Yesterday my friend, Bec, who lives in the south of the Netherlands hopped a train to visit me in Brussels. I love that I have a social life here in Belgium, and that it’s international!

We didn’t have much of a plan for the day, other than to catch up, eat and drink. Which is just as well really because that’s about all we did! We explored the city a bit and managed to catch a little bit of culture, coming across a random brass band playing the Lion Sleeps Tonight as we wandered through a craft market.

Then we explored some the drinking establishments of Brussels, whcih I’m sure is still on the tourist and culture trail.

At one bar we could hear the sounds of Calling Mark (Dire Straits tribute band) as part of the Brussels Summer Festival. I had no idea what they were setting up as I walked through the Place des Palais to meet Bec at the station but, having looked up what was happening, wish I’d been more on the ball as it looks like a great, quite casual, music festival. Still, Bec and I talked so much I’m not sure we would have appreciated a full day at the festival and I’m sure we solved a lot of the world’s problems while we were at it (also, Saturday night  was sold out).

Despite the mild hangover this morning, I still managed to go for a (late) morning run through the park. I can probably thank Lucky for that though as he refused to let me sleep past 8.30 – kept swatting my face and swishing his tail at me until I got up.

Did a bit of tidying up in preparation for Alynn coming back tomorrow (yeah, my Brussels days are almost over) then took myself out to be a tourist. I discovered this morning that the Royal Palace, which is only open between July and September is free! So I took myself off to explore the Hall of Mirrors and some royal rooms.

If you look closely you can see me in the mirror taking the picture

The Museum of Military History is also free so I went there too (love free stuff), passing the European Parliament on the way.

There’s a really big aviation section with some old military aircraft and some weird and wonderful examples of early aeroplanes.

I think I’m going to miss Brussels. I’m definitely getting more waffles before I leave tomorrow…

We’ve been in Belgium a week now and so far it suits us fine. We’re still getting up and doing some exercise in the park in the mornings (except for one day when it rained all day long) so I feel pretty good before I start work.

Running through the Park du Cinquantenaire

Fairy tale tower in the middle of the park

My cupcake recipe book is coming along. In order to format it properly, I’ve been learning geek stuff like HTML coding. It’s lucky that Barry is here though to explain stuff to me. Although, without him, there is always Google, and Google knows everything, so I might manage this weekend!

It’s not all running and typing though. We walked into town one evening to go out for dinner. So there we were, near the Grand Place, eating mussels in Brussels.

View from the restaurant

We strolled around town watching street performers and, of course, eating waffles. I think they taste best without any adornment – no fruit, no ice cream, no icing sugar, just waffle.

The Grand Place

Barry left for Ireland this morning, for his nephew’s christening, so it’s just Lucky and me here in Belgium. Lucky will probably miss Barry’s cuddles (Barry is more affectionate to the cat than me sometimes!). I certainly missed Barry this morning, when we had an adventure with a mouse. But we survived (the same cannot be said for the mouse I’m afraid).

Hopefully tomorrow morning is not so eventful.