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.
