We left Namur in our rental car soon after breakfast. The day started a bit oddly weather wise, we weren't sure what kind of day it would be. Rainy? Drizzle? Sunny? No matter, we have rain coats and luckly we don't melt.
The car ride was a joy. The Belgian country side was like a painting, with deep green grass stretching as far as the eye can see. Cows nibbling grass. Rock buildings punctuating the landscape. Forests. Streams. And when we weren't in the middle of no where, we'd drive through small towns, that were cute as a button - like with houses lining the main street, a church in the center of town, a butcher, baker, etc. The towns are adorable.
We were literally in the middle of no where when I looked at our built in GPS and said, "we'll be there in 20 minutes." Dan said, "in 20 minutes, we'll be 20 minutes from no where." It is true. It seems like it is just us and the Earth - Belgium is very un spoiled and you couldn't ask for a prettier place to drive. It is the most relaxing, peaceful thing. And a treat to look around out the windows. It is funny how driving has become part of the treat of this trip - not just transportation - but sightseeng out our own windows. Awesome really.
Lo and behold, soon we were 2 minutes from our destination. Then 1 minute. We saw a parking lot, decided that was for us. Parked. Sara got out of the car and ran across the whole parking lot. Perhaps that sounds scary, but there was no one else around. No cars. And the parking lot was basically a field. We just let her run - even though the drive was only an hour, she probably was glad to stretch her legs.
So, where were we? We were here: http://www.annevoie.be/index.cfm
All we knew about the place was the small blurb in our guide book. We had never even been to the website. The guide book said "this should top your sightseeing list for this area." Okay. Sure, we may as well go there we thought.
Oh my goodness. This place was ***awesome***. And even better? We were the only people there. Yup, we had this whole magical place to ourselves. It was built and designed a long time ago, as gardens for some rich guy, and the highlight is the fountains. There are no motors, all the fountains function naturally without pumps. Jets! Fountains! Pools! Swans! Beautiful beyond belief. Since we didn't know anything about the place before hand, we had no expectations, and around every bend we just let our eyes feast on the sheer beauty. There was one time, that I looked up, to see sun light peeking through a grove of trees up on a hill, and surrounding that was a waterfall, a a fan fountain, and swans swimming around. It could not have been more beautiful if someone painted a picture of what positive beauty is. If you go to the website (which you should!) click on "continue in English" (near the left) to see the photo gallery. And the history of the place is fascinating.
This is another good website of it: http://discoveringbelgium.com/2011/06/05/annevoie-gardens/
Oh, what a place! It had an on-site restaurant, which may as well been our private dining room. Literally we were the only people there. We had a fantastic meal, overlooking the gardens right by the window. I had pumpkin soup, Sara had chicken, and Dan had a salad. I did not have any cheese. Agh. No cheese please.
After that our spirits and belly were full. We let Sara play on the playground (in one part of the garden) and she loved that. Such true sweet glistening smiles she gets when she plays! She nearly skips around the whole place, not even touching the ground she's so happy! The weather turned out to be a gift too - just sunny, magnificent, and perfect Fall day. Seriously, we couldn't have ordered a more perfect Belgian experience if we tried.
Back to the car, we drove to our next stop. An Abbey. (Yes, we saw monks.) Dan likes beer, especially Belgian beer, so going to Abbey's that brew beer is loads of fun for him. This Abbey was, like everything, is, in the **middle of no where**. The only way we figured we were close to something was that a stone wall was built a long the wall, then we saw a castle like turret, then we saw a place to turn.
As it turns out, this was a big place. A big parking lot (lined with these gorgeous yellow trees - Fall colors are so nice here), was easy to park in. I'd say it was 5% full, which means there must be a lot of poeople that come here in the summer. We strolled the Abbey, then went to the restaurant complex. We had another meal. Steak, fries, pasta, etc, beer. And, we got to eat outside in the beer garden under these big leafy trees while Sara played in their awesome playground! I love these places that have play grounds! :)
One of the things in this playground was a zip line. Sara and I climbed the platform to prepare her to do it, and she said "I don't want to" So we got down. But after Dan ran along side her one time - she loved it so much, she must have done that zip line 20 times. "Faster!" "Can I do that again?" She kept saying! Oh, her dimples were shining on her cheeks with huge smiles!
Going to publish this - to be continued -
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