Life in Weyers Cave

Duvets. Proof that America is superior. The duvet is a cover that Europeans put over their quilts and blankets to keep them all together and clean. The idea maybe makes sense, but in practice they are ghastly. All of the duvets we have had in Europe have been so short that even MY feet stick out from the bottoms of the sheets. Perhaps the biggest problem with the duvet is that when you are sleeping, you either are covered or not. So you are either hot or cold. In addition, usually you put a quilt inside the duvet. I big fluffly white one. But they tend to be poorly made and the stuffing shifts so if it is over a year old or has every been cleaned, the stuffing has shifted to the edges so where your body is, it is extremely thin. Since there is no top sheet, they call the bottom sheet the top sheet because it goes on top of the mattress. Europeans are not known for their cleanliness so perhaps they seldom wash the sheets on their beds. But washing and replacing them is extreme...

   

   

   

   

   

Next week we will be in London. It is strange. If we were in the States and going to London on Thursday, we would be spazzing and packing and talking about it nonstop. But here it is kind of ho-hum. Been there, done that. Yeah, it's nice, but kind of like going to dinner at a restaurant you've been to before. A couple of weeks ago I dragged David to a new restaurant. I have wanted to go to this Japanese place and David kept putting me off, but I finally dragged him there. He really enjoyed it. Last night we took Jim and Liliane there, the two local co-hosts of the program (she's a Flemish PhD, he's a Texan - great people). She has lived here all her life and they have been married 20 years, so they thought they knew all the good places. This place is on the river across from the castle. You wear a kimono and they cook at the table. The food is really good quality and we had an outstanding meal. Jim and Liliane don't smoke, so it was really nice to have...

My friend wrote and asked me if they say "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas" here. I had a hard time with this question, because I haven't heard either. Of course, it might be my un-mastery of the language. So I have started looking for it, not just with me, but with others as well. Although there are some Christmas decorations here, there aren't a lot. Some Christmas lights. A few trees and tinsel. A couple of Santa Clauses and St Nicholases. (They do look quite different.) But not a lot. I haven't seen any advertising outside of the ordinary. No Christmas or Holiday flyers or ads. When I started looking, I found one sign that mentioned Christmas, none that alluded to the holidays in general. In the paper I see articles about Christmas activities. "Merry Christmas" doesn't seem to be tabooed by the politically correct crowd here as it is in the states. But I really don't feel like it is Christmas. Even though the kids...

One of my favorite things to do is to dress up in period costume and play the recorder in my medieval recorder group in the States. So when David asked me to plan a last vacation in Europe, I tried hard to find an English castle that we could stay at for a few days. Bolebrook Castle, actually a hunting lodge where Henry VIII stayed when he courted Anne Boleyn, fit the bill perfectly. I was promised we could stay in Henry VIII's bedroom. We arrived and met Peter Hobcraft, the Lord of the Manor and the person who runs the bed and breakfast. He cooked, cleaned, made reservations, ran the gift shop, ran the mini choo choo train, gave tours, made the fires, coordinated the medieval feasts, and did everything else associated with the castle. He has run it for over 20 years. We found a lovely room, definitely very old. The bed was a comfortable four poster bed with curtains around the head. The floors sloped considerably. And creaked. There is a certain state of disrepair you exp...

David did a better job of writing up our trip than I dod, so here it is: We spent two wonderful nights in Bolebrook Castle, which is Henry VIII's hunting lodge, where he stayed on his famous hunting trips to Ashdowne Forest. It was on some of those trips that he met, and courted, Ann Boleyn, who later became his second wife. The current lord of Bolebrook Castle runs the place as a bed and breakfast. He put us up in Henry VIII's bedroom. Of course, Big Henry took his own bed with him whenever he travelled, so we didn't actually sleep in his bed. Instead, we got a very comfortable four-poster canopy bed. The castle is completely authentic, not some touristy reconstruction. It is in just the right state of ruin. The mortar around the windows is cracked. The window irons are all rusty. The beams sag. The floors are uneven and droop. The stairs creak and groan. The thick heavy doors stick. The hinges and locks are real beaten iron. The glass in the windows is sagg...

Next stop for us in London was the London Aquarium, not far from the Waterloo Train station. It was huge and had a nice shark exhibit with a what shark in it and a petting station where you could pet the manta rays. Beautiful exhibits of other fish, anemones, starfish, puffers, eels, and colorful aquatics made for a lovely afternoon.

We were able to take a quick trip over to London for Thanksgiving. The Eurostar is the fast train to London from Brussels, and travelling on it is almost like travelling on an airplane. The waiting room reminds you of an airport waiting room and there are attendants who meet you and make sure you make it to your assigned seat. We were able to go first class and it was really, really nice. They brought us a beautiful meal and waited on us hand and foot. The train gets up to 180 miles an hour, but is very smooth. The three of us were given four seats facing each other, so that Dianna and I could play cards. They advertise that you will have two hours and fifteen minutes of being treated like royalty and, even after getting up at five in the morning, the trip was very pleasant.

Tonight was the student Thanksgiving dinner. 31 people cramped in a tiny hallway, with the food downstairs. But it worked. The students did a great job. They had lots of food. They had bought precooked turkeys at the farmer's market -- okay, they were chickens but close enough. One of the students made a super broccoli salad and another had green beans in a cream sauce. I brought stuffing and cranberry sauce. They had a cranberry fruit mixture that was very good. We all ate a lot and had the leftovers you are supposed to have, but since almost everyone is leaving town tomorrow, I am not sure what is going to happen to all the food! David told corny stories and they called him Dad and we talked about plans for the future. It was a great evening and we have really come to love the students.

This is the road built by the Romans in Cologne, Germany. But the guide said it upset her to bill it that way, since the road had actually been dug up and moved and the original would have had the stones much tighter together. But the city wanted to move it to a larger area so they put the stones further apart. So these are really just the rocks from a Roman road. :) 

Mr. Hawk Show Guy 

So how much fun would it BE to dress up in bright colors and play your trombone on the square in front of one of the biggest cathedrals in the world? 

This is (really!) a taxi in Cologne, Germany. It is pedal powered. You get in and tell the taxi driver where you want to go and he takes you there. This German passenger is dressed for the festival.  

The FUN store. It goes back very deep and even has a tent in the back for seasonal Christmas overflow. The sin out front says "Santa lives here". A lot like a Toys 'R Us. 

Familiar brands at the American Store.  

Walking home from church yesterday, I took a dive on the uneven sidewalk. Not a trip, but a big smashing dive into the sidewalk. I learned that Belgian sidewalks are cold, are hard, and they hurt! A nice couple walking behind us helped me up and made sure I was okay. They even offered to get me home, but I assured them I was fine. Dianna was the only one with me and it scared the heck out of her. When I went down I was stunned and didn't move or make a sound for a long ten seconds, during which time she decided I was dead. That's my Dianna! My first reaction was "thank goodness I haven't broken anything." I was a bit bruised and skinned, though. Then I came home to prepare the Thanksgiving dinner. But as I worked I hurt more and more, particularly in the wrists. So finally I just gave up and took a percocet to make it through dinner. It has worn off now and I am in blinding pain in both wrists. I have them wrapped in ace bandages and typing is incred...

This year we decided to have the Boegarts over for Thanksgiving. They had us over last year and we wanted to reciprocate with an American meal. Well, we tried. Locating the ingredients is never easy. We ended up shelling out fifty dollars for the turkey, which was only seven pounds. Then when I opened it, I found that there were not bones, but it was already stuffed with a wine and pork stuffing. No bread in the stuffing, but there were pistachios. Really strange, but distinctly unAmerican. So I went ahead and made my own scratch stuffing with traditional spices. We found sweet potatoes at the farmers market, but had to pay another ten dollars for them. Corn on the cob was tough, but we found some shrink-wrapped at the grocery store. I found pumpkin without too much trouble, fresh, but still pumpkin. David brought home marshmallows and Rice Krispies for Rice Krispy treats. Couldn't find root beer, but I had forgotten it until the last minute so it was my fault. The tu...

We were invited out to dinner and a wedding tonight. Dinner was at the classy Pomphuis Restaurant on the river just north of town. A peaceful, lovely meal. I had Coquille St Jacques, Sea Bass, and chocolate mousse. The restaurant is an old pump house along the river and has huge pumps in the basement, but has been converted and is quite lovely. The service, ambiance, and company were outstanding and it was a real treat. Then we went over to the wedding reception for Evi and Jeroen. Evi works for the JMU program and is a dear, about 30 years old. I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a good present. Finally bought a big five quart pot from Annie's store. It is really nice. Evi and Jeroen have lived together several years, but are moving into a house which is why they got married - to be able to apply for the loan. Anyway, I figured they would do more entertaining so a good pot would be something they could use. I added some America recipes -- chicken pot pie, tu...

I have been remiss in keeping up with this blog, but much is a repeat from last year. We have been to Paris, Versailles, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Bouillon, Bastogne, Aachen, Cologne, the Blegny Mines, and Leige. Whew! The only significant difference from last year is that it was a festival day in Cologne and people were dressed in costumes and had lots of beer. There were broken beer bottles and musical groups and guys urinating in alleys and people throwing up and having a really GREAT time!

   

Pumpkin cookies are good, especially with chocolate chips. But too many give you a tummy ache. Using a small plastic mixing bowl with really curved up sides with an electric mixer is not for the weak of sponge. You WILL make a mess. The smaller the kitchen, the bigger the mess. Insurance companies that cancel your insurance while the hurricane is on the way because they don't want to insure for that hurricane are stinky. (cough, cough, State Farm) Bryan is a great sport about it. You can always catch a smile off of Cathryn's website: admiralbobcat.blogspot.com.

  Lurking in the corner, waiting for the unsuspecting to come and try, just TRY, to get the dust and dirt off the carpets! Bwah-Hah-Hah! 

One thing where people in Belgium are just like Americans is in their blind worship of brand name products. Nowhere is this more evident in my daily living than in our Miele vacuum. Now Miele is synonymous with Cadillac in Europe. It is the "finest made" and most expensive. Just say the name Miele and you double the price, for the product as well as any repairs, as we learned when we had to replace the glass dish at the bottom of a Miele microwave. ($100 just for the plate! Which broke because of a design flaw to begin with.) Anyway, today is vacuum day. The carpet is dark and short and seems to attract dirt. Last year we had a maid come by once a week with a real vacuum (she refused to use our apartment Miele) but this year we are not so blessed. First of all, the vacuum is a canister which means lots of hose to try to get out of a tight space. Once you get it out, you get to crawl on your hands and knees to plug it in (not an easy task for someone with a bad knees,...

Yesterday I sent Dianna and David off to Bobbing Land, a roller coaster park about an hour away. I think they had a great time. Me, thanks, but I am just not a roller coaster person. They said it was big, lots of roller coasters, and all kinds of different "twists". One goes up at a 160 degree angle so you feel like you are falling out. Another has you lie down and locks you in a bed type thing -- only Dianna did that one. There were a couple of water ones and one David called a "mouse". Some shows, a nice lake, and you have the equivalent of King's Dominion or a Bush Gardens. I as grateful to stay home, take it easy, and have some time to myself.

Today we went to Planckendael Zoo in Mechelen, about two hours away by bus. We got to get in free with our Antwerp Zoo membership. It is a pretty big, but lots of places were closed off under construction. We saw most of it in just a couple of hours. It is clean, and there are lots of small playgrounds and children's activities throughout the zoo. Dianna was upset that she wasn't still 8 years old and could climb on everything. The best display was the Australia exhibit, where they had a nice viewing place for the koala bears up close and personal. Since they were behind glass, the pictures didn't turn out well. But I did get to see kangaroos, including an albino one. And the big birds came right up to you. I think we are all getting historied out, so this was a nice change of pace for us.

  Dianna is so sick of having us take her picture that she charges a dollar a shot. I think this one is only worth fifty cents! 

  They are so liberal in Europe there are entire bathrooms without walls! Just one more thing to clean and maintain!!!! 

  Dianna enjoyed climbing this tree and jumping out of it. 

  Kids are having a ball running over the logs that go from one end of the pond to the other. In America, the park would have to worry about lawsuits, but Belgians have the freedom to let their kids take a chance and get hurt! 

  She learns they really don't like Peanut M&M's! 

  There is a monkey hanging in the tree just dangling 50 feet off the ground! 

I just can't quite place who?????    

Dianna disappeared in a hole under the rocks and found a place just big enough for her head to stick out. It looked really strange.  

pre-historic village - some Africans still live like this today.  

Children playing the medieval games, jousting and stilts.  

In the home of a someone from medieval times.  

Dianna pulls it in!