Bruges

It is a balmy evening and I am sitting on my balcony with a bottle of Jean-Luc's wine and a good French brie! Have had another busy day on trams and trains.It makes me realize how lucky I have been having friends to cart me round. I have figured out the trams in Brussels today and when I took the train out to Bruges I had to stand all the way, both ways!! Everything goes on the trains - babies, bikes, dogs- so it wasn't a very comfortable journey! Bruges is truly lovely but much more touristy than I remembered. I didn't see any lace makers this time, but I did do a boat trip along the canals. It is called 'the Venice of the North' because of its canals. The architecture in Bruges is stunning, with magnificent vistas in all directions. There are lots of what I call stepped rooves on the buildings. You will see what I mean by the photos.

Brussels by day

Phew! I am kaputt after walking all day in Brussels. Jean-Luc dropped me off at the flea market this morning and I have had a wonderful day exploring this lovely city both on foot and using the hop-on hop- off buses. It has wonderful architecture, especially the huge Gothic churches, lovely tree- lined boulevards, parks, trams and lots of Art Nouveau buildings with lovely wrought iron balconies.Also an interesting history with its Flemish and French influences. The Belgians make chocolates to die for, also yummy waffles and fine lace.Belgium is one of the 27 members of the EU with a very cosmopolitan multi-lingual population. The people are very friendly and patient with my stumbling efforts at speaking French. It has been German for the last few weeks so I am struggling with French. Their patois is interesting eg I am going to go to a Beethoven concert in the Bozar (Beaux Arts) on Tuesday. I am off to Bruges tomorrow and either to Antwerp or into some of the museums on Tuesday.

Brussels by night

Wow!! I am now in extreme splendor in an 'atelier'(my Belgian lawyer friend's wife's art studio ) in Central Brussels. He is a real entrepreneur and Cathy is an artist and is very attractive. J-L and I met 40 years ago and we hadn't seen each other since! They live in Monaco,own a chateau and vineyard near Figanieres in France, these two apartments in Brussels and he is also developing vineyards and a golf course in Argentina!!! I have just had a magnificent meal of mussels with Jean-Luc and Cathy and I can have this apartment for a week. The photo is the view from my balcony! They are both so nice and he even sat squashed in the back of Cathy's little Toyota Ito, I think it is called, when we went out tonight. We have had a tour of Brussels by night and I am pretty tired after 10 hours on the trains today from Oberammergau in Germany. The 2 landscapes show the difference between northern and southern Germany.

Photo shoot in Oberammergau

The sun has come out today, so this will be a photo blog! Susie and I have just been for a swim in this little lake in the woods in the nick and I loved the farming scenes en route home in Altenau. Once again I have had a wonderful time and am off to Brussels today : 10 hours by train!

Allgau

Today we all went into the Allgau, a very pretty hilly agricultural area in the Alps. Stefanie and Andreas are renovating a huge old house to sell in Simmerberg, so Andreas worked on the house while Susie, Stefanie and I and her two dear little boys, Johann(nearly 3) and Ferdinand(10 months) went to this fabulous swimming complex called Aquaria in Oberstaufen. It had various indoor and outdoor pools, a lazy river, diving pool and sauna. I think that I had as much fun as the kids! We had lunch in a very old Biergarten. Look at Andreas' meal! Then we drive home via Fussen with the famous Neuschwanstein and Hohen Schwangau castles. Tomorrow is hair and pedicure day before I head up to Brussels on Saturday: another 10 hours by train!

Oberammergau again

Today Susie and I went to the weekly market in Murnau and I walked around Oberammergau with my camera. Sadly the fog (' die Hasen kochen' : 'the rabbits are cooking!' according to Vincent) still hasn't lifted. The painted houses are lovely, but would be even more spectacular if the mountains were visible behind them! I have tasted my first Weisswurst today- the typical Bavarian white sausage. It tastes much nicer than it looks!!

Oberammergau

Yesterday I came over to Oberammergau by train and Susie met me in Oberau. Again very pretty countryside, more open than up in the Schwarzwald, but again green and treed and now with the painted houses. Yesterday, Sept 3rd was Stefanie's birthday, so friends dropped in during the afternoon for Kaffee and Kuchen. Susie had made some wonderful cakes(see photo)and today we took the chairlift up to the top of the Hoernle and walked down. Unfortunately it was foggy on top, so we didn't have the view to Munich, but we had a Kuhkonzert - cowbells ringing while they chomped on the grass. Andreas, Stefanie's husband played Jesus in the 2010 Oberammergau Passion Play. I think that the cow could be a Milka chocolate advertisement?