19th August 2018 - Liege

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Kms today = 715
Kms to date = 8,949

We were up and on the road by 7.30am. Sunday morning so not much traffic and we got out of Berlin pretty quickly and settled down for a fang down the Autobahn. We basically only stopped for fuel and food on the way until we got to the Belgium border. The quality of the roads in Belgium wasn't as good as in Germany. There were a number of roadworks which slowed us up slightly. We arrived at Esther's parents place at 4.30pm after 716 kms. Pierre and Eva were very welcoming and had cleared their garage so we could park our bikes in it. We were staying at their place rather than Esther's. Esther is expecting a baby at the end of January, her first. Nicholas (her husband) was at the house and speaks as good english as Esther. Pierre, Esther's father speaks pretty good english too. He has retired from a career in medicine treating drug addicts. After some refreshments Esther and Nicholas took us to see their house in the centre of Liege. It is a terrace house very near the main square and has been renovated so is pretty modern. It has three bedrooms and a large kitchen/family room and is on three levels.
Outside Esther's house (left to right) Esther, Eva, Pierre and Nicholas
It has also a large garden out the back which will be great for the new baby.
The back garden.
They are an absolutely charming couple. They took us for a walking tour of the old part of Liege which was very interesting with its narrow cobblestone streets. The river Meuse flows through the town so there are numerous bridges.
One of the little cafes in the back streets of Liege.

One of the many bridges over the Meuse.
After a while we went back to Pierre and Eva's house for a gourmet dinner cooked by Eva. We had hors d'oeuvres served in the garden, an entre of stuffed tomato and a main course of duck pie followed by lemon tart.
Hors d'oeuvres in the garden.
Pierre cracked a few bottles of red wine that he had imported from Libourne near St. Emilion where we stayed in July. Quite a coincidence!! It was the first home cooked meal we had had in quite a while and it was really excellent. We hit the sack about 10pm as it had been a long ride from Berlin.


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