Expectations Exceeded

First, I would be remiss if I didn't mention RyanAir. We honestly have zero complaints and were not only pleasantly surprised, but actually impressed. And after some of the recent flights we've experienced on other airlines, we will most definitely use RyanAir again.

They only fly to destinations in Europe and often to an airport that isn't international. For some that's a problem because you must travel by bus, train or cab to the city you may actually be visiting. In Barcelona, RyanAir flew directly into the international airport, but in Paris, for example, RyanAir flies to Beauvais. That's an hour and 15 minutes away from the city. Taking the Eurostar train makes much more sense, but it also costs more.

You are allowed only one piece of luggage on board and it must meet their exact measurement/weight restrictions and you do have to stuff your purse in it too. However, 10 kg is about 22 lbs and you'd be surprised how much that really is. We had no problem whatsoever with our little bags. I even took my laptop. And of course you always have the option to pay an additional fee and check a bag, but for just a few days, it simply isn't necessary.

This surprised me . . . there are no assigned seats. The plane we flew on holds 150+ passengers so it's first-come/first-served with the window seat. This really is ingenious though. There are absolutely no delays. Knowing you must be there early to get your choice of seats, ensures everyone is there promptly and take-off is right on time. You can pay an additional €10 for priority boarding which allows you to enter the plane first and choose your seat so if you must have that window seat, that's an option.

I also discovered that I like traveling with ordinary folk. There's no passing through the prima donnas to get to your perceived relegated seat and you see people who just want to see a bit of the world or maybe just get home to see family.

This is probably more than you wanted to know about RyanAir, but around here, it's good to know. We learned to pack light and although the wine and candy aren't free, they do offer food and drink to purchase and it's pretty cheap too. Anyway, we had a very good first experience and with a round-trip ticket to Venice costing only €35, why not try it again? Plus, in the event we have a couple of not-so-perfect experiences, I can think of more than that on other airlines.

And for the record . . . as for traveling with our neighbors, that too was not a bad experience. They are quite agreeable and don't tire nearly as easily as I do :), but it goes without saying, it can be a bit stressful to travel with others. If the opportunity presents itself, we might do it again.

They always look so stoic, but they really are happy people.

Catalonia

If you visit my blog from time to time, thank you, and you also know we have been in Barcelona. Which is in Catalonia. Which is in Spain.

Catalonia is a region of Spain and if you need a geography lesson like I did, refer to the map below. Catalonia is the northern region outlined in red just south of France.

More geography for those of you who are geographically illiterate like myself. That whole area that includes Spain is known as the Iberian Peninsula. It includes Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar (way down at the bottom and almost cut off on this map), a tiny little area of France, and Andorra (that tiny, tiny little area circled in red on the French border).

I assumed Spanish as the official language of Barcelona. It is in Spain, after all, but in Catalonia, the official government language is Catalan. It's a mixture of French, Spanish, and the other Romance languages. Catalan is spoken by about seven million people. Most Catalonians also speak fluent Spanish and perhaps French (not much English), but all you'll hear in Barcelona is Catalan.

Barcelona, founded as a Roman city, is the capital and the most populous city of Catalonia with a population of 1.6 million, however about 5 million people live in the Barcelona metropolitan area. I was surprised to read it is the most popular tourist destination in Spain and the 4th most visited city in Europe after Paris, London, and Rome.

I am anxious to work on a post or two to share our experience and some photos of our visit to Barcelona.

Bon Viatge

We are headed to Barcelona. I'm pretty excited about it. We've never been to Spain. And we might never have chosen Barcelona had our neighbors not invited us to go with them. We usually aren't big on traveling with other couples, but hopefully this will be a great experience and we will want to do it again. Or it will cure us and we will never do it again.

There's just one catch. We're flying on RyanAir. Most of you won't be familiar with RyanAir, but everyone here is. It's a cheap way to fly and by cheap, I mean you have to stand up for the entire flight and you can't take any luggage. Okay, not really, but Jim and I are flying to Barcelona AND back for a total of €80.

As you can imagine, there are restrictions when flying this cheap. For example, you can take one little briefcase as a carry-on which must include all your clothes, toiletries, computer, purse, shoes, etc. I can see that my trusty laptop will remain at home, I probably need to rethink that extra pair of shoes, and forget about the flatiron. Of course you can check a bag - but it'll cost ya. That's where they get you. Plus, the neighbors can't imagine why anyone would need more than what a briefcase will hold for 2 nights :~\

I'm guessing there will be no in-flight Biscoff cookies, KitKats and Chilean wine.

We've heard both good and bad stories about experiences with RyanAir and we might never have tried this popular airline, but we didn't plan this trip - we were invited. So whether it is to be a good or bad experience on RyanAir remains to be seen. I like to keep my expectations low so if everything goes well, it will exceed my expectations.

How bad can it be, right?

See you in a few. Hasta la vista, baby!

Chua Chatter

"A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies. " "Well, I can tell them because I've done it." writes Amy Chua in her new book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.

No doubt you've read something about this recently published book by Yale professor, Amy Chua because it continues to make the news. Believe me, plenty of people have weighed in on it too. Maybe out of fear that their own parenting skills are questionable and wonder if the Asian kid will always do better. Or maybe out of conviction that their own parenting skills are exemplary and that the Asian kid may be a prodigy, but couldn't possibly be happy.

I was fascinated by some of the examples in Ms. Chua's book of parenting which a typical Western parent might consider harsh. Like when her daughter made a birthday card for her at the last minute with nothing more than a smiley face and happy birthday on it. Ms. Chua rejected it saying it wasn't good enough and that she wanted a card the child had put a little more time into.

Ouch.

In her opinion, Western parents seem much more concerned about their child's self-esteem, respecting their individuality, and positive reinforcement. While the Chinese parent assumes the child's strength, overrides their preferences, and emphasizes hard work.

She also believes in total respect for the parent and was raised by typical Chinese parents as well. She gives an example from her own childhood when she won 2nd place in a history contest. Her parents came to the ceremony where another child won first place for all-around student. Her father said afterwards "Never ever disgrace me like that again."

We American parents may gasp at that, but Ms. Chua said it didn't knock her self-esteem at all. In her defense, she doesn't claim to be the perfect parent and agrees there are many ways to be a good parent. She doesn't see pushing children to work hard and be the best they can be as Chinese values, but American values.

Hard work. Nothing wrong with that.

Another example in her book, Ms. Chua insists her young daughter practice a particular piano piece late into the night without stopping for dinner, water, or even a bathroom break until the piece is perfect.

I'm thinking 'quality of life issue' here. Does she ever get to ride her bike or make mudpies? I'm sure she does. Doesn't she?

Years ago, Alanis Morissette recorded a song entitled Perfect.

Don't forget to win first place.

Don't forget to keep that smile on your face.

Be a good boy/girl. Try a little harder.

You've got to measure up. And make me prouder.

We'll love you . . . just the way you are . . . if you're perfect.

Certainly no parent can argue that expecting your children to be and do their very best is pretty basic. I can't remember ever hearing a parent say they'd like their children to strive toward mediocrity. Here's the thing though, where does encouragement end and insistence begin?

My own children were encouraged to participate in a lot of different activities and encouraged to stick it out for the duration, but in the end we let them choose the ones they wanted to continue. Ms. Chua might say we didn't push them enough. Maybe we didn't.

What if you happen to choose the wrong instrument or sport or subject to push? There are only so many hours in a day - in a childhood. Are we making the most of it or making too much out of it?

Does it really matter as long as they are doing what they enjoy and also happen to be good at it?

In addition (and maybe most important) to these measurable skills, there's a lot to be said for social skills you simply can't achieve sitting on a piano bench. Might these be more beneficial somewhere down the road?

You may remember the series of incidents several years ago referred to as the "strip search prank call scam" when a man called a fast food restaurant claiming to be the police and convinced managers to strip search female employees or perform other crazy acts on behalf of the police. It was amazing to me that not only the young female employees obeyed, but even the adult managers did too! I remember thinking our children would have said "Are you crazy? I'm not about to do that."

Sometimes it's okay to question authority.

In Ms. Chua's book, she mentions that if a child does poorly in school, a Western parent may question the teacher or the curriculum. She states when she did poorly on a test, her father would say to work twice as hard next time.

I completely agree. With her father.

However, when a child believes their answers on a test are in fact correct, I see nothing wrong with respectfully asking the teacher to take a second look. Unfortunately, not every teacher is as good as the next. Even the great ones are human like the rest of us.

I'd hate to think I had to teach something like computer skills to a high school student. I'm reminded of an incident when one of our kids was in high school. The teacher for the computer class was instructing the students on how to use the Word program. He told the students "to indent a paragraph, just hit the spacebar 5 times". That still makes me laugh. Bless his heart.

There's certainly a lot more to parenting than producing a violin prodigy or a math whiz. I think Amy Chua would agree as well. The examples from her book are probably the most extreme and were by no means a daily occurrence. Even she agrees love and understanding go a long way.

I did ponder the fact that there are about 4 Chinese for every 1 American. Eight for every 2. Twelve for every 3. Sixteen for every 4. Aside from all those Chinese in China, another 2.5 million Americans are Chinese-Americans.

You get the picture.

Is it possible that it only seems like there is an inordinate number of Chinese prodigies because there's just so many Chinese? I had really good parents, but I'm no math whiz so I'll leave it at that.

I think Ms. Chua is pretty brave to write a book on parenting. We American and Chinese parents do the best we can and with a little luck we sometimes raise awesome adults.

I may be biased, but I think ours are pretty awesome.

Can I have that on the side? Please.

I've never considered myself very picky about food or drink and it usually annoys me when I'm with someone who is. You know that person who always has to make a big deal about ordering anything. Can never order right off the menu.

However, I've decided I may be just as annoying.

Like at the frituur down the street. I love the Samarai sauce (spicy creamy dip) on their fries, but they pump it all right on top so all the fries on top have it and all the ones on bottom don't. I usually don't ask for it "on the side", but I always want to.

And like with rice krispies treats. They really should only be made with Kellogg's Rice Krispies and Kraft jet puffed marshmallows. Any butter is fine. As long as it's butter and not margarine. How can one disagree with that logic? Even the Kellogg's prepackaged ones are all wrong. They obviously don't use their own recipe. It's on the box.

And like cherry cream cheese pie. My favorite. The graham cracker crust really should be made with Honey Maid graham cracker crumbs and the pie dish lined with Nabisco Nilla wafers. Any pie dish will do. As long as it's glass, and round and not tin. OMG, see what I mean?

I used to tell our kids they should really dislike only one or two foods, but that was it! There's a limit on pickiness around here!

When I commuted to El Dorado, I always kept Tootsie Roll pops in my car. I loved those things and always had a ready supply. I'd go to the store and look through that little window on every package until I could find the one with the least amount of brown ones. Then I'd go home and immediately throw all the brown ones away before putting the bag in my car. Who eats those brown ones? Really.

And I love Starbucks. But while Jim is ordering a tall Americano, I'm ordering a tall, double shot, extra hot latte with skim milk. You just gotta try one.

And you know when you order a Diet Coke and the waiter asks you if Diet Pepsi is okay? Well, actually, no, it's not okay. How annoying is that? I mean me not being satisfied with Diet Pepsi.

So I've never thought of myself as being picky and maybe neither have you. I'm just hoping I don't develop allergies . . .

Waterloo

Are you singing the Abba song in your mind? Well, if you weren't and you are now, please accept my apology.

These sweet potatoes have nothing to do with Waterloo, but on our way to Waterloo, we first went to Brussels. I couldn't believe our luck at this market! Real sweet potatoes.

And check out where they came from! All the way to Belgium form Oak Grove, Luzianna. Population 2,000.

Then we had lunch at a Spanish restaurant. In case you don't know, this is paella. It's a Valencien rice dish with vegetables and meat. We got the original Valencien and at this restaurant it had chicken, mussels, calamari with some green beans and red bell pepper. I passed on the mussels and calamari, but the rest was really good.

You may not know that the little, yet famous town of Waterloo (pop. 30,000) is in Belgium. It's just outside of Brussels and about an hour from our house. This was the first sunny day we've seen in a while so we decided to get out and enjoy it. After our nice afternoon in Brussels, we drove over to see where the Battle of Waterloo was fought.

On June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo decided not only the fate of France and its emperor Napoleon I, but also the future of Europe. The Imperial French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon was defeated in this famous battle by a multi-national army including the United Kingdom, Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

This defeat put an end to Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French.

The site of the battlefield, where 48,000 men lost their lives, is dominated by a large monument called the Lion Mound. The mound was built using earth from the battlefield itself and commemorates the location where William II of the Netherlands was knocked from his horse by a musket ball during the battle. It was ordered constructed in 1820 by his father King William I of The Netherlands.

The lion, cast of iron, symbolizes courage; its right front paw is on a sphere signifying global victory.

Sunset at Waterloo

Each year in June, there is a re-enactment of the battle and I hope we are able to attend this year.

The Second Amendment

Adopted on my birthday - 169 years earlier.

You'd have to be a recluse not to have heard about the recent shootings in Tucson.

We listened to the speech President Obama made at the memorial service and I'm glad I did.

In Tucson, six people lost their lives. A tragedy by any measure.

And there begins the age old debate from gun control to mental illness.

But tragedies occur every day. With and without a gun.

The question is always whether restrictions in gun ownership reduces the number of gun-related crimes. It seems to me that the data will forever be skewed because so many guns are already out there. Many of them illegal. Sometimes due to the legal restrictions on ownership.

I grew up around guns. I have two brothers who are avid hunters. I know plenty of people whose wardrobe has a high percentage of camouflage. They're safe with their weapons and even eat what they kill.

Obviously the vast majority of people are law abiding citizens and would never think of commiting a violent act with or without a gun. Truly violent people are a very small percentage of any society.

Is it that very society, its cultural, social and economic factors, that produce a person willing to kill?

The gun death rate in Europe is much lower than in the U.S. and there are certainly some strict gun laws in Europe, but it would be unfair to say that the strict laws are the sole reason. Strict laws can't be discounted, but low homicide rates, by comparison, existed in Europe even before the strict gun laws.

It is hard to ignore that Hawaii, with the lowest gun ownership (less than 10% of the population) also has the lowest gun death rate and that my home state of Louisiana, with 45% of its population as gun owners has the highest gun homicide rate in the country.

There is plenty of data to show that the U.S. not only has the most guns, it also has the most gun homicides of any wealthy nation.

Despite countless illegal guns on the street, they start off as registered then sometimes get stolen or traded or sold and . . . so criminals continue to have a ready supply. Best I can tell, there appears to be some correlation between availability and eventual tragedy.

The ideals which helped inspire the Second Amendment came in part from the Minutemen of the American Revolution. They could respond on a moment's notice and needed to be armed.

When I was in my teens there was a Minuteman hamburger joint on Tech Drive. It's long been out of business. When I was commuting to El Dorado, I was surprised and delighted to find one there (pictured above). I really think it may be the last one on the planet.

Anyway, there's no evidence to suggest carrying a weapon on a daily basis to church or the mall will protect you in the unlikely event you come face to face with a mental case. In fact, a survey by the Pennsylvania School of Medicine found the armed person is 4 times more likely to be shot. I don't find that hard to believe. I have a hard enough time digging my cell phone out of my purse.

As proposed by some legislators, every Sunday morning worshiper, every grade school teacher, and every college student at the pub should be packing heat to protect themselves. I personally think that is just too stupid for words and that if every person is walking around armed, a melee' is imminent.

Even in the Tucson incident, hero #2, who also had a gun, admits he almost shot hero #1 because hero #1 was waving the gun he'd just taken away from the lunatic when he wrestled him to the ground. Thankfully hero #2 had some common sense and didn't immediately open fire.

Lifelong gun owners have experience and maybe a little common sense, but we aren't all lifelong gun owners and some of us have very little common sense. Sometimes the law even protects us from ourselves.

There's potential danger anywhere. You may also want to stay off the road. That's where there are plenty of lunatics and sadly, plenty of fatalities.

Sonic Boom

When was the last time you heard a sonic boom?

When I was a kid I heard sonic booms all the time it seemed.

Well, I heard one just yesterday and since we've been in Belgium, I've heard several sonic booms. I began to wonder why I hear them here, but haven't heard them in the States for a very long time.

You may already know this, but I didn't.

The Noise Control Act of 1972 prohibits supersonic flight over land in the U. S. with the exception of a few restricted areas.

This means that none of us in the States have heard a sonic boom in nearly 40 years. My kids have never heard a sonic boom!

There are no such regulations in Belgium so I suppose I will continue to hear them.

There are 3 Air Force bases near the western border of Germany and we live very close to that border. The planes may be coming from there or from another Air Base I learned is even closer.

You may know that NATO headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium, but you may not know that Allied C0mmand Operations (ACO) controlling all allied operations worldwide is also located in Belgium.

Since 1967 the ACO (aka SHAPE-Cheviers) has been located in the tiny village of Casteau, just south of Brussels and about an hour and a half from our house.

Casteau is on the Aubrecheuil River, has a 13th century church, and the remains of a castle. Probably worth a visit. Oh, and there's a brewery. It is Belgium after all! Casteau would move up on my bucket list. If I had one. And I don't.

The Augrenoise Brewery is part of an educational project to integrate people with disabilities. The staff (all volunteers) brew beer once a month using water from a natural source on the site. Here's the best part. About once a month they brew beer and the public is invited to participate! The next brew days are Feb 5 and Feb 26.

That settles it. It's on my calendar.

Solden

Solden. Soldes.

They're not on Google Translate, but I know what they mean 'cause they're all over the place. When you see this sign in the window, it means that something is on sale. Not just for sale, but on sale. A discount. After each season, these signs go up in all the stores downtown.

Prepared for all foreigners too.

But here's the interesting thing about it. It only lasts a couple of weeks. Every store, I presume in all of Belgium, apparently sets a specific date when the "sale" or "solden" is going to begin. And just as specific is the date when it's all over. Suddenly on a Monday, every store, EVERY store has all new merchandise for the upcoming season. I assume they spend all day Sunday making this transition.

I made my way downtown last week to check out the shoes 'cause as we all know, one can never have too many shoes. And lo and behold I found a pair. Just the one pair and at less than €100, is actually a bargain here.

Downtown Hasselt on one of the sales days.

I think it's a good concept. Everyone knows the sale is on and it's an event. Some people even take a day of vacation from work for this. The streets are crowded with shoppers looking for a bargain. And for good reason - I think I may have mentioned once or twice that everything here is expensive!

Well, except beer.

Freedumb

Freedumb of speech and freedumb to be a complete idiot.

Alabama's new governor went straight from taking his oath of office and headed across the street to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to honor MLK, Jr.

I'm pretty sure MLK, Jr. would not have been honored.

More fuel to the fire for the rest of the country, let alone the rest of the world, to view the South with reproach.

In his speech, the new Alabama governor said "Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother."

Jesus Christ! He's breaking all the rules right out of the gate!

Is he using his new office to advocate a religious conversion?

Did it slip his mind he's an elected official and that in America there's a constitutionally guaranteed right to "freedom of religion"? How about that old "separation of church and state"? He's walking a fine line.

And the old fear factor disguised as a way to witness. Was that an invitation or an exclusion? Oh, but he's apologized. Didn't mean to offend anybody.

For all of us still living in our own little world . . . there are over 2 billion Muslims and Hindus in the world. And there are over 1 billion Chinese of which 96% are not Christian.

There are almost 7 billion people in the world with only about 30% of them Christian. That's a whopping 70% who are something else or nothing.

Hello?! Does history always have to repeat itself? Do you ever think the tables might be turned? They have been before.

Can we all just respect each other and get along, for Christ's sake?!

Please.

Different

I guess I knew this day would come.

This past week I did some Spring cleaning (mostly cleaning out) despite it being only January. You may ask how I could possibly have anything to throw out in only a year and a half, but somehow it just accumulates. Like, for example, I had every instruction sheet from all our Ikea purchases. Yeah, those are gone now.

I am anything but a pack rat. I'm known for throwing things away. Even to the point when something is missing because someone else lost it, I receive all the credit for throwing it out. I understand that logic.

I figure Spring cleaning (albeit in January) is for when you've been some place long enough to have accumulated too much stuff. It also means you've been somewhere long enough that when you are away and you come back, you say you are "home".

That's where we are now. The new has worn off. By that I mean, we've pretty much figured this place out.

Belgium, that is.

And now we're different.

Not better or worse . . . just different.

Okay, just by living in a different country doesn't make me special or worldly. I certainly haven't survived a war or even prejudice, but let me just say that . . . I'm different.

We've talked about the time when we're back in the States - back to our old lifestyle; back to our old way of thinking.

No one really wants to hear about what life is like somewhere else. It may seem like they do, but they don't.

I get it.

I wonder if I will be able to go back to my old lifestyle; my old way of thinking. Will I see things from a different perspective that doesn't work any more?

Life here isn't quite the challenge it once was. Not complaining, for the record.

Of course this is still an adventure, but we live here. It's not a vacation. We live here.

I walk to the market, tote my groceries home in a fabric bag, ride my bike to town, park it in the foyer, pack my umbrella, take Winslow everywhere, and wear my warmups only at home :)

We have a doctor, a dentist, a salon, a veterinarian, friends. A routine.

We don't need our GPS anymore to run to Brussels or Cologne or Maastricht for the day.

Life in the States still seems so easy. Being able to read every sign at the DMV. Even that won't be a challenge.

I suppose I once feared maybe we'd be here too long and now perhaps I fear maybe we won't?

Chartres

Chartres, France, about an hour south of Paris, has a population of 40,000. It's most famous for the Chartres Cathedral. And you'll see why.

Although there are no other tourist attractions, the city itself is very quaint and pristine with many restaurants and shops.

Ross's friend Erica was visiting from the States and we were happy she could go with us to both Chartres and Paris. We enjoyed her visit and hope she will come see us again soon!

These are restaurants and shops across from the cathedral. The whole town is really picturesque.

And this is the Cathedral Notre Dame de Chartres.

It is definitely something to see. Constructed between 1193 and 1250, amazingly, today it is almost exactly like it was originally constructed.

As I'm sure you know, this cannot be said for most historic buildings which have been destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries.

I borrowed the picture above from the internet since on the day we visited it was very cloudy and difficult to take pictures inside. Check out the size of those columns compared to the people standing next to them.

The stained glass windows of the Cathedral of Chartres survive intact and the architecture has had only minor changes since the 13th century. Dating from as early as 1140, most of the total of 170 windows are from 1200-1250 and cover 21,000 sq. ft. These 170 windows have survived intact for 800 years! Through countless conflicts. I find that simply amazing.

And amazingly enough, it was neither destroyed nor looted during the French Revolution.

An outdoor labyrinth on one side of the cathedral.

There is the option to take this winding staircase and climb to the top.

And Jim, Ross, and Erica did it!

I had several good excuses for staying firmly on the ground.

But I sent my camera along and Jim snapped these pictures.

I read that on a clear day you can see the Eiffel Tower. Not so sure about that or exactly how many really clear days there are here, but I'd say this is amazing, even on a foggy day.

This is the stone inlaid Chartres Labyrinth (c. 1205) used for walking contemplation by monks and still used for meditation by pilgrims.

The Notre Dame de Pilar - The Black Madonna of Chartres.

This is a figure of Mary on a pillar, not to be confused with Virgin Mary nor Mary Magdelene. I read about this and the explanation is really still a mystery. They (black madonnas) are considered powerful healers and miracle workers standing for equality, justice and liberation.

To be clear, they were not just being politically correct back then.

In 876, the cathedral acquired the Sancta Camisa, believed to be the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at the time of Christ's birth. Legend has it that it was a gift from Charlemagne, but in fact, the relic was a gift to the cathedral from Charles the Bald and it became an important object of pilgrimage closer to the 12th century.

Thanks again to the wonder of the internet, you can see in this picture above what a presence this place has in Chartres.

Chartres Cathedral. You just cannot imagine how beautiful (and huge) this place is, pilgrim.

Compiegne

We've driven to Paris several times and although France is a huge country, the road from Hasselt to Paris is a 4 hour drive through nothing but farmland. And toll booths.

In an effort to find a good stopping place to break up the trip and not get too far off the beaten path, Jim found the city of Compiegne. Located on the Oise River, Compiegne has a population of about 40,000.

This is their City Hall.

This is Eglise Saint-Antoine Church.

We had the whole place to ourselves.

This area was barricaded with an iron fence housing the remains of famous saints. You may be able to see the bones in those boxes.

In this same place, was this framed spike/nail so I took a picture thinking I could surely find some information about it on the internet. Well, I couldn't so I have no idea what this is. Railroad relic I presume.

That would be facetious. I know cathedrals rarely house railroad relics.

The Compiegne Palace

This royal residence assumed its present appearance in the reign of King Louis XV. After the Revolution, Napoleon I turned it into an imperial palace and did extensive restoration. From 1856 on, Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie organized the famous Compiegne Series each Fall inviting scientists, writers, artists and famous people to stay at the palace.

These next pictures were taken by Ross when he and his friend Erica toured the Palace. One of the few places Winslow wasn't welcome so we opted out of the tour.

Napoleon's bedroom.

Is that a bed? Did you know he was only 5' 2" tall? Oh yeah? Me too, same as me, I'm the same. I wish Ross had been in this picture to give it some perspective since he's about a foot taller than that.

"Drink me." comes to mind. And maybe a Chinese restaurant?

The Third Salon.

Not to be confused with the First and Second.

Napoleon medal

Napoleon was a master at cultivating his own glory by publicizing his victories and celebrating his rule and accomplishments. He had these medals struck to commemorate pretty much everything. They are beautiful.

The Salon des Cartes

Main staircase.

In the niche is a cast of Apollo.

This place was just completely deserted.

This is the Galerie de bal.

The ceiling has 12 compartments with paintings depicting the great battles of the empire.

Compiegne is also the site of Joan of Arc's capture on May 23, 1430. She traveled to Compiegne to help defend the city against an English and Burgundian siege. She ordered a retreat, assumed the place of honor as the last to leave the field. She was executed at the age of 19 on May 30, 1431.

So if you're looking for a good place to stop north of Paris, I recommend Compiegne, France. You won't have to stand in line at the palace or the church for all the other tourists 'cause there aren't any.