Four Countries in a Weekend

This week was a slow one for me. I had an ear infection that I had to go to the doctor here. Someone that Dad works with made an appointment for me. The doctor was nice and spoke some English. He gave me some medication to relieve the pain in my ear. Some other medication was given me to clear the infection. It was not antibiotics but seems to do the job. We stayed home most of the week because of me not feeling well. We did make a trip out to see how Mihaela (not Michelle) was doing. To meet her cat named Poophy. To see her house after they got furniture in it. We went into Oudenaarde after dark to see the city light up.

For the weekend we decided to drive to Bastogne to see where some of the battles of World War II were fought. The Battle of the Bulge was fought here. We had our lunch here sitting on a bench at the Bastogne Historical Center. We visited the Mardasson Monument. It was in the shape of a star with the names of the states on all the angles. This is a monument to the 101st Airborne.

We spent quite a bit of time looking around the monument. As par for our days it started to rain again. The historical center museum was closed so we drove on into Luxembourg. It rained a hard rain on us as we traveled down some very narrow roads. The forests were thick with trees that canopied over the road. It was dark in the forest and the trees were so thick it made the rain slow. When we came out it became heavy again. We could smell the onions in the fields as we traveled. Agriculture is a large part of the countryside. After reaching Luxembourg the rain stopped so we could enjoy the sites. We stopped to take some pictures at a dam.

Then we drove in to Esch-sur-Sure. There were fortress walls of an old castle.

We hiked up to it to see the views of the city from the castle. The view was just breathtaking. It sure can make your imagination run wild as to how this people could have lived back then. The labor the poor people had to do to build the fortresses and castles.

Down in town along the riverfront they were just getting ready to open a market. We walked through to see what was to be had.

I knew that I could not carry any more weight in my suitcases than I came with. Here we got a wild hair and decided to drive into Germany. Bonn was our destination. We got to the town of Mechernich in Germany and decided to stop to have some dinner. Dinner was at the Stadtkrone Restaurant. The food was good. Laurene and I just had chicken soup but Dad and Dave had meals.

After dinner it was back on the road to Bonn. Even when you go the speed limit cars zoom past as if you are standing still. We found a hotel in Bonn called the Mozart Hotel.

It was ready to close when we got there. The receptionist was at the door to lock it as Dave and Dad walked up. She stayed open to let us have a room. The rooms were small but very clean and comfortable. The lady who checked us in told us a list of things to see the next day. Most all stores were closed for Sunday. We took a walking tour. We caught a good part of what there was to see. We even saw where Ludwig van Beethoven was born.

Because Bonn is where Beethoven was born and grew up he is honored throughout the city.

The city government building at the opposite end of this market square was also very beautiful.

Dad wanted to see the Rhein River.

While we were standing by the river we decided to take the boat up the river and back. We rode to Konigswinter,

had some lunch, walked around the market

and then rode back on the boat to Bonn. We wanted to see a couple of churches where Beethoven played the organ for mass, in this one when he was ten years old.

They even had the font in which he was baptized.

These churches were built from 1276 through the end of the 14^th century. The other one was larger and more ornate.

We then had a non-stop ride back to Belgium and home. In this segment we passed through a small piece of Holland for the fourth country on our trip. We did notice that we passed at least six nuclear power plants on our trip. The trip was beautiful. During each one I think we just can’t surpass this one but then we do. It was great trip with lots of things to see.