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.
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| FOOD OF THE WEEK: Brussel Sprouts in Brussels |
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| Inside La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur |
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| 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!).
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| Chinese Pavillion |
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| Japanese Pavilion |
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| In the park surrounding the Atomium |
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| La Stade Roi Baudoin |
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| Expo |
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| 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.
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| Greek Restaurant |
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| Feta Cheese |
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| More Starters |
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| Spare Ribs and Moussaka |
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| 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.
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| Group Photo of MPH3 |
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| Chateau in Foret National |
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| Saint Gilles Prison |
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| Aussie Wine at the Beer Stop |
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| 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 |
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| 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
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