Tuesday in Dinant

Today we went to Dinant, Belgium. (2 stars in the green guide). The inventor of the saxophone was from Dinant, so it is sort of the town's claim to fame, thus saxophones decorated the entire town. (fun fact: both Raph and I played the saxophone as kids!)

To enter the town, one has to drive through this huge rock formation, which was pretty cool:

The main attraction in Dinant is a citadel- a fortress dating back to 1051, which was destroyed several times and most recently rebuilt in the 1820s. It strongly reminded me of someplace else I've been, but not until this moment have I been able to place it. It reminded me of a fort in San Juan, Puerto Rico that we visited, which, Raph is informing me is also a military fort.

Anyway- details from the citadel. Most of the ground was a very thick gravel, making it impossible to push Henry's stroller, so instead, I carried him, wrapped in his snuggly, in my arms. As a result, my dad and I visited the museum part separately. Here's the funny part: when my dad came out of the museum, he reported to me that there was one room with slanted floors that gave him extreme vertigo and made him feel like he was going to throw up (unsurprising from the man who turns green on the teacups in Disney World). Then it was my turn to enter the museum. Fortunately, before entering the room with the slanty floor, I happened to see this sign:

Now, while my dad was put off by the vertigo effect of the room (No panic!), he failed to mention that there was loud simulated gunfire in this room, so when I entered, the fake gunfire caused me to scream and run out. Therefore, I fortunately missed the vertigo effect. Needless to say this room induced much panic between the two of us.

The best part of the citadel was the view looking down on the town.

view from top of citadel

In addition to the citadel, we had lunch at a cute spot that resembled the inside of a bottle of pepto bismol. Fortunately the food was good, and we did not require any.

lunch at pepto bismol restaurant

Finally, we also visited a church, where we saw this awesome statue:


We also tried to visit an ostrich farm
and a castle
but both were closed.

As far as our pictures, I have to warn you that I was under strict instruction from Raph to document the entire day. As a result, you will see many pictures that I would not have otherwise taken. Especially the mannequins from the citadel museum. But they're kitchy and funny, so enjoy. Here's the link.

I quit my job

This is just an informational post to let you know that yesterday I quit my job. And in the words of Forrest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that." Actually, I have a lot to say about it. Just not here on this forum.

Today we are going a small town in Belgium, called Dinant, which is about an hour and 20 minutes away from here. Will report back on the trip later.

Welcome Grandpa Mike

picture from Nancy

My Dad arrived on Saturday morning. Saturday we had a low key day walking around part of Luxembourg. Sunday we drove to Nancy, France. Here is a link to our pictures from the weekend, with a few bath pics thrown in at the end. Enjoy!

Pictures from my birthday dinner

Merci, Papa, for these great pictures!!! If you click on the pictures, you can see them larger.





sparkler cake.

Maxi Lammform

So excited. I bought this at the supermarket today. It is a mold of a sitting lamb to bake a cake in. It's 3-D. And it's called "Maxi Lammform." The name is the best part. The picture here really doesn't do it justice. The picture of the completed lamb cake on front of the box is really funny. When I finally bake a cake in it, I will take a picture to show you.

The other best part is that last weekend, my mother-in-law introduced me to instant cake mix. Instant like how you can get cookie dough in the US. You don't even have to mix in the eggs and the oil, etc. You just pour it into the pan and bake it. Fortunately, I found some at the supermarket here, and got some to use with my Maxi Lammform.

Now, the cake mix I got was chocolate, and although there are black sheep, I really wanted to make a white sheep. Plus that is how they show it on the box. So I got some powdered sugar. Guess what the name for powdered sugar is. Are you ready? Sugar Impalpable. How great is that?

As an aside, since we have arrived, I have insisted to Raph that German is fairly easy to understand if you just read the words out loud and have the tiniest bit of context. Lammform. Case in point. Of course, this has evolved into a joke that I am fluent in German, so Raph is often demanding that I "translate" random German signs.

That is all. Will keep you posted about how the Maxi Lammform works out.

Dreams From My Father

If you haven't rad Barack Obama's book, Dreams From My Father, I encourage you to do so. I'm not up to writing a proper book review, so here are my reasons that you should read this book, in no particular order:

1) It's an enjoyable read; it reads like a good novel. It is both funny and emotional, and even a page turner; one wants to find out what happens next.

2) The guy is our President. We citizens should want to know more about this man who has been set with the task of leading (arguably) the greatest nation in the world during particularly troubling times. His book provides considerable insight into who he is (or at least who he was when he wrote the book. After all, people change.). Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, there are details of his life of which I was previously unaware that make me less enthusiastic about him being our President. Nonetheless, I think it is important (I won't go as far as saying our patriotic duty) to know who our President is, and this book is an excellent source of information.

3) Related to point 2, (and if I'm not mistaken, Alex deserves credit for this thought), he wrote this book presumably at a time when he had no expectation of running for President or even Senator, according to the introduction. Someone with such political ambitions would never have provided such an honest account of aspects of his life. What makes this book remarkable, then, is the brutal honesty about some of the messier parts of his life- parts that we rarely, if ever, have heard about any sitting President from his own mouth, but that surely exist in some form or another for all people. He's just like us!

3) He has had a truly remarkable, incredible life. For that reason alone, the book is an excellent read.

4) The book is inspiring. Or rather, his life is inspiring. He really gives new meaning to the American Dream. For me, he is a new icon for the American Dream. The book, or rather, the life that he has lived, makes me feel like I can do anything I put my mind to- in a way that I haven't felt since high school, when naturally, I knew everything. :)

5) The book is peppered with insights and observations that it would take me a lifetime, if that, to consciously recognize, put words to, and do so articulately. I can't think of an example of this, but several times as I was reading, he would have a sentence that was not posed as some grandiose idea, but just part of his explanation of something, that would cause me to stop in my tracks and just feel blown away by how smart he is.

I guess that's it for now. Here is a link to the original NYT book review. Here is a link to where you can buy the book!

Happy First Birthday, Alena!

My precious niece, Alena, turned 1 on March 19th. Here are pictures from her birthday party this past weekend. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

A toast to the greatest mommy of all! Thank you for taking care of me in this strange land. You are my sunshine!

Three cheers for mommy... hip hip hooray!

Note: This is not a narcissistic attempt by Jill to let everyone know it's her bday, but rather a shrewd plot by her loving husband to do just that

Awesome day in Paris

This past weekend, we went to Paris to visit Aaron and celebrate Alena's first birthday. (pictures of those events to follow soon in a separate post). We did both these things on Sunday. So Saturday, we were free to wander around Paris as we pleased. The weather cooperated and we were blessed with an absolutely perfect, gorgeous, sunny day. While Luxembourg has had a few crocuses appear, the full panoply of spring flowers are in bloom in Paris- there were tulips, daffodils, forsythia etc everywhere.

Our first stop was a little art gallery that we like along the Seine, where, several years ago, we purchased a work by Mikio Watanabe (if you click on catalogue, it's the one with the lizard and moth from 2003 collection). This time, we came very close to purchasing this print by Lynn Shaler but ultimately decided against it. Instead, we bought some Babar prints on the street.

shopping for babar prints

We continued our day walking over to Notre Dame, along with the rest of the entire touristic world. We decided that given our recent visits to the cathedrals of Metz and Reims, we might as well go tour Notre Dame again, to have a recent comparison of the others. I don't think I've been inside Notre Dame since 1999. Or maybe 2001. All in all, I think of the 3 cathedrals, the stained glass at Metz is the best, while the architecture at Notre Dame may be the best. Yet Reims may be my favorite.

After Notre Dame, I got a crepe au nutella on the street, and I have to say, of all the crepes au nutella that I've had in my life, the best by far are those made fresh by street vendors in paris.

We then went to one of my favorite stores, Dyptique. (this link is a bit of a dud, since they are redoing their website). Since it was around the time of my birthday (which is today!) I gave into Raph's encouragement to splurge a little, and I got a lilac candle and a new perfume. I love dyptique the same way that I love Mariage Freres. Both are totally expert at delighting the senses.

Along our promenade, we stopped in several cute stores, including some comic book stores and an oh-so-precious baby store that carried designer baby clothes, like burberry and armani. If I had a daughter, I would definitely get this dress. Okay, maybe I wouldn't definitely get it, but I would be quite tempted.

Our day together ended at a little cafe in St. Germain where we got a perfect table, in the sun, in the front. I got a snack of a green bean salad, which, although it sounds mundane, was really delicious and completely hit the spot.




pictures from the cafe

Later that evening, we went out to dinner with Joanna, Alex, Alena, Maman et Papa to celebrate my birthday. Thankfully, someone thought ahead and booked us a private little room in the back of the restaurant, because neither Alena nor Henry were too happy to be out to dinner. The evening ended with a chocolate mousse cake with a sparkler on top (unfortunately I don't have a picutre of this). I also got some fab presents. merci beaucoup encore!!!!

So there you have it. The details of our day in paris, from Notre Dame right down to my green bean salad. Here is a link to our pictures from saturday- as usual there are many cute ones of Henry. You must must must watch the video at the end of all the pictures where Henry is laughing. It is too cute to miss.

3 things

1) My new favorite dinner is:

pasta with onions (sauteed), peas, olive oil, and salt and pepper. yum.

2) Raph is in Munich for business so Henry and I are all alone tonight. So far so good. I'm thinking of Joanna for "courage" because Alexandre has to travel a lot for business. I miss mon cherie beaucoup. (I realize it is slightly sad, dependent, pathetic, what have you since it's only 1 night).

3) I heard the best song ever on the radio today- that song by PM Dawn from like 1991 that goes, "set a drift on memory bliss." I never would have remembered the name of the band, PM Dawn, if they didn't say their name in the lyrics. that's what I love about the radio here- they play the most random songs, most of which are pretty good.

That's about all I have to say today. Time to eat my pasta, onions and peas.

Spring has sprung

Spring seems to have sprung here in Luxembourg. Since Sunday, we've had nothing but perfect spring days. The crocuses are peeking through the mulch and the birds are chirping. (what is the plural of crocus? or is crocus the plural? Any latin scholars among my readers?) Henry and I have gone on some walks around the neighborhood.

At Raph's suggestion, I took pictures of some of the houses in our neighborhood. The architecture is so different here. See for yourself. Some of the houses even have thatched roofs that look like they are made of straw!

Ayo Technology

I am so excited that I found this on youtube to be able to share it with you. This may be my best discovery in Luxembourg so far. Ever since we arrived here, there has been this song on the radio that I seriously can't get over. And I can't get out of my head. I recognized the lyrics immediately- it's an old rap song with fairly raunchy lyrics. But the version that is on the radio here is an acoustic version. It's like Busta Rhymes meets Eric Clapton (although this song includes neither of them), and it is totally brilliant. (disclaimer: mom and dad, I doubt you will enjoy this as much as I do).

Here is the acoustic version that I hear on the radio all the time. (warning: if you are watching at work, the video is a little racy). Speaking of the racy video, you really should not watch the video but just listen to the song to get the full effect that I get in the car over here. It's just this sweet sounding guy, strumming a little ditty on his guitar-- one that happens to be pretty dirty. When you watch the video, it kind of ruins it, because the racy video matches the raunch lyrics, so it's not as incongruous.

Here are the lyrics.

Here is the original version by 50 cent, featuring Justin Timberlake. (warning: this video is also racy). And I'm sorry, but this video only strengthens my resolve that JT is a total and complete tool. Like his little dancing behind 50. ew. (sorry michelle and beth).

Here is the webpage of Milow, the guy who does the acoustic version, which proudly boasts that this song is #1 on German iTunes.

Oh- and apparently there is no FCC in Europe. Or at least Luxembourg. Or at least they don't bleep out the swears on the radio here (or the TV for that matter). So the acoustic version is that much better.

Enjoy!

Henry gave me a hickey

You know how at a certain age, babies slobber all over your shoulder and leave a little wet trail of saliva, like a slug? Well Henry is in that phase. He is also in the phase of sucking on everything, constantly- from his own fists to other people's shoulders. This morning he was sucking on my shoulder and he actually gave me a hickey:

You can also see that the strap of my tank top is wet with his saliva.

Here is a link to some other random pictures from our afternoon yesterday, walking around our neighborhood. My favorite is the first picture, which is a picture of Henry where he has removed his pacifier from his mouth in favor of sucking on his fist.

We miss Grandma Joanne and Grandpa Art!

You left just yesterday and we miss you already! Our visit included trips to Brussels, Vianden, Metz, and Reims, but no sightseeing compared to the joy of just spending time together. Henry learned some new skills with Grandma Joanne, including perfecting his raspberry sound, and starting to grab his toys. They also had some marathon "conversations" together.

In addition to Brussels, our visit to Reims was our other significant trip. Reims is the city where Champagne comes from. We visited the houses of Pommery and Mumm, where we toured the caves and tasted different champagnes. Pommery was particularly fun because the caves included a modern art installation. One exhibit within the caves was a set up where birds were flying around and landing on electric guitars that were plugged into amps. The birds' movements on the strings created "music." Voila: art! It was unlike anything any of us had ever seen.


bird on guitar from Pommery caves. so weird.

Here is a link to some of our pictures from the week. At the end, you'll see a short, cute moooooovie.

We miss you and can't wait to see you soon! but not soon enough!

Kittens inspired by kittens

This video is hilarious. I found it on my friend Jasmine's blog, which is brilliant.

Neat

This is neat. Thanks to Aura, who sent it. You have to watch the whole thing, but it's under 2 minutes.

Brussels

It's late here, and I'm tired, but here is a summary of our weekend in Brussels....As I mentioned, my mom and Art arrived on Friday. Friday night we drove to Brussels for a short weekend jaunt. We stayed in the Sablons area. (thank you to my in-laws for the fab recommendation! For any future brussels tourists among you, I highly recommend this area.) Saturday morning we meandered through a cute little antique street market, where I purchased the cutest little antique chocolate mold. A street vendor was selling escargot at the antique fair.



Throughout the day, we visited umpteen chocolate shops, where chocolate is truly elevated to an art form. One famous shop, (Whitters? Weimer? Witter? I can't recall the name at the moment, and don't feel like looking it up) had some kind of collaboration with Louis Vuitton and was making a chocolate shoe with the LV pattern. In addition, they created these mannequin heads with fancy hats out of chocolate. Here's one with the shoe on top:



We also visited the Grand Place, which was beautiful to see. On Sunday we went to the art museum where we saw some Breugels, etc.

Hmm, what else. Oh, brace yourself, this is weird. On Saturday, there was some kind of charity parade going on. It was the Queen's charity to benefit poor children, and dates back over 100 years. The thing is, the charity involved a bunch of white guys wearing black face and dressing up in these odd costumes, and carrying giant forks, spoons, whisks, and other larger-than-life utensils. I didn't take any pictures because I was really put off by the black face. Not to mention that these guys were everywhere we turned- it was like they were following us throughout the city, and it was pretty annoying. They were even coming into the restaurants and asking for donations. The funny thing was that of the 80 or so people dressed up like this, we saw the same individual guy several times in one day- he came into the restaurant where we were having lunch and then later, dinner, and we also saw him on the street. (What was odd was that we could recognize him specifically among all the many people dressed up in identical outfits). But- when he walked into the restaurant where we were having dinner, he and Art took one look at each other and greeted each other like old friends. Kinda had to be there, but it was pretty funny. Then the guy said in french to his co-worker (who was dressed identically), "I've seen this guy 3 times today!" At this point, we had to take a picture of him with Art. He is holding a small model manequinn piss (which was also saw in brussels).



So that's about it from brussels. Pissing status. Guys in blackface. Louis Vuitton chocolate shoe hats..... We had a great time. Here is a link to the rest of our pictures from the weekend. And here is one from the hotel that I just love:

good article

Here's a link to a fun Maureen Dowd article from the times.

Sorry I've been MIA. My Mom and Art are here for a visit, and I have no time to write.

More cute henry pictures

Here are some more cute Henry pictures for your viewing pleasure. Thanks to Lydia, who gave Henry the handsome ducky sweater and hat (or is it a goose?), and to Aunt Michele who gave Henry the sweet bear-eared hoodie.

From more cute henry pics

From more cute henry pics

From more cute henry pics

From more cute henry pics

From more cute henry pics

From more cute henry pics

Disco at the tennis club???

Thank you to Jasmine, who, through her magical powers of internet research, found this link, which simultaneously sheds some light on the sign below, and yet at the same time, deepens the mystery!

Photo contest of the day

This sign greets Raphael everyday at the end of the exit ramp at the exit for his work. Points to the best guess for what this sign is advertising. (we have no idea).

From Drop Box

Henry stats

Henry went to the doctor today. Here are his latest stats:

he weighs 6700 grams, or 14 lbs 12 oz
he measures 64 cm, or 25 inches

He remains in the 90th percentile for his height and weight.

he will be 12 weeks old tomorrow.

Bretzelsonndeg

I don't know where Raph found this, but he emailed it to me:

"22nd March

On this day half way through Lent fasting may be broken for a day.
According to an old tradition from the Moselle region on this day a young man would offer his chosen young lady a “Bretzel” or pretzel. If she accepted it he was given permission to visit her at Easter. On that day she would respond to his advances by giving him a painted egg.

Whilst the bretzels were traditionally made of a flour and water dough cooked in salt water and then baked in the oven, you will find both sweet and savoury versions on sale during March."

I will be on the lookout for sweet and savory pretzels and let you know.... i guess I should also start painting an egg.

Buergbrennen

So- here it is- the long awaited post about the cross burning. I don't really know what to say other than that we went, and they burned a giant cross.

From Buergbrennen

So according to our invitation from the firefighters, the cross burning was scheduled to begin at 7. We arrived at 6:45 to about 300 people- lots of families and children, loud music, and a grill where men were tending to several varieties of sausages. There was also this big building, which turned out to be a heated temporary structure with long tables and benches at which people could eat their sausages. It wasn't really a tent, because it had solid walls, but it had the same feel. Also, the heating of this tent came from a big old wood burning oven situated in the center of it. In addition to the sausages, they were also serving pea soup, beer, and hot wine.

Raphael bought some hot wine, which definitely had more than wine in it. It was the strongest beverage I've ever tasted- it was like lighter fluid. With orange peels floating on the top. Neither of us drank it.

We then met up with Raphael's coworker, who we invited to join us, and her German boyfriend. The boyfriend explained to us that this same tradition is done all over Germany. I asked him why the symbol was burning a cross- wasn't that considered sacrilegious in such a Catholic country? He said that it wasn't supposed to be a cross, but a scarecrow. (whatever.) he said the tradition symbolized burning all the "evil spirits" from the past year, and everyone throws in all their old junk into the flame, furniture, whatever from last year that they want to get rid of. (I had to bite my tongue not to say, "books... jews...").....

So- the cross burning began with firefighters and children carrying torches towards the cross. Then the torches mysteriously went out. Then about 10 minutes later, fireworks started. (I tried to cover Henry's little ears). Then this spinning firework flame thing started spinning from the middle of the cross. Then the cross was lit, and it proceeded to burn. Then we went out for pizza with Raph's coworker and the german boyfriend.

Here is a link to our pictures of the event.

Fin.

Lesson: you never know where life will take you, because in a million years, I never, ever thought I would attend a function where a cross was burned.

Little Switzerland

So on Sunday, we decided to drive to Little Switzerland- an area of Luxembourg that is supposed to look like Switzerland, and is the only attraction given 3 stars in the green guide. I guess I envisioned Little Switzerland to be kind of like an Epcot version of Switzerland... a cute little town, with Swiss-like architecture, Swiss-like souvenirs, and waitresses dressed with blonde pigtail braids wearing those skirts- the female version of leiderhosen. Not so.

Little Switerland got its name due to the large rock formations in the area, however it is not exactly the alps! It is a national park, and admittedly, the rocks are kind of cool looking, but it not that cool. It is known for its hiking, wihch actually seems like it would be fun (in better weather, and sans baby). The towns dotting the region that we drove through aren't much to speak of.

Echternacht is the only town in the area with one star, so we stopped there for lunch. We went into a restaurant that looked like a brasserie (which, incidentally was about the only place open), and it turned out to have an entirely tex-mex menu. Skepitcal, we ordered the chicken enchiladas, which actually were surprisingly really good.

Besides the chicken encihladas, the highlight of the day was driving through other towns who were also setting up for Buergbrennen- the cross burning celebration that I mentioned earlier. We passed two separate hay crosses being erected for each town's celebration later that evening.

We attended the Buergbrennen in our town later that night, which will be the subject of my next post. Here is a link to our pictures from our drive through Little Switzerland.

Frozen in Metz!!

OMG! I can't believe Raph found these pictures!!!They are picture that random people took of us when we were participating in the modern art freeze (described below). Raph googled the event and found the first one on this person's facebook page, where they had posted pictures of the event. Sure enough, the person is an art student, just as we predicted. Hilarious! I love the internet!!!

From Metz

Here's the other one, which Raph also found online somewhere....

From Metz

And... here is a link of news coverage of the "freeze party," which Raph also found.

Meet the Metz

On Saturday we went to Metz, a town in North Eastern France. We visited the Cathedral of St. Etienne, which had beautiful stained glass. (3 stars in the green guide!). Two of the stained glass windows were done by Chagall. Here are our pictures from the Cathedral. (mostly just pictures from the cathedral- not really any pictures of us).


So there we were, leisurely winding our way through the hushed cathedral, with its huge vaulted ceilings imposing a dome of quiet all around us, when all of the sudden we were quite startled to hear blasting music from the NFL, echoing from outside. Yes, it was that unmistakable song that one hears every Sunday afternoon at the start of every football game. Of course we went outside to see what all the commotion was.

Expecting to see John Madden parading through Metz, we were somewhat let down to realize that it was just some bloke on a megaphone, thanking the small crowd that had gathered outside for showing up to a modern art project- a 5 minute freeze. At 3:00 precisely, when the third church bell chimed, he directed, everyone present should strike a pose and hold it for 5 minutes. While we were personally somewhat indifferent as to whether or not we would participate in the freeze, we decided that we had to do it just to tell Joanna that we did- (because, as an art affectionado, she has often gone out of her way to participate in public art displays such as this one). So, in honor of Joanna, we froze in a kiss, with Henry sleeping in the Bjorn on Raph's chest, for 5 minutes. Raph kept whispering to me throughout it; I told him he was ruining the effect.

Once we were frozen, several non-frozen bystanders (including television cameras) stepped into the frozen crowd and began taking pictures and videos. Due to our uber-cute pose, we had our picture taken several times. We will probably end up pinned to the wall in some art student's classroom for a group critique.

Anyhoo, that pretty much sums up our day in Metz. Oh, and Raph got a haircut.

A few cute Henry pics

Here are some cute Henry pictures from this weekend. Enjoy! Here is a link to the same pictures if you want to see them bigger or download them.