An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
(written with a good Belgian Beer Buzz on)
So nice to be back on our own again. Futzed around lazily before going to breakfast at 9:55am. Milton went on some errands while Wendy grooved to the street construction noises outside our room making her nostalgic for east 10th street. One errand was to attempt to return yesterday’s tapes and exchange them for discs, though with no receipt; I was sure the guy in the store (of course no one from yesterday was in today) was thinking it was some American scam. No problem, though, and we set off with a Best of Frank Sinatra and vol. 22 of the aforementioned Flemish Shlanger music series.
Finally got rolling around 12:30 and flew along the expressway (I don’t think they have speed limits here) through Brussels (looked really beautiful from the six-lane expressway ring road) and on to Namur. The Mercedes cruises like a luxury yacht, though with the diesel it accelerates like a lethargic sloth. We got into Namur, a bustling, commercial college town, and saw that it was basically nothing special. We pulled over and Wendy expertly scoped the sidewalk scene and found a personal-size pizza w/ham and mushrooms, which we (in true college style) consumed in the car.
We moved on toward Dinant and entered the Ardenne region — known for its beautiful forests and many historical battles (from J.Caesar through WWII), stopping en route to tour the Jardins d’Annevoie, a 17th century chateau and garden. The notable feature here, besides some lovely flower gardens, is its extensive waterworks — waterfalls of various styles, fountains, and streams — all functioning with no mechanical aids, only water power and gravity, as they have for over 200 years. We had a nice 40-minute multi-lingual tour with a bubbly young German co-ed (who has a California boyfriend), then got back on the wrong road.
We eventually got on the right road and arrived in Dinant, a pleasant town on the banks of the river Meuse. While Wendy rested from her (Milton’s) cold and read in the car, Milton took the quickie cable-car up to the Citadel — a massive fort perched upon a hill over the city, with some cannons, cannon balls, and other old armaments to really set the mood. Splendid views, and pictures, especially of this particular Notre Dame Cathedral, which was topped by a bluish onion dome.
That about covered all worth doing in town, but we did buy two couques, (very) hard cookie/pastries that are a specialty of the region. They’re basically honey cookies that come in all (but mostly pretty large) sizes and detailed figures; we bought a dog and a cat. Kind of tough to bite, but then softens up in your mouth eventually.
We also noticed that we were most definitely getting into don’t-speak-english (imagine!) territory. Nice to be back in pretty, rolling countryside/farmland, though most of the buildings around here are of a grey limestone, which gives an oddly dark tint to the scenery. This city is also known for being the birthplace of Adolphe Sax, (whose picture is on the BF200 note) the inventor of the saxophone, and in fact we passed a big commerative saxophone on a pedastal in a square on our way out of town.
We headed toward La Roche in minimal traffic and our favorite early evening sun and drove right past our hotel, which was a bit before town. Looked from the road a bit rustic, but we took advantage of the remaining daylight to drive into the town: cute, quaint, touristy mountain-resort type of place. We drove back to La Claire, which turned out to be delightful, with a very large room with a small balcony overlooking some flood-lit trees and a big wooded hillside.
We dined at the hotel, which turned out to be quite good, though we had to work to keep the cream to a minimum. (they take their food very seriously throughout the Belgian countryside, we’ve realized) We started w/chicken soup and a foie-gras appetizer that was served with a really good sweet onion compote. Entrees were a grilled salmon with a nifty warm chopped tomato-garlic confit, and a cold vegetable plate. The highlight was the two locally-brewed Belgian beers we enjoyed (one blond, one brun) that were memorably flavorful and tasty, without being too heavy. Then upstairs to plan out tomorrow.