Canterbury Tales

Last weekend was our big trip to England to attend Carl's graduation ceremonies, something we'd both been looking forward to for a good while. First, we were excited about seeing a number of our friends who have left Brussels and moved on to other places during the past several months. Second, Carl was excited to finally get his degree "in hand"; and third, we were visiting the UK for the first time in nearly seven years!

We took the Eurostar train over on Thursday evening, spending Thursday and Friday nights in the town of Canterbury in Kent, where the graduation ceremony was held in the Canterbury cathedral on Friday night. That was very exciting, and Canterbury is a really attractive, quaint and historic town. We had a great time catching up with friends and doing the graduation thing, but sadly didn't have the chance to check out the cathedral as tourists, because it was closed all day Friday for the graduation ceremonies (there were three of them held that day). Oh well, I guess we'll have to go back sometime!

On Saturday we drove south to see the famous white cliffs of Dover, and fortunately the sun came out for a while and we were able to see just how white they are! We later stopped in the medieval port city of Rye, where we spent the night in a nice bed & breakfast just outside of town. Finally, on Sunday we drove into East Sussex to visit the town of Battle, the aptly named site of the Norman invasion of 1066, commonly known as the Battle of Hastings (the larger town of Hastings is nearby). That was a really interesting place to see; the battlefield itself is still there, as well as what's left of the huge abbey complex built by William the Conqueror to honor/commemorate the lives lost in the battle. Unfortunately the weather didn't contribute to our enjoyment of the almost completely outdoor site - it was cold, rainy and windy for most of the time we were there, and by the end of the visit we were completely soaked and thoroughly chilled!! We did manage to warm up on the car ride back to the Eurostar terminal on Sunday evening though, and we got back to Brussels around 9PM Sunday night. A short visit, but well worth it and fun!

Pictures:
#1 - the graduate and yours truly
#2 - the BSIS gang, or some of them at least!
#3 - the Canterbury cathedral just before the ceremony
#4 - the White Cliffs of Dover
#5 - Carl attempting to stay dry during our visit to the Battle of Hastings sight - the battlefield itself is behind him

Le Quartier Thieffry

I'm not sure if I've stated it clearly in any previous posts or not, but our neighborhood continues to be one of the things we've enjoyed most about our time in Belgium thus far. For that reason I thought I'd take a little time to properly introduce it to those of you who haven't yet made it here to visit us.

Our commune (municipality) is called Etterbeek, but the specific neighborhood is called Thieffry, named after the decorated World War I aviator Edmond Thieffry, who was born in this area. It's in the southeast part of the city, and is along one of the metro lines and several tram lines, making it an extremely convenient place to live. Despite that, it's a pretty quiet area (meaning no noisy bars or people on the street at all hours) that definitely has a "neighborhood" feel to it.

One of the things we really love about it is the amount of shops and restaurants available within a 5 minute walk. We have two good-sized supermarkets and one smaller convenience market (open on Sundays too - not typical here!), as well as several other shops like a home improvement store, interior décor shop, drugstore, beauty shop, bookstore, travel agency, jeweler, flower shop, electronics store, etc...you get the idea. What really makes it special though, is the great little food shops that are literally all within 3 blocks of our front door. I went out this afternoon and photographed some of them to show you what's on offer:

there's the butcher;

the baker;

and while there's no candlestick maker, we do have a terrific chocolate shop! I've gotten to know the lady who runs it with her husband, and she was nice enough to let me photograph her inside.

Finally, to round it all out we have a cheese shop and a wine shop.

There are more of course, including an Italian specialty foods store and another gourmet shop that sells lots of prepared foods. Then there's the restaurants, pubs and cafés, which are a whole other category I didn't have room for in this post. Perhaps I'll get to that one later!

So now perhaps you see why we like being in this neighborhood so much, and why we're so glad that upon our arrival, knowing practically nothing about the city, we managed to be so lucky to find such a great community! Now, if we could just manage to upgrade a few things about the apartment...

Europe's Love Affair with Obama

Okay, so I don't want to spark a big political debate here, because the election is over and we have a new President-elect...but I feel I have to spend a few lines of my blog describing the mood in Brussels following the US Presidential Election.

It has received lots of coverage so I'm sure everyone is well aware that most Europeans strongly favored Barack Obama and are thrilled at the results. The cover of the French version of today's Metro (a local daily "commuter" paper) translates to "Obama's American Dream" and is covered with a huge photo of a smiling, waving Obama as well as photos of numerous teary-eyed, ecstatic Obama supporters...subtle, eh? When Carl went to work yesterday he was also asked about the election from practically everyone he encountered. He's the only American working on his floor and it seems everyone was particularly interested in talking to him about it. To put it quite simply, people here are both happy and excited, to say the least!

I've heard it said that Obama has some pretty massive expectations to live up to, and I think that couldn't be more true, particularly when it comes to transatlantic relations. Time will tell if he is able to meet such high expectations, but the enthusiasm and positive reaction to a US election from this side of the pond is certainly something that hasn't been seen for a while. And if that enthusiasm translates into better cooperation and understanding between the US and the EU, that's got to be a good thing, right?

'Nuff said!!