The XtraSuitcase

Fontainebleau, France – Aug 08

08

This weekend's adventure took us to the Fontainebleau Chateau and forest about 45 minutes south of Paris. Colin his wife, Felicity, invited us to stay at their home for the weekend. They live in Chailly-en-Biere, a small village just outside of Fontainebleau.

From Brussels it is about a 3 hour drive. But as always, we took the very long route and got there in 8 hours. But…..D surprised me and took me to a chateau for the most wonderful three hour lunch!

The food was delicious and the presentation beautiful.

My favorite part was the three-course dessert. Once we had finished our meal, they brought us a little pineapple cream "pre-dessert", then the dessert we had ordered, and when we had coffee a whole array of additional desserts arrived, including a lollipop bouquet (note all the little desserts on the bottom).

close up of the little desserts:

and homemade marshmallows:

Ah…………I needed a nap after all that food!

The sky was absolutely beautiful and of course I had to take many photos along the way.

This was a pile of carrots, not sure what they were doing with them, but this boy was having a ball climbing on them. The smell of carrots was so strong as we drove by.

We like to stay off the main highways and take back roads, this does add time to our trip, but you never know what you might see.

I love this photo as think it looks more like a painting than a photo.

We arrived at Colin and Felicity's for dinner. They have a lovely home with a swimming pool. Colin made shish-kabobs on the grill and we had corn on the cob. Both special treats for us as we do not get either in Brussels. They are from England but have lived in France for over 18 years. We really enjoyed having our breakfast and dinner in the open sun-room.

On Saturday morning, D and I headed to the Chateau and Colin and Felicity met up with us for lunch in town.

The Royal Chateau of Fontainebleau is one of the largest French royal chateaux. It was started in 1528, the work was carried out in several stages that lasted until the 18th century; hence the irregularity in plan and lack of unity in style.

Napoleon I lived there. It was amazing to think we were walking the same steps as Napoleon. He had one of the first tubs placed in the Chateau. They said he was much cleaner than his contemporaries and took a bath most every day.

An interesting tid-bit I learned, that the word we use today for our small bathrooms, "powder room", came from the rooms they used to freshen up in. Instead of taking baths back then, the people used to powder themselves down and there were rooms set up for them to do it. The original powder rooms did not contain a toilet, sink, or bath.

It was hard to take photos inside as they did not allow flash – but this one came out and I wanted to share how elaborate the rooms were decorated. The walls are lined with exquisite tapestry.

There were many gardens, all very beautiful and an unusual white peacock. We had never seen one a white one before

After lunch we went to the Forest of Fontainebleau. A very popular place where many famous artists painted.

It is hard to describe the light and colors in this forest. During the 1820s and ‘30s, artists of the romantic period like Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Jules Coignet sought out Fontainebleau as their ´natural studio´ because of this unusual light. They were followed by the Barbizon painters, who took the art of landscape in a new direction, setting the scene for young artists who would eventually become the Impressionists, like Monet.

It was fun as Felicity had a book of many of the paintings done in the forest. Below is a copy from her book:

Compared to a photo I took:

We left sunday mid morning for our drive home. We stopped at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Laon.

We have been in at least 75 cathedrals all over Europe, and you would think they all would begin to look the same. But they don't. Each one has something very unique and different. This one was quite old, dating back to 1160, and was used as the inspiration for the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Horsham England – August 08

08

This weekend we took the Eurostar train to England to visit our Euro-friends – Dave and Allison.

We had a great visit. Train rides are my favorite mode of transportation in Europe. It is so easy. You carry your suitcase on, find your seat and enjoy the ride. Well, first you find your seat and hope it faces the front. I cannot ride backwards and you cannot reserve seats going forward – so it is always pot-luck if your seats face forward. There are usually enough empty seats so you can move. I love to watch the Belgium/French/English countryside whisk by the big picture windows in the train. Everything is so lush and green right now. I easily get lost daydreaming when we ride the train.

It is amazing how quickly we got from Brussels to London – 2 hours. We went through the Chunnel, a 31.4 mile undersea rail tunnel linking the United Kingdom and France, running beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. It is the second longest undersea tunnel in the world, after Japan’s Seikan Tunnel.

Dave and Allison live in Horsham, a quintessentially quaint English village about an hour south of London. Horsham is a Historic Market Town thought to have been settled in 947. The town had connections to the sale of horses and the name is believed to be derived from "Horse Ham", a settlement where horses were kept. They have a lovely home. Quite large by European standards.

Allison picked us up at the train station and we headed out to their local pub for lunch. D had the traditional "fish & chips" England is so well known for. And of course a beer. After lunch we headed out to Beachy Head, on the south coast. It was an hour drive.

The name Beachy Head has nothing to do with beach, it transpired from the original French word meaning Beautiful Headland.

The cliffs were absolutely stunning. It is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 530 ft above sea level.

The chalk was formed in the Cretaceous period when the area was under the sea, 65 million years ago and earlier. During the Cenozoic Era the chalk was uplifted, and was later eroded to form the dramatic cliffs.

The light house you see in the distance was built in 1828. If you look closely, you can see a few people at the top of the cliff. It gives you a better feel for the scale – how big of a drop it is.

What was so amazing is that there was nothing to stop people from going over the edge. As soon as we arrived, Allison told us to be careful and not go too close to the edge. So we both ran as close to the edge as we could….To make Allison nervous, I danced on the edge:

and then tried to get the perfect photo from the edge:

D really got her when he climbed over the edge and hung from one hand:

It was so funny to see Allison’s face.

No people…….he was NOT really hanging on the edge of the cliff. We call this one "trick" photography : )

The rain was moving in so we headed back to the house for a pre-dinner drink. A new one for us, a very common British drink – Pimm’s. You mix one part Pimm’s with three parts lemonade (which is what we refer to as 7 up or sprite), ice cubes, a wedge of cucumber, mint leaves and slices of lemon, orange and strawberry. It was sooooo good we bought a bottle to bring home.

After a delicious dinner at home, we headed to the local pub, the Malt Shovel. On the weekends they have live bands. This week was a guy who was singing pop songs. He was actually very good.

There were MANY interesting characters at the pub. D&A were able to tell us stories about each of the "regulars". Hmmmmm….with them being able to tell so many stores about the "regulars", doesn’t that make them "regulars"?

After several rounds, we were singing along. Allison was even dancing along with the locals.

A fun night indeed…..I might have had a little too much to drink as D had to carry me back to D&A’s house.

The next day Dave drove us to Brighton Beach, a popular resort area with pebble beaches, lots of restaurants and fun shopping.

It is a very artsy community. We did a little shopping and had lunch. Here are the boys in front of the little seafood shack where we ate sandwiches.

We had some unusual new items – cockles and whelks and D tasted an interesting one with many legs:

We were lucky and caught a sunny morning, but as always in England, the rain moved in. D&A had purchased tickets to an outdoor event and we were going to have a picnic dinner, but it was raining too hard. So we had an indoor picnic (they have a great sun room so it was almost like we were outside) and watched the Olympics.

And I have to share the photo of D&A’s cat – White Cat – he is a beauty. Regal. He seemed to really like me taking his photo.

We did not have much time on Sunday as our train left from London at 2:30. We did walk around Horsham and did a little shopping. Unlike Belgium, several stores are open on Sunday. For my shopping gals……they have what is equivalent to the dollar store but is called the everything pound store. A bit more expensive than one dollar as a pound is equal to two dollars. A fun store!

and last but not least….D&A’s adorable car – the mini-coop. It was very strange with the driver on the right, but both did a great job driving all around town. I was the one who kept going to the wrong side to get in!

Want to see a few more photos? Click on the Horsham Album on the left hand side of our main page.
Happy Birthday to me – PRAGUE – July 08

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D took me to Prague to celebrate My birthday. How sweet is he?

Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic. Fun for me as my father's family was from Czechoslovakia, my father's older brothers were actually born there. He was the first born in the United States.

On January 1, 1993 the country of Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We were there in 1996, not long after the split and it has changed significantly in 12 years. Well, not the buildings, as many date to the 9th century, but the availability of hotels, restaurants, and the culture.

The weather was picture perfect in this fairytale city.

The Czech Republic is part of the EU (European Community) but they do not use euros as their currency, they use Czech crowns. In Prague, they do accept euros or crowns, but the exchange rate is very high for euros.

It is the land of beer, incredible architecture, and beautiful women. It rivals Belgium for beers. Prior to us moving here, D favored Czech beers, his heart now belongs to Belgium. But he still favors Czech women : )

Eating in Prague – most meals consist of pork or beef and sauerkraut and dumplings. Dumplings (knedliky) is a traditional Czech side dish made from potato flour, boiled in water in the shape of a roll and then sliced and served hot. Goulash is also a popular dish. As Czechs say before a meal – Dobrou chut! Which means I wish you to enjoy your meal.

Donald has a tradition on MY birthday, he always buys a pair of shoes. No, not for me – for HIM! He claims we are always shopping on my b-day and I can never make a decision, but he can. RIGHT.

I did get a fun b-day present while I was there. One of the crafts that they are know for in the Czech Republic is crystal and handmade glass beads. I got several scoops of beautiful beads.

Another craft they are known for are their handmade/hand carved puppets. It is fascinating to look at the level of detail in each one.

The architecture is quite remarkable in Prague.

It was one of the few cities in Europe that was not destroyed by WWII so most of it's architectural structures are true to form. It contains some of the most varied architectural styles of any city in Europe. From Art Nouveau:

to Baroque, Renaissance, Cubist, Gothic, Neo-classic,

even Ultra Modern (called the Fred and Ginger building):

In earlier years, they did not have addresses on the buildings, but had the type of business that it was. For example, this one was probably agriculture of some sort – wheat?

The main square has a beautiful astronomical clock that dates back to the 15th century (1410) (click here for more info).

Our friends Dave and Allison from London (who we will be visiting this weekend) were in Prague the same days we were – what a coincidence! We spent the day together at Prague castle. They also celebrated my birthday dinner with us.

Prague Castle is one of the biggest castles in the world (according to the Guinness book of world records). The first known building on this site was constructed in 870 by Prince Borivoj. In the 12th century it was replaced by a Romanesque Palace and in 1541, following a fire, Prague Castle underwent further changes. In the latter half of the 16th century Empress Maria Theresa had the castle buildings rebuilt in Baroque style, their current appearance.

After a long day of history, we decided to check out the BEER!

If you look closely, D is taking my photo at the same time I took this photo of the two D's and Allison - see them in the reflection behind me. Hmmm, I think this was after a round of the BIG beers. We were at the Franz Kafka bar.

Allison and Dave travel like we do and they have a great Blog – you can visit them at polterratic. Her photos of the queen of England are the best!

It was surprising to see how crowded Prague was. We have never been to Europe in the heart of the summer.

The Charles Bridge (above and below) is a common known landmark of Prague. Designed by Peter Parler, it was completed in 1400.

It is now a pedestrian-only bridge, but traffic ran on it for over 600 years!

One of the statues on the Charles bridge:

Prague is especially pretty at night.

The final photo – little nesting dolls that I am completely obsessed with. It drives D crazy because I have to examine each one at EVERY store ….and they are Russian, not Czech. These are magnets, not the real dolls. But I loved the color in this photo.
ZINNEKE PARADE – BRUSSELS JUNE 08

07

All we can say is…these Brusselonians sure like their parades.

This was called the Zinneke Parade …..translated from the French site: “it is a social and artistic project which invites each and everyone to develop its creativity. It is also a whole human festival 100%, without amplification nor engines.”

…….and creative they were! Artsy ones:

very bazaar:

funny ones,

The shower girls!

colorful ones:

They love their stilts here too!

Look closely at the photo on the left above – there is a child on stilts and then in the back a man on a double stilt.

They have a different theme each year. As far as we could decipher – this year the theme was “the sea and water”.

It was a dangerous parade for D. A very big monster knocked his glasses off his head into the crowd. Did I mention his REALLY good glasses? Fortunately two ladies walking by saw them and picked them up. He was so lucky as the streets were wall to wall crowds.

He also got his foot stepped on by a “specially-abled” artist. The artists were a real mix, men, women, very young to very old, even specially-abled. The artists were very active with the crowds and did such stunts as painting faces and spraying people with water. The situation where the specially-abled boy (Downs syndrome) stepped on D’s foot was very cute. The boy did it very gently and then laughed and laughed.

At the very end, the parade closed with the “Final Jump”. Here we are gathered with the group for the final jump.

What is the final jump you ask – translated from their site: “a photograph of all the paradeurs in full jump! Large and small, tired and unchained, all the participants will jump – in the street – in a sudden explosion of energy, to exceed gravity. What to make while jumping? It is a free choreography! Each one is free to imagine its Jump. The important thing is to take off!”

We were “hanging” with the crowd for the Final Jump – See D in action for his final “jump”:

and here is the sponsors photo we found on their website – yep, there we are! D is pretty clear – black coat with hand in the air…..look closely to see me : )
Porsche-Pette takes a road trip to SW France – June

06

D was invited to speak at the Aviation University in Toulouse France, about nine hours southwest of Brussels. How should we get there? Plane, train, or automobile? We decided car.

This area of France is known for great wines, gourmet food {truffles, duck, goose and D's favorite foie gras}, castles, and stunning countryside with century-old stone farm homes. For those keeping track, gas was $10 per gallon.

While in Toulouse we stayed at a beautiful B&B, La Pradasse (http://www.lapradasse.com/en/presentation.php). It was an old farm house. The B&B part was the former open barn. The couple refinished it themselves – the husband is an artist.

They had the most beautiful iron work throughout the interior and exterior of house. All the windows and doors you see were done by him. She told me she wanted a husband like mine, who could take her to all the fun places we travel. I told her I wanted a husband like hers – a french artist!

NO! I would not trade my Poopie for anyone!

Cheers – a celebration after Donald's hard day at work. The presentation was a success…..they invited him back next year.

Notable experience in Toulouse: I had a scoop of violet ice cream and a scoop of fig ice cream. Two very unusual flavors. D had apple crumble and speculoos. All were Delicious!

Unfortunately we did not have the delightful weather that we had when D&D visited us earlier in the month. But we still managed to squeeze in a few days with the top down. Here is one for you George…how did D take THIS photo???!

The poppies are in bloom throughout France. I was not able to capture a good field shot, but here is a close up. They are considered a weed, but I think they are absolutely beautiful.

Our second stop was the Dordogne or Perigord Region – home to the prehistoric man. Rocamadour, shown here, is a magical town with golden houses clinging to the side of a cliff over the Alzou canyon.

We did not stay inside the town, but selected a "restaurant with rooms" nearby.

This region is very well known for its gourmet restaurants, many offer rooms for rent. The room is usually quite sparse, but the concept is – you are there for the food. Dinner was delicious with a beautiful presentation. Donald ate the best lamb he has ever had. This photo was taken out front of our hotel in the early morning fog.

I think the highlight of the trip for me (after the fig ice cream) was our visit to the Padirac Chasm or the Gouffre de Padirac Caves. Wow. WOW! We were only allowed to take photos at the entrance and I cold not find a website that showed the inside. The silver structure on the right are the stairs and this is only the half-way point! You descend 350 feet and then take a boat ride through the caves to get to the main part where the vaulted ceiling rises up 300 feet high. The boat ride on the underground river through the cavern was something we will never forget.

Another famous cavern in the Dordogne region is the Lascaux Cave where the world's oldest prehistoric cave drawings were found, dating back 16,000 years. Unfortunately it is now closed to the public.

Our last stop was Rouen where we stayed in a very elegant B&B home built in 1850, Le Clos Jouvenet

(www.leclosjouvenet.com).

It had the most spectacular bathroom view (and yes we mean toilet view) we have ever had. I also really enjoyed her breakfast which was served on the back porch…..fresh orange juice, croissants, yogurt, fruit – all beautifully displayed.

Rouen is famous for many things. But two we found of interest were: Joan of Arc's trial (and burning) and Monet's famous paintings of the cathedral.

Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen on May 30, 1431. She was a 15th century virgin saint and national heroine of France. At the young age of 16, Joan led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War. She was captured by the English and tried by a court; the court convicted her of heresy and she was burned at the stake by the English when she was nineteen years old. Twenty-four years later, the Holy See reviewed the decision of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent, and declared her a martyr.

The Rouen Cathedral: Between 1892 and 1894, the French Impressionist Claude Monet produced 30 oil paintings of the main facade. Fascinated by the play of light and atmosphere he painted the cathedral at different times of day, from slightly different angles, and in varied weather conditions. Each painting offers a glimpse into a narrow slice of time and mood. These are very famous paintings. I am sure you will recognize them as shown on this site:

http://artandcritique.com/2007/09/27/claude-monet-the-rouen-cathedral-series/

Another interesting building in Rouen was the Palace of Justice which had visible destruction from WWII. During the war, the Nazis used the building as a prison for captured French resistance fighters. When the Americans were liberating Rouen, the palace was one of the last holdouts for the Nazis. The bullet marks cover the entire building and make for a very moving scene.

From Rouen back home was only a three hour drive. We will definitely go back soon.

And we leave you with a few artsy – colorful shots of our journey through Southwest France. Enjoy!
The Parental Units Visit

05

Don & Donna’s fabulous visit:

We drove, ate, drank, toured; drove, ate drank toured; drove ate drank toured! They were here for three weeks and we took them on three separate trips. We saw so many wonderful sites, ate at so many great restaurants and had so many good laughs that I am not sure how I am going select what to tell you about. Here are the highlights –

CHEERS!

Trip one: Alsace France – a six hour drive northeast. It borders France and Germany. Trip two: Normandy France another six hour drive, and the final trip, an overnight train ride to Paris. Wonderful! We also did several things in Brussels: palaces, gardens, markets, churches, & bars. Other than one afternoon, we had picture-perfect weather the entire time they were here, which is quite unusual to go this long without rain.

Brussels: We gave them three days to adjust to Belgium time. During this period we took it easy. We visited our local Wednesday market, showed them where D works, our favorite pub, and all around our neighborhood. They took a bus tour to get an overview of the city and to see all the major sites. We also visited the royal gardens that are only open for three weeks in the spring.

This photo was taken in front of the Royal Palace which is just around the corner from our apartment.

We introduced them to several Belgium specialties including the yummy Belgium waffles!

Alsace: Since all four of us could not fit in Porsche-pette, we rented a car for both trips. Okay…for those of you having a hard time paying $4.00 a gallon for gas…try $9.50 a gallon!

We started the first trip with a visit to the American Cemetery in Luxembourg (http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/lx.php) where General George Patton is buried (seen in photo below).

His grave faces the graves of the 5076 buried there as if he were addressing his troops.

During the drive, we passed through four countries in less than one hour: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and France. We wanted to make sure they were getting their money’s worth out of this trip. We settled in a small town in the Alsace region at Le Ambiance Jardin (www.ambiance-jardin.com/chambres_en.html). This is a wonderful B&B Donald and I had stayed at over Christmas. Pierette is a friendly host and anyone who visits would fall in love with the house and the gardens.

Our first day we spent in the city of Strasbourg, a beautiful town with a very unique cathedral build out of sandstone.

The Alsace Region is known for great white wines like Riesling and Pinot Gris. We spent one day driving through the vineyards and visited many of the small towns. Most of the towns date back to the 1500’s. It is just amazing to see such ancient structures still standing and the level of architectural details.

Donna was a great co-pilot while Donald was driving. Don and I napped constantly. Surely it was because, we were always on the sunny side of the car which created the perfect environment for a nap. That's our story…and we are sticking to it!

As we headed back to Brussels we stopped at the Haute-Koenigsbourg castle (http://www.haut-koenigsbourg.fr/en ). It was constructed in the 12th century, abandoned in 1633 and then restored between the years of 1900 and 1908. It was Donna's first visit to a castle.

The drive to and from both locations was absolutely gorgeous. The fields were green and plush, dotted with cows of every type. It reminded Don of growing up on the farm and he was quite the tour guide by naming the different crops and cows. There were also beautiful fields of yellow flowers. Usually mustard flowers and sometimes rapeseed which is used to make canola oil.

Donald took us on a wild goose chase to find the "Big Chair" in the middle of the vineyard. He had looked it up on Google Earth and thought it would be cool to see. The only problem was…there were no roads and he was driving through the vineyard. Don & Donald were enjoying the adventure, Donna and I were a bit nervous. Needless to say, we did not get any closer. But we did have a good laugh.

With the weak dollar $1.62 = 1 euro,

Don had to hit the banking machine frequently!

His favorite joke of the trip was to discuss the value of the "American peso" with the Europeans. Not sure they fully got the joke, but Don sure enjoyed it.

One day we went to Germany to have lunch. In the afternoon we stopped for an ice cream break in a little town. Everyone who knows me understands my love of ice cream. But those of you who don't, well let's just say I will do ANYTHING for ice cream : ). We all ordered and as I saw these big bowls of ice cream come towards me I was so excited. But What? My bowl was only one scoop! Guess our German was not so good!

In case you are not feeling my pain, I have blown it up for greater clarity:

Everyone took pity on me and shared theirs. The conclusion was I ate more than if I had a big bowl!

A few fun shots:

The top left photo is the castle that Malcome Forbes purchased in the 70's. His family still owns it. Chateau de Balleroy (http://www.chateau-balleroy.com/us/cadre.htm).

Other photos are various towns in France.

Back to Brussels to wash clothes and regroup for the next trip. Poor Donald had to work in-between our trips.

Normandy: In Normandy we stayed at two different places. The first was a beautiful chateau – Chateau de Pont Rilly (http://www.chateau-normandy.com/). It was built in 1765. After the Normandy invasion during WWII, it was used as a headquarters by the US Army.

It had all kinds of animals including a black swan,

martha stewart chickens, sheep, lambs, a donkey, even peacocks. Have you ever heard the cry of a peacock? LOUD.

Our rooms were in the Old Mill. This was the view of the main house from our window. We had a lovely breakfast in the main building and the owner gave us a tour of the private area of the chateau which has remained unchanged since the 18th century. It was fully furnished with exquisite wooden paneling, rare marble fireplaces, antique furniture and accessories. We have paid to tour châteaux that were not as nicely decorated as this place!

Couldn't resist adding this photo – they were so cute running all around us as we came and went. Very friendly.

The second place we stayed was a smaller chateau with a llama. Don said he would highly RECOMMEND it to anyone.

We hired a guide Cousin Kelly told us about. Roel at Victory Tours (http://www.victorytours.com) he took us on a 5 hour tour of the WWII sites: Landing beaches, cemeteries, German defense batteries, etc.

He was very knowledgeable and had a wonderful sense of humor. We also toured several museums. It was amazing to see all the places that were so pivotal in American history (really, world history).

The Normandy American Cemetery is 172.5 acres, with 9,387 burials of US service men and women. Of this number, 307 are unknowns, three are Medal of Honor winners and four are women. (http://www.battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/normandy_american_cemetery.htm).

In addition there are 33 pairs of brothers buried side by side. It is the largest American Cemetery from WW2, but not the largest in Europe: that is the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery in Belgium from WW1 with more than 14,000 burials.

This is one of the German bunkers defending the landing zone. The guns could shoot over 20 miles. The ground surrounding the bunkers are still covered with bomb craters from the US ships firing during the landing. From the back side, you could not see the hidden bunkers.

We visited the Abbaye De Jumieges. Said to have been founded by St Philibert in 654 AD. The abbey was burned by Vikings in 841, rebuilt a century later, then destroyed again – as a deliberate act – during the Revolution. Its main surviving outline dates from the eleventh century – William the Conqueror himself attended its re-consecration in 1067.

This area also had great food. Donna found two favorites, an apple brandy aperitif and the desserts! One night we went out for crepes (a specialty of this area) and she decided that she was going to have the apple crepe as her main dish and then a hot fudge Sunday for dessert! Isn’t that what vacations are all about? We also had some of the best mussels we have ever eaten.

Honfleur, shown below, one of the most picturesque old fishing ports in France. Having escaped major damage in World War II, the working port looks like an antique. Honfleur dates from the 11th century. Artists, including Daubigny, Corot, and Monet, have long favored this port.

On the way home we stopped at Mont Saint-Michel.

According to legend, the archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction, until Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint-Michel).

Back home for one day – laundry, recoup and Donald worked.

Paris: Ah…..Paris the city of romance…….

and cafes…

and more cafes…

It called for rain but we got very lucky and only had rain late one evening. Unfortunately it was our only time to see the Eiffel tower at night. But the umbrellas do give it an added touch! Don & Donna did a bus tour where they got to see all the major sites of the city.

We leave you with a toast –

For Don and Donna's 70th birthdays which they will both celebrate this year (this trip was their gift to each other).

We hope you enjoyed seeing a little of our three week trip with Don & Donna. Don is already planning for next year!
Cairo Egypt – April 2008

04

This is a SUPER sized Blog! We were there for 5 days and took over 1000 photos. It took me 10 days (twice as long as the trip) to select the photos to place in the blog.

We had many arguments as to what to keep in/delete out. We hope you enjoy the ones we agreed on!! ps…..if you want to see a few more, please visit our slide show. Instructions at the end of the blog.
Wow.

WOW! Where do I begin? What a spectacular trip we had. We LOVED Egypt . Cairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in Africa. It's chaotic, exotic, dusty and beautiful!

More than 16 million people live there. Egypt has an energy like no other. It is a fascinating country. Despite its dust and poverty, it is a beautiful country in so many ways.

The people are happy and very friendly, loving and family oriented. I know, I know I say every country is friendly – but Egypt has reached a new high. This is one of the Pyramid policemen. He let Donald ride his camel Antonio.

Driving is Crazy! We Arrived at the airport and had the VIP treatment getting through. That Diplomat passport paid off on this trip. We arrived late in the afternoon and decided to go to the local mall and food court for dinner. BOOM. Our taxi was hit! Welcome to Egypt as many told us. It was just a fender bender. Good thing it was in front of the mall. No shopping time wasted : ).

Interestingly enough, we were the ONLY non – Egyptians in the Mall. So we had quite a lot of looks. 90% of the women still cover their heads with a scarf (hijab), arms and legs. Here is a photo of young girls at Sphinx. I was surprised at how colorful they dressed and how their head covering matched their outfits.

The devout religious Muslim women cover their faces and their entire bodies. As you can see the one in black only has her eyes showing. We were able to capture a few photos at the market, but they really don't like their photos to be taken.

It is a third world country, the first we have visited, and it feels like you have dropped back in time 100 years. Using donkeys as transportation is still very common. They ride along the major highways and downtown with the traffic. This cart was directly in front of us on a MAJOR highway.

Driving through the small towns was one of our favorite experiences. Hard to believe how different their world is from ours.

Women balancing items on thier heads was very common to see.

Water Buffalo eating a snack.

We had absolutely perfect days during our tour, not too hot. We also experienced rain, which only occurs 10 or so days a year. Fortunately it was in the late afternoon when D was working and I was in the hotel. We also experienced a Khamaseen (sandstorms). They usually only occur in the spring.

We hired a fabulous tour guide Karen, http://www.heartofegypt.com/, for 3 full days. She was the best! Here is a photo of Donald and Karen in the mosque.

Note they do not have their shoes on. They are standing on a prayer mat. Each cube is used by one person.

Karen took us to local places for lunch and yes we ate salads and fruit drinks. And no, neither one of us got sick. The food was very flavorful, lots of dips like hummas and a wide variety of breads. We did not drink the water.

The mosques were facinating. We visited the mosques of Ahmed Ibn Tulun, Sultan Hassan and al Rifai.
The architecture is beautiful and it is hard to image how they built the structures. Some dated back to the 9th century.

A quiet moment at the mosque.

Karen took us to the Egyptian Museum (http://www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg/) which was established in 1835. A place you could spend weeks in and still not see everything. We visited the major exhibits including Tutankhamun the boy-king (king tuts) – AMAZING, and the mummy room (dating from the 18th and 20th Dynasties). I was inspired by how they buried their dead and purchased my sarcophagus (A container for the human corpse) to have on hand. We also went to the Solar Boat museum (http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/solar.htm),

We visited many pyramids - Giza, Sakkara, Dahshur, and great Sphinx of Giza.

The half-human, half-lion statue – constructed somewhere between 2520 BC and 2494 BC.

We took a 45 minute camel ride through the dessert:

Riding a camel is an art. You get up on them when they are lying down. Then it is a three step process for them to get up. You lean back and they come up on their hind legs and knees. You then lean forward and they pop up on their front legs (out of a kneeling position) then the last step, you lean back again and they come up on all fours.

My camel's name was banana.

I FELL IN LOVE with the camels. The reputation that they are nasty and mean (and they spit) is NOT true. They are very funny and lovable. They are very attached to their owners.

They Kiss:

They Smile:

They Giggle:

And they LOVE to pose for the camera. They would be sitting quietly…..
And as soon as you pulled out the camera they smiled:

How could you not love this face?

Karen also took us to a local market. It was very colourful and very very different from our markets.

We also visited largest and most famous souk (bazaar) in the Middle East , Khan il-Khalili. Containing over 900 shops.

This was the butcher. Guessing my mom would not eat from this one!

At the market, we heard a little boy crying so hard. I peaked into a little shop and he was getting his first haircut!

Karen speaks very good Arabic so she was able to translate. They were happy we were watching and allowed us to take photos. They even invited us in for tea. What a sweet intimate moment to share with strangers.

This was one of my favorite photos from the trip: the boys at Garbage City.

Garbage City was started in the 1950's when the people living there had no means for an income, so they started collecting the trash in Cairo. They brought it back to their neighborhood for sorting and they sold it for recycling. It is like no other place I have seen, filthy trash everywhere and the smell.. The neighborhoods have shops like any other area, but lack infrastructure – no running water, sewage, or electricity.

Linda (Lisa's cousin) volunteers at an orphanage there 2 times a week. I admire her greatly for this. She took me to visit the orphanage but there was a funeral and they were gone. Despite the environment they live in, they are considered by many to make a very good income for Egypt. One of the children had a very nice cell phone.

I mentioned my sister-in-law Lisa's cousin Linda. She is living in Cairo with her husband and daughter. A big thanks to Ed for connecting us!! Linda's husband works for the American University in Cairo. She so graciously spent two days with us.

On the first day, she showed me "her" Egypt. We went shopping in her local area, had lunch, visited her orphanage and went to a jewelry show at an Egyption women's house (just like Dara!). I had a great day. The next day she took us for a quad bike ride.

What a BLAST! We visited pyramids, ruins, crypts and burial grounds.

Wild man Donald had a little too much fun. He lost the good camera and had to back track to find it. The good news is he found it, the bad new is….have you seen what happens to a camera when you drop it in sand?

Want to see a few more? Please visit our Photo Albulm on the main page of this Blog.

One last photo, deemed the "Christmas card" photo, but we don't send Christmas card photos – so here it is!
AMSTERDAM – MARCH 08

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AMSTERDAM:

Must be 18 years or older to read this edition!

Land of flowers:

wooden shoes:

bicycles:

tall people, hookers, and pot!

Whew….where do I begin? What a beautiful sweet little city with a raunchy side that rivals no other. Did you know that cannabis, marijuana, pot, hooka, whatever your generation calls IS LEGAL! You can buy it (as long as you are over 18 and it can not exceed 5 grams) so there are hundreds of “coffee” houses/shops where people buy it and openly sit and smoke it.

Just walk by and the smell tickles your nose!
And for those of you wondering…….no, we DID not smoke any!

What else is legal in Amsterdam ? Prostitution. I tried to take a photo in the “red light district”, but photos are NOT allowed and you can get into a lot of trouble for taking them. Most are in the major tourist section. It is a network of alleys containing several hundred tiny one-room apartments rented by female prostitutes (and some ladyboys – you do the math) who offer their services from behind a window or glass door. Most of the girls are very cute and skinny with flat 18 yr old tummies on them. There were very few “ big boobed American types”.

The red lights run along the side and tops of the windows and the women stand in the windows. When the lights are on, they are open for business. When a man goes in, they close the curtain. We stood in one area for about 15 minutes and we saw four men entered various rooms and saw one come out. He was very happy. The rooms looked clean (we’ll at least from our vantage point), almost clinical and they constantly wipe their windows.

This photo is not a good one of the two of us, but the background captures the city so well, the red lights and the silhouette of the man. I could write the entire blog on this subject, but as my mother-in-law would say – move on.

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands . It is a city built on canals. The canals are all beautiful and picturesque. Our hotel was a 300 year old canal home.

It was at the end of this canal on the left (close to the bridge).

This was the view looking out our bedroom window. The rooms were filled with antiques and each morning our breakfast was brought to us on a try with nice china. The two men who ran it were so friendly and went out of their way to help Donald print a few copies of a work document.

Work report – Donald really worked this trip. A LOT ! All day Sunday – Friday, with three evening dinner events. I did go to one dinner with him and we managed to squeeze in pomme frites and capture our traditional frites photo!

So the pictures you are seeing of Amsterdam are Cathy’s Amsterdam vacation! I spent a lot of time just wandering around the canals. It was so peaceful.

I went to the Van Gogh Museum where I saw the famous bedroom in Arles painting.http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp
There was a very interesting artist on view, John Everett Millais (1829-1896) Britain ’s most successful artist of the latter half of the 19th century. You might know his most famous piece Ophelia http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=127004&lang=en. I also visited the Willet Holthuysen Museum , a 17^th century canal home that is fully furnished: http://www.willetholthuysen.nl/.

And always very important finding the perfect BEAD shop! This was one of the best I have ever been in. And the very best part of my visit – Donald was not there so I could say as-long-as-I wanted to! He had many old beads on display, and the owner told me many interesting facts about lost of the beads…..so technically it was a museum.

This was in the main square…..birds everywhere.

The funnier photo would have been of me – trying to keep the birds off of my head while I took the photo of him. They were flying all over everyone……gross!

It is hard to describe how many bicycles are in Amsterdam. They say there are more bicycles than people, and more bicycles per capita than any other European country. They actually have a bicycle parking problem.
There isn’t enough space on the streets and sidewalks to put them. The theft rate of bicycles is extremely high so most of them are very old and beat up. They use big locks and secure them to all kinds of odd fixtures; anything that is cemented to the ground or bolted to a building is fair game. They have bike racks around town, but they are all filled to capacity. The scene in front of the train stations is especially amazing; hundreds and hundreds of bikes chained to the racks, railings, sign posts, each other. Here a man is giving his small child a ride.

You really have to watch out for the bikes as they have the right-of-way (or at least they think they do) and they will ring their bell at you and THEN run you over!

There are many bikes with "fun" personalities.

We had a celebrity sighting – Brian Adams, rocker from the 80’s. We were in the hotel lobby where most of Donald’s co-worked were staying. As soon as I saw him I told D that’s Brian Adams. Sure enough, he answered his cell phone this is Brian. He had a small entourage with him. He knew that I knew who he was as he kept smiling at me. He did make the comment – "what’s with all these tall people in Amsterdam. Makes me look really short!" We all laughed…it was my "moment" with fame. I did look him up and he had a show that night……..guess he is trying to make a come back. For those of you trying to remember who he is…he sang cuts like a knife and summer of 69. Was not bold enough to take a photo.

and to end this blog – one of my favorite photos of the trip.

First part of April: Cairo Egypt! Now that will be a cool blog!
SPECIAL EDITION – BODY PAINTING CONTEST – MARCH 08

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Please keep in mind this is ART.

This weekend was the 26th Annual Fantasy Film Festival in Brussels and one of the exhabits was a body painting contest.

For a small fee, you were allowed to enter the artist workshop area and watch them paint…..and take photos. We took over 450 photos between the two cameras. When we were allowed in, they were already partially painted/covered. The painting went on for approx. 2 hours. It was facinating to watch. After a short break, the contest began. The contest/show was equally as interesting because each "paintee" did a little skit with music. Some danced, some did comedy, one sang. It was a difficult task to narrow our photos down to a select few……but here goes. Oh yeah, we decided that, next year, we will enter the contest. Donald will paint and I will, well uh, ummmmmmmm select a women for him to paint : ). Enjoy!

This artist was last year’s winner.
He did not compete in 2008, but did a special exhibit and was in the lobby entrance.

This was the 2008 winner. The details were amazing and her contest act was very animated.

One of our favorites, the music fairy.
She danced to Madonna’s Take a Bow.

This is another of our favorites, the painting was beautiful and showed so well on stage.

Front……

and back

Most of the artist were females and were fairly young.
PARIS & MADRID – FEBRUARY 08

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Two train tickets to Paris……50 euros
Boutique hotel in trendy Paris neighborhood…….200 euros
Waking up knowing you can eat Parisian pastries for breakfast……..priceless!

We spent Friday and Saturday in Paris —– It is the land of the fashionable, beautiful people. Oh yes, and women with the skinniest legs in the world! I seriously think my calf is bigger than most of their thighs. Oh well, pass that pastry anyway!

The weather was unseasonable warm in Paris with sunny skies. We visited the Orangerie museum (http://www.musee-orangerie.fr) and ate at several good restaurants.
Unfortunately we do not have any photos because of the malfunction that occurred in Madrid……someone had too many Sangrias and tried to download the photos from the day (which included the Paris photos),
but she deleted them instead. Yes, the Paris photos and one
day of Madrid – deleted! She was oh so happy, yet oh so sad.

MADRID

We arrived home late Saturday night from Paris and turned around Sunday morning for an early flight out to Madrid, Spain. Donald was in business, me slumming in the back of the plane. He was the ONLY one in the first 6 rows. And they would NOT let me sit with him. Nor would they let D switch with the man next to me. But hey, my ticket was only $10! He was very sweet and shared his breakfast with me ( I did not get any food).

This is our hotel, Room Mate Laura.
It was very large (especially for a city) with two bathrooms. One was up the stairs on the 2nd floor in a glass cube. The head board was quite unique. It had a cool lobby as well.

Cool things about Madrid:

* it is the capital of Spain
* the city never sleeps
* people are very friendly
* great tapas & sangrias
* great art museums
* stores are open on Sunday
* the cherry blossoms were blooming!

We were there for 5 nights and ate at 13 different Tapas bars. Most restaurants do not open until 9 and people do not eat until 10. This was too late for us so we ate at the Tapas Bars – hopping from one to another.

The most popular tapas are: grilled or pickled sardines, papas bravas, calamari – grilled, fried or as sandwiches, olives, and the biggest one……Iberico
ham (hanging behind D's head). We ate at down and dirty dives to upscale Tapas. We never quite figured out when they were open and closed. But Sunday was by far the most crowded day. Unfortunately, Spain is not a smoke free country yet. We were lucky and were able to find bars that were not too smoky or had their doors open. About half were standing only – meaning they did not have tables.

Yes, Tammy, we do spend time doing things other than eating and drinking. We hit many art museums on this trip. The Prado Museum,(http://www.museodelprado.es), the ReinaSofia (http://www.museoreinasofia.es) where there was an excellent Picasso exhibit, and the Thyssen-BorneMisza (http://www.museothyssen.org/thyssen/). There was a very good exhibit on Modigliana.

Madrid is not as fashionable or as cosmopolitan as Paris, Rome, or Barcelona, but it did have interesting buildings with very colorful pictures and tiles.

Children peeking through the gate at the royal Palace.

Okay, back to food. A typical afternoon snack in Spain is very thick hot chocolate and churros. Need I say more?

And last but not least, we would like to address the question in many of your minds, many of you have even asked…..does donald really work? He would like everyone to know, that last week, he traveled on a sunday, worked all day monday and tuesday, got off at noon on wednesday, had off on thursday, traveled on Friday…oh yes, and he did take a conference call at 7 pm on Friday night. Here is a photo of him checking his blackberry in the main square, Plaza Mayor. So, mystery solved…he works {occassionally}!

We are home this week and off to Amsterdam for 7 days on Sunday!

Almost forgot…..Wednesday, March 5th will be our 6 month anniversary in Brussels. Hard to believe! We are going to dinner to celebrate.

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