Week Thirty-two

Wow, I never thought I’d say this but it is HOT in Brussels. Something has gone wonky in the atmosphere and Brussels hit a high of 95 degrees this weekend. But don’t worry, in a few short days we will be back to normal with our highs around 68 degrees.

What is a Domaine you ask? It is an estate or property owned by a person or persons. Some of these properties are created into a large park for people to visit. We have been to a few Domaines since arriving in Belgium and they are all such wonderful places. I wonder if the idea would ever catch on in the US. Imagine the Dallas Arboretum but ten times as big, stick in two swimming pools, a couple of gigantic playgrounds, mini-golf, fishing lake, camping sites, a mini farm, cafés, tennis/basketball courts and any other non-electronic amusement you can think of all so spread out that you can’t see from one section to the next. I think they are wonderful.

In order to beat the heat we went to cool off at Domaine de Chevetogne located between Dinant and Rochefort in Wallonia. (Remember, we don’t have air conditioning here!)

The last Domain pool at Bois de Rêves we were kicked out of because Zane was wearing an American board shorts style swimming suit. So this time at Chevetogne we came prepared with a suitable suit. Isn’t he just made for this attire.
And yes, Jason did wear one of these too. However, somewhere, in a non-existent pre-nup, I promised to never take a picture of him in a speedo.

Here is a picture of a slide on the playground we didn’t get to play on because it was just too hot.

I just love this area of Belgium.

More computer screen saver sights.

Having the world’s worst GPS has its downsides when you actually need to get somewhere quickly but it also has its upsides when time is on your side. We got lost a bit and stumbled upon this church overlooking the valley below.

Unfortunately it was closed and locked up but I found this cemetery up on the fortress wall.

Switching gears to Sunday, we headed into downtown to view the Brussels Flower Carpet. Every other year, the Brussels Grand Place hosts a huge tapestry of flowers. Click here to see past year’s flower carpets.
We got off at the wrong metro stop and came upon two sights we have yet to see. I love being a tourist in my own town.

Shopping center.

Unfortunately, due to the heat the carpet is not holding up as well as it has in past years. I am sure the organisers are sad/disappointed. Either that or drinking/smoking/C’est la vie -ing.

This year’s design pays tribute to African Art.

I am so glad we decided to go at 9am. I can not imagine what this place is like in just a couple of hours when the tourists wake up. In the 20 or so minutes we were there the crowds already started leeching out.

That is a lot of begonias.

And we can say we were there to see it! Zane was tired, hot and still not quite awake.

In other news, our next vacation is coming up soon!

We will be heading to Dubai in November!

And staying at Atlantis. I can’t wait to get on those huge waterslides! I mean, I can’t wait to see the joy on Z&Ls face as they go on the kiddy waterslides, that’s what I meant. Family and friends are welcome to meet us there are join us!