Belgian Hospitality

Being treated to some fabulous Belgian hospitality!!

Valkenburg Christmas Market

We're fans of the Kerstmarkt (Christmas markets). Last weekend, we kicked off Christmas market season with a visit to Valkenburg in the south of Holland. It was unique because the market takes place in the caves in the town. It was really special because it was snowing at the time. Having never experienced a white Christmas, this may be as close as I ever get to it, so it's something I relished. Next week, we'll be checking out the Aachen Christmas market. Can't wait. Heard really positive things about it!! And we love all the food stalls at these markets. Bratwurst, ginger bread, gluhwein, toffee apples, marzipan, hmmm....yum!

Tongeren Antique Market

Tongeren is home to the largest antique market in Benelux. Paul was fascinated by the hunting remnants. This is a photo of the wild boar head that we bought. We quite fancy hanging it up in the dining room in our home in Australia. Hopefully it will make it through customs.

Snowing Cats and Dogs?

I've been told you can't say snowing cats and dogs. But I don't know what the snow equivalent of this expression is. Haven't really had to describe such a situation in Melbourne. Anyway, let's just pretend it's a valid expression. So, it was snowing cats and dogs last weekend. We opened the blinds on Saturday morning to be greeted by snow and went to bed on Sunday night whilst the snow continued falling outside. It's the heaviest snowfall we've seen in Holland since we moved here. It's very pretty and quite special when it snows. Even the Dutch get excited by it because it doesn't happen very often anymore due to global warming. It can be quite stressful as well. Traffic comes to a crawl, cars slide and lose grip, and it's quite slippery walking around as well. We were caught in the snow whilst driving back from Belgium last weekend and a journey that was meant to take 1.5 hours took double the time. Here are some snaps of the streetscape outside our apartment.

Zwarte Pieten and Sinterklaas in Heusden

It is that time of the year again when the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas comes back in full force. Sinterklaas' helpers are called Zwarte Pieten (literally Black Peters). Last year, Zwarte Pieten were gliding by flying fox from the rooftop of our local town hall to the main square. This year, we watched them arrive by boat and jetski (and scuba diving) into Heusden harbour. Sinterklaas' then arrived by boat followed by a parade around the village on his white horse. It's interesting and fun to watch. Last year, we thought the whole thing was a bit strange, especially the Zwarte Pieten. Of course, like many foreigners we think that the Zwarte Pieten tradition is very un-pc but the Dutch don't mean any harm by the whole thing. It's just part of their Sinterklaas story and tradition.

Herfst

Autumn (herfst) is here. The orange and red colours made the chilly walk around Heusden very pleasant as we walked on the dykes that surround this pretty little Dutch village. Sometimes I take the green countryside for granted, but when I reflect on the parched and drought stricken homeland that I've left behind, I remind myself that this greeness and abundance of water is not shared by all.