Visiting my Friend, Isabelle !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I waited so long for this visit to happen.. It is always a good feeling meeting your good friends..
A heart full of happiness..
You must have felt it .. So no need to explain..

It was my plan to visit Isabelle in Belgium (French, Dutch and Flemish speaking country : Probability is more to have problems in communications)..From Dortmund its not so far.. So I made this plan according to Isabelle's suggestion .. (I belive you all know her, We were working together in Porto) ..
Such a lovely, loyal pretty girl..

I had a extended weekend again.. So I went there..

Lets talk about the trip....I just fixed the ticket to go to her place by car with sharing.. As much as I know I fixed with that guy to go to Liege.. From there I need to take a train to reach Namur where she lives.. I got into the car and I don't remember anything since I was just sleeping all the way.. Once I woke up I seemed very fresh and the guy said to me in 60 km's we reach Brussels.. I was asking him

what???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought of going to Liege.. Okay ... I was cool anyway.. Belgium is a small country .. I assumed that from Brussles Namur cant be so far.. Unfortunately I just checked the train timings, frequency, travelling time from Liege to Namur not from Brussels.. I never though of going there.. So no idea abt travel time .. Okay .. I was happy any way that Its a good chance for me to see city centre of European capital city .....ha ha ha.. This is Me.. Ha ha ha..

I got down exactly in the city centre and I was walking for 30 mins around .. Just saw few places.. You will see some photos in next post.. Then I thought of leaving to Namur .. So I was looking for the bus, tram or something to go to central station.. I got good help from a girl then I was waiting for the bus.. It has come.. So I was asking the driver to give me one ticket to go to central station.. He understood me and with action he showed me that its in a walkable distance.. ... I was in a hurry i said please give me one ticket I don't want to search .. Since I was very adamant to go by bus (he doesn't really understand my situation) he said okay ..

You know guys he gave me a free ride.. There you see my luck meeting very kind people ..

And free ride in a bus sounds great right???

That was wonderful... Such a nice welcome!!!!!!!!

When I got down I was looking for the central station.. I couldn't see anything.. I was bit worried and asked help from the people.. . It was funny that one showed me the mark M in front and said this is the station..

Just look at this photo at left side.. How would you find out the Central station? very narrow entrance.. .. Right???

I never expect a central station in such a small entrance.. Finalmente, I found a place to get the ticket and I was in a right platform.. I confirmed this with many people.. I found belgium people are so kind and helpful.. I suppose to got into wrong train but one person volentarily said to me your train will be coming next.. Don't think that I am a fool.. and My ticket was for weekend.. So there is no time and train number display on it.. Everything was written and spoken in french and flemish .. So I was completely lost ..Okay? other wise I could manage myself.. I beleive so.. Ha ha ha..

When I was waiting for the train I thought of sending msg to Isabelle.. Before that she sent me message asking was everything went okay.. Ha ha ha.. I replied her I got wrong into Brussel and waiting for the train to Namur.. I informed her please don't start until I give you some news about arrival time.. ..

Atlast I reached and Isabelle was already waiting for me.. It was a good feeling to have good hug and kisses from a old friend.. Me, Isabelle, Jerome (Isabelle's boy friend) then started going home.. I didnt know that they have shifted to country side.. bit far from the city.. After our arrival Jerome prepared the Pizza ... He is a great cook.. He enjoys cooking .. Lucky Isabelle..

Okay.. here you see Isabelle welcoming us with Champagne..

And Jerome with Pizza..

It was really tasty .. After having two big slices of pizza (one with some Indian spice) with some alcohol I slept again good until late morning ..


This is the view from her window.. Such a calm country side.. So beautiful isn't????

So next day in next post..

Brussels : Capital of Belgium and Capital of European union!

So next day Isabelle wanted to take me to some city in Belgium .. It was not my interest of this visit.... But still we decided to go..

My friend always suggest to visit Ghent whenever I talk about Belgium visit.. So I asked Isabelle to take me there.. She said any way we have to pass Brussels so we visit some places in there too.. It seemed a good plan.. right???

We started from Namur.. Its a Namur Central station...



So there we go.. We reached Brussels.. Look guys.. Here is the Main entrance to the Central Station.. So when you go to Brussles always look for the main entrance, please be alert if you go by train and no worries if you go by car...

Some photos from my previous day visit..

View of Grand'Place ...

I really liked this clock.. I really liked the sound of the bell.. It was very loud and catchy..

Royal Palace of Brussels..

Some photos from Grand place..... This historic market square with its splendid guild houses and the impressive Gothic beauty of the Town Hall, is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful town squares in Europe.

You can see the beauty...

Brussels stock exchange...&

Do you know why this place is crowded???? you will soon see it....

Here comes the Manneken pis... (A small guy pissing: it represent "irreverent spirit" of Brussels... I wasn't impressed when I saw it.. But when I was searching about this I found something interesting about this ..)

(((( One story goes that a father was missing his child and made a declaration to the city that when he found him he would build a statue of him, doing whatever it was that he was doing. Thus, a statue of a little boy peeing was created.)))) from wikitravel..

Somthing from Manneken .. for the beer..

I am glad that I don't drink beer.. ha ha ha...

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When we were walking in the city we found this interesting guy.. I just wanted to give him money.. He called me for the picture and gave me very special kiss (he said that) ..
Ha ha ha...
That is nice..

If you go to Belgium and If you didn't eat chocolate or waffels it would be incomplete.. I was partially incomplete since I just had chocolate this time.. Isabelle was convincing me that Porkodi its not going to be your last visit.. So she was right.. I will be visiting her again.. so next time..

Here goes the fresh chocolate dipped fruits (banana and strawberry).. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.. that was so delicious..
No wonder they are the one of the best producers of chocolate..

More manneken pis .. its all chocolates.. Here comes the issue I cant resist myself for the chocolate..
Ha ha ha....

I end this post with chocolate and moving to the next post..

be patient guys....

Obrigada for being patient!!!

Ghent : One of the beautiful cities I have ever visited!!!!

So we continued our journey from Brussels to Ghent.. this was the city of my interest.. I heard many times about this city.. So we will see in good weather..

Starts from the Main station.. (inside)

This is exactly infront of the station.. I was bit afraid .. Where is the beautiest part ?????We were looking for the tourism office.. We couldn't find.. And happy to say that Isabelle also was in my track that she doesn't understand Flemish..Ha ha ha... She is any way much better than me since she speaks good french.. Okay.. We talk about the trip...Then we found the direction for the historic part.. It said 2.2km .. We decided to walk ... That was a good idea for going..

Here it starts the Historic region..

(In medieval times, Ghent (Gent) was actually Europe's second-biggest city after Paris and although today it is somewhat overshadowed by Belgium's nearby capital of Brussels,
it is still a huge tourist magnet and stands at the confluence of the Scheldt and Leie rivers)

I was very happy to see the 13 and 14th century buildings are still in use...

Old post office...

Saint Nicholas Church..
It is a shopping complex now..

13th century building... Running a restaurant now..

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A small house with blue door (in below photo) at right side was before the "Custom Office "... Its too small right?????

Must be handled with precious metals and Diamonds..

This was the fish market in early days.. They planned to have the tourism office here.. This is just an information for you.. ... because we couldn't find a tourism office until we finish our trip.. Ha ha ha...
but finally we found .. And I use it now for the writing you some informations..

So please don't expect to get some informations from the main station of Ghent.. This is the information for the people who goes by train.. Not the one who travels by car...

Lucky youuuuuuuuuuu..

12th-century Gravensteen Castle...
I captured these pictures from Canal tour...



Belfry of Ghent... You can find Isabelle ..







Town Hall...

One information for you...

In 2009 the city launched ‘Donderdag Veggiedag’ (Thursday Veggie Day), encouraging its residents to forego meat or fish on Thursdays. The city set the example by offering a vegetarian meal to city workers and in city schools on that day. Cities such as Sao Paulo, Brazil and Bremen, Germany soon followed suit.

So what do you think about this city???? Do you want to visit??? Please do visit me too ...

"Religious traditional Village Feast" : Parade !!!

Isabelle invited me to gothere during this time.. She said to me that there will be traditional feast in her village.. When I asked about this she always says it is difficult to explain you will see .. So I waited again for this day..

before starting to her home, I was informed that we will have breakfast in her aunty's home and lunch at her home.. I was bit afraid about the food.. Since you know they wouldn't mind to feed us if you don't eat good.. With this fear we went there... So here we are in her aunt's home..

I like this photo very much... Isabelle and Jerome were trying to give some pose.. .. That made me laugh a lot..
Here comes her cousins.. One trying to say "Vanakam".. (Tamil welcome).. She knew to say Namaste.. But I taught her to say Vanakam.. Of course I would prefer in Tamil..
Look at the breakfast.. Other table was full of different varieties of cheese..
I tasted some ..

Look my drink.. It looks like an orange juice or mango juice.. But actually it wasn't .. they mixed really a strong alcohol with juices.. I knew it before.. But I wanted to taste... ha ha ha... I found taht was too strong.. When I said that to Isabelle she shared with me.. So I was saved by her for my safe trip back to Dortmund.. Ha ha ha..Here goes my small guy friend.. Ha ha ha.. yahel with his grand mother, Aunt of Isabelle.. Still you have to see many people.. Do not confuse with the relation...

My small friend wants to show his dog to us.. So sweet guy..
After having a small chat with her aunty's friend and family we went to Isabelle's home..


In this photo you can see the back wall of the Isabelle's home.. She has really a huge house.. ..
I came to know from Jerome that her house is named as " Castle of Farm" .. Sounds good ...
Also my intention of this trip was to meet Isabelle and her great family.. So Isablle wanted to make this trip double worth it by combining village party with the family visit.. She is smart girl..

After greetings Isabelle's family we went to see the "Parade"..

Some kind of religious parade .. People from, in and around her villages dressed as Napolean soldiers.. (This parade happening for a long period.. During Napoleon period this was escorted by his soldiers... So even now people were dressed like his soldiers as in previous days)..


This parade Composed of four companies, the Hussars, the Young Guard, the Zouaves and the company of the First Empire.. They really dressed like that..


You can see the woman is serving the glass of alcoholic drink to the people in the parade..

Here you don't need any explanation.. Ha ha ha.. Me and Isabelle's cousin sister..

After we came back home ,since these people will assemble in Isabelle's home for the gun shot.. I was very curious to see this..

Isabelle's father was waiting to invite people infront of his house.. He is the boss of this family.. He has his own boss ..(I mean his father)...

You can see people assembled in her house .. I felt so proud to watch all these from her home..

Enjoyed a lot being a guest of a primary family in this viallge....

I am amazed that I never saw Isabelle so proud about this.. Very humble girl.. She is a good person right???

After that everyone made a gun shot (real shot) after receiving a signal from the person sitting in the horse..

Then, people bringing the gold box from one church to the other small chapel located inside her house.. So that is all about the party..

I found this parade very interesting that people were really so involved.. One good example is.. you can see the small baby wearing the uniform.. What can I Say???

Since I am a old fashioned person I really love to watch all these kind of traditional events..

At the same time enjoyed watching the good looking guys.. really I found so many guys.. Ha ha ha... one example is this photo.. Just for the woman.. Okay???? Why not for a man too.. If you are interested..


Here I should introduce Isabelle's mother (left) and grand mother (right)...

Three generations..

And comes her uncle .. Who was in parade too.. I just liked the dress very much... Specially the gun..
I was glad that my dress was very matching to the parade.. It happened.. I had a good instinct..Ha ha ha....

Obviously I have to take a photo with him.. When we were taking a picture he asked about my status to Isabelle.. She was laughing and explained me..

Ha ha ha..

I am proud to say I am ever eligible single.. Sounds good for me..

re

And I tried his hat.. I didn't find time for gun shot.. other wise I should have tried it.. Okay next time..
His uncle wanted to drop me in the station.. I wouldn't say no..In fact I could feel proud going to the main staion with the person dressed like soldiers.. But his wife declined it.. Ha ha ha..

I respect his wife a lot.. Well controlled.. Ha ha ha...

we both were upset for this.. Ha ha ha.. It's life.. Ha ha ha.. For a good reason its fine..

Last but not least I would like to introduce the fourth generation kids from Isabelle's family.. Of course not the one with red dress.. Ha ha ha...

Its time to end this journey saying thanks to Isabelle , Jerome and everyone in her family.. They always make my stay very comfortable and happy.. I respect Isabelle and her family a lot since they try hard to have this family together.. As a family loving person I respect this feeling.. Hats off to everyone..

So
Merci Beaucoup Isabelle..

and special thanks to Jerome for his great company in drinking vodka (I cant forget the taste of sweet, cinnamon flavoured, gold flakes floating vodka from Poland. ) , cooking, eating, chating and helping in teaching me four French words to manage with Isabelle's family)..

And I should mention here that he drove very very fast from Isabelle village to Namur to catch my train.. Isabelle was so much worried that whether we go home alive.. Ha ha ha..

But, I was very confident .. I strongly believe in that "if a person really cares about me, then I don't care what he does"...

So I was so confident and really enjoyed his driving (of course I should ...as a daughter of Driver)..

&

Thanks for making that possible Jerome.. I can't forget that..

Merci Beaucoup Jerome..

On my way home to Dortmund.. Liege a city I supposed to reach on the way to Namur....But I could make it on the way back home from Namur.. Ha ha ha..

This is the newly constructed station.. Looks good .. I arrived home after 7 and half hours travel by train..

I hope you too had lot of fun friends.. Not frustrated with so many informations and photos.. If so I am sorry ..
&
You have a good time ..

Thanks again Isabelle for your invitation..I never forget this in my life..

Muito Obrigada Menina!!

and

I guess i travelled enough.. I mean this month.. Ha ha ha..