Our flights to Brussels via Atlanta were on schedule and we (and our luggage) arrived safe and sound on Tuesday morning on the other side of the Atlantic. We are staying a couple days with our dear friends Marianne and Geoffrey who have a beautiful home near Rhode-Saint-Genese which is south of Brussels near Waterloo (yes, where Napoleon got tripped up). We didn't get much sleep on the plane over, but knew we needed to keep our eye lids open as long as possible to get over the jet lag. Traveling East is so much worse for whatever reason.
The weather was not exactly perfect with rain in the forecast all day, so we grabbed our rain gear and decided to go for a little walk in the Forêt de Soignes, which is a very beautiful and large forest (11,000 acres) nearby. The forest is one of our fondest memories while living in Brussels 12 years ago. It is supposed to be the oldest beech tree forest in Europe with a couple hundred kilometers of hiking, biking, and horse riding trails. These beech trees are majestic giant wood pillars, with a lush canopy of green overhead. You are transported to another world and time when you enter, especially near such a big city like Brussels.
Anyway, our planned "little" walk turned into a 4 hour, 15km (9.4 mile) hike in the end when we added a detour to visit our kids old school on the other side of the forest. ISB (Intl School of Brussels) was more than a great school for our kids, it was the hub of our social life there for several years, meeting many other expat families with enduring friendships and memories. Linda also coached the track and cross-country teams and I was on the Board of Trustees. We decided just walk around the campus and head back to our friends home before it got too dark. Besides, it started to rain harder as well. A good test for our rain gear! This would not have been much fun riding our bikes..
Had a wonderful evening with our host and their wonderful Bavarian hounds (Nuki, China, and Google) before hitting the sack. Marianne said that she had seldomly seen it rain so hard in Brussels. That was reassuring to hear. The weather forecast looks better for tomorrow... Yeah!
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| Our "walkabout" in the Forêt de Soignes. |
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| Jet lag has not yet set in. Coffee helps.. |
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| Forêt de Soignes... A magical place.. |
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| They must've known we were coming.. |
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| ISB Chateau. |
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| Their names are still there on the "walk of fame". |
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| A unique way to get the kids to exercise inorder to charge their mobile phones.. |
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| Queen Marianne with a nice glass of chilled Cava, with prince Nuki at her feet. |
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