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…
Author: Ella
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…
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…
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
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…
What you didn’t know you wanted to know
All this talk of Flanders, Wallonia, Flemish. I think I’m beginning to get it. The closest Belgium has to what we think of as states or provinces is these three regions. Flanders (Flemish-Dutch speaking), Wallonia (French speaking) and Brussels (bilingual Dutch and French). Belgium also has three official language “communities”. French which is primarily in…
Neither rain nor hail will keep us from our quest
Today’s explorations of Liege included scouting out the statue of George Simenon, creator of Inspector Maigret and a visit to the Grand Curtius which held 8,000 years of history plus an exhibit of Japonism (glass vases in the style of Japanese). Who doesn’t love a beautiful, hand painted glass vase? We also had a late…
Le Petit Avion
Two traditional Liege folk characters, Tchantchès and Nanesse, pilot the plane called Le Petit Avion. The pilots are sculpted as portrayed by the Belgian comic artist François Walthéry. Tchantchès is cheeky, irreverent “everyman” who represents the spirit of the city. He’s traditionally a puppet character and there’s even a puppet museum dedicated to him in…
A modern touch in St. Paul’s
I mentioned we stepped into St. Paul’s Cathedral and Grubb has written a post on the hidden statue of Lucifer. I was more taken with the cloister, which was entered through a massive wooden door and might easily be missed if weren’t standing ajar with a view down the beautiful Gothic ogival arched hallway. In…
boulets à la Liégeoise
A boulet is a meat ball made from minced pork or beef or a mixture of the two. Liege style boulets are large with a serving consisting of only one or two meatballs. Smaller than a baseball, bigger than a golf ball. The boulets are simmered in a rich gravy made with onions, beef broth, and sirop…
Among the Wallonians
Today we tried to get a sense of Liege. With a population of 200,000 (630,000 in the metro area), Liege comes in as Belgium’s third largest city and is also the economic capital of Wallonia (Grubb will explain all things Wallonne). This is a French speaking region and very few people we’ve met speak more than…