First half of day one...
Now it's my turn.
We started the day in Diest, still in the Flemish part of Belgium. Since it was a holiday (11 of November), most of the sites that were worth visiting were closed, but we still manage to a very nice park, a monument to both war heroes, someone receiving a medal for theirs (or their parents contribution in the same war).
Since it was a special holiday, we saw Belgium flags in almost all windows.
After a Huistmeister (never know how to write it, but it's the Flemish dish with ham, 2 eggs, slices of bread, cheese....yeap, that's the one....You're clever) and a beer in one of the local bars, we started driving to our next stop, Tongeren .
Tongeren is a very nice city still in the Flemish part of Belgium. There were 2 things that we particularly liked in this city and that we remember front the time we spent there.
One was this peculiar water fountain. I laugh out loud with this "peace of art".I think it speaks pretty much for itself, don't you think?
The second highlight is the Basilica of Our Lady. That church has stood on that site for at least 1200 years. In 1999 they started an excavation project that is expected to be finished only in 2009. What you see in this picture is the result of the second stage which is strapping the entire central section and it's showing graves and religious artifacts that can be traced back to the 8th century. Very cool stuff :-)
Don't miss in the next posting about Spa, the adventures in finding our way all the way through Viaden in Luxemburg and all the cool stuff we found out when we arrive there. It was a pretty fast track weekend but was definitely the best way to have a good idea of this part of Belgium and get to know the small cities that you never know in your normal weekend trips.
We started the day in Diest, still in the Flemish part of Belgium. Since it was a holiday (11 of November), most of the sites that were worth visiting were closed, but we still manage to a very nice park, a monument to both war heroes, someone receiving a medal for theirs (or their parents contribution in the same war).
Since it was a special holiday, we saw Belgium flags in almost all windows.
After a Huistmeister (never know how to write it, but it's the Flemish dish with ham, 2 eggs, slices of bread, cheese....yeap, that's the one....You're clever) and a beer in one of the local bars, we started driving to our next stop, Tongeren .
Tongeren is a very nice city still in the Flemish part of Belgium. There were 2 things that we particularly liked in this city and that we remember front the time we spent there.
One was this peculiar water fountain. I laugh out loud with this "peace of art".I think it speaks pretty much for itself, don't you think?
The second highlight is the Basilica of Our Lady. That church has stood on that site for at least 1200 years. In 1999 they started an excavation project that is expected to be finished only in 2009. What you see in this picture is the result of the second stage which is strapping the entire central section and it's showing graves and religious artifacts that can be traced back to the 8th century. Very cool stuff :-)
Don't miss in the next posting about Spa, the adventures in finding our way all the way through Viaden in Luxemburg and all the cool stuff we found out when we arrive there. It was a pretty fast track weekend but was definitely the best way to have a good idea of this part of Belgium and get to know the small cities that you never know in your normal weekend trips.
