Yesterday, we stopped at a Trader Joe’s in Bethesda for some groceries and wine. All part of the lounge and sip plan. We were shocked to find not a single bottle of spirits, wine or beer. Why? We asked a clerk. Maryland is one of only a handful of states that bans the sale of…
A DC Day
We experienced the DC metro…it’s not so bad. Our AirBnB is in the Chevy Chase area of Bethesda. We Ubered to the nearest metro station with Narta who hailed from Haiti. I asked how she was and for the rest of the ride we heard all about her life – the theme being one should…
Space, the final frontier
Or so says the Star Trek intro. The National Air and Space Museum, Steve Udvar-Hazy Center sits fittingly at the edge of the Dulles international Airport. Having time to kill before my companions arrived (see previous post), I hailed an Uber and alit in front of this giant hangar of a building. Inside, it was…
A brief foray eastward
I’m watching the sun rise through a smudged window on the 5th floor of the Hampton Inn in Sterling, Va. if you are not familiar, Sterling borders Dulles which is home to the Dulles International Airport (IAD). Right next to Washington DC. I am meeting my 3 college roommates for a fun time. Margaret, Nancy,…
Last day
Traveling brings me joy, discovery, education, surprise, anxiety and challenge. This trip did not disappoint. Many tourists / travelers give Belgium a miss. Except Brussels and Bruges. Even my Dutch friend, Hendrik, wondered why we made Belgium a destination. Belgium doesn’t market itself well, nor does it have that singular big draw, like the Eiffel…
Ads for an Empire
What a difference a day makes. Neighborhood street yesterday. And today. I always enjoy roaming a foreign city on a Monday. Tourists, if they even bother to venture out, don’t clump up and clog. With a lot of restaurants closed, sidewalks empty. Buses have available seats. Everything seems basically more relaxed. We decided to visit a…
The biggest garage sale
As Grubb has posted, after our little flurry of excitement yesterday morning in Liege, we did manage to make it to Brussels with all our belongings intact. Above: The unique Liege-Gullimins train station From the Brussels-Midi train station, we tried to hop a #96 bus to our AirBnB but the bus was so packed, not…
What’s brought, what’s left behind
At the FENIX in Rotterdam there was an entire room filled with luggage. One emigré’s narrative was about how he heard it was cold in Canada so when he left Holland he filled an entire suitcase with socks. I realize with this trip, like with most of our trips, I’ve overpacked. Not by much, but…
What I Remember
Ever since Ella and I began traveling overseas in 2015 I’ve wondered why I’ve had this desire to see Renaissance art. It doesn’t matter whether it’s early, late, or in the middle of, at museums I dawdle. In Rome I was rushing from Caravaggio to Caravaggio. In Venice we had to catch the train to…
A few photos
Tomorrow (Sunday) we head back to Brussels. We will have one full day in Brussels on Monday and then we fly home on Tuesday.Grubb has covered a lot of what we did today in Liege. I have just a few photos to add. Above: Statue in Parc de la Boverie Above: Sculpture by the river
Beating the Beer Lovers Marathon to the Parc
Rain wasn’t forecast until early in the evening so it was a perfect day to do a river walk. Okay, it wasn’t exactly warm, but that meant I wasn’t going to slow Ella down with my musing along the Meuse. We were going in the direction of Parc Boverie. This island park was the site…
Weirdness at the Wittert
We walked down into the downtown of Liége this morning from our apartment. Since it was a Saturday, the streets were practically empty. Ella stopped in at St. Paul’s Cathedral to check on a recent art exhibition and then we stopped for Belgian waffles Liége-style. They had a surgery density that the other Belgian waffle…
Migration in Belgium
Yesterday, we ducked into a bar called Sarajevo for Grubb’s much needed cappuccino. I noticed the young guy behind the bar was not a native French speaker and to my untrained ear, I thought it could be Turkish or perhaps Croatian. When I asked where he was originally from (crossing my fingers I wasn’t making an…
Liege style waffles
Late in the morning, after a walk into Liege and a gander at the University art museum, we stopped in at a cafe for a cappuccino and decided to try the Liege style waffle. Think of it as a pastry. Liege waffles are made from a brioche type dough rather than a liquid batter. They…
Lost Enlightenment
Yesterday inside the Curtius Museum I was contemplating a dark painting of the Christ child reaching for an apple Mary was holding when I got a text from Ella who was ahead of me in the museum. She said she was in the section of the Curtius covering the Enlightenment. “Just go down the stairs.”…