Au revoir Brussels

Bonjour Londres,

After 6 days away we are back home, All family are very tired but it was worth the trip, almost all days went by without we having the problems and operation in our minds, we just did not have time to think about that, Filipa helped us to distracted and only think about the present, It was a great days. Also our little Tintin his telling thank you Filipa and Luis for the holidays.

Tintin in Belgium

The penultimate day of work for the famous reporter Tintin, took her to a very beautiful city, Leuven. It is a satellite of the Capital, Brussels and it is a house for a lively student population. Her daily blog as been suffering from the lack of her inseparable four legged friend, the dog Millou or Taz for us. Thus, her attention as been dispersed from the details, where sometimes are the essence of an investigation as of the life.

Luckily the weather is been improving, every day is coming better and better and today was all sunshine. So, she rested in a esplanade in the company of a tea and her ideas.

The days of a vibrant laziness still powerful here, essentially for me. Not doing nothing, only walking around and helping in Tintin's work. It is a shame that tomorrow Tintin will need to go back to the land of his majesty and be closer to the real world.

Tintin with her fringe:

On the boat

Ola,

It was difficult to give away a hour from my sleep, and knowing that it only will be given me back in 6 months when I already forgot it, and nobody knows if I will need it at that time, But with a cost I got up from the bed. In the morning after a Belgium breakfast with a divine bread and cheeses we filled up our stores of energy and again went to the road, now looking for Bruges. Funny that outside the house, the Sunday morning I found the same as in London, rarely we can cross with any soul wandering around, all the people must be on the bed recovering from Saturday night or just practicing the best habit of the humanity- laziness.

In two hours we arrived in a secular city of Bruges, It is one of my preferred cities in Belgium, with a mix of canals that surrounds the city, a Cathedral that will not ashamed any capital of the world, Cyclists that reinforce its medieval features. Firstly we attacked the city by a shortcut that for its quietness looked more like Wrabczyn in Poland, but after twenty minutes of a lovely walk we were in the hub, the main street close to the main plaze. There, we all agree that it was time for a lunch and quickly we pull to a restaurant in the main square, unfortunately without checking the menu, Thus, we got the risk of paying 9 Euros for a bottle of water, Of course for such a price we could not leave any drop of the liquid inside that gold bottle.

Recovered we went to discover the city, now already with Olivia awoke and ready to depart. The streets are very beautiful with all the houses different from each other but with a lot of character. When, we faced the first harbourage where the boats that cruises the canal are ported, Filipa and Luis offered us a tickets to experiment the course in the river. The trip was great and Oliwia was laughing all the course and me with such an emotions I could not avoid hypoglycaemia. In the middle of that I was so happy that I thought again to myself I still want to have many more times like that, in family and with happiness.

Today in the evening I confess I was happy but very tired, Just another note of a blind man in the rail station that where we needed to go to find a toilet before we go to our car and come back to Brussels. I sat down just beside him while I was waiting for Justyna and Filipa inside the toilets and I closed also my eyes and I was thinking what kind of things this man should do to entertain himself as he cannot look around and then activated is thoughts, But without the possibility of see it would be the intensive songs that were around that should be the mobile and stimulis to his thoughts, He was very serene and I think happy as well.

Bye as now I will focus full time to Tudo sobre mi Madre from Pedro Almodovar

Cycling in family

Ola

Tonight Olivia slept as I have not seen never, doing almost all night in a deep sleep, probably guessing a very enjoyable and fulfil day that it was about to come later in the day and she was not wrong.

Destiny was small city called Gouda close to Rotterdam in Holland, different country from Belgian where we are based but made closer by the speedy motorways, also by the bridges that the Dutch with a lot of persistence and wisdom rescued a thousand islands lost from their territory. Thus, in last than two hours we were there. I almost forgot to thank you also to the open borders that make all this countries in only one, facilitating the mobility from this people and today us.

The landscape here is slightly different from Belgian due also to the fact of been a country took from the seas, because of that is much more green and the its country side looks more attractive, at least for me. Without wasting more time, in the destiny was Carla & Luis and their sons, Francisco and Rodrigo waiting for us, I have not seen the parents for more than two years, It is too long without see a friends. But at last it was great to hug all the family and meet the babies.

Olivia did not lose any time, straight open her friendship to Francisco and small Rodrigo which is only a month younger than her, so both known and understanding their problems, they got on very well, Olivia never more would remember about mummy or daddy this afternoon until she felt hunger. It was lovely to see her very happy within new environment, She tested their entire toys special a piano.

The best would come after lunch time, this without disregard to the lunch in itself and Carlas´ capabilities in the kitchen. As we all went for a small walk around the beautiful city, walked transformed in a bicycle journey for me Justyna and Oliwia, We took Luis and Carlas bicycles, Not only us but Oliwia was in a dream, in her first bicycle experience. Could not be better place to realize the dream than in the country of the bicycles, Is the same with bulls in Vila Franca De Xira. The experience was more like moving in a meticulous tracery of canals, small bridges and pedestrian roads where the people moves like ants, looking in my eyes if they are moving without any destiny, only there as a decor, I cannot explain why so many people can go out in a Saturday and driving in such a speed, today there is no work to attend or neither a kids to pick up from the nursery, so why does this people behaved like that. Anyway we were lucky to feel the spirit of our brothers of the road. This portray is much favoured by the water that is everywhere, willing to steal any peace of distracted land.

The speed of the bicycles only had parallel with the speed that the afternoon had to pass, The time to back home and to say good bye unfortunately arrived, anyway was the promise of more days like had to come.

After in the evening I cooked a Quiche of Salmon and the night imitated her brother day, with a perfect night, in spite of the Portuguese football team did not break down the Sweden goal. Anyway there is always a next time :)

Just now I learnt by some changes in the secretary that my operation scheduled to 16th of April become closer, firstly it was when I pass the channel I needed to move forward one hour the clock and now again one more hour with the adoption of the British Summer time. Very Lucky.

Sorry for all the pictures bellow, but I could not resist

City of smells

Manneken Pis Grand Place at night

Lotus in the restaurant

Grand Place in the noon

Flower somewhere

Today after my request the weather cleared and Brussels opened the streets to our will to discover the city, not leaving nothing to know, Anyway is easy to find and reach whatever place we want, for that is only necessary to flow following the smells that are presented at all streets. Thus, some areas the Kebabs shops and its unmistakable smell gives the orientation to the most distracted tourist, some other areas is the generous fragrance of the chocolate, gaufres or just the bakeries that guides in between the small roads. So, if nobody has labelled like that before I will be the first person to entitle this city, the city of the smells, I am sure the hero of the novel Perfume from Patrick Suskind would not need to have any map to cross Brussels. I am sure all the streets that always end up in the Grand Place would give him a multiple orgasms by the smell on the air, Probably the manneken pis already represents a boy lost in his constants orgasms.

In the newest area is impressive the importance that the EU has in the city, there is a unique city only for its buildings and for all the lobbyist that needs to be around to catch all the millions to give away, But also all the staff that works for the European institutions we can feel them always around, several languages can be listen everywhere.

It is also because of the sin that the chocolates and the gaufres always revives and bring to the diabetic, which makes the city a forbidden city for diabetics. Probably is just because of the smell that my sugar levels in blood have soared.

The food in the city is something compared to Portugal but leaves England miles away behind, overall for its quality and presentation. In our lunch we went to a place where we tried tartine in the Le Pan Quotidien, delicious my friends, and in the evening Filipa and Luis offered us a none less high quality meal, this time was in a Vietnamese restaurant.

Tomorrow we are all going to Holland to visit our friends Carla & Luis and meet for the first time their small ones Francisco and Rodrigo

Tot ziens