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Published: July 24th 2008
Thursday 8 May 2008 It was great to be back with Valerie in Genval. We had only spent a short time with them a couple of weeks prior and so we were very excited to return.
While the kids were at school, Valerie took us to another of her favourite places - which very quickly became one of ours too - the Folon Foundation Museum. Wow! Jean-Michel Folon was a local artist who mostly specialised in watercolors but has also dabbled in sculpture and other media. His works are very deeply meaningful and often quite moving and have been used for ad campaigns by Unicef and Amnesty. One of our favourites was the planetarium with a man spinning on a ladder - we sat there for ages just watching him.
Then we went to collect the children from school. We were local celebrities - the special visitors all the way from Australia! Very flattering. It was very warm so we enjoyed ice cream - mmm violet ice cream!
Back at the house we played in the garden with the girls because Engerran was away on a school trip in Amsterdam. Laureline and Roxanne showed us how to
make daisy chain, do cartwheels and climb the trees in the garden.
While the girls did their homework we went for a nice walk through the fields, farms and the village.
That night when Mark arrived home we enjoyed a wonderful home cooked meal care of Chez Valerie - including superb chocolate mousse for dessert!
Friday 9 May 2008 We caught the train to Wavre for the day - although it ended up being just for the morning. By the time we arrived it was late morning so we were feeling a bit nibbley. We grabbed snack of traditional 'frites mit mayo' (chips with mayonnaise). Unfortunately the locals didn't think too highly of this and on two separate occasions told Barbara she shouldn't be eating them because they would make her fatter! (this coming from two overweight locals of course)
No surprisingly, Barbara decided she wasn't too keen on Wavre. After collecting some chocolates from the superb L'Art de Praslin and posting them back to Australia she headed back to the railway station to wait for Michael to finish visiting the town.
When Michael had finished wandering around town reminiscing and had visited his
old school, we caught the train back to Genval and enjoyed a fun evening with Valerie and her family and friends - and a BIG bottle of Killepitsch!
Saturday 10 May 2008 A relaxing breakfast in the sunshine with great friends was a fantastic way to farewell Belgium. After Mark & Michael spent some time tinkering with his car, we packed up and Mark drove us to nearby Charleroi airport from where we had our first RyanAir adventure......
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