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Travel With Me Abroad

Hello to all.  I’m very excited for the opportunity to share my upcoming adventures through Themetrip.  In the next couple of months my husband and I will be starting a new chapter in our lives with our big move to Brussels, Belgium. 
A little about the upcoming blog and myself: 
I love food! While eating breakfast I’m already talking about dinner. I will be posting notes and pictures of where we dine, what we eat and sometimes what I cook.  
I love adventures! With my husband being in the Navy, we have had and have the ability to visit and experience places all over the world.  I will post about our travels and experiences while living in Belgium. 

Contact Nakoma

Interesting Happenings

12/16/2014

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I walked over to a gym that is very close to us.  It’s located on the second floor in the Stockel Square Shopping Center.  I was given a tour to see all the facilities. The gym was not very busy. It had an Italian man (guessing 70’s, who was in slacks and a jacket) flirting with a woman (guessing 70’s in gym clothes), one man walking on a treadmill and a yoga class that had about six people in it.  In the sauna and Jacuzzi room, I was told, “room for both men and women. Bathing suits or no bathing suites, it’s ok.”  The gym was very nice and offered many fitness classes.  It’s 80 euro for the application fee and then 84 euro monthly. If two people join the application fee is waived.  There is no contract and no fees to cancel.  If away for a week or two and notify gym they will take those days off your next month’s bill.  I think that’s how it was explained.

I waited 20 minutes in line at a Carrefour Planet (Carrefour is grocery store and more) to pay for 4 items.  Why did I wait for 20 minutes? Because I walked to the store and was determined to get what I came for.  Well, I’m glad I waited.  The store had a special going on, if you spend 100 euro, you get a free bottle of wine.  Now, that’s my kind of store.  I’m sure there was a sign in French and Dutch about a free bottle of wine, but it was a nice surprise for me.


Begging.  A younger guy with braces, nice jeans, nice shoes, was begging on the streets.  A woman on the metro clean clothes, hair done, was begging.  People cleaning car windows, in nice clothes, begging.  People who are younger (teenagers) and older stop to give those who are begging money or food.  I don’t’ understand how someone can have braces and nice clothes needs to beg. I saw a woman having a long conversation with this younger guy who was begging.  I wonder if she was telling him to get a job, or go to school.  Not sure. I should learn French.

I tried foie gras and it was delicious! Foie gras is made from liver of a goose or duck.  I had it at the Christmas market in Stockel.  It was listed on the menu as Foie Gras poele, pain d’epices, pommes caramelisees. This translates to, stove foie gras bread spices, caramelized apples.  The way it was prepared made it taste like French toast. It melted in my mouth and was so rich with sweet flavor.  I’m looking forward to trying foie gras again.  


The other night Adam and I went to the Christmas parade in Brussels.  The floats were really beautiful. Would I go again? Nope.  That was a check in the box.  Being freezing and then trying to puzzle your way through thousands of people, not worth it.  We also found out afterwards that a lot of the metro stops had already shut down for next day’s strike.  So we had to walk more than we wanted to find a metro that was open. 

Strikes, strikes and more strikes.  In two weeks there has already been three strikes.  These strikes have completely shut down airlines, railways, buses, pretty much all public transportation.  A lot of business shut down during the days of the strikes too. Today the police are going on strike.  The strike has already effected people at the airport.  I read thousands of people were stuck at the border control and all the luggage in baggage claim was completely backed up. The police are going on strike over pension reform.

I added some photos below.  Some I discussed in my Interesting Happenings post and others I just wanted to share. The video is of a street performer in Antwerp.  The other video is a carousel at Brussels Christmas Market.  I talked about in a previous post. Enjoy!

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No More Hotel

12/8/2014

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 Last Wednesday we had two moving companies at our apartment.  One company was there to deliver loaner furniture and the other company was delivering our unaccompanied baggage.  The unaccompanied baggage had more of our clothes, toiletries, bedding, towels and some basic kitchen items to get us by until the rest of our stuff arrives.  It is really nice to be out of the hotel, but it’s still tough not having all of our things. 

The way they deliver furniture and other items is crazy.  Not only do they have a moving truck, but they also have another truck with a lift on it.  This truck is pulled up to the front of the house/apartment and delivers the furniture through two big French doors, a sliding glass door or a gigantic window.  In our move they had the lift go to the third and fourth floor.  They put the tables, chairs, couches, bed, and armoires on the lift separately.  I posted a video below of the movers setting the truck up. 

We don’t know when the rest of our house goods will arrive.  We hope to have it before Christmas. It could possibly be after the New Year.   Adam wanted to make a nice Christmas dinner and I wanted to make a yummy Christmas breakfast.  The good thing about food, is we are surrounded by amazing fresh food.  If for some reason we do not get our things, we can always pick something up premade and eat it on Christmas day.  I know premade sounds nasty, but premade foods here are delicious and fresh.

This weekend we purchased our Christmas tree.  The markets were selling Christmas trees, but they were very pricey.  A tiny tree started at 45 euro and went up to 150 euro.  Of course the 150 euro was the one I wanted.  Another popular place to buy Christmas trees is Ikea.  20 euro for the tree 17 euro for the stand.  When I saw the Ikea trees, they made me sad. They were very small. We left Ikea without a tree.  After seeing prices for Christmas tree lights we decided to go back to Ikea for a smaller tree.  MY GOODNESS! The prices for Christmas tree lights are ridiculous!  We got one strand for 54 euro.  When we went back to Ikea people were standing near the person who was unwrapping the trees.  These were bigger trees for the same price.  YIPPEE!!!  Lines, well, that does not really happen here.  You kind of take turns, but have to be a little pushy or act like you don’t really know what’s going on while trying to get to the front.  We were able to get a pretty good size tree.  I tried to be creative with our string of lights, but it didn’t work.  Now our tree is decorated, but has no lights. 

Adam and I have decided not to get each other gifts this year.  Instead of gifts we will be spending money on a couple of trips.  I hope we can have these trips planned before Christmas.  We keep talking about them and looking them up, but have no set dates.  

 

 



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Our one string of lights.
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Watching the movie Christmas Vacation.
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Brussels Christmas Market

12/4/2014

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I brought a big bag so I could place all my purchases in.  I was so excited!  We started at Saint-Catherine and when we came out of the metro station we were smack dab right in the middle of the action! Christmas Lights everywhere, smells of warm waffles would drift passed our noses and seeing all the decorations made me smile.  The market was lined with little huts that had fake snow on the roofs.  Each hut had a seller. My friend and I purchased items from the first two huts we visited.  Afterwards we walked a little more and then Adam got us mulled wine.  Yummy!  It had cinnamon and apples in it.  It warmed my body up.  I was thinking the huts would be full of Christmas items.  Nope, I was wrong. The huts had jewelry, soaps, sweaters, hats, little crafts and lots of food, wine, beer and my favorite champagne with oysters.  I say champagne and oysters are my favorite, but I have yet to try it.  It’s so cold! I keep telling myself when we go to the local market this Saturday I’m going to try it no matter how cold it is. By the way, it’s only getting colder.  Today is a high of 34 degrees. 

Back to describing the market.  In the area of Saint-Catharine’s Christmas market there was a gigantic Farris-wheel, and a carrousel.  This carrousel was like no other carrousel I have seen.  It was so unique, it had a steampunk style.  We saw a few more during the night.  They were all different, but had the same style.

After Saint-Catherine, we walked towards the Grand-Place. During our walk, we passed more and more Christmas huts, carrousels, and a church that had a fantastic light show.  We were getting a bit chilly so we decided to take a break and ate at this little Indian restaurant. 

After dinner we walked up to the Grand-Place. We were a bit worried because this was the first time we were squeezing through people.  When we finally shoved our way left and right it opened up to the huge Grand-Place!  We figured out that the light show just ended and people were leaving onto the thin street that we were coming in on.  THIS WAS AMAZING! A 15 minute light show with beautiful music.   I felt like a kid again!

We hope to go to more Christmas markets this month.   When we do, I will post all about them. There is one not too far from us that takes place in caves.  It’s called Les Grottes de Wonk.     


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    About Nakoma

    I have always had a passion for Art.  After attending five colleges (Navy families move…a lot) I earned my BA in Art History.  I’m thinking our first few tours will be art, art, art and then food, food, food.  I will post information about the tours we do.  

    Please note, that my blog posts will not be consistent.  We have a very busy, and fun schedule ahead of us, that might limit my time to post. 


    For those who plan to follow, enjoy!

    Cheers!  

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