Name this Mystery City!

Michael and I left Belgium again two weekends ago, and added another country to our list of places visited. This is probably the single easiest mystery city to identify in the whole world, due to the copious amounts of recognizable landmarks scattered throughout it. We like having contests that everyone can win, so that no one feels left out of the game. :)

To start off our day, we took a bus downtown, and walked down a large avenue filled with stores and cafes, until we found ourselves at the base of a giant archway:





Next we made our way down to the big river, where Michael made fun of the people taking rides on the sight-seeing boats:



We posed for pictures in front of the big tower:



Then wandered around until we discovered a large building with a gilded dome:



And we walked over a bridge adorned with statues:




Soon we found ourselves in a well-manicured garden inhabited by marble statues and two big fountains:



At the end of the garden path was a giant glass pyramid stuck right in the middle of the courtyard of a gorgeous old museum with beautiful architecture.



Crossing over the river once again, we found ourselves in front of a massive cathedral:



The magnificence of this building is in the fine details of the stonework and glasswork:




These pictures are really hard to take - the interior of the Cathedral is dark, and getting a clear picture requires a very steady hand!




On day two of our weekend, we walked down to this building. The sign outside claims that it is the oldest observatory still in operation in the world.



We walked down to one of the large cemeteries in this city, and found some notable tombs.

A simple resting place for the mathematician Henri Poincare:



The often-visited gravestone of the author Sartre:



And Michael's favorite photographer, Man Ray (unconcerned, but not indifferent):



Finally, the astronomer Verrier:



In a city this large, it's hard to see everything in a single weekend. Luckily, we'll be going back in only two weeks to experience this city once again. The train ride from Brussels is only 55 Euros (round trip), and takes 1 hour and 20 minutes, so it is easily accessible to us year round!

Our IKEA living room

Our new couch from IKEA arrived yesterday, and we're so happy with it! Here are some pictures of our new couch along with the matching IKEA chairs.

A Quiz on American Military History

We have had some requests for more quizzes on this blog, to allow more people to have the opportunity to win the chocolate fondue at the Hagen-Daaz cafe prize.


This week's quiz is based on our trip to the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. The Cemetery is the final resting place for the many American soldiers who lost their lives in the Battle of the Bulge near the end of World War 2 (December 1944 - January 1945). The image to the left shows American soldiers from the 75th division in the Ardennes - the image is from Wikipedia.

The quiz question is this: Which US general is buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial? His tombstone is shown below. The winner of the contest gets chocolate fondue at the Hagen-Daaz cafe in Brussels!

Our trip to Luxembourg

Last weekend we took a day-trip to Luxembourg to visit Matt and Liv, who were spending some time in that city with Liv's parents. Michael took some really amazing pictures, the city is beautiful and we were lucky to visit on a bright, sunny day. In addition to seeing the sights in the city, we were treated to a fabulous meal prepared by Liv's parents. We can't wait to go back.


Luxembourg may be small, but it has maintained its independence through many European wars, proving that good walls make for good neighbours.


Matt and Liv at a scenic overlook.


Rivers flow through the city center.


Structures emerge from the cliff face.


I'm doing my best to ruin Michael's picture of the Ducal Palace, the official residence of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.


Looking down from the top of the cliffs.


Another view from the cliffs.


This bridge is made of sandstone, which qualifies it as a contender for "architectural blunder of the century".


A nicer picture of the Ducal Palace.


Sculptures winking at Michael just outside the Palace.


Houses built right into the cliffs and city walls.


The skyline of Luxembourg city.

Malm or our new dressers from Ikea

After the use of a tape measure and some good luck we now have a great dresser that fits perfectly into the triangular shaped space in our bedroom!

We are feasting like Kings!

Today we went to the grocery store, and on our way there we noticed that all of our little bakeries were full of cakes with crowns on them! Of course, we had to buy one. We chose a chocolate flavoured cake - I'm not exactly sure what the other choices were. The cake was packed in a special box covered with pictures of crowns, and we got our own crown inside the box to put on the cake when we arrived home.


We had to resort to google to figure out what we were celebrating with this very interesting cake. As it turns out, we are celebrating the Epiphany - also called Twelfth Day, and also called Three Kings Day. It is the day that the three magi visited baby Jesus, revealing him as God in human form. It is celebrated on January 6th, but we'll probably eat our cake tonight - there is apparently some controversy about whether we should be celebrating on the 5th or the 6th, so no one will notice anyways. :)



According to wikipedia, our cake should contain either a bean or a trinket of some sort, and whoever gets the trinket is declared King for the year, and also has to bring the cake to next year's party. Michael has already decided that he is this year's king, as you can see in the picture of him. He will be wearing the crown all night!

Merry Xmas Uncle Gordon!