Adeus, Adios, Tot ziens, and Au revoirs

That is "goodbye" to our vacation in the various languages we have been dealing with over the past few weeks - Portuguese, Spanish (Catalan dialect), Dutch (Belgian) and French. Hard to believe that our four week adventure is finished and our feet are once again on U.S. soil. We are spending two nights in NewYork with our friend Robin as we re-orient ourselves to America. I did find myself saying "Merci" to the cab driver as he dropped us here in the village...and I can barely remember how to use my cell phone, and I'm not recognizing the ring!

But still a few more days of our trip to update you on. On Saturday (in Bruges) we got up and climbed the 366 steps to the top of the Bell Tower.

The views from the top - panoramic- were incredible. We were also able to see the mechanism for the music that plays (Greensleeves, Danny Boy, and several classical pieces. We timed it just right as we realized it was almost 10 a.m. when we were at the top, so we raced down 33 steps to be at the mechanism when the music was playing, than ran back up to the top to be with the bells when they chimed 10. A very magical moment. We love Bruges!!!!

Belgium is quite fascinating. The people speak many languages - Dutch, French (although a strange dialect of French), German, and English. Here you see our waiter from the previous night's dinner speaking with Gilles on the square the next morning. He spoke all 4 languages mixed together, and then his native Italian thrown in just to confuse things more. He was quite a character!

We then spent the afternoon in Antwerpen (also referred to as Antwerp and Anvers - everything in Belgium has several names because of all the languages). We loved Antwerpen!!! Are you noticing a pattern here?? We first visited the Ruben house/museum/gardens which was fascinating. We have enjoyed the art museums that focus on one artist and what inspired him. Like many others, he also designed buildings and we were later able to see the cathedral he helped to design.

Here is the big square in Antwerpen - similar style of buildings as in Bruges, but on a much larger scale.

You can see on this one building all of the flags - we have seen many signs of the European Union and this is a good example.

We happened upon a wonderful place for lunch filled with all sorts of "saintly" statues, cherubs hanging from the ceiling, and little touches of humor (a painting of a nun with a low cut habit and impressive cleavage). An equally interesting assortment of food - we had a curried vegetable soup and vegetable lasagna...

For our last full day in the Paris area (Sunday) we decided to stay around Brunoy. We went with Janet and Gilles to do their Sunday marketing at a neighboring town Brie-Comte-Robert. We have learned that most of French regions seemed to be named for some sort of cuisine or wine. We have also learned that France has over 40,000 chateaus - they spot the countryside and most towns have some sort of chateau. Here is the one in Brie ComteRobert - actually in ruins and being restored, including an archeological dig and museum.

We then, for a bit of contrast, moved on in the afternoon to another nearby "little" chateau, Vaux le Vicomte.

There was a special event going on with many people in period piece costumes - these were my favorites.

The grounds were designed by the same person who designed Versailles, and most other famous French gardens - if I wasn't so tired and punchy I'd remember the name for you. The grounds reminded us of the Mall in Washington DC

We ended the day, and our trip, with dinner at the Mona Lisa with our wonderful hosts.

This morning we were up early to go to the airport in Paris for our mid-day flight to London, then a mad dash to make our connection to JFK. We again enjoyed the royal treatment on British Airways, so much more "civilized" than our normal jaunts on JetBlue or Southwest. Lots of food and snacks, free alcohol, free movies, free headphones, etc. And pleasant little comments from the pilot: "it is a bit blustery in New York, so hold on to your hats!" I will be back in Pleasanton on evening of 6/24, and Jim will be home on 6/26 after a quick visit to see his dad in Virginia.

So that is it. We are so full of so many wonderful memories. We have seen and learned SO much our heads are swimming - in a good way. Best of all, we spent 4 weeks together, 24-7, and still like each other!

Hope to see you all soon!