Belgium Again
October 7 - 18

There's a page about Brugge and of course also more beer pictures.
Our August foray through Belgium included Antwerp, Brussels, and Belgium Beer.

Eastern Belgium, the Ardennes and Luxemburg areas, is a fine, hilly, wooded region with fairly small towns every few miles. Winding narrow roads. Excellent stuff.

We stopped in Rochefort for the night and enjoyed people-watching on the sidewalk cafe in front of our hotel (below).

Waking the next day, the Ardennes did its magic trick - fog that lasted all day.
 

What else to do on a foggy day? See the countryside. Drive winding roads in the fog. Ah, yes. That led us to the tiny town of Tellin and its now-defunct bell foundry. They have a large collection of rooster wind vanes, old clock mechanisms, bells, bell molds, etc. Completely deserted except for us and one curator who popped in and out occasionally.

Very old clock mechanisms were specifically built for the situation.

Later (in the 1800s), production methods and engineering allowed pre-built
clockworks that could be mounted just about anywhere and took up less space.

Yet another old house. The chateau at Lavaux Sainte Anne was a military fort with four round towers and a moat built in the mid 1400s. It saw action during this period but became outmoded and was changed in the 1630s to become a renaissance home. Then during the 1700s the courtyard had a manor house added in hunting lodge style of the time.

Like many of these private houses open to the public, the inside is a conglomeration of antique furniture and taxidermy. Their claim to house a museum showing medieval home life turns out to be unadorned rooms in the basement with tables of waxed fruit, old pots, vases, and reproduction clothes. Still, this one was peaceful and had an impressive number of rooms to browse through.

"Roman baths". OK, a soapstone tub in the basement.
No way to heat the tub. Bring more hot water, Jeeves.
There also is no drain.

We headed down to Dinant to see if the Abbey de Leffe was possibly open for visitors. No such chance but the chapel itself has two very interesting windows - one on the door and one inside.

Saw a couple of more towns on this busy day (and the fog was still hanging in the air). We headed back to Brussels. On the way, a lift lock at Strepy-Thieu got our interest but no boats were using this this magnificent hydraulic elevator. Each side is separate and counterweighted with concrete, by the way.

(Actually this day would have worked out better if it had been the Saturday we thought it was instead of the Friday it actually was. That explained why the folks at Brasserie du Bocq told us curtly "No visits today - come back tomorrow". We didn't find out our error until Sunday.)

Brussels again. Wandering downtown. Taking trams and busses around to see the neighborhoods. Sitting in cafes waiting until dark to see the lights in the Grand Place. Bob had remembered a misty night in November, 2000 when the Grand Place was awesomely lit. This night it was lit well but not as awesome as Bob's overactive memory.

Statues with headaches.

Between Antwerp, Brussels, and Ghent there is little green space. One town runs into the next. There's no open roads. Cars parked along streets make it slow since you need to stop constantly for oncoming traffic. It's only 60 miles between Brussels and Ghent but it took all day since we took a very convoluted trail. Maybe we're getting tired, but we really should have driven to the next hotel and watched snooker on TV all day.

Ghent. Nice town. Downtown sights. Lots of neighborhoods. A college town. Figured out the traffic patterns right away (that helps a lot).

In typical Belgian humor, it's named "The Water House on the Beerside".

Diksmuide has a couple of nice buildings. Here's pictures. We don't know much else about the town since we just stopped in for a beer festival.

About that beer festival - well, not really a beer festival so don't go "not more beer". We went to Diksmuide not knowing exactly what we were getting into and weren't disappointed. Every Saturday in October they hold a beer festival that's really just an excuse for a couple of thousand Brits to pay £100+ each to take a tour bus to back country Belgium, dress oddly, and drink the night away. There were 40 (forty) tour busses on the town square - all from England, Wales, and even Scotland. And an average age slightly above ours. Yike.

At 6:30pm the DJ started playing 60s and 70s rock standards - many of which we'd never heard of or were slightly strange versions. Interesting. For instance, have you ever heard (to a driving beat and the common church tune):

"We've got the whole world in our hands." (repeat 4 times) - Second verse:
"We've got the best team in the land." (etc. etc.) - Chanted by the crowd as if it were We Are the Champions.

At 8pm a big German polka band started playing American Big Band standards. That's when we left. We understand the night goes on until midnight with live local bands.

Oh they did have beer. "Lager", Rodenbach, Palm, Mort Subite, Bruges Wit, Grimbergen, and Carlsberg. We'll let the pictures tell the story.

The next night we went to an 80th birthday concert for a local musician and teacher, Harry Cogge, at the church in Hooogstade. Lots of accordions, choral singers, calliopes. The place was packed. Great fun. Thanks for the invite, Pol.

Harry in 1962.

And. . .

A drive-thru trash can in Oostende.

A Kebop shop in Brussels.
Stacked chicken (left) and lamb (right) is cooked on a heat lamp
and shaved for sandwiches as needed.