Friday, May 30, 2014
More Brussels photos
Brussels in photos
Bruges in photos
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Brussels (Bruxelles)
Backtracking a little now....we arrived in Brussels on Sunday morning and were treated by Z's cousins who escorted us to his aunt's place. After we settled in and shower after our lengthy journey, we had a lovely home cooked lunch with the entire family. This was the first time in about 20 years that Z's mom and aunt had seen each other and so a lot of catching up followed. This was also the first time I was meeting all of them and the first time in a many years that Z had seen his cousins.
After lunch and to fight off jet lag, one of Z's cousins and his wife and son took us on a little tour of The Grand Place (Grote Markt). There was a jazz festival taking place in the centre of the square and people were just sitting taking in the music and drinking beer. It was really col to see. Getting out and walking around helped keep me away though on the car ride back home, I did start dozing a little. That evening we visited this same cousin's home.
Brussels is another beautiful European city. It's the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union. It's a mix of Dutch and French and in certain Dutch areas, French is not understood or acknowledged.
Because we toured the central square originally without Z's mom, we decided to take her back anther day. We found the bus and tram system quite easy to us and it got us there rather quickly. Grand Place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Brussels city hall is one of the main buildings in the square and was built in stages between 1401 and 1455. The square has a very rich history which I found very interesting to read on Wikipedia. Every 2nd year in August a giant flower "carpet" is set up in the Grand Place. Too bad we're missing it by only a few months. Z's aunt says this year it will look like a large Turkish woven carpet. Another tourist attraction in the area is Manneken Pis, literally a statue of a boy taking a piss. There are numerous legends behind this statue, but the best one is about a little boy awoken by a fire and he put it out by peeing on it and thus saving the king's castle.
The Adventures of Tin Tin was created by a Belgium cartoonist and so in the Grand Place there is a store dedicated to Tin Tin. We also found a couple murals around town showcasing Tin Tin. I remember reading these comic books in elementary school so it was exciting seeing everything Tin Tin.
After walking through Grand Place and the Gallerias just before the central square, we made our way up to St Jacques Church at the Coudenburg. This is an incredibly beautiful church. From there we made our way to the Royal Palace of Brussels. This palace is not used by the king and his family as their residence. Why would it be. It's only a very huge palace that probably most anyone would be quite happy to live in. I know I would not complain. It's even situated in front of Brussels Park.
After a day of walking and exploring, we joined Z's cousin and wife for a Vietnamese dinner at Le Nenuphar. This is a newer restaurant and quite popular. We weren't sure we'd get in, but luckily they had space and we enjoyed a great dinner with even better company.
We enjoyed our stay immensely and were so grateful for everyone's generous hospitality.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
After lunch and to fight off jet lag, one of Z's cousins and his wife and son took us on a little tour of The Grand Place (Grote Markt). There was a jazz festival taking place in the centre of the square and people were just sitting taking in the music and drinking beer. It was really col to see. Getting out and walking around helped keep me away though on the car ride back home, I did start dozing a little. That evening we visited this same cousin's home.
Brussels is another beautiful European city. It's the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union. It's a mix of Dutch and French and in certain Dutch areas, French is not understood or acknowledged.
Because we toured the central square originally without Z's mom, we decided to take her back anther day. We found the bus and tram system quite easy to us and it got us there rather quickly. Grand Place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Brussels city hall is one of the main buildings in the square and was built in stages between 1401 and 1455. The square has a very rich history which I found very interesting to read on Wikipedia. Every 2nd year in August a giant flower "carpet" is set up in the Grand Place. Too bad we're missing it by only a few months. Z's aunt says this year it will look like a large Turkish woven carpet. Another tourist attraction in the area is Manneken Pis, literally a statue of a boy taking a piss. There are numerous legends behind this statue, but the best one is about a little boy awoken by a fire and he put it out by peeing on it and thus saving the king's castle.
The Adventures of Tin Tin was created by a Belgium cartoonist and so in the Grand Place there is a store dedicated to Tin Tin. We also found a couple murals around town showcasing Tin Tin. I remember reading these comic books in elementary school so it was exciting seeing everything Tin Tin.
After walking through Grand Place and the Gallerias just before the central square, we made our way up to St Jacques Church at the Coudenburg. This is an incredibly beautiful church. From there we made our way to the Royal Palace of Brussels. This palace is not used by the king and his family as their residence. Why would it be. It's only a very huge palace that probably most anyone would be quite happy to live in. I know I would not complain. It's even situated in front of Brussels Park.
After a day of walking and exploring, we joined Z's cousin and wife for a Vietnamese dinner at Le Nenuphar. This is a newer restaurant and quite popular. We weren't sure we'd get in, but luckily they had space and we enjoyed a great dinner with even better company.
We enjoyed our stay immensely and were so grateful for everyone's generous hospitality.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
In Bruges
We had rented a car so we could visit The Hague and thought it a great idea to take advantage of the car and took a day trip to Bruges. Our rental car was a Ford BMax. Never heard of this model, but it was a great car to get us around in. It was economical on gas and quite intelligent in that if you out the car in neutral when stopped at a light it would shut itself off to conserve gas and then the moment you pressed the clutch, the car would turn on again. The drive to Bruges is about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Bruges is by the coast and with its many canals is known as the "Venice of the North". It is a medieval city and the historic city centre is a World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is a very walkable city with cobblestone sidewalks and roadways. The city is remarkably preserved and the architecture just fascinating.
We started our tour of the area at Minnewater, also known as the Lake of Love. There is a local legend that says you'll experience eternal love if you walk over the lake bridge with your partner. Now you have to find the right bridge to walk over and I'm pretty sure several people were confused because you can find a bunch of pad locks attached to the railings of another bridge. We found the right one so I think we'll be OK.
From there we made our way to the city centre. It had started to rain, but that didn't dampen our spirits and we explored regardless. The only thing that bugged me about the rain is that it made it a little difficult to take pictures with my lovely camera. The weather is out of my control and when traveling you just have to go with the flow so I continued taking more pictures than I know what to do with. The rain did stop eventually which meant I took even more pictures without the interruption of wiping the lens.
We walked through the market square and window shopped the numerous stores selling chocolates. We had lunch at a quaint little restaurant that I don't remember the name of and for dessert bought Belgium waffles with fresh strawberries. Sharing of the waffle doesn't work very well so we each had our own.
To work off the calories from the waffle, we decided it would be a good idea to climb up the Belfry tower. The tower was originally built in 1220 and served as a bell tower, watchtower and market during the 13th century. It has also housed a treasury and municipal archives. It is 83 metres in height and it is 366 steps to the top. The staircase is a spiral staircase and the steps are rather narrow which can make it a little tricky when you are going up and someone is coming down. Along the trip up (or down) there are rooms you can enter to read a little about the history. You can also get a very good view of the main bell. The bells used to regulate the lives of the city residents. Touring this tower is a must do in Bruges.
While all the buildings are built with incredible architecture that has survived centuries, a couple of particular beauty include City Hall and Sint-Janshospitaal (Saint John's hospital).
This turned out to be a fabulous day trip and when we returned back to Z's aunt's place we were treated to a wonderful home cooked Thai and Malaysian dinner.
What else but a Belgium waffle in Belgium?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Bruges is by the coast and with its many canals is known as the "Venice of the North". It is a medieval city and the historic city centre is a World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is a very walkable city with cobblestone sidewalks and roadways. The city is remarkably preserved and the architecture just fascinating.
We started our tour of the area at Minnewater, also known as the Lake of Love. There is a local legend that says you'll experience eternal love if you walk over the lake bridge with your partner. Now you have to find the right bridge to walk over and I'm pretty sure several people were confused because you can find a bunch of pad locks attached to the railings of another bridge. We found the right one so I think we'll be OK.
From there we made our way to the city centre. It had started to rain, but that didn't dampen our spirits and we explored regardless. The only thing that bugged me about the rain is that it made it a little difficult to take pictures with my lovely camera. The weather is out of my control and when traveling you just have to go with the flow so I continued taking more pictures than I know what to do with. The rain did stop eventually which meant I took even more pictures without the interruption of wiping the lens.
We walked through the market square and window shopped the numerous stores selling chocolates. We had lunch at a quaint little restaurant that I don't remember the name of and for dessert bought Belgium waffles with fresh strawberries. Sharing of the waffle doesn't work very well so we each had our own.
To work off the calories from the waffle, we decided it would be a good idea to climb up the Belfry tower. The tower was originally built in 1220 and served as a bell tower, watchtower and market during the 13th century. It has also housed a treasury and municipal archives. It is 83 metres in height and it is 366 steps to the top. The staircase is a spiral staircase and the steps are rather narrow which can make it a little tricky when you are going up and someone is coming down. Along the trip up (or down) there are rooms you can enter to read a little about the history. You can also get a very good view of the main bell. The bells used to regulate the lives of the city residents. Touring this tower is a must do in Bruges.
While all the buildings are built with incredible architecture that has survived centuries, a couple of particular beauty include City Hall and Sint-Janshospitaal (Saint John's hospital).
This turned out to be a fabulous day trip and when we returned back to Z's aunt's place we were treated to a wonderful home cooked Thai and Malaysian dinner.
What else but a Belgium waffle in Belgium?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
The Hague in photos
Stained glass windows in former Ministry building.
Gateway entry to Parliament buildings' courtyard.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Day in The Hague
One of Z's cousins lives in The Hague, Netherlands and offered to show us around on our second day. He was a gracious tour guide and had taken the day off work just for us. Den Haag is the third largest city in the Netherlands and is home to the Dutch government. It is also famous for housing the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. The city also houses most foreign embassies in The Netherlands and during our walking tour we got to see quite a few of the embassies including the Canadian. It is home to over 150 international organizations making it the fourth major centre for the United Nations.
We started off our visit by stopping in at Z's cousin's place. He lives in a rather unique environment....as a side job from his day to day work, he is the caretaker of a mostly vacant former government Ministry office building and gets to live in the building. As caretaker he has access to the entire building and is responsible to make sure no unauthorized people enter the building at night and cause trouble. In turn, he resides in the private office of the former Minister and has a very spacious accommodation.
From there we walked into the city centre and to the parliament buildings. The Prime Minister was out addressing media types. I didn't realize fast enough that this was happening so I didn't get to see him. I did get to see the two guards though. Not a lot of security personnel around during this and the general public was milling around without any restrictions.
The parliament grounds are your typical European architectural awesomeness. The architecture and ornate details are a marvel to see. I never tire of looking at buildings anywhere in Western Europe. The history is also so rich here.
We stopped by the King's working palace, because of course he has more than one and so does not live here. This is the palace where he hosts and entertains guests. We also went to the Peace Palace (also known as the International Court of Justice). We also got to see the former royal palace which is now an art museum.
One of the other things I love when visiting European cities is the city centres and how every restaurant in the centres has large outdoor seating areas. We had a wonderful lunch at Very Italian Pizza, which yes isn't very Dutch, but the food was great and well priced. The outdoor patio was a great environment for lunch. We had great Bavarian beer with our Italian inspired sandwiches.
The weather forecast had called for rain and thankfully it held off for most of our tour. Only as we were ending our lunch did it start spitting a little but not too much to spoil the rest of the day.
It was a great day for a walking tour through a city that we probably would never had that to visit if it hadn't been for Z's cousin's personal tour. The Hague is generally not a city that people visit in the Netherlands; Amsterdam is the most famous for tourists. But I'm very glad we visited here, the city actually has quite a lot to offer in terms of things to see.
Thank you E for taking the time to show us your home town and while I know we had nothing to do with it, congrats again on the good news you received while we visited!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
We started off our visit by stopping in at Z's cousin's place. He lives in a rather unique environment....as a side job from his day to day work, he is the caretaker of a mostly vacant former government Ministry office building and gets to live in the building. As caretaker he has access to the entire building and is responsible to make sure no unauthorized people enter the building at night and cause trouble. In turn, he resides in the private office of the former Minister and has a very spacious accommodation.
From there we walked into the city centre and to the parliament buildings. The Prime Minister was out addressing media types. I didn't realize fast enough that this was happening so I didn't get to see him. I did get to see the two guards though. Not a lot of security personnel around during this and the general public was milling around without any restrictions.
The parliament grounds are your typical European architectural awesomeness. The architecture and ornate details are a marvel to see. I never tire of looking at buildings anywhere in Western Europe. The history is also so rich here.
We stopped by the King's working palace, because of course he has more than one and so does not live here. This is the palace where he hosts and entertains guests. We also went to the Peace Palace (also known as the International Court of Justice). We also got to see the former royal palace which is now an art museum.
One of the other things I love when visiting European cities is the city centres and how every restaurant in the centres has large outdoor seating areas. We had a wonderful lunch at Very Italian Pizza, which yes isn't very Dutch, but the food was great and well priced. The outdoor patio was a great environment for lunch. We had great Bavarian beer with our Italian inspired sandwiches.
The weather forecast had called for rain and thankfully it held off for most of our tour. Only as we were ending our lunch did it start spitting a little but not too much to spoil the rest of the day.
It was a great day for a walking tour through a city that we probably would never had that to visit if it hadn't been for Z's cousin's personal tour. The Hague is generally not a city that people visit in the Netherlands; Amsterdam is the most famous for tourists. But I'm very glad we visited here, the city actually has quite a lot to offer in terms of things to see.
Thank you E for taking the time to show us your home town and while I know we had nothing to do with it, congrats again on the good news you received while we visited!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, May 26, 2014
En Route to Brussels
The only time I don't mind an early wake up call and getting up with the chirpy birds is when it means I'm heading to the airport for flight to a destination far away. This morning I happily got up at 5am to get ready and get to the airport. We're off to Europe for a couple weeks with our first stop being Brussels. We're travelling through Montreal and have about a 3 hour layover there.
Travelling with my wonderful hubby Z is always fun...we had a great free breakfast at the airport lounge before getting on our flight. This trip is a little different than our usual in that we are also travelling with Z's mom. She has a sister in Brussels whom she hasn't seen in about 20 years and so the first part of this trip is for a visit with her and her family.
The flight to Montreal is just under 5 hours. I watched The Butler which I thought was a wonderful movie. The story was powerful and the actors portrayed the characters well. I only wish I had made an effort to see it sooner.
Killing time in Montreal consisted of dinner at another lounge and just hanging out till boarding time. We're definitely in Montreal because there is Habs paraphernalia everywhere!
Our flight from Montreal to Brussels didn't start off well. We were delayed for about 1 hour for 2 reasons. First they had to change a tire, better they do that before we leave then find out as we're landing that it needed to be changed and second they needed to wait for an Air Canada engineer to come and reboot the computer system because the pilot's attempt didn't work. The flight itself was fine, but because we were delayed leaving, once we landed we had to wait on the tarmac for room at a gate. So all in all we were about 1.5 hours late. No real big deal except that we had Z's cousins waiting for us. Getting through immigration was a breeze and off we were to start our European adventure.
We were met by Z's cousins. They took us back to Z's aunt's place where we based ourselves while in Brussels.
Enjoying a Caesar and dinner before Montreal to Brussels flight.
Working hard but happy to be on vacation.
Supporting the only Canadian team left in the playoffs.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Travelling with my wonderful hubby Z is always fun...we had a great free breakfast at the airport lounge before getting on our flight. This trip is a little different than our usual in that we are also travelling with Z's mom. She has a sister in Brussels whom she hasn't seen in about 20 years and so the first part of this trip is for a visit with her and her family.
The flight to Montreal is just under 5 hours. I watched The Butler which I thought was a wonderful movie. The story was powerful and the actors portrayed the characters well. I only wish I had made an effort to see it sooner.
Killing time in Montreal consisted of dinner at another lounge and just hanging out till boarding time. We're definitely in Montreal because there is Habs paraphernalia everywhere!
Our flight from Montreal to Brussels didn't start off well. We were delayed for about 1 hour for 2 reasons. First they had to change a tire, better they do that before we leave then find out as we're landing that it needed to be changed and second they needed to wait for an Air Canada engineer to come and reboot the computer system because the pilot's attempt didn't work. The flight itself was fine, but because we were delayed leaving, once we landed we had to wait on the tarmac for room at a gate. So all in all we were about 1.5 hours late. No real big deal except that we had Z's cousins waiting for us. Getting through immigration was a breeze and off we were to start our European adventure.
We were met by Z's cousins. They took us back to Z's aunt's place where we based ourselves while in Brussels.
Enjoying a Caesar and dinner before Montreal to Brussels flight.
Working hard but happy to be on vacation.
Supporting the only Canadian team left in the playoffs.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Portland Bound
What's one way to spend a four day weekend? Driving to Portland with friends to shop and run, of course!
This marks our third year making this trek.....so why blog about it this time around? Well because I'm running this year too. The Portland Rock'n'Roll half marathon added a 10k race this year and so I figured why not run in another inaugural run? I suppose I could have continued being the support team, but that way I wouldn't get a medal (which doubles as a bottle opener) and a nice souvenir technical shirt....ummm I mean that way I'm not getting exercise.
The drive down was good and we made it in good time. There is always a stop at the Nike clearance outlet in Centralia because prices are better there even with tax than in tax-free Portland. The deals were quite good, selection a little more limited, but still was able to pick up some good stuff. We met Z in Portland because he had a last minute work trip take him to Asia the week leading up to this so he flew "home" through Portland.
The weather was good the first two days....we spent Saturday shopping around downtown Portland and then at the Woodburn outlets. Some really good deals at the outlets this year, like the Columbia store which had everything marked down 25% and we had a further 10% off coupon. I ended up buying a nice jacket for $34 (originally priced at $120) which had been marked down to $50 before the additional discounts.
Race day weather forecast called for showers....I was not too terribly excited about that!! But Sunday morning came along and the weather was overcast with misty rain.....and by the time the race started it stopped altogether. The rain held off until after we all finished, but as we were out and about after lunch it was coming down like a monsoon at times. It helped force me to spend some time resting and recovering instead of walking around town. The only draw back was that I didn't get to use my camera much but my knees benefitted instead.
The course was quite wet as it had rained overnight and early on I stepped in a puddle soaking my right foot. The course was a good route and they had live bands or music playing at frequent intervals all along, plenty of hydration stations, and people cheering on the runners. It was well organized in my opinion; the start was a wave but we didn't stand around forever either. I started in corral 13 and started about 10 mins after Z who was in 4. This course was harder than my last 10k as there were more hills this time and I'm happy to say I beat my last time by a good 7 minutes finishing at 1:11:53. Not bad at all considering my training consisted of only 2 runs per week for the last few months, I've been battling knee pain too, and I haven't run longer than 8k. I'll say though those last 1.2 miles and in particular the last .2 miles (we were in the States after all) were horrible....I didn't think I could go on. Leading up to the 6 mile marker was all up hill and it was a long up hill followed by a down hill. As I came around the second to last corner there was one lady in particular who was cheering extra hard for each runner and that gave me the boost I needed to finish. Overall I'm very pleased with my run.
Z and our friends all ran the half marathon which to me is an impressive feat, particularly for Z considering he was in Asia two days prior for a week, so he had to adjust time zones quickly and fight off jet lag.
Other than the shopping and runs, we had some great meals at various restaurants. Our favourite place is probably Originals which is located at the hotel we have always stayed at.
This running thing isn't so bad after all and particularly when the race is located out of town!! Combining my favourite pass time, travelling, with running may work out just fine!!
This marks our third year making this trek.....so why blog about it this time around? Well because I'm running this year too. The Portland Rock'n'Roll half marathon added a 10k race this year and so I figured why not run in another inaugural run? I suppose I could have continued being the support team, but that way I wouldn't get a medal (which doubles as a bottle opener) and a nice souvenir technical shirt....ummm I mean that way I'm not getting exercise.
The drive down was good and we made it in good time. There is always a stop at the Nike clearance outlet in Centralia because prices are better there even with tax than in tax-free Portland. The deals were quite good, selection a little more limited, but still was able to pick up some good stuff. We met Z in Portland because he had a last minute work trip take him to Asia the week leading up to this so he flew "home" through Portland.
The weather was good the first two days....we spent Saturday shopping around downtown Portland and then at the Woodburn outlets. Some really good deals at the outlets this year, like the Columbia store which had everything marked down 25% and we had a further 10% off coupon. I ended up buying a nice jacket for $34 (originally priced at $120) which had been marked down to $50 before the additional discounts.
Race day weather forecast called for showers....I was not too terribly excited about that!! But Sunday morning came along and the weather was overcast with misty rain.....and by the time the race started it stopped altogether. The rain held off until after we all finished, but as we were out and about after lunch it was coming down like a monsoon at times. It helped force me to spend some time resting and recovering instead of walking around town. The only draw back was that I didn't get to use my camera much but my knees benefitted instead.
The course was quite wet as it had rained overnight and early on I stepped in a puddle soaking my right foot. The course was a good route and they had live bands or music playing at frequent intervals all along, plenty of hydration stations, and people cheering on the runners. It was well organized in my opinion; the start was a wave but we didn't stand around forever either. I started in corral 13 and started about 10 mins after Z who was in 4. This course was harder than my last 10k as there were more hills this time and I'm happy to say I beat my last time by a good 7 minutes finishing at 1:11:53. Not bad at all considering my training consisted of only 2 runs per week for the last few months, I've been battling knee pain too, and I haven't run longer than 8k. I'll say though those last 1.2 miles and in particular the last .2 miles (we were in the States after all) were horrible....I didn't think I could go on. Leading up to the 6 mile marker was all up hill and it was a long up hill followed by a down hill. As I came around the second to last corner there was one lady in particular who was cheering extra hard for each runner and that gave me the boost I needed to finish. Overall I'm very pleased with my run.
Z and our friends all ran the half marathon which to me is an impressive feat, particularly for Z considering he was in Asia two days prior for a week, so he had to adjust time zones quickly and fight off jet lag.
Other than the shopping and runs, we had some great meals at various restaurants. Our favourite place is probably Originals which is located at the hotel we have always stayed at.
This running thing isn't so bad after all and particularly when the race is located out of town!! Combining my favourite pass time, travelling, with running may work out just fine!!
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