South Belgium instead

Sometimes the best plans go astray.  I found out I could not take the train to Cologne - apparently, there is construction work going on and the line won't be up until near the end of March.  I have also learned many gardens, castles, historical buildings are closed in the winter and only open up beginning in April.  This is making it a challenge to find places to see at this time.  But I only have a few weeks to go before it's April... I am realizing I need the entire weekend to visit an area or a city as there is so much to see so next weekend, I am booking a hotel room for Saturday evening in Brussels next weekend.

I decided to visit the southern part of Belgium, the province of Namur.  It takes almost 3 hours by car to get there and Belgium roads are not as well kept as in the Netherlands.  I visited the Chateau de Lavaux St. Anne.  I have seen several castles were they have a moat around them, and there are gardens directly on one side of these castles.  Here is the Chateau :

 

 

Then I visited the Abbey of Maredsous in Denee - it is in the countryside, rather isolated but the grounds are beautiful and the bells were ringing here every 15-minutes.  There is also a large center with a gift shop, cafeteria, and library on the site.  Lovely place.

I also went to a small town called Dinant but it was pouring rain by this time (left my umbrella in the apartment!) so I drove around but didn't take any photos so here are some images from the web - it is a spectacular site to see.  There is a citadel overlooking the town with a large cathedral church called Notre Dame at the base of the hill.  Lovely little shops and restaurants running along the river.  Amazing....There are saxophone sculptures all over the town as it is the place where the saxophone was invented.