Brussels Abridged Tour with Mom

Mom and I returned from Paris to Brussels via the remarkably quick (1.5 hours) speed train, arriving just in time for an afternoon spinning fix.  Jerel soon joined us from London and together we enjoyed a mellow night in our apartment, serenaded by the cheerful birds in the garden out back. 

After another spinning fix Saturday morning (I couldn’t miss Jonathan’s rendition of ‘man, I feel like a woman’ with his strong French accent), we headed out to explore the nearby Flemish university town of Leuven, often likened to Cambridge.  The only item on our agenda was to check out the gothic Stadhuis and St. Peter’s Cathedral in the main square; otherwise we were content to wander around town, soaking in the atmosphere.  Our most exciting find was the farmer’s market, where the fruits and vegetables were so big, colorful, and plump that they inspired a fruit tasting event.  Based on my random sampling of cherries, blueberries, and blackberries, I and am pleased to report that they tasted as good as they looked. 

Sunday, I donned my tour guide hat for the ‘Brussels: Abridged” tour package (Grand Place and Place du Grand Sablon) with an extra dose of antique shopping (available upon request).  We started with a random walk through the myriad goods spread all over Place Jeu de Balle and proceeded with determined digging in several more selective shops in the area.  It was worth the effort to see the grin on Mom's face when she declared victory and proudly displayed the two new "313" number plates for the outside of her house.  We celebrated with chocolate sampling on the way home (it seems there is always something to celebrate in Brussels) stopping briefly to admire the exquisite delicacies created by Marcolini and Whittamer's choclateries.  We wrapped up the weekend with a quick meal with Jerel before preparing to go our separate ways for the week – mom to The Hague, Jerel to London, and me holding down the fort in Brussels.

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Paris Rendezvous with Mom

My mom and I continued our tradition of travel together with a multi-city sojourn, built around her academic meeting at The Hague. We rendezvoused in Paris on Sunday, a city that we were both eager to return to after recent visits that whet our appetites. Unfortunately, Jerel was unable to join us…someone has to pay the bills! We stayed in two different quaint hotels on the Left Bank, near Jardin de Luxembourg, and within striking distance of many major attractions (for hardy walkers or metro aficionados).

We filled each day to the brim strolling Paris’ eclectic neighborhoods, sampling its vast array of impressive museums and churches, and pausing frequently to enjoy the café culture. Not surprisingly, the Louvre won our vote for best - and most exhausting - museum, as well as for most worth-it café splurge (great service, food and ambience). The other museums on our agenda were no slouches either: the Rodin Museum, in an 18th century mansion on beautiful grounds, the Petit Palais, featuring an exhibit on William Blake, and Musée du Luxembourg, featuring “Lippi: The Renaissance in Prato”.

My favourite church was Sainte-Chapelle, built by King Louis IX in 1248 to house an expensive Jesus’ crown of thorns and known for its amazing stained glass. For the record, Notre Dame was ineligible to win favourite church as we did not re-visit this time. The award for coolest neighborhood goes to Marais, a hip and chic area that mixes old and new and has historic ties to the Jewish community.

Our evenings were equally packed, and we ended each day in a pleasant state of exhaustion. Our entertainment choices included a sunset cruise on the Seine and a variety of classical concerts amplified by their amazing venues (Vivaldi at Eglise Madelaine, Chopin at St. Julien-le-Pauvre, and Baroque choral at St. Clothilde). Our one ‘eventless’ evening was equally memorable – a baguette and cheese picnic on Pont des Arts, a local tradition that is now in jeopardy due to new laws on public wine consumption! As we left Paris for Brussels, we both felt that that although we now had a much better grip on the city, our appetites for Paris were still not sated…

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Davis Family Belgian Tour

Thursday – Awake and Moving
Steve and Janet arrived in Brussels at 8am on Thursday, whereupon Chana took it upon herself to help them to beat jetlag using her tried and true strategy: walking, walking and more walking. She took them on a marathon tour of Brussels’ parks, including nearby Bois de la Cambre and Etangs d’Ixelles, and not-so-close Park du Cinquantenniare, with great city views from its replica Arc de Triomphe. On the way home, Chana bemused Janet with her inefficient grocery foraging – stopping at not one, not two, but FIVE stores for ingredients. Steve and Janet were also treated to Chana’s break-in technique (oops, forgot the key!) which involved slithering through the air tunnel into the ‘Jardin d’Hiver’. Steve stared in amazement and remarked “I’m so glad I was here for this.”

Friday – The Standard
Jerel was working on Friday, thus Chana took Janet and Steve on the “Standard tour” of Brussels. This included the happening Chatelain neighborhood, the Grand Place, and numerous irresistible choclateries and patisseries in the Grand Sablon. Jerel joined in the evening for a home-cooked Italian meal accompanied by Chana’s (still) favourite Belgian beer – Raspberry Lambec.

Saturday – A Tour to Remember
Saturday, we drove to Bastogne, the epicenter of the “Battle of the Bulge”, and a town with something of a family connection. Toward the end of the battle, the need for more medics became critical. Janet’s father, a medic in the war, volunteered to help and was flown in via a silent glider. We poked around downtown Bastogne, where a restored tank sits in the central square, then visited to the very impressive war memorial and local museum outside of town. On our way home, we stopped in Liege (a first for both Jerel and Chana) for diner, ironically settling on a quaint café that specialized in Flemish cuisine.

Sunday – Market Madness
While most of Brussels is all too calm on Sundays, the markets really come alive. We started at the Gare du Midi (train station) market, which feels like a slice of Morocco, and is a great place to stock up on fresh, inexpensive produce, which is exactly what we did. We then headed to the two antique markets, including the rather raw ‘Jeu de Balle’ open market (can you believe Chana actually purchased something for once?) and the more refined antique booths in the Place du Grand Sablon. Along the way, Janet and Steve finally had a chance to sample warm Belgian waffles (two thumbs up!).

Monday – Medieval Times
We finished our Belgian tour with a trip to Ghent. The highlights were: (re)visiting the Belfry with its amazing views, lingering in St. Bavo's cathedral decorated with Reubens’ paintings and exploring quintessential Gravenstein Castle for the first time.

Janet and Steve left early the next morning. We were sad to see them go, but grateful for the few days that we were able to spend together showing them our latest home-away-from-home.

Windy City Weekend

The timing of the Canary Symposium coincided nicely with one of Jerel’s meetings in Chicago, so I arranged a layover in Chicago en route back to Brussels. The layover was part of a master plan to re-connect with old friends and to meet their new little ones. Thursday night, we had an epicurean evening with Casey, Katherine, and ‘grandma’ Brown, and met their 3-month old baby Corinne. TJ and Christy joined us for the weekend, and we treated ourselves to a stay at a cool hotel (the W) in the heart of Chicago, right on the lake. None of us knew Chicago very well when we arrived, but by the time we left, we were unanimously smitten.
Highlights included: jogging along the lively lakeshore, admiring masterpieces at the Art Institute, cruising the Chicago River on an entertaining and edifying architectural tour, admiring the view from the John Hancock tower, and dining at Zed 451, a restaurant that claimed to specialize in meat but whose ‘harvest table' had us all going back for more…and more…

After two days of fun in Chicago, we road-tripped to Columbus on Sunday afternoon where we celebrated mother’s day with Christy, TJ, Jake and Christy’s parents. Jerel and I spent the evening competing for Jake’s attention and I think it’s safe to say that we both won. Jake charmed both ‘Cha Cha’ and ‘Jerjel’ with his warmth, cheerfulness, playfulness, and boundless energy.

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Canary reunion in California

Prompted by an invitation to attend the Canary Foundation’s Annual Symposium at Stanford, I made a short but sweet trip back to the Bay Area.  I arrived in California a few days before the conference so that I could spend the weekend hanging out with the growing Dean clan (Jed, Sara, Esther, Beatrice, and girl #3, expected in August).  Friday night, I received a huge surprise when we were sitting down for dinner and the doorbell rang… there stood Jerel, with flowers and a big grin on his face.  He had realized at the last minute that it made just as much sense to fly to his Chicago meeting later that week from Shanghai via San Francisco rather than via Brussels. Lucky me!

It felt just like old times as we passed the weekend hiking, discussing/debating, and feasting with the Deans.  The girls were cuter than ever, and as always, full of energy that we love to watch them burn off running circles around the house or dancing freestyle to pop music (Rhianna's “All the Single Ladies” still tops the Dean girls’ charts).  Bea stopped so much traffic at the SF Ferry building with her cuteness that we debated giving her a collection bucket!  We also made a fun trip to the SF Exploratorium with Stephen and his two little ones, where I tried and failed to get over my ‘gyrophobia’ (long story).

I had a great time at the Canary Symposium, connecting with old friends and colleagues and nourishing my hungry brain.  A few themes emerged from the meeting - that we should devote resources to identifying ‘pathognomonic’ markers (not produced by any normal cells) and that while we believe that there is a real window of opportunity for early detection, the tumors are likely to be very small during that window.  Another theme of the meeting was enjoying good wine, thanks to one of Canary’s supporters who dug into his amazing wine cellar for the occasion.

Sampling Belgium with Katharina

Ezra's girlfriend, Katharina is a notorious chocoholic, so it wasn't hard to talk her into coming to Brussels from Berlin for a weekend visit. She arrived the day after passing her grueling medical school written exams, providing a good excuse to indulge in a celebratory weekend.  Friday, we showed Katharina our favourite Brussels sites, shops and neighborhoods stopping to fortify ourselves with chocolate as needed.  We capped off a delicious day by inaugurating our balcony as we enjoyed some of Belgium's finest raspberry beer.

Saturday, we ventured to two nearby flemish cities - Antwerp and Ghent.  It was our first time in Antwerp where we were struck by the extent to which shopping dominated the city's activities - the main streets were bustling with trendy, upscale shops, while the rest of the city was strangely deserted. We had visited Ghent for the first time the previous weekend and were eager to return to this lively city - Ghent has much of the old-fashioned charm of its famous neighbor, Brugge, yet seems to have more of a real life going on beneath the surface. 

Jerel left for Shanghai after brunch on Sunday, so Katharina and I seized the opportunity to cruise Brussels' various antique and craft markets at a leisurely pace, again stopping for chocolate (or waffles) for fortification as needed!  The pink room is again ready and waiting for more guests...

For more photos from our celebratory weekend please click here.

Lausanne - Easter Wedding Extravaganza

The wedding of our friends Peter and Natacha in Lausanne gave us the perfect excuse to visit Switzerland. Lausanne was in peak form - the views across sparkling Lake Geneva towards dramatic snow-capped French Alps were amazing, and the city itself lived up to my Swiss stereotypes in being impeccably groomed and well-organized. Friday’s theme was getting to know our fellow guests while enjoying our surroundings. A group of twenty or so of us journeyed to a local winery, first by ferry then on foot through the vineyard-covered hills, before returning to Lausanne by train for an evening of pizza and drinks.

Saturday, Jerel and I jogged along what we agreed was probably the most beautiful jogging path in the world (challenge, anyone?) before donning black-tie attire for the big event. The celebration was held at the Beau Rivage Palace, a beautiful, grand, lavish hotel with a Baroque feel. The short and sweet marriage ceremony was followed by cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the spectacular hotel gardens overlooking the lake. The reception offered great food and entertainment, including risqué speeches, a comical newlywed game (the ‘shoe game’ – where bride & groom answer provocative questions from the guests), and live music and dance moves from across the decades.

Easter Sunday, Natacha let her game-loving side shine with a fabulous Easter-egg hunt involving over 1000 chocolate eggs hidden throughout the expansive hotel gardens. I may not have one the prize for most eggs but I think I won the prize for persistence (I was the only one that left with a grass-stain!). That afternoon, we worked off our chocolate spoils walking through hilly Lausanne, which was quiet even by European standards for a Sunday on account of the Easter holiday.