We started the day early, leaving the hotel at 8 a.m. Our first stop was Compiegne, the site of a WWI museum that is in the exact spot where the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. The Armistice was actually signed in a train wagon that Foch, the leader of the French troops, traveled in across the battlefields. (Later, during WWII, the French surrendered to the Germans...and the Germans used the same train wagon on the same spot, to have the French sign their surrender! Ouch!)
The museum was very small...but very interesting! There were small slide projectors you could individually look through showing scenes from the war and also from November 11th. There were several cases with displays of trench art... art done in the trenches! It was amazing! The french soldiers, which they called, poulis, would sit in the trenches and carve, mold, cut...shell casings from the casings left around. I had no idea!
Lunch was in a cute little restaurant in town...and it wasn't chicken! Nope, it was hamburgers without the bun! That was Ok... because we were off to Belgium....
This photo above is the restaurant...below is the house across the street!
and a house down the road...
Here we are on the road to Brussels, Belgium...
Think CHOCOLATE! Lucious chocolate!
It was Planet Chocolat...and it was grand! We were escorted into a room in the back of the shop where this wonderful gentleman explained the entire process to us. We watched a short video and during this, he passed out samples...delicious chocolate...dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate...oh geez, I'm getting hungry all over again...for us to sample.
Then he asked for a volunteer ... and Sierra was our chocolatier! She was perfect!
After our demonstration and sampling, we headed out to see the Mannekin Pis, a statue of a little boy going to the bathroom that has become a huge symbol of Brussels! The little guy has over 500 outfits that he will have on at times...today he was in the buff!
Amber then guided us to the Grand Place...which is magnificent! I don't know how to describe it, so I won't, I'll just post photos. I can't remember the month that a huge carpet of flowers is made in the center.
We then had about an hour to look around on our own before meeting for dinner....and a delicious Belgium waffle for dessert!
This was also the day that Marissa, Katie D., and I had our little medical adventure. Marissa just happened to show me her ankle in the chocolate factory...her ankle which was ENORMOUS...and RED... and HOT! She said she thought a spider had bitten her a couple of days earlier. Well, after we got to our hotel after dinner, I found a hospital and Katie accompanied us as we ventured into the Belgium medical system. Once we reached the emergency/urgent care type section, this gentlemen in scrubs came to the window and my first question, "Do you speak English?" His answer, "Oh sure!" Whew! So we showed him THE ankle ... and he politely told us he had a wait...so he sent us to another section of the hospital where a doctor saw us pretty quickly. He examined Marissa, prescribed some antibiotics and a topical ointment, Marissa paid her 40 euros and off we went in search of the pharmacy. THAT was a trek... an adventure... but we found it...but they wouldn't take her ATM/credit card...so we were off on another adventure to find an ATM - which ended up taking quite a while. It was fun stopping as many times as we did to ask directions... Marissa was the absolute perfect patient and Katie was the ultimate companion!
1 comment:
Wow! Thank you for this latest blog.
You had so many great pictures of Sierra. She told me how much fun it was to make chocolate. and yes it was delicious! She brought back so many different kinds for all of us to eat. I also loved the creative picture you took of her profile in shadow with the palace in the background. The buildings in Europe are just amazing. Lenore
Post a Comment