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Thanks, Maggie.

The water part of our anniversary

The past post I said there were two themes to our anniversary: wheels and water.


The wheels I've already explained (see the prior post) and the water was two-fold: the caving we did in Remouchamps :


and the visit to the thermal baths, in Spa.

Our adventures started by heading to Remouchamps on our first afternoon's visit, about 30 km away from Glons. JR told us that this cave was much closer than the more popular grottoes in De Han and had a better tour, since they still use boats to get visitors out of the caves, by the river (called here the Rubicon).


We were mightily impressed by the natural rooms, the formations and the history of the caves we toured. Civilization was first using these spaces 10,000 years ago. The most recent room to be discovered was the "Cathedral" in 1912, shown here

The 20 m high room is only about 5 m below the surface, and was literally, the size of a church. I wondered what the acoustics would be in there, but M refused to sing for me and the rest of the tour group (might rocks have fallen by the vibrations?)

The evening was also very fun, as we went to N and T's house for a barbecue and to catch up with our Glons friends. D. had a great time swimming in their backyard pool and bouncing on the trampoline. One can certainly see that their kids have it made in their backyard. N has made it her goal to provide fun, exercise and enjoyment in their summer days: crafts, games, walks, exercise...you name it. The 8 year old girl, N is in the pool all the time--she loves it.

The next morning we got into the car and made it to Spa by mid-day. We had our picnic on the grass below the funicular and then gathered our suits to ascend the cliff and enjoy the waters. Here's what the outside pool looks like (and the weather was exactly perfect: 25 and sunny, with a little breeze):


We saturated ourselves in the medically advantageous waters and checked out the saunas, the whirlpools, the fountains and then wandered down to the village for a beverage (and to undo all the purification rites--a cornette of frites to round out the day!)

Summer Cars, and some aren't

There's a theme to our trip to Remouchamps, Glons and Spa...one is Water, the other is Wheels. It was the first time I was able to drive in Belgium. I finally took in my Ontario driver's license to exchange for an EU license and it got approved. We reserved a simple C1 Citroen and got upgraded to a sporty Volvo V50...lots of gumption on the highway and fun to drive.


Here's what I would have rather driven (a new ferrari):

Here what might have been fun on the switchbacks of Corsica (antique MG):

Or maybe this one (a porche):


We visited the C. family and found out JR would be busy for the next day in Spa as well, racing up and down the hilly countryside in his lime-green toy. (recall D got a ride in this around the village of Glons last fall). Here's a pic of what JR drives for fun (a German racecar called an NSU):

And here's what JR drives for everyday now that he's not driving a company car (BMW):


Now that I'm driving again, my head is turning at the luscious engines I'm seeing. Perhaps I'll get my own set of wheels soon...likely won't be any of these, and it might only be with two wheels instead of four...here's a pic of what I'm considering once I pay off all these trips and save up my pennies:


My next post will talk about the other theme of the trip--the water aspect...stay posted!