Happy National Holiday!

It's lovely little Luxembourg's National holiday today!

So here's to raising a glass of cremant (Luxembourgish sparkling wine) to one of my favorite little corners of the world.

Some of my favorite girls and I celebrating at another Luxembourgish festival in August

I love you, Maastricht

A cathedral of books in Maastricht, the Netherlands. I sipped coffee where the old altar stood, lost myself in the sweet silence of  paper backs and pages where pews were lined up. An old house of worship, converted, re-purposed, but still gently holding onto the reverence of its former life.

It is a beautiful place, in a beautiful city.

Happy [Belated] Fathers Day Papa E!

Happy Fathers Day to the coolest, sweat-band rockin' guy I know. 

I love you Dad!

Hopping Through Echternach

This Tuesday (known on the Christian calendar as 'Whit Tuesday'), there was the annual hopping procession of Echternach, a small Luxembourgish town on the German border. 

They've been hopping in honor of St. Wilibrord for centuries (heck, UNESCO even made it a world heritage event last year), and this year was no different. 

From 9:15am until 1:15pm, hundreds of folks danced through the streets to the same tune, holding white handkerchiefs, in the rain and sun. 

And once again, I found myself quietly amused by this little country and its customs, feeling so privileged have lived in this little piece of the world for a brief moment. 

Oostende/Ostende

What's the best remedy for a week that's left you a little out of sorts?

A quick road trip to the coast of everyone's favorite county-without-a-government  for sun, buckets of moules et frites, and lots of girl talk.

There was also a quick detour to James Ensor's house, the 19th century flemish artist who lived and died in Oostende.

You see, when I was 16, my dad showed me Ensor's famous painting 'Christ Entering Brussels' during a visit at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. And believe it or not, it was seeing this piece that planted the seed that studying the history of art could actually be, really quite fun.

You better believe it was just as wonderful to see that this artist, with his quirky, crazy paintings, was just a colorful in his day-to-day life. And I bet he was a phenomenal dinner guest.

Where's Cleveland? A Scavenger Hunt!

Even though I've been based in lovely Luxembourg for the past two years, I've been lucky enough to keep up the hometown connection with a little project I've been working on!

Introducing 'Where's Cleveland?', an amazing scavenger hunt that's going to be taking teams of folks all around Cleveland to participating in fun challenges. And when I say challenges, I'm talking about taste testing, mind games, stuff that will test your navigation skillz and your Cleveland trivia.

If you're a Clevelander, and you're interested in joining in on the fun (and I promise you, it will be a blast!), go to www.ohiohomecoming.com for more information! Click on the events button for Saturday, July 23rd and you'll find all the glory details. Registration will be open in a few days so stay posted....

Trust me. This is something you won't want to miss.