Memories From Brussels

Wednesday Dec. 14, 2016

We did enjoy Brussels for numerous reasons.  We originally had planned to go there because I wanted to enjoy a European Christmas Market.  There were other unintended consequences that took place.  Walt had hooked up a tour of Art Nouveau sites so we were aware of some buildings in the area.  When we got there we also checked out a building that happened to be Art Nouveau style which housed the Comic Museum.  The Comic Museum made us aware that there were lots of Comic Murals within the city that we could walk around and see also.

The whole area was festive as far as the downtown city streets and shopping areas.  Nothing on the homes, which we had noticed in Europe before.  Even the Mannekin Pis figure had a special uniform.  It looks like it may have been a mountain climbing outfit.  

The Art Nouveau sites were really neat.  Brussels is one of the main areas where Art Nouveau flourished from 1900-1914.  Albert Horta was one of the main architects of the time that made it flourish for as long as it did.  His style with more of the curves and the whip like hook are considered the Organic Art Nouveau.  The Geometric Art Nouveau which had straighter lines and forms became Art Deco which came about in the 1920s and 1930s.  Both of these were in evidence in Brussels.  

The Comic Murals were a very nice way to recognize comic designers from way back.  Most of us know of the Smurfs but there are a whole lot more that were before our time.

So much for the comic murals.

We bid Brussels a fond farewell.  It was a nice getaway.

Brussels Day Five-Returning Home

Monday Dec. 12, 2016

We began our day early as we caught the train at the nearby train station and attempted to get on the right train and proper track.  The airport was our destination for a very long day of travel.  We began with a 10:50 AM flight from Brussels and landed at JFK about 2:30 PM. Our flight in Brussels was delayed so we got in about an hour later. We had quite a long layover so we had plenty of time to take a shower and feel refreshed before our 8:30 PM flight.  Those Sky Club Lounges are a life saver for long layovers for us.  We caught our 8:30 PM flight and got into Orlando before midnight.  All of our flights were all courtesy of Brian arranging them and checking to see which flights were overbooked or not.  He was even monitoring them from very far away in a whole different time zone from LA.  We are quite fortunate that he is paying attention so that we are not left in an airport for several days hoping and praying someone will take mercy on us and give us seats.

We were slightly disappointed in Brussels since we were not awarded Business or First Class.  There were plenty of those good seats left, but the excuse was that the flight needed to be balanced. 🤔. Pretty lame excuse unless there were some real heavyweights in the front.  Possibly a couple of sumo wrestlers or some pro football linemen were occupying some of the seats. 😟

We got home safe and sound, so that is most important.  We had a very nice time.  My next blog will highlight some of our favorite moments.

Brussels Day Four

Sunday Dec. 11, 2016

We spent a good deal of the morning on a treasure hunt of the various Comic Murals that are painted on buildings throughout Brussels.  We must have located at least 6 this morning.  Some we happened to find because we were nearby.  Others we would have been able to locate much more quickly if we had GPS that we could use on a phone.  Either way we had a good time finding them.  We circled around the Christmas Market area once again as well as the Mannekin Pis.  This time the little character was dressed as a Mountain Climber.  The comic murals were done to honor the various comic artists that prevailed in Begium.

These comic murals varied in size and number of characters and they were all well done.  Some extra graffiti has been added but by and large they are in good condition.

The afternoon was spent boarding Tram 92 to head south.  First was the Horta Museum.  This home/museum was the home of Victor Horta who was very prominent in the Art Nouveau movement here in Brussels.  He designed some beautiful buildings throughout his lifetime and his own home was magnificent.  There were lots of details as far as curves, marble, wood and steel and glass.  The home was large as well as homey.  The large windows let in lots of light even though the day was dreary.  We walked from room to room and from level to level.  Each room was warm and inviting with unique types of wood,marble, metal and glass.  You would think some of those items would be too industrial.  They were curved and smoothed and filled with colorful glass to feel cheerful and warm.The kitchen in the lower level also felt very homey.  We could not take photos inside to share.☹️

The outside of the home does not really reflect the inner beauty that Horta created.

We got on Tram 92 once agin and headed farther south to visit an Art Deco home.  We were disappointed since it had numerous sections with the doors closed.  The rooms appeared dark and the little tour booklet spent more time on various pieces of art that the family had collected.  The office area was a neat room with a huge somewhat rounded desk with a blotter made from shark skins.  That was pretty unique.  The house looked like a Frank Lloyd Wright home that did not make the cut. We couldn't take photos inside to share, but not a big loss.

  

Then on to catch Tram 92 once again to make our way back to the hotel.

Brussels Day Three

Saturday Dec. 9, 2016

We were fortunate enough to get on an Art Nouveau tour.  We took a bus to several buildings and actually went inside three.  The first one was the Comic Museum which used to be a warehouse, the next was a school and the last was an elegant home.  

Inside the school.  Brick was used instead of stone and it was also glazed so children would not damage the outside surface with their little fingers.  Tall Windows with lots of light with fancy ironwork were used to create a light and airy learning environment.

This is a home of a wealthy person.  The two side sections also belong to the center section.  The left side used to be the office area.  The right was just an addition for more guests and such.  The highest floor was for the servants' quarters, the children's sleeping area was next and below that was the master sleeping area.  The main entrance area was for guests and dining area.  This home was beautiful with marble and gorgeous wood.  Unfortunately, we could not take any interior photos.

Later we walked around and found this former department store called Old England. We were able to go up into this Art Nouveau building.  We not only walked around on the top of this lovely building but we also enjoyed a drink and admired the surrounding area.  It was really a nice treat for us. 

We not only enjoyed the view but the whole atmosphere of the place was very nice.  I guess I didn't take a photo of the outside with my phone, so I will need to get that from Walt's camera once we return home.  This was a wonderful way to end the day. 

Brussels Day Two

Friday  December 9, 2016

We went for pastries and espresso this morning.  We had to since we are in one of the great pastry areas of the world.  We decided to check out the Comic Museum which coincidentally happens to be housed in an Art Nouveau building.  The building inside was very lovely besides the comic book characters.  The Smurfs are a biggie here.  We have seen more Smurfs here than any other place that we know of.  

Neat Way to display a huge container.

We walked around to check some of the Christmas Market huts and decorations.  Easier to take photos during the daytime with fewer folks but lights don't show up very well.

Having fun on a teeter totter type art form that makes a humming type sound as you go up and down. There were lots of folks of all ages enjoying this activity.

Below are photos taken in the evening.  The lights and the Grand Place look very nice in the evening.

We had to finish our evening with a classic beverage. 😀🍺🍷

Brussels Day One

Thursday December 8, 2016

We did sleep a bit in our Business Class seats despite a fair amount of strong turbulence.  Upon our arrival, we went through the Passport area and then had to locate the train.  The train ticket machines would not accept our card so we had to stand in line with a whole lot of other weary travelers.  We then got tickets for the return trip at the same time.  Now to get on the right track as well as correct train going in the direction of the city.  We did it once again and did end up at Centrum Station near our hotel.  

The next major issue is departing the station with the exit nearest your street address.  That and the fact streets change names or are not named at all.  Herein lies the problem.  We did find a Novetel but the wrong one in the opposite direction.  We did get to our Novotel only to find out it was only a couple of blocks from the train station.  We did see a lot of the decorations overhead as well as flocked trees, and different things that we don't normally see.  This was enroute to attempting to find our hotel, so all was not lost.

This Smurf figure is below our window on fourth floor.  There is also an All Smurf shop nearby.

Belgium Fries (in the paper cone in back) are fried 2 to 3 times to become crispy on the outside but still soft in the center.  They are also hand cut.  You don't want to make the mistake of ordering French Fries in Belgium.  Just to be safe, just order fries. 😊  Notice catsup and mayonnaise are served with fries here.  

We will need to be part of the evening festivities, but not tonight, since we are rather weary and feel like we are operating on one cylinder.

Leaving for Belgium

We did get out of Orlando without any difficulty.  We landed in New York in Terminal C and had to get to the International Terminal by way of a shuttle.  It was a bit chilly since I could blow smoke or the vapor that you see when it is cold.  We waited a few minutes for the shuttle and then headed to the Sky Lounge in the International wing.  it is quite nice and also busy.  We relaxed there for several hours.  It was very overcast when we arrived about 2:30 or so.

Papa is quite relaxed. 😴💤

Now for over a 7 hour flight.  Maybe, just maybe we will be in Business Class.

TESTING BLOG

I am trying to figure out if the blog will actually work for me.

These photos are from Tucumcari, New Mexico on Route 66.  You can see that some buildings have been preserved such as the old motel.  The restaurant Kix had a yummy green chili burger.  A nice historic town but also a very vacant and economically deprived area.  

CHRISTMAS MARKET IN BRUSSELS

December 7-12, 2016

Dec. 4, 2016
PACKING

Our first attempt is to find warm enough clothing for this journey.  We seem so have boots and gloves as well as warm socks and jackets.  The real question is, will all of this fit in our suitcase and still fit in the overhead bin for international travel?  We also have our well-worn passports and our new global entry card.  Brian has listed us on flights from Orlando to JFK and then onto Brussels.  We even reserved a Novotel near mid city and the good thing is, it can be cancelled if we happen to arrive late.

The Blogger site is a little shaky at best on the new iPad platform but I will give it another try in Belgium.

Kauai Oct. 2016

We left on our flight on schedule and arrived after 7 PM.  We relaxed with sandwiches at Brian & Nicole's and chatted before hitting the deck.The next day we flew out to Lihue on an American flight that got us in after dark once again.  Once I knew we had seats, I booked a hotel on Hotel Tonight.

We got our rental car a, Chevy Spark. What an oxymoron since it really didn't have much spark at all. It did sound a bit like an old motorcycle, but it did go even if sluggishly.  We checked into the Kauai
Shore hotel and relaxed at their Lava Lava bar and restaurant.

The following day we checked out the walking/biking trail once again.  We walked along and found a nice little hotel on the beach called the Hotel Coral Seas.  We checked into it for the next two nights and enjoyed the area right near the beach. We used their bikes that they had right there for guest use and rode the trail the first day and ran the next day.  We did run 7 miles by the time we went to the end and back and that was not from the very start.  The whole trail must by 8 miles-4 up and back.

We also checked out where our house is that we are renting in Jan.  Needless to say we were not excited since it is currently up for sale.  It also is not near anything and is cramped in close to other houses which is not how it showed on the photos.  It was also a distance to drive to the pool and athletic club that you could use for $100 for the week.  The pass for the pool had to be purchased way down the road at another area resort.  In other words we were disappointed with the whole situation.

I was also coughing up a storm so we had let Brian know that we would probably not see them when we got into LA.  He of course was disappointed.  He got us a flight on Wed. out of Lihue and we stayed at the Custom Hotel by using Hotel Tonight once again.  We did meet Brian and Nicole for a quick breakfast. We all picked out some pastries and beverages from Ralph's and ate in our lobby at tables.  We chatted a bit and then they dropped us off at the airport.  We eventually got through the American area to find the actual gate area where we really belonged.  We walked down the tunnel area to the Delta Club since we had time to spare.  Brian called us and gave us a new number for a Delta flight.  We found an area where we could get us passes since the desk in the Delta Club did not know what to do.  We returned to the Delta Club for a little while more and then caught our flight to Salt Lake City.  We had some time in Salt Lake and stopped for a little while in the Delta Club too.  We then caught our flight from there to Orland.  We got into Orlando about midnight and drove on home.  It was a busy and fast trip to HI.  Some folks don't get there in a lifetime and we go for a few day trip.  We really are spoiled.  I think we will continue to enjoy being spoiled.

THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTHWEST

Saturday Aug. 20, 2016

After a trying day in airports we did make it to Albuquerque about eight in the evening.  We went by way of LA which turned to be a nice opportunity to meet up with Brian & Nicole.  Brian picked us up at the airport and all of us went to an In-N-Out burger farther from the airport.  We enjoyed a chance to relax, chat and eat.  It was nice and relaxing.  

Once in Albuquerque, we picked up our car and found our Holiday Inn Express that we confirmed on Hotel Tonight.  That neat app was recommended by Brian & Nicole.  We have actually booked at least two hotels since we put it on.  

Sunday Aug. 21, 2016

We left Albuquerque and began our 5 hour journey to Monument Valley.  We did stop in Gallup, NM and found everything was pretty much closed up on Sunday.  We did get gas after heading out of town and stopped at Window Rock where we walked around and took a few photos.  This has really changed since we were last here.  There are tribal building and walkways and also a huge statue of a Code Talker.  The Code Talkers were instrumental in keeping the American codes from being broken by the Japanese during WWII.  These Marines used the Navajo language and even made up words that were not in the Navajo language.  

We continued on and did see some lovely scenery and very long trains until we finally reached Monument Valley.  This time we are actually staying right in the Valley.  The hotel, The View, is now located so you overlook various buttes.  We could see the two Mittens from our nice lanai.  It was really really terrific.  We relaxed out on the lanai with our take out dinner from the restaurant.  What a view from The View.