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    • TravelerFrance 2022
      Day 34

      Goodbye Ian, Hello Brigitte!

      October 17, 2022 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

      For our last morning at the AirBnb we decided to have breakfast at the Dominican Hotel that looks after our property. The hotel has lovely decor and is well designed. After breakfast we headed back to pack the last of our things before checking out and getting a taxi to Brussels MIDI where Ian will catch the Eurostar to London to begin his journey back to Australia. I was then catching an intercity train to Ottiginies where Brigitte would collect me.

      I had bought my ticket and made my way to the appropriate platform when the train was cancelled without explanation. As I was heading down the escalator to find out what had happened to my train I received a call from Ian. He said that he had been stopped by security because he had knives in his possession and they are forbidden on the train! We had purchased several knives from the Laguiole, including a cheese knife and we didn’t want them confiscated. So Ian asked if he could come back through security and hand them to me as I was still at the station. ( I was only still there because a person had been hit on my train line and trains had to be cancelled till the tracks were clear).

      The security guy had to check with his supervisor but finally the supervisor and Ian appear and the supervisor hands me the contraband. I will now have to arrange to have them posted back to Australia as I am also heading back to the UK on the Eurostar.

      Crisis averted and Ian was on his way home via London. I had to wait another 30 minutes for a train and was picked up at the station just after 1:30 pm. I was sitting having a glass of wine and a late lunch within 30 minutes. After I unpacked and settled in, Brigitte and I drank more wine and just spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on life. We are going to have a ball over the next 4 weeks.

      For dinner Brigitte made me a traditional Belgian dish of Chicon au Gratin, which is chicory or endive which has been boiled and strained being wrapped in ham and then the rolls are placed in a dish and covered in white sauce and cheese and baked in the oven till golden. It is a very delicious dish, which we worked out Brigitte had made for me 37 years earlier.      Read more

    • TravelerFrance 2022
      Day 32

      Family dinner in Limal

      October 15, 2022 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      With the train line Ap I have it is so easy to purchase tickets. To get to Brigitte’s place we need to take an Intercity (IC) train to Ottiginies, which is about a 5 minute drive from Brigitte’s. we caught the train from Central Station and it all went very smoothly - but unlike the trip to Antwerp where our tickets weren’t checked, they were checked this afternoon.

      We arrived on time and Brigitte was there to meet us. We had a bit of stuff with us as I will be moving in on Monday and thought we may as well start bringing stuff over, plus we had wine and chocolates as well.

      The rest of the family arrived over the next couple of hours. Brigitte’s kids Nathalie and Stéphane haven’t changed much since we saw them in 2019, but Sohan and Emma are nearly teenagers and have grown up so much. Luc arrived next, he is Brigitte’s ex husband who is such a nice guy and who she and the kids and grandkids all have a great relationship with. This was the first time Ian had met Luc. The last to arrive were Gui and Geertje who are also so much fun and easy to get on with. Their kids aren’t coming tonight, in fact, we won’t see Lisa this trip as she left for a trip to South America about a week ago and Rob had a prior commitment, we will see him tomorrow at Gui and Geertje’s for dinner.

      Brigitte made a great dinner of pumpkin soup, charcuterie, wonderful cheeses and three fabulous desserts, including a cheesecake with raspberries (that I even liked!), a chocolate tart and a Javanais ( a chocolate and mocha delight) which was delicious. We drank lots of champagne and wine over the evening and it was great to catch up with everyone. I was so engrossed in our conversations (plus I drank quite a bit of champagne) that I hardly took a photo which is so unlike me.      Read more

    • TravelerNorthern Europe
      Day 17

      Topography of Terror

      July 11, 2018 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      The last memorial we went to was the Topography of Terror. Between 1933 and 1945, the central institutions of Nazi persecution and terror were located at the site of The Memorial on Niederkirchnerstraße (formally Wilhemstraße and Prinz-Albrecht- Straße) including the offices of the Gestapo, the SS and from 1939 on the Reich Security Main Office. This exhibition was established in 1987 and provides information about the historical site and illustrates the European dimensions of the Nazi reign of terror.

      After WWII all the buildings were bulldozed. There is also a documentation centre that was designed by Berlin architect Ursula Wilms which provides information about the headquarters of the National Socialist SS and police state during the Third Reich and it shows the extent of the Nazi reign of terror throughout Europe.

      What struck me as I read the accounts of Hitler’s rise and the increasing atrocities taking place was how easily Hitler was able to secure power, the German people seemed to get caught up in all the rhetoric and national pride until it was too strong and powerful to stop or oppose.

      We began the day looking at beautiful architecture and landscaping and the influences of the Age of Enlightenment and then as the day progressed saw the ugly side of the human race and the unspeakable things done to fellow human because they had different beliefs or looked different - it was an exceptionally draining day but it was important to do. I haven’t put captions on these photographs as I think they are powerful on their own.      Read more

    • TravelerNorthern Europe
      Day 24

      Wimereux, France

      July 18, 2018 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      As we can’t get into our hotel until after 4pm, we next stopped at the lovely town of Wimereux. We both needed to go to the bathroom, but they really don’t have public toilets so you have to stop at a bar, order a drink, and then use their facilities. We stopped and sat on the terrace (in the shade) to have a drink - Brigitte a shandy and me a glass of rosé - perfect on a warm day. Sitting near us was an elderly woman, drinking a wine, doing the crossword with a cigar hanging out of her mouth - only in France would you see such a sight!

      We then walked around the town a bit, bought a few mementos, tasted and bought some fabulous chocolate, and then made our way to Marquise and the Chateau de Ledquent, our home for the night.      Read more

    • TravelerNorthern Europe
      Day 24

      Château de Ledquent, Marquise, France

      July 18, 2018 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      Checked into our accommodation for tonight, and had a bit of a rest after our busy day. We headed down for dinner just after seven, and had a three course meal for 19 Euro, which is very reasonable and it was very good. We had a lovely French wine to go with it, which was also very reasonably priced. Brigitte had a vol au vent with seafood for entree, and I had the Provençal vol au vent with ham and mushrooms. For main Brigitte ordered the beef and I had confit duck, and for dessert we both had the specialty of the house - Profiteroles with ice-cream and chocolate sauce. Everything was delicious and they bake everything on site, including the vol au vent pastry cases. We had a walk around the grounds after dinner, and then headed to our rooms for a quiet evening as tomorrow we have a full day planned.Read more

    • TravelerNorthern Europe
      Day 25

      Le Touquet - Paris Plage

      July 19, 2018 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

      We left Marquise and headed for Le Touquet - Paris Plage which is about 35kms away. Such a beautiful town, with lots of pedestrian only streets, beautiful architecture, lovely houses, shops and restaurants and it is by the sea. It reminds me of the south of France without the heat and crowds - a real little gem. Brigitte did remind me that in August it will be much busier as this is when the French and other Europeans traditionally take holidays.

      We discovered a sculpture exhibition dotted around the town called the Big Foot Family Collection by self-taught artist Aidan Zareski, an Israeli French guy who now lives in Miami. We loved his work, but unfortunately due to the cars and Brigitte’s injured calf muscle we couldn’t get to all of them.

      We then found this lovely store called Atelier where they make beautiful ceramics. It is a family business - the mother and father make the ceramics and their son sells it. They used to have a store in Sydney, but the business grew too quickly so they have reduced what they do.

      We then had lunch at a lovely crepe restaurant, and again had a 0.5 litre of rosé with the meal. I have become quite accustomed to a glass or two with meals these days!

      After lunch we walked around a bit more before heading back to Brussels. While we were still in France, Brigitte saw on her GPS a change of route notification telling us to get off the highway. Lucky we listened, as we heard later that day that there had been a huge accident that closed the highway in both directions for several hours. A van had changed lanes without indicating or looking, and ran a group of English motorcyclists off the road. One dead, one in a very serious condition, three others in hospital and another six or eight with minor injuries. The GPS then took us on this roundabout route, which meant we saw some more lovely small French villages before making our way back to the highway and getting back to Brussels. home. We arrived home about 7pm and had a quiet evening.      Read more

    • TravelerNorthern Europe
      Day 27

      Interesting signs & words we encountered

      July 21, 2018 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      We decided to wait until tomorrow to head in to the centre of Brussels, as today is a public holiday and the centre would be packed. This means I have had some free time to catch up on my blog. Over our holiday we have seen some very humorous and silly signs, so I decided to include them in the next couple of entries. Some are train station stops, restaurants, stores, and some are just signs that made us laugh!Read more

    • TravelerNorthern Europe
      Day 21

      Lunch in Finkenwerder

      July 15, 2018 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      We stopped for lunch at a lovely seafood restaurant before heading back to Landungsbrucken, which is Hamburg’s water station. Here we said goodbye to Fritz and Inka and the boys, who headed back to Buchholz.Read more

    • TravelerNorthern Europe
      Day 18

      Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe

      July 12, 2018 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

      “It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say”. Primo Levi, born in Turin, was a chemist. As a member of the Italian resistance, he was arrested in 1944 and deported to Auschwitz. He survived and began to write in 1945, directly after his return. In 1987, Primo Levi committed suicide. His stories and poems on the Holocaust today belong to world literature. Primo Levi’s story is just one of the thousands on display in this memorial.

      Another story that really affected me was this “After lunch the corpses from five vehicles were buried. From one vehicle a young women was thrown out with a baby at her breast. It suckled its mother’s milk and died. On this day we worked under the light from the searchlights until seven in the evening. Also on this day a vehicle drove so close to the pit that we heard the choked screams and desperate cries of the victims as well as the pounding on the doors. Before work had finished, six of the pit workers were also shot”.

      The following is a letter from an inmate of one of the camps. “We are now living through a terrible time. Thousands of people receive summonses - they are to be sent away to work. The people know well, however, what to make of this and they are scared. And yet one reassures them: It probably is to work. One would be happy if one knew that it really is work. And one hopes, because perhaps indeed it is […]. And one also is indifferent, because we are all tired and exhausted or the point of death.”      Read more

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