Time to move from our lovely Lille accommodations to a big town I have never visited. I picked Liege as it would be close to the last two races we were planning to watch, plus, it’s an undiscovered area and we have a rental car to get us there and around the area. Before arriving in Europe, I was concerned about how the rental car, traffic and driving, and all car related activity would play out. So far, things have been mostly good, even in the dense towns of Brussels and Lille. The drivers are aggressive, moving into open spaces that don’t seem to exist, the lanes and roads are narrow, some barely wide enough for passing vehicles. Parking is cramped and there are a variety of parking regulations that the rental car place proved inadequate in explaining. There are good parking apps though to help find parking and to pay for parking through the app, which is helpful. I’ve survived a day driving around and out of Brussels plus multiple days driving in, out and around Lille. Thanks to the in-car navigation for help most of the time until getting into the dense parts of the city where there are round abouts everywhere and multiple streets that intersect at crazy angles. Pedestrians, bikes, buses, trams, other cars seem like they come from all directions. Then there are the one-way streets, watch for the signs with the “strike” through the circle.
We get to Liege easily but as we get into the city to find our last Airbnb, “FiFi” or so we have named our in-car navigation voice, seems to get confused in the construction zones. We are stuck in an endless loop that gets us nowhere. The backup is the Euro phone and sim card I acquired for the trip and Google Maps. Google seems to have a better handle on the latest road changes and construction. Early on I synched the car and my phone, good move. We shut off Fifi and engage Google and directions now come through the car audio and we get out of the endless loop and over to our lodging for the week.
Now, the crazy check in procedure. There seems to be three names associated with ownership, management, hosting of this location. They have created multiple pages of documentation regarding check in, rules of the place, check out, etc. The web links are tiny but do have English alternative buttons, good thing. We find a way to pull off the road at an awkward corner to illegally park. I find the lock box and get the keys and then into the front security door of the building which is a very tall resident building. Once in there is an elderly resident with a walker who “greets” me? In French of course, no English. She is determined to help by ringing multiple resident doorbells and hoping something good will happen. Nothing! Another lady comes through the door, and attempts, without success. Finally, a younger woman enters, and she speaks English, yea! I get through the second security door, access to the elevators. Two tiny, 2 person elevators and one 5-person max elevator. The first lady is determined to accompany me to the 21st floor, much to my dismay. The Catalina, the English speaker is smiling and just shaking her head and says she will wait to see if we succeed, which we do. I am concerned though, we get off the elevator, the hallway is dark, the apartment is supposed to be the second door on the right, instead it is the first door on the right. I get in and voila! I step out of the room and “the lady” opens a door to the water utilities and starts pointing at a variety of water valves, I need to know that because? Back into the elevator, she gets off on floor 18, thank goodness. I make it back to floor 0 and check in with Carolina. Out to the car and unload.
Parking, nowhere in the multiple pages of instructions is a comment about parking and when I quizzed the “host” I got a generic, yes, on street and there are some garages available. Not at all helpful. Lucky for us there is a public parking garage just across the street for our residence. Unlike Lille, we must pay daily for parking but at least we don’t have to park on the street and worry about damage and tickets.
We are hungry by now so back in the car and a drive into the restaurant section of town near us. We weave our way into a more upscale section a few blocks away, find an on-street parking spot and then find a Japanese restaurant that has Poke Bowls. In we go, the only two in the place as it is early for normal eating around here. The owner welcomes us and speaks some English, we order, things are healthy and good.
Time to get back and “move in” for real and hope to feel better about the place. We are in a not wonderful area but close to a wonderful area. It is more just regular people kind of place, lots of residents, housing, small stores, a laundry place, wonderful as this time we have no in apartment laundry facilities. Another one of the “not very helpful” items of information in our book of rules. When I asked about laundry locations, the response was “yes, there are laundry places in town”, not “Oh yes, there is a laundry one block away” (The laundry visits are a whole other story.)
Our residence is situated on a large island straddling the Muse River, a wide commercial river, on one side and a channel of the river on the other. The views are amazing from the 21st floor. We must laugh because there is a set on binoculars on a shelf for viewing. Vera seems to be ok with the “cozy” apartment that looked a lot bigger in the Airbnb photos. All the basics are here, the bedroom is just big enough for a double bed with no room on either side, so we must crawl into bed from the foot of the bed, interesting, again, pictures don’t always tell the entire story.
Back from early dinner, parked in the nearby parking garage, (I wonder how much that will be per day/night?) We are getting more comfortable with our place and amenities. Time to relax and think about what the next few days will bring. I am hoping for a 2-hour easy bike ride around/along the Muse tomorrow, weather be nice! Then sight-seeing plans are on the plate.
Liege is definitely a big city but it boasts many must see sights. St.Paul Cathedral is unbelievable!