Sint-Trudokerk

I forgot to share a little story about St. Trudo. The church is in the centrum, or center, of Peer. You walk by it on the way to the market, the pizza parlor, a little coffee shop... well, you get the idea. You can't miss it. Each hour, we listen to the bells ringing out lovely tunes to announce the time. It's a big part of the town, so of course, you can't help but be a little curious about it. I often admire the stained glass windows and beautiful stonework on my daily treks. I can just imagine the amazing detailed work inside the church, but the doors are closed, and I pass quietly by. I am told that they open the church for public tours throughout the month of May, and you can climb the spiraling stairway to the top of the belfry. Of course, we moved here the first of June, so I have a year to wait. I am not good at waiting. While walking with the family and friends one sunny Saturday last month, I glanced at the church and noticed...the doors were open! Is this a sign? I can't resist, and tell the gang that I am jumping at the chance to investigate. I quietly enter, with the others reluctantly trailing behind, and am amazed. It's better than I had imagined. The hand carved woodwork, beams overhead that are hundreds of years old, amazing stained glass windows. It's almost too much to take in. From the front of the church, a tiny little form emerged, dressed in traditional black and white. (Flashback to the Sound Of music- I LOVE that movie!.) The nun was maybe 4 1/2 feet tall and weighed less than my purse. She looked like someones tiny little Grandma. She was adorable. She came down the aisle toward us, grinning widely and arms outstretched like she was going to give us one big hug. I asked her if she spoke any English, and she put her hand on my shoulder and nodded, still smiling. She pointed at something, so I headed that way. Still nodding and smiling, she herded our little group through the church, out the door and into the bright sunlight, as pretty as you please. As the huge wooded doors closed politely (but firmly) behind us, reality hit home. Darn. We were just tossed out of a church. In Belgium. By a tiny little nun. That's something you can't say every day!

Market Monday

I've been eating too much chocolate--that's me on the right.

It's been a wonderful Monday. We went to the market with friends this morning, followed by a lovely lunch at Torinhuis. Torinhaus is a restaurant in the center of Peer, just across the street from the church. You can eat outside under an umbrella, or inside surrounded by beautiful antiques. It's a casual restaurant. (Of course, casual for the Belgians means a sundress or nice blouse and capri's. They don't do casual like we do. These people always look nice!) The food is terrific there and the menu offers a little something for everyone. On market day, the place is packed. Families stop by to cool off with a glass of wine or beer, and an orange Fanta for the kids. Gray haired ladies share cappuccino and easy conversation. There is no such thing as fast food here. When you go out to eat, you go for the experience as much as the meal itself. It's the norm for dinner to last several hours. No one rushes you off. It's like having dinner at a friends house. I'd recommend the Beef Stew or Chicken Fillet with mushroom sauce. Trust me, it's worth the wait!

Saturday in Bocholt

There are lots of canals in Belgium. On each side of the canal is a lovely bike bath. It's a great way to see the countryside and get a little exercise as well. We cheated. We drove here. I do have the best of intentions, though, and plan on biking along the canal soon after we move into our house. I have a great incentive. Not too far past this bridge is another bridge. It's red. On the other side of the red bridge is a big boat that houses a cafe. That cafe has excellent cappuccino and ice cream. See? Incentive. You just have to have a goal in mind, and then exercise becomes a lot more fun!These are the deer that live down the street from us. If you would like one, they are for sale. I would love a baby deer, but Ashley and Tink would take great offense at being replaced with a deer. Please, adopt a deer and save it from the dinner table. How can you resist the cute little faces? I'm sure that they will ship much better than the chocolate did.

Living In A Castle?

I guess my fascination with castles is finally paying off. It looks like we're moving into one. Well, maybe not officially a castle, but it's close enough for me! Can't you just see these stairs leading up to an ivory tower? (That's where we are locking up our princess to keep her away from all those Belgium boys.) This is our front entry. Doesn't that space beside the stairs just scream out for a set of knight's armor? Of course it does! (Someone is going to have to hit the antique shops!) I wonder if he will fit into the trunk, or if I will just buckle him into the seat beside me as we cruise the countryside. I'm sure he would appreciate the feel of the wind whistling through his visor.

I've already found him a noble steed in training. This fine young fellow is a spring colt who lives down the road from our castle. He's a handsome devil, isn't he? He wasn't sure what to think of the crazy American who stopped to take his picture. Apparently the locals don't do that sort of thing. Go figure! That's OK. By the end of the year, I'll have him posing like a professional. I don't have my trusty moose, Bob, to photograph any more, so he will just have to get used to it.

Ter Dolen Castle

Let me just say, I'm a pretty low maintenance gal. On our first anniversary, we celebrated with dinner out on the town...at the local Sonic drive thru. Foot long chili cheese coney and fries. Don't hate the hubby, he told me I could pick anywhere I wanted, and that was it. What can I say? I like what I like.

When the hubby asked me what I wanted to do yesterday, I replied "I want to eat lunch at a castle." (He didn't even flinch. He's getting used to my unusual requests since we moved here.) "Sure, where is it?" He replied. Now if you had told me six months ago that I'd be having this conversation with the hubby, I would have laughed...hard! Ter Dolen Castle is a local brewery and cafe in a 16th century castle. They make the best Kriek that I've had here. That's the cherry women's beer--it's tastes like an American wine cooler, but SO much better. The cafe serves light food and snacks, and is inside the courtyard of the castle.

It's on a quiet, tree lined country lane. The only sounds you hear are the soft breezes rustling the leaves while birds chirp and flutter from branch to branch. It's paradise. Locals ride their bikes over for a relaxing meal and a drink or two. The castle itself is a private residence, so it's not open to tours, but one section of it is a Bed and Breakfast. I am attaching a link at the bottom of this post, so you can check it out for yourself.
It was an added bonus that our waiter was a good looking young Belgium, who spoke perfect English and translated the menu for us. Good looking waiter equals happy teenager. Happy teenager equals happy family. Life is good. If you need me, I'll be down at the local castle, sipping my cherry Kriek and listening to the birds. Yep, life is good. I could get used to this.
http://www.terdolen.be/

Chocodrama!

Note to self: Never mail a delightful assortment of Leonidas chocolate....to Louisiana......in the summer.

Beautiful Brussels!

The skies are blue, the weather warm, and we headed to Brussels for the day. Could it get any better than this? Probably not. We went with friends to visit Mini Europe, and got a bonus! Look what we parked right beside...it's the Atomium! The Atomium was created for the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels. It symbolizes an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times. Each sphere is 18 meters in diameter, and the structure is 102 meters tall. It wasn't designed to survive beyond the World's Fair, but it was so popular that they kept it. We are very glad they did. It's amazing! Our destination wasn't the Atomium, though. It was actually mini Europe. It's a park that has miniatures of all of the famous structures in Europe. The detail in these models is amazing! Pictures can't do it justice. It also has a lot of moving parts. The boats motor by, the trucks drive down the roads, the trains shoot through tunnels and over bridges. It's so much fun to watch! On the left is the Grand Palace in Brussels. This is a model of Nyhavn (New Haven) in Copenhagen. This model is of the British Houses of Parliament in London, England. Big Bend is on the end, and it really chimes every 15 minutes. I bet you thought you were really at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The model is on a scale of 1/25, and it stands 13 meters high. This model is of the Cathedral of Santiago De Compostela in Spain. While we were touring Mini Europe, we noticed that there was some action going on over at the Atomium. They had a little ride called "The Death Drop" going on. Yes, the name alone makes it very tempting, but we refrained from trying it. You take the elevator to the top of the Atomium, go up onto the top of that sphere, and get hooked into a harness. They then attach you to a rope that is connected to the top of the sphere on one end, and a large truck on the other. Then you jump off, sliding quickly down the rope to the ground below. We couldn't decide if these people were really brave or really stupid! This is zoomed in. Here they are on the top of the highest sphere getting strapped in. I am voting for really stupid. After we toured Mini Europe, we decided to go up into the top of the Atomium. We rode an elevator up through the center tube. Out this window, you can see the ropes that those insane people were sliding down. (Notice how far down it really is. Why on earth would you jump off of this???)You can now see how huge Brussels is. I had no idea how large the city is. We will have to come back another day to explore it more. This is Mini Europe, looking even more mini from this view!

To get to the exhibits in the middle spheres, you take the elevator back down to the bottom and then go up one of the tubes on the escalator.

And then higher by climbing the stairs. We got to go into 4 of the 9 spheres. It was very interesting. They have artwork in some of the spheres. In one, they had a little cafe where you could have a beer or ice cream. (This is Belgium, of course you can get a beer here.) See, if someone tells you that you can't see all of Europe in one day, tell them that it is possible. We did today. (And we even made it back home in time for dinner.) I would call that a success!