Megan Made Her Way to Belgium!

Let me back up a few days from my last post. During my mom and Nicole's visit, we had the pleasure of spending the day with our friend Megan from Morton!  She was on a family trip to the UK and made her way down to Brussels for the day.  We loved showing her around our neck of the woods.

First stop...WAFFLES!  Notice, Megan is soaked.  She is getting a real "taste" for life in Belgium.  Plan on being soaking wet most of the time.

A stop at Manneken Pis!

Strolling along one of my favorite streets.

A stop at Cinquantenaire Park!

Late in the morning, we picked up Nicole and Allison.

Just a short walk down from Cinquantenaire Park is my favorite frites stand Maison Antoine.  They are the BEST and have been serving fries since 1948.

We might have eaten every last bite.....

Cheers!

In August, the royal palace is open to the public, so we stopped in.  Since it was Allison's third year through, she kept up the pace. It's just another palace (thinks the expat kid who has been fortunate to see so many!)

A little bit of sunshine was showing through as we took in the views of Brussels from Mont des Arts.

Next up was the Atomium!  We never made it there on Nicole's first trip, so she was pretty excited to see it too!

Clearly, they are super excited!

The last stop on our busy day was the Grand Place.  It went by so quickly, but we were so happy to have Megan with us.

Thank you for the visit, Megan. We hope you enjoyed Brussels as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you!  You have officially been added to the visitor photo wall in our house. :)

Until next time,

Wendy

Tongeren and Orval! A Perfect Saturday Pair!

A long time ago in a country far far away......I had a blog.  I was really good about keeping that blog current.  Then, Caterpillar uprooted us from our happy place, moved us back across the ocean, forced us to navigate US life once again, and the blog was put on hold.  But now, here I sit ready to make a decent effort at finishing our European adventure.  There is still so much to tell.  One more visitor to share, several "lasts" around Europe, and not "goodbyes" but "until we see you again" with our amazing expat family.  So, let's pretend it is August, and we are still living in Belgium.  Today, I would like to tell you about Tongeren and a trip to the Orval Abbey on a beautiful summer day! Chris had just returned from his trip back to the US to find our house.  Knowing where we would live, it was time to find a few more special things for our new home.  The Tongeren Flea Market was a must.  This market is HUGE.  In fact, not only is it the biggest market in Belgium, I think it is one of the biggest in Europe.  And, it is set up every Sunday morning!

Treasures! (That we didn't buy)

We never seem to leave without a sack of Belgium beer glasses, and I bought a wooden bowl that now holds fruit on our island.  Love it!

Since it was a rare rain-free day, we decided to head to the Orval Abbey.  This had been on Chris's bucket list for a long time!

Enroute, we passed a French cemetery from WWI!

The first stop at the Abbey was lunch at the onsite restaurant.  This is the only place you can order the special "green" Orval.

Cheers!

My beer was cheaper than Allison's water...which is usually the case.

Images of the Abbey

Courtyard entrance

Monk spotting!

The ruins of the medieval abbey in the foreground.

"Heavenly Nectar"

A bird's eye view of the medieval ruins and the monastery of today.

That is one very happy man!

The drive around Belgium is always full of surprises.  I love all of the small towns.  The flowers in August are unreal.  I have flower box envy!

Beautiful countryside

And...there is always traffic at some point.  Here we are stopped on the motorway.  I'm not going to lie....I don't miss that!

Thanks for sticking with me!

Until next time,
Wendy