Filed under: Uncategorized
We arrived safely home 12:30 a.m. Saturday, June 12th, 2010. Our trip went smoothly, with the exception of the last leg from Chicago to Minneapolis. A late departure from London caused us to miss our connection in Chicago, and the flight we were reassigned to was subsequently delayed. We landed at MSP three hours later than scheduled, and almost exactly 24 hours after we took off from Brussels.
It is nice to be home. Actually, we’re staying at the Borgen house in Bloomington until our house is ready July 1st, but it’s still nice to be home in the sense of being back in the Twin Cities. We expected some sort of reverse culture shock, but so far it just feels a little like we never left.
I am traveling Tuesday to Oklahoma City for an audition, but after I get back I have a few more posts in mind to round out this blog. I have pictures of our last trip to Paris, some thoughts on mouthpieces (I’m sure you can’t wait for that one!), and some general reflections on our year abroad.
Filed under: Uncategorized
We leave Belgium this morning to return home. Departing Brussels Intl. at 12:30 this afternoon, we arrive at MSP at 9:30 p.m. after gaining seven hours along the way. From within the whirlwind of activity this morning, it’s difficult to gauge our emotions, but it’s safe to say that we are simultaneously sad to leave Ghent and excited to return to Minneapolis. Please pray for safe travels!
We have been saying our goodbyes to friends and neighbors in Ghent. Friday I went to a special B.A.E.F. luncheon (B.A.E.F. provides my funding here), where I said thank you to the B.A.E.F. staff, and Katie, Wes, Vera, and I said goodbye to Brussels. Saturday I had my last clarinet choir concert, so I had to say goodbye to many friends from the Ghent clarinet studio. Sunday we had a goodbye tea with our upstairs neighbor, Jasmien, and were later treated to a goodbye snack session with Danre and Gawein at Frituur Sint-Jacob. And today, Monday, Wes said goodbye to the Paddington ride in Zuid shopping mall.
Goodbye Grand Place
Jasmien and Wes
Snacking at Frituur Sint-Jacob
Goodbye, Paddington!
Wes and Paddington (September, 2009)
Being in a reflective mood tonight, I was reading back over some of my early blog posts, made just after our arrival in Belgium. Not surprisingly, many of my feelings about Ghent (and music, and kids, etc.) have evolved over the 9+ months that we’ve been here. In some cases, I discovered that I had even written some factually inaccurate things. For example, in September I wrote a few lines about fries. I said that Frituur Sint-Jacob has “been run by the same family through several generations,” but I now know that the stand was sold a few of years ago AFTER having been run by the same family through several generations. I also wrote that “most people choose mayonnaise” to go with their fries. Really, I was in no position to make such a statement after only a few weeks in Belgium, and it turns out that people choose from a myriad of sauces (cocktail, andalouse, curry ketchup, samurai, etc.) and most often do NOT choose mayonnaise. I wrote in the caption that the fries stand is “in Bij Sint-Jacobs,” but I now know that the Dutch word “bij” means “by” or “at,” so “in Bij Sint-Jacobs” is redundant. I have also learned that fries are just one of many fried treats that people order at the frituur. So, even about something as seemingly simple as “French” fries (a misnomer), I’ve learned a lot this past year. I like to think that most of my fact checking throughout the blog is better than in this one instance, but I’m definitely not the last word.
Belgian fries
Deep-fried bonanza, Belgian style, courtesy of Danre and Gawein
Prior to leaving Belgium, we squeezed in a visit to the dentist. Wes had his first check-up, and I had a very effective ultra-sonic cleaning of my lower front teeth, all for a total of 79 Euro. We waited just ten minutes, and the whole thing lasted about half-an-hour. Based on our experiences with the Belgian health care system, and having talked to a number of Americans living in various other European countries, I’ve concluded that the U.S. healthcare system needs improving, to put it mildly. If I had a lot health issues, I wouldn’t think twice about seeking care outside of the U.S. In fact, if you need major dental work done, I recommend that you consider a medical vacation to Belgium. You can get a European vacation AND your dental work for less than the price of the dental work alone back home. Here is the name of the great, affordable dentist we visited, and whom Katie picked more-or-less randomly from the phone book: Tandarts VERBEKE, 9000 Gent, +32 (0)9 221 67 94
Wes's first check-up. He's fine.
Satisfied customers
Filed under: Clarinet, London, Travel | Tags: Albert Schweitzer, All Hallows, Clarinet Mouthpiece, Club Quarters, Eurostar, London, Ramon Wodkowski, Tower Bridge, Westminster
May 27-31, 2010, we made our first-ever trip to London. The Eurostar whisked us there through the Chunnel from Brussels in under two hours, making it an affordable and convenient trip. We arrived at St. Pancras station at 8:56 a.m., walked to our hotel (Club Quarters, St. Paul’s), took showers, and headed right back out to explore.
Being near St. Paul’s Cathedral meant that we were very centrally located. Two blocks brought us to the River Thames and the new Millenium Bridge. For lunch we had - what else? - fish and chips.
Millenium Bridge over the River Thames
Millenium Bridge with St. Paul's in the background
Enjoying the funicular-style elevator by the bridge
- Fish and chips
After lunch, we walked on to Tower Bridge. Being a structure that so perfectly combines two of Wes’s main passions, towers and bridges, it demanded a climb to the top. The observation deck is enclosed in plexiglass, which was somewhat disappointing, but the mini-museum there gave us a nice introduction to London.
Tower Bridge
The descent from the top of Tower Bridge
We toured All Hallows Church, where Dr. Albert Schweitzer made some of his famous Bach organ recordings in 1935. Like much of old London, the organ he recorded on was destroyed in a German air raid in 1940. The crypt floor in All Hallows has the original mosaic tiled floors of the Roman houses that once stood on the site. A kindly old English lady enjoyed holding Vera while we explored.
In the evening, while I practiced at the hotel, Katie took the kids out for a walk. She came across a garden on the site of a former church, St. Mary Aldermanbury. According to a sign in the garden, the church was destroyed during World War II, but interestingly the ruins were shipped to the United States and it was re-erected in Fulton, Missouri. At least one other London landmark now stands in the United States, namely the 1831 version of London Bridge, which was bought and shipped stone by stone to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, in 1967.
Wes in the Garden of St. Mary Aldermanbury
We ended our first day in London with a late dinner at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, across the street from our hotel.
Friday we spent in and around Westminster. We saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral (entirely different from Westminster Abbey, as I discovered), Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, and Trafalger Square. Lunch was again fish and chips. We rode the tube home and had a late dinner from another London chain – Pizza Express this time. Each morning for breakfast, by the way, we bought muffins, shortbread, scones, pastries, and milk at a Marks and Spencer grocery. The baked goods were so fresh and delectable that every day we bought more of them than we did the day before. The fresh milk (as opposed to the UHT milk in Ghent) was about the best we’ve ever had.
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
Katie with the London Eye in the background. The long lines scared me away from riding it, but I sort of regret skipping it now.
Wes-minster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Quire of Westminster Abbey
Westminster Cathedral
Wes in sun cap with London cab
Buckingham Palace
Diaper change outside of Buckingham Palace
Baby Vera
- St. James Park
We began Saturday with a trip across the Millenium Bidge, past the Tate Modern and Globe Theater, to Borough Market. A market has existed near London Bridge in one form or another for over a thousand years, and it remains a great place to buy produce, gourmet food items, and a quick, high-quality lunch. I tried a Pimm’s lemonade and Katie and Wes shared a regular lemonade. Next we took the Tube to Trafalgar Square to meet my friend Ramon. Having not yet changed the clock on my phone from Belgian time, we arrived over an hour early. Once I realized my mistake, we took the opportunity to visit St. Martin-in-the-Fields church and the National Gallery. Most of the big museums in London, including the National Gallery, are free, which is a great idea in my opinion. We spent just one hour there, but we saw enough to understand that it is one of the world’s great museums. We managed to see most of the Dutch and Flemish paintings, including two Vermeer’s and a full room each of Rembrandt and Rubens. St. Martin-in-the-Fields church was interesting to me because it is the original home of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields chamber orchestra, which is, so I’ve heard, the most recorded orchestra of all time.
Millenium Bridge near Tate Modern
Borough Market
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Interior of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
National Gallery
Baby tourist
Saturday was the only day that we had any rain in London. The rain was not hard and lasted just long enough to give us a taste of London in the rain. It stopped by the time we met Ramon. He took us through Piccadilly Circus, Soho, Covent Garden, and to dinner in Chinatown. After dinner, he helped us onto a double-decker bus back to Club Quarters, our home away from home away from home.
Staying dry in Trafalger Square
Dan and Ramon in Piccadilly Circus
Ramon is one of my best friends from the time I spent at the Yale School of Music. He moved to London six years ago and has developed his career as a clarinetist and clarinet mouthpiece craftsman. On Sunday, he came to the hotel and let me try some of his mouthpieces. He also put a terrific new facing on the old Lelandais mouthpiece I found in our Sint-Jacob flea market.
Ramon working his mouthpiece magic
After the mouthpiece session, Ramon took us via Kensington Gardens and Royal Albert Hall to the Royal College of Music, where he did an artists diploma. We had Sunday dinner (Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for me) at a pub, and stopped briefly outside of Harrods department store.
Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
Ramon in front of the Royal College of Music
Sunday dinner in a British pub
Monday we checked out of our hotel, visited the Tate Modern, met Ramon for lunch at a fantastic Turkish deli, and then went to St. Pancras to catch our afternoon train back to Brussels. On our way to the station, we spent some time in Regent’s Park. British gardens have a charm distinct from those of the continent. They are more wild and whimsical, and to me more relaxing. Katie had read online that a gate at Regent’s Park was the model for the one in Disney’s Mary Poppins where Bert makes his chalk drawings. The park certainly reminded us of the movie, but we couldn’t pin down an exact match with any of the gates we saw.
Bro and sis relaxing in the hotel
Tate Modern
The view across the Thames from a Tate Modern balcony
Turkish Deli
Wes's "house" in Regent's Park
English-style garden (St. James)
After nine months in Belgium, London felt several steps closer to home. Everything was back in English, buildings and streets had a familiar feel, and in general we felt more at ease. Moving from the exotic to the familiar, we felt a little as if we were on a vacation to home. Indeed, we relaxed and slept quite a lot during our five days there, just like you do when you are home from college. Talking to my Belgian friends, I was surprised to learn how many of them, given how short the trip is, had never been to London. To me, this is a good example of why the European Union is not directly analogous to the United States. EU countries have relatively little in common with one another culturally speaking. Ghent is just 200 miles from London, yet almost everything about the two places is different.
The differences between American and British English caused one or two misunderstandings. For example, when we got on the tube for the first time, an older man asked us, “Are you alright?” We replied that we were alright, but that we were getting on the Tube for the first time and trying to figure out the system. He showed us the way to our train. Later, a cashier asked Katie, “Are you alright?” and she responded that she was fine and then asked if he was alright. We were beginning to think that we must really look like a wreck and in need of help, but Ramon later explained to us that in England “Are you alright?” is used the instead of “How are you?” We were relieved to know that we don’t look like a total pity case.
Filed under: Belgium, Clarinet, Ghent, Travel | Tags: Michael Kibbe, potty training, spare ribs, Vinko Globokar
As you may recall, back in April I played a triple clarinet concerto, Michael Kibbe’s “Triple Threat,” with Gawein Antonie and Danre Strydom. Another clarinetist, Valerie, snapped these pictures of us in action:
Rehearsing "Triple Threat" in Miry Hall, Ghent Conservatory
"Triple Threat" performance with Gawein and Danre, April 25th, 2010
In addition to the concerto, we played a different Kibbe trio, “Ebony Suite,” for our fall chamber music exam, and then a completely wacko trio by Vinko Globokar for our spring chamber music exam. All in all, we spent a lot of time together and became good friends. To celebrate a successful year, we three went out for ribs at De Gekroonde Hoofden (The Crowned Heads) with Katie and the kids. Spare ribs are sort of a speciality in Ghent, popular with locals and tourists alike. The most famous ribs restaurant is Amadeus (of which there are now three locations in Ghent alone), but there are a few other nice places as well. De Gekroonde Hoofden is in a cool old building with the heads of kings carved into the facade, situated just across from the canal from the Gravensteen. You choose from four different sauces (original, spicy, honey, sweet and sour), and the waiters will bring as many ribs as you can eat for a flat price. Katie and I both prefered the ribs at De Gekroonde Hoofden to those at Amadeus, but we did miss the baked potatoes with garlic curry sauce that you get at Amadeus. In any case, we recommend going out for ribs when you’re in Ghent.
The trio in front of "De Gekroonde Hoofden"
Ribs!
Keeping Wes busy putting toothpicks into bread
Danre and Wes by the enormous fireplace
After the meal, we recruited Gawein to take a few pictures of our family. Since one of us is usually behind the camera, we have relatively few with all four of us.
In front of the Gravensteen
On the bridge near the Vleeshuis
Earlier in the day, Wes went poopy on the toilet for the very first time. As promised, he got a special present as a reward. We haven’t pushed potty training too hard with him, but it is exciting to see steps in the right direction.
Wes with his new Lego circus train
After a lot of discussion and some back-and-forth, the date for our return to Minnesota is set for Friday morning, June 11th, 2010. We fly British Airways (Brussels – London – Chicago – Minneapolis), arriving at MSP Friday night at 9:25 p.m. We had planned on coming home the first week of July, but there is an audition I want to take in Oklahoma City June 16th. Since our house won’t be ready until July 1st, we will stay for a few weeks with our parents.
Now that we are sure of our departure date, we have begun preparing for the move: returning borrowed items, giving away things we don’t plan to bring home (almost everything), strategizing about packing, etc. We have also booked two final sightseeing trips, one to London (May 27-31) and one to Paris (June 8-9). If you think it sounds a little crazy to be in Paris two days before we leave for Minneapolis, I’m inclined to agree with you, but Katie is adamant about saying “good-bye” to Paris, so we will go. London has been on our list of must-see cities since the very beginning. Everyone gushes about it and neither of us has ever been there, so we’re excited. These last three weeks will doubtless be busy and full of mixed emotions for us.
The weather in Ghent has been unbelievably nice for almost a week straight. Clear blue skies, temperatures around 80, and holiday crowds (Pentecost) have drawn us outside to enjoy some of the things near our apartment that we tend to take for granted. Twice over the weekend we heard live music coming from Vrijdagmarkt: first a small town band, then a fife and drum corp. These were wind bands sounding their best in their native environment!
Watching the band in Vrijdagmarkt
Is that a C clarinet?
Fife and drum corp
Saturday we took in the marionette show at the Huis van Alijn, a great museum of Flemish ”everyday life.” Despite being entirely in Dutch, the show held Wes’s attention for the full hour-and-a-half. The plot was peculiarly Belgian:
A statue of the town’s first mayor has stood in the same spot, in the same square, for 100 years. The current mayor proposes to replace it with a statue of himself, resulting in protests from the town’s people. A group of thieves make off with the statue and a bag of municipal funds, but the town clown saves the day, recovering both the statue and the money. The statue is returned to its rightful place, and everyone is happy.
Upstairs to the marionette theater
Marionette show with (left to right) the statue, the town clown, and a police man.
Sunday we had lunch at Eden Restaurant, a place we pass everyday at the corner where Baudelostraat meets Vrijdagmarkt, but where we had never eaten. We ordered pasta (we continually see people eating pasta there) and listened to the fife and drum corps through the open windows. We felt like real Gentenaars!
Out and about near Portus Ganda
Lunch at Eden Restaurant
Sibbies
Filed under: Belgium, Expat, Ghent | Tags: Belgium, bike, Ghent, Nachtwinkel, UHT
Having completed my five-part April travel retrospective, I’m at last back to the present on the blog. First, though, just a couple of pictures of our friend Merethe, who visited for a couple of days at the beginning of May. We had a nice time with her in Brussels and Ghent!
Merethe, Katie, Vera, and Wes on the train from Brussels to Ghent
Merethe and Wes at MSK Ghent (fine arts museum)
Besides keeping everyone back home up to date, one of the main objectives of this blog is to document our adventure abroad for future reference. As we begin to wrap up our time here, I want to devote a few posts to aspects of our daily life in Ghent.
The differences between Minnesota and Belgium range from the obvious (language, politics, weather) to the subtle (the kiss hello, pedestrian right of way at crosswalks, the not-quite-so-spicy “Spicy Italian” at Subway). It’s the many subtle little differences that have reminded us from day to day that we are living in a foreign country. One thing that has taken me the last nine months to fully realize, for example, is that fresh milk is almost non-existent in Belgium. Small grocers and convenience stores stock only UHT, or long life, milk, which you buy in cartons off unrefrigerated shelves. Fresh milk is hard to come by. We used to be able to buy it at the Carrefour Express near our apartment, but it has recently disappeared there as well. According to Euromonitor International (via Times Online), 96.7 percent of milk consumed in Belgium is UHT, the highest of any European country. Wes doesn’t know the difference, but to me it tastes strange. It’s somewhere between fresh milk and powdered or canned milk.
Milk selection at a Belgian grocery store
Another difference – one that we’ve adjusted to by now – is store hours. Most retailers are open 10-6, may or may not close for lunch, are closed Sundays, and may be closed Mondays or other random days. Then, if you need something after 6 p.m, you go to a nachtwinkel, or “night shop.” Nachtwinkels are similar to, but not quite the equivalent of, American-style convenience stores. Convenience stores in the States, as I think of them, are open 24/7, and provide one-stop shopping for essential groceries (like fresh milk), health/beauty products, magazines, a few car-care items (oil, anti-freeze, wiper blades), and (in some states) alcohol. In Belgium, or at least in Ghent proper, you go to any one of four or five different stores depending on what you need and when you need it: news stands, produce shops, pharmacies, health/beauty shops, auto parts stores, wine shops, or nachtwinkels. Nachtwinkels don’t carry everything, though, so if you need produce or a magazine after 6 p.m. you’re probably out of luck. The really puzzling thing to me is that sometimes a nachtwinkel is located right next to a grocery store, its day-time equivalent. It’s as if the shop keeper closes the grocery at six, and then walks next door to open the nachtwinkel. Why not just consolidate the two and stay open round the clock, thereby cutting costs practically in half and offering a wider selection of stuff? My best guess is that there is a law keeping it this way. One nice thing, at least, is that nachtwinkels are absolutely everywhere. We have four within a three-minute walk of our place.
J.J.S Nacht Winkel (left) and J.J.S Super Market (right). Same owner, basically same products, but different shops with different hours.
Incidentally, the owner of the J.J.S shops (pictured above) has recently taken over Pizza Bella Italia, our favorite Indian restaurant in Ghent. They are now offering an all-you-can-eat buffet for 9.95 Euro. It’s the first in Ghent that I’m aware of, and it’s very good. I hope it will be a big success. Every decent college town needs a good and cheap Indian buffet. The owner says that they will be changing the decor to something more Indian, so hopefully they also change their name to something more Indian.
Pizza Bella Italia, Ghent's first Indian buffet!
Finally, here are two short videos that Katie shot a while back of a strange scene by the river. Maybe someone played a practical joke?
Filed under: Belgium, Clarinet, Ghent, Paris, Travel | Tags: Basilica of the Holy Blood, Bruges, Eiffel Tower Key Chain, Eric Hoeprich, Ghent, Michael Kibbe, Montmartre, Paris
The departure of the Borgens on Friday, April 23rd, coincided almost exactly with the arrival of my mom and her sister Joan for a one week visit. Mom and Aunt Joan touched down at 9:30 a.m. that day, and the Borgens took off at 10:30 a.m. We couldn’t be at the airport because I had a rehearsal, so Mom and Joan bravely found their own way to Ghent and checked in at Charme Hotel Hancelot, one of Ghent’s best bed and breakfasts. After my rehearsal, I met up with them there and we went to the Floralien.
Saturday we toured Ghent, and then Sunday I had two concerts as part of the Conservatory’s Open Door Day: an afternoon concert with the clarinet choir, and an evening concerto concert with the Conservatory orchestra. On the orchestra concert, my friends Danre and Gawein and I gave the world premier of the first movement of a triple clarinet concerto, Triple Threat, by American composer Michael Kibbe. I’m sure there are other triple clarinet concertos out there, but I’ve never heard of one. Stylistically, it reminded me of Bernstein’s On the Waterfront or William Schuman’s Chester. Soloing with the orchestra was a complete blast, and definitely a highlight of this year in Belgium.
After two nights at Hancelot, Mom and Joan relocated to Alpha Bed and Breakfast for the remainder of their stay in Ghent in order to be closer to our apartment and keep expenses down. They are both big flower lovers, so Monday we rented a van and made our second visit to Keukenhof in the Netherlands. This time around, the tulips and trees were in full bloom, as were the large commercial flower farms around Keukenhof. It was spectacular!
Wes in Keukenhof shoes
Tulip beds near the main entrance
Sisters
Forest floor
Commercial flower fields near Keukenhof
Flowering tree
We climbed up into an authentic Dutch windmill at Keukenhof, within which there were diagrams of windmills’ various mechanical uses. Since we had a little extra time at the end of the day, we thought it would be fun to see more windmills elsewhere. I asked a sales lady at the souvenir shop if there was a good place nearby, and she recommended her own town, Kaag, which turned out to be on a small island. Getting there required taking the car on a small ferry, but only for a very short trip. The channel couldn’t have been more than 50 meters across, and the ferry just goes back and forth 24 hours a day. I’m sure there’s a reason for it, but superficially it seems like they should build a bridge. The roads on the island were just one lane wide for two-way traffic, so we had to yield a number of times, almost getting stuck with our long van at one dead-end. We only saw a few more windmills off in the distance, but it was a fun little detour.
Keukenhof windmill
Shortest ferry trip ever, Kaag, Netherlands
A boat haven in Kaag
Tuesday afternoon I took Mom and Joan to Bruges (Brugge). I had expected to play tour guide there, but surprisingly almost everything we saw was new to me. We didn’t have much time, but we did go through De Wijngaard Begijnhof, the Memling in Sint-Jan museum, and the upper chapel of the Basilica of the Holy Blood. In Europe, churches built for holy relics are a dime a dozen, but the Basilica of the Holy Blood has a particularly striking story associated with its relic, which is a stone vial containing a piece of cloth said to be stained with the blood of Jesus Christ. According to tradition, the cloth was preserved by Joseph of Arimathea when he cleaned Jesus’s body after the crucifixion. It made its way to Bruges with Thierry of Alsace following the Second Crusade, and the Basilica was modified and enhanced to house it. For a number of centuries, the blood on the cloth was known to periodically liquify, but that manifestation eventually stopped. I am not being sacrilegious or facetious when I say this: I really think it would be interesting to run a DNA test on the blood. At the very least, it might suggest the true origins of the blood, and at most it could produce the DNA of Jesus.
Courtyard of De Wijngaard Begijnhof
The kitchen of a typical house in the Begijnhof.
Begijnhof house courtyard
Sint Jans Hospitaal, Brugge
Upper chapel of the Basilica of the Holy Blood, Bruges
After sightseeing, we had a Belgian dinner and took an impromptu ride on a Ferris wheel before taking the train back to Ghent. While Bruges is full of authentic and wonderful buildings from medieval times, I ran across this interesting article about the Gothic Revival in Bruges from our favorite newspaper, Flanders Today.
Big Ferris wheel in Bruges
A little nervous on the Ferris Wheel
Wednesday (04/28/10) I played historical clarinet in an Eric Hoeprich masterclass at the Conservatory. Hoeprich is the world’s leading expert on historical clarinet, and the author of a recently published compendium on the clarinet. I really enjoyed meeting him, learning a bit about him, and hearing some of his ideas about period performance.
Thursday morning we took the Thalys to Paris, where we did two days of sightseeing. Mom and Joan had never been in Paris before, so we hit the main spots. It was still fun for Katie and me, since you end up noticing and doing new things every time. We saw new artwork at the Louvre, I tried one of the self-cleaning public toilets for the first time, and Wes got to go back to his favorite Paris park with the train. Our hotel was in a neighborhood we had never been in, and of course we ate at a several new cafes and bakeries.
Gare du Nord, Paris
Art critics at the Louvre
Resting and playing with the information cards among the medieval Italian paintings
Watch out for the lions in the Richelieu wing!
Mom with Vermeer's "Astronomer"
Waiting for the Montmartre funicular
View from Montmartre
Resting at the Arc de Triomphe
Aunt Joan with human statue on Pont d'lena
If you’ve been to Paris, you have probably encountered the guys who swarm Montmartre and the Eiffel Tower illegally selling little metal Eiffel Tower key chains. I’ve been offered as many as ten key chains for a Euro. Usually, I just try not to make eye contact, but Wes noticed them in Montmartre and said, “Eiffel Towers!” A guy was selling them three for a Euro, so I said, “How about one for 50 cents?” He replied, “Okay, two for 50 cents.” I don’t think I’ve ever had a seller bargain to sell more stuff for less money. Anyway, Wes was very proud of his new, gold key chains, and called them “very special.” He carried them continuously until we got home to Ghent, showing them to everyone he met. Besides buying the key chains in Montmartre, I also somehow agreed to let a street artist do Wes’s portrait for 10 Euro. I asked to see a sample, and he said it would be great, like a Van Gogh or Picasso. 10 Euro seemed like a bargain compared to the 80 Euro he originally asked for, and a super bargain compared to the 1 million Euro he claimed the sketch would be worth someday. He was pretty funny and intelligent, so I agreed. Needless to say, the portrait was terrible, and three minutes after I paid I saw him having a coffee at the cafe.
Wes with his Eiffel Towers
Putting the "art" back in Montmartre
After another too-short stay in Paris, we took the Thalys back to Brussels, had a nice farewell dinner in the Grand Place, stayed overnight in a hotel near the European Parliament building, and then bid adieu to our guests.
Mom and Vera on the Thalys back to Brussels
Wes in the Grand Place
Filed under: Belgium, Travel | Tags: Antwerp Zoo, Belgium, Eyjafjallajökull, Ghent Floralien, Mechelen, Mini-Europe
We flew from Barcelona back to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Thursday afternoon, April 15th. The plan was to take the TGV directly from the airport to Brussels. When we arrived, we found the train station in a state of chaos. Flights were beginning to be canceled due to the eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, and a lot of people were trying to get trains back to the UK, where airports had already been closed. To make matters worse, there was an ongoing French rail strike, meaning that most trains weren’t even running. Worried that our scheduled Brussels train would be canceled, we got on the first one available. The train was so packed that Dave and I stood in the aisle with the bags as far as Lille, and the conductors couldn’t even move through the cars to check tickets. Amazingly, we made it to Brussels, and Dave and Cindy checked into their hotel. That night, after dinner at Chi-Chi’s, we learned that the Brussels airport was closed indefinitely due to the ash cloud fiasco, and that Dave and Cindy’s Friday flight back to the U.S. was therefore canceled. They rebooked for a Monday flight, notified their employers back home, and extended their Brussels hotel reservation. An extra weekend together sounded fun, and we decided to make the most of it. The ticket guy in the metro claimed that 55,000 people were stranded in Brussels.
Alert baby aboard the packed TGV back to Brussels, oblivious to the chaos.
Friday, April 16th, Dave and Cindy came to Ghent. We looked through our pictures from the previous two weeks and had dinner at our excellent Italian/Indian place, Pizza Bella Italia. On Saturday, Katie, the kids, and I went to Brussels, and we all took the metro to Mini-Europe, a park near the Atomium with elaborate scale models of 100 of the most famous buildings from the countries of the EU. Mini-Europe is not on most people’s short list of Brussels attractions, but we found it interesting. Wes was very worried about the Leaning Tower of Pisa – he kept telling us to “Push it up!” He also spent 20 minutes making Pompeii explode over and over.
Mini Grand Place at Mini-Europe. The Atomium is in the background.
Arc de Triomphe
Wes expresses his concern about the Leaning Tower
Sunday, Katie and her folks went to Ghent’s huge flower show, the Gentse Floralien, while I stayed home to do some work. The Floralien is held just once every five years and claims to be the world’s largest indoor flower show. It really is huge, packed with exhibits ranging from topiaries to water gardens to table settings.
Azaleas
Hilly arrangement
Fruits and Veggies
Table setting
Vine Owl
The airport remained closed Monday, so Dave and Cindy rebooked their flight again, this time for Friday, April 23rd. We spent Monday in Brussels, staying over night there to take advantage of the hotel pool and the breakfast buffet. Tuesday, Katie wasn’t feeling well, so she rested while Dave, Cindy, Wes, and I looked around Brussels a bit and then took an afternoon train to Mechelen, an old Flemish city about midway between Brussels and Antwerp. Among other things, Mechelen is known for its carillon academy and as a terminus of the first railway in continental Europe (Brussels-Mechelen). We climbed the 520+ stairs of the absolutely massive belfort, which is attached to St. Rumbold’s Cathedral, and had lunch at a nice cafe.
In the pool at Grandma and Grandpa's hotel in Brussels
Place du Grand Sablon, Brussels
St. Rumbold's Cathedral, Mechelen
Interior of St. Rumbold's Cathedral, Mechelen
Dave, wearing the audio guide, examines the gears of the huge clock and carillon in the belfort
One of the huge bells
View from atop the belfort in Mechelen
Playing in the cafe in Mechelen
Daddy and Wes playing in the cafe
Wednesday, Dave and Cindy moved to a new bed and breakfast because the Novotel had jacked up their rates. Then, they made one last trip to Ghent and went to De wereld van Kina museum in Sint-Pietersplein with Katie, Wes, and Vera. I had to do some school-related stuff, so I couldn’t go. As you may recall, Katie and I went to the Kina garden in March, but hadn’t yet made it to the main museum.
Model of medieval Ghent at De wereld van Kina
Wes at the "Birds and Bees" exhibit
Thursday, April 22nd, we went to the Antwerp Zoo. We had beautiful weather and the gardens were in bloom. Then, ending a lovely bonus week seeing both new and familiar parts of Belgium, we parted ways for the last time at the Antwerp Central Station. The ash cloud having dispersed, Dave and Cindy flew out Friday morning.
Hippos at Antwerp Zoo
Monkey at zoo playground
Tearful goodbyes at Antwerp Central Station
Filed under: Spain, Travel | Tags: Barcelona, Gaudi, Knights Templar, Peniscola, Sagrada Familia, Spain
From Paris, it was off to Spain.
When we left for Belgium last August, I had three countries in mind that I would like to visit: Greece, Italy, and Spain. As we were planning our big spring vacation, we talked more about going someplace beyond our northwestern corner of Europe. Meanwhile, we had a standing offer from an old family friend, Linda Okerstrom (Linda used to babysit Josh and me in West Chicago), to use her time share. She looked up what was available in Europe during the dates of our vacation, and there was one place in Sweden and one in Spain. We booked the one in Spain and then designed a 5-day vacation-inside-a-vacation around it. Thank you, Linda!
Saturday, April 10th, we flew from Charles de Gaulle to Barcelona International, rented a car, and drove three hours south along the Mediterranean coast to our hotel near Peniscola. Actually, it wasn’t quite that easy. In fact, we faced long lines and chaos to check-in at the airport, a delayed flight, a mixed-up car rental reservation, and a freeway closure (the Pablo Casals Freeway, incidentally). To top it off, as we were pulling into the insanely tight parking garage at the hotel, I put a deep scratch in our brand-new (7 km on the odometer) black Peugeot. But, we made it, and as they say in Minnesota, “It could have been worse.”
Relieved to be at our gate on time at Charles de Gaulle Airport
We stayed at the Aparthotel Jardines del Plaza, which was more like a condo than a hotel. Our unit was two levels, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, balcony, and front porch. It had a treacherous granite staircase to which Wes seemed drawn, and we had to keep an eye on him so that he didn’t tumble down. The condo was just across the road from the beach, and a few miles from Peniscola, a picturesque old city on a rocky outcrop by the sea. The N in “Peniscola” should have a tilde above it, by the way, but I can’t figure out how to make one in WordPress. On Sunday we had blue skies, so we walked all the way down the beach to Peniscola, where we explored the steep, narrow streets and toured the castle. The castle was built at the end of the 13th Century by the Knights Templar, a Christian military order of the middle ages that was involved with the crusades and the Reconquista of Spain. Previously, I had known of the Knights Templar only from The Da Vinci Code, so it was interesting to learn more about them and see evidence of their actual existence. From 1425-1423, the castle was home to Pope Benedict XIII. Benedict XIII, or “Papa Luna,” was an antipope of the Avignon line during a period following the Great Western Schism. He was excommunicated after the Council of Constance for his refusal to abdicate, and moved into the castle as a refuge until he died. The castle of Peniscola was also used as a set in El Cid. Anyway, it was fun to explore and offered terrific views of the coast.
Aparthotel Jardines Del Plaza
Interior of our condo, with granite "Staircase of Certain Death" on the left
Beach!
The Castle and old town of Peniscola, Spain
A steep and narrow street in old Peniscola
The beautiful Mediterranean
Wes on the highest castle tower
Castle wall
The castle apartment of the Pope Benedict XIII, with his coat of arms above the door.
Diaper change in castle dungeon
A Templar Knight
South side of Peniscola seen from a tower in the castle. Can you spot Dan?
Monday was rainy and cool, so aside from a drive to the small mountain town of San Mateo and a little beach time for Wes, we stayed in and relaxed. Katie and Cindy went to the hotel spa, and I got some practicing done.
A horse in San Mateo
Grandpa Borgen
Wes on the beach near our hotel
More beach
Beach
Tuesday we drove up to Barcelona. It was not raining there, so we got in a full day of sight-seeing. All of the good things that I had heard about Barcelona turned out to be true. It is full of energy, good food, unique architecture, and plenty to see and do. We started off on La Rambla, the famous shopping street. There were a number of elaborately dressed human statues that would move if you gave them money. We wandered into the Mercat de la Boqueria, a street market where we found lunch. Next, we meandered through the medieval streets of the Old Town, stopping into the Museu Picasso for a couple of hours. Then up Passeig de Gracia to see two of Antoni Gaudi’s famous apartment buildings, the Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, and then over to his masterpiece, the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia.
A street performer (on left, in gold wings) on La Rambla, Barcelona
Outside La Boqueria
All-natural strawberry-coconut smoothy from a vendor in La Boqueria
Casa Batllo
"Dragon's Back" roof on Gaudi's Casa Batllo
Gaudi's Casa Mila
Wes in front of La Sagrada Familia
The Sagrada Familia, I have to say, is absolutely one of the coolest, most inspiring things that I have seen in my whole life. Gaudi worked on it for 40 years, devoting himself to it entirely (even living inside it) during the last 15 years of his life. The fascination for me lies partly in its design, and partly in the fact that it is still under construction, and has been since 1882. As Gaudi said, “My Client is not in a hurry.” Having seen a number of cathedrals by now, it is amazing to me to see the construction process unfolding in our own day and age. Even with all of our modern construction techniques and equipment, it is still a mind-boggling achievement. The sheer force of human will represented in this project is in itself astonishing. Since Gaudi is dead and many of his designs were lost in the Spanish Civil War, a number of architects and engineers have stepped in over the years to bring the vision to fruition. The two main facades show just how different the various components of the church are, while still coming together to form a strange and unified whole. The Passion Facade, designed by Josep Maria Subirachs, has clean lines and gaunt, modern figures, while the Nativity Facade, designed by Gaudi, is a melting web of ornate details.
The Passion Facade by Josep Maria Subirachs
The Nativity Facade
The interior is beyond huge. Like most cathedrals, it seems impossible to photograph. Dave and I took an elevator to the top of the Nativity facade, where we had up-close views of the construction and panoramic views of the city. Every inch of the church is covered in symbolic carvings and statues of various sorts, some of which are bizzare. The Sagrada Familia is so wholely original and monolithic, that I am certain I will never see anything like it again. I do hope to revisit Barcelona after 2026, the scheduled completion date.
Interior under construction
Strange, fruity towers
Detail from a spire
View from atop the Nativity Facade
Looking toward the "Torre Agbar" (cone-shaped tower on the right)
Passion Facade
While Dave and I were up in the church towers, Wes made a friend at the park who was from China. He also played with the gate, currently one of his favorite things to do. We had tapas for dinner and then drove back to Peniscola. Katie lost her phone, but the restaurant called the next day to say they had it.
Wes's Chinese friend
Gate manager
Three interesting facts about Barcelona: they speak Catalan there, not Spanish; Gaudi died when he was hit by a tram; to park your car in a central parking garage for one day costs 24 Euro.
Wednesday we drove the other direction from Peniscola to Castellon, mainly so that I could talk to someone about the scratch in the car. I was nervous because I could not read my Spanish contract and was unsure of what insurance coverage, if any, I had opted for. As it turned out, my maximum liability was capped at 760 Euro, so I immediately felt at least a little bit better. For dinner that night back at the condo, we boiled artichokes, which we had seen growing in fields all around our hotel.
Thursday morning we picked up Katie’s phone at the Barcelona tapas restaurant, and went straight to the airport. Mercifully, the rental company did not charge me for the scratch.
Up next: volcano eruptions and more of Belgium.
