Meix-le-Tige

To introduce Ross to some of the locals, we were invited to a BBQ at Daniel’s house just over the border. Being Belgium, it rained: so, an indoor BBQ. For our post prandial promenade, we ventured into the nearby woods. The seasonal green was almost overpowering, particularly for Ross who had just arrived from autumnal Benalla.

Ypres

As a sober precursor to our alpine passes and classic rally routes road trip, Ross and I crossed Belgium to Western Flanders in order to visit the grave of Granny’s favourite brother, Tom Hodge, after whom Dad is named. He is buried at the Brandhoek New Military Cemetery, between Ypres and Poperinge. On such a gorgeous spring day, it was impossible to envisage the wretchedness which visited this place almost a century ago.

At the end of the day, together with about 1000 others, we attended the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate which is inscribed with the names of 54,896 allied dead whose remains were never found and interred. This emotive ceremony has taken place every evening at 8 pm since 1928.

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Leuven

Together with the usual suspects from Ingrid's maths department, on Saturday we attended the Zythos Bierfestival in Leuven, in the Brabant region of Belgium to the east of Brussels.

The infamous Pink Elephant makes another appearance.

The immense Brabanthal hosted about 100 breweries featuring over 500 very different beers.

Downtown Leuven by night.

The traditional end-of-evening kebab stop.

Vianden

We took advantage of Saturday’s benign forecast (that is, not continuous rain), to take a leisurely trip up-country to picturesque Vianden. In the autumn-like gloom, the castle towered over the old town which wound down the valley in a cascade of slate roofs.   

We had a very languid lunch of schnitzel and ham and chips at the Café-Restaurant Du Pont overlooking the river. After, we took a muddy walk along the old town walls before returning to Luxembourg via some rather fun wiggly roads through the Ardennes.

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January

Back in Luxembourg, this is what greeted us on waking this morning - minus 2 degrees, ice under foot and an enveloping freezing fog. It is a little surreal to recall where we were one week ago.

Creswick Christmas 2013

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