Life in Weyers Cave

Our internet was turned off in the flat so we have to hike over to the student dorm to get on. Oh, the horrors! Yesterday we went to Tournai, the, uh, yes, for real, playing card capital of the world. They have the oldest water tower in Belgium. 1908. There is a really nice beguinage there from the fifteenth century. A beguinage is for single women who are not nuns to live. Today it is retirees, men and women. One of the men invited us in out of the rain to see his etchings. Very nice paintings. His name is George Van Eck and he thinks he is related to the famous painter. He was the editor of the paper for many years, and wants to say thank you to all WW II vets. Pass it on. We bought over fifty pounds of chocolate and I have spent a lot of time now trying to pack it. I would like to carry as much as possible on the plane because I am afraid it will melt or get lost. We leave for home early tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to seeing Dianna! And drinking unlimited water.

You can go on David's blog at kd9la.blogspot.com and see pictures and reports of what we have done for the last week. Monday we went with our friends Anne Marie and Gilbert to Bokrijk, Belgium, a large open air museum similar to the one I work in in Staunton, but with over a hundred buildings. Allen went with us and we were able to drop him off at the airport on the way back. It was a nice day, but there was quite a heavy rainstorm that started just after we sat down for lunch. Fortunately, we were under outside umbrellas. Unfortunately, there was a relatively large hole right over my head. Fortunately I had my rainjacket on. Unfortunately, it didn't help with the cold rain that fell on the bench beside me and rolled towards my jeans. Don't let my rush to get something posted on the blog in any way negate how wonderful and outstanding it was to see Allen for a couple of days. It did my heart good. He is still a wonderful,creative, fun-loving guy and I am really proud of hi...

It has been wonderful spending time with Allen. We took it easy yesterday -- too much walking has been hard on me! Today, the boys are in Brugges and I went to church here and have continued to relax. Tomorrow we will go to Bokrijk, a very large version of the living history museum I work at in Staunton.

They put in a new control panel on the elevator in our building. We had to use the steps for a day and a half, and the elevator men were obviously having some difficulties with it. The new panel has much nicer touch on the buttons and looks much more modern and professional. But you still have to wait for twenty seconds after you push the button for the door to close. There is still no door close button. And now you have look really hard to find your floor number. The elevator is quite dim and they are engraved numbers beside the buttons. It is too dark to see them without a flashlight. If you randomly press one of the higher buttons, you can't tell which floor you have found when the door opens without stepping into the hall, turning on the light, and then reading the small sign by the door to one of the flats. The light stays on for about one minute. Of course if you live here, you get used to what button to push, but it is kind of funny that it is so poorly done. The other funny...

This morning, we got up early and took Martha to the bus for a goodbye. We really have had a super time the last few days. It is fun for both David and I to be tour guides. Then Allen came over and we caught the train to the beach. We went to the North Sea and then caught a tram that ran along the edge of the country, somewhat near the shore. Sometimes we caught glimpses of old German lookout stations from WW II. We enjoyed looking at the water and the beautiful homes and Allen and I went wading in the water as soon as we go to the first small town. Sweet! We got back on the tram and went on up to Oostende, a couple of hours on the tram, and the biggest seaside vacation spot in Belgium. Nobody was on the beach, just police. They were all standing back behind the boardwalk. It took a while for us to find out that someone had discovered a bomb in the water. So no swimming today for anybody. It was apparently a leftover bomb from World War II. Perhaps there is a news article on it somewh...

My friend Martha has come to visit us in Belgium for a few days. Today we went to Brugges. This is the all-time most peaceful place I'd love to live on the face of the planet. It was a gorgeous day, crowded but not too much, and we walked around, took the boat ride, got some chocolates and lace, and walked some more. We had a dinner at a nice outdoor cafe on the square. I did get a little bit of burn. Zebra stripes -- on my feet!!! Brugges is known for its swans as well. We learned that swans love fries. Yuck! There was a little "band" of Irish "kids" that sang and played some instruments. They put out their hat and made seventy euro in an hour. They were having a good time, even if they weren't real good singers. They had a pickpocket monitoring the show, but I don't know if he got anyone.

Goeden dag! Stupid cold! Church Old Friends Missed bus Walking David cooked Took nap Blew nose Ate chocolate Called Mom HATE COLDS!

I didn't have the best night's sleep. I have a cold, which woke me up, plus the mosquito buzzing around, and David didn't sleep well with his jetlag, so I only got about two hours of sleep. I don't do well if I get woken up at night and if I am woken up three times, you can forget it. Today we met some new friends for lunch, the parents of Alex H (Diane and Hilton) who used to live in Harrisonburg. We tried to go one place, which was closed, so then on to another place, which was closed, and probably walked over two miles before we found a nice place to eat. Classes are out so anything near the University is closed down for the summer. We ate at a restaurant in a square in front of an old church. Today is a big celebration in Antwerp, and the theme of the celebration is the independence of Flanders, the northern Flemish section, from the Walloon, the southern French section. There is also a tiny little corner that is German, but that is really kind of a bad joke. So in...

We are looking for linen for the museum to make costumes. I found out last night at dinner about a linen shop about a mile away. David and I went this morning and found out they are closing at 6 this evening -- permanently! I took pictures and emailed them to the museum of the stuff that was on sale, but because of the time difference and the fact that it is all still over thirty dollars a yard, I stopped at my friend Annie's. Annie lived through World War II and is now a widow who owns a small shop. She speaks wonderful English and is always happy to see me. We visited for quite a while. It breaks my heart to leave her. She needs someone to adopt her. Then I went to my chocolate shop and visited with my friends there. They still haven't perfected the decalorinator. I have posted a few pictures. Hope you like them!

Yes, we are in Belgium. The flight was uneventful. There was a gentleman there on his way to Latvia -- to meet a long-lost sister (lost during World War II) he had located on Facebook! The flat is the same as always. It was great to have Jim meet us at the airport. I'm glad to be back. Hey! I'm in Belgium! How cool is that!

Yes, happy Fourth of July yesterday. My blog in the morning really covered the day before. Yesterday I worked all day at the Museum. Lots and Lots and LOTS of people came through. I worked for eight hours. When it got to be too much, I made everyone in the room play the Ringline version of Hot Potato - they would leave as they were "out" and new people would come in and then I would remember if I was repeating myself or not! David has a cold. We leave Wednesday for Europe so I hope he is over it before the plane flight. Until then, life is crazy.

I must have eaten some sugar yesterday, because I was really exhausted. Also, I've been going to bed late and that throws off my sleep schedule. David came home at 5 to take me out to dinner and I could barely pull myself out of bed. I know I was probably grumpy. We went out to dinner at a restaurant that we've been wanting to go to for years. It is so highly recommended that they say you have to get there very early or wait in a LONG line. It is a seafood restaurant and it was "okay, I guess". Ambiance was so-so and almost all of the food was fried. They had some boiled scallops and steamed shrimp - the shrimp was good. The only veggies were canned green beans, overcooked carrots, and some red beans. The salad bar was just iceberg lettuce and a few toppings. And the desserts all looked like they came from a church dinner. There really wasn't anything that called my name enough for seconds. It wasn't a bad meal, and the price was reasonable (though not great) ...