Yes! We made it!

December 1, 2012

As I input this to my blog via my phone, we are taxiing the Brussels airport. 2:05 am Cleveland time….9:05 am Brussels time!

What a wild adventure! I have flight delays; flight cancellations, etc. But never before have I had a flight delay that caused total rerouting of us and our luggage from Cleveland-DC-Belgium to Cleveland-Chicago-Belgium and have it work so well and get us in 2 hours later than originally planned! We got onto a flight to Chicago that was, after 4 of us heading here got on, FULL. We only had 20 min to get from our gate on D Concourse to board and made it in time for a quick stop at the loo before boarding! We all were put into “middle” seats but were so happy to still be going in the same day that now one was even upset or worried. Well I honestly was a bit worried as I thought maybe the two people I had to sit between might be a bit upset once they saw all 5′-10-1/2″ of me! But I was so wrong! I was in-between two of the nicest (and skinniest!) people you could ever hope to see! We had a lovely flight, just a bit over an hour! And off we were to our next gate with only a little over an hour before boarding! What a whirlwind; but we found the concourse and gate and had time for a quick freshen up and quick purchase of fresh-popped popcorn and nuts at a stand just beside our gate! We were even in line with OUR pilot! We boarded and were so happy that Pat and I were seated in the middle of our row (the rows were 2 seats; 3 seats 2 seats across the plane). We had the open middle seat in our 3-some and we made a lovely little social center with our free middle seat! We were so comfy and cozy and even our stewardess commented on how well we made use of the 3 seats! The flight was just about 8 hours and I probably did doze a bit but I wouldn’t say it was sleep! We arrived at a bit after 9am and cleared customs quickly and had rides waiting for us! It was lovely! And, even lovelier…ALL our luggage made it too! We checked into our hotel, The Park Inn, by Radisson and it is really lovely and modern. It has only been open for 1 year! Pat and I were invited to lunch with Lieve, one of the coordinators for the study tour that I was tagging along with. They will be in with the program and I, and other “guests” will be touristing to various places. I am sure I will double/triple up with some others as and if our interests align. If not…it’s Belgium and Amsterdam on me own!!! Leive took us to Voltaire’ and it was so nice. She was very excited because it is HUNTING SEASON so the wild meats were available! After passing the wild boars head on the wall along with a deer head mount, I was certain “game” would be on the menu….and it was! It was a really interested time. And I say time because I think we were there for 2-1/2 hours….which didn’t seem that long at all! She was wonderful company and the food comes in layers and layers of service! Even before our “starter” a sort of mini starter came and we each had small plates with small samplings of pate’ and tasties! And it was accompanied by champaigne or sparkling wine…I’m not sure which! I’m not even sure if it was “ordered” or is just an automatic thing! Then our starters came and we each selected that which we wanted. I had “Paris Onion Soup with Gruyere”. It was delicious and the bread and cheese came beside the cup of soup and I broke it up myself and put it in the soup (I hope that was right!). Along with our starters came a glass of white wine! I didn’t order it…it just came!!!!! Our main course was next! I got duck a l’orange I picked it because it was from the wild menu and because my son’s girlfriend Emily orders duck whenever it is on a menu and so I thought of her and decided to give it a try! It was great! Lieve got “deer steaks” and it was slices of dear meat and it looked delicious too. I can’t remember what Pat got!. But as they served our main course, they came with RED WINE! I finally was “on top” of things enough to decline that. I am not much of a wine drinker and I’d already had 2 glasses!!! And I knew it was making me quite sleepy as well…which I didn’t need as I wanted to stay up as long as possible to adjust to the time change! We got dessert as well. I had an apple strudel with a small scoop of cinnamon ice cream and a small scoop of Belgian whipped cream! It was all so delicious and such a wonderful welcome! I knew, though, when we got back, that I HAD to get some sleep! Others were telling me it was too early to go to bed (it was probably only about 4:30 or 5pm) but I assured them I knew what I was doing–such a great world traveler that I am! Ha! But this time, I DID know! Because I came back to my room, and finished with unpacking and figuring out the adapters for my cpap and laptop and well you know..all the essentials of life! Then I basked in a long long long hot shower and snuggled into my big fluffy duvet comforter and found something English-speaking on the TV and watched for maybe 20 minutes and went to sleep! The first 3 hour block of sleep was total ROCK SOLID! I then woke up and it was only 10pm ish! I thought I felt totally refreshed but sat up and realized that I was not going to have any trouble going back to sleep and just snuggled up and went back to sleep and slept until at least 7am… A lot of sleep maybe, but coming off of 2 weeks of some sort of virus leading and sinus infection, not to mention the back strain from moving in my new treadmill…and a bit of extra sleep was not a hard thing to take! And, all of the sudden, it was the reality that I left Cleveland on November 30th and it was December 2nd already!!!! Ready for a new and wonderful day and one where a fully-rested Lila could really take in Leuven, Belgium!