January 2019
My first adventure of 2019 took me to Brussels. Belgium has three official languages; Dutch, French, and German. With French being the most popular in Brussels. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Christmas markets still going, and I saw more light shows in Brussels then anywhere else I have been.
This is the best Merry-Go-Round I have ever seen. Everything was mechanized and interactive for the kids. You can even fly a blowfish.
The Belgian war museum is pretty awesome. Especially the aircraft hanger.
This is where the European Union meets in Brussels. It is pretty nice that they have basketball courts and soccer fields on the grounds for anybody to use.
Interesting to see how radical a transition Belgium has made from agriculture to services.
I had cheese for breakfast, chocolate for lunch, and waffles for dinner.
It seemed like everywhere I went had a light show. Inside the building below, they had a great Van Gogh exhibit. It showed many of his works with some animations and had a really cool virtual reality tour. You walked about a town and through fields that were in the settings of his paintings. You would then approach an empty frame and see one of his masterpieces through it in its surrounding settings. Virtual reality has so much potential for museums, exhibits, and education. I can’t wait to take field trips to walk with dinosaurs.
Inside this cathedral they had nativity scenes from all over the world. Here are just a few.
Morocco 
From one of the 54 countries in Africa.
Lebanon
Brazil
Romania
Somewhere in South America.
Brussels is home of the Atomium. This was built for the 1958 World Fair, which was particularly significant because it was the first World Fair after WW2. It is in the form of a unit cell of iron crystal magnified 165,000,000,000 times. You can go inside and get a great view.
From Brussels I took a train to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. This is a charming little country with a total population of 590,700. That is less than Stuttgart. Yet per capita, it is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, with and average annual income of $70,260 per person. For reference: USA $58K, Germany $43K, China $9K. (Source: https://www.worlddata.info/average-income.php)
Luxembourg is a nicer place to live than to be a tourist. It is very clean and everything is nice, but it is pretty low key. There is a nice low land park you can walk through with some old ruins.
Seen at museum of European history.
Being from the state of Maryland, I found this interesting.
Saw an exhilarating exhibit on iron fire backstops.
Was just walking down the street, minding my own business, when I saw this character laughing at me.
Went into a bar. Tried to order a gin and tonic. Was handed this menu. Having recently been to the Matterhorn, I went with that one and it was a great choice. So good I did it again.
Met a really fun and friendly Greek couple who has lived in Luxembourg for many years. Had a great time with them and they showed me a few good spots. Traveling solo has a lot of advantages. Meeting new people is one of the best parts.
The Christmas markets were still going on in Luxembourg in the first week of January. In Germany the Christmas markets close on December 23rd.
A short time after Luxembourg I went to Strasbourg, France. It boarders Germany and is very easy to get to from Stuttgart. Obviously they speak French here, but there is also a fair bit of German. This was highly contested territory during the World Wars.
Was pleasantly surprised to catch some Mongolian throat signing while making my approach.
What is this!? A cathedral for ants?
This was the memorial for the people shot during the terrorist attack at the Christmas market.
The yellow vest “gilets jaunes” protesters were out. Along with general dissatisfaction about the rising cost of living, president Macron, and what is seen as a tax system favoring the wealthy, these protests were sparked by a fuel tax that was intended to benefit the environment.
The next day I saw a separate protest that was much more civilized and well organized. This protest was for more measures to be taken to protect the environment. It was an interesting juxtaposition. I was glad to see there were far more people supporting positive environmental measures.
Lots of beautiful canals running through the city.
Alsace Museum.
This guy hates his job.
Birthing chair, you can figure it out.
I have no idea how they fought in theses.
This was an impressively huge model of Strasbourg, and the surrounding country side. It was made for King Luis XIV for military purposes.
Nice place for a nap.
Creepy window display.
Strasbourg is beautiful and I look forward to going back in the summer when everything is in bloom.