Gaudete In Domino

I returned last night (Sunday) from Easter in Paris. It was a great experience. I had not been to Paris for 25 years and it was fun to get to know the city again. I stayed in a small hotel just across the river from Notre Dame Cathedral. That made it easy to attend the Vigil which was my main reason for going. On Saturday I arrived via the Thalys fast train from Brussels. Very nice and very comfortable. They even had a nice light meal on the train. I checked into the hotel and did a little sight seeing. I began by going to Sainte Chapelle. You can see a picture of the gargoyles here. It was built to house the relics of the Passion of Christ, especially the Crown of Thorns. One of the things I read was that the king paid more to acquire the relics than to build the chapel. The chapel is built in two stories. The lower is highly decorated but quite dark. The upper is filled with light from tall stained glass windows. It makes the whole thing look like a jewel box. After tha...

Holy Week is here. It hardly seems possible. We had a lovely celebration of Palm Sunday here at the College and are gearing up for the Triduum. In the meantime I have took a short trip last weekend. It was enjoyable but I was suffering with a bit of allergies so by the end of the day I was pretty miserable. I think I am coming to the end of it so hope that the coming travels will be fun. On Saturday several of us took the train to The Hague, the capital of The Netherlands. While Amsterdam is more well known, The Hague has a lot to recommend it. Unfortunately for us there was a foot race going through town that day and we got caught up in the consequences of that. We began by going to Scheveningen which is the beach area of The Hague. One of our group was born in this town and shared with us her memories of going to the beach as a child. The beach area is quite built up - lots of restaurants and shops. We ate in a little restaurant right on the beach. Very nice. In the pict...

This weekend I went to Cambridge, England and enjoyed the kind hospitality of Cathedral parishioner Ann Nichols. She had arranged housing for me at the rectory of the local parish, Our Lady and the English Martyrs. The priests there were very welcoming and I had an enjoyable time. I took the Eurostar from Brussels to London. It went under the English Channel in what is called the "Chunnel." We had a brief delay due to an electrical problem in the tunnel but even with that we made it in around 2 1/2 hours. That actually saves time considering getting to an airport and then into the city. This takes one from downtown station to downtown station in 2 hours. I arrived at my hotel and then set out for the evening. I took a long walk to Leister Square where there is a half price ticket booth. I hoped to get a ticket to see Penelope Keith in "The Importance of being Earnest." Those of you who enjoy the British comedies which are shown on PBS may have seen Penelop...

It is hard to believe that I am into my fourth week here in Leuven. In fact, Thursday will be the end of the fourth week. It is hard to believe that time is going so quickly. With classes, travel and all sorts of other activities it has been a full month. The coming month should be just as busy and I am sure it will seem like no time before I come to the midway point of my sabbatical. This weekend I am taking my first long weekend trip. I will be going on the Eurostar train from Brussels to London. I will spend a night in London where I hope to see a play and then head on to Cambridge. Cathedral parishioner Ann Nichols will be my host. She has promised me a tour of the Colleges of Cambridge and we hope to take in Evensong at the Chapel of King's College. This is a vesper service at which the famed King's College Choir sings. The night we are there the service will be broadcast live on BBC. I am also hoping to see the exhibit of Chinese terra cotta soldiers at the Bri...