Namur or Bust?

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Well, I will start this by saying that perhaps it was my doubts last night about our trip that foreshadowed our “adventures”. I had been hoping that the weekend trip went well. I really enjoy planning things but I am always a little nervous that things won’t go well and I will be to blame. But if you never put yourself out there then you run the risk of not doing or seeing anything, which is even scarier than any problems we could encounter on a weekend trip in Europe, right? In addition to these nerves was this feeling that kids just weren’t up for a trip this weekend. Emma and Abigail had started day camp this week and were still reeling from the 1 ½ days they attended. It is a really neat thing here where you sign up for a card at the youth center and then you can go to camp whenever you want; you just pay $2 for a half day or $5 for a full day (7:30-6!). They only went from 9:00-4:30. Then on Friday night we went into town to hear the live jazz which was playing on stages in all of the markets. This was a selfish move on our part, but I thought if they all napped, which they did, then we could have a late night and enjoy the (finally!) nice weather. Enough preface…

We got up at 8am and were all out the door a little before 9am. Everything fell into place with transportation and we were on a 9:33 train headed to Ottignies where we would then have five minutes to make the connection to Namur. Again everything went smoothly. Because of the route we took it was two trains, but they were each only about 25 minutes long. At this point Emma was laying on the seat listening to music and complaining of not feeling well. She has been a little prone to motion sickness on trains so I didn’t think much of it. The second leg of the trip had us on a train with hundred of boy and girl scouts headed for a weekend of camping. It kept all of us entertained. As we stand up to head towards the doors in preparation to disembark Emma puts her hand over her mouth and hurls everywhere. Lovely. Luckily we pulled promptly into the station so we were able to get off, but those poor people stuck on the train with that mess! I felt bad but there wasn’t really anything I could do about it. Still convinced it is just motion sickness we try to get organized and head to the hostel where I have booked a “family room” for the night. I thought it would be a fun adventure for us all and it looked really great on the web site.

From the map it looks like this place is a ways away and from the bus schedules we are thinking if we get there we are going to be stuck because the buses only run once an hour. A few tense moments pass and then we regroup. It appears that the kids are not up for a full fledged weekend adventure. How about we put our one piece of luggage in a locker for the day and just explore Namur and check out the citadel we came to see. We get rid of the bag and start walking. This was our first trip to Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium. It feels like France. It is a really cute little town with a nice old section filled with lots of cafes and shops. They were celebrating an anniversary of the town so there were flags draped across all of the streets and from all of the buildings. This coupled with the traditional Saturday markets everywhere and the beautiful weather made things feel very busy and happy. An interesting thing we noted was that along side of the Belgium flag was the flag of Flanders with a big red line across it. Apparently they are not too fond of their Dutch speaking countrymen.

The kids were hungry so we headed to the banks of the Meuse river and picnicked under the watchful eye of the citadel. Emma deteriorated quickly throwing up several more times and asking to take a nap. I walked to a pharmacy and got some medicine for her (I asked in my pathetic French whether she spoke English and she said a little and then I said Dutch and she just laughed). Should we scrap the day and just head home or try to salvage something and at least see the citadel. Emma went into the backpack and Eliza, Abigail, Jonathan and I climbed up 131 steps to find a whole bunch of men practicing sword play. Even this vision of knights in the making couldn’t cheer Emma up. We persevered and continued climbing. Luckily Eliza was in a mood to walk and Abigail was only moderately whiny about it. We ascended and then it started to rain.

Trying to put a silver lining on things I will say that at least it was quite warm so it wasn’t bad waiting under a tree looking up at this massive structure which has served as a fortress for the Celts, Romans, Spanish, French and Dutch throughout the ages. Once it let up we continued up to the top this time with me carrying Eliza in the backpack and Emma in my arms. Jonathan had to contend with Abigail who was so overtired and miserable. Luckily at the top there was, surprise, a playground. Eliza had a ball conquering it while Emma passed out on some chairs at the café where Jonathan and I had a beer. There was more vomiting and crying and it was at this point that we decided to plan a trip back there to explore the rest of the citadel and just head home.

Eliza fell asleep in the backpack and Emma was so weak Jonathan carried her. This left me trying to convince Abigail she could walk to the train station. Luckily that kid loves to talk so if you get her going on the right topic and throw in a strawberry ice cream cone half way there you can get her to the station in time for her to pass out herself. The heat of the afternoon probably didn’t help things either. We were able to catch a similar train set up on the way home and were back in our apartment by 6pm. The kids had a bath and watched a movie for an hour while we munched on bread and cheese and veggies. Everyone was in bed by 7:30 the earliest they have been to bed in about 7 weeks. So, it wasn’t exactly the adventure I had in mind for the weekend, but I think that we did quite well considering everything that was thrown at us. Namur was great and we can’t wait to go back with friends who visit. We will refuel for the next few days before tackling our next day trip and especially before our week in Berlin.

It was a good thing that we headed home since both Jonathan and I ended up getting sick later that night. Ugh!

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Photos

The Citadel in Namur
View from the base near the river.

The Citadel in Namur
The long walk up with Emma on my back!

The Citadel in Namur
View of the city through an archway.