So why is it that sometimes we have to go away to remember that the little things that make a day special actually happen every day? With that in mind, here are some of my favourite random moments from Belgium, caught on camera...
We thought this sign for a 'Winkel gallery' was really funny... until I remembered that 'winkel' is Flemish for 'shop'.... hahaha. Not far from here, we found some of the coolest winkels you ever saw, selling proper old fashioned wooden train sets, and puzzles and tin spinning tops and... Ants was like a, well, like a boy let loose in a toyshop!
The guys that run 'Zucchero' (italian for 'Sugar') sell very cool handmade sweets. You can watch them at work through the windows. Sound familiar, Aussies? Yup, they learned their trade from the boys of 'Suga' in Melbourne... small world, huh?
Belgians really aren't PC, which makes a rather gorgeous change from England, where Noddy and Big Ears aren't allowed to sleep in the same bed any more, because Big Ears is clearly a dirty old man... Here's St Nic and his two 'Black Peters'...
Belgies have a wacky sense of humour too - we saw Santas just like this one climbing up and down buildings all over Brussels and Bruges. 
Perhaps inspired by the locals, we hatched a theory about this cheerful, geranium bedecked building (okay, so they're not so obvious in this pic, but the flowerboxes in real life are riotous red against the grey streets). It's actually the Department of Defence building in Bruges. We reckon that if ever the building came under attack, their first line of defence would be a button under someone's desk that sends terracotta pots crashing into the street below. "Unleash the geraniums!"
This dashing musketeer lived on a wall just near our hotel in Brussels. He looks a little too 'Antoinio Banderas' for mine, but Ants liked him.
We never actually made it inside the 'Taverne L'amnesia'... our memories were hard pressed enough to cope with the 21 beer assault and copious gluhweins!
This is just a small part of the bicycle parking space around Gent- Sint Pieters train station. There are bike racks for several blocks in every direction, as far as they eye could see. My inner hippy chick did a little dance...
You know you're in a scenic place when even the view from the Ladies loo is this good... that's Ghent castle in the background. Jolly clean, spacious and well appointed loos, too.
Twelve years ago, I sat on a bridge in Bruges for a photo. Mum, I'm not sure if this is the same bridge, but this pic is for you...
Long may the memories - and the lessons - last, even when we're home.
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