May 31, 2010 - 3rd Day in Maubeuge (Monday)

Our last day with Noelle and Phillipe. Noelle took us around the city of Maubeuge, saw the fortress of the city, along with a drawbridge that was used during the war. Noelle loves the history of her country and she really enjoys sharing it with us. We then went back home for some lunch and then off to the airport in Belgium for our flight to Porto. We flew out of Brussels South Charleroi Airport in Charleroi (about 29 miles from Brussels). We flew on Ryan Air (Europe's largest discount airline) and there must have been a thousand people...

May 30, 2010 - 2nd Day in Maubeuge (Sunday)

Today we drove, with Noelle and Philippe to Reims. We visited Notre-Dame de Reims (Our Lady of Rheims), the Roman Catholic cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France were once crowned. It replaces an older church, destroyed by a fire in 1211, which was built on the site of the basilica where Clovis was baptized by Saint Remi, bishop of Reims, in AD 496. We enjoyed the church as Noelle gave us a tour of it. She is very knowledgeable about the French history and it is fun learning about it. We then had a very good lunch at Le Colibri...

May 29, 2010 - 1st Day in Maubeuge (Saturday)

Sorry I have not updated in several days. Was at a hotel that wanted us to pay for internet service and I will not pay for it!! Then to find out, my laptop caught a French virus!! We are at Philippe and Noelle`s house today and she has a computer that I can use, just don't know how much time I will have...plus, it is a French keyboard and keys are very different!! Checked out of our hotel this morning and took a taxi to Gare du Nord (a train station in Paris). There we caught a train to Maubeuge, which is in the north of France about 6...