Paris, and then on to Belgium…

After spending a few fantastic days in Paris (and celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary) the lovely bride and I hopped on a train (well, two actually) and headed to Leuven, Beligum for the CCCC Annual General Meeting.

The first night, the meeting began with some champagne and appetizers, followed by dinner.  It was great to see old friends, and reconnect with Nick Hunt (and family) who hasn’t been to a meeting in several years.  Over the course of the evening, the conversation just flowed seamlessly, and it was a fabulous time.

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we convened in the lobby and walked towards Domus; a small brewery here in Leuven.  And, after a tour of the village, we had a tour of the brewery, and tasted their hoppy offerings–and lunch too!

As we finished noshing, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the auction and buy and sell.  And, if you were in the mood to buy…WOW!

Here are a few that were available…

 

After the buy and sell, during which I sold many and bought a few (one for Tommy, who now owes me 5 euro) the auction began.  And, the bidding was quite exciting as a couple of rare corkscrews were reaching into the tens and nearly twenty thousand euros.  Needless to say, I wasn’t in on the bidding on those.

Here is yours Tommy!

 

As mentioned earlier, at the Buy and Sell I did pick up a few for myself as well.  Nothing in the rare category, but a few pieces that will make nice additions to the collection, and one tiny chatelaine folding bow which is destined to be a necklace for the lovely bride.

Last night was our annual dinner and a good time was had by all.  This morning included breakfast, a show and tell, our AGM, lunch.

It has been a fantastic meeting, and at the AGM it was voted on that the 2015 meeting will be in Romania!  What a fantastic adventure that will be!

Tomorrow we head to Korternberg to visit Guy’s wine shop and see his collection, and then we are off to Antwerp for the ICCA AGM.  What corkscrews will turn up there?  The pavlovian corkscrew juices are flowing!

 

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