Day 5: Liege

We left our exchange son's family early Sunday morning. I wanted to return to Liege. In some ways I felt like I was sneaking in since I decided not to reach out to my host families.

On the other hand, I wanted to share the city that meant so much to me with Don. As we raced from Guillemins train station to the church where a bilingual (English/French) Anglican worship service was taking place 40 minutes later, I paused in front of the school I attended, the bank where I used to receive my monthly stipend, and the bus station where I arrived each day from my second host family's house for school.

Don did not seem impressed.

The worship service was much as I remembered from April. I was pleased to see there seemed to be more children. The liturgist remembered me. Everything takes place in both English and French. The pastor says a line in English. The liturgist repeats it in French. It is a great lesson for those learning either language! 

The theme this week was the importance of repentance. I wish I brought out my notebook and jotted down thoughts at the time. I did not though it was the second week of advent, they did not light an advent candle or mention advent, which seemed odd since the cathedrals we walked through each had an advent wreath.

After church we walked down the La Batte -- Belgium's largest and oldest market, a Sunday institution. Unfortunately it was raining, and Don was not impressed.

We had lunch in my favorite Liege restaurant, La Peket. He had true salade Liegoise, which I later saw at the Christmas market as potee Liegeoise and instantly felt justified for calling it potee for years instead of salade. I went with the boulles, a Belgian staple but in the Flemish side they serve them with tomato sauce. In Liege it is a brown sauce with a bit of sirope de Liege dashed in. Of course my meal came with frites.

Fortified we climbed the 374 steps that make up the Montagne du Buren. Don raced to the top, and only noticing things on the way home when he took time to appreciate the experience. I should have had him read my blogpost on the lessons I learned from these steps before he tackled them.

After lunch we walked around the Christmas Market. Liege is the only Belgian Christmas market to have a mayor. I saw the poster describing it, but not the actual mayor. It is unclear as to his role in the market.

I suspect I will always regret not buying the nativity set featuring Tchantches and Nanesse, the folklore characters representing Liege, but I did buy a mug for 6 euros with their image on it. I passed on a t-shirt that crossed out the work New York (as in I HEART NY) and replaced it with Liege. I agree with the shirt, but I knew I'd never wear it. 

I kept searching for an ornament that said Joyeux Noel to give as a gift. As with my search in Paris in 1989, I could not find one. Scratch that, in 1989 I found a small felt heart, this time I found absolutely nothing. We really struck out at the Christmas markets.

Checking the SNCB app at 4:40 pm, I saw we could either catch the 5 pm train, or the 6 pm train. It was a 22 minute walk from the Cathedral to the train. I knew the path, but still put the directions into the Google Maps and we high tailed it! We knew it would be on track 3 -- i.e., close to the entrance of the station, which added to the question of could we make it on time. Once seated, we used the app to buy train tickets before the conductor arrived to check them. The transfer at Brussels North was easy. Before long, we were in Antwerpen heading to our 8 pm dinner reservation at La Bomma (Grandmother).

What a day!

Scenes from Liege: