On Wednesday morning, we drove to the town of Floreffe, where Michele and Alain’s daughter had gone to school - the Abbey of Floreffe. We were able to go inside the Abbey Church officially consecrated in 1121 as Our Lady and St. John the Baptist Church. The church was built in stages over the course of those centuries from 1165 all the way until the 18th Century, since which it has remained the same.
The Abbey has a wonderful view overlooking the Sambre River.
You can see the well worn steps, where countless visitors, teachers, and students made the trek up and down those stairs.
The church inside the Abbey could use a renovation here and there, as it too is well worn, but it is beautiful nonetheless.
The student hall.
On our way home for lunch, we stopped at a local bakery. Something that I love about Europe - they have bakeries, butcher shops, and markets everywhere! What more could you really need, but locally produced bread, pastries, meat, and veggies?
Look at all these choices!
After lunch of wonderful bread and cheese. Michele and I visited the town of Namurs where we entered
The Church of Saint Loup and Saint Aubain. Saint Loup was built in the Baroque style between 1621-1645 as a Counter-Reformation Church.
If you look closely and zoom in on the ceiling of this church, you’ll see that the decorative work is not painted, nor is this carving is done in plastic, but rather it is carved in STONE - on the ceiling! It was a technique used with a stone from the Netherlands, which can also be found in France, called clunch or freestone. It’s incredible!
We also visited St Aubin’s Cathedral. Although founded in 1047 and was considered a church of late Baroque until the 18th Century, it underwent a complete renovation between 1751-1767 to make it look like an Italianate Church. You’ll immediate see a difference with the following photos.
On our way to dinner:
We ate dinner on Wednesday across from the Train Station in Charleroi. The setting and the food were wonderful. The service was a bit slow - we began dinner at 7pm and weren’t finished until about 11:30pm. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t mind the slow service. What was most important to me was spending time with Michele’s family and getting to know them all a bit better. What better way to do that than over a slow meal together? Her husband Alain is intelligent and can speak about nearly any subject - I always love that, as nearly everything interests me. Her grown children are delightful - oldest is Denny, then Erik, then Elise and her husband, Alex. I got to know all of them so much better that evening. It was purely delightful. And now for the food and perhaps several bottles of wine (although I made sure that there is no physical evidence of the amount of wine we drank). I should have written down each serving as it came, because now I don’t fully remember. I hate it when you think, “Oh, I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it.” Promise me, you won’t! Well, I’ll attempt to explain what I remember.
Rolled cucumber slices filled with cheese, fried zucchini, and salmon rounds on a light tartlet.
I don’t remember what this was. Again the white “cracker” was crispy and didn’t have much flavor which makes me think it was made of rice.
I wish I could remember what was in this. I do remember that it was very good though. As you can see by the comparison of the size of the spoon, each portion is small.
The main dish option of Cod which came later in the order of things, but I didn’t feel like trying to rearrange the photos so that they posted in the correct order. At the top of the dish is a pile of shaved fennel that was pickled. It was my favorite taste of the evening. I could eat a small bowl of just that! In this small plates of food, there are so many flavors going on that you really need to develop a palate for appreciating them.
There is a piece of Turbot under the black “cracker”, sitting on a bed of mustard-based sauce, I think. It was a perfect balance. The black “cracker” on top was interesting. I couldn’t decided whether I liked it or not. It was very crispy.
Main dish option of pork tenderloin. I did not have this one, but took a picture of someone else’s.
The dessert was wonderful. In the small bowl was an apricot with vanilla ice cream, gingerbread-type crumble, and meringue sticks. The lower plate had a strawberry cream with chunks of strawberries and (the best part) flat pieces of something very similar to pirouettes, which are usually rolled into a tube.
I was stuffed full of good food, great wine, and wonderful remembrances of learning a bit more about Michele and Alain’s family.
On Thursday morning, we left early for Liege where a guide took us on a tour of the town. Her name was Anne and she was energetic, passionate, and very knowledgable. She gave me so much information about the town and the churches that we visited. I’ll only share a small capsule of all she shared.
Our first stop was at the visitor’s center which served as the city’s one and only Butcher Shop for hundreds of years.
In the Visitor’s Center, there is a model of the huge Cathedral (St Lambert’s) that graced Liege beginning in the 8th Century. You can read the history of the church below. The significance of sharing the information about this church is that nearly everything within it’s walls was demolished, sold, or stolen. The people associated the Cathedral with the power of the Prince-Bishop and wanted the church demolished. It took them nearly 35 years to finish leveling the entire structure. What was sold helped fund the war (the Revolt of Liege) which began shortly before the French Revolution, but is often caught up in the larger drama of that war. One piece from the Baptistry was carried off to be held in a secret place - the Baptismal Font which dated back to the 1100’s (1107-1118).
A number of years after the demolition, the Baptism font from the Notre-Dame of Liege returned and was placed in St. Bartholomew’s Church. Which is where we went next. This church has more of a German style to it.
In addition, there is inscription that was added AFTER the piece was molded. The artistic symbolisms created in the Baptismal Font indicate someone well-versed in the Scriptures as well as imagery and may be the first visible signs in any kind of artwork that depict the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together as a trinity. Be sure to zoom in on the following photos to catch all the details.
An group of row houses and an old brewery that had become a slum were completely renovated and now are part of the urban renewal.
Can you imagine climbing these stairs everyday? If this was Pittsburgh, we’d put in an incline.
More adorable urban housing that was reclaimed.
The Opera House - for expansion, they weren’t allowed to change any of the facade or sides of the building, so they went “up” through the roof with this cube of concrete and aluminum framing. A lot of people don’t like the modern look of it. What do you think?
The following two photos are those of the Bishop’s Palace - adjacent to what had been St. Lambert’s Cathedral, destroyed in 1784.
One is the mix of both ancient and modern stained glass. The oldest dates back to the 16th Century and the newest windows date to our current century. There are some that do not like the new windows and prefer the more realistic portrayals of biblical scenes, etc… while there are those who find the contemporary windows a moving and breathing expression of the faith alive today.
Two is the unbelievable design and color of the ceilings. They are extraordinary.
Three - this sculpture at the base of the steps that lead to the pulpit. Look at it closely. It is called Le genie du mal. Intrigued by this statue at the base of the pulpit, I did some research on it. Wow! Controversy galore. It was, in fact, the second installation because the original sculpture called L’ange du mal was considered to have an unhealthy beauty with an unwanted attracting allure and was removed. The original sculpture (I’ve included a picture of it, as well - below the current one) was sculpted by Joseph Geefs. His older brother, Guillame Geefs, was commissioned to sculpt the pulpit, but then also sculpted the current statue. What do you see as the differences between the two?
The original sculpture now resides in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels. And critics claim that this statue is one of the most disturbing works of its time. What do you think?
The pulpit has one of the tallest spires atop it that I’ve ever seen.
For lunch we stopped at a local cafe/eatery and I ordered the pork with mustard sauce that was on the menu. I expected it to be something small. But is was a ham shank and huge! I only ate about half of it. it was delicious.
Only 4 of us went to dinner that evening. Michele, Alain, Erik, and me. This was a 5 course menu, created by the student of the previous evening’s restaurant. Here is an example where the student has surpassed the master. The food was incredible. I am now spoiled for deliciously wonderful good food (as if I wasn’t already!)
The appetizer consisted of three small bites: A slice of salmon in a tart, a slice of roasted radish sprinkled with paprika in a tart, and a small bowl of flying fish eggs.
Various heirloom tomatoes, peach slice and a nut crunch covered by a crostini.
A piece of tuna, charred lettuce, and pumpkin seeds.
Two bites of sausage with the most excellent tasting shrimp I’ve ever had. I’ll remember this dish for a very long time!
The Main Course - duck with cherries and yellow tomatoes.
And dessert - milk chocolate mouse with vanilla ice cream surrounded by tiny pillows of meringue and covered with blueberries. Honestly, not my favorite combo, but it was still very good and I ate every bite!
I don’t know how to thank Michele and Alain enough for their hospitality and their attentiveness during my stay with them. It was a wonderful opportunity to return to my beloved Belgium and spend time with them.
I’m nearly caught up, as my weekend (August 12-14) was filled with a lot of traveling, but a few spectacular highlights also that I’ll write about later tonight.
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