2008.07 Brussels

We spent a week with Pamela and Henry from 12 to 19 July 2008, combining the visit with a trip to Ireland with our neighbors Bill and Judy Neill and their son Rob, who grew up with our kids and now lives in New York. While in Brussels we spent some time in museums we hadn’t previously visited, did some city walking, worked in the garden, and walked to and from Henry’s “stage” with him. A stage is like a day camp and there are all kinds of them operating in Brussels during school holidays. Henry’s done stages on everything from Don Quixote to sports to music. The week we were there he was doing China. We also enjoyed some late night visits with Pamela, who worked during the day but always found time for us in the evenings. We had a lovely Sunday afternoon picnic with good friends of Pamela’s and a little friend of Henry’s at the Solvay Chateau in La Hulpe where bronze statues by Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon are placed along walks throughout the grounds. Henry had visited the park on a school field trip in June, so he enjoyed the return visit with his friend Nicolas.

Many of the Jean-Michel Folon sculptures at the Solvay Chateau feature the man with the hat. The second picture is a clay version Henry made from memory after his school field trip.

Parc du Cinquantenaire, which houses several museums

A building in the EU area, with a banner welcoming Slovakia to the Euro

Grandson Henry as the dragon in the play put on by his China stage

2008.06.01 Woolley Family Reunion in Tuscany

Our family decided in 2007 to plan a reunion in Tuscany. We rented Villa Zaballina in Cinciano, a hill village near the town of Poggibonsi, midway between Florence and Siena. Built over 900 years ago, it has three foot thick fortress walls. It's 1100 feet above sea level with views of Chianti Classico vineyards, olive groves, and the towers of San Gimignano. Poppies and other wild flowers were blooming everywhere we went. The ones in this picture were in a field at the villa.


This is Villa Zaballina and one of its olive groves.


From the house we could see San Gimignano in the distance. The pool was too cold for me, but the grandchildren went swimming a couple of times.


Beautiful terraced gardens led from the kitchen to the pool. The grotto and fountain were midway down.

This is the family kitchen and dining area. Next to this there is also a full stainless steel catering kitchen. We used both kitchens, which were equipped with modern appliances. On the left is an indoor charcoal grill.

Some of the bedrooms, as well as two of the three bathrooms, were located on this hallway.

This was the bedroom where Bill and I slept!

Bill, Henry, Steve, and I visited the town of Castelina in Chianti on Monday, June 2. It was a national holiday and a local band was playing in celebration in front of the church.

On Tuesday, June 3, Guido Bandinelli (http://www.travelsintuscany.com/) picked up Jenn, Eric, Steve, Al, Bill, and me at 9:00 AM for the wine tour Jennifer, Eric, Pamela, and Henry gave Bill and me for Christmas. It was a fantastic tour. Native Tuscan Guido was an excellent guide and provided historical and economic background information as we drove to the three wineries and their surrounding sites: 1) Poggio Antigo Winery in Montalcino; the Sant’ Antimo Abby, a simple 12th Century Benedictine Roman-style church; and a view of the walled town of Castelnuova dell ’Abate; 2) Lunch at the Taverna dei Barbi and wine tour and tasting at Fatroria dei Barbi-Proprieta’ Cinelli Colombini; 3) Fanti Tenuta San Filippo. This is the cellar at Poggio Antigo.

Brunello is the top wine of the region, and they only make it in very good years. The grapes are used for other wines, which are also quite nice, in the years they don't make the Brunello. In this photo Allen is looking at one of the wine shops in Montalcino.

These are typical streets in Montalcino.

On Wednesday, June 4, we hung out at the villa until about 11:00 and then the whole family, in four cars, caravanned to Siena. We went into the Duomo and then walked up to the campo, the square where the famous horse race, Il Palio, is run twice each summer. The people of Siena identify most strongly with their neighborhoods, called contrada, rather than with the city of Siena or the country of Italy. The horse races are contests among the contrada, each of which has it's flag and symbol (eagle, dragon, tower, caterpillar, unicorn, panther, seashell, etc.). The kids enjoyed finding the symbols in various places, such as statues and street markers on sides of buildings.

This is the campo, where Bill found us three adjacent empty tables under umbrellas at one of the restaurants. No sooner had we sat down than it began to pour rain, but the umbrellas kept us (mostly) dry. By the time we finished eating the sky was blue again.

This is the duomo in Siena.

Bill and I rented this little Fiat Punta. I drove, Bill navigated, and Henry had a car seat in back. Fortunately, Bill has a great sense of direction and reads maps and signs like a pro. Even with all that skill, getting from one place to another was plenty challenging at times.

On Thursday, June 5, Bill, Henry, and I went to Volterra. Henry had already been there with Maria, Mindy, Anna, Kate, Amanda, and Sophie on the day the rest of us went on the wine and history tour with Guido. However, he elected to return to Volterra rather than dip into that cold pool at the villa again. This view is from the wall in Volterra.

This Etruscan gate is one of the oldest structures in Itay. During World War II the Germans were going to blow it up to keep the Allies from entering the city. The residents of Volterra asked permission to brick it up so that it wouldn't be destroyed and the Germans agreed. After the war they removed the bricks from the gate they had preserved.

Volterra is a center for artists creating beautiful pieces--both large and small--from alabaster quarried nearby. It's hard to pass up all the wonderful things in the shops, but with the Ryanair weight limit of 15 kilograms (about 33 pounds) and the weak dollar to euro exchange rate, we emerged with only one wedding gift and three alabaster eggs. Several artists like this guy were working out in the open air on the plaza.


We spent our last night in Pisa along with Steve and Maria's family. It's a tourist zoo, but still worth the doing. We flew back to Brussels from there. Actually, since Brussels was fogged in we ended up in Liege. Pamela came to get us and we spent another very nice weekend with her before flying back to Chicago.

2008.05.20 Relaxing in Brussels

After spending the night with Al, Mindy, Amanda, and Sophie on May 20, we left our car at their house and took the “El” to O'Hare for our non-stop flight to Brussels. We're always glad when we can get reasonable tickets on American flight 88 because it's the only carrier that gets us there without a layover somewhere. Pamela picked us up at the airport the following morning and we began a relaxing week at her home.

We took Henry to and from school every day and enjoyed spending time with him. We saw his concert at school and watched his Saturday Judo lesson. His school ends at noon on Wednesdays, so we used that opportunity to take him to the The Belgian Center for Comic Strip Art (http://www.trabel.com/brussel/brussels-museums-comicstrip.htm), which is housed in a building that is, in itself, a museum piece. The Waucquez Warehouse is considered to be one of the masterpieces of the most famous Belgian Art Nouveau architect, Victor Horta, who built the house in 1906. The Waucquez family used the house for a wholesale cloth business. Now it celebrates the Belgian comic strip art tradition represented by many different artists. Henry’s favorite character is Herge’s Tintin (http://www.tintin.com/#home/une.swf&lang=fr/).

On Saturday night we ate at Krishna in Overijse, which Pamela says has the best Indian food she's had outside of India. Having lived in London and worked as a consultant in India for a year and a half, she's eaten a lot of Indian food.

On Wednesday, we had dinner at the home of some of Pamela's friends, Maggie and Ken, who happened to have Ken’s sister, niece, and grandniece visiting from Ripon, Yorkshire.

The weather was nice enough to allow us several good days to work in the garden, though we did have periods of rain throughout our stay. Pamela claims there are hot, dry periods in Belgium, but I've never experienced one.

On Sunday we spent the day at Walibi in Wavre. For a report on that adventure, go to http://www.henrygswoolley.blogspot.com/. Here's a preview--Grandpa checking a map of the park and Henry eager to get started.

2008 March Events

Bill called me in Colorado every day. One day he reported that he’d had chest pains and his doctor wanted him to see a cardiologist in Appleton. I called Loomers and Schangs in tears. Loomers went with him to the appointment. After I got home, Henry and I took him for a heart catheterization at Theda Clark Hospital in Neenah. The surgeon removed a lot of old, calcified plaque from a major artery that was 90% blocked. Since he continued to have chest pain after the procedure, we decided not to take our scheduled trip to Brussels to take Henry home and to Dubai to visit Steve, Maria, Anna, and Kate. I took him to the ER in Ripon Sunday night and they sent him to Appleton Medical Center by ambulance, which he declared to be the bumpiest most uncomfortable ride he'd ever had. Monday he had another catheterization in which they determined that his two stents were functioning well and that his heart was fine. They attributed the chest pain to acid reflux.

Since we were unable to travel, we had to make other arrangements for Henry to go home. Several friends volunteered to take him, and we had him packed to go when we realized we didn't have the legal paperwork for someone outside the family to take him out of the country. Finally Pamela arranged for Emilie Latrielle, a close friend from France with whom he was supposed to spend a week of his Easter break, to come for him. Pamela got the legal permission documents for Emilie and we thought we were all set, only to discover that her passport had to be replaced with one that could be read electronically--even though it was valid until 2012. We bought the ticket for her to come March 27. The passport, which was supposed to arrive March 21, was finally in her hands on March 26.

We picked Emilie up in Chicago on March 27 and spent the weekend with Al and Mindy. We took in the Field Museum, the Nature Museum in Lincoln Park, some nice restaurants, and, of course, Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park. Mindy's a great tour guide and the view of the city from her office is spectacular.

We left Chicago Sunday evening and arrived home about 9:15. The next morning Henry announced that his glasses were broken. Sure enough, the metal had broken on one side of the nose piece. We went to Lens Crafters in Fond du Lac, where we got great service. Henry had new glasses the next day. Emilie was able to use the trips to Fond du Lac to shop for scrapbooking supplies. Wednesday was a nice day, so Emilie got to experience sledding on Kiwanis Hill behind our house, where there was still plenty of snow to get a good ride, kite flying, woods exploring, and watching Henry ride his little bike.

On Thursday, April 3, we took them to Appleton to fly home. They flew NWA from Appleton to Detroit to Amsterdam to Toulouse. After a night in Toulouse, Emilie's mother, Michele, took over for the last leg of Henry’s journey to Brussels.

Pamela missed her little boy a lot, so we posted pictures and video clips on a blog for her. The child is a real character, and some of the videos are quite entertaining. Click here to see them www.henrywoolley.blogspot.com.

2008 February Events

Cary fell in their newly-surfaced driveway in Hawaii on January 30, hurt her shoulder again, and broke her hip. She had surgery on the hip in Honolulu on the 31st. I wish we weren't so far away.

Bill and I went to Chicago on February 15 to celebrate birthdays with Allen at Think and Amanda at a tumbling party at their gym. Bill returned to Ripon on Monday with their Highlander, leaving our larger Odyssey for Mindy and me to drive to Beaver Creek the next Friday. Monday Mindy got the flu and was down with a fever for the week.

I met Henry at O’Hare on Thursday. Pamela flew on to Denver and stayed with Cousins Michelle and Brent until Saturday. She had a round trip plane ticket that would connect her with a business meeting directly after the ski trip, but we arranged for Henry to drive to Colorado with Mindy and me and then stay with us in Ripon for a week after the ski trip. We would then drop him off in Brussels on the way to Dubai.

Friday morning Allen packed up Mindy’s ski gear and some of the kids’ stuff. Mindy finished packing after she got up, still not feeling well. We left Friday at 2:15PM. I thought it was amazing that Mindy made it at all. All three kids were great on the trip to Colorado.

Henry went to ski school for six days and was at the top of the mountain for the last two. Mindy and I didn’t ski for the first two days, but we enrolled Amanda and Sophie in Small World day care for the last four days so that we could both ski. The weather was perfect on those days. Allen joined us on Friday. Bill, Judy, and Rob were in Park Plaza with us. Penny, Mike, Matt, Eileen, and Don and Nancy Corts were at Mihalys.

2008 January Events

Mindy declined a tempting job offer from a new firm and accepted more responsibility at Much Schelist. Allen accepted an offer from Wildman, Harrold, Allen, and Dixon and started there January 28.

After having a lot of snow and a White Christmas in December, we got a warmer weather and rain in early January, followed by freezing temperatures and a wet snow on January 11. Then the sub-zero temperatures returned, and for the rest of the month we had a lot more snow and very cold weather. I took advantage of being inside to dig into the family archives, inspired by the new scanner I got for Christmas from Bill.

The City Council approved a December bow hunt within the city limits to reduce the deer herd. One died on our property while our grandchildren were here to see all the blood in the snow (but fortunately not the body). We haven’t seen one since, though there are a few hoof prints in the snow. The January 10 paper reported that "Team Ripon" bagged 1 buck, 12 mature does, and 12 yearlings.

2007 12 13-14 Bill and Jean in Milwaukee

Our 2006 Christmas gift from Eric and Jenn, Al and Mindy, and Steve and Maria was two Museum Packages at the Pfister Hotel, one of Milwaukee's 19th Century landmarks. We used one of them for a winter get-away just before Christmas 2007. It was a wonderful night and two days, and we're looking forward to using the other package soon.

This is the entrance of the Pfister where the valet parking and greeting personnel took care of the car and luggage for us.

After checking in we bundled up and walked the three blocks to the Milwaukee Art Museum, where we saw the traveling Martin Ramirez exhibit as well as quite a bit of the museum's own collection.

Across the street from the Pfister are other interesting examples of 19th Century Milwaukee architecture. The building above is the Federal Building-US Court House. Below is Milwaukee's oldest and most exclusive club, The Milwaukee Club, which is unmarked. We had to ask the concierge what it was.

Bill had once had the lunch buffet at the Pfister's Cafe Rouge and had wanted to share the experience with Jean. This was our opportunity. It was delicious!

When we got home, the first thing Bill did was write an email to the people who gave us the gift and inspired us to do this. It describes the activities we packed into two days while still finding time to relax and enjoy the ambiance of this elegant historic hotel. I used Bill's email for the rest of this post. Here it is:

We just got back from our two-day mini-break in Milwaukee that we got from you as a Christmas present last year. It was a really wonderful little trip. We got to Milwaukee about noon yesterday after stopping to do some shopping on the way. The Pfister Hotel was wonderful. We stopped the car in valet parking and they did the rest. We were disappointed in the fact that the Cafe Rouge was no longer serving lunch. I had been there a year ago and thought that their lunch buffet was the best I had ever had. However, Peter, the friendly concierge, said that the Cafe was opening for a special group today and that he would get us in.

One of several nice things about the Pfister was that it was central to everything. After a nice lunch at the Mason Street Café in the hotel we went to the Milwaukee Art Museum. It was only three blocks from the Pfister, which was a pleasant surprise. They had an interesting traveling exhibit by a Mexican artist, Martin Ramirez, who created most of his work while in a mental hospital in California. Their regular collection was good, with representative pieces from all periods. The pre-19th century artists were generally unfamiliar to us, but we did see one by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, who is so prominent in the Brussels art museum collection that we recognized his style. Among the Impressionists we saw one by Alfred Sisley. The modern and contemporary collection included works by Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Fernand Leger, Alexej Von Jawlensky, Roy Lichtenstein, Wayne Thiebaud, and Andy Warhol (Campbell Soup). They had about two dozen works by Georgia O'Keeffe, who was a Wisconsin native.

On returning to the Pfister, we opened the bottle of wine that came with the package and rested and read for an hour. We then walked five blocks to the Pabst Theater to see The Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s production of Dickens’ Christmas Carol. It was a real delight. Even though the scene with the Cratchit family wheeling a tiny coffin to the cemetery had half the theater in tears, it was a fun production and very family oriented. I hope that we can take grandchildren sometime.

Today we slept in and had a late breakfast at the hotel. We then did a walk in the neighborhood (lots of 19th century buildings), and then had the long-awaited lunch at the Cafe Rouge. It was as good as I remembered. After lunch we checked out and drove a short distance to the Milwaukee Public Museum, where he saw an Imax film on the Alps, a planetarium presentation on theories related to the Christmas Star of Bethlehem, and an exhibit on global warming. We left the museum about 4:30 and were back in Ripon in time for supper.

Overall, it was a truly wonderful trip which was made even more wonderful by the discovery that you had provided us with two overnights so that we can go back again. The Pfister was really delightful. Staying in a four-star is always nice. The central location was appreciated. In addition, the staff was really friendly and outgoing. We had such a good time that I think we will plan to take such mini-breaks more often. Milwaukee is small enough to be manageable yet it still has a number of attractions that will justify return trips.