Date: 17-Apr-2007
Subject: Belgium...land of "biere et chocolats"
Bonjour mes amis!
My sisters and cousin came to visit us over easter week (hence my silence, sorry). It was a lot of fun having them around--travelling with more people always adds to the spice of the trip. And we are rather social people, so absolutely love having a full house!
The family arrived in Brussels on wednesday. (note to the wise, the airport has 2 names: brussels national on your plane ticket, on the website, etc but the on the road signs it assumes a new name--Zwantem. i had a heck of a time getting there to say the least!!!!). We headed to antwerp for lunch and a walk around, as its on the way to breda and i was not in the mood to drive through very confusing brussels again...Antwerp is a beautiful city on the Flemish side (in north Belgium they speak Dutch, south belgium French)--many small courtyards, historic squares, and a very well developed harbour. Interestingly, there is a statue thanking the Canadians (from hamilton i believe) for freeing the harbour in 1944 from the Nazi hold.
The next day we went to Amsterdam--that will get covered in another email!
Mark had Friday and Monday off, so Friday we packed into our little ford fiesta and headed south into belgium. We spent 2 nights in the picturesque city of Brugge. its a medieval city, surrounded by a moat and castle wall (you must cross draw bridges to get in) full of life, canals, and bridges inside. We went to a chocolate museum to learn the history of chocolate and came out with chocolately lips , 
we went on a beer tour and got to sample the goods of the brewery (and somehow acquired a beer glass...ahem !), we ate flemish stew and a bowl full of mussels, marveled at the flowers, and meandered through the city in the moonlight. We met up with some friends of my sister's who live there, so we got a very local flavor. oh, and an insider tip: don't buy the waaaay too expensive chocolates in the little shops--the belgians buy their treats at the grocery store. specifically, look for cote d'or and jaques brand of chocolates. 
Belgian chocolate is indeed different: nowhere else in the world is the cocoa ground to 20 microns--most manufacturers run around 30-35 microns, hence belgian chocolate is so creamy and palatable!Sunday we headed to Ghent, about 30 minutes away to see a world reknown piece of art, soak up some sun and enjoy more sightseeing. my cousin is studying historical arts in university--very handy to have along in an artistic town!
On Tuesday we made our way to Brussels to eat waffles, dip cookies in a chocolate fountain, see the mannekepiss (little boy peeing fountain--a belgium relic) and the femmanapiss (little girl peeing created hundreds of years after the boy) and gawk at the Grande Place--the most remarkable square in Europe--well, I havent seen them all yet, so i really shouldnt judge!!
Mark and i were on the beach this sunday, in our bathing suits with half of holland it seemed. +26C, and gorgeous. i acutally had to buy some aloe vera yesterday...mid april, who would have thought you could burn?!
This weekend Natasha and Andrew are meeting us in Amsterdam. Fun!
An update of our day to day happenings...mark has started playing underwater hockey--yup, i'm guessing like me, not everyone has heard of it! well, i went to watch yesterday: speedos, socks, flippers, snorkels, goggles and swim caps and a little stick the size of a ruler. the game takes place at the bottom of the pool. um, not really a spectator sport! he had a great time though and met some new people. we are also taking Salsa classes together--my counting to 8 in dutch is improving! I have been getting together often with a friend i made at the market. its nice to have company for coffee, grocery shopping and just hanging out.
Picture explanation:
1. can you see what the truck is transporting? i had to catch that on camera!!
2. beer--Proost!
3. Man made of chocolate--quite artistic
4. Brugge at night
5. the girls in Ghent
6. In the Grande Place in Brussels (we had just watched Borat the night before, "great success, high five")
hope everyone is well--Easter was nice?
cheers and hugs!
Luisa and Mark
