We’ve spent the past week here in Northern Belgium enjoying some of our favorite things.  I’m going to try to put all four of them in one post, it’s a daunting task, but I’m going to give it a shot.

Starting with bikes, they are everywhere as are the intricate bike lanes and bike paths.  The cars yield the right of way to bikes in almost all circumstances.

Most of the bikes are big heavy clunkers used specifically for transportation.  Needless to say, we have gotten quite spoiled here.  Unfortunately, it’s almost time to take the tandem apart and return to the USA.

It’s also extremely flat here, probably one of the reasons that everyone rides a bike.  We’ve covered a lot of ground including windmills, a day visiting the beach, canals, a ride across an international border into The Netherlands, and some roads paved with brick which almost made us miss the chip seal of Texas.

Sometimes we feel like we have entered the enchanted forest.

Beer, one darn good reason to come to Belgium.  I cannot share every beer we enjoyed (although I do have a picture of each one) but I will tell you that we visited 2 breweries, the beer Museum and quite a few beer bars and we couldn’t find a Belgian beer that we didn’t like!  They are malty and smooth and are high alcohol. They are all so reasonably priced here and they are fantastic!

Potatoes, they grow lots and they eat lots of the tasty tubers here.  We cycled through acres of potato fields all flowered and healthy-looking.

We visited the Friet Museum and learned that we can thank the Incas for potatoes. It was suggested that we can thank the Belgians (not the French) for fries, but we didn’t learn why they eat them with mayonnaise.

Chocolate, this country is pretty famous for its high-cocoa dark chocolate.  Although this trip has not really been an ice cream adventure, that doesn’t mean that we have missed out on many treats. They have frequently contained (dark) chocolate (because it’s good for us).

I suppose I should break out in song with “these are a few of our favorite things” to go with the hills being alive with the sound of buzzing from the previous post!

After we pack up the bike we’ll head to Brussels for more beer and chocolate before heading home.  Oh, and speaking of homes – it seems that we now have one thanks to our Power of Attorney, Elliott, who closed on our new home today (only 17 days and many closing dates late)!

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