Proud Belgians
When we went to Belgium this past Summer, we took a ton of photos; however, we never posted them. I think we were overwhelmed, not knowing if our photos were our next home, or if we’d ever be back to get better shots. But now that we’re going to be living there in just over a month, I was finally able to weed through our collection. I will be posting them over this week.
Belgian Queen
Thomas went to Belgium for 3 weeks in July, and I joined him for one. I arrived the day before National Day (July 21), the Belgian equivalent to the Fourth of July. We got up early that morning to go watch the parade – there was the Queen, a few fancy folks on horses, and bunch of cars with different flags. Honestly, it wasn’t that impressive. After a short walk, and an encounter with the Embassy and the police, we found the main square.
National Day Crowd
There was all kinds of things going on – booths for free samples, food, animal exhibits, tours of modern and vintage police and firetrucks, military bands, etc. My favorite part was the children’s activities. I was really amazed that rather than the stupid fair games we see in the US, their children’s games were simple thinking games. There weren’t any flashing neon lights, or prizes, and they were all free. My favorite was a balance game – stack different wooden blocks on the suspended plane without it tipping.
Balancing Game
There was also a neat exhibit by the Customs group where they showed off items that had been illegally brought into the country and confiscated. The most interesting were the animals that had been smuggled in – some alive, and some dead – such as these seahorses.
Seahorses
Later in the day, we met up with one of Thomas’ coworkers and his wife and wandered around a bit. We found another children’s area where the kids could participate in physical activities. After they completed them, they won a bag of healthy snacks. We wandered around the city a bit more, watched the air show, ate dinner, and headed back to the hotel before the fireworks even went off. It was exhausting, but it was a really fun day and a great intro to the country.
Airshow
You can see all of my photos from this first part of the trip on Flickr:
- Belgium Preview Trip – National Day (31 photos)
Related posts:
I love those seahorses! I would be so nervous moving, are you?
Lisa’s Chaos´s last blog post..Birds of Prey