La Nocturne des Coteaux de la Citadelle

Hello Family & Friends,

In the old neighborhood of Hors-Chateau, Liege has a particularly intense set of stairs known as the Montagne de Bueren. The staircase, built in 1875, honours Vincent de Bueren (1440-1505) who was one of the fiercest protectors of Liege against Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Don't quote me on this but a friend told me there are 374 steps. Anyways, as an annual tradition, on the first Saturday of every October the stairs and entire neighbourhood get lit up by candles in an event known as La Nocturne des Coteaux de la Citadelle. I have heard estimates of the number of candles to be as low as 3000 and as high as 15 000. Regardless, it is an extremely good time. People are out late wandering the crowded streets with friends and family, live music is being played everywhere, and the evening ends with a big fireworks display.





On Saturday morning I wandered over to the stairs to get some daytime pictures of the stairs and the view from the top:

Not daunting at all...

Long way down

Continue farther up for this war monument

View from the monument

 The ESN Team arranged a meeting point in the city center and walked us all over to the steps, up the backside so we could get a view from the top, and then back down a different side path. It was extremely crowded but the candle light everywhere created a really nice effect and it was beautiful to see the city from the top at night. After our visit to the stairs, we went to a concert that had a variety of performers. Bee and I left to wander the streets and see what was going on. By the time we got back the stage had two French rappers performing. It was actually really impressive! I find French to be a fast language as it is but the rappers definitely emphasized that. At 23h30 we wandered out into the street for fireworks and managed a spot that was maybe 200 ft away from the launching area. Fantastic view but very loud! Unfortunately, night pictures are extremely difficult to take well but here are the stairs from the top, some fireworks, and our fraction of the group:

Wish I'd got one from the bottom too..

Additionally happening in the city right now is a midway fair running right through the center of one of the busiest streets. From what I can tell, it will be here for the entire month of October. 

Thankfully we're still having an unseasonal bout of really warm sunny weather so I'm managing to squeeze in a fair amount of running. Steffen (Germany) took me on one of his half-marathon training runs. I have never run so far or at such a quick pace in my life - 17.76 km in total. It felt fantastic though. I would love to get into some 5 km and 10 km road races while I am here.

 Love to you all,
Jacqueline