TRAVEL ACQUISITIONS

Travel is very conflicting, don't you think?   We all love to travel and to sleep in pretty hotel rooms, we love to be home and sleep in our own bed.  Can't wait to leave, can't wait to return.  Unless you are plopped on a beach for a week, travel is not restful or relaxing, but an adventure.  And it is addictive.

Part of the fun is collecting items for my home as I travel along.  Each of my little finds serve as reminders of villages, crazy-busy cities, people, monuments, etc. 

Several years ago on a visit to London I had purchased two French furniture drawings in water color from Abbott and Holder.  I regretted not buying more.  So a few months ago while browsing at Abbott and Holder, I asked the manager if he had any more the little faded gems.  He dug around and by the next morning had unearthed five!  All for a reasonable price.  I bought them all.  Haven't had them framed yet--framing sometimes is more money than the actual artwork.  But one by one they will be matted, framed, and placed on a wall to remind me of my visit.

This gorgeous silver journal was hidden on a "sale" shelf at Liberty.  Marked down because of a slight tear on the last page of the book--half-off, it quickly became mine.  I thought it was fitting to fill it with notes from my Oxford class.

And, remember these beauties?  What I didn't show you was how pretty the books are inside.

Matching bookmarks and endpapers.

Really, Persephone thinks of everything.

Belgian is known for its chocolates, linens, and lace.  For me, chocolates and linen are a definite yes, but lace, not so much.  So I purchased one dozen of these unbleached linen napkins. Thanksgiving will be the perfect dinner to be introduced to the family.
 

In Brussels, we stopped by a tiny little needlepoint shop full of tapestries and pillows.  These whimsical and colorful pillows caught my eye.  I purchased a total of five different patterns.

Hen and Hammock sells an authentic English Sussex Trug made from sweet chestnut.  Harder to find than you might think and too much money to have shipped to the states, I placed an order to be delivered to Christ Church College.  Then I had to figure out how to get it home in the flimsy box it came in.




Suddenly the thought came to me to reinforce it from the inside (thank you, Dad!)  and I did so with extra cardboard found on campus.  By reinforcing the box and padding the trug with clothes, I was able to check this on my flight (with several "fragile" stickers) and lo and behold it made it home in perfect condition.

Twice, I have carried large breakable bowls onto the plane to bring home (from Ireland and Austria).  It was worth the inconvience to cart these heavy bowls made by local artisans because not only are they beautiful, but I am reminded of who I was with and where I was when each were purchased.

Sometimes you have to be creative in getting your new acquisition home.  I once kept every empty plastic water bottle from a trip and used them to pad my breakables stashed in my luggage and it worked--nothing was broken. It's worth a bit of inconvenience to bring home tangible memories of great adventures, don't you think?

FLANDERS FIELDS, BELGIUM

In Flanders Fields Museum, Iepers (Ypres), Belgium

Leslie and I set aside a day for a trip to the World War I sites in the Flanders region.  Our first stop was Iepers (Ypres) to visit the excellent In Flanders Field Museum (far left side of building above).  The Germans occupied this pretty little market town from 1914-1918.  U. S. troops arrived in 1917.

The museum has carefully documented and presented the stories of the soldiers and the villagers who were under siege for four years.  As we walked through the museum reading the stories one of us would point to an exhibit, start to speak, choke up and turn away wandering off to the next heartbreaking exhibit.

Menin Gate Memorial

We drove into Iepers (pronounced "eepers") through the impressive Menin Gate, a memorial to those soldiers who were missing in the battlefields in Belgium Flanders and had no proper burial.

"TO THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO STOOD HERE FROM 1914-1918 AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE"

Over 54,000 names of fallen soldiers are engraved on stone.  Every night at 8:00 pm Last Post is played inside the Memorial.  This has been a tradition since 1927.

Passchendaele Museum, Zonnebeke, Belgium

Passchendaele is the site of a major battle that took place in 1917.  It was grinding warfare with nothing much left above ground, so soldiers had to live below ground. This museum depicted dugouts and trenches which were so real it almost made me sick.

Passchendaele Museum, Zonnebeke, Belgium

Above, window boxes stuffed with fresh flowers.

Cemeteries honoring the soldiers who came to fight for Belgium and never return home are scattered throughout the region.  It was very moving to see how the villagers have paid their respects to those soldiers.  Every cemetery we visited was perfectly maintained.

An abundance of hydrangeas and geraniums.

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row..."
                                                                                         John McCrae

Here's our fun little car shown off by the ever lovely Vanna White (aka Leslie). It was a spectacular day--the blue skies mottled with splintering clouds--the perfect day for a day trip in the country.

It was a sobering day, but one of my favorite on this trip.  I have a whole new respect for the resilience of the Belgian people.

Next stop:  London!

BRUGGE, BELGIUM

We loved Brugge the minute we arrived. It is so pretty and so clean.  And if the beautiful mix of Baroque, Renaissance, and Gothic architecture isn't enough, Brugge is surrounded by canals that weave through the city making it even more picturesque.

But first, the hotel.  Hotel Heritage was the perfect place to spend four nights.  Everything about this hotel is pretty and we loved it. So, bear with me as I show you around (I was a little camera-happy).

Hotel Heritage Lobby

The lobby was welcoming and comfortable.

Sitting Room

The sitting area was cozy and I would have loved to spend more than 5 minutes in this room. But you know what it's like when you are traveling--you rest when you go to bed at night! 

Breakfast Room

The breakfast room. Through the mirror you get a glimpse of the handpainted ceiling. It was always quiet in this room because Leslie and I were usually the first ones up and at 'em.

Stairwell

Even the hallway outside the elevator had style. I know it's odd to take the above pic but I loved the colors and the trim work.

Our room

And after one not-so-lovely night in Brussels, we were thrilled to walk into our room and find ample space and lots of comforts including a desktop computer for our use (no extra charge).

As is usually the case when you reserve a twin bedded room in Europe, you will find that the beds are set-up like this--but you pull back the covers and two beds appear which can be pushed apart for a bit of space. The bathroom was also great but I'll spare you the details (although the bathroom amenities by Hermes were mighty fine.)

OK, back to the city.  Brugge is an easy walking and biking town (which I love since I don't live in that type of city). We immediately got going with our map to begin navigating the twisting and winding streets usually using various spires and towers as our "you are here" points.  Leslie is a stellar map reader, me--not so much.  If left alone I would resort to leaving breadcrumbs strewn along the paths. If I did that at home, the rotten birds would just eat them up, but the birds in Belgium seemed better behaved.

Water everywhere. I don't know about you, but when I see bodies of water I immediately relax.  My brain knows I'm on vacation since I live in the dry, arid, desert (which actually I love).

One day we rented bikes picking them up at 1:00 in the afternoon and returning them at 9:30 at night.  We road along the outer canal paths that took us by windmills and open parks.  Fortunately, the town wasn't too packed so riding didn't feel as if we were on some high risk adventure dodging pedestrians, cars, and horse-drawn carriages (for real). 

We figured we road a solid five hours. We stopped for lunch, dinner, and a break in-between (see Leslie above).

In the late afternoon, as we rode along the cobble-stoned streets we heard  music--for a minute it seemed as if we were in some magical place with its own theme song.  As we rounded the corner we came upon a dance class. It was if a director said, "Action! Cue the music". 

In the Burg Square, a talented family put on an impromptu mini-concert.  These kids were excellent.  Quite a nice crowd gathered for this free (but we tipped, of course) unannounced music-fest.

Sunset reflecting on the Government Palace.  Part of the above picture is the post office--yep, just like home.

Waterzooi. My oh my.  This was my favorite Belgian food (other than chocolate and waffles, of course).  Gorgeous chunks of fresh fish in a sauce spiced with dill, tomatoes, watercress, and no doubt cream.  This was served at den Gouden Karpel Restaurant which is famous for its fresh fish. I wish I had had the sense to ask for the recipe because it was the best fish stew I've ever eaten.  Waterzooi (fish stew) is a famous Belgian dish and very popular with the locals. And its such a pretty dish, no?

Belgian waffles covered in strawberries and fresh cream--basic Belgian street food. Don't you love street food? 

I liked best with powdered sugar. The sugar enhanced the caramelized, crisp edges.

Heaven might also be known as Dumon Chocolatier.  Cute Mrs. Dumon pictured above. We heroically tested all sorts of chocolates and determined we liked Dumon's the best.
 

Plus, I loved Mrs. Dumon's darling shop. We stopped by so often that she actually waved to us from the window (slightly embarassing).

My new Belgian boyfriend, didn't get his name.  He hopped in the picture since it was taking some time for Leslie to get the shot given the number of passers-by. Glad we weren't on bikes that day--it was very crowded.  But even with the crowds I loved this city.

Next up: Flanders Fields

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - 2010

Grand Place, Brussels

Last month, my friend Leslie and I arrived in Brussels, Belgium to kick off our 17 day trip to Brussels and Brugge in Belgium;  and London and Oxford in England.  After two flights and two trains we arrived without any hiccups.  Happily, neither of us suffer from jet lag when we are traveling east bound.  So we were able to hit the ground running (once we actually hit the ground!)

St. Pancras Train Station, London, England

It's always great fun to travel by train--no navigation skills, no worrying about which exit to take.  Just sit back and relax until you see that black and white sign announcing your destination.  We arrived in London, via the Heathrow Express, and from Paddington station quickly cabbed it over to St. Pancras station to board the Eurostar bound for Brussels.  It's about a 2 hour trip and we arrived in Brussels around 5:30 pm.

View from our hotel room, Brussels 

After checking in to our sad little hotel room (happy it was for only one night), we immediately headed to the Grand Place (prounced "gran plas").  Europe has the best town squares, and this one is quite grand. Belgian chocolate was on our mind so we stopped first at Neuhaus and purchased some of the best chocolate both of us have ever had.  My favorite piece, Caprice (Wafer thin nougatine shells filled with vanilla fresh cream and coated with dark chocolate.)

After exploring the town square we were ready for dinner at La Maree.  One of the best ways to find a good restaurant is to ask the locals, which we did.  And we were told several times to go to this place and it was divine.  I had a steaming bowl of Moules and Frites (mussels and fries)  with tomatoes, peppers, onions, in an excellent broth.  It is traditionally served with a big bowl of frites--double fried and usually served with mayonnaise (skipped the mayo, ate the fries).  Leslie had excellent cod and frites.

It's great to be out early in the morning--not too many people stirring. And you can get a real feel for the city or town that you are visiting.  Only a few cafes and bakeries were open--pastry for breakfast, only on vacation!

The ornamentation of the buildings always catch my eye. 

Early morning activitiy--setting up the flower market.

Loved the tops of these buildings. One of our guidebooks made a cute joke about all these figures pointing and laughing at each other.

Royal Palace, Brussels

After finishing up in the lower town of Brussels, we cabbed it up to the upper portion. 

The Royal Palace must run two city blocks--it is enormous.

Don't know the name of the above garden, but it was perfectly maintained. 


While we enjoyed Brussels, both Leslie and I think three hours is about all you need.  We were there for less than 20 hours.  We left around noon taking the train (one hour) to Brugge where we stayed for four nights.  Heaven.


Next post:  Brugge, Belgium