York, a Viking surprise!

8801a This is the front of the York Minster.  You can see the fine tracery at the top of the main window and the steeply pointed arches.  Decorative Gothic trademarks.

8808 This photo is take from about 3/4 of the way up the nave.  You can see the stone rood screen with the 15 kings I mentioned, the center pipes of the organ, the simple cross and the vaulted ceiling of the choir.  As you can tell from the people standing in front of the screen, the kings are carved life-sized.

8815 This photo is taken looking back to where I stood to take the last photo.  You can see the ornately carved wooden choir stalls and the other side of the organ's center pipes.  On the left at the end of the choir nearest the camera is the cathedra, the Bishop's chair from which a Cathedral takes its name.

8826 One of the memorials in the Minster.  Not the fanciest but the one I liked the best.

8869 This is the carving of the pig in the Chapter House of the Minster.  The Chapter House is the place where the monastery's business was discussed. 

8902 Patisserie Valerie Tea for Two

8904 Happy tea drinkers.  The food was delicious.

 

April 20 – York, England.  We got some good advice from the lady at the front desk when we checked in.  She told us not to drive into York but go just down the street and take the Park & Ride into town.  I'm glad we decided to take her advice, the parking was free or rather it was refunded when you bought a return (British for round trip) ticket on the bus.  The ticket is only ₤2.50.  When you get on the bus the driver takes the token you received on entry and activates it for you to use when you drive out.  The bus drops you near the center of old town just a few blocks from the Minster.

 

It's a cool morning but not particularly windy except for occasional gusts.  Our first stop was at the York Minster (formally the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter).  Traditionally a minster is synonymous with monastery.  Technically it's a group of men living a communal life and maintaining the daily office of prayer, pretty much like a monastery.  Where I've seen it applied the church was usually a previous Roman Catholic church taken over by Protestants.

 

Well I'm definitely learning something about old English churches.  Apparently having a carved stone rood screen is common.  York Cathedral has a grand one, large and ornate.  It has the 15 kings of England from William I to Henry VI.  William I is the first Norman king and Henry VI is the last Lancaster king.  Makes the entry arch to the choir (Quire back then) a bit off center but until you count the kings on each side you don't really notice.  The central pipes of the organ are mounted above the screen.  They've suspended a simple wooden cross draped with a white cloth in celebration of the Easter season.

 

This is another very long church but it stays closer to the normal cruciform shape.  It's the 2^nd largest Gothic church in Northern Europe.  The pointed arches are the easiest change to see from the Norman rounded arch.  The pillars are slimmer as the builders began to better understand the forces at work in architecture.  The center of the crossing has a square tower with a wooden roof rather than a dome, a holdover from Norman times.  The nave is huge.  It's 104 feet wide making it the widest Gothic nave in England.  Many elements of it are Decorated Gothic.  For example, the tracery of the main window in the front façade is clearly from that era. 

 

Some of the tombs and memorials around the aisles of the nave, choir, sacristy and ambulatory are very ornate indeed.  Many have life and near life sized sculptures and reliefs of the deceased some in vivid color.  Below the choir and sacristy you can walk into the crypt.  This low ceilinged, vaulted area.  This is the oldest part of the current building and the architectural style is definitely Norman, everything is thicker and less elegant than the Gothic structure above.  Crypts are always dark but a full on Norman church is dark all over.  Thick walls and columns plus small windows don't make for a light and airy space.

 

The Chapter House added to the north transept is completely done in the Decorated style.  The stonemasons had a bit of fun with all the little faces that surround the room over the perimeter seating.  Mixed in with the normal faces are some comic characters, or at least they seem comic at first.  For example, one of the spaces is occupied by a pig.  At first it seems to be humorous but then you notice that the carving emphasizes the pig's claws and teeth.  It appears to be wearing a hat, holding something in its clawed hooves and devouring an unidentified object.  Could be some sort of lizard or dragon.  In the final analysis, I don't think humor was intended.

 

The number one treasure of the minster is the Great East Window.  Unfortunately it's undergoing restoration and they have a curtain over it that has a wonderful, life sized photograph of the window.  In the area directly in front of the window they have a really nice display of the work being done and explanation of some of the window's elements.  Sad not to see it.

 

From the Minster we walked across town to Jorvic Viking Center.  Jorvic was York's name during the Viking era.  They have built the structure over some of the archeological digs and installed a glass floor so you can look down on the foundations of the Viking structures from the 900AD.  Often called the House of Denmark, there were 4 Viking kings of England, Sweyn Forkbeard (1013-1014), Cnut (1016-1035), Harold Harefoot (1035-1040) (I'm not making these names up) and Harthacnut (1040-1042).  In 1042 the House of Wessex took power for the second time (the first time was in the gap between Forkbeard and Cnut).  In 1066 William the Conqueror (aka the First or the Bastard depending on your view of the Normans) evicted the House of Denmark and the House of Wessex for good by installing himself as king of England.

 

Any artifact from the Viking era has to be almost a thousand years old could be as much as 1,200 years.  Amazingly when excavating for a new shopping center they began to find wooden timbers, leather goods, cloth, plant and animal remains that are usually completely gone after that much time.  The area's wet-clay soil deprived the artifacts of oxygen and preserved them.  There are an amazing variety of things on display from jewelry to tools.

 

After you've toured the displays you board a Disney like 4-person conveyance in the same style as the Haunted House ride.  There are speakers in the headrest for each pair of seats arranged in two levels.  The pod turns to face the exhibits and takes you on a tour of a Viking village.  The displays recreated a farmhouse, carpenter's shop, a merchant, a fish seller, a leather worker and a market where a husband a wife are overheard discussing what to have for dinner.  It doesn't take a long time to see the exhibits and do the ride.  I have to admit it introduced me to a period of English history with which I was fairly unfamiliar.

 

Educational Note:  When I took history in high school, especially Western Civilization, I think the teachers were as confused as I was about the early history of England.  There's so much to know that you can't get it all in an overview.  It does give you a nice frame on which to hang things you learn later.

 

There were only Danish kings of England but Norwegians and Swedes had permanent settlements in England from 876AD to 1066AD, 200 years of English history.

 

By the time we finished the Minster and Jorvic, plus walking around town we were getting hungry.  We were passing a small café and it didn't appear to be too busy so we went in a got a table intending to have dunch or linner.  The waiter, a young, handsome Spaniard told us about the Tea for Two deal they had going on.  I was hesitant to have tea in a café with a French name but he assured us it was very good so we ordered it.  He wasn't kidding.  It was served on a traditional three-tier tea tray, bottom tier-sandwiches & quiche, middle tier-scones with and without, upper tier-tea cakes.  It was delicious and authentic.  I'm pretty sure we both had Earl Grey tea.  Yum!!!

 

We noticed that it was only 20 minutes to Evensong service at York Mister so we hustled across town to arrive just in time.  5:15 is the traditional time for this shortened service that usually includes some great music.  Unfortunately we found that the choir was still on their after Easter break so the service was read and not sung.  It was an interesting service anyway.

More Pictures-Canterbury

8658 This is looking from the crossing back past the choir to the nave.  That single candle is burning where the original Becket tomb and memorial were located. 

8697 The White Cliffs of Dover and white they are.  This was taken from the high path.  You can see part of the lower path along the cliffs.  Back further it gets much closer to the edge.

8726 The nave of the Saints Peter & Paul Church in Augustine's Abbey runs diagonally across the picture between the stumps of the old columns.  I'm standing in the left aisle and the right aisle is just past the second row of columns.  That tiny arch you can see part of in the upper left is in the crypt that was under the apse.

8747 I'm now standing atop that arch which is actually underground looking back across Wulfric's Rotunda to the church entrance.

8772 The chicken and veg pie at the Queen's Head Pub.  It was very good and the mashed potatoes were very tasty.

Canterbury Tale

8619 This is the Christchurch Gate to the Canterbury Cathedral precincts.  As you can see it's flanked by buildings all of which were church property.

8627 This is the nave of the Canterbury Cathedral.  The tan structure with arch that you see in the distance is the entry to the choir, not even half way to the other end of the church.  It's just down the steps to the left of that arch where Thomas Becket was killed

8631 This is the floor plan for the Canterbury Cathedral as it exists today.  I know all my explanations were pretty muddled so I thought I send you a picture.  At the left end of the nave is that archway from the last picture.

8640 The memorial in the Martyrdom to Thomas Becket.  On the floor plan it's just below the entrance to the choir.

8647 This is a closer picture of the arch leading to the choir.  Looks more like the entrance to a church.  Usually, but not always these are made of wood.  Just on the other side of this arch is where the original church ended.

 

April 18-19 – Canterbury, England.  Many of you may wish to drop out for a while because this is going to be a bit of an ABC (Another Bloody Cathedral) tour for a few days.  Much of the conversation is going to be about churches.  Sorry but we both love them.  There's some public parking in the city and we're going in pretty early so I think we'll be ok. 

 

The real issue is not parking, the real issue is driving.  Actually it's not the driving it's the roads.  When you drive through a village the streets are barely wide enough for two cars.  You can tell that they are not legally wide enough for two lanes because they haven't striped the road in any way.  To really complicate matters they allow people to park on the street reducing the useable are to just about a car and a half in width.  Everything is a negotiation.  You are approaching one end of the parked cars as another car approaches the other end.  Who goes first?  It seems that you negotiate.  If it's easy for you to pull over and stop you do.  If it's easier for them they do.  Since they drive these roads a lot they are very accommodating for the most part.  I learned quickly that two quick flashes of the headlights means, "You first."  I don't have any trouble with the round-abouts; they seem to be a very civilized answer to the intersection question.  To complicate the issue the rental agency gave me a large Ford station wagon, great for our luggage, bad for the narrow parking spaces and driving lanes. 

 

We arrived in Canterbury about 10am and easily found a parking space.  It's about ₤12 for parking.  The weather has been sunny but it's windy and chilly.  I'm not bothered by it but D is freezing.  Thanks to tour trusty map we found the Buttermarket (main square) easily.  Our first stop was at the Canterbury Cathedral (actual name Church of Jesus Christ, the Savior).  The cathedral and many of its buildings are another UNESCO World Heritage Site.  This cathedral is important for three reasons, first it's one of the oldest Christian structures in England, second, it's the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England and the greater Anglican Community worldwide and third it's the site of the assassination of Thomas Becket by knights of King Henry II but apparently not under the king's orders. 

 

Becket's story is an odd one.  He was close to Henry II and it is thought that when the current Archbishop of Canterbury died Henry wanted Becket to have the job.  Problem was that Becket was not even a priest.  Where there's a will, there's a way.  Becket was ordained as a priest on June 2, 1162 and was consecrated as Archbishop on June 3, 1162.  Layman one day, priest the next day and Archbishop the next day.  Obviously the Roman Catholic Church was not a meritocracy during the 1100s.  By that standard I should have been Secretary of the Air Force three days after I arrived at basic training.  To put it bluntly, it was a joke.  Unfortunately for both Henry and Becket it was a joke that backfired.  Becket took his new position seriously and had increasingly acrimonious disagreements with Henry.  When Becket felt that the Church's rights had been usurped he started excommunicating everyone in sight.  Henry heard about this and, although his exact statement is in question it is felt that this is the most likely, "Will no one rid me of the vexatious priest!"  Regardless of the actual words, four knights interpreted it as an order of the king and confronted Becket.  They asked him to go with them to Westminster to give an account of his actions.  When he refused, they killed him.  True to tradition, Becket was canonized about two years after his death.

 

Denominational Split Note: Lately the worldwide community of the Church of England has become smaller than it once was.  As the result of theological differences many Episcopal churches in the USA and elsewhere have broken off their relationship with Canterbury by separating themselves from The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.  In at least 9 cases the entire diocese left the organization.  This led to the decision by the national organization to sue separating churches for the control of the church's property.  That suit proved to be as flawed as their theology and the local congregation won the rights to keep the property in which they worship.  It's always sad when churches fall out over silly things but in some cases you have to take a stand.  If you don't believe me, ask Martin Luther, John Wycliffe or Jan Hus.  There are lots of others but these three are my favorite characters of the Reformation.

 

Back to the visit.  To get into the cathedral precincts you have to go through the very tall and ornate Christchurch Gate.  The Pope sent Saint Augustine (not a saint at that time) as a missionary to the Anglo-Saxons in England.  He founded the cathedral in 597 and archeological research as discovered that the Anglo-Saxon church was built on the site of a Roman road.  He also founded an Abbey outside the city walls that was eventually renamed in his honor.  St Augustine's Abbey, the Cathedral and the Church of St Martin are the UNESCO sites in the city. 

 

It's a very large church.  From the entrance to the choir (the nave) is about as large as a normal church.  From the choir to the farthest end of Becket's Crown (the central chapel in the apse is farther than the distance from the entrance to the choir.  The design is the result of many additions and revisions.  Because of St Augustine's role in bringing Christianity to England the church has always been a very popular pilgrimage site but after the death and canonization of Becket that popularity increased dramatically, bringing the church a great deal of money in addition to the income from its holdings.  Consequently, funds were always available for construction. 

 

The original building ended just past where the nave ends now.  It was constructed in cruciform style with transepts.  Later the western end was torn down and a choir was added at the east end of the nave.  The Archbishop at the time was French and made the choir in the style of a church with its own transepts and an aisle on each side.  Later the Trinity Chapel was added where an apse would normally be.  Still later the Becket's Crown Chapel was added to the east end of the Trinity Chapel bringing the church to its final length.

 

During this time a monastery was added to the church necessitating a Chapter Room and Cloisters plus a library.  Also chapels were added off each of the original transepts.  It was in the South East transept that Thomas Becket was assassinated.  That area is now called the Martyrdom.  There's a granite block in the floor simply inscribed 'Thomas'.  On the wall behind it there's an altar and sculpture with four sword blades two of which are broken and form a cross.  Unfortunately someone has decided to place a wooden kneeler right over the Thomas stone so I couldn't get it into the picture with the sculpture.

 

Becket was buried in a monument that stood in the crossing of the church for a long time but with the dissolution of the monasteries and the takeover of church properties it was felt that he would be desecrated so they buried him in the crypt below the church.  Where his original monument stood they have retained the tile floor and a single candle is placed on the floor where his monument was.  Because Becket was there the entrance to the area looks more like the entrance to a church building than the entrance to a choir.  This is one strange church.  One of the pastors invited us back to Evensong at 5:15pm.  We might just do that.

 

D wanted to see the 'Canterbury Tales' attraction.  It's in an old church building across the old town.  As you probably remember Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' from high school.  I know we had to read it at Fountain Hill High School in Bethlehem Pennsylvania.  Since the original is written in Middle English it was pretty tough for a ninth grader to read.  I had an advantage over most of my schoolmates because I was very familiar with the King James Bible.  Granted that was written in the 1600s, 300 years after Canterbury Tales, but the similarities help.  Understanding the KJV really helped with Shakespeare as they are contemporaries.

 

Chaucer's tale is a compilation of 20+ stories told as part of a wager between some pilgrims on their way to Canterbury.  No one is sure how many tales there were because no copy of the work that is still in existence is complete.  So they are not sure how many stories there were or even in what order they were told.

 

The attraction takes you through several of the tales with a combination of multi-media sets and live action.  You move through various rooms that are set with life sized people and things you stand amid while you hear that part of the story.  There was an introductory room where a live actor in period costume introduces you to the setting and story line of the tales.  The setting is that you are sitting around a fire during an overnight stay on the pilgrimage.  We met the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath and a monk.  In the next hour we were led from room to room, sometimes by an actor, sometimes by narrator's instructions.  Each room was the setting for a tale.  Some rooms were set up as scenes a pilgrim would encounter on his trip, for example a sleeping room in a rustic inn, complete with snoring.  The stories were done with lots of humor and sometimes elements intended to startle us.

 

In one room where we apparently have gone to see the doctor, his assistant, a lady, tells us we can see him right away.  He's lying on the autopsy table so she just lifts the blanket and shows him to us.  Several times during her presentation the lights would go out.  While they were out she would silently move right in front of or next to one of us to that when the lights came back on it would startle you.  It was a fun visit and a warm way to spend an hour on a chilly day.

 

We headed back to the Buttermarket Square to get something to eat.  We selected Number 12 Tearoom and Restaurant.  It was very pleasant inside with large windows looking out on the square.  A nice place for lunch.

 

On the way back to the hotel we decided to tour around a bit.  One sight close by is the White Cliffs of Dover so that's where we headed.  It's a British National Trust Site so it's free.  We parked and followed the path out onto the cliffs.  The cliffs are clearly very white especially in contrast to the green grass and dark topsoil of the area.  There were two paths leading out so we went out on the higher path and walked back on the path along the cliff edge.  No safety rails and the lower path had plenty of things to trip on.  Apparently the Brits feel that if you're stupid enough to mess around at the cliff's edge, that's your problem.  How utterly rational.

 

On the way back to the hotel we passed the site of Augustine's Abbey.  He started this monastery shortly after finishing the church in Canterbury.  Shortly after his arrival in 597AD, his missionary work was well under way.  Just to place this in British history the Romans were in charge in 43AD, the Anglo Saxons took over in 450AD, followed by the Vikings in 793A and the Normans in 1066AD, the start of the medieval era.  So Augustine arrived in the Anglo Saxon period and his missionary efforts were so successful that the Abbey, then known as the Saints Peter and Paul Abbey, became the burial place for Anglo Saxon kings.  The invading Normans destroyed most of the Anglo Saxon structures and built a large church, about the same size as the Canterbury Cathedral.  It was renamed for Saint Augustine and thrived for over 400 years before Henry VIII disbanded all the monasteries and took over or destroyed the buildings after looting all the valuable possessions. 

 

The Victorian buildings from the 1800s are still standing and in use as a school.  Much of the history of the place is evident in the footings and bases that have been uncovered.  The outline of the original church can be seen from its foundations.  The larger church's outline can be seen around it.  The Saint Peter and Paul Church was big but not nearly the size of the cathedral in Canterbury in its final configuration.  Henry VIII built a palace on the grounds using some of the abbey's buildings and adding to them.  Some walls from this palace are still standing.  They have a small museum on the site that does an excellent job of putting the development of the abbey over the centuries in perspective. 

 

On our drive back to the motel we were on the lookout for somewhere to eat.  This are is filled with very small villages and while passing through one, we saw the Queen's Head Pub.  We dropped in and were warmly greeted and shown to a table away from the bar.  The menu said that the meat pies here were real crust pies not just a stew mixture with mashed potatoes' on top so we got the pie of the day, chicken and vegetables with peas and mashed potatoes.  The potatoes had chopped green onion in them.  The menu was very accurate; the pies were in face encased in water crust and absolutely delicious. 

 

Back to our hotel after a long day of driving around the countryside.

Traveling on our own.

April 16 – Brussels, Belgium.  A day on our own in Brussels.  When we went down to breakfast one of our Tour Leaders, Kari, was sitting in the lobby waiting for her ride to the airport.  The Tauck cruise was excellent.  The food was great, the room was small (but not smaller than other river cruise boats) but very comfortable, the included tours were well thought out and the guides were excellent.  It's hard to imagine having a better time on a river cruise.

 

After breakfast I brought the things we wanted to ship down to the front desk and they arranged to have the box picked up.  We headed to that great tradition the Hop-on-Hop-Off bus.  I have to admit that we rarely hop off.  We just take the circle route all the way back.  In Brussels they have two different routes so when we finished with one; we got on the other one.  Each was about an hour and a half and they give you a great overview of the city. 

 

It was an interesting day.  The unexpected surprise for me was the extent to which the European Union occupies Brussels.  They have huge buildings and all in one place.  It's like a separate little enclave.  One building I found especially significant.  It's called the EEAS, European External Action Service.  Sounds a bit like a military organization or spy service.  It was the only building that I saw in the EU area with fully outfitted military guards around the building, camo fatigues, armored vests and FN automatic rifles.  Maybe they guard all the buildings but the others are not in session right now.  I just thought it was a provocative name.  It's apparently a semi-autonomous organization with its own budget.

 

It was a low key day after a cruise full of very busy days.

 

April 17 – Brussels, Belgium thru the Chunnel to London, England.  Our train departs Brussels Midi at 10:56 and we have to be there 30 minutes early.  When you take the Chunnel train you clear immigration for both countries in the station before you board the train and, with security, that can take some time.

 

Tauck had arranged for a car to the train station at 9:10am and he was right on time.  It was not a long trip and it was a flashback when we had to drag our own luggage into the train station.  Security comes first so I had to lift our luggage onto the x-ray machine.  Fortunately they have a slanted roller affair so you don't have to lift them up to the x-ray level.  You tip them onto the rollers and push them up.  A very nice touch. 

 

After clearing security you see the Belgium immigration.  Then they stamp your passport and sent you on to the next stop.  Actually because we came into Belgium on the Swiss Jewel after arriving in Rotterdam on the ms Rotterdam our entry stamp into Belgium was missing.  The inspector asked us how we got to Belgium.  I didn't think he wanted the whole 125 day story so I simply said we arrived in the EU through Rotterdam, Netherlands.  We boarded the Swiss Jewel in Amsterdam and upon disembarking the Swiss Jewel in Maastricht, Netherlands we rode to Brussels on a bus.  He looked through our passports a bit longer and then smiled as he said I see you've been traveling.  We agreed that we had and he stamped our passports and we moved alone. 

 

It was a simple matter at the UK immigration because we had a very recent exit stamp from Belgium.  They asked how long we would be staying, I said 3 weeks, they asked where and I listed the cities where we had hotel reservations.  He seemed happy enough with that and stamped us into the UK.  Then it was just a matter of waiting for the train to open for boarding, getting our luggage and us on the train and taking the 2 hour ride to London.  I talked to someone who was going to London by air from Brussels and counting taxis, the flight, picking up luggage and taxi again it took him almost twice as long to make the trip.

 

When we got to Saint Pancras station in London we had to lug our luggage (now I get it) to the parking structure where the car rental agency was located.  We picked up our and a Sat Nav (GPS in the US) and headed out to Canterbury. 

 

 

 

 

 

Brussels. We spent half the day here and not one word about sprouts.

8494 This is the Automium.  Originally the spheres had aluminum skins but they were replaced in the early 2000 by stainless steel panels.  The tubes connecting the spheres contain escalators that allow you to go into the spheres to see the displays and artifacts they contain.  The very top sphere is an observation deck.  Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it was not intended to be a permanent building but it became an icon of the city so it's still here.

8517 This is Mannaken-Piz and he is.  Crowds of people walk down the short street to see him and then walk right back out usually eating a waffle from the stand right next to him.  Talk about a prime location.

8605 The Brussels Town Hall on the Grand Place.  The long side is the oldest part of the building and the tower is the newest.  Those are relative terms as they were all completed in the 1400s.

8618 D with the Maison du Roi built right across the plaza by the local duke to remind people he still existed. 

 

April 15 – Brussels, Belgium.  This morning we say goodbye to the Swiss Jewel and embark on our bus ride to Brussels.  We arrived there about noon and started a short driving trip around the city.  Our first stop was at the Atomium.  This logo of the city was built for the 1958 World's Fair.  The shape is that of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. 

 

After that we drove past the Royal Palace and the park dedicated to the use of the royals.  The palace has huge greenhouses that contain their collection of plants from all over the world.  They have a large collection of tropical plants.  One side of the greenhouses has had their windows whitewashed.  My grandmother used to use this technique in the spaces where the plants thrived in partial sun.  The whitewash cut out just enough of the light for this type of plant.  We also drove past the Neuhaus chocolate shop.  Mr. Neuhaus was the man who created the praline or truffle as we call them in the states.  (A praline is a whole different thing in Texas and has nothing to do with chocolate.) 

 

Our final destination was the Hotel Amigo a short block off the city's main square, the Grand Place, and right at the start of the pedestrians only zone.  It's a great location.  I'm glad we've booked an extra night here. 

 

One of the hottest tourist sights has been around since 1619 when they installed a very small nude little boy on a street corner.  He's located up high and he's a fountain.  His name is Mannaken-Piz.  And that's exactly what he's doing on that corner.  He has over 700 costumes; most were made for him to wear to commemorate a person or an event.  Today he's dressed in some sort of uniform with a medallion, hat and coat.  Around town you can buy chocolate reproductions of him, some about the same size as the statue. 

 

We took a short walk to the Grand Place while they were getting our luggage sorted.  It's impressive, a large square surrounded by old buildings including the city hall.  The square is mostly unobstructed, a few artists have set up some displays of their art but not too many.  It has an imposing assortment of buildings including the town hall.  This gothic building from the middle ages is a masterpiece.  As it now stands there are two wings and a very tall tower.  The wing on the left as you face the building is the oldest part, completed in 1420.  When the local guilds were admitted to the city government the smaller wing on the right side was added in 1444.  The original building has a small belfry attached.  It was thought this did not quite go with the building as it was updated so in 1455 they added the 310 foot tower that completed the structure.  The spire is topped off with a 18-foot high golden statue of the archangel Michael, Brussel's patron saint.

 

Apparently this monument to the city's government irritated the local duke so he constructed a building, also Gothic, across the Grand Place from the city hall to remind everyone that he was still the duke and they were just the city.  It's called the Maison du Roi, although no king has ever lived there.  The Dutch speakers in Belgium call it the Breadhouse because it's built on the site of the old, unused bread market.  The entire square and the buildings around it are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

Just like in Antwerp, the guilds also constructed grand buildings along the square.  The success of the merchant class was bringing it to prominence over the royalty who were mostly broke.

 

We had lunch at the Hard Rock Café just of the Grand Place.  We were eating at an off hour and all the cafes nearby were full of coffee and beer drinkers.  Plus the Hard Rock operates on US rules, meaning it doesn't take 3 hours to order, receive and pay for your food.

 

We will be traveling by train again day after tomorrow and we want to ship some of our heavier acquisitions home so getting back to the hotel and sorting things out was a time sensitive matter.

Another sobering visit, great food and another old Dutch town.

8316 Gravestones in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in the little village of Margraten.  If you start from the cross front and center and count back three you'll find a Star of David.

8319 This is the headstone of Robert Cole, Metal of Honor awardee.  There are six others among the 8,000+ men buried here.

8322 The statue Mother Waiting at the end of the reflecting pool in the Court of Honor looking back at all the names of the missing men from the battle.  The director of the cemetery told us they still discover one every now and then.  The family gets to decide if the remains are shipped home or buried here.

8348 Chocolate Desert at the Chateau Neercanne in Belgium.

8344 The inside of the Chocolate Desert

8376 The Basilica of Our Lady, fortress church in Masstricht.  The main door is in the gabled building to the left.

8487 These are the two Dutch junk mail signs.

 

April 14 – Hasselt-Maastricht, Netherlands.  Our first trip of the day is to the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in the little village of Margraten.  It's not a huge place but most of the soldiers and airmen who are buried here were killed during Operation Market Garden. 

 

When we arrived our Tauck tour leaders got dozens of white roses from under the busses and gave us each one to place on a grave.  A nice touch.  When you first enter the memorial you are in a large, walled courtyard, The Court of Honor, facing a tall tower.  Down the center of the courtyard is a reflecting pool.  To your left is a visitor's hall with two large engraved maps.  One illustrates the actions during Market Garden, the other larger one shows the military actions in northwestern Europe starting with D-Day and continuing to the end of the war.  On the walls of the Court of Honor are the names of 1,722 American missing who are buried in unknown graves. 

 

At the end of the Court of Honor is a court wide set of stairs that take you up to the cemetery level.  Here you see the headstones of 8,301 Americans who were killed nearby.  They are arranged in 16 plots and as is the case in many overseas US military cemeteries the headstones are aligned in large sweeping curves.  No matter how many I visit, from Arlington to Manila to Margraten it is always a moving sight.

 

The manager of the memorial was there to give us a guided tour.  When you are in the cemetery proper and you look at the back of the tower you can see that it's the chapel and at 10am I found out it's also a carillon.  The interior of the chapel is very plain.  The altar has a carved wood face but is made of the same grey granite as the rest of the structure.  It was nice of the manager to take the time to come a greet us and show us around but I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts.  I stood at a distance where I could still hear his explanations but in a short time that was not an option.  I left the Court of Honor and climbed the stairs to the cemetery.  There I just walked among the headstones.  In retrospect, when they gave me that rose to place it focused my thoughts and emotions on the names engraved into the headstones even more than I usually do. 

 

It's usually not hard to find the grave of someone from Pennsylvania and that was true here.  I put my rose in the ground at the headstone of Robert G. Peterson, a 2^nd Lt. in the 571 Bomber Squadron whose fate was to be killed just two months before the war ended.  As a 2^nd Lt. in a bomber he was most likely a co-pilot and young although he could have been a navigator or bombardier.  They flew B-17s so they usually had 3 or 4 officers aboard.  I walked around the cemetery on my own for a while and then rejoined the group as they walked into the area.  The manager wanted to tell us about one of the seven Medal of Honor recipients buried here, Lt Col Robert G. Cole.

 

He earned his MOH when he and his men made it possible for the 101^st Airborne to link up with the 29^th Infantry coming in at Omaha Beach.  After taking hours of cannon, mortar and machine gun fire as well as a strafing by German fighters the pressure was building to take the city of Carentan that would allow the linkup.  Cole figured that it was now or never so he had the US artillery to fire smoke shells at the on the German position and gave the order to fix bayonets.  He started the charge himself with the small group of men around him.  As others saw what they were doing they joined in on one of the rarest military techniques of WWII, a bayonet charge.  In hand-to-hand combat they routed the Germans and allowed the two Army units to link up making their situation much more secure.  He survived the experience only to be killed by a sniper before he received his medal.

 

Every Cross or Star of David in this place has a story.  Many are probably unknown to anyone.  But each had parents, siblings, relatives, wives, girlfriends and friends back in the US that received the sad news of their passing.  I guess that's why I am usually struck by such a somber mood when I visit memorials.  Sad!

 

There's a bowl on the altar in the chapel that had flowers in it.  I'm pretty sure it always does.  But there was a large wreath of spring flowers on a stand in front of the altar that said simply, 'In Memoriam from MSJHS Fremont, California USA'.  I'm guessing that's Mission San Jose High School.  I wonder what their connection is with this place.  Must be a tradition started some time ago that continues to be honored. 

 

I certainly found myself in a somber mood after this visit.  Not unusual but maybe stronger than normal.  It was fairly quiet on the bus as we drove away; perhaps I'm not the only one that was affected by the rose placement ritual.

 

After a respectful time our tour leader announced that we were leaving the Netherlands and heading into Belgium for lunch.  If she hadn't told us we probably would not have known.  We're driving on very rural two-lane blacktop and there wasn't a sign at the border.  After about a 30-minute drive we turned into a very narrow gravel lane leading up the hill to Chateau Neercanne.  Built in 1698 it was an operating farm and winery for a few hundred years.  Now it's a wedding and banquet spot, and a charming one at that.  The main house of the chateau is a restaurant.  We are dining in the banquet hall.  This unusual structure is part building part cave.  The limestone caves here were used for aging the wines when it was a winery.  Now they provide several banquet spaces of different sizes.  We will be occupying the largest two of them. 

 

From the entry we turned quickly into a limestone cave lighted by candles that led us around several turns until we emerged from the confines of the cave to find our banquet hall.  Lengthwise, half of it was carved into the limestone hillside and half of it was in a cement building.  They were serving from a wine bar as we entered.  I was still in no mood to have wine so we selected seats and Diana chatted with our neighbors.  Listening to the conversation lightened my mood and soon I was back in the game.  They served the meal in a very unusual manner.  I haven't bored you with many menus on this trip but time I'm going to do it. 

 

The starters were set up in two different areas, one in each of the rooms and when you were ready you served yourself.  They included: Carpaccio of Beef with parmesan cheese, capers and olives, cold salmon (fully cooked) with garden herbs and lemon-mint mayonnaise, mozzarella cheese and tomato salad with olives and sweet pepper vinaigrette, marinated mushrooms with sweet garlic, crispy gamba (fish) with puree of onions and potatoes and sweet potato soup with shrimp.  That's just the starters.  We haven't gotten to the unusual part yet. 

 

The main course was veal with prunes and a puree of Nicola potato and cabbage.  The unusual part was how you got it.  We each took our plates and headed into the kitchen to have the chef serve us.  Problem they have is that they belong to a gustatory society that does not allow non-culinary people into the kitchen.  So we each were given a chef's cap and temporary status as prep-chefs to give us entry to the kitchen and out main course.  Most people were good sports and wore the cap at least until they got back to their tables.  In fact, most wore them for the entire meal.  The veal was very tender and the sauce was delicious.  They placed the potatoes on the plate using a pastry bag to form a long fat line.  It looked like a string cheese snack.  It was all very good.

 

The star of the show, however, was the desert.  On the menu it was simply described as Chocolate Desert with Vanilla Cream and when it came to the table it really didn't look that special.  In this case, looks were definitely deceiving.  It looked like a two inch in diameter domed chocolate cake with a dark chocolate cross on the top.  It was inside two circles, one of vanilla cream and one of apricot puree.  I thought the circle of vanilla cream was what they were mentioning on the menu.  When I cut into the chocolate dome, the inside was filled with thick, creamy vanilla.  It was one of the most delicious chocolate things I've ever eaten.  Truly outstanding!  The rich chocolate cake's surface had been dusted with cocoa powder which made it look fuzzy and not very chocolaty.  The reality was that the cake inside was probably some sort of flourless chocolate cake, very rich in flavor, then you hit the vanilla center and everything smoothed out into a mouthwatering flavor bonanza of the best kind, chocolate.  Are you getting the idea that I liked the desert?  Our drive back to Maastricht found me in a much better mood that the drive out.

 

When we arrived back in the city we embarked on, what else, a walking tour of the old town.  I have to admit that after seeing a few Dutch Colonial towns from the Golden Age, I'm getting pretty jaded.  They are still beautiful buildings; I'm just not taking as many pictures as I did earlier.  One really unusual building was the church.  It was obviously built at a time when it served not only a religious function but also a defensive one.  It's about 5 stories tall and all walls with a small tower on each side of the front façade with an entryway in a two story structure to the left side of the main structure.  

 

Every country has a problem with junk mail.  The Dutch have a pretty good system in theory; I just wonder how well it works.  The have a strip you attach above your mail slot.  It can say 'Nee    Ja' or 'Nee    Nee'.  If you want all your mail delivered you don't put a sign up and all of it goes in the slot.  If you want junk mail that has your name and address on it you put up Nee    Ja.  No to the 'occupant' junk mail but Ja to the L.L. Bean catalogue with your name on it.  If you don't want anything but first class mail address to you, you put up 'Nee….Nee', no to all of it.  Wonder if it works.