This is a post I actually wrote before our holiday but then with all the packing and planning, I never got around to uploading the photos and publishing it. And then I couldn’t find the photos I had uploaded… But it was a great day with an awesome person so I’m just posting it now instead! Riss, love you! xx
Marissa is a wonderful friend who lives here in Brussels working for Young Life. We usually hang out a lot but I hadn’t seen here in over a month after she took a team to Macedonia for a service project, then skipped off to the Canary islands for a holiday while I was in Denmark and then consequently got stuck in Spain due to a certain volcano. She comes back and I am again in Scandinavia for work meetings… it was getting silly.
Finally we were in the same place at the same time this past weekend so met up on Sunday. After a quick stop at the market by her house to pick up thai food and strawberries we drove out to Chateau de la Hulpe just outside Brussels in the forest.
I’ve never been there before but it is a beautiful place. The chateau sits at the top of the hill and green parkland slopes away on either side, with beautiful big trees and a series of lakes around the bottom. Riss and I found a grassy spot and enjoyed our pad thai noodles and strawberries in the sometimes-sunshine.
There were so many families, scouts (take over the country every weekend) and groups of friends that looked suspiciously like church small groups (I’m not sure I can prove it but there is just a certain inate quality about church groups out for the day together that stands out!). We ate and then wandered all over the grounds, talking and taking pictures.
They have an awesome orchard at the back of the park where there are some old varieties and they have re-planted new Belgian apple, pear, cherry trees in between. I want an orchard…
