Two weekends in Europe, one in Belgium, one with a Birthday dinner in France

In December of 2013 David and I made a bucket list of European cities/countries that we wanted to visit while we are living here in Europe.  Our list still has many places left to visit and we try to be intentional about our travel.

On Tuesday, we looked at our calendar and the coming weekend was the only time until the end of March that we were both in Europe and didn't have any scheduled social commitments.  It's funny, when we lived in Indy our social calendar was never as full as it is now.  I'm not sure if that's because we are newly "empty nesters" and so we hadn't had the opportunity to fellowship with our stateside friends, or if maybe no one in the Indy area loves us….

We decided on Belgium.  It's only about a 4 hour drive, which meant we could get there on Friday night, return Sunday evening and David wouldn't need to take any vacation days.  Wednesday morning I got online and booked our hotels and spent some time researching the tourism websites for both Brussels and Ghent.  I had some things in mind and consulted with David to see what he'd be interested in seeing.  Thursday I finalized our plan and started the task of mapping out our visit.

Friday I had to take David to work so that I could have the car.  Guess what wasn't working on Friday?  Our elevator.  I think it has a sixth sense about our travel plans and decides to go kaput whenever luggage is required.  Luckily, we were only staying two nights, so two small bags were easy to carry down the 5 flights of stairs.

Traffic was HORRIBLE.  I remember our first winter in the  Indianapolis area.  I was driving the kids to school one morning after receiving about 3 inches of snow.  Traffic was gridlocked at every turn.  People were absolutely CREEPING along the streets.  All I could think was, "What the heck?  C'mon people, you live in the FLATEST place in the Midwest!  Get your thumb outta your….." oops, never mind.  I mean really, they weren't driving on I-75 through the cut in the hill in Northern Kentucky, we were on streets that were completely LEVEL.

It had rained here all day Friday.  Rain in Strasbourg is equal to snow in Indianapolis.  My 15 minute commute to pick up David at his plant took me 50 minutes.  Then we had to drive those same 12 miles BACK to head north to Belgium.  Our 2 hour drive to Luxembourg City took 3 1/2 hours.  Fortunately, we had a tapas restaurant that we wanted to try and weren't attempting to make our way into Brussels on Friday.

Could we have made some of that traffic jam time up by going a few kph (kilometers per hour) over the posted speed limit?  Yes.  However, you probably don't want to do that in Europe.  David has already gotten 4 speeding tickets since he has lived here.  Now, that might shock some of you, especially since I call him grandpa when he's behind the wheel.

He received his first ticket while talking to me on his way home from a business dinner.  That happened in France.  His second ticket happened in Switzerland (where the speed limit can go from 120 to 80 in less than 500m) and he was going 10 km over. (That's a whopping 6 mph)

His third ticket we didn't know about for several months.  He was ticketed for going 3 km (1.8 mph) over the posted speed while we were in Corsica last May.  David had given his US drivers license at the rental car company and the ticket took awhile to show up at our US address.

His latest ticket, and perhaps the most absurd, he received when Lisa was here and we were visiting the Christmas market in Colmar.  We were driving down the street and suddenly saw a flash of light.  You see, police don't ticket you in Europe, it's all camera generated.  I said, oh golly, did you just get a ticket?  He said, I don't think so…I'm only going 54.  Well, he was wrong.  We received the 90 Euro ticket in the mail just last week.  He was ticketed for going a whopping ONE km over the posted speed limit.  Mind you, ONE km is only .6 mph.  Now, we could've appealed, but if you don't pay the ticket within 15 days your fine goes from 90 Euro to 185 Euro.  If your tickets goes unpaid (even when  being appealed) for more than 30 days the fine jumps up to 375 Euro.  All this for less than 1 mph over the speed limit….that's my husband, he's a crazy driver alright!

Speaking of CRAZY men, let's jump back to Belgium.  I was checking email and FB on Friday before we left and noticed a blurb on the right column of my FB homepage.  Something about "Belgium terror raids and jihadists shot".  WHAT THE HECK??  I clicked on the link and read about the raid and saw that the city of Verviers was just a short 70 miles southeast of Brussels.

Well, darn it, France and Germany were having riots/demonstrations because of the latest Charlie Hebdo edition hitting the newsstands, their military/police were making their presence known on the streets.  We decided to pray for traveling mercies and continue on our trip.  Now, I will tell you this, we DID NOT tell our families that we were going until we arrived and saw that things were calm.  I did, however,  get several texts after I posted where we were.  "Don't you watch the news?" "Didn't you hear about the jihadists that were killed in Belgium?"  You get the gist.

We thoroughly enjoyed Belgium.  We had perfect (albeit cold) weather in Brussels on Saturday.  We were able to hit most of the top touristy things and enjoy some of our favorite Belgique food…pomme frittes! (No, we did NOT try any mussels…not our sort of food)

Sunday we headed to Ghent.  The weather was not cooperative.  We arrived early in the morning and encountered rain and temps in the mid 30s.  We were able to enjoy The Castle of the Counts and St Nicholas Church, but several other items on our list were either closed for the season (opening in March) or were closed during lunch.  We settled on trying a Bicky Burger (deep fried hamburger patty) along with some more french fries.

 The highlight of my day was experiencing my first Belgian waffle. It was ooey and gooey, hot off the griddle and absolutely amazing.  I was happy that I waited until we were ready to leave to try one….otherwise, I surely would've had two or three.

This past Friday we were lucky enough to help our friend Matt celebrate his birthday.  He had a basketball game the next night, so he didn't eat anything and only drank water….let's just say he was the ultimate "cheap date".  Fortunately, Brittney helped us eat the mountain of food that we ordered.

I have never done this before, and I hope my sister-in-law won't mind.  (It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right??)  I'd like to ask each of you who reads this post to say a special prayer for our nephew Sam this week.  (While he has severe autism, to me, he is not defined by his disability, but by his special place in our family) He is getting his wisdom teeth extracted on Thursday (Jan 29th) and it will not be an easy appointment OR an easy recovery for him or his mom.  I know that God is in control, but if you could just lift Sam and his family up in your prayers I would be grateful. Wishing you all a blessed week filled with the people that you love.

Je Suis Charlie, burgers and fish

Wow.  It's been quite the week here in France.

Now, please know that in general, my TV does not get turned on.  IF it is on, it is usually connected to my computer and is broadcasting either my favorite newscaster (Scott Swan, WTHR) or some recorded program that I can't watch on local French cable.  It is NEVER tuned in to a local French station, cause let's face it, my French isn't fluent enough to follow what's going on.

So last week, I received a text that read "Are you in Paris"? It went through my email account and I had no idea who was sending me this random text. Initially, I thought it was possibly one of my "mom" friends who happens to be a flight attendant for Delta.  Maybe she thought we could hook up for a croissant and a cup of tea in the City of Lights.

I sent an email back saying "no, who is this?".  Turns out it was David's sister, Gale.  Why would she be asking me if I'm in Paris? I sent her an iMessage, and the chat continued.  As all of you are probably aware, she was watching the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack story unfold.  I was clueless as to the whole event.  I quickly hooked up my computer and started watching the CNN broadcast.  I also texted David so that he would be aware and could inform his employees.

It was heartwarming that so many of our friends (and of course our family) were concerned about our well-being.  I had many messages making sure that we were safe.  As a "foreigner", it was a blessing to be able to witness the French spirit and camaraderie unfold.  There were spontaneous vigils held all around the country.  There were marches honoring not only the victims of this senseless tragedy, but also showing that Terrorism will not squash the values that the French people hold dear, nor will they live in fear.

I find it amazing that these twisted extremists attacked a magazine with a weekly printing of only 60,000….the newest edition (issued yesterday and completely sold out within minutes) is currently printing over 3 MILLION copies.  I have never looked at the magazine, but have gone to the TABAC store next to me 3 times trying to buy the latest copy.  (Sold out, but more are still being delivered) I'd say their quest to "shut it down" had a complete opposite effect.

The only other comment I have about this tragedy, is that as an American, I was absolutely embarrassed by our President's personal choice to not attend or at least send anyone from his staff to the Unity March that was held in Paris.  I mean, come on….you sent 3 representatives to Michael Brown's funeral in Missouri….oh well, I better stop myself now….

Here are some photos taken in our city of Strasbourg this past Sunday at a rally that coincided with the Unity March in Paris. (photo credit to DNA and Krys Wesselink)

Place Kleber (city center).  Packed with over 40k people

"We are Charlie"

40k take to the streets in a city of 270k

On a lighter note, I have a story to share with you about French business.  We were blessed with an invitation to spend an evening with friends from Cleveland, Charlie and Lynn. Yes, even though they are Browns' fans, we still socialize with them.  They have an adorable son, Jack, who was born in October, so it was to be an evening "in".

We were excited to try their favorite burger joint,  Le Pied de Mammouth.  David made the call to order the burgers as he is the "most fluent" in French. He was on the phone for quite some time placing our order.  Finally, he hung up and explained why the call had taken so long.  He had placed the order for the first two burgers and when he started the third burger, the employee said they didn't have that one.  So, he chose a different burger, only to be told that they didn't have that one either.  Then, he said just give us two of the first burger, she said okay, then he said give me two of the second burger choice….
nope, we don't have that she replied.  FINALLY, he was able to determine that the restaurant (which is SOLEY a burger joint) only had TWO BUNS left.  No matter what our third choice was, we couldn't get it.

David and Charlie walked over to pick up our burger/fries order.  While in the restaurant, they heard the employee explain to another customer that they were out of buns.  They could have their burger choice "sans pan" (without bread), but no buns were to be had.  FOR REAL?  Don't you just take 10 Euro out of the register and go to the grocery and buy some buns???  It was 9:00 at night for pity sakes, isn't it easier to buy buns than to explain to everyone that walks in the door  or calls on the phone that you are out of the darn things??

So, the four of us split two burgers and two orders of fries.  It was a great evening and ended with them giving me my belated Christmas gift….

Miracel Whip….has to be better than MIRACLE whip, no?

One last story for you.  This one goes back to our week in Cabo.  As you might remember, we took a fishing excursion.  We took 4 boats of 2 people out for 5 hours. The idea was to have a competition amongst the boats.  If you know the Sternasty family, you will know that we LOVED that idea, we are ALL about WINNING.

The mamacita boat, which was my friend Lisa and I, were captained by a Mexican man named Chincho.  At least that is what we thought he said.  Chincho couldn't speak a lot of English.  He could navigate through simple phrases, but certainly couldn't hold a conversation.  The one phrase that Lisa and I heard over and over was "CHIT".  Use your imagination and I'm sure you will figure out what he was saying.

The first "hit" on our lines happened only about 15 minutes after we began.  We each had a Dorado (mahi mahi) on our lines.  WOO HOO.  We began reeling them in .  Chincho was at the back of the boat to help.  Unfortunately, as we got the fish close to the boat they managed to cross lines.  The fish on my line went under the boat and "boom", my line went slack.  He had managed to break the line and lose Chincho's lure.  That was his first "Chit".

Then he was attempting to gaff (like a hook on a pole) Lisa's fish and needed me to "get out of the way", remember, these boats are SMALL.  I moved quickly, falling back into my seat, all the while getting splashed by the floundering dorado as Chincho gaffed it and brought it inside the boat.

Wouldn't you know that the "hold" was under my seat?  Up I went so that he could lift up my seat and throw a 25 lb fish inside.

Once the poor thing stopped thudding around, he splashed off the blood and I snapped this awesome photo of Lisa and her fish.

The next hits on our line were Bonito.  They are much smaller than the Dorado and easier to reel in.  We had three lines going, so Chincho was working on the third pole.  As you can imagine, on a small boat, with three lines being reeled in together there was confusion.  Chincho would yell, chit, chit, chit, Lisa and I would burst into laughter and he would try to give us directions in broken English as to what he wanted us to do.  Stop, go, or he would simply grab our pole and swing it to a different side of the boat.

Finally, our goal became to catch more fish than the number of times Chincho used the word chit.  We brought in 6 fish (3 dorado and 3 bonito), but we weren't even close to attaining our goal. We were wet and shivering, so the mamacita boat headed in about 40 minutes early.  Lisa was the master fisherwoman and we felt confident that we would win the competition.

The next boat in was David and Sarah.  I ran to the dock with my camera to take photos of their catch.

Yep, that would be a photo of NOTHING.  They hadn't caught a single thing!  I can bet you that David will never go out on a fishing excursion again.  

Next in was Sam and DJ, back to the dock with my camera.

I was glad that they had managed to bring some fish in, and the mamacita boat was still winning!  Finally, we saw the last boat pulling in.  Rich and Spencer.  Imagine my surprise when I got to the dock and this is what they had caught….

Yep, Rich had landed the catch of his dreams….a Blue Marlin.

Oh, and yes, they had also caught a dorado. Now, if you go by NUMBER of fish, the mamacitas won, but I don't think Rich considered himself a loser :)

However, those mamacita fish did feed all 8 of us for lunch right there on the docks, 

so I think that we all won.

Wishing you a week filled with friends and laughter and maybe even a little "fishing" for men as we were instructed in Matthew 4:19.  I mean really, the only hope for Peace that we have in this world is through Jesus.  How many people do you think were crying out to God in Paris last week?  When there is a spirit of FEAR, men look to God.  Be bold, share your faith.  

30 days and 3 continents later

Today in France is known as the Fête de Rois.  In Puerto Rico, it was called Three Kings' Day.  In the US, although some may not celebrate it, it is also known as Epiphany, which celebrates the three wise men's visit to Jesus and also remembers his baptism. (Theological lesson here, and maybe you knew this, but the wise men actually visited Jesus and his family at their HOUSE, not in the stable where he was born…Matthew 2:11)

Back to Fête de Rois….it is a French tradition to serve a frangipane filled tart, known as the "galette des rois".  This tart can be homemade, or purchased at any number of locations….I even saw one at the gas station!  Anyone who has celebrated Mardi Gras is probably familiar with the idea.  There is a "féve" or a plastic token baked inside the tart and whoever gets the lucky piece is the Rois (King) for the day. Each galette des rois includes a crown to be worn by the lucky winner.

Of course, I am the queen around here, but maybe David will get lucky enough to find the féve and I'll let him choose what's for dinner!!

I hadn't realized that it's been so long since my last blog entry.  Quite a lot has happened in the past 30 days.  As many of you might remember, my friend Lisa came to visit.  While I could probably write 10 posts about all of the fun we had during her stay, I'll try to choose a few of my favorite moments of her trip.

She arrived in Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon.  After a quick nap, we were off to explore. She was soon in sensory OVERLOAD.  (She has a degree in interior design, so you can imagine how all of the Christmas decor kept her head swiveling!)

Day three was the biggie!  We were set to leave our apartment at 4:00am to drive to the airport in Basel.  We were headed to Morocco to celebrate Lisa's big 5-0. Well, someone WENT to bed early the night before, but apparently, she was so excited, that she didn't sleep AT ALL.  

We landed in Marrakesh and headed to our hotel, Riad al Bushra.  It was a lovely place and the owners, Gary and Steve were fabulous.  They revived us with a glass of hot mint tea and some fresh almond pastries.

They were also kind enough to take us to exchange our money into the local currency and Lisa and I "hit the market" before our Spa appointment. Now, if you have ever experienced a market in Mexico, Costa Rico, Jamaica, etc., then you might have some idea what we were up against.  LOTS of options, LOTS of vendors, PUSHY salespeople and LIMITED tourists.  (December is low tourism season)  Lisa lasted in the souk (open air marketplace) for almost 15 seconds before a henna artist had her hand and was squeezing dye onto her hand.  I had continued to walk when the lady was trying to "chat us up",  Lisa, however,  will talk to anyone….not a great quality in a souk.  After I physically removed Lisa's hand from the henna lady and she made Lisa pay her for the "gift", we continued on enjoying the market.

The olive souk….I took this photo for my friend Janaé

Onto the spa or "hamman".  I have had very limited experience with Spas.  I will tell you, if this was my first, it would've been my last.  We were ushered into a room with two "benches".  You better be really good friends with someone if you are going to spend 90 minutes with them in just your panties!  They slathered us up with a clay/mud masque (I thought I might need to marry my lady after she applied my masque rather brusquely) and left us to "steam".  I won't fill you in on all of the details, but lets just say Lisa, who had gotten something in her contact and was holding one in each hand, was unable to rinse the clay off of herself quickly enough for the attendants satisfaction.  Consequently, as she stood under the dribble of water exiting the shower head, hands out to her side with contacts held firmly, the attendant grabbed the front band of her panties, pulled them out from her body and dumped a bucket of water down them…..then had her turn and repeated from the backside.  We were laughing so hard, I might have wet myself, but who could tell with all the clay I was covered in.  Believe me, I wish I could've taken a photo to share with you, but of course, cameras are forbidden inside the hamman.

The next morning was Lisa's big day!  Gary and Steve had gotten her a birthday cake to celebrate.  

Gary turned 50 on Thursday, so we celebrated at dinner together on Wednesday

This was also our day to go into the Atlas mountains and enjoy a traditional Moroccan meal at a Kasbah.  It was a considerable journey out into the village, and we were to ride a mule up to the top….don't be surprised, but we needed a bathroom.  We were led to the local "restaurant/bed and breakfast" to use their facilities….

Yes, this was their facilities….Thank the Lord Lisa had wet ones…and yes, there was something lurking in that hole!  You can use your imagination on WHY that red bucket is necessary

Inside the Jardin Majorelle

Mounted up for the the Atlas mountains and the "restaurant" behind us

We left bright and early on Thursday morning.  We took a van to the airport.  As we were almost to the airport entrance, Lisa realized that she had left her ski jacket in the van.  Off she dashed!  Luckily, she was able to stop the driver and get her jacket,  Crisis averted….or so we thought.  About an hour later she realized that she had left her iPhone at our Riad….insert very sad face.  I didn't have the phone number for the Riad and so had to call David (at work) and have him call for us.  Bless their hearts, Gary and Steve took it directly to DHL to ship it back.  $100 later and Lisa would get her phone…but not until it flew home with me the following week.

So Thursday, was a van, then a plane, then a bus from the airport in Basel to a train station, then a tram from the Strasbourg train station and we finally landed at our apartment.  Don't rest yet, an hour later we were Christmas caroling with AIA around the Christmas markets. Lisa helped to lead the group (she can actually sing very well if you've never heard her!)

Outside the Opera…Lisa is in the plaid coat (that was almost left in Marrakesh)

Friday was our last "planned" activity and was "high tea" at a famous tea house here in Strasbourg called Au Fond du Jardin.  I was so blessed to be able to introduce Lisa to our friend, Katie and then our Pastor's wife, Janet.  Turns out that Janet's son and Lisa's son will be living together next year at Baylor in Waco, Texas….God is good that way.

Katie, Lisa and Janet at tea

Lisa had one more surprise on tap…our friend Luther popped in to say hello just before we had dinner.

What a great visit with my bestie.  Of course there are many more stories that I could share, but some things are best left off the Internet!!  David and I took her to the airport on Sunday and then we were able to stop in Heidelberg, Germany to see our friends' son, Jack Eggleston. play professional basketball with the Heidelberg team.  A great win for Heidelberg and a great opportunity for a visit with Jack.

We flew home on the 19th and began a whirlwind of visiting friends and Christmas celebrations.  Off to Cabo on the 27th with 2 of the 3 kids and now back in Strasbourg.  I'll have to fill you in on Cabo in another post, this one is getting a little lengthy!

I wish you all a Bonne année (Happy New Year).  Remember to be careful on that pronunciation….you don't want to offend any ladies!!  Also, since the beginning of this post we cut into our tart and guess who found the féve….

The QUEEN still reigns!  Love to you all.