Hotel Giorgi Bastogne

... reached Mr. Gillissen’s home, not far into Belgium, about 4:00 pm, just as he arrived home. He is being tested now for cancer of the esophagus, and has a number of other difficult situations he’s juggling too, like having to recycle into a new line of work and look for a new position. We spent about two hours together. He explained his various situations, and I tried to offer encouragement and what counsel I could. He will keep me informed when he receives the results. "The ...

... oil and garlic. It was actually very good, and I'm not a big broccoli fan. We spent the rest of the evening chatting in the kitchen because it was the warmest room in the house. There is a wood burning stove in the kitchen and that is what is used mainly to heat the house. It got very cold here. Karyn said that it was -3 C the prior evening!

We chatted around the stove and listened to a variety of music ...

... from Vianden. The museum was very interesting with a very interesting history. Since it's early origins, the founders of the museum were guided by one key bottom line: the balanced, impartial and objective representation of the historical facts of the Battle with detailed and historically correct close-up on the three sides of that major 1944/45 military conflict: the German, the American, and the civilian side. This goal was primarily reached through the creation of life-size and ...

We woke up in Aachen this morning and decided to drive through the back roads to Belgium and pay a visit to Bastonge, were thousands of soldiers as ell as civilians died during WWII's Battle of the Bulge. The only real reminders are a Sherman Tank sitting in the middle of town and and the memorial ...

... I'm a fan of. Cute little villages like those that I've been to in Switzerland but lacking that little bit extra in presentation.

I only got to see a few towns in Luxembourg but there is certainly a lot more to explore. I highly recommend the wine district that runs along the border with Germany.

... was his headquarters in Bastogne. He lived in the basement of a long, red brick building just 2-3 blocks from the center of town. We dedicated the plaque and then had the opportunity to head down to the basement. I will let the few pictures I have tell the story of the basement. Displayed in the basement were 3 rooms, one was decorated as McAuliffe's operation room, the second was communications and the third was to the veterans that have visited there. Mostly original ...

... and so far it's quite enjoyable being in a place where all the languages are foreign. This is also the first time I've had a TV since starting the trip. I flipped through the channels, most of them are in French, some in Flemish, two in English (CNN International and BBC1), and a couple in Turkish. One channel had what looked like the French equivalent of Jerry Springer on. BBC1 had the British version of "Survivor" on. I ...

... raha Belgia kasumiks andma.

Aga pood iseenesest oli natsa väiksem kui Chicagos, kuid mööblivalik nagu igalpool, samasugune. Leidsin palju asju, mis mul endalgi kunagi ostetud sai ja USAsse maha jäi. Paljud asjad on just kaugemalt vaadates hästi lahedad, aga lähedalt silmitsedes kas plekist või plastmassist :D No aga külalised ei peagi ju kõiki asju kodus käperdama, eks!

... and exhibits). The whole thing was in four different languages (French, English, German and Dutch) so there was no problem in missing anything in translation. One of the things that I was kind of surprised by in Europe was how many of the museums have English captions on everything. Even in Prague every museum we went to had Czech and English for all of the exhibits. The only place that really doesn't cater to English is France ...

... the port of Antwerp and slowing the advance of the Western Allies, or better, creating a stalemate which would allow him to refocus his efforts against the Russians. At first, the Allies were completely surprised (This was afterall, only the third time the German Armies had done this in the same place in thirty years!). Although completely surrounded, the Americans in Bastogne, reinforced by airborne troops and cut off ...