Gallivanting Grandma

September 7^th Tuesday: rainy & cloudy all day: 12 – 18 degrees Celsius

It was difficult to leave the Sofitel. The pillows were so soft and the thick duvet covering me all night was so warm, squishy, and comforting. I must be tired of traveling. Let’s see, it’s been only five weeks….

The Sofitel was a wonderful place to stay! When we went down to the lobby to check out, one man went for the car and another man handled the baggage while the attentive receptionist went over the bill with Jeff. One remarkable thing about the Sofitel was how kind and nice everyone was to us. After the men put our luggage in the car and bid us “bon voyage”, we noticed that they left two bottles of cool water in the cup holders and hanging from the rear-view-mirror was a thank you card with tiny mints attached. Unbelievable!!!

Italian Restaurant in Echternach, Luxembourg

We drove out of the city of Luxembourg at about 10:00 AM and luckily ended up on the correct road out of town heading east to Echternach (pronounced “Esh-ter-nock”) in the country of Luxembourg. We had made a reservation at the Eden du Lac Hotel and the drive took only about half an hour.

Eden au Lac Hotel

The Eden du Lac looks like an old fashioned Swiss hotel with white stucco walls and brown wood porches with red geraniums. It is more of a resort with activities, a large pool, and a famous chef who prepares excellent meals. The other guests also seem to be somewhat older..

Markt in Echternach

We registered and left off our luggage and went into the town. Echternach was a sweet little village. The population is supposed to be only about 4,600 people. Fortunately, it had stopped raining when we walked around the town. We saw a few shops and restaurants and small in-town hotels.

The Main Street in Echternach

We also walked to the Abbey and the historic church which was founded by St. Willibrord in 962. Willi’s remains are in the crypt below the church. We had an excellent pizza lunch at a restaurant near the bus station at the end of the pedestrian street and then walked back to the car to go to Trier, Germany.

Interior of St. Willibrord Church, Echternach

Germany was right across the short bridge over the Sure River. The river was the boundary between the two countries: Luxembourg on one side and Germany on the other. There was a road on each side of the river in both countries. As we drove along, we could see that some towns had walking bridges across the river. We drove along the German side for about 30 minutes and into the city of Trier.

Hauptmarkt in Trier, Germany

The Sure River runs into the larger and more famous, commercial Mosel River. Mosel wine is famous from this region and we saw vineyards on the riverbanks. Trier is located on the Mosel River and is supposed to be one of the oldest cities in Germany. Driving in, the city looked very industrial and there was a lot of truck traffic. We followed the “Centrum” signs and found a parking lot to leave off the car.

Another Side of the Hauptmarkt in Trier

Then we walked to the main market or “Hauptmarkt” and wow!! What a difference from Echternach! The architecture all over the country of Luxembourg was plain wherever we went and the stucco buildings were all painted in soft muted shades of tan or beige. In Germany, we noticed that the buildings were painted all the bright colors of the rainbow and there were decorations around the windows and doors. The architecture was much more interesting!

The Hauptmarkt was lively and exciting and full of people and noise and activities. There were shops and restaurants and fountains and all kinds of things happening. There were several church steeples and signs directing people to a variety of interesting sites. There was even a toy museum with a whimsical tiny automobile parked outside and a wine-tasting booth in the middle of the square.

The Porte Negre

We took lots of photos despite the fact that the sky was overcast and we knew that the pictures wouldn’t be good because of the lousy light. Then we walked around and down the street to the “Porte Negre,” the black gate. This was a “gate” from the original Roman wall which went around the city about two thousand years ago. There was also a Roman amphitheater somewhere else in Trier, but we didn’t have time to go there.

The Porte Negre

We walked back to the Hauptmarkt and bought a still-warm fresh pretzel. Then we went to one of the many outdoor cafes and drank some tea and sat down to rest. Finally we went to the Cathedral of St. Peter/Dom. This is the oldest bishop’s church in Germany of which the Roman centrql section was built in the 4^th century.

The Cathedral of St. Peter

It was an impressive church with a very high Romanesque Gothic-style ceiling. The most notable feature of the church was the lack of stain-glass windows. All the windows had white/clear glass pieces which allowed a lot of light into the space and made the church look very large and airy.

Interior of the Cathedral of St. Peter

When we were downstairs exploring the crypt, a monk told us in German that the crypt was closed and we had to leave. It was about 5:00 PM and it had started to rain again. We decided to go back to Echternach before dark and we returned on the road on the Luxembourg side of the Sure River.

Rainy Drive in Echternach, Luxembourg

We went back to the Eden au Lac Hotel, left our cameras in the room and looked at the hotel’s restaurant menu. We decided it was too expensive and too much food. We wanted a simple dinner, not a multi-course meal, so we returned to the little Italian restaurant where we had lunch and we ate a wonderful Italian dinner!

I combined two days to give me a chance to catch up and also because they were take-it-easy days.

Sunday – September 5^th

Sunny & comfortable – warm sun & cool breeze – perfect travel day

First thing in the morning, Jeff and I went out early to take photos of the magnificent train station and check on the car. The car was OK and the station was a visual treat.

The Liege Train Station

We met two men who were also photographing the building.  They said they lived 50 kilometers north of the city and had come to photograph the station.

Train Station

We had good European coffee and croissants in a cafe at the station.

Another View

Afterwards, we checked out of the Hotel de la Couronne in Liege, Belgium, we loaded the trunk of the car with our luggage, and got on the A 26 – E 25 highway.

Another View of the Train Station

I have no idea why the highways have two numbers, but all the highways in “Benelux”seem to, which makes sign-reading an extra hassle. We left Liege and expected an easy highway drive to the capital city of Luxembourg. When we were about three-quarters of the way there, Jeff said that we needed gas. There were no gas stations along the highway, so we got off in some town that looked big enough to have a gas station. Since it was Sunday, many of the businesses were closed. We couldn’t find a gas station in any town. Traveler’s nightmare number two!

Off the Highway

We nervously continued on the highway and just across the border of the country of Luxembourg, was a huge IKEA on a hill, in the middle of farmland! We got off the road hoping for civilization and a gas station. IKEA was closed and the huge parking lot was empty of cars. A few more anxious miles down the road and there was a large gas station with long lines of cars at each gas pump! Another lesson to learn: fill up before you leave town!

We arrived at the city of Luxembourg without a reservation, late on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a lovely city. The sun was shining brightly. Many of the shops were closed and there weren’t a lot of people out and about. We found the Tourist Information office at the train station and I went inside to ask for a city map and hotel guide.

Short Story Ending: We stayed at the Sofitel Luxembourg Le Grand Ducal Hotel for two nights and fell in love with the hotel chain!

Sofitel Hotel – Luxembourg

There is something wonderful to be said for luxury! A parking attendant whisked the car away and brought our luggage to the room. We have to pay for parking and the Internet, but the mini-bar is complementary. There is a Nespresso machine in the closet with a full compliment of coffee pods. I love the separate cabinet for the toilette! There are large closets, a huge dressing area, and best of all: a glass-enclosed shower in the bedroom with red & blue lights and an overhead “rain” shower-head. It defies description….

Lobby of the Sofitel Hotel

I decided to stay in the room and relax for the rest of the afternoon while Jeff walked to the center of the city to take photos. This was one of my better ideas………

Later, we went up to the 8^th floor bar & restaurant for drinks and dinner.

8th Floor Bar with View of City

There is a panoramic view of the center of the city from there. I tried the Luxembourg sparkling wine and Jeff had a grape martini. Then we had a wonderful dinner prepared by their famous “French chef”. It was a wonderful way to end the day.

Monday – September 6^th It was another sunny and cool morning.

We went up to the 8^th floor breakfast room/restaurant to enjoy the morning view and have breakfast. Without boring the readers with the details, I can only say that the service was elegant and the breakfast was amazing!

Eighth Floor Breakfast Room

Then Jeff and I went out to explore the City of Luxembourg.

Place d’Armes

It’s a lovely place with an air of refinement and wealth. There seemed to be a combination of tourists and business people and we walked around to explore and take photos.

Guillaume II Facing the Grand Ducal Palace

The architecture is rather plain especially in comparison to Bruges, but it was still interesting to visit the center historical part of the city.

Medieval Bridge in Bas Ville

We returned to the hotel about 4:00 PM to relax and plan for tomorrow. It became cloudy in the afternoon and it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.

Lower City with the River Petrusse

September 4 – Saturday: hazy in the morning – 13 degrees Celsius

We left Ghent and drove south. The plan was to drive south into France and then continue eastward through the French countryside to Luxembourg. Neither Jeff nor I had ever been to Luxembourg and we thought it would be fun to see what it looked like. We spoke to a young American last night in the restaurant, who looked like George on the Seinfeld TV show, and he said the French countryside north of Paris was beautiful.

The Belgian countryside is lovely with green and brown fields stretched out to the horizon. Cows and sheep dotted the meadows and small farm villages could be seen in the distance. We noticed that the signs were written in French as we approached the French border. We crossed uneventfully into France and would not have noticed that we were in a different country if it wasn’t for the small sign with the single word: “France” written on it surrounded by stars.

The French farmlands were similar to Belgium’s and we visually hunted for differences. Soon after we crossed the border, we saw a sign for our favorite French supermarche, Auchon. We loved the giant Auchon in La Seyne sur Mer last year which had every possible French gourmet food available. We stopped at this one to pick up some cheese and a baguette and cookies for a lunch pic-nic and continued east. It was too early to stop for the night in this town, so we drove on.

As the afternoon progressed, we decided that we didn’t want to continue through the farmlands because there were no towns large enough to have hotels, so we went back into Belgium. At about 4:30 we decided to drive to the town of Charlesroi to look for a hotel. It looked like a sizable town on the map. We entered the city and drove into the center and drove around the main area, but there were no hotels! We were very surprised because the city with the Auchon had several good-looking hotels.

We looked at the map and decided to continue north to the next city, Namur, Belgium. We could not believe it, but this city also lacked hotels! Actually, there were two hotels in the entire town, as verified by a local person who we asked for information. We went to the local Ibis and they were fully booked. We didn’t like the looks of the hotel across the street from the train station. It didn’t look very safe so we decided not to stay there.

There was an Internet cafe down the street and we went there to find hotels near Namur. There were none. The next large city was Liege, Belgium about an hour north, so we did a Google search on hotels in Liege. Fortunately, there were many hotels listed. Then we tried to book one for the night! Believe it or not we could not reserve any of the hotels in Liege. They all seemed to be fully booked. It seemed incomprehensible, so we jotted down the phone number of the Liege Holiday Inn which was advertised as having 217 rooms, and we called them. Yes, they were fully booked! We couldn’t understand what was happening in Liege to cause all the hotels to be full. Liege must be a happening place, we thought. I asked the receptionist at the Holiday Inn if she knew of another hotel which might have rooms and she recommended a “new hotel which just opened and was sure that they had rooms available.” She gave me their phone number and we called them.

It was now 7:30 in the evening and the sun was setting. We made a reservation at the HUSA De La Couronne in Liege and asked for directions to their hotel. The French-accented man at the other end of the phone said the hotel was across the street from the railroad station. He couldn’t give driving directions, but we should be able to find the station. We got the car and drove on the highway to Liege. The sun was setting as we continued on the road and the city was an hour away from Namur.

Of course, we got a bit lost in Liege because the road turned into a tunnel under the city, but we turned around and followed the signs for the TGV Train Station. Then we spotted the station! It was a brand new, ultra modern, well lighted very impressive building! We found a parking spot on the street. Jeff took photos of the station and then we went into the Couronne Hotel.

Despite the beautiful station, the street where the hotel was located can only be described as “seedy”. There were several bars with loud music coming out onto the street and several boarded-up shops. The entrance to the hotel was small and between two closed stores. If we weren’t desperate, if we hadn’t made a reservation, I think we would not have gone into the hotel.

Fortunately, past the street front, the small hotel lobby was clean and new and modern. The young man was very nice and helpful. Best of all, the hotel (and our room) was new, clean, modern and safe. It was 99 Euros for the night, not including breakfast! This was an outrageous amount for a small room across from a train station, but “beggars can’t be choosers” and it was better than the alternative of no room for the night! We slept safely and soundly but worried a bit about the rental car we left on the street.

We survived the “Traveler’s Nightmare” of no room for the night and perhaps learned a lesson. It’s difficult to strike the balance between careful travel planning and the freedom of not planning…..

September 3, Friday – cloudy & hazy and 15 degrees Celsius in the morning.

We were on the road by 11:00 AM and found our way out of Bruges and onto the A-10 Eastbound. The drive to Ghent, Belgium was under an hour, but finding the hotel took a while. We had looked up hotels last night on the Internet and found the NH Gent Belfort Hotel in the center of Ghent and it sounded pretty good.

NH Gent Belfort Hoteles

The directions we had from the Internet said: “Follow the signs to ‘Gent Centrum’ then follow signs for Vrijdagsmarkt P1. Take the 3^rd street on the roundabout: Belfortstraat. Hoteles on right, opposite Stathuis.” Sounded easy enough, but when I read the directions to Jeff as we were driving into Ghent, he said that he thought that “vrijdag” means Friday! Today was Friday and we wondered if that meant a Friday Market! It did! We got caught in market traffic and closed streets, but finally found the NH Gent Belfort Hoteles. Yes, that’s how they spell it! We parked the car and went into the modern lobby to register.

While we were driving into Ghent, we noticed that the city looked a bit gritty and old. We had read some good things about it, but now we weren’t so sure. Our hotel room # 261 immediately changed our opinion of Ghent! It was a huge room with a sitting area with a couch and chairs, a work area with a large desk, a king-sized bed, and still had lots of space to spare. The bathroom was also incredible!  The entire bathroom and closet area measured about 15 ft. by 6 ft. A sliding door led first to a hallway lined with shelves and closets, like a walk-through closet. Two were hanging closets and the others had cube-like shelves. A Nespresso coffeemaker rested on one shelf with ready-to-make coffee pods. A steel safe and mini-bar took up a couple of other shelves, but there was still plenty of space for storage. On the left were two bowl-type sinks and opposite was a huge European bathtub. At the end of the long room was a glass-enclosed shower and to the right was a private section for a toilette. My description doesn’t do the bathroom justice. Neither do my photos!  Please use your imaginations.

After we admired the room and bathroom, we went out to explore Ghent. The morning haze lifted and the sun was shining and it felt a little warmer. Ghent is an old city, and has many new modern buildings mixed in with the medieval ones. It didn’t feel like a tourist town with souvenir shops, but seemed to be full of locals and business people.

We walked down streets lined with old buildings and canals, and admired the architecture. I got into conversation with a young man who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana but who was originally from Bangalore, India. He was touring western Europe on a whirlwind two week vacation.

He told me his philosophy of travelling was similar to the lesson of the Parable of the Frog in the Well. The Frog lived in his well his entire life and thought that his well was the most beautiful and magnificent place in the world. He thought his water was the best and the most wonderful of all. One day he left his well and discovered the outside world and realized that his well was small and limited and not so wonderful. We both agreed that travelling was the best way to expand our personal worlds, see new things, and get to know other people.

Julie’s House Bakery & Tea Shop

We stopped at a charming tea shop called Julie’s House and had a snack of tea & coffee and cheese cake.

Julie’s Cakes

Then we went to the “Castle of the Counts” called Gravensteen.  It was rebuilt in 1180 by Philip of Alsace.

Gravensteen Castle

We took a self-guided tour of the castle and took photos. Besides the governor’s house, the castle was used as a prison for hundreds of years.

The Top of Gravensteen

It looked like it was going to rain, so we hurried back to the hotel to take it easy and avoid the rain. We rested and went out again to see some of the sights in the central part of Ghent.

St. Bavo’s Cathedral – wood & white marble pulpit

We first visited St. Bavo’s Cathedral (Sint-Baafskathedraal). The exterior of the huge church is not impressive, but the interior is amazing and contains several true works of art. Visitors can see the original 12^th century foundation in the underground crypt, but the main part of the cathedral was built in 15^th century. The impressive Rococo-style pulpit was made of oak, gilded-wood, and white marble. There is a major painting by Rubens and the world famous series of panels by Hubert and Jan van Eyck which was completed in 1432.

St. Bavo’s Cathedral

We then walked across to the Belfry. It dates from 1313 and is the proud symbol of the city of Ghent’s independence. Belfrys were important during the Middle Ages because most people were illiterate and the bells chimed the hours of the day.  The Cloth Hall was build onto the side of the Belfry in 1425. We entered and climbed up the circular staircase to the second floor and took the elevator to the top of the Belfry.

When we got off the elevator we saw an ancient mechanical clock and a gigantic cylindrical “music box”. As we were looking at them, the clock clanked and set off the cylinder to turn to play a tune. It was the ancient carillon! It was loud! But what fun to see it actually working!!

View from the top of the Belfry

We found a place for dinner and ate a satisfying meal of waterzooie and tagliatelle with chicken. We had an enjoyable day in Ghent and were ready to move on.

Ghent’s former Post Office now a shopping center

September 2 – Thursday It was sunny with some high clouds, but cool 55 degrees to low 60s

Today was supposed to be our “down day” which means a ‘take it easy day’, but it wasn’t. We have found over years of traveling, that every few days we need a day of rest or else we get burned out.

It’s actually very difficult for us to stop and rest while we’re traveling because we both seem to be driven to keep going. We really have to fight the urge to “see what’s beyond the next corner” and just stop and relax and rest and become renewed before the body gives out.

Our plan today was to see just one thing, then return to the hotel and rest, and then go out later for dinner. In our guide-book under the category of “Tranquil Escapes” was the “Prinselijk Begijnhof ten Wijngaarde” or in English: the Princely Beguinage of the Vineyard. All the Flemish begijnhofen are UNESCO World Heritage sites and since Bruges already has this status, the begijnhofen is pretty special and we thought it would be well worth the visit.

The Begijns were religious women who accepted vows of chastity and obedience, but preferred to earn a living by taking care of the sick, and making and selling lace. The order provided an option for women to live without a husband and children, but without becoming a nun. There were no other options for women at the time. It was founded in 1245 by the Countess Margaret of Constantinople.

There are no more Begijns today, but the Begijnhof is occupied by Benedictine nuns who try to keep the Begijn traditions alive. (Whatever that means!)

We decided to visit the Begijnhof in the morning. It was on the edge of the city near the outer moat and we walked through a different part of Bruges to get there. There is a small museum in one of the houses and the convent’s baroque church is open to visitors.

The guidebook gives this appropriate description: “This beautiful little cluster of 17^th century white-washed houses surrounding a lawn with poplar trees and flowers makes a marvelous escape from the hustle and bustle of the outside world.” This is exactly what the Begijnhof was! It was a beautiful tranquil place within a beautiful historic place…..

We had a cup of tea and relaxed a bit at a corner tea shop. We walked to the outer moat and along the Minnewater (lake) near the train station. We continued to walk and take photographs.

Bruges is a very photogenic city with a lot of character and beautiful historic architecture. We returned to the Navarra Hotel to rest up a little and later went out for dinner.

Earlier I did a Google search to find the best moules et frites restaurant because I wanted really good mussels, and found a restaurant near the Stadhuis (town hall). We walked there and waited a few minutes until they opened at 6:00 PM. We shared a delicious fish soup (vis soep) and I had moule Provencal. Jeff had fried mussels in butter and garlic. After dinner we walked around the central markt and savored our last few hours in Bruges. This is one of Europe’s loveliest and well-preserved medieval cities. It is a delightful city which we both like and want to return to again some day.