Mark arrived in Belgium, stayed three pleasant weeks, and
left again. We had arranged three four day weekends ahead of time, with friends
and family, and realized abruptly that this meant there were only three weekdays
in between. Duh! The math is not that hard, but somehow, we assumed weeks
contained more than seven days…
During those short “weeks”, we hung out with my parents, saw
other people, had a few health related appointments and caught up on things.
Just like everywhere else in the world and at any other time in the past six
years, Mark needed to take care of Wirie business as well. Usually (in French
Polynesia and New Zealand), our days would start very early, to take the time
difference into account. In Belgium, however, his main work hours were between
3pm and 11pm, to coincide with office hours on the East Coast of the States.
Fridays and Mondays were a bit difficult with those commitments and the need
for WiFi and a “quiet office”, but in general, our weekends were a blast!
The first destination was Holland, where my cousin Griet and
her husband Wim lead us throughout Zeeland (with its tasty mussels and oysters)
to Dordrecht, where we stayed in a vacation bungalow for three nights. The
objective was to explore National Park De Biesbosch, stroll through the
historic center of Dordrecht, visit the impressive and oh so typically Dutch
“Kinderdijk” with its picturesque windmills, taste some of Wim and his two
friends’ homebrewed beers and chill out in good company. We succeeded on all
fronts and had a wonderful time with beautiful weather.
During our second weekend, Mark and I borrowed my mum’s car
to drive to the Ardennes, in the southeast of Belgium. Our friends Rosy and
Peter had arranged a rental house for a group of eight adults and four
children. We happened to be in the country at the right time and were invited
along. What followed was a very relaxed weekend with interesting, multicultural
people, some hikes and perfect, sunny weather. We split cooking and other
duties and had a very nice time. On the last day, two of the families had left,
but Rosy, Peter, Yanou, Mark and I made a little trip to the pretty town of La
Roche, where we visited the castle and had lunch, before the long, traffic
ridden drive back “home”.
The weekend before Mark left again, we were welcomed by
Sabine and Michael, German friends we met many years ago while camping in
Mexico. Since the last time we saw them, three years ago, they had moved from
Munich to a cute town in the German countryside, where they are happily settled
in a very unique, historic and charming cottage. They showed us around the
area, introduced their horses and cars to us, took us out to dinner, let us
savor their amazing artistic creations (photographs, movies and pottery), and
joined us to Bonn for a not so impressive Africa Festival. As always, we had a
really good time with them, exchanging travel stories and future plans. Thanks
to my parents again for lending us their only car for another four days, a car
I have been using much more than they have the past seven weeks!!
 |
| Yerseke in Zeeland is famous for its oysters and "Zeeuwse mossels" |
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| Mark, Griet and Wim... still drawn to boats, in Yerseke |
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| Oyster farm in Yerseke, Zeeland |
 |
| Going for our first walk in National Park De Biesbosch |
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| Exploring the historic town of Dordrecht |
 |
| Moored boats in Dordrecht |
 |
| Tourist photo: in a Dutch clog |
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| One of the many, pretty windmills in Kinderdijk |
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| Kinderdijk with all its windmills is spectacular, charming and picturesque! |
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| In front of a "working" windmill we could visit inside - very interesting! |
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| Typical Holland: windmills and water! |
 |
| A game of petanque (bocce ball) on a rainy morning |
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| Guided tour to a restored duck catching farm in De Biesbosch NP |
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| The wild ducks' final destination |
 |
| Boat tour with my family and handsome husband in De Biesbosch |
 |
| Walking with friends and their families in the Ardennes |
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| The house we rented and shared in the Ardennes |
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| Yummy Sunday BBQ in gorgeous weather, the Ardennes |
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| Going for a hike, crossing the river Ourthe |
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| Passing fields, horses and forests... |
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| ...and a cute, little high water bridge |
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| With Rosy, Peter and Yanou, we made a day trip to La Roche |
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| Visit of the castle in La Roche |
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| View from the castle |
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| An eye pleasing castle visit, and we were the only tourists! |
 |
| Michael and Sabine's charming house in the countryside of Drinsahl |
 |
| Art exhibit, where Sabine had some of her pottery masks on display... |
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| ... and "farmer" Michael some of his amazing Africa photographs |
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| Sabine let me ride her gentle horse Mona in the arena |
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| And, we went for a fun drive in Sabine's "duck" (2 chevaux) - no key is needed, just two people to push her down the hill and start! :-) |
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| Another lovely evening with amazing friends! |
Mark arrived in Belgium, stayed three pleasant weeks, and
left again. We had arranged three four day weekends ahead of time, with friends
and family, and realized abruptly that this meant there were only three weekdays
in between. Duh! The math is not that hard, but somehow, we assumed weeks
contained more than seven days…
During those short “weeks”, we hung out with my parents, saw
other people, had a few health related appointments and caught up on things.
Just like everywhere else in the world and at any other time in the past six
years, Mark needed to take care of Wirie business as well. Usually (in French
Polynesia and New Zealand), our days would start very early, to take the time
difference into account. In Belgium, however, his main work hours were between
3pm and 11pm, to coincide with office hours on the East Coast of the States.
Fridays and Mondays were a bit difficult with those commitments and the need
for WiFi and a “quiet office”, but in general, our weekends were a blast!
The first destination was Holland, where my cousin Griet and
her husband Wim lead us throughout Zeeland (with its tasty mussels and oysters)
to Dordrecht, where we stayed in a vacation bungalow for three nights. The
objective was to explore National Park De Biesbosch, stroll through the
historic center of Dordrecht, visit the impressive and oh so typically Dutch
“Kinderdijk” with its picturesque windmills, taste some of Wim and his two
friends’ homebrewed beers and chill out in good company. We succeeded on all
fronts and had a wonderful time with beautiful weather.
During our second weekend, Mark and I borrowed my mum’s car
to drive to the Ardennes, in the southeast of Belgium. Our friends Rosy and
Peter had arranged a rental house for a group of eight adults and four
children. We happened to be in the country at the right time and were invited
along. What followed was a very relaxed weekend with interesting, multicultural
people, some hikes and perfect, sunny weather. We split cooking and other
duties and had a very nice time. On the last day, two of the families had left,
but Rosy, Peter, Yanou, Mark and I made a little trip to the pretty town of La
Roche, where we visited the castle and had lunch, before the long, traffic
ridden drive back “home”.
The weekend before Mark left again, we were welcomed by
Sabine and Michael, German friends we met many years ago while camping in
Mexico. Since the last time we saw them, three years ago, they had moved from
Munich to a cute town in the German countryside, where they are happily settled
in a very unique, historic and charming cottage. They showed us around the
area, introduced their horses and cars to us, took us out to dinner, let us
savor their amazing artistic creations (photographs, movies and pottery), and
joined us to Bonn for a not so impressive Africa Festival. As always, we had a
really good time with them, exchanging travel stories and future plans. Thanks
to my parents again for lending us their only car for another four days, a car
I have been using much more than they have the past seven weeks!!
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