From Paris we took the train to Liege, for a few days with my great aunt and uncle on the other side of the family. Again a bit of a repeat of the trip from a couple of years ago: arriving in the fantastic Guillemins station designed by Calatrava and then travelling to the Liege suburbs on the edge of the forest where they live. Again to the Ardennes American WWII ceremony, where this time we got a personal tour by the administrator who I think was keen to have some other English speakers to talk to (he’s American). On the wall in the office there’s a framed newspaper article about the bombing near Bucharest in Romania and we got to see the reaction of both sides – the American extolling the importance of this event in the war at the time and my great aunt and uncle remembering it as they were there on the ground when it was all happening. A bit surreal – we felt a bit caught in the middle.
We ended up heading into the centre of Liege and having a look around for a day. Keen not to repeat the same things from two years ago, we instead walked along the ‘Couteaux de la Citadel’ a series of pathways along and on top of the old city walls, now set in a large park looking over the newer part of Liege.
This was followed by a traditional lunch of a famous Liegeois meal of Boulets Frites – meatballs in a local tomato sauce accompanied by fries – delicious! Afterwards we went to see the Val Saint Lambert crystal factory – now struggling to survive as an artisanal workshop after the glory days of the early 20th Century where it was producing 120000 pieces per day! If it’s your thing, I’m sure you would be able to find a bargain in the dazzling showroom, including a 25000 Euro crystal wastepaper basket. Alas, we left empty handed.