Events

Yesterday was a lot, especially since I hadn't completely recovered from traveling Saturday night through Sunday evening. Yesterday included a €60 fine for getting on the wrong train (more on that later); a 6 km hike from Aachen, Germany, to the Dreiländereck monument with a total climb over 150 m; two stops in Liège, Belgium; a climb up the Montagne de Bueren; a delicious plate of boulets à la Liégesoise; and several reminders of just how amazing European trains can be.

I was in three countries today, all of them repeatedly, owing to a long hike I took from Aachen, Germany, to the Dreiländereck (three-country point). Then I went to Liège, and now I'm back in Brussels. I will recount all of these adventures with some preliminary photos at some point in the near future.

I am finally in my hotel room in Brussels after an only-slightly-delayed Eurostar from St Pancras. The only mistake I made was not realizing before I started walking to my hotel that it was 1.7 km uphill from the train station. Of course that means it's 1.7 km downhill on Wednesday when I next have to schlepp my bags. (It really earned its title "luggage" this evening.)

Started on the Eurostar from London to Brussels, just over the Belgian border with France

I was worried about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow when nothing happened for 15 minutes standing at the carousel. Once I checked to see where they had moved our bags, it was a quick trip to the arrivals lounge, a shower, and a cuppa. I really prefer this to the way I traveled the first time I got to the UK, schlepping a huge backpack around and not showering for something like 72 hours.

I'm sat quite peacefully in the American Airlines Flagship Lounge, sipping a Veuve Cliquot brut (n.v.), and tasting some of the new recipes they've got (the pesto balsamic salmon was lovely, but I think I'm going to get a bit more of the hoisin watermelon chicken). I'm also impressed with the current flag display in Terminal 3:

I have a mug that says, "Should I release at 5pm on a Friday?" "No!" "What if I just..." "OMFG no!"

I woke up in a fog this morning:

Once again, Cassie and I got up obscenely early (5:30 am), but that allowed us to take a very long walk around the lake side of Belmont Harbor without needing sunscreen. It was 27°C with a 30°C heat index, however, but it was still pretty:

Google has gotten a lot of flak for updating their Maps product for US-based visitors to show a different name for Lake Ontario. Google made the change following an asinine Executive Order directing the Board on Geographic Names to update its database. That is the only thing the EO actually did, and, I am sad to report, it was an entirely lawful EO.