the Belgian Coast
This weekend we played in Oostende, which is a two-hour drive from Bree. Oostende is a port city on the North Sea, and the biggest vacation spot for Belgians. It was a battle between the first and second place teams. We controlled the game from the start, going up as many as 22 in the first half. Oostende made a run in the second half to cut the game to 3 points but we pulled it off at the end. After most games you shower and get back on the bus, but this game was different because we were at the Belgian Coast. So my wife and I stayed at a hotel in De Haan, called Carpe Diem (this means cease the day in Latin). It’s such a hot spot that my father-in-law and sister-in-law made the trip too. What I find funny about going to the beach in Belgium is that you drive NORTH to get there and we all know you think you go north to the mountains and south to the Beach but it’s the opposite in Belgium. That’s probably why it was so cold. No, not really because you can cross Belgium in 2.5 hours and the temperature is bad everywhere right now. De Haan, the city right outside of Oostende where we stayed is a beautiful small town with picturesque houses, streets and squares, where my in-laws spent every summer on vacation. Almost all buildings there date back from the Belle Epoque period. Each building has a tale of its own: from the first luxury hotel with mains water to the hiding place of Albert Einstein shortly before World War II. Imagine a city that hasn’t been touched in years and there are all locally owned shops, tourist stores, restaurants. My sister-in-law used to babysit the hotel’s owner’s kids and we spent a little time with them on Sunday. They have two children, the daughter Astrid is 9 and a son Edouard 6. They were curious about me because I am probably the only American they met and I had to show them where I lived on the map. So now they think all Americans are cool just like me (that’s what happens when you jump with them on the trampoline) They both speak Flemish (dutch) and French and Astrid speaks a little English. The most impressive thing I have ever seen, I am 29 and I barely speak two languages and she is 9 and speaks 3. I have a lot of ground to catch up!