A day in Oostende with my sister-in-law
Last week I could spend a rare day with my sister-in-law. Since she manages a big successful bakery, we don't often see her and when we do it's often very briefly in between customers and orders in the bakery. She misses most family gatherings since a bakery tends to be open when the other people have a day off.
But last week the bakery was still partially closed and I had taken a couple of days off to spend with the boys while Jan had already picked up work again (and by the end of the week I was working while Jan took some days off again...as such we split the last Christmas vacation week).
So the boys and I had no plans while Jan was working. My sister-in-law was spending time in Oostende with her children while her husband was preparing the reopening of the bakery for Epiphany. What an excellent opportunity for Beertje to hang out with his godmother and for me to spend some none-rushed time with my sister-in-law without our husbands.
We chatted a long time, went for a walk to the beach...because you must obviously see the beach if you are in Oostende. Part of the time it was pouring with strong icy wind that tortured our umbrella's. We fled inside for a good lunch and walked a bit more. Unfortunately, the Japanese garden that we wanted to visit was closed in wintertime. And then we went back inside to warm up while the children were playing together and we chatted more. It was a really relax nice time with some good quality time with relatives.
But last week the bakery was still partially closed and I had taken a couple of days off to spend with the boys while Jan had already picked up work again (and by the end of the week I was working while Jan took some days off again...as such we split the last Christmas vacation week).
So the boys and I had no plans while Jan was working. My sister-in-law was spending time in Oostende with her children while her husband was preparing the reopening of the bakery for Epiphany. What an excellent opportunity for Beertje to hang out with his godmother and for me to spend some none-rushed time with my sister-in-law without our husbands.
We chatted a long time, went for a walk to the beach...because you must obviously see the beach if you are in Oostende. Part of the time it was pouring with strong icy wind that tortured our umbrella's. We fled inside for a good lunch and walked a bit more. Unfortunately, the Japanese garden that we wanted to visit was closed in wintertime. And then we went back inside to warm up while the children were playing together and we chatted more. It was a really relax nice time with some good quality time with relatives.
It had been many many years since I had been in Oostende and I've often read about Oostende on other blogs, because the city is quite hot (and promoted) among influencer bloggers. I had often seen so many posts about the streetart but had not seen anything during our walk. However I was so happy to see the recent art on Arno when leaving the city. Awesome wall.
Comments
Vorig jaar de Japanse tuin bezocht, maar ik vond het niet zo bijzonder eigenlijk (kan natuurlijk aan mij liggen maar had er precies meer van verwacht).
De street art daar zijn we dan wel weer hard fan van, je kan de locaties online vinden via de site van the crystal ship (en ook downloaden op je smartphone als ik me niet vergis), wij kiezen doorgaans voor 'the old fashioned way' en halen bij elke nieuwe editie een (gratis) kaart in het toeristisch infopunt.
Maar in het algemeen heb ik een hekel aan onze volgebouwde kustlijn (vreselijk is dat als ik op strand sta en me omdraai richting binnenland. echt vreselijk) en nog veeeeeel meer aan de volle wegen naar onze kust toe. Ze beïnvloeden al elk bezoek aan onze ouders gedurende 4-5 maand per jaar op het stuk Brussel-Gent.