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Monday, July 31

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The day began on the final leg of our trip from Newark, NJ to Brussels, Belgium.

A light breakfast snack was served at 6:52 am Brussels time.

Yogurt, biscotti and coffee.

Approaching Brussels

Our first view of the area as we flew into the airport.

We landed at 7:34 am, but it was 10:15 am before we saw Hans, Anneke and Rebekka.

It does take a while for the plane to pull into its parking spot. Also we were in the back of the plane, so we were the last to disembark. Because of that we were in the back of the line for customs. For some reason customs was really slow. We were in line for more almost 2 hours!

When we got to the desk, she asked, “Why are you here?”

“Visiting friends. They are here – waiting for us.”

“Is this your first visit to Belgium?”

“Yes.”

“How long are you here?”

“Until August 8.”

“Go have fun.”

At least our part didn’t take long.

Then, because it had taken so long, Newark was no longer on the sign board where we were to pick up our luggage. I looked around for an airport worker. She said it should be on Luggage Pick Up #3. Our suitcases were on the floor next to Pick Up #3.

FINALLY – at 10:15 we saw Hans, Anneke and Rebekka behind the rope where friends and family were waiting for passengers. They arrived early to get a good spot, so had been at the airport since 6:30 am.

As we traveled to their house, Hans pointed out this white house. It is where he grew up.

Unloading at their house – about 11:00 am.

After unpacking, we checked out their backyard.

A pretty flower in their yard.

Shortly after that we got in their van and went shopping for a few groceries. Delhaize is Food Lion in the USA. It was originally established in Belgium.

Hans shopping for bread.

They have a lot of delicious bread. The shelves were slightly empty because it was midafternoon.

It was here we learned that our credit card did not work in Belgium. 🙁 Cerwin wanted to pay for the groceries.)

I had informed Visa that we were traveling, so called them the next morning. There was a typo somewhere in our overseas update. After that it worked.

Our son-in-law, Roy, wanted a picture of Hans hugging me to prove that we had arrived!

If you met Hans when they visited us in 2019, you will notice that he lost a lot of weight and stopped shaving his head.

Hans asked if we want to take a nap (it was only 3 pm here, but 9 pm to our bodies.) or did we want to see a large Catholic church – a landmark in their area. We wanted to push through the time zone to adjust to the time change as quickly as possible, so we went back in the van for a short, rainy drive to the church.

The European churches have so much history and are quite ornate. We saw this large green dome many times in the next few days.

The National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg (or Koekelberg Basilica) is an unmistakable landmark on the Brussels skyline.

It is huge and beautiful. It is the fifth largest church in the world after the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Yamoussoukro, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, St. Paul’s Basilica in London and Santa Maria Dei Fiori in Florence.

The construction of the basilica started in 1905 but was interrupted by both world wars. The church was not completed until 1969.

It is known as Koekelberg Basilica due to its location on the top of the Koekelberg hill.

The basilica is made of reinforced concrete and is decorated inside with glazed terracotta. It is the largest Art Deco building in the world.

If I understood Hans correctly, this is the door through which the king and queen of Belgium enter when they visit.

Photo from the Internet

Queen Mathilde and King Philippe

Everyone is very quiet when entering a Catholic church in Belgium – especially when there is not a service. We whispered here as well, but as we walked around, we heard a beautiful sound as these two men from Germany sang Hallelujah. The acoustics here are amazing.

We talked to them a bit before the older man sang a solo. Still singing the words Hallelujah. This is a different area than the first picture. He wanted to try another area’s acoustics.

He was definitely a trained singer.

Eventually someone with authority at the church asked him to stop because he was disturbing those who had come to pray. We thought the singing should have helped those who were praying. 🙂

When we left the building, the rain was pouring. It rained fairly often during our time in Belgium, but this was the only time there was heavy rain during the day. We heard wind and rain one or two mornings while still in bed.

As we drove home, Hans pointed out the Atomium that was built for the World Expo in 1958.

These days, it serves as a science center and museum. Inside you can find educational exhibits, crazy light displays, a viewpoint with panoramic views of Brussels, a restaurant (at the top), a gift shop, and more. There are stairs, elevators and escalators to move you from one orb to another.

Traffic stopped as this family of ducks crossed a busy street.

After getting home, Anneke prepared supper with some of the items they bought earlier in the day.

Their two youngest daughters (Rebekka and Hannah) live at home but are usually very busy at work. Anneke and the girls work at a local nursing home. Anneke as a head nurse. The girls work in a variety of jobs. Anneke and Rebekka were enjoying vacation while we were there.

Our delicious supper. The meat is turkey. The gravy (sauce) was amazing. When I asked if she made it (hoping for a recipe), she laughed saying it came from a packet.

We powered through until 8 pm Belgium time before giving in to the need for sleep. We had slept very little since getting awake about 5:30 am on Sunday morning. Now it was 8:00 pm Monday night.

I asked Hans if he could print a map of Belgium for me so I could see the locations of where we visited. On this day every stop was inside the orange circle. The airport, their house and the church. Belgium is surrounded by The North Sea, Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France.

Belgium is small – 11,799 square miles. Pennsylvania (where we live) is 46,055 square miles. We could almost fit 4 Belgium’s (47,196 sq miles) into Pennsylvania.