French Sojourn

My train ride on the TGV from Brussels to Paris CDG Airport, whizzing through the rolling hills and verdant countryside of France at 320+ mph, was most enjoyable as was my flight home on Qatar Airlines A380-800 Airbus with its impeccable service. When I fly to Asia I can handle the 7/8 hour flight in Economy OK, but the long haul to Europe is hard slog so I head for the pointy end of the plane. After I was ensconced in my seat the Maître D introduced himself and explained the set-up. One has a gourmet menu to choose from along with an excellent international wine list and can choose anything in any order day or night by just calling over the attentive flight attendant assigned to you. Here is one of the appetizers I had, an Arabic mezze,  consisting of hummus, tabouleh and moutabel (mashed eggplant) along with Arabic bread. My favourite Chardonnay is a French Pouilly-Fuissé and I savoured one here from the southern Burgundy region. There was also a stylish bar and ...

On my penultimate day in Belgium I headed for Tournai, close to the frontier with France as I was keen to see its seminal cathedral. However, when I arrived I found there were massive renovations in place both inside and out, but it is still worth mentioning a few facts about the Cathedral. It is a stirring amalgamation of Romanesque and Gothic styles with five distinctive towers. Inside intricately carved capitals embellish its columns. In front of the altar there is a superb marble rood screen that depicts biblical events. There are also some wonderful 16th century stained glass windows  and a glorious painting by Rubens of the "Delivery of Souls from Purgatory ". Nearby was the Belfry, which dates back to 1188. I climbed its 257 stairs for a panoramic view of Tournai. Here are some photos of its carillon and the Cathedral. My last stop was the Pont des Trous, which spans the River l'Escaut and is the only surviving part of Tournai's medieval ramparts. Tomorrow I le...

After arriving back in Brussels I took a stroll around the Lower Town with its narrow, cobbled lanes and alleys and prestigious mansions. I started at the Galeries St-Hubert, an elegant, glass-vaulted shopping arcade, dating from 1847, with pastel-painted walls and classical pilasters (shallow rectangular columns protruding slightly from the wall) and lined with terrace restaurants. I continued on to the Grand-Place, one of Europe's most beautiful, medieval squares. The Grand-Place is dominated by the 15th century Hôtel de Ville with its 96 meter spire soaring above two long series of arched windows. Here are some of the other flamboyant Baroque style former Guildhouses with their gilded façades that grace the Square.

My first stop today was the 15th century Gothic Collégiale Ste-Waudru. This monumental and magnificent church with its superb set of gargoyles was named after Saint Waudru, a virtuous 7th century nun who founded a small religious community in Mons. Here's a 15th century carving of her with her two daughters in wood polychrome. The shrine containing Ste Waudru's relics is suspended above the altar. Each year on the weekend of Trinity Sunday Mons holds the Festival of the Ducasse de Mons or Doudou, where the casket containing the remains of Ste Waudru is placed in a golden Louis XV1 wooden carriage called the "Car d'Or and paraded around town, escorted by hundreds of costumed guardians. After Ste-Waudru's romp around the Grand-Place the Car d'Or is pushed back up the hill to the Church in one mighty effort by the enormous crowd. After the saint's relics are safely back in her shrine chaos erupts n the Grand-Place with a battle battle between St George the chi...

Mons, situated in the western reaches of Wallonia, has an historical military association for it was here that the British Army fought its first battle in WW1. As well, when General de Gaulle kicked NATO out of Paris in 1967, NATO's SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe) relocated here. The heart of Mons is the Grand-Place, a long, elegant square flanked by substantial stone former merchants' houses and terrace cafés, and it was to here I first headed. The square is dominated by the 15th century Hôtel de Ville. Outside, on its front wall, sits a tiny cast-iron monkey which, according to local folklore, will bring you happiness and good luck for a year if you stroke his head with your left hand, hence his bald, polished crown. I'll look forward to exploring more of the town tomorrow.

I started the day with a rather exhausting trek up a serpentine track to Namur's medieval hilltop Citadel, one of Europe's mightiest fortresses. Tunnelled underneath the Citadel are a series of casemates or fortified gun emplacements through a damp, cold section of which I was able to walk. The Citadel is situated high above the confluence of the Meuse and Sambre rivers. Walking back along the banks of the Sambre I passed some charming river vessels such as the Archangel. My next stop was the multi-domed, triple naved 16th century Cathédrale St-Aubain. Inside I came across a doleful "Pourquoi Moi, Papa" statue of JC. I finished up at the Musée des Arts Anciens, which was displaying some exquisite gold and silver work from the 13th century. Here is a gorgeous, golden songbird from that period. Tomorrow I take the train due west to Mons.

To reach Namur I had to come via Liège along the banks of the Meuse, that mighty river of some 950 km which rises in France and flows through Belgium and the Netherlands before flowing into the North Sea. It was very relaxing sitting back and watching the river barges slowly floating by through the train scenic window. Namur is in Belgium's southernmost region known as the Ardennes and is the seat of French speaking Wallonia's parliament. I took a brief walk around town to orient myself. Here are a couple of its fine buildings, the former Bourse or Stock Exchange and the Hôtel de Ville.

Revitalized after a 24 hour R and R, I was ready to hit the road and set off for pocket-sized Vianden in the north-east of Luxembourg, close to the German frontier. First I took the train to Ettelbruck, where the American general, George S. Patton, is revered for driving the German Wehrmacht out of Luxembourg in the latter stage of WW2. From Ettelbruck I took a local bus through the lush, verdant countryside to Vianden to see its famous hilltop château. Victor Hugo lived here for a time after he was expelled from France for supporting the French revolutionaries in 1848 and there is a bust of him on the tiny bridge spanning the River Our. Adjacent to the bridge was the Église Saint-Nicolas dating back to 1256. To get to the Castle I took the easy way on the Grand Duchy's sole télésiège or chairlift. The castle was originally the feudal residence of the Counts of Vianden from the 12th to the 15th centuries and has a blend of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The Grand Duke of Luxem...

Luxembourg City is one of the most spectacularly sited capitals in Europe, spread across a series of sandstone plateaus high above deep and verdant gorges and because of this impregnability, in former times, it was called " Gibraltar of the North". I started my walk at the Hotel de Ville or Town Hall, built in 1830 in a neo-classical style, and continued on to the Moorish influenced Grand Ducal Palace with its dormer windows and multiple spires. I did a tour of its lavish interior with its dazzling chandeliers, medieval tapestries, richly carved wooden panelling and paintings of previous royal families. Next stop was the Cathédrale Notre-Dame with a beautiful tiled pictorial of St Joseph. Here is quite a lovely photo of the spires of the Cathédral with a monument to local Jews killed by the Nazis in the foreground. I next descended far below and to the east of the Old Town and the ruins of its outer fortifications to the area known as the Grund with the walls of the main cita...