hello from the top

The silence from me has been long and deafening... but all that means is that the days have been equally long and excellent. Had part of last week in Belgium; turns out we were just down the road from the site of the Battle of Waterloo. As in Where Napolean Was Defeated. For Good. If you ever get to Belgium, make sure to go see this site...the 12 euros you pay to get in is nothing compared to what you see/learn/get. It was Fantastic. Here are a few pix.

the lion mound, erected sometime after the June 18, 1815 battle; it sits on the site where the Prince of Orange was wounded. The Duke of Wellington was in charge of the Allied forces opposing Napolean and is credited with the victory. He had awesome help, though, including the Prince of Orange and General Bluechar (this one gets my respect- 73 years old and in the saddle and fighting... and then fighting some more. He was amazing.)

So you can climb the steps to the top... this sign was at the bottom...

part of the view from the top. Most of the battlefield is now farmland, although they have a re-enactment of the battle each year. I was surprised that the battlefield was actually not all that large. It was a fierce battle- thousands were killed. The French infantry attacked Allied soldiers in square formations for hours- charge after charge- until they could no longer ride over the body-choked ground. Gave me the shudders.

Most of our crew. Guess Chansun took the pic as he's missing!

I'm in France now (somewhere about an hours south of Paris). It's gorgeous, the food's wonderful (that's the cooks' fault!) and everyone but me is hard at work! Good bye!! ;0

xo

all good so far

taken in NW Ukr one evening... summers there are gorgeous... Safe and sound in Belgium. Aside from a ticket mixup that ended up being not all that serious after all, our exit from Ukraine and all was uneventful. I thought I'd be catching up- emails, pix, skyping, etc...but an unexpected encounter with some antibiotics has left me mostly hanging out in bed. No worries- proly needed the rest anyway.

Yest we went to see the Battle of Waterloo battlesite. It was amazing. Crash course on Napoleon and Wellington and an old but battle-ready and truly amazing Bluecher. Turns out we're staying just minutes from the actual site of the battle. Pix later.

Happy 4th of July!

We are having super wonderful days here...better than fantastic...and it's always that way...and my 3 American roommates and I gang the Star Spangled Banner loudly and shamelessly (and somewhat horribly) just now. But I do miss being ''at home" on July 4th. And because of our summer schedule here, that's likely the way it'll be from now till forever.

So!

Happy 4th of July! And shoot off some amasing fireworks, wave a sparkler, hold your hand over your heart and salute the flag for me!