It's overcast today here in Flanders: cloudy, with the occasional sprinkles...But I don't mind today. It's the perfect weather to laze around the house, go for a short walk in the rural neighborhood behind my sister's house, stretch out on the sofa with a book.....Nice, relaxing, soothing....a good antidote to the hussle&bussle of everyday life...a good ingredient for a vacation.
We've been here now for a couple of days, and are having a really nice time. It's been a good mixture of active, on-the-go activities and taking it easy. Given that this is my home country, I don't feel compelled to 'see everything' and 'do everything'. It feels OK to take it easy too and yet it still feels vacation-like as the environment is different from our every day one.
Not that we've haven't done anything: We've visited 'het kasteel van Ooidonk', a local castle built in the 18th century (late by most mediaeval standards here), located closeby my sister's house. The castle's only open a couple of weekends during the summer and we missed it last time we were here. The castle's ornamental gardens are sumptuous and filled with local scultpures. Really beautiful.
The tour inside the castle took over an hour, which the toddlers didn't appreciate too much, but was very insightful and interesting, less so for the furniture and decorations than the abundance of pictures of the count with the belgian royal family and popes. It's quite clear that the remaining count, and his family who still live in the castle, have different values than us. Keeping aristrocratic dynasties intact and boasting royal connections isn't my cup of tea. But it's interesting to take a peak into that lifestyle.
The giant 'coupes' ice-cream with yummie chocolate sauce we had afterwards at the local 'koetshuis' (the renovated carriage house) was more to the liking of Kevin and his cousin Lander. I'm sure pediatrician's woudn't recommend it, but in this country, giving toddlers chocolate sauce on ice-cream and a (daily ) boterham met choco =slice of bread with chocolate-paste, is a very common occurence. I've not seen any signs indicating the kids turn out any worse than their american counterparts. To the contrary, overweight is much less common here. My theory is that it's all about moderation. Don't skip the good stuff altogether, or overindulge all the time, but enjoy ...in moderation. At least that's what my mother always use to say, and I think she was right about that one.
We also visited the Antwerp zoo a couple of days ago. The zoo's 150 years old and has been recently restored. A lot of the buildings are still in the original art nouveau style, very unusuals for a zoo. I don't know of any other zoo that has a distinctive architecture like that. They've done a good job of keeping it a nice blend of architecture, instruction, animal displays and 'terrasjes met speelpleintjes', areas for the parents to sit down, sip a beer while the kids release their energy on the adjoining playground...needless to say, we all had a great time.
Kevin also got a kick out of taking the train. Public transport is so well arranged here, that it's often easier and cheaper (no parking fees) to take the train for a day out. To little kids, it's an adventure. For their parents, it's a convenient way to travel with toddlers. What I especially appreciated here is how clean the trains were. Despite the high number of users, or maybe just because of that, they do manage to keep the trains clean, modern and enjoyable. The fact that the trainstations are very central in the cities, and built to impress in grand style, makes it even more appealing to use them. I highly recommend visiting the trainstation of Antwerp if you're passing through and are using public transport. The art nouveau architecture is beautify, and reminiscent of the musee d'Orsay in Paris O (which was also a trainstation in an earlier life) .
More to report soon, but need to get a chocolate fix first.
