A Mini-Break in Spa, Belgium

 

And a mini-post (ha!) to remember it by, for the record!

It was a Monday to Friday mini-vacation, August 26-30, that was a total of 615 km/382 mi. roundtrip.  The direct back-n-forth actual mileage was 450 km/278 mi., which means the sight-seeing mileage was 165 km/103 mi.  Just perfect for that amount of time.  And, yes, we keep details like that.  LOL.

Before we got to Spa, Astrid found 3 (count them!) BELGIAN windmills for us to see, just because she knows I have a thing for windmills everywhere we can find them.

Windmill #1:  the Sevens post corn mill in Overpelt, Belgium, built in 1745/1853:

Windmill #2:  the Lisle tower corn mill in Sint-Huibrechts-Lille, Belgium, built in 1820/1908: 

Windmill #3:  Lemmens tower corn mill, in Kinrooi, Belgium, built in 1856:

This was my favorite.

After the windmills, we even visited the Church of Our Lady in Sint-Truiden:

And even though I DID take pics of other ususal suspects inside the church (pulpit, organ, nave, etc.), these ornamental, carved faces (23 of them) at the tops or nooks or corners of pillars everywhere totally grabbed my attention:

Do they have a name?  I have no clue.

After that, we headed to Spa, our home base, where we stayed at the Van de Valk hotel in the middle of the city for 4 nights.  Situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountains, it is a tourist attraction known for its mineral springs and production of Spa mineral water since 1583, exported worldwide.  I first learned about the water here in the Netherlands where its bottled water is known as Spa rood (red cap = sparkling water) and Spa blau (blue cap = still water).

But here's the fun part:  after a competition in 1923, Spa's logo has been the leap-frogging Pierrot...  

...who greets you as you enter the city!

So, the main memory of Spa for both Astrid and me will always be the city walk we took to find the 11 Pierrots around the city in honor of his 100-year anniversary last year:

(In the middle row above it's the same Pierrot, to show also the side view.)

This one's my favorite...

with Astrid giving it scale.

That was Monday!

On Tuesday we drove to nearby Liège (Luik in Dutch), 102 km/63 roundtrip, mainly to see its famous staircase called Montagne de Bueren: 

Because it has 374 steps, there was no way we planned to climb up or even down it.

But we did want to see it both ways, so we started at the top and got this view of the city.

"Thank you for visiting without screaming."  :)

And then later, when we were down in the city, we looked back up.

"Thank you for your quiet visit."

The staircase is named after Vincent de Bueren, who defended Liège against an attack by the Duke of Burgundy,

Charles the Bold in the 15th century.  It was built in 1881 to honour the 600 soldiers who died in battle.  (Wiki)

The other thing we made sure we saw was the early 12th century baptismal font inside the Collegiate Church of St. Bartholomew which had been spared from the French Revolutionary Army and is now considered one of the Seven Wonders of Belgium. 

As a baptismal font, all the scenes depict baptisms.

On Wednesday morning we walked the Spa route to find all the Pierrots (described above) and then drove to nearby Coo (47 km/29 mi. roundtrip) to see the waterfalls that Astrid had seen with her parents when she was 12.  

The waterfalls is 15 meters high and was created in the 18th century

by cutting off a meander from the river Amblève.

The is the river side of the falls...

and looking out from the bridge to the area beyond.

Totally worth seeing a piece of Astrid's Memory Lane!

On Thursday, our last full day, we drove to Dinant (174 km/108 mi. roundtrip) which also is a piece of history from when Astrid was 12.  

On our way, we stopped at a specialty food store with a wine cellar, where I got these pics.

You know me!

We then spent the rest of the day in Dinant, on the Meuse/Maas river.

The Collegiate Church of Our Lady from the 13th century is it's main landmark...

but so are it's colored houses alone the bank of the Meuse/Maas river.

In fact, somewhere under those black umbrellas we ate lunch.

As you see, yes, we took the cable car to get the overview from the Citadel of Dinant.

During our 5-day, 4-night stay, we enjoyed the kind of food we love, with an incredible breakfast every morning at the Van der Valk.  

What can I say except that "we should do this more often," like daughter Amy often said when little.

Sometimes the mini-breaks like this are as good if not better than the big breaks.

As we get older, we pay attention to this.

A Springtime Citadel Walk: Part II

To be honest, I didn't know my next post, after the previous post from April 10, would be a Part II.  But after another walk on our citadel wall the other day, I can't resist.  Besides, it's the other half of the citadel wall, which I didn't cover then.

Instead of turning left at the entry point from our backdoor, I turned right.

Actually, the bottom-right image is looking left, where I didn't go this time.

Turning right takes you to our Nooit Volmaakt (Never Forget) windmill a block away.

It's where Astrid buys her flours for bread-making.

After passing it and going down to the canal, I looked back on it.

Did I ever mention how soulful windmills are to me!

With the windmill to my back, I turned right, passing all the barge houseboats.

The rapeseed at this time of the year frames almost everything we see.

After crossing a couple streets, I'm back on the citadel wall.

See?  It really is a citadel wall, surrounded by water.

Autumn has always been my favorite time of the year,

but because of COVID-19, this year SPRING feels more important than ever.

The pollarded trees in particular always intrigue me.

The branches are cut back every or every other year, all the way down to the trunk.

from which they magically grow back more strongly than ever.

He's man's best friend for a reason, of course,

but once he saw me watching him and calling him a beautiful dog, 

he wanted to play with ME.  We all had to contain ourselves.  HA!
Social distancing, you know.

De Hoop (The Hope) windmill, from 1764, is the other windmill within our citadel wall.

As long as a windmill follows the regulations to keep it registered in the Dutch database,

it receives government subsidies to keep up its maintenance.

Spring cleaning!

On our Shutterchance photoblog today I said this is an Astrid image:  "Man at Work."
Since she wasn't with me that day, I took it for her.

All the land around it is great for dog-walking and...relaxing.

The garden allotments (center-right) are actually from just before the windmill.

Right after the windmill is the Dalem Poort through which you access the bridge,

taking you out into the meadows alongside the Merwede river.

It's time now to cross the locks, behind me, of the inner harbor,

allowing boats to come in from the Merwede river...

...before heading into town, halfway around the citadel.  I see that we are still meeting each other,

but trying to keep distance.  You always know who the couples/families are.

(Btw, that's our ice cream shop (bottom-right) still open.)

However, just so you know it's not THAT perfect, there are almost daily stories of the police fining

 those who are congregating without any distance between them, at €390 per person per pop.
I hate to say it but they're mostly teenagers or young adults.

Hopefully, as the word gets out, those stories will become non-existent. 

In the meantime, yes, we are thankful we can still take our walks.

Our citadel has never looked more beautiful to me in all my 10+ years here!

End-of-Year Gifts

Christmas had already come and gone, leaving one week before the New Year celebration.  Things were slowing down, I thought, getting us ready for 2017.

But 2016 still had something left in her to give.  And did she ever!

First, Astrid called me from work last Friday to tell me there was a rare occurrence in the weather pattern that created an incredible display of frosty art.  When the temps are below freezing and there is fog, BINGO.  She then made me promise to take a walk for her to capture it in photos.  In fact, she was that close to telling them at work she was "sick" so she could come home to join me.

I promised, of course, and this is what I saw:

You may recall that we can access the citadel walk just meters outside our backdoor.

This was around 8:45 a.m., just as it was getting light.

Already, dogs were out walking their "masters."

It was another world.  Magical.

Those who have taken this walk can almost guess what comes next.

You climb the hill, round the corner, and there she is:  the outer harbor.

That was when I saw the sun starting to rise.

Leaving the outer harbor, you see the church, the toll house, the Brainwave.  

And then buiten de waterpoort:  outside the water port.

After crossing the inner harbor and climbing back onto the wall,

the water port is viewed from a different perspective.

And then, De Hoop windmill...my favorite place on the entire walk.

You round the next corner and get the salmon fisher and the Dalem Gate.

 Looking back on De Hoop and looking ahead to the last part of the citadel wall,

even the birds were in heaven.

If you can't have snow, what better gift than to have FROST.

Thank you, Astrid, for making me promise.

I was back home by 10 a.m.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

That was Friday and Saturday, the last day of the year, promised to be foggy, but without frost.  Astrid and I had already decided to drive out into the polder as long as there was fog.  So off we went, once again around 8:45 a.m.

The fog was so thick you could cut it.

At first, we couldn't find the sheep and cows we were looking for.

Astrid said they were probably still in the barn because of how cold it was and still early.

But a few minutes later, we found them...the sheep, that is...far off in the polder.

Did you know that swans pair up and mate for life?

Almost every farmer's plot has a pair...coexisting with the sheep and cows.

This time, however much Astrid whistled, the sheep did not run to us.

Fine.  We just cuddled them from afar.

We had one last goal before driving back home:  capture the polder gates.

When I finished with my captures, I then concentrated on Astrid!
She is, after all, the Lady of the Polder from our Shutterchance photoblog.
I am often reminded that that's where we met, on the Internet, via our photography.

And believe it or not, the only weathervane that spoke to us that day

was one I didn't already have.

How timely for the end of the year, don't you think!

So, see what I mean by GIFTS!

2016 wasn't all that bad, you know, no matter what anyone else says.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!