A Day Of Surprises

 Hello! This Kylie writing from the land of Smurfs and cows (Belgium)! 

We started the day with the BBC morning news where they informed us it was hot! Europeans are very shocked by the heat of 30 degrees Celsius (high eighties). Sadly we had no bread at the cottage so before donkeys we must venture out to a bakery to secure some pastries!! But uncle John is not a morning person so instead uncle Ben must entertain himself with the Dutch translation of his favorite show. Bluey! 

Uncle Ben enjoying Dutch Bluey 
 After waiting a hot minute for uncle John to wake up we started our day at a bakery where I had a chocolate croissant and a chocolate chunk muffin. There was a deal on waffles so we took 8 waffles with us for the ride! We started the ride to the donkey place in the stupid little European car, but then tragedy struck… the donkey rescue was closed. It is a bank holiday, everything is closed. 

Filled with disappointment we drove to a WWII museum and monument that never closes.  We arrived to the monument to find that it was closed… and boring. 

So as any teenager does I reached for my phone and began to google. I found a sheep farm that was open and quickly informed the uncles that I had found entertainment. So we drove down country roads to the sheep (and stopped for a mini hike to a peace monument). 

The sheep place was amazing, we were handed free baggies of seed to feed the animals and full access to explore the farm. I fed a ton of sheep and goats, it took a minute since the sheep spoke French but all animals know the universal language of a bag of treats shaking. There were sheep of all kinds and sizes and even some rabbits and chickens. Uncle John quickly befriended the chickens and some of the sheep. 

Llama with buck teeth

Fluffy Sheep I hand feed

Cool Sheep

After some time with the sheep we had a mediocre lunch at an Italian restaurant, where I had more feelings about the dehydrated European culture. (Seriously why are there no water fountains in Belgium). 

We decided to go to a small WWII museum which was incredibly cool it had so many artifacts and a whole floor of Nazi artifacts which you rarely get to see and a bunch of weapons.

Knives 

Red Cross First Aid Supplies 

As it was a bank holiday in Belgium and after 4pm no grocery stores were open so we had to drive to another town where there were rumors of a store that was still open but when we arrived the road was blocked; by a fair.

So in lieu of a real dinner aunt Lulu and I had fair food while the uncles starved. I had some fried dough (pure sugar) and she had spring rolls and squid rings. 

My “dinner”

Gambling 

And with that day 3?4? I don’t even know, jet lag is confusing. Well the day comes to an end and I am tired. I look forward to telling everyone more about the trip. And maybe I will be allowed to post a list of the culture shocks I have experienced. 

Kylie.