Belgium through the eyes of locals--July 15-17

Tanya, me, and Tony at a park: We came to this park on Sunday to walk their dog, dudley (an adorable jack russell) and to enjoy the weather. It was a park that should be in the movies...with the lake complete with swans, tall trees, soft cloverlike grass and chateau as a backdrop



Tanya and Tony, who I got to know through Tom, a great family friend, were one of the nicest couples I have met! They welcomed Angie and me into their home whole-heartedly. Here they are here in Brussels with a street lined with restaurants behind them.




Tanya and Tony actually live just outside Brussels in a quaint, friendly community. Just behind their home, there is a nice place to walk with fields and sheep (which for the record, looked more like pigs from far away.) But, the peacefulness of the area was definitely appealing.




This is the famous city center of Brussels: Tony explained to us the buildings (city hall, a former palace for the king, and Hotel De'Ville...he also mentioned that rich people also lived around the city center during the middle ages) The architecture was nothing like I had seen before, so intricate and almost gawdy without much color. Also, the geographical center of the country is marked by a star in the government building behind us.



The atomium: This atomium model was created for the 1958 World Fair and is something like 150 billion times the original size. It is so famous that it is on the back of 2 dollar euro coins.


TRIP TO BELGIUM:

Well to put it simply, the weekend was perfect.

My good German friend, Angie and I headed to Brussels on Saturday morning and after missing 2 trains at the Trier train station, an incident with a baguette in Luxemburg, we made it to Brussels in the early afternoon.

(So…the baguette story: maybe it is one of those, ‘guess you had to be there moments’, but it was still pretty hilarious. Angie knows a bit French and I wanted to be polite by trying to speak French when I was ordering a baguette for us for lunch. Surprisingly, the lady understood me when I said, ‘I would like this baguette’ in French, but when she asked me if I wanted to have it to go, I had no idea. It took more than just a few times of her saying it and pointing to the door and holding up the bag for me to realize what she meant. Then, I tried to apologize and explain that I didn't speak any French and I started mixing my German and English. It was just one of those moments where you both just have to laugh it off...at least that is worldwide.)

We met Tanya and Tony at the train station in downtown Brussels. They showed us the sights...famous city center, a typical Belgium cafe, one of the original shopping malls built in the 1800s, the many restaurants (i had no idea that mussels were the country's dish), and just the many streets of the inner city. From there, we headed to the atomium, which is a short drive from the town center.

That evening they had a whole grill-out planned...we ate, visited, and just enjoyed each other's company on their terrace. It was a perfect evening. They also shared some belgium dark chocolate with us. After grilling out, we took Dudley, their cute jack russell, on a walk through the neighborhood and in the nearby countryside.


Sunday, we drove to their favorite bakery (all the bread is baked with a wood stove), which is right by the battlefield where the Battle of Waterloo occured (hugely historical from when Napoleon was defeated there in 1815 and a lion statue stands in the vicinity to represent the victory...in fact, the headquarters of Napoleon was just down the road from the bakery.) We had a lovely breakfast on the terrace and then went for a drive through the countryside...which, I fell in love with. There are charming country homes scattered throughout fields and many trees. I was taken aback by how green and lovely the country was. In fact, Angie insisted that Belgium was prettier that Germany (it was her first time in Belgium). Then, we walked through the park that is shown in a picture above...

The rest of the day was devoted to the Belgium Rhythm & Blues Festival near the town of Peer. We were there all evening and night and had a blast taking in the music (The Neville Brothers and the Fabulous Thunderbirds namely), people watching, and having the best 'french' fries in the world. (Which makes me question why they are called 'french fries' in English because they were first created and perfected in Belgium...I also questioned how, in a land of fabulous chocolate, fries, and waffles, everyone can stay in such great shape!)

Monday, we made homemade buckwheat pancakes since Angie had never had them before. (Okay, so I made them for her in the dorm, but they were, I admit...from a mix). Then, we just took our time enjoying each other's company. We had a nice dinner before heading back to the train station.

I wouldn't change anything about our time there except actually that...time. The time just flew by...I would have loved to have spent more time with them and to continue sightseeing there because I found Belgium to be such a lovely country. I was blessed for the experience with such wonderful people!