Belgium, day 5 - Liege/Brussels (14 Nov)

Packed up all our gear and checked out of the hotel. Grey day today. We bused up to the residence, and started catching up on the washing. Mainly James of course, but I took advantage of the opportunity too.

James at the residence.

We've been carefully saving all of Euro 50 cent pieces for this endeavour, we loaded the washing, set it going, and retreated to James' room. He did some work, I tided a bit (or according to him, hid his stuff), sorted my photos, spent too much time on Google+, and drank hot chocolate from the vending machine.

After we managed to get all the wet stuff dry, or mostly dry, we bused back down the hill to the station and caught the train to Brussels at 16:00. Only about an hours trip.

It was raining when we arrived, so we hauled out our rain jackets, pulled out my hiking pack's rain cover (I tell you, I'm liking this bag more and more!), and walked the wet, cold, and dark 1.5km to Hotel Sabine. Think the wet, dark, and lack of familiarity made the walk seem far longer than it really was, but we made it! 

We were fairly bedraggled when we arrived, but the warm, comfy room more than improved our spirits. The location is great for walking everywhere, the price good, and the room comfortable and spotless.

We settled in a bit and then headed out to treat ourselves to dinner. The rain made us reluctant to go too far, so we went to the Beer Circus. It's close to the hotel, on the pricey side for us, but has great reviews. We started in the bar and sampled some of the their 150 odd beers, before moving to the eating area.

I started with a Kameleon Amber and James a De la Senne Stouterik. Very much enjoyed the crispness of my beer since I often find the Belgian beers a bit on the sweet side.

Round two was a La Hervoise for me and a Liefmans Goudenband (very pretty wrapper!) for James. The slight sourness of the Liefmans (a trademark of the Lambic beers) really worked for me. Much better than the very sour beers I tried in Italy last year. My beer is made using pear syrup, the pear taste leans for to the sour than sweet, and there's a slight caramel taste. Good.

In the eating area I ordered sausage, bacon and "stoemp", James had meatloaf with apple and raisin, and "stoemp". Stoemp is a mash mixture of carrot, potato and leeks, and I'm pretty certain must be the origin of our Afrikaans "boereboentjies" and "boerewortels". It's yummy! My meal was excellent, but I think the meatloaf  James ordered was fantastic. Will have to go recipe hunting!

I finished off with some proper Trappist Achel 8 Bruin from Brouwerij der Sint-Benedictusabdij de Achelse Kluis, or Achel for short. Trappist beer is brewed by the Trappist monasteries, of which there are only ten in the world, six of which are in Belgium. James had a Buffalo Belgian Bitter. With the sweetness of the Achel and the intense bitter of the Buffalo, we found the beers actually complemented each other quite well, so we went half and half.

After consoling ourselves over the bill by reminding ourselves that we haven't done anything for our anniversary this year yet, we headed back to our new base.

Belgium, day 4 - Liege (13 Nov)

This blog was originally a way to share my experiences in a bit more detail with friends and family, and it's been quite a success. It means no one gets left out, I don't have to type five different update emails/smses, and some of you really seem to enjoy tagging along for the ride. To the point that I have had concerned messages from avid readers about why a post is late! It has unexpectedly, however, become something more to me. A way to chronicle my experiences in such a manner that I also enjoy referring back to them.

With this in mind, I believe in trying out new stuff to improve my "story-telling". Now, you should have a map below tracking the main spots I've been in Liege, and you should be able to zoom in, click on points for more info (or my inane captions), and hopefully get the lay of the land, so to speak. Feedback would be nice...*hint* *hint*!



Onwards!

Up a bit earlier this morning. Really no point in being out too early as it only gets light at about 07:30, and it's chilly, and often wet. I've been utterly lazy as far as researching the tourist scene goes, but fortunately James makes a great tour guide. Planned for today was a good cross town ramble, with the intent to find one of the "secret" lookout points of Liege.

We followed the river north up the east bank enjoying the view out over the river. The weather was chilly, but sunny.

Protestant church built just after the Napoleonic wars according to the date on it. Two years earlier and it would have been illegal probably! Lovely red brick work if you look closely.

The Muse river running through Liege still carries quite a bit of traffic. James and I reckon that many of these guys must be independent operators, since it is clear they usually live on board. Note the net curtains on the back bit and the private car!

One of the many bridges spanning the river; can't remember which one this is.

Walking next to the river! The small compact camera I carry means I actually occasionally take tourist photos (hauling out, or permanently carrying my nice camera is hard work!).

Belgium seems to be a very visually expressive country. Everywhere you go there are murals, statues, sculptures, or graffiti. Even Belgium is considered the home of the comic book! 

Here's the Pont des Arches bridge where we crossed to the west bank, guarded by some formidable statues.

There really are bronze statues around every corner, from the more traditional, like this one, to modern.

We stopped for lunch at one of Europe's multiple "Doner Kebabs". Still your cheapest source of protein unless you cook for yourself.

After walking past the Eglise Saint-Antoine, a rather imposing structure, but of which I didn't get a good photo, we arrived at our main goal. The Montagne de Bueren street. This street leads straight up the hill, and is mainly pedestrian-only as a large part of it consists of 374 steps.

The bottom of the steps on Montagne de Bueren. 

Three hundred and seventy-four steps later (377 if you count the last shallow ones you have to climb if you want to collapse on the bench), yes, I counted! The view was worth it!

 After catching our breath (or me hyper-ventilating while James waits for me), we walked up even further to a monument with an additional lookout point.

The monument. Of what, I'm not really sure... 

 At the top of the hill you also get to see the remains of the old Liege Citadelle. The citadel had undergone many changes since its construction in 1255. In the 1970's it was mostly demolished to make space for a hospital. The fact that it was a prisoner-of-war execution area for the Germans during WWII might have something to do with the decision. What you can still see is some of the old fortification buttresses.

Autumn!

Part of one of the hollow walls. These sort of stuck out of the main fortress, and acted almost like mini fortresses that would divide the enemy and offer multiple firing positions.

This is the currently layout. The big square is the hospital. The yellow areas are where we poked around.

A last view of the city before making our way down.

 We decided to take an alternative route down the hill, and made our way down Au Peri. Mostly old houses, built slap bang up against each other. At the very end of the streets we were very covertly watched by three cats who lurked on the roof top. I tried for a photo, but thought it might be a waste of my faithful readers' time to play "spot the tabby ear".

 We then doubled back on Rue de Pierreuse after spotting an advertisement for an interesting pub, but unfortunately, according to the chalk on the door, the owners were attending a music festival. So it was that we instead refreshed ourselves at the more mainstream L'Ange Vin.

On our route home, James took me to see the stained glass windows of the La Cathédrale Saint Paul de Liège.

View of the La Cathédrale Saint Paul de Liège across the plaza.

They had some interestingly modern stained glass amongst the traditional.

Back at the hotel we finished up our Doner Kebab doggy bags from lunch, and James nipped out for some Leffe for both of us, and chocolate for his poor wife who had a bit of a headache. Think it's the weight of the camera bag on top of the tension in my shoulders. Should work itself out if we keep walking this much! 

Belgium, day 3 - Liege (12 Nov)

Not a terribly exciting day I fear. Caught up on sleep, picked up some food for lunch and dinner, and headed up to the University of Liege on the bus. Since I had admin to sort out, and James had work to catch up on after spending the last weekend in Edinburgh (lucky sod), we settled in at the Geology department.

The university is situated outside the main town, in a heavily forested area. With autumn setting in it's beautiful, with the plain buildings tucked away amongst the yellow, orange, red, and brown leaves of the trees. James laughs at me as I happily jump into leaf piles and kick leaves around. I've always liked autumn!

Stopped for lunch, and got to raid the department's Nespresso machine - choice of 10 different capsules, all with different strengths. They take their coffee responsibly seriously here.

After we finished up at 17:00 (that's currently 18:00 for South Africans), we wandered downhill to the residence to cook an early dinner. Nice and full, we lounged around his room, sorting blog posts (me) and playing computer games (James), pretty much just as if we were home. Far too domestic. Forgot to mention they have a very interesting set of vending machines in the entryway: A soft-drinks one that also sells the local beer, a good coffee (and hot chocolate) one, and a . . . pizza one!

The residence has a bar that opens at 21:00, so we had some good Belgium beer. Something that's quite interesting here, is that they're awfully particular about having the correct glass for a particular beer. A bar will serve a beer in a glass with the beer's name on it, and are very apologetic if it isn't possible. James choice this evening has a very interesting one indeed.

Although a second beer would have been nice, it would have meant us catching the last bus back (and maybe even missing it), so we aimed for the second last bus, caught it, and walked the last bit back to the hotel.

Belgium, day 2 - Arrival, Liege (11 Nov)

Change over in Frankfurt. Even with a two hour change over, I only just made my gate before the start of boarding due to the morning crowds, and a loooong walk. Definitely getting in my exercise. Kudos to Lufthansa for the free coffee/tea machine at the gate! Had just enough time for coffee before being bused off to the aeroplane, this time a much smaller one.

Again, booking in online meant a window seat on a bulkhead, but the plane was so empty it probably didn’t matter. Spent the flight listening to music while trying to take photos with my compact camera out of the window. And, of course, coffee. Very important for these long distance journeys!

Landed in Brussels, since I got the intense scans at Frankfurt, here I simply walked through. Being a good South African, I wanted to get to the luggage carousal quickly, before anybody pinched my bag, only to find that my plane had set down at the far end of domestic. Interesting setup actually, you walk straight off the plane into an open area packed with not only people arriving, but also those waiting to board. So you get to walk until you’re almost out before you reach the bag pickup. A walk of at least 2km if not more! So at this point while I was muttering to myself that I could just as well have walked to Belgium, I realised I managed to forget to switch my sim card onto roaming before leaving SA.

So grabbed bag, exited, found cell phone shop, bought sim with data (much cheaper and easier than Germany), and assured everybody I’m still alive, then braved the trains. Turns out one first has to go to Leuven, then change over for Liege. James warned me about the change over, but forgot to warn me that Liege is also called Luik. Cue brief panic moment, but managed to get on the correct train while grouching at James on Viber.

Liege station is pretty amazing. It has this incredible cover over it, all sweeping lines of steel and glass, and offers an amazing view over part of the town. Herman, jy sal mal wees oor die verskye vorems van argitektuur in hierdie stadt!

Found James who had expected me 10 minutes earlier and was worried. He had booked us in at the Alliance Hotel which is only about 1.5 km from the station. I laughed, and told him I’ve had LOTS of walking practice in the last 24 hours. This is the first time that I travel with a hiking pack, and despite the slight awkwardness in packing, and the lack of a means to secure it, it makes a huge difference in the ease of public transport and the whether a 1.5 km walk to your hotel is going to leave you half dead or not.

The hotel is just left of the river in this picture.

The hotel was very pleasant, and we had lots of space. I caught up some sleep. Later in the afternoon we picked up some food from the shops before taking the bus up to Sart-Tillman where James stays at the university residence. Decent enough place although a bit tatty around the edges, and it could be a bit cleaner. We cooked and ate there, before heading back on the bus.

There was a fair in town and tonight was its last night, so we wandered through. We didn’t go on any rides, but I enjoyed seeing things like the haunted house, mirror maze, balloon shooting, baseball throwing, and the obstacle courses that I’ve read about, but never seen. James also treated me to Liege waffles, which are denser and sweeter than Belgium waffles. Our waffles in SA are modelled on the Belgian ones. They were very good, might have to find a recipe.

We then left the crowds and visited a small metal bar that James found to enjoy some cherry cider and good Belgium beer. There appeared to be some first years in some or other initiation program, wearing robes, chains, and long peaked caps. They were carrying a book with check lists, in which they had the bar tender sign-off after he fed them a fairly elaborate concoction that seem pretty dreadful to drink. It appears to be a variation on the shooter called a “back draft”. You’ll have to Google it for yourselfs, but it involves drinking strong alcohol with a straw before sucking trapped alcohol fumes from a glass. The expressions on the students’ face left me in absolutely no hurry to try it myself!

Eventually, although it felt as if I had an incredibly busy first day, we were back at the hotel just before 10.

Belgium, day 1 - Departure (10 Nov)

Was up early on the morning of my departure to help one of James' honours students with grammar and writing. This was followed by a debriefing meeting on the work I've been busy with. Some of you might have heard about the inaugural address presentation for the Department of Tax I've been involved with the last 3 weeks, others might simply have wondered if I've dropped off the face of the earth! The project has been wonderful experience, and a challenging one.

Stopped by Hatfield Plaza on my way home to pick up a poncho, and also managed to score a new moon-bag to replace my old one (you know that one I usually sling around me like a purse). The new one's leather, so much more posh than the old. Since my fleece jackets were also looking rather worn, I was on the lookout for a replacement or two. To my delight the Pick 'n Pay clothing store had a 50% off winter leftovers sale. Managed to pick up a couple of new jackets.

Home to pack the stuff I had spread across the spare room bed, did the usual last minute ditch of clothing I don't really need. Despite the extra cold weather gear, my bag still came in below 10kg. No sword gear to lug around this trip, but James has threatened me with bring his sword gear home, and Lufthansa only allows 23kg unlike Emirates' 30kg.

My mom dropped me at the airport in good time. I wandered off to counter 100 (that’s the one at the faaaar end of the line) to check if they would prefer to have me wrap the hiking backpack since some airlines don’t like them. The gentleman on duty pretty much shrugged and said it was my choice. Toddled the 200 or so metres back to meet my parents-in-law (Richard and Maureen) who had come to hand over a package they want posted in Belgium, and hopefully to see their favourite daughter-in-law. After putting the package into my backpack, the backpack was wrapped and I did the 200 metres to the gate again to drop it off. Then 200 metres back again to catch-up with Richard and Maureen over some coffee. The waiter was most amusing. I ordered some tap water and he said, “One government juice”. Going to have to remember that one! Then off I went through the gate. Fortunately I could nip through anywhere and didn’t have to go all the way to desk 100 again!

Browsed the duty-free, but it was not noticeable cheaper than usual; more likely more expensive. They had 300g Cadbury chocolate bars at R99 each! The Cape Union Mart was fun though.  They had an incredible range of stock, that made the Brooklyn branch look like a poor cousin.

Made the gate in good time, to find I’ll be travelling on one of the huge double-decker airbuses! Still not sure how these monsters actually manage to fly. I know the science, but it still feels like magic.

Flight was comfortable enough. An early online booking ensured I had a window seat up against the bulkhead, so I got to crank my seat back for the whole trip without feeling guilty. In addition, the seat next to me was unoccupied! Lufthansa’s food was not as great as Emirates fare, and there’s less of it. I’m getting spoilt! However, the French red wine was a treat and the coffee was good.

It was unfortunately one of those flights where I think I’ve had a good doze, and then realise I’ve only dropped off for 30 min. I’ve gotten into the habit of catching up on movies while flying simply because I don’t really sleep on aeroplanes, but this time round I was simply too tired watch a movie or read. Oohh, before I forget, where most planes only have a camera mounted underneath, and forwards, the airbus had a third, tail mounted one!

Germany (29th July - 10th August)

Again, will fill in when I've got time. Going back seems silly, but do these posts really force me to document and remember!

Goro, day 5 - 7 (10th June)

Forgot that I never managed to finish my Goro posts. Watch this space for the finish.