Lunch with a Belgian Playboy

Sarah and I got up fairly late this morning and didn't get out of the hotel until about 11. We were due to meet Claire and a friend of her's from Malonne at 1:00 PM for lunch.

Sarah and I browsed around some of the shops for awhile and then headed over to the meeting spot.

We were introduced to Kamil, Claire's 16-year-old friend. Kamil is of Moroccan heritage but born in Belgium and goes to Claire's school. He speaks very good english and we had a fine time at lunch speaking french and english...all of us making mistakes in both languages.

After lunch Kamil treated us to hot waffles from the stand on the street. These waffles aren't like the ones we make at home. They're sweeter and are very crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside. So delicious. We then went for a little walk to the citadel but before we started up the stairs, Kamil had yet another treat....pommes beignets made on the spot at another outdoor stand. (Translation: apple doughnuts dusted with powdered sugar.)

It was very cold outside...in the 30's I'm guessing but by the time we got to the top I was feeling pretty warm. There was a beautiful view from up high and I have pictures to prove it. Perhaps if I'm feeling very energetic then I'll actually get some of these pics on this blog soon.

We then walked back down to town and said au revoir to Kamil who said he was going to the library. (And this kid is on Christmas vacation.) We enjoyed our time with Kamil and found him to be very charming and a self-described playboy. We all got a laugh out of that.

Claire, Sarah and I then went back to the hotel to rest. On the way there we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some supplies which included a bottle of Alsatian Gewurtsraminer. Eventually Claire and Sarah went back to see some of the shops and I laid down to take a nap....I felt tired but I am so excited to be in Belgium that I'm having a lot of trouble sleeping.

Claire was also feeling tired so went back to her place for the night and Sarah and I went to dinner in the hotel. We had a wonderful time together and a great meal. The food here is so good! Pommes dauphinoise and entrecote de boeuf and frogs legs that rocked. Before we went to the restaurant the man at the front desk printed out the menu for us to look at. Everything was in French (he said it wasn't available in English). We had fun trying to figure out what everything was so we'd know what to order when we got to the restaurant. And then when we sat down they brought us a menu in English so "oh well!" I ordered a half liter of house red and we finished the meal with a limoncello for Sarah and a grappa for me (which Sarah ordered in perfect French!)

Some of my thoughts so far are that Claire is really speaking French well and able to translate for us. But Sarah, also, is speaking a lot of French and doesn't seem to be shy about trying. She says she is now really motivated to keep learning her French. Just another fringe benefit of travelling...the more you learn the more you want to learn. I am so proud of my daughters and am so blessed to be able to travel with them. This trip is a wonderful treat for all of us!

Tomorrow we meet Claire at the train station about 10:15 and we'll be off to Brugges. Flemish is spoken in Brugges so Claire says that we're on our own to figure out everything. I say, "bring it on!"

Au revoir pour maintenot. (Goodbye for now.))