Le Lac d'Ech-sur-Sure

Beat that Saguaro Lake, huh!  Another one of our little adventures, it was about 1/2 hour from my parents's home, in Luxembourg.  The water was chilli, but what a nice day!

Tommy is white like Aspirine, except that he doesn't disovle in water.

We had to get out quick when we saw these come!

Hmm, no, this is from the Aquarium at the University of Liege.

We came home on Monday, so this is the last pretty green post I'll do for a while.  I miss my parents and my country so much right now.  After I've been here for a while, the pain subsides gradually.  A lot of "what ifs" go through my mind, what if I didn't meet Reed, what if we had moved to Belgium a long time ago, what if what if...but my life is here for now, and I have made peace with that on most days.  But after I come back from a month of mommy time (and 5 extra lbs added to my butt thanks to her cooking), the old ache is rekindled a bit.

Liege, cite ardente.

Liege is my home city.  I was born and raised there, I am proud to be a Liegeoise.  My city is over one thousand years old.  While the country of Belgium went from the hands of the Dutch, to the French, to the Spanish, the Principality of Liege remained independant, with its own Prince Bishop.  Maastricht (Holland now) used to be part of it.  It is rich in culture and just beautiful.  My parents have moved from there and now live in the Ardennes, so we took a day trip there.

Le Perron, symbol of freedom

Free

Old buldings, Place du marche

Palais des Princes Eveques, Place Saint Lambert

La Meuse (river)

This is a cafe, but the saying is in Wallon, which is the dialect of the French speaking part of Belgium.  It says "House of Peket"; Peket being a white alchool well known and loved by the good people of Liege :)

Just doors to an old church

Lost of walking, lots of heat, but lots of fun with Papy and Granny!

PS: my parents are both from Liege too, but you'd never know looking at my tourist dad!

Dinant

Here is another place to see in Belgique.  The fort dates back from the 11th century. Around 1450, one mean French duke(Charles the Bold) threw 800 men in the river Meuse (see below) two by two, nice guy!  Then he burnt the city down.  It was bunrt down again in 1914 by the Germans...not a good history for these Dinantois!

The Happiest Place on earth

There are some really big chipmunks in Paris

We didn't find the Eiffel Tower, even with the maps!

We did find this cowboy, who laughed at our silliness...

no Arc de Triomphe here either...

 Here is their Eiffel Tower, with strange ears

So we left, but not empty handed

and went back to our cabin in the woods of France.

Bastogne

An American Tank that was part of the battle of the bulge in December 1944.  My dad and two others actually wrote a book about this tank and its occupants.  He found the survivors or their descendants and wrote their story. I translated it into English.  It is now standing at the McAuliffe's Square.  See the little Belgian and American flags on the bottom.

My twin sister

A rare picture of my brother not messing around!

Tommy's new girl (don't tell Eden).  She actually already cleans and keeps house pretty well!

Les Frites

I have no idea why OUR fries are called French Fries, as if the Frenchies knew how to make them!!!

If you ever go to my country, the one thing that you cannot leave without eating are these...and yes, with mayo