Colorful Southern Belgium
This time families replaced college friends. Cars substituted bicycles. A van displaced a trailer. It easily carried all of the water, unlike a trailer back in 2017. But we were back in Belgium. Yet this time it was family travel in Belgium
The beauty and allure of Wallouie and the Ardennes hasn’t changed. Neither its’ ability to brew dangerously delicious beers. The Delhaize grocery store had shelves of Belgian beer. The first day in Aywailles we eagerly imbibed the local brew. This trip marked seven years from the first guys cycling trip around Belgium. Yet the recovery time from one night of enjoying the nectar of the Gods was like Egyptian bureaucracy, painstakingly slow.
White Family in Belgium 2024
Great Place for Great Times in Aywaille
Family Travel
The present company included two families. The White Family and the Moores. They are a teaching couple from Washington state with three kids. New to teaching internationally, they’ve taken full advantage to travel their first year abroad. There is hardly a European country they haven’t visited. This trip to Belgium evolved over a little George Strait and country music one night. That was how this two family trip was born.
Brasserie Fantôme Minus the Red Convertible
Coming Full Circle
It’s fulfilling returning back to a memorable place from one’s past. Soy was this place for me. This visit, just for a brief moment, mirrored a full appreciation of the fruits of this life. It was a perfect mix of family. This small, unique Belgian brasserie brought back great memories of friends, cycling and travel, with the current reality of being there with my family.
Erstwhile seven years ago like an elusive ghost, the owner of the Brasserie Fantôme made a memorable, late arrival to his brewery. May 2024 was the same. He sat behind his minuscule wooden bar with the same wispy white hair hanging over his forehead.
In reference, I asked him in French if he still had his red sports convertible. His eyes awoke with surprise and excitedly answered, “Why yes, I do!” Then he went back to pouring beers for the clientele. End of the conversation.
Son Grabbing the Beers
Kids Being Kids with a Frisbee
Believe Me Now!
“Let me tell y’all, the cows in southern Belgium are really muscular. So muscular that you might think the 1970’s Russian Olympic coaches and trainers have been ‘training’ them.” This statement about Belgian livestock was greeted with confused stares. It wasn’t until we passed them that the family believed my hyperbole. These Belgian cows are unusually muscular. Much more muscular than your average fat American cow.
Back to Belgium Beauty
This Belgian route wasn’t original, like my jokes about Pepper and New Mexico over the years, but it was another memorable trip to Belgium.
Joyful Goofing Around
Until the Next Time
