a lovely weekend in belgium

I jetted over to Belgium this weekend to visit my friend Hannah, who I met freshman year at Linfield when she lived just down the hall. It was wonderful to see another familiar face (I'm sorry--Skype just doesn't quite cut it) and it was my first weekend adventure. Hannah is currently working as an au pair and taking art classes in a little village outside of Namur, in the French-speaking part of Belgium (Wallonia). I caught a train from the airport to Namur, and after Hannah’s art class, she took me to a waffle stand for my first real taste of Belgium. Belgian waffles are DELICIOUS! They come hot off the griddle and are incredibly sugary, tasty, and heart-warmingly gooey and crispy all at the same time. As we munched happily on the waffles (In French: Gaufres de Liege), Hannah and I caught up on our post-Linfield lives. It is VERY weird to be officially done with college! I definitely feel the need to go to grad school sometime in the very near future.

As to languages, before Hannah and I met up in Namur, I successfully ordered a coffee and a little piece of bread IN FRENCH! I was quite proud of myself. I also got to practice my half-dozen phrases in French with Hannah's host kids! Along with pidgin-French, I spoke in German with the mother-in-law who was also staying for the weekend, and I got to read a bit of Flemish on the street signs. It was a very international weekend!

On Saturday, Hannah and I went to Brussels for a day of exploring, which involved first and foremost LA VITESSE. Hannah, in 3 short weeks, has learned how to drive in Europe AND how to drive a stick shift. Embarking on a journey through new territory to the capital of Belgium was a major outing with la vitesse (the stick shift), but Hannah performed beautifully! We had a French-speaking GPS to guide us (“Restez a droit. Prenez a gauche, pui, restez a droit!” it kept repeating) and we plugged in “La Gran Place,” or “the large plaza/square”, which is the center of Brussels’ old city center. After a bit of restez-ing too far to the gauche, we found our way to more or less where we wanted to be, found parking, and set off!

Potterites reunited!

Brussels Park

Royal Palace

When in Belgium, chocolate is essential. We went to the Sablon Place, which has at least half a dozen chocolate stores ringed around one beautiful square!

Gaufres (waffles) are another national treasure.

As is the manneken pis (the little peeing boy statue).

Not sure what this is about, but it’s a good message, I guess…?

Cathedral

After exploring all day, we accidentally ran across the place we had been aiming for in the first place: La Gran Place. It is a beautiful, sweeping square, the heart of the old center, and was a perfect place to end the day.

Thanks for such a lovely weekend, Hannah!