European Vacation - Rettele Style

There she is, the Eiffel Tower, as seen from the sidewalk outside our hotel!

A cloudy cold breezy day we chose to ascend the Eiffel Tower! 

And a view from up top, looking down the Seine River.

And this is day two already!  After a fun subway ride ride into the underground level of the Louvre... here we are in one section of the museum, all we were able to take in that half day.  But lots to see, too much to absorb, but a fantastic architectural wonder - a must see on everyone's bucket list!

So much sacred art!  Dennis gladly poses in a bright spot.  'No flash' photos only, a challenge for my little Olympus point and shoot! 

Nike.  Should have polished up on my Greek Mythology before the visit to the Louvre.
That nine weeks class at good ole' HHS was too long ago!!

I loved all of the angels!  And the ceilings had the most amazing
colorful artwork.  Too bad my pictures didn't really do them justice.

THAT is the darling little Mona Lisa! 
You can see how the mobs arrive to view and photograph her!

Six of our group.  Dennis and I, Fred and Liz, and Ruby and Harold outside the Louvre.

A nice brisk walk along the Seine River

  

And the grand Notre Dame Cathedral!

And out front - the gentlemen that guard her...

The most amazing stained glass!

And we attended weekday mass here!!

Sitting in the cafe at the train staion in Paris, (trying to stay warm!) 

awaiting our train to Lille-Flanders and then a train to Brugge, Belgium.

 A little stopover and change of trains in Lille-Flanders.
Sunny but COLD this day!

Always feels like home when you see the golden arches!

Thinking there sure are a lot of bikes around here!!

And THIS is Brugge!  After our high-speed train trip, we arrived safe and sound in this beautiful town.

We walked about four blocks to our Hotel New Holland, rested briefly then took off on foot to check out the town.

this is one of the town squares with a beautiful fountain, not functioning in this cold weather! 
This was close to our hotel, the performing arts center, and the bus stop.

Lots of beautiful churches, this one is Saint Savior's Cathedral, under renovation inside.

I loved this little statue!  Didn't notice the mural till I uploaded the picture!

Isn't it gorgeous?  Had hoped to get to mass here on Saturday night,
but we didn't make it back from Ghent in time.  More on Ghent later!

Once again, it was very cold here!  But such beautiful buildings and brick streets!

That's Bryndon smiling because there is eel on the menu tonite! (But he was smiling most of the time, anyway!) 

And those are french fries in parfait cups! And that's Bryndon's wife Julie beside him, they are the NH dealers from Marysville that hosted this trip!  And Heinen's next to Dennis.  Fred and Liz called it a night earlier.  The trip to the New Holland plant is the next day and everyone's excited!

ALAS!  What we really came for - New Holland machinery!!  After a short bus ride we arrived in Zedelgem.

They make combines (both rotor and conventional) big square balers and choppers at this plant.

That's our double-decker bus outside!

Our group of Kansans and one couple from Nebraska!

And that's Ken.  You know, Barbie's friend?!

There's a combine rolling off of the production line for a test drive! 

And no picture-taking in the plant, sorry!

That's Julie toy-shopping, she left four kiddos at home!!

Most of the women headed back to Brugge for a little shopping and sight-seeing.

And guess what?  It snowed!

Isn't it beautiful!?

Mmmm, Belgian Chocolate!

The Town Square

Angels come in all shapes and sizes!

Snow angels in the town square! 

Ruby, Julie and Lois

Next day, Saturday, was this huge farmers market right across from our Hotel!
Just look at all the goodies!

Pastries of every sort!

Cheese!

Burgers!  With pineapple, bacon, you name it!

Rotisseries of chicken, among other things!

Dennis wanted some of these sausages!  Customs would have confiscated it, though!!

A trendy shoppe downtown.

Bread!

Later that afternoon, we took a bus tour to Ghent.
This is our tour guide, a history professor, didn't catch his name, but he had good English!

The meat house.  Those are real hams hanging up there, and they were for sale!

We toured this castle!

After leaving the castle, we travelled to the Battlefields of World War I.

Huge cemeteries with the Allied Forces war dead.  Some Germans were buried here as well.

This was Tyne Cote Cemetery near Ieper, Belgium.

If you remember the poem: In Flanders fields the poppies blow... that poem

was written right here during WW I.

An original bunker.

They played the movie "Passchendaele" on the bus.  That was a famous battle right in this area of Belgium.
Over 600,000 were killed here in just a few months time.  And they are still finding artillery all over the battlefield areas.

The next day, Sunday, we headed to the train station about 5:30am. 

Then we flew out of Brussels, Belgium to begin our journey home. 

And we're back home, landing in Chicago!