Translated by SFT
“Letme greet these 2 foreigners in the bus stop pavilion. They lookyounger than my son. When my son was still a student, he traveledwith his classmates by bicycle every summer. By the time he finishedbiking in South America, he had only one clean shirt in his luggage.Perhaps they need to take a shower and wash their clothing? Where arethese 2 people from?” This was what in Eva’s mind when she sawus.
We were now in Belgium, 10km away from the capital,Brussels. If we want to be on time to leave France by ship, we haveto better manage our time. Instead of cooking 3 meals a day likebefore, we changed to cooking dinner only. Our breakfast and lunchwould be bread with raw vegetables or jelly. By doing so, it saves usmeal-cooking and dish-cleaning time. Once in a while, we would havemeals in the bus stop pavilion.
Didwe violate any law by eating in the pavilion? A female driver wavedat us and she even backed up her car toward to the pavilion.
“Whereare you from?” asked a Belgium lady of French descendant after sheparked the car.
Iput down my bread and answered, “We are from Taiwan. We are on ourbiking around the world trip.”
“ Why do you want to travelaround the world by bicycle?” Biking seems to be a ‘hot’ topic.
“Iam a writer. This bike trip will be the main topic of my secondbook.” If you repeat a certain thing for 2 years, it will have tocome true.
“Ifyou want to, come to my place and you can have a shower, relax andhave a nice break.” Eva pointed to an alley near the bus pavilion,“My home is just close by.”
“Excuseme. Let me discuss with my wife.” We started speaking Chinese.Although we succeeded in figuring out how to take a shower outdoors,we were now really exhausted since we had been continued biking andstarted the street shows. We had not shampooed our hair for a week.It’s a chance for us to have a good cleaning! Eva was indeed agodsend for our wish!
Weput away our lunch and followed Eva to her home.
“You arelucky. My boy friend and I plan to move to an apartment in the nextcouple of years. Otherwise, I have to take care of all the yard workby myself.’
So,let’s have the wonderful time, enjoying the famous Belgiumchocolate and beer.
TheFrench style furniture in the living room is the masterwork of Eva’sgrandfather.
Eva’shouse is so big that you could get lost. If you not careful, you mayeven get lost in a warm-water swimming pool.
Yi went with Evato the grocery shopping.
Chuan took the opportunity to catch up withmy writing about the trip and a note to family and relatives.
Photoabove are Italian cheese, cauliflowers, and tomatoes.
Weprayed before the meal. Eva was praying with tears in her eyes, “Wehave forgotten how lucky we are. We have food on the table everyday!”
Yes,this gathering was not coincidental. How lucky we were to meet here.
Let’shave the meal together. It’s all God’s arrangement.
Afterdinner, we all went to visit downtown Brussels.
Firstthing caught our eye was a huge atom model (the atomiunm in theHeysel Park).
The‘Welcome to Belgium’ sign is right before the atom model.
There’re3 languages spoken in Belgium: Dutch in the north, French in thesouth, and German in a small region near the border with Germany
Evanot only masters these 3 languages, but also speaks fluent English.She introduced the tourist spots to us in English. In addition, shealso knows a little Spanish.
In the suburban area, there’re2 unique buildings with Japanese and Chinese traditionalarchitecture, respectively.
I guess Belgians therefore don’t haveto pedal to Asian to see this style of buildings. :o)
Thisis the lion statue outside king of Belgium’s residence.
Therewas a queen who took care of her people, but died early. Belgiansbuilt a tower outside of the palace in honor of her.
From thephoto above, you can tell how big it is.
Shownabove is the king office where he works.
Brusselsserves as capital of the European Union, hosting European Commissionand Council of the European Union as well as the European Parliament.EU related rules are made here, so the street is called Rule Avenue.
Brussels,although smaller than London and Paris, has a decisive influence onEurope's politics and economics.
Now,let’s tour the downtown square for some historic sites
Evais a very nice person. You can tell by her proactively giving thetourists information about directions.
Alot of Belgian national flags are hung in the stores on the oldstreets. You can also find the Turkish desserts here.
Wecould not stay too late because Eva had a medical appointment nextmorning. In order for us to rest longer, she left a card on thetable instead of waking us up when she went to see a doctor. Wecould not say farewell to Eva in person, so we also left her aTaiwanese postcard, wishing her everything goes well.
Evais probably wondering…“Have those 2 foreigners gotten to Parisyet? Where could they be by bicycle? I just told my son that thesetwo Taiwanese have biked more miles than he has. No matter where theyare. Wish they have a safe and enjoyable bike journey!
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