We spent most of the day today in Belgium, visiting Bastogne (the site of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II) and Bouillon. Bouillon is a particularly picturesque river town near the French border which is dominated by the medieval Bouillon Castle, once home to Godefroy de Bouillon who led the First Crusade. Today’s picture was shot from the highest point in the castle of some of the surrounding countryside. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking.

As one who appreciates alcoholic beverages in all their forms, it can be a little difficult traveling with confirmed teetotalers like my parents (devout Southern Baptists), particularly in countries with some of the best beer in the world, but I am boldly having a beer with lunch everyday and haven’t gotten any glares, so all is well (though I’d love to be tasting four or five a day if I could). For those who care about such things, yesterday’s beer (pictured in my blog) was a Bitburger Pilsner. A nice example of the style, though not as rich as Czech pilsners. Today was a local Bouillon ale, Godefroy Rousse, a copper-red Belgian ale. Very tasty indeed.

Tomorrow we visit Liege and Maastricht enroute to Cologne, which will take us through four countries: Luxembourg (where we’re spending the night again), Belgium, the Netherlands and back to Germany. In case I don’t have internet access in Cologne, we’ll be driving from Cologne to Berlin, via Hannover, on Tuesday and will be spending the following four days in Berlin.