February '10 Roadtrip Champagne and Picardy

February '10 Roadtrip Champagne and Picardy

The kids were off for a week--Crocus Vacation--basically, our Spring Break. Big "carnival" celebrations all weekend before Lent. The theme of this trip to France was major gothic cathedrals, castles, and WW I battlefields. The other theme was the bitterly cold weather. And trying to find toilets at really inconvenient times.

Sedan

First stop was the castle at Sedan. The original sections were built in 1424 but several layers of defense were added later to withstand cannon fire. It was the site where the Prussians surrounded and defeated Napoleon III during the war of 1870.

The more modern bastions surrounding the castle.These towers were part of the old castleModel showing how archers could protect the gate from the towers - check out the cool shoes.

Reims

Known for its gothic cathedrals (built 1200s) and as the champagne capital of France. We stayed in a hotel very close to where the Germans officially surrendered in WWII. The cathedral is sublime, so much so that Kathy went to mass on Sunday. This is where every French king was crowned for about a thousand years. Joan of Arc was here for the coronation of Charles VII. Less sublime was the French toilet Jesse needed in an emergency--pretty much a hole in the ground.

Inside the cathedral
Statue of Joan of Arc at the location she was said to be during the coronation of Charles VII
Most people were illiterate so churches were covered with stories told with pictures, this one shows what will happen if you've been bad. The demons throw you in the pot.

Chemin des Dames

"The Ladies' Road" used by royalty to visit. Better known as the ridge that the Germans held in WWI and which a French General--Nivelle--had one million men attack. Basically a suicide mission. The losses were staggering, and led to the largest military mutiny in history, with men not only refusing to go over the top (of the trench) but also reportedly firing on their commanding officers. Nivelle was fired, at least. Today, a quiet peaceful countryside, a favorite with cyclists looking for good climbs. Only the numerous HUGE cemeteries remind you of the carnage that took place here.

Coucy Castle (Coucy-le-chateau)

Kathy's favorite. A massive stronghold, owned by the Coucys, the most powerful aristocratic family throughout the middle ages. Now it's a ruin (partially dismantled, then quarried, then blown up by the ...Germans) but you can still get a sense of the scale. It's odd that people had to live like this--with 20-foot-thick walls and on constant alert. But without a centralized government and the military and police that go with it, the feudal age must have been a pretty dismal and violent era. We stayed within the old fortified city in the only hotel (and restaurant) in town. With no French, Wes managed to get a bottle of good red wine, corkscrew, and wine glasses for our room. We ended up having a really expensive Valentine's Day dinner (champagne, fois gras, etc.) on accident in their restaurant. The best part was that the boys--who sense that they need to behave so surrounding couples can have a romantic dinner, but who then completely freak out-- could watch a movie upstairs in our room while we had a little break from the 24/7 with the family.

Part of the walls that surrounded the castle and the cityIt's as cold as it looks.

Stone cutters would mark each stone they cut so you often see strange markings on the walls of these old castles. Remains of the circular stairs in one of the towersKathy is standing in what used to be the lower floor under a grand meeting room. The cutouts in the upper part of the wall were large fireplaces.

Thank god for cartoons on the laptop

Armistice Clearing, Compeigne Forest

An old royal hunting ground, now a huge forest with mountain bike paths galore. What is now a clearing and monument was the site of Germany's surrender in WWI. The train car in which this happened was later paraded around France, then returned to the spot and put in a small museum. Outside is a memorial to end of the suffering caused by the perfidy and pride of the Germans (or something to that effect). Hitler, when it came time for France's surrender in WWII, had the train car pulled out of the museum (through the front wall) and taken to the exact same spot. He then had it towed back to Berlin where it was on show. It was lost in the bombing at the end of the war. A replica is now inside.

Location for the WWI Armistice and of Frances surrender during WWII

Chateau de Pierrefonds

This was a castle originally built in 1100's that was basically in ruins till Napolean III decided it would make a nice country home. The work was more like a reinvention rather than a restoration but it does make for a very scenic castle. Unfortunately it was closed the day we stopped by. I think we might go back on a warmer weekend. The little town below looked nice with a small lake next to it.

Working model of an old siege weapon called a TrebuchetWes in front of the castle

Beauvais Cathedral

This is an interesting and odd church. Built in the 1200s with the other massive gothic piles, it was never finished and lacks the nave or the long aisle part where you sit facing the altar. The bishops here wanted to have the highest cathedral--and they did until it collapsed, twice. Ran out of money or the ability to collect taxes on the local residents (who did at one point attack the bishop's palace for his heavy levies). Today the thing is held up with huge trusses and supports. Apparently the vibrations from wind wreaks havoc on the structure.

Modern supports to keep the cathedral from falling down again.Cool gargoyle on the exterior.

The bishops fortress (palace) behind the chruch

Amiens

Another huge gothic cathedral, the biggest in terms of square footage. Jesse really liked this one because it has John the Baptist's head, cut off, you no doubt remember, by Herod at his daughter's request. So, there were graphic depictions not only of numerous martyrs (i.e., Stephen shot full of arrows) but also John B. being decapitated and then a carving of what looked like Salome eating his head for dinner. Sadly, the skull is only shown on special occasions, our visit not being one of them. I know people get up in arms about violence on TV, but the art in some of these churches can really compete. It's hard to explain to the kids why all of these people are getting killed in really graphic ways.

Jesse had another bathroom break so Jack and I walked this maze while we waited. Pilgrims used to do it on their knees.

What a cute little angel - wait a minute what's that he's leaning on - Oh gross!

More sinners heading for the dark regions.

Veteran travelers packing their own gear on the way home.

Winter Weekends

We've been doing a lot of weekend and day trips to stave off the winter blues. It's not really much colder here than it is in Baltimore or Tahoe, but it does feel darker. It is often cloudy (bewolkt, as they say here) or foggy or misty, with a very low ceiling (it can feel like ten feet). Days can go by without a hint of sunlight; good for your skin but not your mood. The former director of the Loyola program said that last February logged 33 HOURS of sunlight, which at first I thought was a joke.

Luckily, Belgium itself not only has a lot of cool stuff but it's also close to everything. Here's a quick summary of our trips this winter:


Day trip to Namur in December of 09

Capitol of the French region of Belgium (otherwise known as Wallonia), the city is at the confluence of two major rivers. A castle, fort, then citadel has been here for a thousand years. You can still see destruction to the outer walls from the last siege (1870s?). The best parts, especially for kids, are the tunnels. We visited in the off tourist season and were pretty much left alone to wander through the crumbling, dank, unlit passages.

The flags behind Kathy and the boys mark the point overlooking the rivers. You can see one of the rivers down the hill to the left.

The boys exploring a secret passage.

Day trip to Villers la Ville January '10

This is a former Cistercian abbey just south of Brussels. It's an incredible complex--with an enormous cathedral-- in the middle of nowhere, as it was in the Middle Ages. The community flourished in the 1300s, with about 100 monks and 300 support staff ("lay brothers"). Obviously not everyone followed the Rule of St. Benedict consistently since the abbey included four dark jail cells, each with a closet latrine, but nonetheless as dark and dank as you would imagine a medieval prison to be. As you might be able to tell from the pictures, there is something really beautiful about the dripping, mossy, decaying--but still impressively massive--ruins.

The vine covered ruins were an impressive sight. I think I liked them more than some of the intact churches we've been touring.

Jesse likes to find the kid sized nooks

Looking back towards the Abbot's residence and gardens

Weekend Trip to Luxembourg in January '10

First stop was Luxembourg city

Freezing family checking out the sights from the city wall

This was some of the remains of the city defenses

We had lunch at McDonalds in Luxembourg City, so it's hard to comment on Luxembourgeoise cuisine. Our first site was a mom and small daughter in matching leopard print short skirts and metallic boots. A freezing cold day, but spectacular views from what was again a massively defended and fortified city. Miles of underground tunnels criss cross the city, but they were closed in the winter.

We were done looking around Luxembourg city at about 2:00 so we decided to take a side trip about 30 minutes away to Trier. Trier is said to be Germany's oldest city. It has several impressive relics of the original Roman city. One of the best is a gate to the city (the Porta Nigra) built around 200 AD.

Us in front of the Porta Nigra

The next morning we stopped at the Military Museum in Diekirch, Luxembourg. The Battle of the Bulge happened in northern Luxembourg and southern Belgium and most of the museum documented that battle.

Jesse overloading on all the 'army stuff' in the great collection of vehicles and hardware.

It was nice to see some brotherly love after seeing all the weapons of war.

After the museum we went on to Vianden

This is our first view of the Viaden castle through the fog as we drove into town. Very impressive.The boys checking out the 'old army stuff'
This chest was in the Viaden castle with no description. I'm guessing the elaborate top was used to lock it somehow.

Weekend trip to Rotterdam in February '10

Kiek Kubus (Look, Cubes!) houses, built after Rotterdam was bombed flat, twice, by guess who...the Germans.

Jack in the 'forest' of houses
Check out our groovy cube

This church in Rotterdam was used by the Pilgrims before they set sail for AmericaHarbor in front of the church

After Rotterdam we spent the night in an apartment on the coast in Katwijk. It was relatively cheap since we were in the off season. The next morning we walked on the beach (which was covered with snow) and collected sea shells until our fingers started to freeze. Then we went up the road a few kilometers to Den Haag.

The Hague, probably the city with the weirdest name. It means "the hedge" and this is the shortened form of the real name which is 's Gravenshaag ("the count's hedge"). Must have been an incredible bush. Great art museum--Vermeer's famous "Girl with the Pearl Earring" (starring Scarlett Johanson) is here, among other favorites.

One of the government buildings in the Binnenhof

Two views of the Knights Hall. This is where the Parliament meets (since 1446) and where the queen gives her yearly address to Parliament.

All of these trips were less than 3 hours by car - and we still have several places on our list - stay tuned.

Christmas

I realize it's a little late for a Christmas post but I've been too busy/lazy to post anything till now. Anyway, Santa here is a little different to say the least. Here in Belgium we have Sinterklaas instead of Santa Claus. In early November he sails over from Spain with his black-faced helper 'Zwarte Piet.' The children leave their shoes out near the chimney on December 5th then Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet leave the presents over night. Here's the wikipedia entry for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

We were in Amsterdam with the Loyola students the weekend Sinterklaas arrived so we took the boys to see the parade. It was pretty weird to see all the people in black face. Definitely not something you would see at a parade in Baltimore.


Here's a few pics of the boys goofing around at a giant 'I amsterdam' sign located near the art museums. I think Jesse has a future as the class clown and Jack's going to be the 'cool' guy.

The boys also had some Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet art projects at school.

It snowed just before we left for the States. The Begijnhof had a whole new look with a covering of white.


Our flight to visit family in Lake Tahoe was a little longer than expected. We had a connection in DC which was canceled due to the large snow storm that hit the East coast. They rerouted us to London to catch a flight to LA the next morning. After a night in a hotel near the airport we went to catch our flight the next morning and were told that they had no record of our reservation. By the time we stood in line at the United desk to figure it out the flight had left. Luckily we managed to get standby on a New Zealand Air flight and made it out to LA. The New Zealand service and amenities were much better than our usual United flights, but the down side was that we had already spent 8 hours at the airport waiting to get on a 12 hour flight. We decided to get a room in LA and we made the short hop to Reno the next morning. We were a day late and sick of airports by the end of it but the boys did a great job on all the flights, buses, and airport lines. I guess they earned the right to have two days of presents, the first from Sinterklaas on the 6th and then from Santa Claus and the family on the 25th.

My mom came out to Tahoe so the boys had both grandmas to spoil them and help them build a snowman.

They also had plenty of quality time (i.e., logged plenty of time on the Wii) with their cousins

Cousin Joey with Jack and Jesse during a rare snack break between Wii sessions.

They also tried some skiing and snowboarding. By the end of the week they were both cruising down the hill like the big boys. Here are some videos of them on the hill.


This is Jack and Jesse both coming down together. Jesse decides that the best way to stop is by crashing into me, but he stays on his feet and keeps going down the hill.



This is Jack's first try at snowboarding. Somehow he already knows boarding is 'cooler' than skiing. We also think it might be that his brother knows how to ski now so Jack has to try something different.



At lunch the boys took some time to slide down this hill. Not sure what Jesse was doing here but I thought it was pretty funny.

The flight home went smoothly. We've been back a week but we're still recovering from the 9 hour jet lag.