Inside a Cathedral Dome

One last day in Vienna.

We’d thought about going to the Shonbrunn Palace for a tour and evening concert but after the last two days of music decided against it and just did a Grand Tour 1^st thing in the morning. The Grand Tour is 40 rooms or so but it is the tour that includes Maria Theresa’s apartments. One apartment was the one in which Mozart performed in when he was 6 years old for her and his music took off from there.

The Shonbrunn is a Palace which consists of about 2,000 rooms and was a summer palace for the Hapsburgs who ruled for several centuries. There are, I think, about 400 acres of gardens as well.

The Palace is really quite an interesting place but be aware that although the books say 1 hour to visit we took much longer. 40 rooms are quite a few to visit but this tour is the only one that visits the apartments of Maria Theresa, plus some ballrooms. One ballroom is being refurbished but about ½ of it is completed so a person can imagine what it will be like when completed.

The gardens are very extensive. Unfortunately it was very cold and really windy so we only sat and drank our coffee in the garden then left as we had other indoor things we wanted to do in the city. We took our Silvia’s advice but this time did the opposite, seeing the inside and the outside will wait for another trip.

We’d planned to go to the top of St. Stephens to view the city; you can do that for a fee and then go to the Mozart house. We had to change the tube at St. Charles Church and remembered, from the concert the night before, that they are refurbishing the dome and that people can ride the elevator installed for this purpose, up to the top of the dome. We decided to do this first then see what to do next.

We paid our 6 euros and went into the church where the elevator is. Since we’d been there for the concert we had no need to look around the church much.

This turned out to be the highlight of the day. First you must ride an elevator up about 8 to 10 floors (this is a guess) that will put you on a platform at the base of the dome. From the base of the dome there are stairs that go all the way to the top, into the cupola. These stairs are about another 5 to 8 stories thru the middle of the dome into the copula.

The stairs are really not for anyone who has a fear of heights as they move as people walk and you see that they are only held together by small steel posts. But if you can stand the height it is an amazing view.

The stairs put you up close to the frescos painted on the dome, so close that one could touch them. Up close the figures are huge but also appear to be distorted as they appear to be painted for viewing from the ground.

The copula is actually much larger than I had imagined; there is a walkway across, very narrow but maybe 5 people could stand on it and look out windows the entire circle.

We viewed the cathedral with new eyes when we reached the ground.

A Morning Concert in Vienna

This morning was the 2^nd planned concert of our trip, to hear Bach and Mahler at the Vienna Music House, one of two world class music houses supported by Vienna.

I thought that we had box seats but as it turns out we didn’t, but the seats were great anyway. The seats were along the side of the auditorium and unlike the seats in the center, each row was elevated a little higher than the one in front. We sat about 20’ from the base instruments.

The 1^st  2 pieces were Bach with a smaller ensemble that stood up to play the first one. For the 2^nd piece a few more players joined and they sat, For the Malher the full orchestra played.

We did not know what to expect for a concert in Vienna except that we had heard that the Vienna people love their music. So here we were at a concert taking place at 11a.m. on a Sunday morning to hear the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra play.

We dressed up as best we could; Dale brought a blazer with dark blue pants that we bought from llBean and a really nice long sleeve shirt, his black shoes and socks. I brought a couple of pieces that can be used as a skirt or a dress with ties that can tie around the waist or as short sleeves. I also brought a black tank and a black knit top in the event it was cold. I also brought some comfy heels and bought some fun stockings in Salzburg that I never saw in Bakersfield.

The weather was cold, windy and rainy so I chose the red piece as a skirt with the 2 black tops layered, and my cashmere sweater under my raincoat. We were glad we’d brought the clothes we had as we only saw a couple of other people in jeans, all of the men had either suits or blazers and all of the women had dresses, skirts or nice pants with a coat.

The Music house was packed, we only saw a couple of empty seats and I remembered that I’d purchased the last 2 tickets available online on the day they became available.

The music was wonderful, the conductor was great to watch. The 1^st violinist had a wonderful solo which we had never heard before. She seemed to be so young next to all the grey hairs but she was very strong in her playing.

So there were our concerts in Vienna.

Vienna- Mozart's Requiem

We had reservations for an early train from Salzburg as we had tickets for the Mozart Requiem in Vienna at, what we thought, was 3pm. This time we walked the 15 minute walk to the station and got right on our train.

Arriving in Vienna we found the U line to get to our hotel, it is easy to use. Just find the map where you want to go then find the corresponding line to the color. Print your tickets and presto magic off you go to your platform and you are on your way. We found our line and came out at St. Stephens plaza. Another amazing cathedral! We reviewed our map, got our bearings and started for the hotel which was only another 5 minute walk.

The Hotel gave us our rooms within minutes along with some sparkling wine; we changed our clothes and started walking. 1^st we walked down to the St. Charles cathedral in order to see if our tickets were there; I couldn’t remember if the tickets were on hold or what I’d done. Sure enough the tickets were on hold and the lady helping us said we had some of the best seats, row 2 center. But she then told us that the concert was actually at 8pm not 3pm so here we were all dressed with nowhere to go. We came back to the hotel, changed and started walking into the main old city.

At first I wasn’t impressed at all with Vienna, we’d walked up and down the street and it was nothing but cafés, shops and tons of people. Then Dale and I walked down a side street and found wonderful buildings one after the other. We just walked with our faces to the skies.

We changed then made our way down to the St. Charles again for the concert. This time we joined the line of people waiting to get inside.

The church is not as large as “The Dome” or St. Stephens but large never-the-less. The stage, or front, is in a sense set apart from the rest of the church; 3’ higher, more narrow on the sides and the ceiling higher than the sanctuary area. From where I sat the stage was about 10’ in front of me with the orchestra at the front of the stage and the choir behind them. On the wall behind the choir was a cloud with angels that extended nearly to the ceiling.

The music was played on the antique instruments and being so close we could hear each instrument that normally would get lost in the whole sound. The sound of each instrument was different than the more modern ones used today that we are used to. The sounds plus the setting put us back into Mozart’s time. The setting was so heavenly that we found the music belonged in and was made for a Cathedral.

From the moments of the 1^st note the audience was enraptured and completely quiet. When the music would break for a moment the echoes would continue for several seconds. The conductor only used his hands for direction and then in such a tender way.

At the end of the concert no one moved at all as the music echoed and we sat there, almost in a stunned state, unable to move. Finally, the director signaled that the performers could bow and the audience went wild. The singers came back for an encore but we could have had several encores

The Austrian Alps

Before leaving on this trip Dieter had emailed that he and Inge wanted to take us to a lake in the Bavarian Alps and do a steam train ride. We were not sure what this was all about but thought that it would likely be fun. Dieter arranged to call on the cell and ring twice when he was near the hotel and Inge would walk towards us our hotel meeting us.

Dieter drove to the lake while Dale and I enjoyed the views of lakes and mountains. He stopped at a lookout above St. Gilgan with views of the St. Wolfgangsee, see=lake, below. Dieter’s landlord had loaned him 2 Bavarian style hats and with Dieter also wearing his new Bavarian style jacket the guys posed for a great photo while Inge and I laughed until we were crying.

We drove on to the St. Woflgangsee where Dieter suggested that we take the boat cruise to the side where we’d catch a cog train to the top of the mountain. It was warm but partly cloudy, perfect for sitting on the top deck of the boat.

The SchafbergBahn is the cog train that goes nearly straight up the steep hill with only a few twists and turns. Much of the time the rails are on the edge of the hill with wonderful views of the lake and village. The train is pushed up the mountain with an engine that appears to be tipped to the front but it works very hard to get the 3 or 4 cars up the hill.

At the top of the mountain there is a guest house with restaurant and then off to the left a small coffee house with a small selection of foods. The coffee is served on the balcony overlooking the surrounding hills, lakes and villages. We were cool but sweaters were enough.

After returning to the valley below we stepped into a salt shop as Salzburg is really a city based on Salt mining for the past 25,000 years until just recently. I would have loved to take the tour of a mine but there was no time. By then it started raining.

Dieter returned us to our hotel only to find that his car was overheating and water pouring out of the radiator. We ran to the hotel room and filled the trash can with water, running it back to him. He made it back to where they were staying, not sure that we would try that but it worked for him.

Salzburg; Old Town & New Town

Dieter and Inge had driven to Salzburg the day we left them so had checked out our hotel and the area already. They arrived in our room as we were packing up our belongings for the room change later. It was good to see familiar faces after the drama from the night before.

Inge wanted to show us the Mirabell Gardens first so we went thru the gardens, she had some idea for some photos which I wasn’t too sure of because of the sky but from a little hill behind the garden we had a wonderful view of the garden and of the fortress hill in the background. It was in these gardens that Do-Re-Me from “The Sound of Music” was sung, however we did not go for that reason as some people do.

Before we left the U.S. I consulted the travel books and had a list of places that I wanted to visit and knew that Dale would like most of them. The guide book had map pages for each category so the section for best places was marked with the ones we wanted to visit. I reviewed this with Dieter and Inge as I knew they would have other ideas which we did not want to discount but plans would not include paying to enter sites.

As we came out of the Mirabell Gardens we found that we were right across the street from Mozart’s residence, that is the place that the family lived from 1773-1780. The home is filled with manuscripts, Mozart’s instruments, and the audio guide played various pieces of music as we walked. We spent more time that what the book suggested but we were moved to tears by the experience.

A quick walk across the foot bridge and we were in the Old Town; several centuries old as opposed to only a few. We were all starving but I really wanted to eat at Stiftskeller St. Peter’s from the year 803 and reported that Charlemagne ate there. It was very cold in the vaulted areas but seated in the patio wasn’t so bad. We ate the meats as people have for centuries.

Dieter had the idea to take a carriage ride around the city so we shared the cost and took a very touristy tour of the old and new cities. Poor horses had to really kick it up when going along with the cars.

Dieter and Inge left us to the Café Tomaselli, a very old coffee shop from the year 1705 and frequented by Mozart. We sat on the Balcony people watching, drinking coffee and eating chocolates from “The Konditorei Furst” the place that 1^st made the Mozart Ball and still make them by hand.

We then went to the Fortress for a sunset look. The Fortress interior was closed for the day but we were able to enjoy the balcony and a look over the city before a dinner at the little café by our hotel.

Riding the Rails

We were so happy to visit with Tobias, his wife and 2 daughters for overnight and then got to see his parents the following day after walking to the lake. The girls, ages 4 and 1-1/2 finally started talking to us and even let me kiss them.

Tobias’ mom put us on the train to Salzburg and we would have a change in Pasing, then the train would go all the way to Salzburg. But Tobias also found that the train in Pasing was a little late so we should be fine. We got to Pasing and found the track as Tobias had said so settled in to wait.

As we waited the notice changed and the train was going to be even later, this should have been a sign of things to come but Dale and I were hopeful and didn’t let this bother us. Fortunately a German passenger came along to advise that the train coming, with the correct number, was in fact not the correct train and we were able to stop one further disaster.

Finally the train arrived and we hopped on finding a seat. As we did not have a reservation we didn’t get completely settled in and instead went to the food car to have some dinner and scenery.

We’d been traveling along, sipping beer and eating sausages until the sun went down. We thought that it would be good to maybe get into a more confortable seat and that I’d actually work on a claim that had come up just before leaving the U.S. We found some seats just outside the clear glass door from the food area but we could see inside thru the glass door.

We were somewhere in the middle of nowhere and it was pitch dark outside when the train stopped cold. During a long announcement we saw a man in the food area put his hand to his head so we got up to see what was going on now. It seems that the tracks were being worked on so the train would be stopped for awhile then would travel for 20 minutes to the next stop, then we would change to another train that would arrive maybe 50 minutes later for a 5 minute ride into Salzburg.

By the time we got into Salzburg it was 10:30 p.m. and we opted for a cab ride to the hotel instead of a walk. We were so happy to see our hotel but we had no idea of the continuation of adventures to come. Hotel stays will be a separate blog entry.

The Know-it-all Americans

Our next stop was to meet with our former exchange student Tobias who is now married with 2 girls of his own. Tobias stayed with us for 1 year back in about 1994 when he and 2 of our boys were in high school. We’d arranged to meet Tobias in the town of Herrshing, a town just 30 minutes southwest of Munich. “Just take the S8 train to Herrshing and I will meet you there” he said. Ok, no problem.

We stopped at the main station 1^st to reserve our seats for the trip from Prague then hopped on the S8 as directed from the Munich main station. We were just moving right along but then we were not sure of where Herrshing might be. We asked an Asian man in the seat across from ours and as it turned out he was from Maryland enroute to a conference in Herrshing. He said that he’d traveled this route several times and that Herrshing was the last stop.

The train car was not full so we started talking about traveling in Europe and more specifically Germany. I laughingly told him how I tell my friend Dieter that “we are from the U.S. so we know it all, and since we are from California we really know it all”. Dieter always answers “oh you Ammi’s”, the German slang for Americans.

After talking for a few minutes the train stopped about 3 stops short of Herrshing and everyone got off. We thought that it was funny that we were the only ones on the train but our new friend assured us that the train had only stopped for another train to pass. We wondered how long the train would be stopped but soon a train passed so we were assured that we would be moving soon.

A little later a woman came down the aisle and speaking in German said that the train was going back to the airport. We said “no this train is going to Herrshing”. My husband saw that she was wearing the train uniform and so we asked if she was sure that this train was going back to the airport. She said the train was going back to the airport but we must go to the platform and catch another train.

In the meantime Tobias was texting, asking where we were. Well we didn’t know where we were and why the S8 wasn’t going where it was suppose to go. Sorry Ammi’s we were turning out to be! So there I was trying to text Tobias and trying to figure out where in the world we were to go.

We and our friend were at the platform looking at what to do next when another S8 train came along but this time it said Herrshing and we got on. After sitting down and the train began to move the 3 of us started laughing about the know-it-all Americans! We laughed so hard tears were running down my cheeks. 

Munich: A Palace and Yet Another Beer garden

For this trip we decided to keep our options open, that is to say that we will go where the spirit moves, if that is we don’t have firm plans. So today we had no plans at all except to visit with our “girl” Silvia. Silvia was one of our students back in the 80’s and we’d lost touch with her until she found us on facebook a year or so ago.

Silvia was to meet us in Munich as this is the city she loves; we’d both be arriving by train just 10 minutes apart so the train station was a perfect meeting place. We got off the train and there walking to us was Silvia, such a meeting after 30 years.

When I made the hotel reservations it looked like they were quite a walking distance from everything but in reality the hotel was just around the corner from the train station. We dumped our stuff and started off using a small map that the staff gave us.

The square was, of course, packed being a sunny warm day. Lots of street musicians, sidewalk cafes and a First Aid demonstration of some sort complete with search and rescue dogs, diving demonstrations and so on.

We wanted some lunch but the square was packed and noisy so we located a beer garden on our map, off in the “Englischer Garten”. We fortified ourselves with chocolates purchased at a small shop along the way.

The gardens consist of a very large park with walking paths going every which way and a stream running thru. People were lying on the lawns soaking in the sun, a band was playing, people biking, jogging and just walking.

We consulted our maps on occasion but instead of a beer garden we found water running into the stream from a canal under the street. The water was running very quickly and young people wearing wet suits were lined up with their small size surf boards, catching the waves as the water ran into the stream. We had to laugh, “Surf’s up in Munich”.

We did find the beer garden and stuffed on sausages, potato salad and beer while the German band played Oompah music from a nearby Chinese Pagoda. People ate while others danced the afternoon away.

Franconian Swiss

Dieter and Inge (his girlfriend of 20+ years) wanted to take us to Franconian Swiss, a place they go canoeing in the summer. This area is a valley surrounded by cliffs and forests named Franconia for the region and Swiss because it resembles Switzerland. Because it is spring the flowers are starting to bloom and the trees are green. A river runs thru the area so that one road follows the river for a way. The river runs quite quickly; Dieter said that they once had a canoe accident on a bend and American soldiers who were nearby assisted Inge when she was injured.

The Franconian area is hilly and has several small towns, where many of the houses are made with timber framing, something that is stereotypical of a small Swiss chalet. Castles or fortresses are on the highest hill of each little town and more than one has a Basilica rather than just a church. Coffee houses are on many corners.

Some of the buildings are from the 1700’s sitting just feet from the road, which are old paved roads still. The roads are very narrow and winding but it was very exciting to hear then see a Lotus 7 flying along!

Dieter went from the main road to a side road leading to yet another small village where we found a small guest house serving lunch in the garden. We were able to eat the foods served everywhere; rolled stuffed beef with knodels (a potato dumpling), white asparagus with ham and butter sauce, local trout all served with a plate of salads and washing the food down with the beer.

I was surprised to find that many of the fortresses are actually private owned. Some have a room or two open to the public with historic items for display for a small fee. One had a large book from the 1400, tools from the Neanderthal times, a figure from the 1500’s and so on. I have a fantasy that it would be fun to own and live in an old castle. The dream is fun because I do not have the upkeep with a dream.

                                                      

Waterloo and then Germany

I’ve been to Belgium several times but never to Waterloo. We hear about Waterloo briefly in history but I’ve never given it any thought. Waterloo is very close to Pascaline’s home so we went there for the morning. A hill has been built as a monument to those soldiers who died with 215 steps up to the top of the hill and then a little walkway around the top. We needed to stretch our legs anyway so we went to the top to look out over the area. Some of the area looks much like it did at the time of the war; a farmhouse is the same except that it likely had a thatched roof instead of the one now, fields with crops where men fought.

From the mountain we went to the exhibit which is a realistic painting 360 degrees with sound. The war was horrific and to walk back over the ground made me reflect on those men who died such a horrible death.

In 4 years there will be a celebration of 200 years where there will be a recreation of the fight. I think we will try to attend that although I do have mixed feelings about celebrating something like this.

After a train ride from Brussels to Germany we were pulling into the station in Amberg when we noticed our friend Dieter on the platform waving an American flag. We would recognize him anywhere but we had to laugh when we saw him.

Dieter knows that we love the German food so he had a selection of sausages ready for us. Why is it that the sausages and liverwurst taste so much better in Germany, smooth like a cream.

A dinner of sausage, dark bread and beer now that is a great meal! And to make it better he found a gluten free bread, very nearly German style for me. But really I love the sausages so much that I eat them without bread, like a barbarian!

Finally Off to Europe

After planning for the past 11 months, researching concerts, hotels and so on, we are finally on our way to Europe.

I was really so proud of myself yesterday; I had cleaned up the house, finally putting away all of the painting supplies and sorting through all of the piles that had collected during the partial remodel, cleaned the kitchen floor. Clothes and our trip stuff were starting to be collected. Gosh, for the 1^st time in my life I was going to actually get packed in plenty of time and get a decent nights sleep.

Dale and I had decided that we would only try to carry only carry-on’s but we soon realized that we would  also need his backpacking pack. This was all great but then reality set in about 9 pm.

1^st, our European friends love almonds so I had the brilliant idea that we’d take some raw almonds that I had still (about 5#) and some of Nate’s processed almonds. Camilo was kind enough to bring a couple of bags for each person plus a few more.

2^nd, our Belgium girl, Pascaline, had ordered a few items from American Eagle sent to our house for us to deliver.

Dale started to pack his backpack while I worked with everything else. Opps! The backpack was completely full of only almonds and Pascaline’s things, no room for our stuff except our shoes. And oh was the pack heavy!

By 10:30 we were re-evaluating our situation, we got out a rolling carry-on, 1^st the smaller one but we still needed more room. We unpacked the small bag and packed a larger on.

By 1 a.m. and 1 bottle of wine under our belt we had stuffed the backpack, the carry-on, our tote bag to overflowing, the camera bag that would no longer completely zip shut and a day pack.

Camilo came by as he was going to take us to the airport; he’d decided to come early in order to not oversleep. I’d told him that we could really just drive and park, then he could pick up the car later but he didn’t want to do that.

At 4:14a.m. we were out the door. I asked Camilo if he knew the quickest way to the airport and then told him to turn right as the Bakersfield airport is only 15 minutes to the north. He asked “why are we going this way?” and I said well Meadow’s Field is just over to the NE.  Camilo-“Meadow’s Field? Not LAX?”  Me- “What?, did you think you were driving us to LAX?  Camilo- “Yes, that’s why I came to take you to the airport”. (LAX is 2-1/2 hours away) Poor Camilo, but we had a good laugh and he could already hear his wife laughing at him in his head!

Waterloo and then Germany

I’ve been to Belgium several times but never to Waterloo. We hear about Waterloo briefly in history but I’ve never given it any thought. Waterloo is very close to Pascaline’s home so we went there for the morning. A hill has been built as a monument to those soldiers who died with 215 steps up to the top of the hill and then a little walkway around the top. We needed to stretch our legs anyway so we went to the top to look out over the area. Some of the area looks much like it did at the time of the war; a farmhouse is the same except that it likely had a thatched roof instead of the one now, fields with crops where men fought.

From the mountain we went to the exhibit which is a realistic painting 360 degrees with sound. The war was horrific and to walk back over the ground made me reflect on those men who died such a horrible death.

In 4 years there will be a celebration of 200 years where there will be a recreation of the fight. I think we will try to attend that although I do have mixed feelings about celebrating something like this.

After a train ride from Brussels to Germany we were pulling into the station in Amberg when we noticed our friend Dieter on the platform waving an American flag. We would recognize him anywhere but we had to laugh when we saw him.

Dieter knows that we love the German food so he had a selection of sausages ready for us. Why is it that the sausages and liverwurst taste so much better in Germany, smooth like a cream.

A dinner of sausage, dark bread and beer now that is a great meal! And to make it better he found a gluten free bread, very nearly German style for me. But really I love the sausages so much that I eat them without bread, like a barbarian!

And We were Off

After planning for the past 11 months, researching concerts, hotels and so on, we are finally on our way to Europe.

I was really so proud of myself yesterday; I had cleaned up the house, finally putting away all of the painting supplies and sorting through all of the piles that had collected during the partial remodel, cleaned the kitchen floor. Clothes and our trip stuff were starting to be collected. Gosh, for the 1^st time in my life I was going to actually get packed in plenty of time and get a decent nights sleep.

Dale and I had decided that we would only try to carry only carry-on’s but we soon realized that we would  also need his backpacking pack. This was all great but then reality set in about 9 pm.

1^st, our European friends love almonds so I had the brilliant idea that we’d take some raw almonds that I had still (about 5#) and some of Nate’s processed almonds. Camilo was kind enough to bring a couple of bags for each person plus a few more.

2^nd, our Belgium girl, Pascaline, had ordered a few items from American Eagle sent to our house for us to deliver.

Dale starte to pack his backpack while I worked with everything else. Opps! The backpack was completely full of only almonds and Pascaline’s things, no room for our stuff except our shoes. And oh was the pack heavy!

By 10:30 we were re-evaluating our situation, we got out a rolling carry-on, 1^st the smaller one but we still needed more room. We unpacked the small bag and packed a larger on.

By 1 a.m. and 1 bottle of wine under our belt we had stuffed the backpack, the carry-on, our tote bag to overflowing, the camera bag that would no longer completely zip shut and a day pack.

Camilo came by as he was going to take us to the airport; he’d decided to come early in order to not oversleep. I’d told him that we could really just drive and park, then he could pick up the car later but he didn’t want to do that.

At 4:14a.m. we were out the door. I asked Camilo if he knew the quickest way to the airport and then told him to turn right as the Bakersfield airport is only 15 minutes to the north. He asked “why are we going this way?” and I said well Meadow’s Field is just over to the NE.  Camilo-“Meadow’s Field? Not LAX?”  Me- “What?, did you think you were driving us to LAX?  Camilo- “Yes, that’s why I came to take you to the airport”.

(LAX is 2-1/2 hours away) Poor Camilo, but we had a good laugh and he could already hear his wife laughing at him in his head!

Belgium, Old Friends and Fun

We arrived in Brussels feeling like it was 3 a.m. on Jupiter. Our friend Pascaline was to pick us up at the airport but she had given me her phone number to call when we arrived.

We got off the plane and thru customs then at the arrival area did not see Pascaline. I got my phone out, which I’d programed on Sunday but there was no internet to be had and her number was in an email. We dropped the bags and while I worked to get my Sims number off the card, then find the number to call for Verizon Dale went out to look for Pascaline.

We’d spent about 10 minutes looking and trying to get the phone up and running when I happened to look up and saw someone who looked like Pascaline but it has been maybe 8 years since we saw her last. She was watching for the passengers coming out from customs. I told Dale to stay with the bags and I ran over to the arrival area. Then the woman put on sun glasses and did not look like Pascaline at all. I started to back away when she took the glasses back. I asked “Pascaline” and she said “yes”. We were reunited at last.

Several hours later I had time to work with the phone and found I could place calls; just as I thought it was a setting that had not been checked in the phone.

Our goal in Brussels was to 1. Visit with our friends and her family and 2. Drink a beer. Ghislan, Pascaline’s husband was more than happy to oblige with the beer. We did go to the square at the Grand Palace and in a little bar that was established about 150 years ago we had beers all around. The beer tasted much better there than at our home in Bakersfield, maybe the environment had a little to do with it.

As for the family, Pascaline’s mother Therese use to visit nearly every year, traveling with us for our summer vacations. She learned to know most of our family and we traveled over many states. We also visited her at her home, the last visit 6 years ago at which time she told us that she would likely not return to the U.S. again.

Therese arrived with her son for an afternoon visit and we had several hours of reminiscing the old times. We were sad for our time in Belgium to be over but excited to move on to Germany and our old friends there.