Saturday, July 4, 2015

Final days

The last couple of days on our road trip were quite lovely. The rainy weather left us and the air warmed up considerably. We spent one night in a capital city and one in a small village.

Heading south out of Belgian, we entered the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on National Day. We soon discovered that this meant almost everything was closed, including our hotel dining room. Fortunately, we found a delicious Greek restaurant just around the corner.
La Ville Basse from the Saint Esprit 
The next morning, we headed to the Saint Esprit parking lot on the recommendation of the folks at the hotel desk. As we exited, we found ourselves on a plateau overlooking the lower town. That was the first time I became aware of the remarkable topography of this place.
The Saint Esprit area.
Luxembourg City has twenty-four districts, but we only noticed three. Our hotel was in the Gare district, which as I mentioned already, was very quiet on the National holiday. La Ville Basse, the lower town, is newer but apparently quite picturesque; unfortunately, we never made it there. We spent all our time in la Ville Haute, the medieval core. This is where the tourist office was located and where the majority of the walking tour took place.
The Palace on the left; the Parliament of the right.
As we entered the medieval old town, we immediately noticed the Palace of the Grand Dukes. It is a modest place compared to those of other countries. A lone guard patrols the front of it. Adjacent to it is the Parliament building. The flags of the country were on full display on this day. We were not sure if this was because of National Day or if this is always the case.
Another view of the Palace
Nearby, we entered William Square, where a mid-week market was in full swing. This area also houses the City Hall. In the centre of the square an equestrian statue of William II, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg, stands with his hat doffed.
Market in front of City Hall
King William II
Passing under an archway, we entered another square, la Place des Armes. Here there was a small combo playing in the grandstand, and young women from the tourist office looking to rescue any lost tourists. At one end of the square is the Cercle Cité, a former palace, now a convention centre.
Cercle Cité in la Place des Armes

Music in the square
This part of Luxembourg City is a pedestrian zone, a common situation that makes walking around European cities very pleasurable; however, we had to face traffic when we headed towards Place de la Constitution with views over the Petrusse Valley and the Adolphe Bridge (which was under scaffolding on this day). In the centre of the square is the Gëtia Fra, a monument to those who died in WWI. It has come to symbolize freedom and resistance of the Luxembourgers.
Gëlia Fra

Standing at Constitution Square
Very close by is the entrance to the Petrusse Casemates, which, due to lack of time, we did not enter. These are part of the fortifications of the city and highly recommended for tourists. For a long time this city had extensive bastions.
The Cathedral
Instead, we entered Notre-Dame Cathedral across the street. Like so many other structures in this city, this church seems relatively new in European terms, even though its origins go back to the early 17th century. Later, when I read about Luxembourg City, I discovered that even the "old medieval core" has had many renovations in recent years.This is a city that is aging well, it seems.
Typical street

Place Clairefontaine
We enjoyed strolling through the narrow streets of the city, passing through Place Clairefontaine, with a monument to Grand Duchess Charlotte in the middle, then heading towards the fish market and the modern art gallery.
The modern art gallery.
Eventually, we found ourselves back where we started, We picked up sandwiches and said goodbye to this charming corner of Europe.
The gorgeous Metz Cathedral on a beautiful day.

Detail of the portal of Metz Cathedral

Driving south, we soon entered France. We stopped in Metz to see its cathedral, a beautiful golden edifice, under a blue sky. It was very grand, very lofty. There were several magnificent windows as well.
Gorgeous window 

Chagall window
A little farther south, we stopped at Pont-a-Mousson to visit the Abbey there. This was an interesting place. Once a Norbertine Abbey, it is now a hotel and conference centre. At the same time, it is a tourist attraction which charges admission. So we two visitors were sharing the space with hotel guests.
The cloister windows are no longer open.

The cloister is full of lavender and flowers.
It is impossible not to notice this large abbey, called Abbaye des Prémontrés now. Its two towers dominate the skyline from a distance. I couldn't help but wonder as I toured it if the hotel experiment will be successful. I wondered too if Pont-a-Mousson has much tourist business.
The empty church

The church building
The church itself is quite barren, and a little decrepit. It is used very little these days. The refectory has new life, however, as the chief dining hall in the conference centre.
The refectory

After thoroughly exploring the abbey, we hit the road again, on our way to our destination for the night, the tiny village of Eguisheim in the Alsace region of France. Staying there was a last minute decision, but we are so glad we did!
Beautiful evening light
Main square in the evening light
In 2013, Eguisheim was voted the most beautiful village in all of France. It is just about perfect. We were able to see it in the light of the evening and then again in the morning. Either way, it is absolutely charming.
Love that little house in the middle
Colourful Eguishem
The village lies just south of Colmar; it appears less crowded than Riquewihr and Obernai, two other attractive destinations in the region. Certainly, it has fewer tourist shops, although there are several restaurants and wine cellars to choose from.
Main square in morning light
We shared Eguisheim, in fact the entire region, with the many storks who live on the roofs of local buildings, the higher the better. We found ourselves looking for their nests everywhere.
Storks in Rouffach
South of the village, we followed la route du vin until we saw a sign leading us to a site called Les Trois Châteaux. These are ruins perched above the vineyards. We decided to hike to see them close up; but to me, the best part was the view from this spot.
Two of the châteaux.

The view from the châteaux.
As we continued on our route, we spent some time in two other Alsatian villages, Rouffach and Guebwiller. We enjoyed the former but were not much impressed by the latter.
Church in Roufflac

The witch's tower with stork nest at the top.

 Rouffach's main square has several interesting structures, including a witch's tower and a former corn market. Guebwiller was a larger town, and although it lacked the charm of the other places we visited, Bob spotted a pretty spot and took the photo below.
Hotel de Ville in Guebwiller
By mid-afternoon, it was time to make our way towards Switzerland and Neuchâtel. Our road trip had come to an end.





Wednesday, July 1, 2015

A short stay in Belgium

Wet but charming Ghent
Bob had never been to Belgium so that was our next destination; on our son's recommendation, we chose Ghent as our base. We decided to stay in this city two nights, which allowed us lots of time to explore.  Although our hotel was in a suburban area, we chose to walk towards the centre of the city in order to see more along the way. We made sure to carry our umbrellas; it was to be a rainy day.
Inside Saint Peter's Abbey Church
Saint Peter's Abbey
Our path took us past a park and the university, but the first major site we came upon was Sint-Pietersabdij – that is Flemish for Saint Peter's Abbey. It was an impressive structure in a large square. There are extensive abbey buildings adjacent to it which are now used as museums. The church was a welcome refuge from the persistent rain.
Making the best of a rainy day in Ghent. That is one big leaf beside me!
After lunch, the rain stopped and for a short time, we had sunshine and blue skies. This coincided with our arrival at the Belfry of Ghent, one of the city's three towers. I took advantage of this opportunity to take the lift to the top and look over the town. Begun in the early 14th Century, the Belfry once displayed a gilded dragon at the top of the tower; over the centuries, it has been used to sound warnings for the townspeople and as a watchtower.

The Belfry of Ghent
The Cloth Hall adjoins the Belfry
Ghent, as seen from the Belfry.
Below me, Bob captured the beauty of this corner of the city. This part of Ghent is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Each of the major buildings is absolutely beautiful.
Rear view of Saint Nicholas Church. We ended our walking tour here.
The Belfry lies between St. Nicholas Church and Saint Bavo's Cathedral. These grand buildings vied for Bob's attention, as he tried to snap them from every angle.
The unusual Pavilion building

The façade of the Royal Dutch Theatre
Not to be ignored in the same area were the modern and unique Pavilion building and the Royal Dutch Theatre which stands between the Belfry and the Cathedral.

A side view of the Cathedral. The facade was under scaffolding.
The pulpit in the Cathedral
As we continued our tour of the city, the skies became overcast again, but the rain held off for another hour or so. Really, we were lucky to see almost all the major sights before a late afternoon downpour.
The City Hall

One of the towers of the school of the arts.
Ghent's architecture is fascinating. The city hall, for instance, is part Renaissance and part flamboyant gothic; not far away, the school of the arts is dominated by two circular towers.
Jacob and I point towards England.
In a large square, we came across the statue of Jacob van Artevede. He had advocated for the recognition of Edward III in the 14th Century and has been immortalized pointing towards England ever since.

One of the branches of the canal
The Great Butcher's Hall in Ghent
Eventually, we arrived in the canal area of Ghent where I was reminded of another beautiful Belgian city, Bruges. In spite of the weather, some tourists had opted to see the city from canal boats below us. A particularly lovely sight was the Great Butcher's Hall near a bridge.
The Castle of the Counts

In this square next to the castle is a statue with a dog on the top. I like his paper hat.
Very close by is the Castle of the Counts. This fortress sits in the middle of the city, rather than where castles are supposed to be – on a promontory above everything.
Looking across the Graslei Canal
Along the Graslei canal are Ghent's former guildhouses - with beautiful stepped façades. Even under threatening skies these were lovely to look at. At about this time, the skies opened up. Fortunately, the last two sites we had yet to visit were churches, St. Michael's and St. Nicholas'. We were more than happy to duck inside, but we got very wet as we dashed between them.
Inside St Michael's Church
 We had to cross this bridge to get from Saint Michael's Church to Saint Nicholas Church on the right,
Our tour over, the rain was so heavy that we decided to take the tram back to the neighbourhood of our hotel, When we arrived at the train station, we were amazed at the sea of bikes parked there. I love that Europeans often prefer the bike to the car as personal transport. There would have been some very wet people that evening though.
Bikes everywhere
Due the the weather, we spent our evening close to our hotel - we found a delicious Thai restaurant a mere 100 meters away - and prepared for an early departure the next morning.

The Atonium structure in Brussels Park.
We headed south to Brussels, a mere 30 minutes away. However, we soon discovered that, without a map, it was not easy to find our way to the centre of this city, even with a GPS, so when we saw some silver balls in the distance, we headed in that direction. This was the Atomium, constructed for the Brussels World's Fair in 1958. There, some very nice men programmed an address into our GPS and off we went.
View towards the old city from the Art Gallery garden.
Emerging from the underground parking, I immediately recognized where we were - very close to the art gallery and the Royal Palace. Thus oriented, we began our walking tour of Belgium's capital.
A dramatic sky over the Royal Palace
Over the next three hours or so, we saw more of the city than I had seen in my previous visit in November when our school group had stopped there for a few hours. Even though the skies were threatening at times, we never experienced any rainfall.
The Orthodox Saint-Catherine's Church.
Our excursion around Brussels led us to Saint-Catherine's Church in the old part of the city; we also passed the "bourse", (the stock market building), an ornate building erected in the latter half of the 19th century.
La Bourse

Brussels City Hall
Of course, we eventually ended up in Grand Place, the square where all the tourists seem to go. And why not? The town hall and the museum of Brussels are both remarkably beautiful buildings. On this day, there were flower sellers adding colour to the scene; this was a hint of what will happen in August when the centre of the square will be covered by a floral carpet.
The Museum of Brussels

Flower seller at Grand Place
We had one more stop in Belgium planned, so we hit the road again by mid-afternoon to make our way to a beautiful Belgian village, Dinant. We had seen images online of the 12th century citadel perched above the town, and wanted to take pictures of our own of this site.
Dinant's citadel sits above the town.

When we arrived, we were surprised at the traffic. "Did Dinant have a rush hour?", we thought. To avoid the slow down, we parked away from the centre of town and decided to explore on foot, rather than ascend in the car to the opposite of the citadel for the best perspective.
Saxophones
The bridge across the Meuse river was festooned with giant and very colourful saxophones. At the base of each one was the name of a country. This is the "Bridge of the Sax" to honour the inventor of the instrument, Adolphe Sax, a Dinant native.
Charles de Gaulle, hero of Dinant.

When we reached the other side, there was a statue of Charles de Gaulle, a tribute to his role as a lieutenant in the WWI Battle of Dinant. He was injured there, but the Belgians are thankful for his contribution to the defence of their town in 1914.

This would be our last stop in Belgium. A new country awaited us.