There's more to Belgium than just... (Part Two)

Today the overview of "unknown" destinations in Belgium continues with Wallonia, the southern French-speaking part of the country. This is the lesser-known region as far as international tourism is concerned, so there were lots of places to choose from! Here are a few highlights:

Bouillon: in the far south of the country, along the French border, this small town is in a beautiful setting along the River Semois. It is known both for its natural environment (lots of hiking and kayaking nearby) and for its Chateau de Bouillon, once owned by Godfry of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade to Jerusalem. Parts of it are over 1000 years old, and it is widely considered to be Belgium's finest feudal castle. (See picture #1, courtesy of Wikipedia - you can see some of the Chateau on the hill in the background)

Dinant: this is another town with a beautiful setting, this time located along the River Meuse in central Wallonia. As you'll see from the photos, the town center is sandwiched between the river and a 100-meter cliff, topped by a fortress called the Citadel. Its skyline is also dominated by the large Notre Dame Cathedral. Boat cruises and kayaking are both available along the river from Spring through Fall. From what I've read it can get pretty crowded in Summer, but based on the photos I can certainly see why! (See pictures #2 and #3, courtesy of Wikipedia and Trabel)

Spa: as its name betrays, this was Europe's original "health resort", and the name spa has been used to describe such places ever since. Its hot springs have been well known since the 14th century, and in its 18th and 19th century heyday it was the place to be among the wealthy and influential people of the day. It's a pretty town set in the hills of the Ardenne in the east of Wallonia, and in addition to the hot springs and spas, it also hosts the annual Formula One Belgian Grand Prix. (See picture #4 courtesy of Trabel)

So there you have it, a little 15 minute tour of some places in Belgium you probably haven't heard of before. Hope you enjoyed reading - who knew such a little country could pack so much variety?!

There's more to Belgium than just... (Part One)

If you're like I was a year ago, you probably know of a few places in Belgium such as Brussels, Antwerp and maybe Bruges or Ghent, but not much else. Belgium is a small country and isn't as well known as some of its neighbors, but since we've been here we've learned that there are a lot of really neat places in this country that we'd never even heard of. So far we haven't traveled too widely, and so we only know some of these places based on reading about them or seeing them on a map. We do hope to do a little more in-country traveling as Spring arrives and we finish the marathon training (it's time consuming!), so hopefully we'll soon be able to provide firsthand trip reports on some of these destinations. In the meantime I'll give you a preview, today focusing on the lesser-known parts of Flanders (in the north), and tomorrow on Wallonia (the south).

Most of the Belgian cities you've probably heard of are in Flanders, so there aren't as many "undiscovered" places in this region as you'll find in the south. Still, there are some places that are decidedly off the beaten path. Here's a few:

Mechelen: it's about halfway between Brussels and Antwerp, and despite significant damage during both World Wars, its cathedral, palace and other architectural gems were largely preserved. It's also in the heart of the asparagus growing region, and many gourmets consider its "fat white" variety to be the best anywhere. (See picture #1, courtesy of Wikipedia)

Belgian coastal villages: we've been to De Haan, one of the quaint seaside villages, but there are numerous towns of varying size and atmosphere. There's a tram that runs almost the entire 65km of coastline and stops in nearly every town. This is a great way of getting around, and I've heard that riding the tram and hopping on and off along the way can be a nice daytrip. (See my post from October 9th, 2007 for pictures of De Haan)

Ypres: this city is unfortunately best known for being utterly destroyed in World War I. Over 300,000 Allied soldiers died here as well, so it's a somber place, as illustrated by the numerous monuments, cemetaries and the famous poem In Flanders Fields (there is also a museum of the same name). The town was rebuilt in accordance with its original design, so despite being relatively "new", it has managed to recreate much of its original charm. (See pictures #2 and #3, courtesy of Trabel and Wikipedia, of the rebuilt old town and the Menin Gate memorial)

Ik kan een beetje Nederlands spreken!!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post...we've settled back into our usual routine and there just hasn't been too much happening lately. Oh, but there is one exception! I finally finished my first Dutch course and passed the exam with no problems, but for now I've decided to put my Dutch learning on hold. It was a tough decision because I really enjoy the language and was doing well with it, but I think it's for the best as it will allow me to focus more of my efforts on learning French. I may pick it up again in a month or two depending on how things go, but we'll see!

In the meantime, French studies have picked up again, Carl's classes are in full swing, marathon training is continuing to progress (there's a 13 mile run on the agenda this weekend - yikes!), and we are doing great over here in the the "Old World"!

Burrito night at Casa de Ervin

A lot of people said they enjoyed the post about our $27 burritos at Pablo's last Fall, and I think pretty much everyone agreed with my statement that from then on we'd stick to making our own Tex-Mex at home. Well, I've decided to show you what a typical dinner at our own personal "burrito joint" looks like, as well as what it costs.

The picture shows you what it looks like - it's a lot of food, but good stuff! We each had two small fajita burritos with rice, beans and cheese, and tonight the choice of meat was beef. It was marinated in a tomato and jalapeno salsa that our friends sent us (thanks a bunch Tim & Erica!), and the cheese is cheddar that we grated ourselves (no Monterey Jack to be found here). The rice, believe it or not, is Uncle Ben's 2-minute microwaveable Mexican rice, and it's really pretty good! Finally, we sometime splurge for the refried beans they sell in the international section of our grocery store, but they're absurdely expensive - close to €4 for one can! Instead, we usually settle for dark kidney beans - a little odd, but we haven't found any black or pinto beans, and they actually aren't too bad with it. Here's what it all costs...

Beef: €3.50 - $5.25

Beans: €.64 - $.96

Rice: €1.68 - $2.52

Tortillas: €1.73 - $2.59

Cheese: €1.33 - $1.99

Pepper & onion: €.50 - $.75

Salsa: free!

Grand total for the whole meal: €9.37, or $14.06. Not as cheap as it would be in the States of course, because the rice, cheese and tortillas are all imported, but way better than Pablo could ever manage. Boy, they must be RAKING in the profits at that place!!

Amsterdam trip report

Well our holiday season travel itinerary is finally completed, and we're kind of glad! It's great to be able to travel so easily throughout Europe and we're making the most of the opportunity to see as much as possible, but it does get tiring, and I must say we're happy to spend the rest of January right here at home in Brussels!

We had a nice time in Amsterdam - it's a very cozy, attractive city with canals, gabled buildings and people everywhere riding bicycles. Even in the rainy weather we had for the first half of our visit, there were still a number of hard-core residents riding around on their bikes, hoods pulled tight and eyes half-closed against the raindrops...impressive!

As far as sights, we visited the Anne Frank museum, which was very well done and quite moving. How a young, vibrant teenager like herself (plus seven others) managed to cope with being cooped up in such a small place for more than two years is beyond me. The fact that they were only months away from surviving the war in hiding, and when she died she was only about a month away from liberation, was just so sad. Anyway, it was a place I'd wanted to visit for a long time, so despite it being a bit sobering I was glad we made it there.

We also took the obligatory canal cruise which was nice, though I found the one in Ghent to be both prettier and more personalized (meaning a smaller boat and the guide speaking directly to you, where here it was a recording and the captain hardly spoke to us at all). Most of the canals in Amsterdam also have cars parked along the edge, and some had sunken boats in them, so I just found them to be a bit less "photogenic" than the canals in Ghent, where pedestrian walkways or the edges of buildings line the canals. The water was clean though, and the canal cruise is still a great way to see the city from a different vantage point. As I mentioned a while back, we haven't done the canal cruise in Bruges yet, but we'll have to get back there and take one this Spring and see what we think of that.

Finally, the infamous Red Light district. Even if sex, drugs and booze aren't your thing, it's a sight to behold. It's seedy, raunchy, and a "sinner's paradise", but you have to see it for yourself...oh, and the people-watching is serious entertainment in and of itself! I've heard that Brussels, Antwerp and other cities have their own smaller districts, but this is the grandaddy of them all, and if you're in Amsterdam, you've got to at least wander the streets for an hour or two and see what all the fuss is about!

One last comment on Amsterdam: we were impressed by the variety of cuisine available there, particularly in the dining district known as Liedseplein, which was conveniently right around the corner from our hotel. On just one block of this street you can find restaurants featuring the cuisine of places as diverse as Spain, Uruguay, Indonesia, Japan and India. The choices were dizzying, but we were in the mood for tapas, so we ended up at a the Spanish restaurant (it was good by the way, and unlike some tapas places, a lot of food for the money). We also had a really tasty "pancake" breakfast, which I would definitely recommend! I used quotes when I said pancakes because the Dutch version is different; thinner, less "cakey" and with a seriously wide variety of available toppings! One thing is for sure, we definitely had no problem eating and drinking well in this city!

Picture #1: Carl in front of the Royal Palace in Dam Square (pronounced "dahm")

Pictures #2-3: Shots taken from the canal cruise; note the substantial "lean" of a few of the buildings in #3; that's a result of settling of the very soft ground the city is built upon

Picture #4: Canal shot taken from a bridge

Picture #5: the Prinsengracht canal - our hotel was along the right side of the picture, about 2/3 of the way down

Another trip - whew!!

I forgot to mention this previously, but before we departed for Rome we decided to plan another short trip ahead of the start of Carl's second school term, and to celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary (wow, has it been that long?), which is on Monday. So tomorrow morning we board a train for Amsterdam for a two night stay, returning Sunday morning. Not a long trip, but it should be a nice introduction to the city and a last hurrah before we settle back into the routine of classes, marathon training, etc. So have a great weekend, and look out for another trip report Sunday night or Monday! :-)

Oh, and unfortunately due to the time I've been spending helping Carl review the final drafts of his papers and preparing for my Dutch class exam (yes, I actually have to pass an exam), I haven't had time to get the Rome photos on the internet yet. Looks like it'll be next week now before that happens - sorry!

Rome trip report and photo preview

**Note: if you've already read this post, have another look at the description of photo #1. To keep things interesting, I decided to make an actual competition out of "Where in Rome were Carl & Jen on New Year's Eve?". I'm not looking for the exact name of the place, just an accurate general description of it. Post your guesses as comments in the post, and whoever guesses it right first is the winner. Here's one hint to get things started: we were NOT at an ancient site.

We're baaaack!! Okay, so I know I promised that I was going to do some posts and upload photos while we were in Rome (really I WAS!), but it didn't quite work out as I'd planned. First, I forgot the adapter I need to connect my camera and computer, so there was no way to upload the photos...duh (making a big "L" symbol on my head)!! Second, our B&B host didn't have wifi, just a hardline internet connection, and although he was willing to let us disconnect his PC and connect our laptops, we couldn't get the connection to work. I was going to do a quick post using his computer, but without any photos I just didn't think it would be all that entertaining for anyone. Anyway, enough excuses, let's get to the good stuff!

The trip was great, and it was the perfect amount of time to see all that we wanted to see in Rome, while still leaving time to relax and also take a few daytrips. The weather was not as warm as we had hoped for, but several times I considered how miserable it would be to hike through so many outdoor sights in the summer heat and humidity - that thought alone quelled most of the complaints! We had two rainy days, but out of eight days total that's not too bad either. The one unfortunate thing was that I came down with a cold partway through the trip, and a day later got either a stomach bug or mild food poisoning. Neither one knocked me down too severely, but sadly our worst day health- and weather-wise was the day we went to Pompei, which I had really been looking forward to! Still, we did have a really good time, so let me tell you more about it!

Rome
Rome is an incredible city, absolutely crammed with things to see almost everywhere you look. We're both history buffs, so this place was an absolute treasure trove! It's also a bit noisy and run down, but after several days we came to the realization that that's a big part of its charm. Anyway, here's a quick summary of what we saw:

Ancient Rome Sights
Colosseum
Forum
Palatine Hill
Trajan's Forum
Pantheon
Churches
St. Peter's Basilica
Sistine Chapel
Santa Maria Sopra Minverva
St. Peter-in-Chains
Santa Maria della Vittoria
Museums
National Museum of Rome
Vatican Museum
Other Sights
Trevi Fountain
Spanish Steps
Piazza Navona
too many other Piazza's and neat neighborhoods to mention!

Our top highlights were the Colosseum and Forum, dinner in Trastevere (the best dinner we had in Rome by far!), St. Peter's Basilica (I'd recommend seeing it last so the other churches don't disappoint!), and the Scavi (Excavations) tour below St. Peter's. This tour was pretty amazing; you have to book it well in advance as they strictly limit the number of visitors allowed, but it's well worth the trouble. It takes you directly underneath the basilica, where you can see excavated mausoleums belonging to Roman families that pre-date both the basilica and Christianity, along with the tomb of St. Peter and the various memorial structures built over it in the last 19 centuries. The progression of history that you can see in such a small (and important) space is really quite incredible.

Orvieto
Orvieto is a small hill town at the southern edge of the Umbria region. It has a gorgeous cathedral and medieval center, and stunning views into the surrounding valley about 1,000 feet below. The train drops you off in the modern town at the base of the hill, and you then take a funicular (hillside train) straight up the hill into the old town. In addition to the cathedral and view, it's also known for ceramics and its clasico wine variety, both of which we were able to partake in - meaning we bought a piece of pottery and tasted the wine! It was quite chilly the day we were there, but despite that we really enjoyed our visit and the chance to see a bit of Italy's wine country.

Pompei
This place needs no introduction - it's simply incredible. I may be a bit biased because I've been wanting to go there since I first read about it as a child, but I think anyone would agree that it is THE place to go if you want to see the best preserved evidence that exists of daily life in an Ancient Roman town. Not even lousy weather, a cold and an upset stomach could ruin it for me!
A sidenote about this trip: some of you may have seen the recent coverage of riots in Naples over the tons of trash that have accumulated in the streets. Well it's not exaggerated! We took a train to Naples and then switched to the local commuter train "Circumvesuviana" to get to Pompei. Even from the train windows we could see piles of it in many of the residential streets. It's a very sad situation that I frankly have trouble understanding, but I guess inefficiency, corruption and the mafia have such an influence there that this has been an ongoing issue for some time.

Anyway, we're tired and ready to spend some quiet days and nights at home, but we had a lot of fun and we really feel that we can now confidently say we've "done" Rome!

Here's a few photos to "whet your appetite", but due to the sheer number that I took I plan to upload them onto a photosharing website and will add the link to a subsequent post. That will take me a few days since I'll need to add captions (so you know what you're looking at), so in the meantime you'll see:

1- Two "happy" Americans in Rome on New Year's Eve - the first person who can guess where we were wins a box of Belgian chocolates! Oh, but Carl's sister and my brother are ineligible, because they already know! :-)
2- Two "cold" Americans in the Colosseum on a rather chilly day!
3- St. Peter's Square with the basilica in the background
4- The Duomo in Orvieto
5- The theatre in Pompei, with the gladiator barracks and courtyard in the background

And we're off!!!

After much anticipation, we head out VERY EARLY tomorrow morning to catch our flight to Rome, and we should be on the ground in the Eternal City by about 8:30 CET. I've done a lot of research and have things pretty well planned out, but I've also been sure to leave time for just wandering and doing whatever comes to mind. We'll take two daytrips, one to Pompeii (and Sorrento if time allows) a few hours south, and the other to Orvieto, about 90 minutes north - we figured it would be nice to get out of the city for a few days and see a little bit of the rest of the country.

We will have internet access while we're there, so I'm taking my laptop and plan to upload some photos along the way...so be sure to keep your eyes out for more blogging and pictures!

Oh, and I almost forgot...

Happy Holidays and Aachen photos

Merry Christmas!

or

Happy Hanukkah!

or

Happy Kwaanza!

or

Happy Festivus?!?

Oh geez, Happy/Merry whatever I guess!!

One never knows what to say on one of these blogs, when the reader could be celebrating anything (or nothing) really! :-) Anyway, we're having a nice quiet Christmas morning here in Belgium, me organizing photos and writing blogs and virtual Christmas cards, and Carl working on his papers (of course). We may head over to a friend's place later, but otherwise we plan on a quiet day at home.

Last night we got back from Aachen, Germany so here's a little "trip report" from there:
Aachen is a very pretty city of about 250,000 people in extreme western Germany, right at the border of both Belgium and the Netherlands. It's best known for being the home to Charlemagne, as well as the crowning place of most of the kings and queens of the Holy Roman empire from the 900's to the 1500's. The Aachen Cathedral, parts of it dating from about 800 AD, is the biggest attraction, and I've included some photos of the outside and inside here. The large gold box in one of the photos is the shrine of Charlemagne, and is said to contain his remains. Charlemagne's throne, where the coronations took place, is unfortunately not on display to the public. Pictures never really do it justice, but particularly the inside of the cathedral was beautiful.

Our main reason for visiting Aachen when we did was the huge Christmas market they hold there every year. The 23rd was the last night for it, so we were happy to make it there in time to enjoy it for a few hours before it closed. It was a lot like the one in Brussels, but a little bigger and obviously with a German flair. After wandering around the market and the medieval center for a while we had a yummy German dinner followed by a visit to an Irish pub. It's become a bit of a joke between us that somehow, no matter where we go, we always seem to end up in an Irish pub! :-) Anyway, Aachen is a lovely city, and we look forward to going back again soon!

Update on Belgium's political crisis

There have been some recent developments in the situation facing the Belgian government, so I thought I'd take a moment to catch everyone up since I'd talked about it previously. The following BBC article (again, I don't see any mention of it on CNN, MSNBC or FOX news) gives a pretty good and concise update, so here's the text:

Belgium gets emergency government

Rival parties representing Belgium's Dutch and French-speaking populations have formed an emergency government, ending six month of deadlock. The government of caretaker Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (who lost elections in June but stayed on as caretaker) will stay in office for no more than three months. It is then set to hand over power to Christian Democrats and Liberals - the winners of elections in June.

The two parties have so far failed to reach a deal, prompting fears Belgium could split along linguistic lines. The Liberals and Christian Democrats won 81 of the 150 seats in June's elections. But their efforts to form a government have floundered in a dispute over greater regional autonomy - broadly favoured by the Dutch-speaking Flanders region but opposed by the French-speaking south.

Belgium's King Albert II earlier this week asked Mr Verhofstadt to form an interim government. "The prime minister has unblocked the situation," a spokesman for Mr Verhofstadt said of the decision by the Christian Democratic party to join an interim government. The interim government now faces a parliamentary vote of confidence on Sunday. Assuming it passes the vote, it will remain in office until no later than 23 March next year.

On Saturday, thousands of trade unionists took to the streets in Brussels, complaining about the political stalemate and rising food and fuel prices. Last week, the European Commission warned that the political paralysis was beginning to affect Belgium's economy.

Holiday "break"??

Carl's winter break has officially begun, but there's a catch: he has three major essays of 15+ pages each due when his classes start up again on January 14th! I guess that's how it goes with a condensed, one year MA program - even your "breaks" aren't really breaks. That's okay though, he's making some good headway and is on track to have two of the three essays completed (and the third researched) by the time we leave for Rome on New Year's Eve. That way he'll only have one of them to finish after we return. That's the plan at least, we'll see how it goes!

On tap for this coming week: a 10 mile run today (should be fun in the current freezing temperatures!), our last French class tomorrow, my last two Dutch classes of the year on Tuesday and Thursday, and an overnight trip to Aachen, Germany next Sunday! Believe it or not this will be my first time leaving Belgium since we arrived here (not counting the U.S. trip to get my visa), and I'm excited! Thalys, one of the inter-city European train companies, has a train that takes you there in only 90 minutes. Aachen is not only the closest German city to Brussels, but it also has a Christmas market that's supposed to be nice to visit. I paid another visit to the Brussels one yesterday, but I'm looking forward to seeing a German version of it. Keep an eye out for a trip report with photos next Monday! After we return from there we'll stay close to home in order to allow Carl to get his work done, then it's off to Rome!

Birthday report

So as I said before my birthday was Sunday, and overall it was a very nice day. The run to Waterloo went well, although we ended up taking a slightly different route that was a little shorter than the planned 9 miles - what a bummer! :-) The weather held for us though, and while we didn't see the giant commemorative battle statue (it's evidently well south of the town), Waterloo itself is very pretty. We'll have to add it to the list to go back and see on a nice day. The view from the top of the statue is supposed to be great on clear days, so we'll try to time that one.

Later in the evening we headed downtown, where a friend took this nice shot of us at dinner. Lately for some reason I don't tend to like very many photos of myself, but this one turned out pretty well so I thought I'd post it. After dinner we wandered around the Christmas market and ran into a few other friends. It was fun, but once again the rain returned and made it not very pleasant to be outdoors, so we called it a night and went home. I hadn't really thought of this before, but this was the first birthday I've celebrated outside of the United States. All in all it was a nice one!

B-day Run to Waterloo

So my birthday is this Sunday, another year gone by - my how time flies! What am I doing to celebrate, you ask? Gee, I figured why not take a little jog to...oh, I don't know, maybe Waterloo? I'd love to say I'm just kidding, but unfortunately I'm not! Our marathon training group usually does our runs on Sundays, and this week is a 9-miler, just about the distance to the town that was the scene of Napoloen's famous defeat.

I shouldn't complain actually, because despite the weather predictions not looking so great, it should be a good time. After we finish the run we plan to meet at a pub/cafe for lunch and refreshments before hopping a bus/train back to Brussels, so I'll have a nice group to celebrate with. Plus, it'll be cool to see the place and the huge statue that commemorates the battle - which of course is set high on a hill with 226 stairs to the top (that info. courtesy of Wikipedia). That ought to be fun after running nine miles! Not sure if we'll do that trek or not, but regardless it'll be neat to see. Too bad I can't bring my camera (no WAY am I running 9 miles with that thing around my neck!). Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend - I'm sure mine will be both enjoyable and memorable! :-)

Plaisirs d'hiver/Winter Pret

Both of the above phrases mean "Winter Wonders" which is the name of the Brussels Christmas market and festival. We checked it out for a few hours last night, the first of what I'm sure will be several visits this month (it runs through the New Year). It's a huge event, taking up a big portion of the city center with temporary shops, food stalls, an ice skating rink, ferris wheel and merry-go-rounds. The Grand Place is also lit up in appropriately grand form, with an amazing display of constantly changing lights set to music. I got a decent shot of it which I have uploaded, but photos don't really do it justice - it was just beautiful!

Hopefully we'll be able to pay a visit to at least one other Christmas market this month. Just about every city of any size has one, and each city usually gives it its own local flair. It's such a neat concept - I wonder why the U.S. doesn't have these??

Oh, and Lyndsay, if you're reading, I finally got to try some glühwein...it was tasty, and just perfect for warming us up on a cold, damp evening!

A Tale of Two Lanuages

I've been simultaneously studying both French and Flemish (Dutch) for a full 8 weeks now - whew! Balancing the two has been challenging at times, but so far it's gone pretty well, and I plan to continue studying both of them for at least two more months.

Observations so far: Dutch is pretty cool, kind of a cross between English and German. Some of the pronunciations are challenging - for instance, "G" and "CH" are pronounced somewhat like the sound of a hissing cat...an easy sound to make on its own, but not so easy to incorporate into your regular speech pattern. It shares a lot of similarities with English that make it somewhat easy for me to learn, but I have a feeling that it's going to get more complicated as time goes on, particularly when it comes to grammar (that's where the German influence comes in). Oh, and this is kind of funny; one of our German friends described Dutch as sounding "cute" to him, because it resembles a softer, simpler version of German. However one wishes to describe it, I like it!

French - now here's an interesting language. I've finally begun to master the pronunciation, to where I can usually determine how to correctly say a word upon reading it. Learning the grammatical rules is another matter, because while it's not that complicated on the surface, French grammar seems to have even more exceptions than English! There is a huge emphasis on aesthetics, making it a very melodic, pretty language to listen to and speak...on the other hand, that means it tends to favor beauty over consistency, making it a bear to learn! I do like it though, it's just been a little harder than I had expected at the beginning.

I doubt that just one year here will make me fluent in either language, but I'm sure gonna try! That brings me to the internal debate I've been having...I think that I definitely need to continue with French, because it's by far the most spoken language in Brussels and a good one to know for life in general. Should I continue with Dutch however, or focus more on trying to perfect one language rather than becoming a mediocre speaker of both? Another thing to throw into the mix - there are also cheap Spanish courses available through one of the universities here, which would help me refresh some of my rusty knowledge of that language. For those who don't know, I studied Spanish for years in high school and college, but to my regret fell just short of becoming fluent. I've always felt like I left Spanish sort of "unfinished", so this may be a great opportunity to finally reach a level of fluency in that language.

So that's my dilemma, and I really am undecided about what to do! Any opinions or suggestions out there?

Happy (slightly belated) Thanksgiving!

I'm a day late, but Happy Turkey day everybody! It feels different being overseas where it's "business as usual" on Thanksgiving day, but we did celebrate with a large gathering last night with a bunch of students from Carl's program. Most of us were American, but there was also representation from Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic - so it was Thanksgiving with an international flair! We enjoyed a potluck style dinner with turkey and all the fixings, and it was excellent. I'm definitely hitting the gym today to work off all that food I ate! Silly me forgot to take my camera, but several people were taking photos so if I receive any I'll be sure to post them.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday, and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Pablo the Belgian Mexican

This past weekend we finally got around to trying the most popular Mexican restaurant in Brussels, Pablo's. The restaurant's website proclaims: "Our food is so authentic that many ex-pats from the United States keep coming back, as well as others who appreciate this level of quality and authenticity."

Generally speaking, we agree - sort of. As you can see in the photo, they've definitely got the decor right, and while it wasn't the best Tex-Mex food we've ever had, it was good. The only problem - it's freakin' expensive!! I ordered a basic chicken burrito with rice and beans, and it was €18. At the current (all-time low, ouch!!) exchange rate of about $1.48, that works out to $26.64...for a BURRITO!! The total bill for our two dishes, two beers and tip came to a whopping €48, or about $71! Unbelievable - and it goes without saying that no matter how much we're craving it, we cannot afford to "keep coming back" like the website says. We'll just have to settle for the Mexican meals I put together at home, which will taste even better now knowing how much cheaper they are than the alternative! :-)

Rome-ward Bound

Exciting news: we've just booked the plane tickets for our first big trip since arriving in Europe, to Rome for New Year's! Our flight leaves early in the morning on New Year's Eve, and we come back on the morning of January 8th, so the trip will be just over a week. We plan to take our time, soaking in everything Rome has to offer for the first five nights, then we'll probably head down to the Naples/Sorrento area to visit Pompeii and see some other sights in the area before coming back to Rome to catch our return flight.

We chose to go to Rome for a few reasons - first, it's one of the great cities in Europe and we didn't want to miss it. Second, it's the low season there and once New Year's is over the crowds (and prices) should be quite a bit lower than at other times. Finally, it's far enough south that it shouldn't be too cold to enjoy things. It won't be beach weather by any means, but as long as we don't get a cold snap we should see temperatures in the mid-50's, or higher if we're lucky...and after the past few downright chilly weeks in Brussels, that sounds wonderful! :-)

I know some of our family and friends have been to Rome before, so if any of you "veterans" have any suggestions for places to visit (or avoid), areas to stay in, etc...by all means do share them! I'm just starting the work of finding our lodging and planning our activities, so there's definitely time for me to incorporate your recommendations into our plan.

The things we miss - and the things we don't!

Despite the relatively easy time we've had adjusting to life in Belgium, there are undoubtedly some things that we do miss about "home". On the other hand, there are nearly as many things that we really don't miss at all. Here's a rundown...

Miss
-Family & friends (of course!)
-Good, inexpensive Mexican restaurants
-Gatorade, especially as our marathon training ramps up
-Having more spending money (as long as we're being honest...)
-Dishwasher/washing machine/dryer (again, just being honest!)
-A couple of American TV shows, but not too many
-Twizzlers in the movie theatre (it's the little things...)

Don't Miss
-Driving (we've surprised ourselves with this one)
-Strip malls and parking lots (goes along with driving I guess)
-Fast food joints in every neighborhood (except maybe Chipotle - see Mexican restaurant reference above)
-Tipping - it's so much easier here because you really only tip for a few things
-The "rush rush" way of life - slowing down a bit has been great for our health!
-Americans; don't take this the wrong way, it's just that it's been great to meet people with backgrounds and perspectives that are different from our own

The Belgian divide

I apologize that it's taken me this long to get this post published, after promising it more than ten days ago. It's a complex subject, so composing my thoughts into a post that wouldn't turn into a long and boring lecture was quite a challenge. Let's hope I've succeeded - here goes!

As one might expect, since moving here we've learned a lot of things about Belgium that we didn't know before, and the politics of the country have been particularly interesting. Although I've known for some time that Belgium was a multilingual country, I truly had no idea that the divisions ran so much deeper than that.

The country is composed of two main cultural groups: the Flemish in the north, who are Dutch speaking and comprise about 59% of the citizen population, and the Walloons in the south, French speaking and about 40% of the population. A small number of German speakers live in the eastern part of the country, and Brussels is officially bilingual and also has a large number of non-citizen residents who speak a myriad of mother tongues. The country was only established in 1831, and so while the two groups have lived side by side for centuries, they have only shared a government for the past 175 years or so - not very long when you consider the length of European history!

On the surface the two groups have a lot in common; the majority share the same religion (Roman Catholicism) and a similar history of domination by other groups (Romans, Hapsburgs, etc.). They also share credit for many of the things for which Belgium is known - chocolate, great beer, and of course Belgian waffles (though the way they're prepared differs between the regions). It really is a place where north meets south in terms of western European culture, and the result is quite intriguing.

However, in a lot of ways they live completely separate lives; within Brussels, for instance, the comunities operate separate schools, so even Flemish and Wallonian children living in the same neighborhood do not go to school together. The political parties also operate completely separately according to language, adding even further to the divide and making political progress slow and painful. The Flemish economy has also been significantly stronger than Wallonia's in recent decades, and many Flemish are increasingly frustrated at what they see as forced subsidization of the Walloons on their part. Lastly, the Flemish tend to be more free-market oriented, while generally speaking the Walloons have stronger socialist leanings. The result is a host of political differences and few areas of agreement.

So what does this mean for the future of Belgium? At several points in recent history (including now) these divisions, and smaller political arguments resulting from the underlying resentment and separatism, have threatened the existence of the country. The latest crisis (which has essentially shut down the national government entirely) has been going on for over 150 days since the June 2007 elections. Thus far there are few signs of progress towards a resolution, and I'm seeing more and more news articles begin to consider the split-up of the country as a real possibility. On the other hand, since we arrived here we've seen an impressive number of Belgian flags flying from windows and balconies throughout the city in a show of citizen solidarity, so it's really hard to say what's going to happen. An 11th hour compromise is a possibility, but from what I can see it certainly won't come easily.

One final observation: I'm quite surprised at the complete lack of coverage of this situation by the U.S. media. On my recent visit to the States I watched a lot of news programs, and I constantly monitor several American news websites from here...and I have yet to see even a single mention of it! It's rather disappointing that I can get multiple daily updates on the Britney Spears trainwreck, but not one word about a major political crisis affecting the country that hosts not only the EU government, but the NATO headquarters, of which the United States is a key member. It makes me wonder what else goes on in the world that we don't hear about? Sorry to go off on that tangent - I don't intend to turn this blog into a political soapbox, but I find it a little embarrassing that I was completely ignorant of this situation when we arrived here, and would likely still know nothing about it if I weren't living here. Kinda sad!

Here it is!

The picture is a little fuzzy, but here's what all the hassle has been for - a sticker small enough to fit inside one page of my passport! It's an important sticker though, because it allows me to remain here legally and to obtain my identity card...though that'll take another 6-8 weeks, thanks to the slow progression of the Belgian bureaucracy. That's one thing we've learned for sure - NOTHING happens quickly here when it comes to the government or services like utilities, cable and internet. For instance, we were lucky to have our internet and cable up and running within 10 days; others we know have had to wait 4 to 6 weeks!!

Anyway, let's just say that we're both thrilled to have finally completed this part of the process, and to be able to focus on other things, like figuring out the French language! :-)

It's on its way!!

Happy Halloween!!

Just a few hours ago I received word that my passport, with the visa sticker inside, is on its way to me via UPS overnight!! After months of waiting and worrying, and waaay to much expense and hassle, this saga is FINALLY coming to an end! Unfortunately I don't think I'm going to be able to upload a photo until I get back to Belgium next Monday, but I'll be sure to put one up on the site then, so everyone can see what the big deal was all about!

Also on tap for next week, a little history/current events information about Belgium's political and cultural divisions. It doesn't get much coverage at all here in the States, but Belgium has had (and continues to have) its share of disagreements between the Flemish and Walloon communities, and it's been interesting for us to learn more about what's going on. More on that later!

Headed Stateside for a spell, and update on the CA fires

Tomorrow I fly from Brussels to Dulles airport, just west of Washington DC, for the purpose of (finally!) getting my Belgian visa. I decided to fly there instead of the Los Angeles consulate because my family is mostly on the Eastern seaboard, and since I have the option of getting the visa by mail anywhere in the States, I figured why not at least get the benefit of a visit out of it? So I arrive tomorrow afternoon Eastern US time, then Thursday morning I'll overnight my passport along with some paperwork off to our favorite Belgian diplomatic staff member (yes, I am being sarcastic). She'll do her thing on the Los Angeles end and then will overnight my passport with the visa inside back to me. All of this SHOULD be completed by the 30th or 31st, but we've learned from painful experience to leave plenty of time for "delays", so I'm not scheduled to fly back to Belgium until Sunday the 4th of November. I should have internet access most of the time I'm there, so I will post a celebratory message when I finally get that ridiculous piece of paper in my grubby little hands! Maybe I'll even upload a photo!! :-)

Second topic, and unfortunately not such a positive one: many of you probably know that my hubby Carl is from the San Diego area, and the majority of his family still lives there. It's been a rough few days for the millions who call Southern California home, but everyone in the family is doing okay so far. Carl's sister had to evacuate her home in Poway yesterday, but I just read online that her neighborhood is being re-opened for people to return, and I haven't seen reports of any homes burned in her immediate area...GREAT NEWS!! His mom's and brother's homes are still okay, and I believe his cousin is in the clear for the moment as well. Until the Santa Ana winds subside it's still a dangerous situation though, so if you guys are reading, please take care and stay safe!! We love you!

We've officially lost our minds!!

There must be something in the water here that affects the brain a bit, because we've both just signed ourselves up to run the Paris Marathon next Spring! I guess maybe some of you won't find it too out of character since we've both done some running in the past and have talked about attempting a marathon, but neither of us has actually undertaken one before! It was kind of a random thing, and Carl signed up first. I of course, sat there for a while and pondered the insanity of it before agreeing to it myself, babbling about just how crazy it is the whole time that Carl was signing me up...yep, couldn't even do it myself, I was so nervous and giddy!
Anyway, it's April 6th, so we have almost six months to train (I'm gonna need it!). Any of you out there who have done one before, if you have any words of wisdom or training secrets, we're all ears! We're going to be looking up training plans of course, but the personal wisdom of someone who's been there is always welcome.
I guess there's just something about Paris in the Springtime!!

Living WAAAY far away overseas ain't what it used to be!

After a couple of months here I can unequivocally say that living overseas is a lot less of a "hardship" than it used to be in terms of keeping in touch with home. With e-mail, the internet, and Skype phone service, the time difference is really the only constant reminder that I'm not nearly as close as I used to be to family and friends! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have all these luxuries, but it really gives me a new admiration for people who spent long periods of time "away" in the days before the communications boom and internet age. How isolating that must have felt, and how much harder the adjustment must have been compared to what it is now!

Fun facts 'n random thoughts

There are lots of things we've noticed or learned about living in Belgium since we arrived, but not all of them are significant enough to warrant a post of their very own. I mean how much time can I really spend telling you about grocery store bags before you get bored and stop reading? So I've decided to put together a post with a bunch of random little things you might find interesting...here goes!

• The Belgians are known for their "frites" or fries (despite "French" being part of the name, they were invented here), and they are indeed popular with the locals. There are food stands all over town that focus on fries almost exclusively, and you'll also see fries used in unusual ways - anyone for some frites in their gyro? <--by the way, it's really good!
• Speaking of frites, at our grocery store there is an entire row of the frozen section (about 20 feet long) dedicated to nothing BUT frites - and I'm not kidding or exaggerating!
• Coffee is enjoyed by many and the quality is excellent, but the concept of the American-style coffee shop (like Starbucks) simply doesn't exist. If you want to stop for coffee, you visit a café and you sit down and drink coffee from a real cup, with saucer and spoon...all of which is brought to you. There's no such thing as carry-out coffee, and I'm guessing that they'd find the concept of drive-thru coffee utterly ridiculous. It's quite a change from the java-crazed Pacific Northwest!
• I'm not sure whether this was mandatory or voluntary, but for environmental reasons grocery stores will not provide you with paper or plastic bags for free. They charge 3 cents per plastic bag, and I haven't seen the paper ones at all. What most people (ourselves included) have done is purchase sturdy, reusable bags for €1 each from the store. It was frustrating at first because we always seemed to forget them, but now that it's a habit we kind of like it!
• Restaurant service is much more "hands off" here than in the U.S. For instance, we have yet to have anyone come to our table after we receive our food and ask us if everything is to our liking. It's usually not hard to find someone to ask if you need something, but it's expected that you'll let them know if something is unsatisfactory, so I guess they see no need to ask!
• The use of credit cards (and establishments accepting them) is not typical - in the tourist areas it's common, but in neighborhoods like ours a lot of places accept only cash or Bankcontact, which is the equivalent of a debit card that comes straight out of your checking account. There's also something called Proton - it allows you to "load" a cash balance onto your debit card that you can use without having to enter your PIN code, making the transaction quicker. It's popular for small purchases in stores or snack shops.
• Grocery stores do not sell medication of any kind - only pharmacies can sell those items, and they are identifiable by a big green cross (just like the Red Cross' logo, but green) over the door.
• I don't think I've mentioned this before, but you may have noticed from photos that virtually every Belgian beer has its own special glass, and that beer (and only that beer) is always supposed to be served in it. This applies to bottled beers too, not just the ones on tap! Adds a whole new complexity to bartending, doesn't it?

More apartment pics

Be sure to read the full post below...

#1 - The view down the street from our front window
#2 - The view from our back patio/balcony
#3 - Our living room - the TV looks really small in such a big room, doesn't it?
#4 - The dining area and computer desk - sorry for the bit of clutter!
#5 - The bathroom - the toilet is in a separate WC (water closet)

#6 - Looking out our bedroom windows - they get lots of sun in the afternoon!
#7 - Looking back into our bedroom - didn't realize Monty got in that shot while licking himself - oops!
#8 - Kitchen - plenty of cabinets!
#9 - Refrigerator/freezer
#10 - Our miniature kitchen sink and antique water heater!

Apartment pictures, finally!

I've been promising them for weeks so here they are, some pictures of our apartment here in Brussels. I kept putting off this post, hoping to get the place more fixed up, furnished, decorated, etc...but enough people have asked now that I felt I needed to go ahead and post some photos, ready or not! As you can see it's obviously still a work in progress, and given our tight budget and the limited items we were able to ship over here, the decorating department still needs a lot of work! :-) We do have a pretty nice view from our many windows though, which is great!

There's a few items I want to point out about the kitchen, since it seems people are pretty curious about it. First, you may notice that there's no oven below the stovetop like there normally is in the States. Here it isn't a given that an apartment, even the size of ours, will have an oven. So in addition to a microwave, we ended up buying a countertop convection oven, which we LOVE!! It bakes, grills, and does rotisserie, and in general just does a terrific job of cooking things! Second, we've got a pretty large refrigerator/freezer, at least by Belgian standards. I took a close-up of it with the doors open so you can see. It does get full when we return from a big trip to the store, though what's considered a "big" trip for us is probably a lot smaller than you're thinking, since we have to carry everything home by hand! Third and final point on the kitchen: we do not have a dishwasher, and our kitchen sink is pretty small. The lack of a dishwasher isn't bothering us too much, as we knew ahead of time that it was a luxury that we probably couldn't afford. The little sink is a challenge however, as is our only semi-functioning hot water heater (which is probably almost as old as I am and is about to be replaced). At the moment that means that we have to get hot water from the bathtub and wash our dishes in "waves", since the sink fills up so fast. We're managing though, and it's interesting how quickly we've adjusted to not having some of the modern conveniences, even after having them for most or all of our lives.

So this is our home for the next year - questions or comments anyone? Is it bigger/smaller, nicer/uglier than you had imagined it would be? I'm really curious to hear what you think!

More Brugge pictures

Blogspot only lets me upload five pictures per post, so I had to split them up into two in order to upload all the pictures I wanted to. Here are the descriptions:

#1 - View of the beach and North Sea at De Haan

#2 - Looking southwest down the "boardwalk" at De Haan

#3 - A hotel with of the "Belle Époque" architecture, typical in De Haan

#4 - Canal view on the way back to Brugge

#5 - Me enjoying a St. Bernardus beer in the Brugge old town

#6 (next post) - one of the Brugge city gates at night

#7 - The Belfort in Brugge

#8 - The "Markt" square, Brugge

#9 - Carl chowing down on some tasty mussels!

#10 - View of canal and city gate, Brugge

Be sure to read the post below for a full trip report!

Brugge/Bruges trip report and pictures

We had a terrific weekend in Brugge, and I can definitely see why it's such a popular place to visit. The entire old city, encircled by a canal/moat, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and four of the nine original city gates are still standing (I've included two pictures of one of them). It is pretty touristy, and I'd imagine it gets quite crowded in summer, but the appeal of the place is undeniable.

We arrived around lunchtime on Saturday and spent the afternoon wandering a few of the major shopping streets and enjoying the beautiful weather (and of course a few good beers, as you can see by the picture!). We really lucked out too, because not only was it a warm, sunny day, but it also happened to be one of two weekends each year when they close down the old city to car traffic and stores/restaurants set up outdoor stands all along the streets. It's called the Braderie, and it's not mentioned in any of the tourist guides I looked at so I think it's done more for the locals.

This also happened to be a big weekend for World Cup Rugby, with quarterfinal matches involving England vs. Australia and France vs. New Zealand being played on Saturday afternoon/evening. Carl has taken a liking to the sport, so in late afternoon we found a pub that was showing the matches and sat down to watch England and the Aussies...it was quite a battle! I was rooting for the Aussies, but England ultimately won the match. Afterwards we headed back to our B&B to relax for a little while and get ready for dinner.

We decided to enjoy the luxury of dinner at a real restaurant that night - not something we do often anymore on our tight budget. We hadn't yet tried the signature Belgian dish of mussels & fries, so we both decided to order that. We were not disappointed! As you can see by the picture, we got a huge steaming pot full of mussels in the provençale style, and they were tasty and quite filling. After that we returned to the pub to watch France play New Zealand - France won that match, so again I found myself cheering for the losing team! Both the afternoon and evening matches brought a very fun-loving crowd though, and as a result we now have invitations to visit new friends in both Paris and Leicester (in central England)!

Sunday we thought it would be nice to see a little of the surrounding area, so we rented bikes for the afternoon. We picked up a map and decided that since it was shaping up to be another nice day, we'd head for the coast. There is a huge network of bike paths throughout Flanders, making it really easy to cycle to just about anywhere! We were pedaling against the breeze on the way out so it took us a few hours to get there, but it was a nice ride through the flat Flemish countryside with a lot of farms along the way. We headed to De Haan, a small city along the coast that reminded me a little bit of a coastal New England village, but with different architecture (a little research has taught me that the style is called "Belle Époque" for any architecture buffs out there). We enjoyed a mid-afternoon meal on an outdoor terrace and visited the beach for a few minutes, but unfortunately we couldn't linger very long because we had to return the bikes by 5:00PM. The ride back was also nice, though we pushed ourselves to go a little faster this time so we wouldn't be late. I did stop briefly to snap a photo of one of the canals we crossed on the return ride - it was beautiful!

When we got back we were a little tired - okay, I won't lie, we were exhausted! The ride was about 45km roundtrip (about 28 miles), but our bikes weren't all that sophisticated or fast, so it was quite a workout! We had a great time though, and I would recommend the trip to anyone who wants to get a little exercise while enjoying the quiet countryside and taking in some great scenery.

Sunday was a low-key evening of a casual dinner followed by one more rugby match (Argentina vs. Scotland, and finally the team I rooted for, the Argentines, won!), and Monday morning we took the train back to Brussels. It was a memorable weekend, and we definitely hope to return at some point because we really didn't do any of the stuff that first-time visitors would do...things like a canal cruise and climbing the Belfort for a view of the city. That's okay though, I have a feeling we'll end up bringing some visitors here at some point, and we'll get to do it for the first time then. Any takers?? :-)

Sound off!! What would you like to hear about?

Okay, here's everyone's chance to tell me what topics they'd like to see addressed on the blog. I know I need to add some pictures of our apartment and neighborhood, but what else would you like to see or hear about? Just add a comment at the bottom of this post - funny, serious, reflective, philosophical...I don't care what category it falls under, I just want to know what you want to hear!

Is it really October already?

I was amazed to look at the calendar today and realize that tomorrow it will have been six weeks since we arrived in Brussels. In some ways it seems like we've been here much longer, but in others - acquiring language skills for instance - it's hard to believe it's been that long. I'm not sure what kind of miracle I was expecting, but I guess I'd hoped we would be a little further along than we are when it comes to French in particular. We've just finished the first week of our French course though, so I'm sure soon we'll feel more capable with the language.

As for culture shock, after discussing it briefly together we really can't say that we've felt all that much of a shock. There is enough that is familiar or at least similar to the States to lessen the impact, and I think we're both pretty good at adjusting to new surroundings quickly. Perhaps once the "honeymoon" phase wears off completely we'll feel differently? My friend Lyndsay (hi if you're reading!) said it took several months for it to wear off when she moved to Germany, so I guess we'll have to wait and see!

The final update: we have a trip planned this weekend, to Bruges/Brugge in northwest Belgium. Bruges is probably the most visited place in the country, and we can't wait to find out why! We're taking the train there early Saturday morning and plan to return late Monday morning. I promise to post a trip report and some photos, probably on Tuesday!

What things cost

Now that we've made several trips to our local grocery store (the Super GB, which looks much like a small to medium-sized store in the U.S.), I've compiled a list of what some common items cost here. It's been interesting to see how some things such as bread, wine and coffee are cheaper, while other items like chicken and batteries are quite a bit more expensive. I used a conversion rate of $1.45=€1, which is abysmal but sadly is about what you'd actually pay nowadays if you were to pay by credit card or withdrawal the money from an ATM. Also, these prices include tax, so if you happen to not live in a sales tax-free state you'd need to add that to make a good comparison.

So here's the list:
Bananas, 6 medium $1.77
Granny smith apples, 6 medium $3.28
Broccoli, 500g (one small head) $2.16
Small yellow onion $0.20
Vine-ripened tomatoes, 3 medium $1.33
One liter lowfat milk $1.64
One loaf sliced wheat bread (the cheapest one they sell, but still good!) $.85
Edam sliced cheese, 9 slices $2.16
Ground beef, .38 kg (.84 lb) $4.32
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, .89kg (1.95 lb) $11.05
One jar (500 ml/16.9 oz.) Bertolli tomato & basil pasta sauce $2.81
Coffee, 250g (.55 lb) - gourmet, from Colombia, Java, etc. $3.16
Coke zero, six pack of 1.5 L bottles $12.89
Leffe blonde beer, six pack of 330ml (11.16 oz) bottles $6.71
One bottle Penfolds Rawson's Retreat Shiraz/Cabernet, 2006 $7.24
One bottle JeanJean Vin de Pays d'Oc Chardonnay, 2006 $5.39
4-pack Duracell AA batteries $13.04 (ouch! good thing we stocked up in the States)

There are also a few things we haven't been able to find here yet, perhaps because they just aren't used in this country. Non-stick cooking spray (like Pam) is one of them - we definitely miss it when it comes time to do the dishes! We also haven't found any black beans or sliced cheddar or American cheese. We've tried a few things we've never had before though, including voul au vent - it's similar to chicken pot pie, but there's no crust, it's just sold in a jar or plastic container and eaten with bread. The jar we bought cost $3.90 and was 500ml.

Anyway, I thought you might find it interesting to see what things cost here. If there's a specific item you're curious about let me know and I'll be happy to report back!

Site redesign and surveys

I've received a few negative comments about the colors I was using for the blog background and text, so I decided to redesign it in the hopes of making it more reader-friendly. I'm still trying to stick with the same general color scheme (which was chosen to mimic the Belgian flag, as you can see by its prescence on the site now!), but hopefully this will be easier on everyone's eyes. I'm open for feedback, so be sure to vote in the surveys along the right side of the page or leave your comments on the post itself. Thanks!

Can an almost middle-aged dog learn two BIG new tricks at once??

I guess we'll find out, because I've just signed myself up to take courses in two very dissimilar languages at once! Carl and I together are signed up for a 3 hr./week French course through his school, and I have also signed up for a 6 hr./week course in Dutch! The Dutch course is actually free (all you pay is €30 for the course materials) so there was no way I could turn down the opportunity! The Flemish community subsidises the classes for residents of the city in an effort to encourage more people to learn Dutch. I can understand why they're doing that, because it didn't take much time here for us to realize that even though Brussels is officially bilingual, French is pretty much all you hear!

Anyway, I'll be sure keep you all posted on my progress and how confusing it is (or perhaps isn't?) to begin learning two new languages at the same time. Fingers crossed!! :-)

La Roue de la Fortune

In our efforts to learn French, we've begun tuning in to a few gameshows on one of the French networks. They're a great way to practice listening and learning in a new language! The two we've been watching will both be familiar to our American readers - "La Roue de la Fortune" ("Wheel of Fortune") and "Un Contre 100" ("One vs. 100"). The formats of both are easily recognizable when you watch them, but there are a few differences that we've found pretty fun and amusing.

Take Wheel of Fortune for instance - picture the American studio, but add disco lights, a much more animated host, a lot more glitz, and a dog on the set (yes, a dog!). He just sits there or sleeps most of the time, but periodically they'll pan the camera over to him or include him in a little interlude with the host.

One vs. 100 is also pretty much the same concept, but in addition to the disco lights and glitz, they also play a lot of sing-along type music, and people get so into it that when you close your eyes you think you're listening to the fans chanting at a World Cup Soccer match!! Seriously, the French get into their game shows, and I can only guess that when they watch ours, they must think to themselves "Boy are those Americans BORING"!!

A Perfect Afternoon

Today was a special day in Brussels - in French it's called "Dimanche Sans Voiture", in Dutch "Autoloze Zondag", and it means "Car Free Sunday" in English. It happens once a year (this is the sixth year now), and it's evidently done in a lot of cities throughout the EU. The idea is that everyone gets to experience what the city is like without so many cars on the streets. Emergency vehicles, taxis and buses are the only motorized vehicles allowed on the roads, and mass transit is free to everyone for the day. There are also events planned in almost every neighborhood to mark the occasion and get people to come out and enjoy the city "sans voiture".

Today also happened to be one of the most beautiful days we've had since we arrived here, so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to get out and enjoy the weather and the lack of traffic. We hopped on the metro and took it a few stops in towards the city center, getting off near the Parc du Cinquantenaire and walking under the Brussels version of the Arc de Triomphe. Interestingly, this arch was planned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Belgian independence in 1880, but was not completed in time and had to be topped off with wood panels for the celebration. It then sat unfinished for years due to disagreements over funding, and wasn't completed until 1905, when it was finally finished using private funding.

Anyway, we continued along towards the city center, walking part of the way (stopping at an outdoor festival) and taking the metro a few more stops as well. We've briefly visited a few of the key sights in the center, but today we were happy to just "get lost" along the carless streets and see what we could find. We walked past St. Michaels cathedral (built between 1450 and 1490), where I snapped the attached photo - notice the cute guy in the Red Sox shirt??

Just down the road from the cathedral we stopped at a Brasilian restaurant/bar, where they were playing live Brasilian music on the terrace outside. These guys were good, and it was so nice out that we relaxed there for a good 90 minutes over beers and an afternoon snack. Then we wandered through the Rue de Bouchere, which I would describe as a very narrow and cozy "restaurant row". Depending on who you ask this area is either a tourist trap that's best avoided or a fabulous place to enjoy a good meal - guess we'll have to try it out one evening and formulate our own opinion!

After that we headed home, but we enjoyed a really terrific afternoon of discovering some areas of Brussels we hadn't yet seen. The no car thing was pretty awesome too, a little eerie for the busier streets that are usually choked with traffic, but once you get used to the lack of car noise and the increased number of bikes, it's really nice - too bad it's only one day a year!