Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Anna's entry:

We crossed the French-Belgian border, it was raining again... It was raining every single day for the past several weeks. We were cold, but wanted to keep paddling. The border was easy to cross, but the the weather sucked. We would be cycling for a couple of days before we reach Brussels.

We noticed two things after leaving France - people spoke more English, and Belgium seemed more poor. People however were helpful, especially close to the border. Sometimes, we would stop to get a little rest, and someone would stop and ask if we were OK, or if we needed some water, or any help. That was nice. We passed through Nivelles, from where we took a bike path along the canal, all the way to Brussels. That was my record biking day - over 70 km (we usually do about 50-60 km in hilly countries) - this is an easy distance for Rob who is an experienced biker (and who had already cycled Europe twice), but for me, with absolutely no experience, it was a good day. In addition, that day I started biking with an acute pain in my neck, but I was determined to make it to Brussels that day, so we pushed on. We made it to Brussels around 7 p.m., and it took as another two hours to figure out our way in the city - lots of busy roads and hills, and some rude drivers (nothing like Parisian drivers). But our efforts were rewarded. We arranged a stay with a local family of Benoit and Marie (and their cute 3-year old daughter Luna), and it turned out to be one of our best experiences. Initially, we were planning to spend only two days in Brussels, but after meeting Benoit and Marie we ended up staying five days. They were the most caring, sweet, and easy going people we've met. They also love traveling, and several years ago, and took a one year trip to Africa. Benoit and Marie - if you are reading this blog, thank you so much again for treating us like your own family, you are one of the kindest and most interesting people we've met - we hope to see you some day again!!! We stayed several nights past midnight talking away, sharing our travel stories, having great food and wine, meeting their friends; one of such meetings turned into taking us to the famous Belgian "caves" in Han-Sur-Lesse. The caves were discovered a couple of centuries ago, but existed from the early primitive time. The caves are descending about 46 meters below, and there are beautiful limestone formations and rivers flowing through the underground. It felt almost surreal - series of caves dripping with stalactites and stalagmites. We walked for about an hour through the caves, and then took a small boat from the underground on the river that flows to the surface. That was cool! We went with Benoit's and Marie's friend Virginia, who used to be a tour guide in those caves years ago, and since we were her friends, we got a red carpet treatment. Later that day we returned back to Brussels, and made a semi-Mexican dinner - chicken tahitas. Mary and Benoit also traveled to Latin America, so we decided to come up with some travel theme for supper. That was our version of 4th of July - the Brussel's way. :) After spending another great evening with the family, we prepared to continue our cycling.
Brussels, EU Capital