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.
Wednesday, April 7th, Katie, Wes, Vera, Cindy, Dave, and I took the Thalys from Ghent to Paris, arriving at about nine o’clock in the morning. That evening, Steph and Keagan arrived from Germany. For three days we explored Paris and Versailles, seeing many of the main sights, including a few that were new to me: Sainte-Chapelle, the catacombs, the Jardin du Luxembourg, the Medici fountain, and Les Invalides. Steph left Friday morning to return home to the U.S. via Brussels, and Keagan headed back to Muenster.
Rather than write about Paris, I decided to try something new and make a slideshow. It takes you through all three days of sight seeing in under five minutes! The music is by Yann Tiersen from the movie Amelie.
Next up: Spain.
Our life during the last month has been busy, to say the least. As mentioned in my last post (long ago!), Katie’s family was here beginning April 2nd, and for two weeks we traveled all over the place. Just a few days before her folks were to go home, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in Iceland caused the closure of most northern European airports, including Brussels, stranding them here for an extra week. The day of their eventual departure, April 23rd, coincided with the arrival of MY mom and aunt for a one week visit. Finally, wrapping up a month full of visitors, our Norwegian friend Merethe was here yesterday and today. Even without going into much detail, multiple posts will be needed to cover everything. My rather ambitious goal is to get all caught up this week, but we’ll have to see how things go.
So….
Dave, Cindy, and Steph arrived by U.S. Airways at the main Brussels airport Friday morning, April 2nd. Katie and Danre had gone there by train to meet them. It was a happy reunion!
Just arrived
In the meantime, I picked up a rental van that we had reserved for the weekend. It was a diesel stick-shift Mercedes Vito. This was the first time that I had driven in Belgium, and I have to admit that it was initially nerve-racking. It took me ten minutes to figure out how to put it in reverse (I eventually had to ask the rental place guy), and then when I came to my first roundabout, I got stuck in the middle lane just like Homer did when the Simpsons went to London. By the time I got to the airport to pick everyone up, though, I was feeling more-or-less comfortable. Our friend Jelle had given us a child’s car seat for Wes, and I bought another one at Carrefour for Vera. I also bought a GPS there, which came in extremely handy. From the airport we went to St. Peter’s Station in Ghent to pick up Steph’s boyfriend, Keagan, then back to our apartment, where we relaxed and opened presents from home.
With luggage outside the apartment
Unpacking gifts at Baudelostraat
American Idol 2010 season courtesy of Nick, and Mountain Dew
Vera with her new mobile from Auntie Steph
Grandparents and grandkids
We got everyone checked in to their respective hotels, gave an abbreviated tour of Ghent, ordered a couple of pizzas, and then went to sleep.
Making plans
Sint-Baafsplein, Ghent (Cindy photo credit)
View of Ghent from the top of the belfort (Cindy photo credit)
Dusk in Ghent (Cindy)
Baudelostraat (Cindy)
First thing Saturday morning we piled into the van and drove 3 hours to Amsterdam, making a stop along the way to visit the world-famous Keukenhof gardens. It was too early in the season for most of the tulips at Keukenhof, but it was still beautiful. There was an authentic Dutch windmill, a playground and petting zoo for Wes, and several indoor gardens. Once in Amsterdam, we had lunch, took a boat tour on the canals, and saw the Anne Frank Museum. It was rainy for most of the day, but it didn’t slow us down much besides dissuading us from waiting in the long, outdoor line for the Rijksmuseum. On the way back to Ghent, we made a midnight stop in Brugges, arriving home about 1 a.m.
Grandma Borgen and Wes
Keukenhof orchid
Keukenhof windmill
Wes and Auntie Steph in the playground
Wes says, "Oh my."
I Am-sterdam
Waiting for the boat tour
Canal-side mansion
Determined tourists
Our trusty Mercedes rental van parked in the rain
Sunday, April 4, was Easter Sunday. We attended mass at St. Bavo’s Cathedral, ate a terrific Belgian lunch at Du Progres in the Korenmarkt, and then had an Easter egg hunt for Wes at the park. In the afternoon, we visited Ooidonk Castle in Deinze, a small city located about 10 km southwest of Ghent. We had dinner at one of our Turkish places in Ghent.
Easter egg hunt
Found some!
Ooidonk Castle
Big horse
Unloading after a long day
Monday morning, Steph and Keagan left by train for Germany while the rest of us drove to Ieper, a medieval Flemish city that was the site of some of the most brutal and prolonged fighting of the First World War. It is better known by its French name, Ypres. I have been wanting to visit Ypres since last fall, and especially since finishing Robert Graves’s excellent memoir, Goodbye to All That. Graves details his experiences in the trenches, and in Ypres you can see and learn about them firsthand. Ongoing battles took place there over the course of the war, with a half-million troops (British, French, Canadian, and German) dying to move the battle lines by only a few miles. Ypres saw the very first gas attacks, including the first deployment of Mustard gas. Although it was never occupied by the Germans, the city was completely descimated by shelling. Amazingly, it was rebuilt in exacting detail following the war, and today looks much as it did when it was a center of the cloth trade during the Middle Ages. We toured St. Martin’s Cathedral, went through the In Flanders Fields Museum , explored the authentic Yorkshire Trench outside of town, and visited Tyne Cot cemetery, the single largest Commonwealth grave outside of the UK. After our daytrip, I reluctantly returned the van to Europcar.
In front of the giant cloth hall in the center of Ypres
Spire of St. Martin's Cathedral, Ypres
Katie and Vera walking near the Menin Gate in Ypres
Katie and Vera at the "In Flanders Fields Museum", Ypres
Display showing the rapid evolution of WWI gas masks
WWI gas canister
Former battle field outside of Ypres near Tyne Cot cemetery
Wes and Grandpa explore the so-called Yorkshire Trench. Notice the light industrial development in the background.
Iron tubes for launching mortars from behind the trench
A grim perspective from the trench
Near an A-frame, a major technical innovation in trench warfare. They were placed at the bottom of the trenches, saving the soldiers to some extent from the constant mud and water.
Tyne Cot Cemetery toward evening
Wes in Tyne Cot
Vera all tired out in her car seat
Wes all tired out
Tuesday morning we went to Brussels in hopes of getting Vera a temporary passport. We had made her passport application about a week earlier, but it wasn’t ready yet and we needed it for our upcoming trip to Spain. Amazingly, her real passport arrived at the U.S. embassy with the afternoon mail that very day, averting a potential crisis. We took the opportunity of being in Brussels to see the Belgian Comic Strip Center. The highlight for me was seeing the Tintin information and memorabilia. I loved Tintin as a kid, and in fact I own the whole set of books. Tintin was the creation of the Belgian author Herge.
Belgian Comic Strip Center, Brussels
Dan with Tintin and Captain Haddock
Vera and Grandpa Borgen
Wednesday morning we took the Thalys to Paris. I will pick up with Paris in the next post.
