Waffles and chocolates and beer, OH MY!
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| Dad... |
What could be better than having my parents come visit me in London? Having my parents come visit me in London and getting to travel to our old stomping ground: Brussels, Belgium. My parents had been traveling around Scotland and England for their 25th Wedding Anniversary, they picked me up in London, and we all hopped on a plane to Brussels. I guarantee that there were waffles in our hands within an hour of the plane hitting the ground. One of the first phrases we learned as kids when we moved to Belgium was "Une gaufre, s'il vous plaît," however I did not even need to use it. Perhaps this is because with the drool dripping from my mouth, saying, "One waffle, please," would have just been redundant. My goodness those waffles are good. There are two things you need to know: 1) My family loves Belgian waffles. 2) My Dad got a fancy knew camera for their anniversary. Put these two together and you get a ton of waffle pictures... Or just a ton of pictures in general. There were many times that I had to take the camera away from him in order to keep us moving at a reasonable pace. "Dad, just because the light keeps changing does NOT mean that you have to stop to take pictures of the same building every ten minutes..."
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| Manneken Pis |
The first night we were there, we had the Brussels experience wandering around the Grand Place and stopping by to see our old friend the Manneken Pis (the statue of a little boy that according to legend saved the town by peeing on a bomb to extinguish it). He gets dressed in costumes for special occasions and holidays, though this time he was just wearing his birthday suit. The first time we saw him right after we moved, he was dressed in an Elvis get up! It made us feel right at home. We ate mussels and frites and gawked at all of the chocolate displays that peppered the streets. Having rented a car, we drove out of the city to our hotel in Waterloo about 30 minutes outside of Brussels.
The next morning we got up at a freakishly early hour to get started on our day of nostalgia. We began at the Butte de Lion, the monument to the Battle of Waterloo, which is a large hill topped with a giant statue of a lion. However, when we arrived, the monument was not nearly as impressive as the gathering of Ferraris in the parking lot. There must have been over 50 of these sleek cars lined up and ready for some sort of rally. Needless to say, my dad whipped his camera out faster than you can say "sports car" and was going to town. Once we pried him away from the shiny cars, we started to make our way up to the base of the daunting staircase. In a moment of pure stupidity I exclaimed, "How much will you give me if I run up all of the stairs?" "Five Euros." "Deal!" And off I went... Now, this might not have been so bad if it hadn't been for the fact that I had woken up about 20 minutes before and was wearing knee-high boots that weigh who knows how much... At about step 200 of 226 I nearly collapsed. Luckily my dad stood at the bottom and took pictures of me running up the entire time (not a good angle let me tell you) and was there to capture my exhaustion on film. I ran up the last 26 steps out of stubbornness, but sadly did not get my reward. The view from the top is beautiful and I enjoyed looking out at the country side and imagining how different life would have turned out if we had stayed in Waterloo. My mom was determined to find our house from the top of the Butte de Lion, and when she puts her mind to something she doesn't give up...ever. And by golly she found it! Technically she found a corner of the roof, but it counts. The walk down the staircase was much more pleasant as we checked returning to the Butte de Lion off our bucket list.
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| So gross... |
Next stop, the grocery store? Yep. The grocery store. Sounds exciting right? Well it was for us. We spent about an hour walking through the aisles looking at the brands that we don't get in the U.S. and the things that we remember from 12 years ago. My favourites included the bread slicing machine (you slice your own bread) and the hot dogs floating in jars. I thought that was nasty as a kid, and I think it's nasty now. There is just nothing natural about hot dogs in jars. Another thing you need to know: the women on my mom's side of the family have a scary ability to find someone that they know ANYWHERE they go. My grandmother could walk into a McDonald's in Antarctica and find a long lost friend or family member. My mother inherited that ability. As we are standing in line to check out she starts nudging us asking of we recognize the woman in the next line. "No mom, we're in Waterloo and haven't been here for 12 years we're not going to run into anyone that we know." We were so wrong. My mom then walked up to my little brother's preschool teacher and reintroduced herself. The teacher remembered my mom and they had a conversation in the grocery store about old times. It was one of the strangest moments I can remember. I should not have underestimated the power of the Williams Woman Curse...I wonder if I will grow into that?
We took a picnic to the ruins of the Abbey that we used to go visit and enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day and each others company. After walking through the Abbey (and breaking my camera) we began a search for the Bluebells in Halle's wood. Every spring the Forest floor explodes in bluebells leaving the forest a blazing blue color that is absolutely breathtaking. We knew that we were a little early for the bluebells to be blooming, but we decided to give it a try anyway. We found the woods and enjoyed walking through the paths even though the bluebells, sadly, were not there yet. We must have been about a week too soon and I bet if we went back now, the floor would be covered. This didn't stop us from taking cheesy pictures in the flowers that were there, however.
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| ...what it will look like. |
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| What it looked like for us... |
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| Our old house |
We went from the woods to see our old house. It was such a beautiful, regal home and it was very strange standing on the other side of the wrought iron gate looking into the yard that used to be our playground. I could see my bedroom window and the trees that we spent hours climbing. It was a strange sensation. It smelled the same. The atmosphere was so familiar, but at the same time, the house appeared vacant and empty giving it the air of a dream or half-realized memory. I think it was hard on my parents seeing it empty when it used to be so full and vibrant with four kids running around and growing up. Nevertheless, it was fun to see and I'm glad we went. It truly is a beautiful home. We then made our way to the old school. This was especially strange for me because most of my memories from that time were at that school. We were able to walk around and peer in windows and surprisingly I could pick out the desks that I sat at in each classroom. It is bizarre the kinds of things you remember.
We wrapped up our night at our favorite restaurant that was just as good as we remembered, even though it has changed names.
I did not intend for this to get so long...so I will wrap it up with a quick summary! We spent the next visiting the Atomium and Mini Europe and then wandered around Brussels and the Grand Place again. We flew back into London and got ready for a marathon day of London-sightseeing. It was fun to get to show my parents around my city and I didn't get lost once! (That's a big accomplishment.) After seeing most of the token London destinations, we went to see Singing in the Rain at the Palace Theatre. It was a perfect end to our trip! It was such a happy show full of impressive vocals and stunning dance sequences. I admit, I sat silently weeping through the entire second half because it made me realize how much I miss being on stage, but I enjoyed it greatly.
Saying goodbye to wonderful parents is not easy, but the fact that I will be home in less than a month made it much easier! I was so thankful to see them and thankful for the opportunities left in my short time here. I could not have asked for a better weekend!
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| Singin' in the Rain! |
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| The Grand Place |
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| The Atomium |
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| Mini Europe |
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