Tuesday,
July 3 - Tuesday, July 10
Finally the day has arrived (six days of rain, and counting) to leave
our friends in Holland and head south toward the sun and dry weather. . .
we hope! Marianne, our Dutch friend from Anniston, Alabama, left her
Nissan car with us to use, and for 50 Euros we have collected sleeping
bags, sleeping pads and a tent, in hopes of
doing some camping during our trip south.
Our first
stop was Antwerp, Belgium, which we reached Tuesday night in heavy rain and heavier
traffic. We exited the main
freeway and fueled up at a 24-hour Esso
station, and decided it was a good, safe place to sleep. We had
plenty of room and gear in the car to be comfortable & warm,
and setting up a tent in the rain was unthinkable! We actually
slept very soundly with the rain dancing on the roof. Almost like
being home in the Airstream! Awaking Wednesday morning to a blessed
break in the
weather,
we walked around the
neighborhood and discovered an amazing park. We unwittingly stumbled
upon the grounds of a castle, the "Kasteel den Brandt, with public jogging
trails, rivers, WW II-era bomb-shelters, and an orchard of plum, apple &
pear trees full of sweet fruit, open to the public. The plums were
especially ripe and prolific ~ they were falling on the ground. We
had an excellent breakfast before continuing past the manor houses,
fountains, and statue of Michelangelo's David.

Leaving the kasteel and Antwerp, we traveled east to one
of the most beautiful
cities in all of the Netherlands, the city of Maastricht. It
was
even more beautiful than I remembered. We walked & walked, through
rain & sunshine, and took an array of photos as we ambled along the many
canals & fortresses of the old city. On the outskirts of Maastricht, on the
Belgian border, we set out to find some caves
and man-made
tunnels which networked several hundred miles underground. We met a
man who gave us directions to the Belgian side of the tunnels where
the
entrances have been left open,
for the public to enter "at your own risk". (The Dutch caves had
been gated, and entrance was only allowed on tours.) Armed with
flashlights, we
walked into
one of the caves & found 20-foot
ceilings, hand-chiseled
and full of rooms and passageways. It was an amazingly elaborate
system which dates back 2000 years to the Roman occupation, but which we
think was used by World War refugees to evade the German troops.
After a
couple of hours of "spelunking", we spent more time walking through
the city, looking at the
beautiful bridges that connect the old town to
the newer (but still several-centuries-old)
town.
After another night car-camping in the rain, we drove south to
the city of Strasbourg, France. We arrived (in the rain) at 8pm,
and after finding a good-but-full hotel, we found a
cheap (30 Euros) and not-so-good "Hotel Weber". However, the
sheets
were professionally
laundered and pressed, and we had a bathroom with a good shower right in
the room, which was wonderful after a few days on the road.
We had been given a contact name by Percy Brooks, a dear friend
from Greenbrier Church of Christ in Alabama, and we gave a call to Alex McGaughy, from Ohio,
who lives in Strasbourg with a AIM mission group out of
Lubbock, Texas. He met us in town that
evening, we went out for our
first taste of Turkish "doner Kebab" sandwiches~yum!, and Alex offered to
let us use their living room as our home for the weekend. The group
of four young men live
together in a quiet neighborhood near the old city in a beautiful
apartment just a short walk from the center of town, which is built around
the Gothic Cathedrale Notre Dame,
an exquisite cathedral with a 466- ft-tall
spire, built around 1284. Surrounding the cathedral are various
squares, with hundreds of restaurants, canals, beautiful bridges &
flowers.
The
cathedral, being at the center of town, becomes the event of the
summer. Each evening in July & August, just after sunset (at
10pm), the
cathedral's stained-glass, intricately carved surfaces and spire
are
illuminated by stunning spotlights of ever-changing colors, along with a
classical music presentation which tourists & locals
alike come to enjoy. The surrounding bridges are also festooned with lights and
flower boxes, and people come out for their evening strolls, visit their
neighbors, and flock to the
restaurants and gelato stands (several non-dairy, fruit varieties like
melon, peach, berry, mint and lime, as well as the creamy stuff).
And of course there are the bakeries!! Sweets and breads
of
all kinds are on every corner, it seems. We tried a few delicacies,
but mostly we enjoyed the Turkish kebabs.
On Sunday
morning, Robert discovered this sign post, which told us
how far away we were from Sydney, Shanghai, Vancouver, etc... We
took one last walk from our hosts' apartment (shown here), through the
town of Strasbourg before heading off to church with Alex & "the Boys", as
they
are known. The worship service was in French, however, Joseph had spent
the previous evening translating seven pages of Daniel's lesson into
English, and presenting it for us via the overhead projector. So we
were able to easily follow
along in a French worship service! Very cool! As our worship
service came to an end, we left for the area of Autun, France and the
village of Cussy en Morvan, in the Morvan Mountains. After a lovely day of
broken sunshine and breathtaking scenery,
we arrived in the area of Autun as dark
approached. Having fueled up and headed up the road we hoped to be the one
that led to Cussy, the sky darkened and the rain came pouring down, and
our already challenged vision was now almost
non
existent! As we climbed the hills and passed thru villages that appeared
on our map, we finally spotted a small sign with the
name of Cussy on it. It was the correct sign that ultimately led us to our
destination... in the rain! Arriving in the village all I could remember
from my previous visit was the location of the house in regards to the
church building in the center of the town. Sure
enough my memory served me well and the rain broke just
long enough for us to be greeted by Joe and Suzanne Keesler, to park the
car,
unload and get in the house before the rain broke loose again! Their house
was wonderfully improved
since my previous visit and the ambiance was especially warm and
comforting...
not to mention the gracious hosts that sat with us as we enjoyed a light
meal and chatted with us late into the night. After a great night's
rest, we awoke to a lovely
day of sunshine and fair weather. Suzanne made
us a great lunch of spaghetti accompanied by a bottle of special wine from
Joe's cave [wine cellar]. We talked of their involvement in the community
and Joe's teaching of the "blacksmithing trade" to young people, and of
the ensuing Tour de
France route that would be coming thru Autun in three
days. We said our good byes and headed south toward the city of Nice,
taking the scenic route. We drove until dark, noticing that the
humidity was getting drier and the landscape was changing from lush green
farmlands to brown rolling hills. We found
a place to pitch our tent along the road in a
quiet rest area near the
tiny town of Apt, just east of Avignon.
Traveling
south from Apt, we headed southeast on scenic backroads, complete with
lovely villages, fields of fruits,
vegetables & herbs ~ entire hillsides of fragrant lavender! A cool breeze
was
blowing and the aroma of lavender filled the air. Heading towards
Nice our excitement built at our first glimpse of water: the
beautiful turquoise Lac de Ste. Croix. We stopped at the lookout
over the lake and couldn’t
believe the deep color of
aquamarine. Jeanie decided it was worth a closer look, so we drove
to
the lakeshore and Jeanie took a dip in the cool water. It was
heavenly, and we both smiled with an exciting feeling that this was just
the beginning of our summer!
-
Robert & Jeanie

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