travel

Northward bound

Dworp, Flanders, Belgium
Wednesday, May 2, 2012

So very sad to leave Orchard Farm - I will certainly miss afternoon tea with Kate.

The trip north was smooth sailing - 2 hours on the same highway which did not strain Natasha too hard. The roads in France are terrific - even the minor roads are well maintained. However the second we crossed into Belgium, the road surface deteriorated and the repairs were more akin to Australian standards - crap!

We arrived at our new accom and were greeted by Patricia - a delightful lady. The place is called Villa Relax and it is gorgeous. HUGE house and lots of lovely little quiet spaces to look out over the garden and forest - yes we have our own forest!

We settled in and I went shopping. Natasha tried to lead me up the garden path - literally!
I ignored her and found my own way down into the village. The supermarket was another new experience. Funnily enough I am actually enjoying grocery shopping (stop laughing!) and the "shop by pictures" method is a real challenge. Belgium has a lot more brands that I recognise and, it seems, more variety than France. [This may have something to do with France's import laws].

The meat section was a whole new ballgame. I stood and watched what the locals were doing and then asked the butcher if he has any English. "A little" says he... and proceeds to assist in perfect fluent English. All the meat is in a window, and you then fill in a form with the number and amount you want, leave it in a tray and go do the rest of your shopping. All your meat is then personally wrapped up in the desired amounts and you can pick it up later. What a lovely system! No polystyrene trays or plastic.

The checkout lady also had perfect English and was beautifully polite and helpful. Such a change from the French.

Our house
Our house
Our forest
Our forest
My bedroom before
My bedroom before
and after
and after
Comments:
I think I prefer the before picture!!! Great room - wish we had the space to do this here at Orchard Farm. From Kate Pegler, on May 6, 2012 at 09:01AM
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