Lovely afternoon on Tuesday. The highlight was a 320-step climb up that 13th Century Brugge belfry. Here’s what the tower looks like by day: We adults were quite winded. Our 6- and 9-year olds were pretty much unaffected by gravity.…
Category: Travel Log
A reasonable law
We’ve run into lots of crazy laws here in Europe. For example, did you know it’s a crime to transport livestock in a Volkswagen Passat? This is one law I agree with, however: The locals here in Brugge tell me…
Brugge at night
Most of today was spent racing from Colmar to Brugge — our version of the Gumball Rally (I like to think I was part of Cobra Team). In France, every cute little village was noted with a sign by the…
Colmar, Harrison Ford, and me
As I mentioned a little earlier today, we’ve driven from Switzerland and the snow to sweltering France. Crossing over (with less than a wave from the border guards) we were struck by how much the countryside in this part of…
My new musical theory, in progress
Trips like these afford you a lot of time to stop and think about things. I’ve been using that time to develop a new musical theory. It’s a little hard to put across in “coherent sentences,” but it boils down…
In praise of mountains
Having spent a week or so near moutains, on moutains, and occasionally in mountains, I’ve reached the conclusion that mountains are a good thing. Especially the high mountains — the ones with glaciers and whatnot. In case you haven’t seen…
Two conversations
A bright smiling extremely helpful East German woman — the designated English speaker at our local pizza shop — explains that she comes to Switzerland every summer because the East German economy is compeletely thrashed. She tells us, still smiling,…
All watched over
We’re staying in a lovely valley surrounded by a tall, stern, jagged mountain range. The peaks are white-capped with fresh snow. I’m walking home at dusk as a slender train trucks along the base of these mountains, glittering like a…
Bruno Färber
Today we drove through the city of Cuhr. Interesting sidenote: Back in the ’40s, a guy named Bruno Färber ran for mayor of Cuhr with what may be the worst campaign slogan ever: “An Almond in Every Pot.” Färber’s attempts…
Cab ride to the hotel: correction
On closer inspection I now realize those weren’t actual Swiss people, they were German-speaking baby giraffes. But in my defense, it’s an easy mistake to make. Actual Swiss people have struck me as exceptionally quiet, at least compared to us…