Holidays Part 1
So, after a whole year of corporate work..... I have taken a 10 day, parent free holiday....... Malta is not an option for holidays, as it turns out to be more stressful than non-holidays, so I decided to take my annual vacation up in western europe, travelling through France, Belgium and Holland. The break was very much needed and although quite an emotional experience, it was a good escapade from libya and work life.
The first part of the trip was France.... after attending Stefan's and Irina's wedding in Romania, I felt it would do me good to attend Emmanuel's and Eileen's wedding in France. Emmanuel was also my president and team member during my first year in Belgium....
I flew to Brussels from Tripoli on Thursday morning..... as soon as I landed I put my luggage down in my old house (Petra let me stay in her room!!) and hit the shopping streets.... It was cool seeing the old house I lived in, round the corner from the Grand Place... the Landlord was also very surprised to see me again...... with a surprised look on his face he told me 'Tu es retourner?'... and surprising the following words came out of my mouth 'Oui, seulment pour un petite vacance!' - my French came back!!!!!
The shopping streets were a bliss..... ahh how I missed shopping in Brussels, the variety of clothing, shoes and accessories.......
The evening was a special catch up evening with Claudia and Petra... it was a though we had never been apart!!! Gezz I cannot beleive I hadn't talked to these girls in 2years... and its like we had only talked yesterday..... Petra and Claudia are Austrian and Spanish respectively and both ex-housemates and brussels buddies for 2years..... It was great catching up over a dinner of sushi and loads of wine..... We're lucky we were kicked out..... as towards the end we were so loud.. talking about the subject the 3 of us enjoy talking most.... not going to disclose here!!
The first part of the trip was France.... after attending Stefan's and Irina's wedding in Romania, I felt it would do me good to attend Emmanuel's and Eileen's wedding in France. Emmanuel was also my president and team member during my first year in Belgium....
I flew to Brussels from Tripoli on Thursday morning..... as soon as I landed I put my luggage down in my old house (Petra let me stay in her room!!) and hit the shopping streets.... It was cool seeing the old house I lived in, round the corner from the Grand Place... the Landlord was also very surprised to see me again...... with a surprised look on his face he told me 'Tu es retourner?'... and surprising the following words came out of my mouth 'Oui, seulment pour un petite vacance!' - my French came back!!!!!
The shopping streets were a bliss..... ahh how I missed shopping in Brussels, the variety of clothing, shoes and accessories.......
The evening was a special catch up evening with Claudia and Petra... it was a though we had never been apart!!! Gezz I cannot beleive I hadn't talked to these girls in 2years... and its like we had only talked yesterday..... Petra and Claudia are Austrian and Spanish respectively and both ex-housemates and brussels buddies for 2years..... It was great catching up over a dinner of sushi and loads of wine..... We're lucky we were kicked out..... as towards the end we were so loud.. talking about the subject the 3 of us enjoy talking most.... not going to disclose here!!
Claudia, Petra and I before gobbling up all the sushi!!
The next day was the adventure trip to France to attend Emmanuel's wedding in his farm in Champotran France (somewhere next to Colummiers and Mouroux an couple of Kms out of Paris).
Stefan, Irina and I decided to rent a car and drive off to the wedding place from Brussels.... my first car rental, and relatively safe driving experience in Europe (the others had turned out to be quite disastrous).....
The drive to France was great..... GPS is the best technology every invented!!!! I was not counting much on Stefan's map reading skills (.. you were great Stefan)...... and was expecting a 3 1/2 hr drive to end up being an 8hr drive...... but GPS was our saviour... so we headed out to Coloummier in our little Golf...... the drive was good apart from the little hitch of me getting a 90Euro speed ticket..... I think the police man pitied the fact that I had a Maltese driver's license and gave me a fine instead of taking my license, which he should have done considering I was 40Kms/hr above the speed limit!!! From then on I promise I stuck to the speed limit!!!!!! I guess it is part of the culture shock of converting from Libyan driving to French/ Belgian Driving!!! - people are polite and they do stick to speed limits.....
We after bumping into Vianei and Anna (Vianei was also an old team mate).... we found them lost somewhere in coloummiers looking for the hotel.... we headed off the the hotel where me met with Frederic and thus completed the old Belgium team.....
The next day was the wedding, an experience I would never forget.... we were all part of the wedding entourage.... which involved the accompanyment of the bride and groom throughout the wedding... it was great!! We all got to wear hats and long dresses. The wedding was a whole day do, with lunch, mass, reception and dinner.... apart from the fact that I was sick... it was great catching up with old friends...... reminising, joking, laughing, dancing, eating....... just perfect....... The next day.... the 3 of us with terrible hang overs, Stefan, Irina and I jumped back into our little black Golf, put the GPS on, nice music, and headed back to Brussels - no speed tickets this time!!!
A glimpse of the wedding:
Stefan, Irina and I decided to rent a car and drive off to the wedding place from Brussels.... my first car rental, and relatively safe driving experience in Europe (the others had turned out to be quite disastrous).....
The drive to France was great..... GPS is the best technology every invented!!!! I was not counting much on Stefan's map reading skills (.. you were great Stefan)...... and was expecting a 3 1/2 hr drive to end up being an 8hr drive...... but GPS was our saviour... so we headed out to Coloummier in our little Golf...... the drive was good apart from the little hitch of me getting a 90Euro speed ticket..... I think the police man pitied the fact that I had a Maltese driver's license and gave me a fine instead of taking my license, which he should have done considering I was 40Kms/hr above the speed limit!!! From then on I promise I stuck to the speed limit!!!!!! I guess it is part of the culture shock of converting from Libyan driving to French/ Belgian Driving!!! - people are polite and they do stick to speed limits.....
We after bumping into Vianei and Anna (Vianei was also an old team mate).... we found them lost somewhere in coloummiers looking for the hotel.... we headed off the the hotel where me met with Frederic and thus completed the old Belgium team.....
The next day was the wedding, an experience I would never forget.... we were all part of the wedding entourage.... which involved the accompanyment of the bride and groom throughout the wedding... it was great!! We all got to wear hats and long dresses. The wedding was a whole day do, with lunch, mass, reception and dinner.... apart from the fact that I was sick... it was great catching up with old friends...... reminising, joking, laughing, dancing, eating....... just perfect....... The next day.... the 3 of us with terrible hang overs, Stefan, Irina and I jumped back into our little black Golf, put the GPS on, nice music, and headed back to Brussels - no speed tickets this time!!!
A glimpse of the wedding:
Stefan and I infront of Manu's farm in Champotran decorated with the Belgian and Fillipino flag...
Emmanuel Greet Eileen with her bouquet as she came down the stairs
Irina, Anna and I posing in our long dresses and hats!!
Eileen and I... the hat novity wore off... ahh it was so nice seeing Eileen and Emmanuel getting married.... I remembered I was a witness to their getting together 3years ago during a conference I had organised....... good luck Manu and Eileen
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