21-27 August 2010

We heard about the "biggest flea market in Belgium" in the little town of Temploux, about 24 minutes from Brussels, so of course, we had to go last Saturday. This is the road leading into the little town - we had to park way far away and walk into the town. The flea market covered 6 kilometers (3.2 miles) of streets!! Booths everywhere! We wandered around for a while and had a good time.

Of course the only thing we bought was candy and pastries!!! This is one of the candy booths - we looked at lots of other things but weren't really interested in antique plates, old record albums, and everything else you can think of that they were selling.

After the flea market we drove to the town of Namur. This is an old citadel up on a hill in the city that we visited. It was originally built in the 1200's by the Spanish, then destroyed, then rebuilt in the 1600's by the Dutch. It has been considered a strategic point for two thousand years being on a hill at the confluence of two major rivers.

There were some pretty incredible views of the city of Namur from up on the citadel. This is one of the two rivers running through the town.

We took a little train ride all around the citadel where they explained things first in French, then Dutch, English! We tried to watch a movie about the history but unfortunately, it was not in English.

Another cool view of the city from the citadel.

This is about the only thing left standing from the original citadel built in the 1200's.

This is the outside of the Royal Palace in Brussels - it's huge, bigger than Buckingham Palace. We were with five elders - they were all scrutinized pretty carefully by security as we went in. They let me right through without a thought, but not all the missionaries in white shirts, ties, and name badges.

You can't see this very well, but this is a room in the Royal Palace. This chandelier and some big ceiling panels in this room are covered with the wings of 1.4 million Thai Jewel Beetle wings. They are an iridescent green color and really amazing to look at. The wings are about 1 1/2 inches long and 1/2 an inch wide.

Another view of the Royal Palace. once a year they open the palace for about five weeks so the public can walk through and view it. The rooms are huge with intricately inlaid wood floors in each room, each with it's own unique pattern. There was an ACTUAL Louis the 14th footstool. Not a copy, the actual thing. Another room had a Persian carpet about 20 feet by 40 feet. Cameras weren't allowed so no pictures.

This is actually a picture we found in a guidebook but it gives you a little better flavor of the magnitude of the palace.

After the palace, we went to St. Michael's Cathedral - this is the inside, it's pretty huge and ornate.

You can kind of get a feel for how huge this cathedral is here. Construction was started in the 1200's and finished 300 years later.

A gold angel killing a dragon on the side of the cathedral.

Cool architecture with the flying buttresses, arches, etc. As you walk around the cathedral, there's always something different to see. The cathedral is only about a five minute walk from the Grand Place, but the feeling is totally different.

We walked around the whole cathedral and in the back of the building, the street was empty, and laying on the sidewalk was a 20 euro bill! I told the elders it was a sign from heaven and from St. Michael that we needed to get gelato! It was a hot day and the elders all agreed, so we did.

This is a little ferry boat that we drove onto with the Langevelds to cross a river in the little town of Goudarak (Howda-rock), in the Netherlands. They took us there to look at their plate factory place they always go to to order things for the missionaries - kind of along the lines of Deflt blue ware, but about a third the cost. As we drove to this little town, we were driving on a dike that was barely tow cars wide. On one side was the water held back by the dyke and on the other side, and about 20 feet lower were all the houses and little farms. Over 1/3 of the country is below sea level.

Here we are inside the factory, checking out all the neat things they handpaint for people to buy. It was a really fun trip. We were supposed to be back to Rotterdam by noon to help serve lunch to 16 missionaries who had a meeting (we had all the food heating up in the Rotterdam apartment near the church). We got lost coming back with the Langevelds and ended up a half hour late for bringing them lunch, but it all worked out. It was a meeting for any of the missionaries and the senior couples who are involved with the young adult outreach centers. We did end up on three different ferries, driving our car on and then driving off on the other side of the river. The Netherlands countryside was beautiful.