The situation on the ship has changed dramatically. Most of the livestock had to be slaughtered, and the water supply is so meager only the children are allowed to drink. Those who are not dead have gone insane. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep writing.

That may be a bit of an exaggeration but it was fun to write. We’re visiting Aunt Twerp today with a 2.5 hour walk this morning, so I was careful to overeat like a maniac at breakfast.

Let’s take a moment to celebrate the Nats’ first win of the season! Hurrah!

Antwerp suffered much destruction from wars over the years. The artwork below appears over the entrance to a house. The house was destroyed but the entryway was preserved when it was rebuilt in part for identification purposes. There were no numbered addresses back then. This house was identified as “the mirror house,” and this artwork was the equivalent of a house number.

Aunt Twerp’s Cathedral is world-famous. Luckily, our guide, who was excellent, devoted our time to the four Rubens paintings inside rather than church stuff. He explained how clever Rubens was in a three-part painting. St. Christopher was sacred for carrying a young Christ across the river. But Rubens couldn’t portray Christopher himself because he was “demoted” by the Church at one point. So the painting references Christopher via three scenes of JC being “carried” in different ways: by Mary pregnant with him, by some person presenting the baby as the messiah, and by a group of folks carrying his body off the cross.

Hope that’s enough culture for you because we are slipping off to lunch now. Let’s see what Belgian beers are on board. (Burp!)

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Today’s puzzle was clever – it grew hair! The clue for the revealer was “I’m starting to like this,” and the answer was IT’S GROWING ON ME. Then the four theme answers were, in order: BALD EAGLE (“U.S. National symbol”); BUZZKILL (“Debbie Downer”); FADE AWAY (“Basketball shot make while leaning backward”); AFRO-CUBAN (“Like conga or mambo music”).

On the theme answer, egs offered the following:

Fir Tree: How do you like that moss?
Oak Tree: ITSGROWINGONME

Ba da boom!

11D was good. The clue was “Standard announcement of a pilot upon landing.” So I was thinking about things like “wheels down” or “safe something.” But it turned out to be LOCAL TIME. D’oh!

At 1D, the clue was “So-called ‘king of the road’” and the answer was HOBO. Here’s Rex on it: I did not know that’s what “king of the road” meant. I thought Roger Miller was the “king of the road”; or, rather, I didn’t know Roger Miller was supposed to be a HOBO, but now that I recall the lyrics, of course he’s a hobo (“Third boxcar / Midnight train / Destination, Bangor, Maine”). I often think about how great it is that I learned “King of the Road” from my 5th grade teacher, who would play guitar and teach us songs we could sing along to. Just imagine 25 ten-year-olds belting out: “… I ain’t got no cigarettes!” You were the greatest, Mrs. Flam. Colorful polyester pantsuits, red hair swept up in a loose beehive atop her head. She was probably the same age that I am now. She really liked teaching and really liked us, and let me tell you, you remember the feeling of having a teacher like that.

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We had the nicest afternoon visiting Aunt Twerp. So glad to see she has recovered well from the loss of Uncle Twerp. We navigated brilliantly to a cash machine so we can tip the wonderful staff here a nice amount in Euros. Then we visited a few local markets searching for coffee beans for Sam and local beer for me. I bought four cans of this:

It’s the best-selling Belgium beer and I was sure it’s called Jupiter. Only back in the room did I notice it’s called Jupiler. Its origins lie in 1853 when the brewery Piedbœuf was established in Jupille, Belgium. It’s produced now in the Jupille-sur-Meuse neighborhood of Liège.

Burp!

Dinner was over the top tonight. A perfect shrimp salad (me) or artichoke soup (Linda); a spectacular beef stew (both of us); and terrific desserts. Accompanied by excellent European beers.

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Tomorrow is our day in Bruges. The weather has been very good! See you next time, Chatterheads!