Blogs from Flemish Brabant, Belgium, Europe - page 6

I got back from Belgium yesterday afternoon after a busy Saturday. After my flight from Copenhagen was delayed and I finally got back into Leuven, I sprinted towards the chocolate shop after dropping my bags off at the hotel in Leuven. I slowed down a bit and then stopped when I saw the shingle outside, since I kind of knew that what was about to happen would impact my life pretty profoundly for the next few months, at least, regardless of the outcome. It took Laike (the daughter who co-owned the shop) maybe ten seconds to come out of the kitchen when she heard me come in, but it felt like a lot longer. I'm normally great at icebreakers, but I barely managed to stammer something about how my mother and the other homeopaths weren't in ... read more

Having the privilege of avoiding any 'real life' responsibilities (read jobs), one thing we really wanted to do was spend some quality time with friends and family during our trip to Europe. First stop .. a return to Hendrix's birthplace, Belgium. My big brother Gordon and his partner Ingrid live in a cute wee village called Wakkerzeel, just outside Leuven (famous for being the home of Stella Artois) and within an hour of Brussels. With mile upon mile of green, flat farmland and quaint old villages with stereotypical wee pubs and shops it oozes tranquility and has a sweet country community feel. Of course every local area also produces it's own local beers guaranteed to knock your block off. It was great to catch up, and share stories with Gordon and Ingrid, who are just about ... read more

Ok - despite Teresa previously mentioning 'Peter Gabriel' this is a particularly strong edition of the Brag Site. (Peter Gabriel sucked! I can't stress how much he was the suckiest suck that ever sucked! Couldn't hold a crowd with 80,000 revelers in front of him - his unnecessary mic headset and vest didn't help matters...) Headed over there in a group of about 20 - the first beer was cracked at about 8am Thursday morning... the last one about 2am Monday Morning... Luckily we have plenty of snaps to tell the story - as it was sponsored by Stella Artois... (surprised Teresa didn't wake up battered and bruised) Some rock n roll moments - Kings of Leon singin with Eddie Vedder; Pearl Jam singin with Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age); Beastie Boys packin ... read more

Abigail and Eliza napped while Emma did email and played computer games (we often have to fight each other to see who gets on). When the girls woke we all played Uno and then I made dinner (chicken, onion, pepper & broccoli stir fry with rice). We then walked up to Abdij van Park behind the Phillips Site. It was really cool. I had discovered it a few days earlier while I was out for a walk after the kids went to bed. The abbey and grounds are being restored, but it was still huge and impressive. It reminded me of something you would find in the countryside in (the republic of) Georgia. The graveyard was very cool, and of course all of this led to further discussions about Jesus, God and those fairies (angels). ... read more

WOW! This is the most amazing park I have been to. It is very reminiscent of Look Park in Northampton, MA, but much bigger and with the best play structures around. Zoe and Henry picked us up at about 3 and we smooshed into their car and drove about 15 minutes to get there. The first play area we went to have all sorts of mechanical "diggers" to lift sand into steel buckets that could be pushed around the area on a series of metal bars. There were structures to climb in that also had mechanical pulleys etc to lift and move the sand. Jonathan would love it here! The next area we went to had a few large wooden climbing structures with really long, windy slides. There were a few extra large spider's webs ... read more