If I were a tweeter –

If I were a tweeter, I would have posted status updates all weekend. So this blog is a series of status updates that cover a 90 hour period, starting Thursday afternoon.

10/28/2011@4pm

Dropping Rhea off at the kennel, then home to pack for Paris weekend, so excited!!

10/28/2011@8pm

Odd phone call from the CW ‘Bill’ Young Bone Marrow Centre in Bethesda, Maryland. Seems I am a potential match for someone who needs a marrow transplant. More on that later
 
10/28/2011@8am

Catching the train in Mons, in Paris by 930 am, fast train, no traffic.

 
10/28/2011@10am

Dropped the bags off at the hotel. Enjoying a coffee and croissant at a sidewalk café.

10/28/2011@11am

A stroll down the Champs Elysees. Saw Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Cartier and Dolce & Gabbana

10/28/2011@12noon

At the Arc de Triomphe, Perry wants to climb the steps to the top, all 420 of them.

10/28/2011@1230

Out of breath, but at the top. What a view (Note to self – need to exercise)

10/28/2011@1245

Down is way easier than up!!

10/28/2011@1pm

Walking back up the Champs Elysee – huge lineup – for what? – Abercrombie & Fitch, why? - 

The topless male models

10/28/2011@130pm

More beautiful buildings, mostly limestone, I think. Check this out. The left section is actually a painted wooden façade, ‘tromp l’oeil’, to hide the restoration work beneath.

10/28/2011@3pm

Back to the hotel to check in and then a late lunch.

 
10/28/2011@330pm

More walking – this time to the Opera House, of Phantom fame.

10/28/2011@430pm

Typical traffic chaos – not sure how they know where they’re going, lots of horn honking.

10/28/2011@5pm

 
Using the OpenTours bus pass – On /off at any of their stops for two days. First of many times passing the Louvre. The lines never did get any shorter. The bus tour took us by Notre Dame Cathedral, the National Assembly, the Obelisk, the Church of the Magdalene and the Eiffel Tour.

10/28/2011@6pm

It was my intention to go up the Eiffel Tour, but the lines were incredibly long. This was a long weekend in Europe and Paris was full of tourists. Will save that for another time.

10/28/2011@8pm

Found a cozy little bistro not far from the hotel for supper. Day One complete, time to relax with a wine.

10/29/2011@10am

Caught our OpenTour bus to the river cruise launch. Taking a boat cruise on the Seine, city sights from a different prospective.

10/29/2011@130pm

A little something for my escort, the Musee d’Armees, which contains Napoleon’s tomb. He lies under the gold dome, small man, big ego.

10/29/2011@4pm

Stopped for supper at a little place called 'The Great Canadian Pub in Paris". It was...great.

10/29/2011@630pm

A protest at the Place des Pyramides, brought traffic to a standstill. Riot police at the ready

10/29/2011@7pm

Shopping Mecca – Avenue de Haussmann – le Printemps and La Galleries Lafayette

10/30/2011@10am

Notre Dame – finally – in line for admission to climb the tower at 10am, started the climb - another 400 steps (insert colourful expletive here) - an hour and a half later. Another fantastic view.           

 

Esmerelda

Quasimoto

10/30/2011@2pm

French crepes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream

10/30/2011@230pm

We completed our final day in Paris with a bus tour of the northern part of the city. We passed a peaceful Turkish protest at the modern Opera House, the Bastille, where Marie Antoinette lost her head and the infamous Moulin Rouge.

By the time we made the loop around. Then we noticed smoke. That peaceful protest had turned ugly and now there were two factions, lobbing Molotov cocktails at each other and the police lobbing tear gas at everyone.

10/30/2011@6pm

Dinner at a brasserie not far from our hotel, then pick up our baggage and a cab to the train station. Home to Mons by 10pm.

What a weekend!!  I really love that city!!

Fat Bottomed Girls - They Make the Rockin' World Go Round

I live out in the countryside. (I think I may have mentioned that before!) One of the first things I noticed here were the cattle. My grandfather always had a couple head, sometimes dairy, sometimes beef, so I had entry level knowledge of eastern Canadian breeds. But this Belgian breed was new to me. So I turned to my favourite resource for information – GOOGLE.

                                     Googling ‘Belgian cattle breeds’ brought me to Belgian Blue.

The Belgian Blue has a natural mutation of the gene that codes for myostatin, a protein that counteracts muscle growth, leading to “double-muscling”. In other words, the body’s natural ability to prevent the over-growth of muscle tissue is impeded. This mutation also interferes with fat deposition, resulting in very lean meat.

 ‘My’ Belgian Blues live about 2 kilometers from my house and I have come to know them as Big Daddy and the Girls, Big Daddy being the bull who always accompanies the Girls.

                                                            That's Big Daddy in the middle

Stoopid, stoopid, stoopid – Today’s senior moment

I started the day  with the greatest of intentions. I was going to accomplish a lot. The moving company is coming tomorrow to pick up the empty boxes and I planned to get them out of the basement. I was going to drive into Chievres Air Base to pick up the queen size bedframe I had ordered and a turkey for Sunday. I had planned to bake some Chocolate Chip Banana muffins. It was going to be a busy day.

I had just about finished moving the boxes to the foyer when the gate buzzer rang. I looked out the door sidelight to see a Belgian Federal Police officer standing at my gate. Naturally, I opened the gate and then the door. Because Rhea (our dog) was barking, I grabbed a set of keys and closed the door. I wasn’t sure why the officer was here. I had been a witness to an accident a few weeks ago. The other alternative was a residency visit which can happen when foreign national moves to Belgium. That must have been what was going through my mind when I closed the door. It turns out it was the later.

The officer had a two page questionnaire. He wanted to go inside to complete it. I went to unlock the door, the key would not turn. I wiggled the keys, no luck.

Let me tell you a little about Belgian locksets. They don’t have deadbolts. They lock automatically when you close the door. You have to use a key to lock and unlock the supplementary latches, whether inside or out. And most importantly, IF there is a key in the lock on the inside, you cannot unlock your door from the outside.

It was then that I peeked through the sidelight to see a set of keys hanging from the inside lock. Oh, crap!! So I had my Federal Police interview, standing on my stoop.

The epilogue to this sorry tale has me driving 30km into SHAPE, no phone; no license; and calling Perry from the Guard house for his garage remote and 20 euros for gas.

PS: I did manage to get the bedframe, turkey and the boxes to the garage.

Big Boy’s Toy

(This blog is for my B-I-L. Enjoy, R!!)

I have very little interest in vehicles, unless, of course, you’re talking about a big SUV or four wheel drive pickup. My husband, however, has always dreamed of having a little sporty car. The move to Europe has enabled him to tap into a huge market of available ‘import’ cars. He spent weeks researching, finally deciding on a BMW. He found a great car in Dusseldorf, Germany, about a two hour drive. Import regulations for Canada require a vehicle be at least 15 years old in order to avoid modification requirements. Perry was able to find a 15 year-old, two- door black coupe in immaculate condition with very low mileage. Very –well maintained, brand-new tires. You could eat off the engine. Even I was impressed.

In order to register a vehicle in Belgium, it must meet safety requirements. This vehicle had been inspected in Germany; however, we had to have it done here as well. Belgium has different rules.

FYI, every car has a speed rating. This particular car has a speed rating of 220 km/hr. Not that we will ever drive 220 km/hr, but that matters not. The speed limit in Belgium is 120 km/hr. It matters not.  Before the car could be safety passed, we had to put another set of tires on it. That done, the car passed. Now we are able to register the car. FYI, there is no such thing as ‘temporary’ registration in Belgium. And it takes two weeks to get the plates. Finally, they arrived yesterday.

Today, he was finally able to drive it to work. :)

The REAL Waterloo

Cities, towns and universities have been named for it. Movies have been made of it. ABBA has sung about it. But yesterday, Perry and I toured it.

The historic Battle of Waterloo took place not far from here (about 20 km) almost 200 years ago. The Battle lasted only one day, but the cost in lives lost was high. Sixty-seven thousand French troops, led by Emperor Napoleon were defeated by sixty-five thousand allied (British, Dutch, Prussian and Belgian) troops, led by General Wellington, with a total of 9500 men killed and 33,000 wounded. The site of the battle was strategically important because Waterloo was on the road to Brussels and the terrain was such that Wellington could position his troops on the higher ridges, giving him a tactical advantage. The road was important as it was a direct route to Brussels and Napoleon’s next target.

We took a guided battlefield tour to get an appreciation of how difficult a position the French were in. Wellington had selected this particular spot for its geographic advantage. His troops were holding the higher ground. There are still remnants of some of the farms which had been used as strong-holds by both sides.

The battlefield area is also home to the Butte du Lion, or Lion’s Mound. This monument, completed in 1826, is actually a 45 meter mound of dirt, erected by King William I to commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives that day. The location is the spot where William II of the Netherlands (heir to the throne) was wounded. The mound, containing 300,000 cubic meters of earth, was constructed completely by hand by ‘botteresses’ who carried the dirt on their backs in baskets. It took 3 years to complete.

The climb to the top of the mound, where an iron lion stands guard, gives an incredible vantage point to get an overall view of the entire battlefield.

There are 225 steps to the top.