After our encounter with the wild boars yesterday, Luke was clearly impressed. He gave me the ultimate compliment over dinner: "Mum, you are as adorable as a wild boar and as beautiful as a forest of flowers." Needless to say, I am still giggling!
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| Begetter of baguette! |
My taste buds were still alive after the apple tart Annika made
yesterday and so I was keen to collect some more free fall apples on our
way to the boulangerie. The pains au chocolat were already sold out
which we'll remember next Sunday morning. The delightful lady who
showed us around the local church the other day greeted us in the street
with Bonjour Monsieur, Bonjour Madame and also remembered Luke's
name. Our little street was filling up with cars from the church
goers...all 10 of them!
It was tempting to hang around
here all day just enjoying the loveliness but as we are only in Belgium
for a little over a week, I felt we should explore a bit more. The
sensational weather may not last and I am always one for taking
opportunities. Having leaved through the information brochure on the
Ardennes region, we settled for a trip to Bouillon.
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| The chase is on... |
Tim decided to stay home to finish his science project, fix his
Photoshop program and go for a run in the local area. The rest of us
with picnic packed, headed for Bouillon.
Our
journey was a little slow as once again we had to pay heed to the 50
km/hour signs in the "Chasse" zones although the locals charged along
with no hesitation. There are some mad French and Belgian drivers!
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| Warning not to go into the woods today... |
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| The Semois River from the Bouillon Castle forecourt |
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| View from our lunch spot! |
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| Entrance to the castle |
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| Canons are always exciting! |
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| Look closely to see the rock on which the castle is based and then additional building |
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| Buzzard |
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| Cute little falcon |
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| Falconry courtyard |
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| Luke overlooking the valley |
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| From the tower |
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| Oh autumn you are lovely! |
Bouillon greeted us with sensational sunshine and clear skies and the
ancient castle built into the rock was a magnificent backdrop towering
over the town. Bouillon Castle was built in the eighth century and
after extensions was completed in 988 AD. Some of the actual castle is
carved out of the slate with lots of tunnels and twists and little
chambers and the rest is built from local rock. It is surprisingly
intact. The views over the Semois Valley were amazing from such a great
height.
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| Top of the tower |
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| Bouillon town |
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| Burrowing owl |
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| Eagle |
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| The falconer with large owl |
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| Barn owls |
Luke was keen to see the Medieval Falconry display. We greeted the
birds who were tethered in the courtyard before the display. The
falconer spoke in French and Flemish but we got the gist of what he was
saying. We loved the little barn owls and the American Eagles were
pretty impressive. Annika thought that "Mathilde" and Phillipe" were
not appropriate names for vultures which I agreed with!
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| Mathilde the vulture! |
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| Torture Chamber |
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| Prison |
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| This castle rivals Edinburgh Castle in size and height |
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| French Christian alphabet! |
This castle has the dubious honour of being the place from which Godfrey
of Bouillon led the First Crusade in 1096. It was also a school and a
centre for writing from what we could gather from the French and Flemish
information. Unlike Holland where everything was also labelled in
English, Belgium is already dealing with two official languages so I
suppose English is not spoken so often.
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| Godfrey of Bouillon who led the First Crusade |
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| Walk down to the river |
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| Godfrey of Bouillon |
After the castle, we walked down by the river and across an old
bridge to the forest for another walk on the carpet of autumn leaves in
the dappled light. I noticed that Annika with her auburn hair looked
camouflaged in the forest from certain angles.
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| So very photoworthy |
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| Carving of the meandering Semois River |
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| Enjoying the sun |
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| Autumn beauty everywhere! |
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| The castle has the river at the front and back of it! |
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| So peaceful in its reflection |
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| Dappled shadows |
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| High above the trees the castle towers. |
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| Waiting for Godo...well actually waiting for me! |
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| Tunnel under the castle - not sure when it was made. |
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| Shops on the banks of the river. |
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| Apart from some very noisy motor bikes, this town is so peaceful. |
On our way back to our car we mingled with the Sunday day trippers past many waffle cafes and coffee shops. I, for one, was drooling and so Luke and I planned a "back to front" dinner with waffles (from the supermarket!) and stewed apples (from this morning's gathering) and whipped cream first followed by our roast chicken and vegetables. This satisfied everyone and was indeed a feast!
Fab post! Funny and interesting. Watch out for those boars. No wonder they're moving about a bit more given that it's the season de chasse. I'd run too :-) Hope the trails Tim finds for his runs don't pass through hunting areas.
ReplyDeleteThe hunting is well signed but you never know about stray bullets...did you ever see Babel?
DeleteAutumn is so beautiful!! :)
ReplyDeleteAutumn in USA would be similar I think with all the deciduous trees.
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