Caution: border

Each time we cross the border into another country our GPS announces it by saying "Caution: border" like it's cause for concern.  

Borders don't mean much any more in Europe, but the border crossings are still there - sometimes depressing old buildings that should probably be torn down.

Crossing a border now usually means that you're about to pay a toll and continue to pay tolls to use their roads.

Since cities were not on our list of things to see on this trip, this is as close as we got to Milan.  A city of over a million people, that was just fine with me.  The Last Supper will have to wait.

The Italian Alps

This is Carrara marble.  Carrara is a city in Italy and where Carrara marble is mined, of course.  It was used for a lot of things since ancient Rome (and before) like buildings, churches and sculptures - Michelangelo's David and Pieta, the Pantheon, and even Harvard Medical School, for examples.

I took a dozen pictures, but couldn't capture a good one from the highway.  This one is from the internet, but it shows much better the mining of Carrara marble.

Villa Cheli in Lucca, Italy

This is where we stayed on our second and third nights.  It was so relaxing and we both decided later that we had our best meal in the restaurant here.

Enjoying a glass of wine on our very own terrace.  The weather was perfect.

Winslow's new friend, Mia (according to her collar).  

We still don't know to whom she belonged, but she made herself right at home in our room!

No itinerary

On a Monday morning we packed up and hit the road with no itinerary.  Our only criteria, if you can call it that, was to see the countryside.  These are always the best trips.

We had a reservation for the first night only - in the Swiss Alps.

A curvy, winding road, sometimes treacherous in my opinion.

We always wonder what people do for a living in these little remote villages.  It's not obvious as you drive along and commuting in and out doesn't seem practical.

Even low clouds hiding the mountains made a nice backdrop.

Gasthaus Paxmontana

The community of Flüeli-Ranft is where Saint Niklaus, patron saint of Switzerland, lived for the last 19 years of his life.

Winslow is an excellent traveller . . .

enjoying the wind in his face . . .

and an occasional nap in the sun.

Flüeli-Ranft, Switzerland

The following video is silent except for every cow having a bell around its neck.  I suppose the residents finally get used to it . . .

more cowbell.

Viaggio su strada in Toscana

Viaggio su strada.  That means "road trip" in Italian . . . and that's what we're on right now!

Making every effort to stay out of the cities, we are exploring the countryside of Toscana (what we call Tuscany) for a few days.  

For those who don't know (like me), Tuscany isn't a city, but one of 20 regions of Italy.  It is nearly centrally located and covers some of the coast of the Ligurian Sea (which eventually becomes the Mediterranean). The major city of this area is Firenze (what we call Florence).  

We were lucky enough to visit Florence a couple of years ago and it is still one of my favorite places.

So far the weather has been really nice and as expected, the countryside is beautiful.  I can't wait to pore over all my pictures, share them on my blog and tell all about our viaggio su strada in Toscana.

Originality is not expensive

For about 2 or 3 weeks in September, Ross and I went "kringwinkeling" nearly every day.  Mostly to find things to furnish his new apartment.

Before

But I often find things I just can't pass up . . .

Like this adorable chest of drawers.  Only 10 euros!

I've mentioned the kringwinkel on several occasions in my blog posts because it truly is one of my favorite things to do.  Flanders (northern half of Belgium) has captured and refined the art of bargain hunting and I am all in.

Ross found this 1950's Bernina sewing machine - runs off pedal-power, not electricity!

Begun in 2002, there are now 118 kringwinkel stores in Flanders so you're never more than about 20 minutes away from one and the treasures change daily. 

Their mission is pretty simple: save the environment and social responsibility.

- recycling what would have been waste into useful and affordable items for nearly any budget.

- to create jobs for people who have few opportunities in the labor market here - we can't all be doctors and lawyers and Indian chiefs.

I know, I know, but for 5 euros, this hedgehog was calling my name.

Sometimes it's difficult to get the larger items in the car . . .

like when we were trying to get this cabinet in the trunk.

Seriously, we actually saw this pink Cadillac.  In Belgium.  We didn't stay to witness what eventually happened, but we figured despite the cowboy's determination, THAT was definitely NOT going to happen.

Since not every purchase is in perfect condition, occasionally some modifications are needed . . .

Here's Jim, Ross and his sweet friend Laurel doing just that.

Yes, that's my finger over the lens.  I have quite a few pictures like this on my phone :-/

Sanding away.  

Notice. No finger in the picture.

Jim and Ross constructed his new desk from a door and some pipes.

Not bad, huh?

Ross also did his own artwork to decorate the walls.

His studio wasn't limited to the garden . . .

it also encompassed the dining room/parlor? for a week or so.

I'd say it turned out quite nice.

Home sweet home.

Sometimes I can't help picking up a thing or two for the kleinkinderen.

How adorable is this dress for 3 euro?!

Traffic Update

So, since I posted about the Belgian verkeershinder recently, I figured I might as well update that post with this one.  I was surprised to find this article in our local newspaper only days after I posted on my experience driving in Brussels . . .

ECONOMY Despite the crisis and the long queues, the number of cars in our country in one year increased by 50,000 units to 5.5 million units.

That according to the latest figures from the FPS Economy. A total of 6,993,767 registered motorized vehicles in our country. Besides the ordinary cars concerns include 740,000 trucks and vans, 450,000 motorcycles, 184,000 agricultural vehicles and 16,000 buses.

The electric car remains a marginal phenomenon. The 919 electric cars represent only 0.016 percent of the 5.5 million cars.

No doubt Belgians have an obsession with owning a vehicle despite the vast options for public transportation here.  Not to mention the bike!  

Of course, there is some added cost to biking too - the likely assured event at some point your bike will be stolen.  We should know.

Which reminds me of the time Ross was headed to the train station here in Hasselt and the lock for his bike was all the way upstairs (3rd floor) and I said "Don't worry about it, who would steal that POS?".  When he returned to the station, I got this text . . . "Bike's gone".  There you have it.

Released just yesterday, these are current gasoline prices (in US dollars) per gallon.  Also included are gas prices, for this time of year, since our move to Belgium in 2009.

Release Date: October 2, 2013 

Retail Premium Gasoline Prices, Selected Countries(U.S. dollars per gallon, including taxes)

Date	Belgium	France	Germany	Italy	Netherlands	UK	US
9/30/2013	7.90	7.69	8.12	8.88	8.83	8.17	3.76

10/1/2012

8.24

7.51

8.16

9.00

8.90

8.46

4.09

10/3/2011

7.81

7.45

7.55

7.95

8.15

7.83

3.70

10/4/2010

7.14

6.81

7.04

6.97

7.62

6.94

2.97

10/5/2009

6.95

6.71

7.28

6.86

7.47

6.34

2.71

That's a 5-year average of  $7.61 per gallon for Belgians and an average of $3.45 per gallon for Americans.  Frankly, I don't know how they do it here.

Nearly 7 million vehicles on the road in this tiny country.  No wonder there's often pretty much always a traffic jam!