As I take in a quiet Sunday morning in Lithuania, Iceland now seems like a distant dream. I have has less time that I had expected to write and reflect upon my continental travels, which I suppose is a good thing! After Iceland, my next stop was Brussels to visit my dear friends Patrick and Ali - and to meet their 14 month old daughter, Sylvia. After four days of mostly solitary road tripping and rambling, it was quite nice to be welcomed into the home of good friends.
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| Papa Patrick with Sylvia |
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| Sylvia & Mama Ali - what a happy girl! |
I arrived just a couple of days before a holiday weekend, which allowed me to recharge from my Iceland adventures. Translation - I took a day to just sleep, and it was divine!
On Thursday, we hit the road north with the plan to spend a couple days enjoying the Netherlands countryside by bicycle. By dumb luck we found lodgings in this really cool stable house adjacent to a grand old thatch roofed mansion in Maarsen. It was a bit of an odd set-up (to access my attic bedroom, I had to ascend a ladder located in Patrick & Ali's closet) - but we were all happy to have found such a cool place to stay at the last minute on this holiday weekend (Netherlands was celebrating liberation).
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| Our lodging in Maarsen |
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| The main house in Maarsen |
I was especially happy to make friends with all the animals - particularly Bella the horse and Bonnie the dog who both seemed to taking a liking to me as well!
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| Me & Bella the horse |
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| My new friend Bonnie |
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| Dutch chickens |
Our hosts were lovely, and they even had 3 old bicycles to lend us. We enjoyed a sunny day bicycling along the countryside and canals between Maarsen and Utrecht.
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| Blue skies and bicycles! |
We beat the holiday traffic by returning to Brussels on Saturday after a walk through Utrect. The rest of my time in Brussels was wonderfully mellow - hanging out with my friends, bicycling to local parks and cooking meals together. I enjoyed visits to the museums I didn't get to check out my last visit (Musuem of Musical Instruments, Magritte Museum). And I took a day trip by train to check out Bruges and Ghent - both lovely cities.
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| Exploring Bruges |
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| This antique shop knows how to draw attention! |
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| Graffiti in Ghent |
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| Just a lovely afternoon in Ghent |
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| Bruges |
Last time I visited, I was especially impressed with the door knobs in Belgium. This time, it was the window displays and the graffiti.
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| My favourite window display ever |
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| Lovely graffiti just around every corner |
Belgium really is a lovely place, and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to spend some down time here, and I'm especially happy to have had this time to get to know little Miss Sylvia, who I hope I will have the pleasure of seeing again and again as she grows up. She already has an appreciation for bicycling and good music - and she has the best parents a girl could ask for. Over a week later, I still find myself missing her smile. Luckily, I will get to see her later this summer!
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| My new pal, Sylvia rocking her Foghorn onesie! |
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