Life: Idiotropic

Another drive to Brussels...

This time Kirk was working and Tiara was in school, so I drove which was nice. It was the first time I'd made that drive by myself and it was a good feeling. I drove without much thought in the states and did long distances by myself, but here, it feels a little different and after so long, it was nice to be able to know that I could do it without much hassle.

We got up obscenely early to take Jeff to the airport. We left a little earlier than we probably needed to, but that ended up being a good thing. I have forgotten about rush-hour traffic. Here, when the biggest traffic jam is a line of cars inching along behind a tractor on a narrow one-lane road, the whole, going-to-work, big-city, rush-hour thing is just a distant memory. The traffic still wasn't horrible getting to the airport, but it did get a bit heavy here and there and slowed us down. After the airport we went to Hoeliaart to visit my friend Laura. I wanted mom to meet her and Laura offered to make lunch for us. We drove around her little town for a while looking for a bakery because I'd wanted to bring a pastry. Friday was market day, so traffic was a bit heavy and the roads in Heoilaart are abnormaly steep, windy, and narrow. We did end up finding a fabulous bakery there by the market and mom jumped out and ordered while I drove in circles. It was a French style bakery - in Belgium they speak Dutch and French and cuisine is influenced by both cultures.

We ended up spending several hours at Laura's house. She cooked a wonderful lunch and the kids played for hours on the swing in the backyard and in the house. Marlene, Laura's daughter, is 2.5 and very sweet. What was really amazing is that there were 4 young children there and most of the time, we hardly heard them. The visit was so nice and the perfect time to relax before the drive home.