First off: happy international women's day to all my lady friends.
I started reading the second book of the Inkheart trilogy on Monday, but I've been very tired the past two weeks so I only managed to read the first 70 pages or so - and skipped the past couple of nights. Instead of sleeping in this weekend started as early as any regular weekday: my brother Arnold and I arranged a weekend in Antwerp, Belgium for mom's birthday back in January. I packed lightly (an overnight bag that had both my mom's and my stuff) and then we waited for my brother to come and pick us up.
We arrived at the hotel before noon and we were able to check in right away, which we did. The room looked clean, with three beds and a tiny kitchenette.
It was almost noon when we went in search of lunch. After lunch we went shopping. Not just for clothes (I think my brother got himself a new wardrobe - heh) but for chocolate, too! Del Rey had incredibly tasting cakes and desserts, and Neuhaus happened to have interesting deals. The lady in the latter store was friendly and incredibly helpful, helping us to as much chocolate as possible with spending as little money as possible :)
My friend Sacha called me to tell me the good news: he managed to get mom and I tickets for the Springsteen performance at Pinkpop. Woo-hoo! :D
At the end of the evening my brother Arnold and I drop everything off at our hotel, and leave mom behind (so she could rest her legs a bit and freshen up for dinner) while we went to Mekanik Strip, a comic store, just down the street from the hotel. My brother picks up a couple of books (including another Strangers in Paradise pocket), as I find out they don't stock single issuesanymore. Well, poop, no "Echo" for me then.
We headed for China Town for dinner (Peking Duck, anyone?) and we actually found a restaurant that doesn't use MSG: City Palace. We tried the duck (really good!), a spicey tofu dish (very yummie, too) and a chicken dish (none of us liked that one, and we were disappointed).
After the movie we sort of walked around the neighborhood a bit, before deciding on seeing whether we were able to catch a screening of The Watchmen. We were walking through a street that runs parallel to the one that has all the Chinese and other Asian stores and restaurants, when I suddenly noticed all the sex shops and gay flags. (My friend Brad later tells me it's dubbed "Vaseline Street"...) We pass Mercy Seat Ministries, literally sandwiched between two gay/sex clubs. Talking about outreach, eh?
We were lucky: there was one late screening of The Watchmen (21:30 hours) which I got us tickets to. I was a little worried mom would be bored out of her mind, but it later turned out it was her favorite part of the trip!
When we woke up the next morning, and packed up our stuff (check out time is 11:00 hours) it was raining outside. We checked out, and I got us vouchers for the Fashion Museum (my mom's proverbial cup of tea). On our way to Grand Café Horta, where we were planning to have a late breakfast, we passed a bakery. Mom wanted to get some fresh croissants, so she (and my brother) went inside. I waited. At one point the door to the bakery opened and I thought it might be mom and my brother... But it was another very familiar face. The following is not the actual conversation that happened - but very close:
"BRAD?!"
Brad turns his head, misses me at first glance, then sees me.
"MARA?! What are you doing here?"
"What are YOU doing here? I thought you were back in the US."
You have to understand we hadn't spoken to eachother in over 2 years, and the last time I saw him he was planning on visiting his family in the US. (Long story there, and I won't go into that now.)
Long story short, I invited him to have breakfast with me and my family. Brad accepted :)
The next two hours or so Brad and I caught up on life and stuff, and I learn he's doing well. I'm glad. I told him of my Canada plans, and he understands: he knows the feeling and that's why he swapped the US for Belgium (the Netherlands was his first choice...).
Suddenly we were done having breakfast and Brad needed to get some work done. So that meant time to say goodbye (I hate that). Fortunately, that was short and quick.
By then the sun was out and the weather was nice enough for a stroll. We walked to the Fashion Museum. We literally walked around the block, before we spotted the entrance we missed the first time; my brother and I were distracted by a designer books store called "Copyright". Heh.
Fortunately for us, the store was closed - as most things are on Sundays.
The Fashion Museum just reopened with a new exhibition: Paper Fashion! It showed a short history of how paper was used in clothing in the old days (in lieu of fabrics) and how paper is used in today's fashion (industry).
Arnold and I agreed that this outfit would probably be a comfy wear (too bad it's made out of paper):
I think we all found it an inspiring exhibit. Not that it made us want to design our own clothes from paper, or anything... Y'know?
Anyhoo, we then decided to go home, so we could have dinner there.
We all had a good time. And mom certainly wants to go back to Antwerp again.
No comments:
Post a Comment