G'Day! Atomiums for Peace. Ooh and Happy Australia Day Fellas and Sheilas

Ello,

Just a quickie to tell you about my weekend as tomorrow we set off to spend the rest of the week in Alsace and quite frankly, I don't want to make some mahoosive post to include both events. Here's how it all went down.

So far, I have found weekend here with the family to be pretty darn active compared to long lazy ones I had in Mallorca. Saturday I was up at 9:30 to play with the kids and to try and get some English out of them which proved to be quite succesful as they weren't tired like they are most evenings. After that and a lunch including Brussel Sprouts (in Brussels!), we headed out into the city for a tour of some of the sights I hadn't yet visited. Our first stop was the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, the 5th largest church in the world and a twin of the more famous one in Montmarte, Paris that goes by the same name. It is one of the distinctive buildings in the Brussels skyline and is huge inside with many vibrant stain glass windows inside.

FOOD OF THE WEEK: Brussel Sprouts in Brussels

Inside La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur

Outside

We didn't hang around long before we were back in the car for a road tour around Royal Laeken in North Brussels where King Baudoin's Afternoon palace is situated as well as the Chinese and Japanse Pavillions. This tour consisted of us driving round in the car with me occaisionally rushing out to take pictures of the various sights before jumping back in. Renaud told me that much of the area was made for the World Expo in 1958 and we headed to the main sight of where it had taken place all those years ago. The exhibition halls are still in use today but instead of going in I decided to visit la Stade Baudoin which is the national stadium for the Belgian Football team as well as hosting Athletics events. The Stadium is famous for the tragic Heysel Disaster of 1985 in which during the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus, Liverpool fans broke down a dividing fence in the stands which was followed by large scale panic and crushing resulting in the death of 39 Juventus fans and 600 injuries. It turned out to be a bit of waste time for me as the stadium was all but deserted when I got there and there was no plaque or any commemoration of the disaster to be found which I think is quite sad. I tell you know, if I was the son/grandson of one of those Juventus fans that died that day then I would be a fair bit more mythed than I was. Back to more positive matters, the whole sight of Expo '58 is recognisable by Brussels' most iconic landmark-The Atomium. I had a photo op with the amazing structure which is in the shape of a unit cell of an Iron Crystal before waiting for the sun to set to see it light up which made it look even better (apparently the brightness of the lights from the Atomium at night used to confuse Airplane pilots that it was Brussels airport, a bit worrying!).

Chinese Pavillion

Japanese Pavilion

In the park surrounding the Atomium

La Stade Roi Baudoin

Expo

The Atomium

The day finished with a meal at a local Greek Restaurant which was absolutely delightful. We treated ourselves to all sorts of Greek delicacies such as Feta cheese, Moussaka and herb-topped Spare Ribs while sitting in what was a suitably decorated restuarant that reminded me so much of the Mediterranean culture I'd grown used to in Mallorca. A mini-highlight of main was finally saying the line "Stella Artois 4, si vous plait" in my smoothest French accent like in the advert, very suave.

Greek Restaurant

Feta Cheese

More Starters

Spare Ribs and Moussaka

Desserts

On Sunday morning I had my second Skype call from home just with my parents this time. This was really enjoyable for me as it allowed me to reflect on the past few weeks and realise it wasn't so bad as I sometimes feel it has been and it is always good to have family time these days. We also discussed some travel plans for this year which was quite exciting as well which hopefully we can make happen and I shall keep you posted as to when and where they will be occurring. So, another Sunday and another run with BMPH3. This week, we were celebrating Australia Day with the dress code being Aussie colours of Green & Gold so I turned up clad in my Norwich City jersey-Yellow is pretty much Gold anyway! The run took place around the Foret National Park and the surrounding Saint Gilles area including a stop at the Saint Gilles Prison to admire the convicts (Australians) before an on trail Aussie wine stop and the usual circle at the end. It was quite a short run so I decided to run the extra 5k back to the house which was not easy after a few Belgian beers, they're pretty strong to say the least, really wouldn't recommend it.

Group Photo of MPH3

Chateau in Foret National

Saint Gilles Prison

Aussie Wine at the Beer Stop

Down Down from a shoe. One Tradition of most Hashes is that if you turn up on a Hash with new shoes you have to drink from them afterwards. Unlucky for this guy

Couples Down Down

Over the weekend my Phone's battery overheated and consequently refused to work so on Monday I took it to a repair shop to see if I could get it fixed. Communicating in my steadily improving French, I explained to the man my problem only for him to examine my phone and reply with many things I didn't quite catch however the one bit of information that stood out was that he described my phone as 'Mort'-Dead. I probably could've bought a new battery but I decided to save myself the difficulty and I gave up. I caved in, cut my losses and bought a new Samsung brick style phone for 20 Euros. I may feel like I've been transported back to Year 7 with such archaic technology but at the moment I barely need to use my phone for much other than calling or texting so this will do for now. Hopefully a new phone and contract for my birthday/Christmas? *hint hint Mum & Dad* I was quite proud of myself that I managed to negotiate both scenarios in the repair shop and phone shop effectively in French. I doubt 2012 Fraser would have the confidence to try such a thing all in French so I'll take that as a small sign improvement since I took my A levels.

Well, off to Alsace in a few hours time for my first foray into Frogland once more. I have never visited the region and I am sure it should be an interesting few days. I'll tell you all about it this time next week. Seeeeeeeeeya

#FraserOnTour

FP

Embracing my Scottish Roots *Attempts best Scottish Accent possible*

Hey... The eager readers amongst you (like my Mum and Dad) will have noticed that I'm a day or two late with this post. I apologise for being a bit out of time but it's through no fault of my own as blogger has either been down or barely working in these past days but now it's functioning once more as per. So, without further a do, let's get this post re-started.

It's actually quite fortunate that I'm writing this now. Had I wrote this post earlier in the week then it would of been very angsty and fed up and that's probably not the kind of thing you want to read when most news items are fairly miserable these days. In short, making progress with the kids in English is proving to be a bit slower than I originally expected which at times can be quite frustrating and demoralising. They've proved to be quite different kids to those in my Mallorcan family who I instantly hit it off with as soon as I arrived and it seems like it's taking longer to build a rapport between us, something that I consider quite important when someone's teaching you a language. However, little by little, things are improving hence why I'm now writing this post in a happier mood. Much of my time these days is centred around getting the most out of the 4/5 hours a day I spend with them yet I have found time for some amusement.

Last weekend (which feels like an absolute age ago), was a fairly active one. On Saturday afternoon I went on a bike ride with Marie-France and the kids to the nearby Bruxelles-Charleroi Canal taking in some of the 'nicer' parts of Brussels' outskirts including various bits of Industrial Estate, Ring road (which included cycling past a man dressed in a full Lion suit trying to tempt the various cars to his mattress shop) and  a stop at a Fish & Chips shop for lunch but when we did arrive at the canal it was indeed quite pleasant. That evening, I joined Marie-France and a group of French friends for a night walk. It seemed like quite a ridiculous idea when we were stumbling through muddy fields in the cold and pitch black darkness and it's not something I would really recommend but it was nice to see the moon isolated in the clear dark sky. The tea, biscuits and salted crickets after that weren't too bad either!

Belgian sausage for lunch

On the canal

Guy Garvey look-a-like taking his barge through a lock

The lion trying to sell mattresses at the ring road junction

Nutella Ice Cream post-cycle!

La Lune on the night walk

A house in the style of a castle

eating crickets, very crunchy

Sunday was mine and Renaud's second run with the Brussels Manneken Pis Hash (If that means nothing to you then I suggest you read the previous post) which took place in the Foret de Soignes, an endless wonderland of pine trees and hills that all look exactly the same, very confusing. Being the closest available sunday, this run was inspired by the impending Burns Day so there was a bit of a Scottish theme which involved various runners wearing kilts and other typically Scottish garbs. Two beer stops were had on trail (more like Irn Bru, Whisky and Ale stops) before the customary post-run circle then a traditional Scottish dinner in the evening of Haggis, Mash, Carrots, Scottish Cheese, Oatcakes and some carrot cake thing for dessert. It pains me to say this as someone born with a Scottish name but this was actually my first time eating Haggis and I must admit that when you first see it altogether it looks pretty horrific but in actual fact it tastes INCREDIBLE. Why have I avoided it for so long? So after what was a particularly dizzying run and an excellent Scottish feast, we left with full stomachs and tired limbs. I'm quite tempted to celebrate Burns Night every year, maybe buy a Fraser Tartan Kilt. Who needs the January Dryathlon anyway???

Burns Day Run-The Hares

Group Hash Photo

On trail in the Foret de Soignes

Irn Bru drinking at the Beer stop

Circle time

Drinking from an umbrella

A Scottish dinner

FOOD OF THE WEEK: Haggis. So so good

Scottish cheese and oatcakes

Not much happened of note during the week until my regular Thursday of sightseeing and I imagine this will be a regular pattern in most of my posts from Brussels. This week, I travelled into the city centre and spent a few hours wandering around, really putting the walking miles down. I meandered through the Marolles area in the south of the city passing a Flea Market on the way before climbing upto the Palais de la Justice (which is mahoosive by the way) for a panoramic view of the grey Brussels skyline. I then returned to the European quarter where I'd been the previous week so I could visit the Cinquantenaire, a huge monument built to celebrate 50 years of Belgian independence in the 19th Century,and the surrounding gardens. The Cinquantenaire houses the Royal Museum of the Army and Military History and considering it was free I spent a good 45 minutes or so nosying around. They're still refurbishing a lot of the exhibitions there but there is still plenty to see and it is quite interesting if you like Military/Political History with many full size Army vehicles including a British Spitfire that looms over the main exhibition hall. Afterwards, I then returned to the EU Parliament to look around the Parliamentarium, an interactive Museum all about the EU-it's free before you ask. The exhibition helps you understand all the things the EU does, how it works, why it was formed and how it has changed over time whilst showcasing some of the many things that Europe is recognised for. It's worth a look even if you don't like Politics just so you can find BNP leader Nick Griffin's face on the photo wall of MEPs and flick your middle finger at him... which I did, guilty.

Flee Market in Les Marolles

War Memorial

View over Brussels, pretty grim day

Le Palais de la Justice

The Cinquantenaire

War Museum

This selfie was harder to take than it looks

Stalin

In the Parliamentarium

All the MEPs

UKIP leader Nigel Farage

Interactive map of Europe

I left a message behind, feel free to quote me

I'm in the middle of what has already been quite a good weekend which I will tell you about probably mid-week time cos that is when our long weekend in Alsace begins. We will be in the North East of France from Wednesday till Sunday and I'm sure it should make for quite an exciting post.

For now,  à bientôt!

Take that Nick Griffin

#FraserOnTour

FP