There's only one thing to report from work. Namely, we finally have a new person to fill a slot that's been open for some time. She seems to be nice enough, not that I was actually worried about that.
The main thing I want to write about is what kept me from updating last weekend. Namely, I did something totally insane and spent Memorial Day weekend in Europe. I planned this back in December and had originally contemplated going to Paris. Alas, there were no frequent flyer tickets there available. But I was able to get a free business class ticket to Brussels. I'd never been to Luxembourg so decided that would be the focus of the trip, which worked out quite nicely.
United's business class is not quite as luxurious as some, but I was still able to get a few hours of sleep on the red-eye. On arriving in Brussels, I bought a train ticket to Luxembourg. This required changing trains at Gare du Nord and a bit of a wait, but it was easy enough and reasonably pleasant. The scenery in the Ardennes is a mixture of rolling farmland and forest, with just a few large towns. It wasn't obvious when we crossed the border since there are no border formalities. On arriving in Luxembourg City, I stopped in at the tourist office, picked up a map and a self-guided walking tour brochure, and set out.
Well, first I dropped my bag at my hotel (the Central Molitor, chosen for locaton). Then I walked to the city center and grabbed a quick lunch. The walking tour started from Place d'Armes and wound through most of the old city, e.g. the Grand Duke's palace, the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin, the Corniche (a sort of balcony overlooking the lower city). Overall, I'd say that Luxembourg is an attractive example of a generic northern European city. The thing that's unique is the views over the lower city area of Grund. I walked down the steep path and meandered around there, too. I'll admit I was relieved when I found the elevator back to the upper city!
I took advantage of a hop-on, hop-off bus tour service to get to some of the more out-lying areas. The newer area, which consists largely of bank offices and European Union buildings, is bland and unattractive architecturally, but does have some interesting modern sculptures between the buildings. Overall, I'd say that the historic center is the interesting part, though.
In the evening, I had a quick dinner and then took advantage of a lot of free entertainment. There aren't normally bands playing about every 5 blocks, but the Luxembourg Marathon was being run that evening. I enjoyed hanging out, watching the runners (and watching the people watching the runners), and listening to the music until what had been a light drizzle turned into actual rain. I went back to the hotel, watched the runners a bit more from my window, and went to bed.
In the morning, I had breakfast at the hotel, then walked back to the train station and returned to Brussels. I had a reservation at the Scandic Grand Place, using my Hilton points. It was a short walk from Gare Centrale and, after leaving my bag, I discovered it was remarkably well-located, being just across the street from the Galeries St. Hubert, a sort of ornate covered shopping arcade. I had been to Brussels before, but hadn't really done more than spend a morning walking around the Grand Place. So I decided that a hop-on, hop-off bus was a good idea to get a better overview.
In short, the EU areas are particularly hideous examples of modern architecture. But they do lead to some nice parklands. The Atomium is certainly an interesting structure and would be worth some time on a more extended visit. Still, one could enjoy a visit that was confined to the more central part of the city. The Place Royale area, for example, is particularly attractive. I still find the Grand Place to be excessively gaudy and the Mannekin-Pis to be completely ridiculous. Even more disappointing is his "sister," the Jeanneke-Pis, which takes considerably more effort to find. I didn't specifically try to find it but there is also a canine equivalent, Zinneke, which I stumbled upon later while following a walking tour of comic strip murals.
Not that I'm particularly interested in comic strips, per se, but it was a good excuse for an extended walk and some of the murals are very interesting. I was only familiar with a few of the characters (Asterix and Obilix, Tintin) but it was fun searching for the brightly painted walls. By the way, the walking tour brochure from the tourist office costs three euros and has two other walking routes in it, covering various parts of the city.
One of my main goals in Brussels was buying chocolate, in part to atone for the Ghanaian chocolate debacle. Of course, I had to sample several places to choose the right one to make my purchase at. I finally settled on La Maison du Chocolat Artisanal and I am pleased to say that the results were well-appreciated.
I was surprised to be able to stay awake for most of the flight home on Monday. I was somewhat exhausted during the week, but not too badly. Overall, this was something pretty insane to do, but it was a fun getaway.
As for this weekend, I made an excursion up to Frederick, Maryland yesterday. I got rid of a bunch of books at Wonder Book and managed not to buy anything. They did have one book I've been searching for, but wanted too high a price. They pay next to nothing so it rankles to buy expensive things there. Still, they do have a lot of books and are reasonably well-organized.
My other excuse for the trip was an art festival in downtown Frederick. There was a nice mix of artists and craftspeople, as well as food and entertainment. I enjoyed listening to a fundraising group for the local theatre, who were singing various Broadway songs. I also purchased a few things - a couple of pins (my usual jewelry obsession) and a glass vase.
Finally, today was another busy day. I took a class at Springwater in making temari. These are Japanese thread balls and are something I've wanted to learn for a while. You wrap wool and sewing thread over styrofoam balls. Then you work various stitches on top to make the designs. There's a lot of time involved in marking and measuring, but it was fun. I'm not sure I'll do lots of them, but I always enjoy adding another craft to my repertoire.
Copyright 2006 Miriam H. Nadel