Andy’s birthday was Friday, so he decided he wanted to have a little road-tripping adventure. We squeezed a LOT into about 24 hours!

Starting off with a little over an hour in the car – we arrived in Liége just in time for lunch. And what better lunch to have than waffles and crepes!? Sugar and more sugar! Yes please! – (said the kids). The sugar crash was not so fun. But we’re here to have fun, darn it!

This little shop was ahhh-mazing. One of the most popular in Liége. The owner was working and helped us – thankfully with perfect English! We assumed she was the owner because she kept giving us free samples. You like marshmallows? – Here! try this one. How about cookies? These are good – have some! – A cookie for you, and a cookie for you and a cookie for you! We could have easily been done after all the free samples she gave away..it was crazy! But then we needed WAFFLES! These were worth the hour+ drive. I would do it again JUST for these waffles.

So we couldn’t just eat waffles for the next 24 hours – so it was time to move on. We visited the site of the St Paul Cathedral. Oh wow..being Catholic – this was such an amazing visit. My girls kept saying..Ms. Pieper would LOVE this! It was pretty fascinating.

Long story short…The original Cathedral – Saint Lambert’s Cathedral – was demolished in the 1700’s. Many years later, a new church had to be chosen as the ‘new’ Cathedral: that was the Saint Paul Cathedral, Liège. Many of the items were saved from Saint Lambert’s Cathedral and are now a part of the St Paul Cathedral. The scope of history is truly humbling.

The Montagne de Bueren – a 374 step staircase named in honor of Vincent de Bueren. He defended Liége from an attack in the 15th Century. It was built in 1881 in honor of the 600 soldiers who died during the battle. (Thanks Wikipedia!) I also read that there are conflicting stories as to why it was built. Some say it was for the soldiers – it was a safe passage to the center of the city.

But seriously. 374 steps. Holy cow. Fitbit said it was 37 flights of stairs. (Insert emoji with big eyes). I’m in decent shape, but 3/4 of the way up I had to take a quick break…

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I’m not sure why I’ve had such a hard time with this post. It was a great weekend. We had a lot of fun celebrating Andy’s birthday. Had a great Italian meal on Saturday night – hit the Sunday market along the Meuse River before heading home. It was pretty amazing to be able to hit two countries in one day.

But frankly, I found it exhausting. The driving, the sourcing food, the hauling luggage. I think I may just be tired. Then looking for the pictures on five different devices – two cameras and three phones. Trying to put it all together. It’s been in my head all week. So I’m just gonna leave the rest of it here and move on.

Oh how I love fresh starts.