The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

If you like anything or everything Spanish, you will notice their very strong style of writing, filming, fashion, music, art and everything Spanish! B and I watch a lot of Spanish films and most of them are so emotionally tragic & heavy! Even their books! OR is it perhaps the ones we choose to read or see are just emotional & tragic ones!? ; ) Anyways, after enjoying the book by the same author above, I grab his next book as soon as it came out on paperback! The Angel’s Game is a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind. Equally depressing, dark and mystical it shows the readers Barcelona back in the 1920’s. It’s about an unfortunate boy’s life, how he grew up with a violent father, had a sad & tragic childhood, and became a journalist. Despite all that has happened to him, he manages to do the one thing he is passionate about and that’s writing. But that too soon turned into a lot of unfortunate turn of events! There are some loose ends in the book but other than that, I enjoyed reading it and I hope you’ll too.

Our Summer Vacation in France

Unlike our rainy summer vacation last year in The Netherlands, this year the weather in France did not disappoint us. Our summer adventures this year brought us to Arras and the beautiful province of Normandy. We brought home with us great memories of very good company, food, cheese, wine and many many beautiful places. Our 7 days road trip brought us to these villages or towns of Arras, Rouen, Beauvron-en-auge, Mont St Michel, Ducey, St Hilaire, Fougere, Landivy, Pont-du-Hoc / Omaha Beach, Ste Mere Eglise, Bayeux, Honfleur and Etretat.

Arras

It was a visit long overdue. We were welcome in Arras by our friends, Caroline & Xavier. Caroline is an English teacher and Xavier is a trainer for a school of construction. Arras is about 1 & ½ hours drive from Ghent. The town itself holds such historical treasures, there were many sites to visit and see, although small it is very pretty and quite multicultural. Although if you intend to drive around or to Arras, be aware that the roads are really narrow (like most beautiful roads in France) We went up to the Belfry to get an aerial view of the town, then we took a tour into the tunnels below and of course, we visited the local market. Also, recently open for public viewing is the famous tunnel which the English used in World War 1 – it was truly deep, dark and cold. Although the guide was a bit too fast, it was indeed sad to read and hear stories of the soldiers waiting there in the tunnel to only resurface again to die in the front of the enemies. We were also invited to a BBQ at one of Caroline’s friend & colleague place. Carine & Jerome welcomed us into their cosy home with delicious food and great company. It was here too that we tasted our first smelly & melted cheese, surprisingly, it was delicious, eaten with some pepper on bread. We didn’t feel left out as everyone spoke good English and they were all curious about our lives in Belgium = ) Our most heartfelt thanks to Caroline & Xavier again!

Rouen & Beauvron-en-auge

After a weekend in Arras, our next stop takes us into the province of Normandy. Before heading south, we visited the lovely town of Rouen, which is infamous as the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. The small streets lined with timber framed houses, colorful shopping streets and beautiful cathedral makes Rouen one of the must see town up North. And it was here that we had our only moment of heavy rainfall. But that didn’t deter our spirits, we went further into the heart of Normandy. We visited ‘voted as one of the most beautiful village in France’ – Beauvron-en-Auge. The first sight of it was oh so cute! They have authentic antique shops and very well maintained ‘kampong houses’. In that region itself, there are a few villages of the sort but we wanted to check into our B&B before dinner, thus we visited only one village.

Le Luot

Our Bed and Breakfast is located in this small village of Le Luot. Named La Merville it is situated quite south of Normandy. The owner, Roger and his dog gave us a warm welcome. Although a bit of a ‘Faulty Towers’ place – we enjoyed our stay there tremendously especially the evening meals we were served - BBQs, Chicken and Beef dishes, Sweet & Sour Chicken and Lasagna. We met very nice people too, surprisingly, there were many English in that region. Our late afternoons were spent there, jumping on the trampoline, or enjoying the pool, laying on the grass reading or running around in the fields playing soccer, handball or the swings with Nora. We felt at home there, so that’s a good sign for a great vacation in the making ; )

Mont-St-Michel

For both B and I, this was the highlight of our trip! The first view of Mont-St-Michel was so breathtaking, you almost could feel that lump in your throat! The picture doesn’t do justice to the real thing! The whole drive towards it was so agonizing because you couldn’t drive fast enough to reach it! The place didn’t disappoint – our fears of overcrowding didn’t surface because we were there pretty early! And if you are smart, you’ll visit it VERY early in the day. As from about 10am, busses & busses loads with tourist starts to fill the place up! If you are claustrophobic, then best visit early as the roads, stairs and shops are all very petite! Be prepared to climb or push your way up, up and up. The steps are steep and the roads too, handling the stroller can be a challenge too. But despite all that, the small steep island, beautiful shops with beautiful things in them just takes your attention away. We didn’t visit the abbey but walking around it was good enough, they were many houses, small pathways was definitely worth all that energy you have to put into climbing. When the tide is very low, you can walk around the island itself. But they do have warnings for high tides, apparently the water can come up right up to where the parking lot is! Despite its size, it holds a few museums too, and apparently, you can gather at the North Tower to watch the tide sweep in daily. We bought a lot of nice gifts in Mont St Michel, although it was pricey, it was all worth it! A must see those visiting this region.

St-Hilaire-du-Harcoet Market & Fougere

Every Wednesday morning, in the village of St Hilaire, there is a huge market. In this market, you can find all the local delicacies for the region from cheeses to wine to flora & fauna. The smell of BBQ meat will first welcome you and then the noise from the cage chickens, chicks, duck and ducklings will draw you closer. Like a lot of market in Europe, St Hilaire is not so much different, it is just bigger and offers much more local fresh produce like bread, vegetables, meat and freshly cooked paella in gigantic woks. The one thing that we saw here that attracted us was the corner where the local dress in typical village costumes, weaving balls of cottons into cloth. Still in practice, I can imagine, it must be painfully long just to get one meter of cloth = )

Fougère, is surprisingly located in the very Northern part of Brittany! (For the oblivious, Brittany is the province just south of Normandy) Fougère is not an especially pretty town but the castle is worth a visit. Located at the bottom of a beautiful winding road, it is best visited on foot! There is a guided tour hourly but you can wander around on your own too, which we did. The outside, in our most humble opinion, is more attractive then the inside. The town is also famous for its museum where they show their famous footwear making techniques.

D-Day (Omaha) Beach, Ste-Mere-Eglise & Bayeux

A visit to Normandy is definitely not complete without a visit to the D-Day beaches. The northern stretch of the coastline is a paradise for history fanatics like B! There were too many museums, beaches and important historical points to choose from. But Pointe-du-Hoc definitely didn’t disappoint. I find it abit too sad to be reminded of all the death of young boys during the famous battle of D-Day. There were many Americans visiting the place. We can still see the many shell holes (made by bombs) and bunkers left behind. A nice calm place for walks along the small hilly dunes but as soon as you realize how much blood has poured into the place, you feel just so down! The visit was like a pilgrimage for B but a sad & disturb one for me – only goes to show what a waste war is to the world!!

Ste-Mere-Eglise is another famous town just inland from Utah beach. This was the town that was immortalized in the famous war movie – The Longest Day. Here we visited the Airborne Troops Museum, which is small but holds many personal postcards, letters and memorabilia of soldiers from the pre & post war days.

The town of Bayeux is famous for its medieval ensemble, maginificent cathedral and world famous Tapestry. Our visit to Bayeux was only for the Tapestry, although the shopping streets, old fashion tearooms entice us to stop and have something or buy something = ) The 70 metre long Bayeux Tapestry tells the tale of Norman Conquest of England. Although it was created over 9 centuries ago, its coloured wools has barely faded.

Honfleur & Etretat

On our last day, after saying our goodbyes to our hospitable host, Roger. We set off to visit the must see fishing village of Honfleur. Located right on the northern tip of Normandy, it has a unique church made of wood and also, this was where the famous composer & surrealist, Eric Satie, was born. We visited his museum which we enjoyed as it was not too big and definitely unique! A flying pear welcomes you as you enter! Hehehhehe Besides its winding streets and gorgeous waterfront, shopping is so pleasurable here. And it is a famous stop for almost all tourist visiting Normandy. As the day progresses, like Mont St Michel, the tiny town gets more crowded.

Etretat, just further north of Honfleur, is a seaside village with amazing cliffs. It is picturesque and having been long deprived of a good beach or seaside – this was so heavenly for me! The sights of the cliffs, green grassy pastures on top of the cliffs were all so gorgeous. The sea was so welcoming and the sound of the waves hitting the pebbles that makes up the beach was especially very calming. If not for the fact that we had to head the road to avoid the peak hour traffic, I could have just sat there the whole day with the cliffs around me, smell of seawater and the sounds of the pebbles doing the dance with the waves – like tap dancers on water = ) If there is one place that I would like to visit again, it is definitely Etretat.

Normandy was such a memorable province to visit. It was hard for us to say goodbye and get back to the real world! But we hope you have enjoyed reading our stories. And finally, click H E R E for pictures = )

France

We just got back from our summer vacation in France. We shall come back for more ‘show & tell’ as soon as we are well rested and have sorted out our photos and the gigantic pile of laundry.

Le Mont St Michel

Etretat

Our Neighbourhood Summer Festival

This weekend our neighbourhood came together in the name of neighbourliness to ring in the summer (which officially started on the 21^st of June). This is also the typical local way of ringing in the end of the school year for children in Belgium – well, at least in Flanders. So, since we live in a Turkish Village – our streets were lined with Donna Kebab’s carts and a lot of Turkish delicacies too. Besides the flea market, the community put up spring castles, create a circus corner for children, road safety corner, soccer street corner, tug of war, arts & crafts tent where you can get henna tattoos or your face painted – all FOR FREE !!!! U have to pay for what u buy at the flea market of course and the delicious Kebab’s but the rest of the activities you can enjoy without hurting your wallet! One of the many advantages living in a not so rich neighbourhood. I remembered back then in Voskenslaan, besides paying quite a sum for a space to sell your ‘junk’ – you also need to pay to have abit of fun, so rides for kids or face painting comes at a small fee. Anyways, those ringing in the summer like us, have fun especially with your kids.

Farewell and Thank You for the Music

This morning, the news brought me some “numbing” news – although B was the first to break the news to me then the radio confirm it again. I am still in a state of disbelieve. But all I can mutter right now is “Rest in Peace Michael and Thank You for all the Music”. Thank you for making my growing up years memorable with your songs, fancy dance moves and later you ‘entertained’ the world and your fans with your eccentric way of life. I hope you are in a much happier place. Farewell Michael Jackson.

The Longest Day

Today is officially the longest day for 2009. There are so many things and traditions that I had to learn about or to adapt when I moved here – and long summer days is one of the most difficult ones for me. Even now, after being here for more than 5 years, I still do not like such long days! Well anyways, we made a short 5 km walk at the nature reserve nearby – De Bourgoyen. B and I have signed up for a walk coming up in August, thus we thought it best that we start practicing now. We waited for the rain clouds to disappear and then headed off to also celebrate a midsummer festival at the park. There were bands, drinks and cakes. Of course all sorts of things for kids to do too. Thanks to that 5 km walk we did, I now feel tired enough to head to bed (although it is still quite bright outside!) – thus that’s all for now folks, till soon again, hugs.

Kai Mook - The Baby Elephant

In May this year, Belgium welcome its first elephant born in captivity (actually, the first elephant EVER to be born in Belgium!) Since then the Antwerp Zoo has been receiving barrages of visitors because of little Kai Mook. We were, of course, curious too and besides, a trip to the zoo is long overdue for Nora. So, on a Thursday afternoon, we picked Nora up from school and off we went to Antwerp on a train! Double surprise for Nora cos she had no idea where we were going and how = ) She loved every part of her afternoon. Although Kai Mook was taking a nap during our visit, we could still see her and she looks so small and adorable! I have never seen such a small baby elephant!

Well, since we had been there several times before, we ask Nora which animal she wanted to see and we headed straight towards that. It was so pleasant – no crowd thus we could take our time. We love the tigers best, as they were pretty active, jumping around, swimming in the water…. Gave us all quite a show! Nora was abit hesitant to stand too close to the looking out fence though. We ended the day with dinner at Hector’s Chicken – though not as good as KFC, its close enough!!! And it’s even halal.