theXtraSuitcase

 

Our first stop was the Maredsous Abbey, founded in 1872.  Not very old by European standards.  We had a casual lunch at their outdoor cafe.  They are Benedictine Monks who created the very famous Maredsous beer, but it is now brewed in Puurs Belgium in the Duval Brewery.   They also make a very nice cheese.   

 

 We then headed to the town of Dinant know for their Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame completed in 1227.  Look closely at the top of the ridge behind the church and you can see the Citadel, originally built in the 11th century.  It was destroyed in 1703 by the French and was rebuilt  in 1821.

There are colorful homes and shops along the River Meuse.  

 

Dinant is also know for their couque (American cookies) known as the hardest biscuit in Europe.  And I thought mine was just stale!  We tried to eat this cookie.  Impossible!  We even dipped it in coffee, still as hard as a rock.  Next time I'll just paint it and keep it as a souvenir!

 
The next morning we headed out to La Grange Aux Papillions.  On the drive we saw a beekeeper which I found fascinating.  If you look very closely (or double click on the photo to enlarge), you can see hundreds of bees flying around.

It was a bit overcast so the Papillons, or butterflies, were a bit sleepy.  But for us, this was perfect as we were more interested in photographing them rather than seeing them flutter around.

 

I was anxious to put my new camera to the test.  How close could this new macro lens get and still take a clear photo.

 

 

Butterflies weigh as little as two rose petals. 

A butterfly lives between three weeks and a month. 

There was an elderly French couple who were also visiting and they were helping me find the butterflies to photograph.  The women kept tapping me on the shoulder.  It was very sweet and helpful as sometimes they were hard to see.

 

 

Butterfly wings are actually transparent.  The vivid color comes from iridescent scales which overlap each other.  All butterflies have four wings.

And all butterflies have six legs.  But many keep the front two tucked in.  Did you known that they taste with their feet? 

They do not have mouths rather they have a long tube-like structure called a proboscis used to suck juices and nectar from flowers.  When not in use, it coils up.  You can see this in the photo below.  Some also eat rotten fruit.

 

 

This flower certainly looks like it would be a good one for them to nibble on. 

There are 28,000 known butterflies throughout the world.

 

These were so delicate they were behind glass.  The life cycle of a butterfly consists of four stages; egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (seen below) and adult (butterfly).  The pupa can last from a few days to a few months.  They do not eat during this time.

 

Looks like this one will be ready to release into the hot house garden very soon.

 

 

We found a quaint little restaurant to eat lunch just outside the town of Chimay.  Donald had frog legs in a sauce that was so good we wanted to drink it and I had a specialty of the region fish escobeche.  It was a white fish in a cream cabbage sauce. 

 

Our last site was the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Scourmont where the Cistercian Trappist Monks live.  They have been making the famous Trappist Chimay beer here since 1863.

 

It was a very peaceful oasis.  Tours of the brewery were not permitted.  Trappist Monks are very secretive with their beer making.  There are only seven Trappist Beers in the world.  Six in Belgium ( Chimay, Oval, Rochford, Westvleteren, Westmalle , and Achel) and one in the Netherlands (Koningshoeven). 

 
 

Here's D with a bottle of Chimay in hand!  For those of you who are interested this is one of the Trappist beers you can buy in the US.  You will probably pay three times what we pay...but hey, a special treat.