Thursday, July 9, 2026
We had one more fabulous breakfast and waved goodbye to Bruges. It was a 3-hour-ish drive that took a lot longer because we crept along the highway for quite a while. I wondered why – must be construction, because there is always construction.
Nope. The burned out bus seems to have been the problem. Wow!
We had a rest stop at a convenience store/restroom. After we got going, Jenny asked if anyone wanted some of her disappointing Milka cubes, so we could all be disappointed together. Everyone had one and there was much disappointment.
We arrived at Dinant and first visited the citadel on the cliffs over the town. The Germans attacked the town at the beginning of both world wars – ignoring Belgium’s attempts to remain neutral. There is a beautiful cemetery, primarily for casualties from the August 1914 attack. Ten percent of civilians were also killed in that tragedy.
The views were amazing.
Dinant is the home of Adolfe Saxe, inventor of the saxophone. He was trying to cross a clarinet and a brass instrument, so that is why a saxophone seems to be a cross between a clarinet and a brass instrument. The museum that many of us were excited to visit was very small and most of the push-this-button-to-hear-somethings didn’t work. Okay, none of them worked.
Keith and Adolfe outside of the museum.
On the Saxe bridge there are saxophones decorated for different countries in the EU.
I tried hard to get Keith to play one of the giant saxes, but Bruce had to take over after my knees gave out trying to get low to get the right angle. Thank you, Bruce.
There are a gazillion small outdoor restaurants along the river. As we walked along, we found most of the band having drinks and snacks and hiding from the hot sun.
We found a big sign advertising the band. No Sousaphones were used in our concert. They reported that 250 tickets had been sold in advance. Yay!
It was a group dinner at our hotel. I left everything in the room, so there are no pictures. I wasn’t particularly hungry, which was very good. We had a cold soup to start – celery, watermelon, melon, cucumber, mint soup with a delicious tomato and a dollop of avocado mousse. I got served first and was encouraged to dig in, as the French do (we are now in the French part of Belgium). I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that no one else had anything to do except watch me. I ate a spoonful and everyone exploded with laughter. It wasn’t really my favorite, and I think they could tell. The main was duck with a beautiful gravy, potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli and carrots. Yeah. I didn’t like that either. But at least dessert was weird. It was a white chocolate mousse whipped extremely light and airy with a dab of raspberry sauce in the middle. The white had no taste, but the raspberry was delicious.
The concert was in the big church. It was lovely inside and out.
There was a great, appreciative crowd.
They gave the band drink tickets for intermission. Todd didn’t think he had ever had a beer during a concert before. Keith has never seen beer served inside a church. Intermission lasts about 30 minutes, because there are beverages for sale. Everyone seemed to stay for the second half, so that is what matters.
They gave all the band members water before the show and during intermission. Sally was bussing the stage afterward.
Our room is oddly ginormous. You can’t see all of it, because there is a sitting area with table and chairs to the left of the bed. Keith commented to Lee as we walked back to the hotel that we could host a dance party. Lee immediately responded, “You should do that.” I just got the giggles imaging that.
