Life: Idiotropic

(The fine detailing in the two photos on the left are small pieces of the towns old government building. The first photo shows part of the church's facade with the government building on the right hand edge.)

Leuven, according to our friends, is a "quaint little Flemish town," so on Saturday we went there with our friends to visit with them and to see the town they love so much. Laura and Frank both love it more than Brussels.

Leuven is smaller than Brussels, but it has all the charm of a bigger city and a lot of nice surprises. I'd gotten lost there once after missing my turn on the autobahn, but I'd only been in the outskirts along roads with nice old buildings, but nothing spectacular. Today we drove along some of those same roads, but ended up near the centrum. Our parking lot was like the NW in the fall lined with trees full of colored leaves. A nice church sat in the background. We followed Frank as he led us down a few streets toward the center of town. The main street got prettier as we got closer to the center. Chocolate shops, bakeries, nice clothing and shoe stores, and artistic flower shops lined that street.

Saturday is market day there, so it got a little more crowded as we walked past the pastry and vegetable stands. One vendor was selling chandeliers and mirrors. It was a surprisingly nice market - better than I've seen in Germany or The Netherlands - and the olive guy was there selling delicious garlic, olives, nuts, and dried fruits.

Rushing past the market (not by choice - my fellow travelers didn't stop), I ended up gazing up in awe of the large white building in front of me. The square just appears without warning and a building so grandiose was not expected. Buildings are always pretty in Belgium especially in the city centers. The cute little buildings all stuck together in rows all have unique and beautiful gables and roof lines. They're usually dated from the 1600's or 1700's. I still appreciate it, but it's becoming a bit common. So walking past these was nice and charming, but didn't grab me. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, this large white overly detailed, Brussels-esque building just jumped out at us and my camera reacted by taking a flurry of photos. The building is the city government building and has flags hanging in front from the states in Belgium. Stone carvings cover the building and under each larger statue are 6 more little men below.

We were all hungry, so we looked for a place and ended up going into Quasimodo's Notre Dame. It served typical food... pasta dishes and croquettes. Laura ordered three Croquette Monsieur which is the very elegant way of asking for three grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. And, they showed up, to my disappointment, looking just like any grilled ham and cheese sandwich that I could get at Denny's or any other boring American average-food chain. Arianna and Tiara ordered a very nice spaghetti bolognese - extremely popular in both Holland and Belgium. Luci had chicken and fries that she dipped in applesauce. And, Kirk and I both had an amazing salmon and spinach lasagna. Now, THAT was something special with large square green lasagna sheets layers with a gooey spinach cheese filling and two large salmon steaks sitting on top. YUM!

Walking off lunch was fun. We went through the church where they were selling beautiful olive wood figures from Israel that smelled strongly of olives. Then we walked into the shopping district past beautiful window displays in cute little shops that were way out-of-my-league as far as prices are concerned. Far away at the end of the street was a beautiful white tower - the train station. We didn't get there because it was too far for the kids to walk, but it looked impressive.

Turning right down another street we ran into another large square facing an impressive building. This is the square where the Christmas market is held. The first thing that Tiara noticed was the big bug. It dangled helplessly belly up stabbed through the end of a large sewing needle in the center of the square. The kids loved it. Arianna could almost fit through the eye of the needle. All the kids used the eye as a foothold to stand up on it. Tiara instigated a spirited game of tag and all the kids, including Marlene (Frank and Laura's daughter), ran their wiggles out around and around the buggy sewing needle.

Here is the square, the beautiful building, and off on the right, the really big bug. Could be a fly, could be a beetle, either way, I don't want it in my house. You gotta love the contrast here... beautiful building hundreds of years old, and a really big insect. They fit rather nicely together, don't you think? And... below are my crazy girls... three of them, at least. Elise was in the stroller, tired and a bit cranky.

Walking back, someone passed by with an ice cream cone which of course, put that idea in our heads. Then we just happened to cross the street right at a nice little ice cream and waffle shop. A lot of little sweet shops here are just store fronts with no actual seating inside, so you order it right in front at the counter, then join the little groups of people standing around eating together outside. The ice creams were special. The chocolate orange had big chunks of orange marmalade filled chocolate covered cookies in it and orange sauce drizzled on top. The tiramisu had beautiful whole lady fingers in it. I had the mocha and it was perfect.

The market was just beginning to get packed up as we walked back through, so I sadly missed the escargot guy for the photo op. He'd had big white bowls filled with various types of uncooked snails. Yuck. I love the French influence on the bakeries, but the snails? Not so much. Kirk offered to buy me flowers. The flower shops are very artistic putting together very elaborate combinations. I didn't want to have them on the drive home, so I didn't buy any, but we did look at them a while. There were some pie pumpkin sized fuzzy pink blooms with sage centers and several others I'd never seen before. The sunflowers are in season now too, so there were a lot of those. Laura stopped at the quiche stand. We got Brazil nuts and sampled some olives and garlic. It would have been nice to have lunch at the market, sampling little things here and there as we walked along. The fruit stand had fresh figs, really big mangos, and a few other fruits that I couldn't identify.

Walking back to our car after a day with the Kohlenbergers is always a bit sad. They are such great people and we'd like to visit more often. This season is full of celebrations though, so we hope to see them a bit more.

A side note: Last week when I was driving down to Spangdahlem, my friend asked if we were in Germany or Belgium (not a strange question as we do cross the border a couple times on the way). I answered that we were in Belgium because the modern lights were still alongside the autobahn. My friend, Maria, told us that the Belgian autobahns are completely lit even in the most remote places because they don't pay their electricity for the autobahn lighting. Apparently, Germany still pays for Belgian autobahn light electricty as a payment for WW2.

Sometimes shopping is just a good excuse for a little adventure, so although I would not normally drive two hours just to go shopping, a big shopping bazaar at the Spangdahlem Air Force Base was too tempting to pass up. On Friday I picked up a couple friends and strapped in my two youngest and we took off for a day of shopping! The drive to Spang is easy being almost entirely autobahn, and it is beautiful going through the green rolling hills in Belgium. My 4th time through there, it still bugs me that I can't pull over and take pictures. It is so pretty.

We got to the base just after noon, parked easily, and went through the security tent where we showed our ID cards and got our hands stamped. One of my Spanish friends, Maria, came with her two kids since it was open to NATO ID holders as well. Two large hangers were filled to capacity with venders selling items from all over Europe: German Nutcrackers and Dolls, Bavarian dresses and lederhosen, Italian Murano glass, Polish pottery and wood crafts, antiques, candy, wines, leather, Norwegian wool sweaters, Peruvian alpaca, paintings, Italian pottery, Austalian tiles, and more. There was almost too much to see, but the variety was nice. Prices seemed a bit high to me on some things, especially on antiques. After being in Tongeren, I knew very well how overpriced many antique items at the bazaar were - some quadruple the prices I saw in Tongeren for items of lesser quality.

The Belgian tapestries were gorgeous. They really are quite special and in so many different colors and designs. A bit pricey there, I'll shop with my friend, Sissel, who sells them at the bazaar here. I ended up getting a gift for each of the girls and for Kirk - all things that were unique and special from here and for me, I got a lovely alpaca hat/scarf from Peru. The scarf is made in a tube, so when you tuck one end into itself, you can wear it as a hat, then wind the rest around your neck as a scarf. It is really clever, warm, and looked great. After being so cold last winter, I will not let this one begin unprepared.

Maria enjoyed looking around. She had never been on that base before and her kids were surprised at how big and modern it was. I'd never thought of it as beautiful, but those are the type of words that I heard from my Spanish friends. It is bigger than our little base here at GK. We shopped and ate at the venders there. Maria had never seen American money. It was kind of fun to show this "little America" to her and her kids. We went to the BX and Burger King on the way home - not the food I would have liked, but all the kids were tired and getting antsy. I think the free soda refills were impressive enough to make up for average fast food. Free refills do not happen anywhere here and water is never free. You do not get ice, nor tap water. Every beverage and ever refill costs. So, never-ending free refills at Burger King were kind of fun - for all of us.

You know you've met someone special when you can invite them over for an impromptu coffee before either of you have showered and you're both wearing sweats and the house is a mess... and she comes right over without the least hesitation and sits and visits for over an hour and you don't feel the least bit awkward that you can see three cheerios on the floor peaking out from under the armoir. That was my morning and it was wonderful. Good friends and coffee... can't get better than that.

Each day there is some beautiful thing that gets my attention. Today on a drive, it was the sky. The weather is crisply autumn and the skies are a deeper blue and up ahead of me as I drove, contrail lines striped the sky like a man's collared shirt. Five or six planes must have passed that way leaving an unusal number of stripes in the sky - all together in parallel. It really was pretty and I was happy to notice it. I think God put those stripes there on purpose to distract me today because while I was in serene bliss distracted by the beauty in the sky, I had, in the back of my mind, the horrifying realization of the decible difference of two children screaming when moved from the third row of seats to the second row. At first it started out with loud cackles coming from Elise that while shocking in volume, made me laugh in return. Luci's laugh also brought a smile to my face and contributed to the scenery... but then the laughs turned into happy, but raucous shouts and screams. Ouch. My head was throbbing and my patience waning. That is when the clouds became my forced escape - either focus on the clouds or lose my mind. Friday I'm taking them to Spangdahlem. They'll definitely be sitting in the back seat.

I was folding laundry and I could hear it coming a kilometer away... there's a steady roar... and then it flies by. When we first moved here Kirk heard that sound one morning and said, "there goes a C-140." It wasn't an airplane. It was a big tractor. On Saturday morning I saw about 10 of these trucks go by in an hour. Most of them are even bigger and all are heaped with sugar beets. They use both beet and grape sugars here instead of cane sugar and they have a slightly different taste. Tante Tinny tells me to eat grape sugar every time I'm not feeling well. Supposedly it is very healthy, but I haven't tried it yet.

The sugar beets are huge and roll off the trucks as they go by. We know not to drive too closely behind them because those beets could do some damage to a car. Even running into them on the road gives you a bit of a jolt.

In most of the fields now the piles of beets are getting bigger. I saw a harvester yesterday plowing down the green leafy plants and throwing up large brown tubers into the bin in back. The weather isn't cold yet, but it's cooled down enough where these beet piles will last a good month or longer just sitting out there in the field before they haul them away.

Just before you get to the base in Schinnen, there's a big factory on the right that makes apple juice, yogurts, and other things. This is their big production season with so many apples and sugar beets harvested. When I drove by last week I took these pictures. Their back lot was piled high with several varieties of apples and two big piles of brown beets. A few days ago I drove by there again and the piles were even bigger. When I rolled down my window the sweet smell of apples blew into the van. The factory has tours... that might be a fun activity for the kids one of these days.

A side note: We're used to big tractors and trucks here. After all, we do live in farm country. I like it and find it interesting most of the time. Other than large uddered cows for cheese, all the obvious crops are of the produce variety and make the scenery quite pretty with the various shades of green. But... Monday when Tiara and I were driving back from ballet, she and I both caught sight of a large truck coming into the roundabout ahead of us. It was heaped full, but not with sugar beets. We looked, and looked, making sure we both saw what we thought we saw. Then Tiara broke the silence and asked, "what's in that truck." My reluctant response was: "bones." White and red. Gross.

Luci's been off of school this week for fall break. Fall break here, unlike the 2 days off in the U.S., is a bit longer.The German schools get two weeks off. The Dutch and Americans get one week. It would be a great time to take a vacation IF the kids all had the same fall break... but they don't. This week Luci is off, but next week when she's back in school, Tiara will be off of dance, then the week after that both Tiara and Arianna will have fall break from their school. I may keep Luci out a couple of those days so I can sleep in (sleep in??? Did I actually type that??? No... not sleep in, uh, um, take a field trip... yeah... that's it!). Kirk will be working, so we won't do any BIG trips, but I'm sure we'll do a few girl outings... just the little dance troup and I.
Feeling guilty for being indoors on a beautiful blue-skied autumn day, we took a nice walk on Monday to our village vegetable stand to check out their incredible pumpkin selection. Yeah, I'd just been to a different one the day before, but Luci wasn't with us then and she needed the outing. More importantly, she needed to walk. The child, while exhuberant and energetic at home, hates walking and whines after only a few feet. I'm trying to train her feet to move down the sidewalk in a smooth manner and her face to smile while doing so. Today I was successful in getting her all the way to the vegetable stand without once being carried or riding in the wagon. The smile wasn't there, but it will come. I'll make a walker out of her yet.

Our stand is phenomenal! It spills out of the big arched doorway from the courtyard within. One little door leads to the home where the owners live. Another little door leads to a "closet" where they keep a few veggies, the eggs, and local honey. The entire courtyard was lined thickly with piles and piles of pumpkins and other types of squash. It was so beautiful. Martha would have a hay day there with a couple of her staff photographers. A couple of my American friends showed up there too and we were like children in a candy store looking at all the cute shapes and pretty colors. Luci picked out a lot of little ones, so we'll make pumpkin vases for the teachers next week. Elise spent most of the time in the wagon, observing, but not asking to get out and peruse which is unlike her. Still, towards the end I was able to coax her out and she liked touching the cold pumpkins. Here and there, peeking out from the pumpkin piles and hanging from the walls were these little witches that looked more like someone's grandmother than a scary thing. Burlap kites in fall colors hung from the walls too.

After we got our pumpkins I went to the Greune Warehause to look around. The place is great. You can get plants, toy tractors, boots, sesame seeds, and baking pans all in the same location! It smells like grain and the people who work there are very nice. We got a few big leaf decorations for our window. I'll post pictures when I figure out how to actually keep them up there. They are "fall" leaves and have done very well at "falling" down everytime I put them up.

That evening Tiara had ballet class and I had the little ones with me, so they all got muffins at Bagels & Beans, then we took a nice leisurely walk back to Tiara's ballet studio taking time to cluck at every chicken, baa at every sheep, and inspect ever tree for holes where the little goblins live. Arianna and Luci called out, "hello, little goblin, are you in there?" Walking down the narrow stairway back to the street we passed this spot of wall where this little striped snail lived. He's really a pretty little guy living in an unlikely spot. The little three and I all stood watching him for a minute. Arianna wanted to take him home.

But what was I harvesting? Trunks and pumpkins!

Yep, on Sunday morning, I got up before Mr. Sun and left before any sign of movement in my home. The kids slept. Kirk slept. The cat slept. It was amazingly quiet.

There was no need for a mug of coffee and a wagon since I knew I couldn't stay long, but I was on my way back to Tongeren to pick up my trunk. What was an easy hour there turned into a not-so-easy two hours as I hit a blocked road on the way there, tried to listen to Stella who took me to dead-end after dead-end, then found my own way back to a beginning point and got around the closed road my own way. Then I got to Tongeren, couldn't go down the street where the shop was, and was forced from one narrow one-way street to another making the same dismal loop over and over again until I was almost in tears. What was supposed to be an exillarating trip to pick up my treasure turned into a frustrating escapade with no one there to help me. One nice man helped me get to the market, but the roads that I needed to use were blocked, so I kept getting back to the same church on the hill, then down the wrong way on a one-way street until a man came up facing me in his car and wouldn't move until I turned around. Eventually, I told Stella to take me home. She got me to a point where I could find my way back to the shop and I just went down that "do not enter" street anyway so that I could get my 200 year old Austrian trunk and get out of there. The positive is that I saw a lot more of Tongeren that I've ever seen before and there are some beautiful churches and statues there. It would be a nice city to walk through, but driving there is crazy.

When I got home it was still morning and the kids were eating their breakfast. The weather was beautiful, so later that afternoon Kirk took Luci to GK for their father/daughter date. They went biking and ran into GK's big Octoberfest celebration downtown. He said it was really nice with a lot of food, rides, and games for the kids. While they were gone, I took the rest of the clan to the Kurbis stand in Stahe just down the road from us and let them pick out some small pumpkins. We'll get our big ones later when it's closer to carving time.


I've seen more variety of squash here than every before which is funny to me since the Germans don't eat as many of them as we do. They eat spaghetti squash and butternut and not much else. Pumpkins are only for Halloween that is beginning to catch on both here and in the Netherlands. She had pumpkins in tan, orange, white, and green... long skinny orange tubes, crook-necks, butternuts, small green and varigated squashes, a big green one in the shape of a U, and these alien squash in the shape of flying saucers with little knobs all over them like warts gone mad. Along the back of her room she had a string of lights with carved pumpkins hanging from them... they'd been carved, their bottoms cut off, then dried, and they looked really neat. I think we'll get some crook-necks next time and try to dry those.

I remember when I was about five, my best friend moved away. His name was Jason and he had a really cool house and a dog and a sit-and-spin. He was the first person I ever cried over. And I absolutely bawled.

So it hurts me now to see my little girl going through those same pains with a little boy that she loves. Nevan is her best friend and his last day of school is tomorrow. She's cried over him three nights now. Tonight she made a card for him. She wrote inside, "I really miss you. I love you" and she drew a picture of the two of them together.

Saturday was his birthday party and a time for all his friends to say good-byes. They had it at the bowling ally on base, so when they weren't bowling, they played on the big climbing structure inside. Nevan had a race track cake with cars on it and made the funniest face when he accidentally chomped down on a certs mint that his mom had used in decorating it. He's a great kid. I think I'll even miss him. He's one of those great personalities that just brightens up a room and makes everyone laugh.

He's moving to Oklahoma though... we might see him again. That's what I'm telling Arianna. She can write to him and send cards and email. And, in a few years, she just might see him again. We hope so.

Luci tried bowling that day and surprised me by how she took to it. Now she wants to bowl every week. Arianna can only handle bowling about 4 frames, so she started, got tired, and then Luci finished. I think Luci enjoys it more. Poor Arianna tried to throw the ball. It went part way down, then slowed down, came to a brief stop, then started rolling back towards her. Bowling is just not her thing.

At the end of a long day I always take a few minutes to look out the window. Each sunset here is beautiful and we enjoy the patterns the clouds make. One day this week we saw some wonderful shapes. Tiara and I immediately saw the same dolphin and then a bird, so I snapped this photo. By the time I'd taken another, the dolphin was gone and had morphed completely. Some day I'll have Kirk take a photo of his 5 girls staring at clouds from the playroom window. It would be a typical shot. One can never be to old to gaze at the shapes in the clouds.

I've always been a beach comber. All time stops when I'm at the beach... to the great dismay of my family who are constantly begging me to come back to reality. "Oh... just one more shell. That one over there is so pretty. Oh... I see another one... just another minute. Pleeeeease." This is the time when Tiara acts more like the adult and I am the child who won't listen.

There are no beaches in the vicinity, but the chestnuts are almost as addictive. They really are beautiful. Next year I'll have to come up with some good chestnut recipes and roast them. Mine are all gone now. They don't save well and I wasn't ready to roast them.

These beautiful nuts bring people together here - it's very sweet to see. Along the side of the road driving home the last few days I've seen families out under the chestnut trees hitting the upper limbs with sticks and gathering the nuts below. They are a traditional food here this season and the people seem very happy to be out together in this beautiful weather filling their bags. Under the base trees are families as well with wagons and bags of all sizes gathering nuts for the holidays ahead.

This morning I made cake for my International Women's board meeting. I'm trying to shake up that group a bit. They are all fantastic people, but tend to get a little serious sometimes, so, I'm bringing muffins and cake to all the meetings now. It sweetens them up and I think it will get them interacting a big more... may be. That's the plan anyway. Today I made "Togetherness Cake," a quick and easy, always yummy recipe from my great-aunt Terry.

Yesterday Arianna announced that it was Clown Bear's birthday, so having leftover cake this afternoon was perfect. We lit the big candle since we couldn't find the birthday candles and we all sung. Arianna was very happy and helped Clown Bear scarf down her cake. Clown Bear is 11. Her real birthday is July 14, 2005.

A couple days later all the stuffed animals in the girls' room gathered in a semi-circle around a little chair where Arianna and Clown Bear sat. Arianna called all the family to come in and we all sang again and watched Clown Bear open up her present - a cute little teddy-bear blanket that Arianna had wrapped up.

Now Luci wants to celebrate Tiger's birthday. I think I'd better get these dates on the calendar and start enforcing the 1-birthday a year rule... the girls have figured out that birthdays mean cake and they have a whole lot of animals and dolls that they could celebrate with!

A couple weeks ago, I was talking with Andrea and we realized that we were both "craving" those wonderful Dutch pannekoeken that we'd eated a couple months ago together in Thorn. Since our husbands had last Tuesday off, we decided to take a trip back there together.

Thorn is small and really doesn't change, so there was no need to do the tour. We went directly to the pannekoeken place and headed to the keller (basement) where the play room was. It was dark as any proper keller should be, but off in a side room was a wonderful little climbing play structure for the kids. We were able to enjoy a wonderful meal and the kids ran back and forth grabbing a bite or two of food, then running off to play. It was the most peaceful meal I've had in a long time.

It was also the most expensive pancake meal I've ever had and I've firmly decided that while I love pannekoeken, I will definitely find a good recipe from a Dutch friend and forego eating there again. A pannekoeken for each, dessert pannekoeken, and drinks= $105. Cha-ching. Sorry visitors... you'll just have to have pancakes at my house.

But, if you're willing to be extravagent, you can go to Thorn for just about anything imaginable on a pancake... Mexican pancake, Gyro pancake, strawberries with whipped cream, ham with cheese and leaks, amaretto with fruit, etc... And you won't need to eat for a week. They are filling.

Post meal we stopped at a little antique store we'd been to once before. They have birds - not antique ones, real ones, so the girls were all entertained watching those while we browsed. There was nothing tempting, but I did like the old fashioned doorbell. It was a metal wheel with bells on it. A string ran from an arm on the wheel through the wall. Your visitor would pull the string and the belled wheel would spin sounding the bells. It was orange with rust, but interesting.


Kirk liked the old scythe and the rusty pitchfork. I thought that the antique ice skates would be great in his "man room" someday, but that began quite a long dialogue that ended up continuing at work among his friends. Apparently, ice skates, no matter how old, are not manly, and I, no matter how long we are married, am not allowed to decorate his "man room" at all. Fair enough... less work for me.

Walking back to the car we saw the same orange flowers I'd seen the week before in Sittard. They really are beautiful. And, I saw this old door with the 1648 above it. The funny thing is that houses here are absolutely built to last forever. I've seen several new brick homes here with dates above them as well... 2004 on one! But, in 100 years someone will walk by that house and think, "wow, that's an old house!" The last photo is of a window... nothing overly tremendous except that I am always interested in what people have in their windows. Windowsills are wider here and every window usually has some object d' art in it.

Tongeren.

I am sitting here with the smile of a cheshire cat feeling as relaxed and rejuvenated as I would after a day at the spa. I have found my Mecca, at least on Sundays.

One of my friends here was once stationed in England during which time she took a tour bus, through the night, to Tongeren. Now she's thrilled to live just an hour away.

On Sunday I got up while it was still black outside. The coffee was brewing, and my purse and shopping bag were already loaded into our radio flyer wagon that sat by the front door. Kirk's alarm clock was annoyingly set 30 minutes before I needed to get up, so I had extra time to blog and fold laundry.

At 0655 I left, coffee filled travel mug in one hand, and wagon pulled with the other. I ran across the empty street to meet Holly at the other side and we were off. Wide-eyed and excited. No husbands and no kids.

Tongeren is a town in Belgium. The drive is fairly straight and easy in spite of some construcion along one road. I learned that Holly's Dutch "Betty" GPS system is as "reliable" as my "Stella" when trying to navigate around detours. Finally we followed a local and drove in the wrong lane against traffic. Fortunately, for us, there was no other traffic and no police either.

The 20 minute home stretch is lined on both sides with antique shops of all sizes. They were all so enticing. It was like walking past the bakery window on the way to a nice restaurant when you're famished.When we got there, the trucks were still unloading along the old city wall. We parked near the gate and began our day. The market begins there right at the city gate and continues down the road sandwiched between the road on one side and the old city wall up on the grassy hill to the left. Venders park their big vans and trucks on the side of the road, unload their treasures right there on the ground, and sit in their beautiful old chairs ready to sell. Almost nothing is marked with prices, so you have to ask, but most venders speak adequate English.

There is too much to see and immense variety. Chandeliers, stuffed foxes, 17C metal pots, furniture both rustic and ornate, pottery, glass, bronze, leather, teddy bears - little pieces of history. Walking along I made mental notes of things I might want to come back for... an old bench for our entryway, a hall tree, a small chandelier for the girl's room, a leather hat box, a long kitchen worktable...

Things I won't need... a fox butler, a 350 Euro dress form (though it was pretty), a 4' art deco vase that will surely break in the move... Yeah, that was a short list. Tongeren is a decorators dream. The variety from the truly valuable to the simply quirky is astounding, and would be really fun with an unlimited budget, a big house, and a grand imagination. Who knows... in the right home, my foxy friend might be the perfect addition.



The antique market winds around several streets, by countless antique stores which are also open, through a large warehouse full of venders, and into an large square. The warehouse had mostly glass, jewlery, and bronze. I fell in love with a 3' bronze statue of a dancer. It would have been an amazing Christmas gift for Tiara. In time... may be. I've always loved statues, but have never bought one. Walking around the market, there were several that caught my eye and the prices weren't horrible. In fact, none of the prices were horrible. Of course, the truly valuable antiques weren't selling for peanuts, but they were selling for about 1/4 of what I've seen them for in the states.

In one of the first booths I found a beautiful old hall mirror framed with nicely carved mahogany. It tempted me all day. One vender had an entire 8' square table heaped with old wooden shoe forms of all sizes. Another sold old wooden balls.
I found a sleak old "boat" at one booth. It's about 4' long and 1' wide with handles on each end and a large well carved in the middle. It wasn't actually a boat, but that's what Kirk called it when I got mine home. It was once used to gather and then grind up grains. What was special, is that it was carved from one piece of wood - from a large log. There is no glue holding it together - no nails, no screws, no other pieces of wood. Filled with breads and treats on a buffet, with gifts under the Christmas tree, with pots of potted flowers, it will look fantastic. So, I bought it... and then later found one carved from an olive tree that is even more beautiful, so I got that one and my friend bought mine (she'd had her eye on it anyway!). These were fairly early finds in the day, so we pulled them all through the market in my little red wagon complete with the UW bumper sticker on the back. There was no mistaking that we were Americans, but no one seemed to be bothered by the wagon. Instead, we were frequently stopped with questions and comments like, where did you get that, what are you going to do with that, I've been wanting one of those, or wow, that's beautiful. People without English skills would smile, look at our "boats," and gently run their fingers along the edges of them as we pulled the wagon by.

My friend found a darling cast iron piggy bank for her daughter. It looks just like Wilbur with a sweet little smile on his face, but he has wings, and is rather indestructible and heavy. She also got some red leather balls that she put in a wooden bowl on a table. They look great!
On one of the side streets, we saw this sweet scene which is very typical of Europe and probably didn't catch the eye of any locals there. Just another day at the market... These shiekly dressed
folks enjoyed a chat and their cappuccinos using this beautiful antique trunk as a table.

When we'd seen the entire market and I'd passed by "my" mirror again, we stopped at a little Italian place for lunch so I could think about my mirror a little more. Lunch was good, but not fantastic. Still, it was fun to eat there. The patio was crowded with each table filled. The awning covered all but the last row of tables by the railing, so when it began to rain, we motioned for our dining neighbors to scoot closer and everyone else did the same. The cozy place got cozier, but everyone was laughing and talking together like it was a big party. Holly and I just smiled and enjoyed our visit since most of the conversations were in Dutch or French, but the atmosphere was still very celebratory, so even though I didn't understand the words, it felt good to be there.

By the time our meal was finished the market was packed up and gone making my mirror decision for me, so I ducked into a small out-of-the-way antique shop around the corner just to get one last anique fix before we headed home. Babs sat at the large desk that overpowered her tiny little shop. She puffed loyaly on her cigarettes with a cloud of smoke swirling rather cartoon-like above her. Holly and I walked in and began to look around. Babs, the friendly proprietor, asked if we were American and said that she could "smell Americans." Surprising that she could smell anything above all that cigarette smoke! But... there in that tiny little room was a big trunk that grabbed me. Really, I'm pretty sure that this trunk actually reached out and tapped me on the leg begging to be looked at. Thinking that an old trunk would be wonderful as a coffee table, I'd been looking at them on and off all day, but this one wasn't made of thick dark wood like the others I'd liked. This one was a lot more rustic and worn. This one was hand painted in greens and reds and had seen some things in its years. Babs said it was from Austria. Her husband had just brought it up the day before (so it wasn't yet steeped in smoke). It was made in the 1820's. Hearing Austria just about sinched it since my grandfather is from there and then she dropped the already low price by 75Euro. That's all I needed. It's now a very happy addition to my home.

Walking back to the car we spotted this brave man wearing tights, so I had to get a photo. He was giving tours of the tower... just one Euro. Another time I'll do that... Tongeren will be a quarterly trip for me... I love it!