nothing in English.
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| In Brussels |
Monday, August 26
Drove to Luxembourg where we met Aurélie’s business partner and his wife. We will be staying here with them for 2 nights. Large meal at noon and then a hike around a lake. It is unseasonably warm here. Interestingly enough, all signage in Luxembourg is in German, again no English. We hear church bells every where we go and always different. We have learned that every county has it’s own tune. They are all beautiful, top of the hour, quarter passed, half past and quarter to the hour! Another great day.
Wednesday, August 28
We will all take a bus to a train then into the capital city of Luxembourg . Public Transportation is good everywhere we have been, 4 euros for all day all types, bus, train, or tram. By March, in Luxembourg City, it will be free to all. This is a very small, wealthy country. Main business now is banking. Not all monies deposited have a known source! Explored a very old fort that surrounds the City. There are three distinct areas, very old i.e, 1500, French Revolution old and very modern and new. Everywhere there are buildings in different stages of being renovated. Some destroyed in French Revolution some by WW II. I was hoping to see more about war in these parts as my Dad was in Holland and Belgium during WWII. Most of the usual American fast foods are here, McDonalds of course, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks and Burger King . American music all over. Lots of walking !
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| Overlooking Luxembourg City |
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| With our fabulous hosts Rita and Henri |
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| With Aurélie |
Thursday, August 29
Spent time in Aurélie’s home town and met some of her relatives, saw her childhood homes, her schools and favorite places. Two of these were the very old Abbey D’ Orval, built in the 1300’s and the Bouillon Castle, built in the 900’s. Both were wonderful. At the castle, we got a hand held narration of tour, complete with cannon explosions, draw bridge creaking and chains inn dungeon! It was really well done. At the Abbey, the Monks still make beer and cheese, both of which we tried.
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| Orval Monastery |
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| Boullion Castle |
Friday, August 30
Followed Route of the famous bike race, Liège - Bastogne Liège. The country side is very pastoral and beautiful. Small towns picturesque with narrow cobble stone streets, houses almost all have beautiful lace curtains and a an orchid in the window. They all have very steep narrow staircases. I will try to find some of these lace curtains for my sewing room. This evening we had dinner with Aurélie’s father and brother. He had quite a lot of land, sheep and chickens and also a wonderfully smart Australian Shepherd. I saw three of the oldest rose bushes I have ever seen, 2 stories high and trunks as big as my wrist! He has restored most of the house. It is amazingly large.
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At the start of the famous climb in the
Liege-Bastogne-Liege bike race
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| The "Wall of La Redoute" looking uphill. |
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| Looking downhill |
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| Panting rider |
Saturday, August 31
We drove to Liege today to meet Aurélie’s sister and walk around. Previous cities have been very clean but this one is not. It appears to have much more poverty. At lunch we started back to Amsterdam to our hotel. We will have two days here on our own before boarding the River boat.
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| View from our room |
Sunday, September 1
Up early for a guided walk around Amsterdam, about 2 hours. The rest of the day we used a map on our own. It is a very dirty city. They clean it each morning by bid water trucks just hosing every thing into canals! There are some interesting signs! See pictures! One of my favorite areas was the flower market . 2 blocks of everything bulbs, mostly tulip but many others as well. Purchased a lovely scarf but no bulbs! Ed says I can get them on Amazon Prime. As always, lots of Churches, old beautiful structures from 1500’s. We went through Anne Frank home where her family hid at the start of WWII. They were eventually captured and Anne, her sister and mother were all killed in the concentration camps. Her dad survived.
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| Honey served in honeycomb |
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| Hundreds and hundreds of tulip bulbs |
Monday, September 2
Walked to a Holocaust memorial and museum. Horrible! And to think it still happens today. Marijuana is alive, well and legal! Also a very public “Red Light District”. Woman sitting in widows with next to nothing on, waiting! A sign read , “respect our workers, they protect your women and keep your men happy! A t-shirt read, good boys go to heaven, bad boys go to Amsterdam ! It has been quite an experience ! The most obvious thing you notice here are the bicycles, thousands and thousands of them! They have their own lanes and own stoplights!People ride them in short skirts, three piece suits, high heels, long skirts. With cell phones, boom boxes, cigarettes, umbrellas, dragging suit cases behind, with small baskets and long crates attached, some shaped like wooden shoes, which people actually wear here! They ride with children, babies and dogs! This is absolutely a major form of transportation! We have walked over 12 miles in our two days in Amsterdam.
This is the end of the first part of our journey! We are boarding our ship now and will attend a wine and cheese get acquainted event!
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| Boarding our boat |
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| Bicycles everywhere |
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