Headed for Belgium

We were ready to leave Paris. I think we all longed for the slower pace and open spaces of the countryside. I find the lack of suburbs in France and Germany interesting. After leaving the peripherique  (the perimeter highway around Paris)...there is still a lot more “city” but it seems to end quite abruptly a few miles outside of town and almost immediately becomes countryside. I think that is what the environmentalists want for the US when they complain bitterly about urban sprawl. I personally don't think having millions of people crammed on top of each other in a very small space to be healthy mentally or physically. My stay in Paris reinforced forever that I am more of a country girl than a city girl.

My husband has traveled a lot.  But now that his sister is living in Germany for the second time, she has the opportunity to travel more.  They used to, at least in his mind, have a bit of a running competition to see who had visited the most countries.  She clearly has the upper hand and I think he has given up…but still he wanted to add another county to his list. 

We had hoped to spend the night in Belgium before going to the WWII museum in Diekirch, Luxembourg.  Unlike US hotel rooms which usually sleep 4, in Europe you have to pick a double, triple, or quad room.  Most hotels only one or two quad rooms.  Since we couldn’t find a hotel in the Luxembourg region of Belgium we decided to stop for lunch in Bouillon, Belgium.  I picked Bouillon because it was a quaint village sitting beneath a great old castle.

 

The navigation system told us Bouillon was down this single lane road....

Along the way we passed this trailer park.  We had not yet seen anything like it.

Another mile or so and we were on the outskirts of a village.

...when...uh oh....we aren't getting through there.

We finally made our way into town.  The first order of business was a relaxing lunch.  We never had a chance to catch our breath in Paris.

"T" is more of a food for fuel sort of person.  He wasn't happy about a sit-down restaurant meal.  We only let the kids do electronics at the table once on this trip (trying to represent) and he was forced to do quiet drawing activities instead. 

 

I loved the look on my husbands face when he got this...but once he figured out how to eat it, he said it was wonderful.