Don’t you love those weekends that feel like a weeks holiday?
The weather here has been like mid-summer, really really hot and clear blue skies. Friday after Care Joanna and I escaped to the Park du Cinquantenaire and lay in the sunshine for a few hours.
Saturday morning we got the train to a coastal town called Knokke, which pretty much looks like many built up British seaside towns with all the sea-front flats that look like ships, and the sun beds that you can rent. We settled for the sand and spent about five hours lying out in the sun. Despite repeated suncream application I did not escape its wrath and have some weird looking red patches across my stomach where my application can’t have been as methodical as I thought…
At one point I decided to brave the water. The first time I only got in as far as my knees and had to walk out again because I was worried my feet were actually going to drop off. But the second time I clenched my teeth and made it all the way. I even swam for about twenty seconds before the cold made breathing an issue and I decided to give up.
Saturday evening we had planned to go to this restaurant which looks pretty amazing. And we even made it to the right square before realising it was closed. Still, peering through the windows confirmed all our high expectations so we are making plans to go back when it is open. Feeling the need for burgers, we went to Quick, the Brussels version of Burger King. Not quite a classy as an American diner but we did take our burgers and chips and sit on the wall by the Palais de Justice and watch the sunset over the city.
Sunday I was at church in the morning again. I go to the Church of Scotland which coincidently is called St Andrews. The services are almost identical to every other Church of Scotland church you will have ever been to but the people are lovely and I have made some good friends there. I met up with Joanna and some friends in Parc du Cinquantenaire for a picnic lunch, which stretched through to the early evening. Most of the people there were from one of the expressions of The Well, another church here in Brussels. They have All Well once a month which I have been to a few times, and the other weeks meet as smaller communities across the city. This group had been meeting in an amazingly groovy cocktail bar called Jesus Paradise but very sadly it has been shut down this week. So church proceeded to happen in the park, lazing around on picnic blankets, which was pretty cool. We went for some food afterwards so didn’t get in finally until the evening.
One more exciting thing to tell you about. Last night Joanna and I went to a Morcheeba concert here in Brussels. They were supported by Martina Topley Bird and both were really good. I have loved Morcheeba for years as I have already said on this blog so it was great to finally see them live.
