Belgium with T-S, Part Deux (see, I’m learning French!)

What a storm! The rain and wind pounded so hard that we thought something was coming loose from the roof. My bedroom looks out at the parked car, which was being pounded mercilessly. I got up and spent a few hours in the living room until it settled down.

We set up our little Christmas tree with presents next to it. Nice!

The 22^nd, Sunday, we went looking for the Chimay Christmas market (hoping for beer, of course!) We found it. They had a Dixieland band – what? 

Tom and me at the Chateau in Chimay

Nothing like hot mulled wine on a cold day!

The Chimay Dixieland Jazz Band was quite good.

The market wended its way from the central market to the Chateau, with lots of champagne, vin chaud (hot mulled wine), and sausages with onions. We bought a Chimay sampler with two beer glasses and 6 bottles of beer, 2 each of 3 kinds. When we came back to Landal, we bought a Super de Fagnes sampler with a beer glass and 4 kinds of their beer. That night was our first beer sampling night! We started with the light beers and worked up to the darks. Lighter beers we kept in the refrigerator, darker ones on the tile floor next to the patio door.

Monday the 23rd was decent weather so we drove further afield. The night before was huge wind, rain and sleet. We drove to Durbuy for their Christmas market, beer and chocolate! We stopped in 3 chocolatiers. I bought a dozen or so assorted dark chocolate pralines, and Shirley bought some lighter chocolate ones. Yum! We bought a six-pack of Durboyse beer with 3 types included for that night’s beer tasting. Durbuy says it is the world’s smallest town (?). It is pretty. We ate sautéed mushrooms, tartiflette (gratineed potatoes with rebluchon cheese) and a ham/mushroom crepe. Some of the outer vendors were taking down their tent-tops and going home. We found out why that evening…

We bought a ham here. Cut off a slice and snack!

Tom enjoying the stalls

Siding of a building, common here

Cool front of a house

Belgian Frites are a specialty right after beer and chocolate

Down the road again to Namur where we stopped at a supermarket. Tom drove around the parking lot while Shirley and I tried to shop and use the toilet. What a crowd!!! Tom never found a parking spot, and we had a game of obstacle course getting our cart through the people and counters. At the end, Shirley found the toilet, but that wasn’t enough to make up for the feeling that the place was about to explode. Shirley drove next, swearing at all the drivers and pedestrians. There was not a single parking space in the town. Tom and I made her stop at the cathedral, which was incredibly ugly, so we could find out where the UNESCO protected belfry was. It was about 3 blocks away on foot. But you can’t drive there from here – seriously! So we didn’t get to see it. We turned our backs on Namur with relief.

How's this for an ugly cathedral?

We found a roadside restaurant about 5:30, but they don’t even think about food till 7 pm. Oh, yeah, Europeans! We finally got home about the time the windstorm arrived. Ah ha! That’s a good reason to take down your vendor tents. This is a huge storm. Happy Christmas Eve!

We stayed indoors Tuesday, Christmas Eve. We had a lovely brunch, Tom and I went swimming while Shirley washed clothes. We ate my ham from the market during the afternoon. Dinner was raclette cheese melted, covered with little pickles and pickled onions as well as boiled baby potatoes. After that, we had chicken salad made from our leftover roast chicken that we bought from a vending machine. I can't believe that you can buy a hot roast chicken from a vending machine! We opened ONE present each. I got a quilted metal box full of cookies (galettes) that I can use for storing tea or coffee. Shirley got the Pace Picante sauce, and Tom got chocolate covered cherries. He says chocolate covered cherries spell Christmas for him.

I am not sure how Santa managed to make it through the storm Christmas night! But in the morning, there was actual blue sky. We traded gifts, had another brunch and then went for a drive. Tonight was an interesting turkey dinner. The turkey is a roll, where the core is pork and foul liver with 4 kinds of mushrooms. Yum! Dessert was a Yule Log - all chocolate. Yay!

Merry Christmas to all! I wish everyone a great holiday season.