Terrace and more exploring

Ok so in one of my last blogs i mentioned that I had some friends over a few weeks back and we sat on my terrace until pretty late at night. While we were out there they mentioned that I need to get some lights for when it gets dark. Well I do not have any outlets out there so i was trying to figure something out. Well then I went to a friends house last Monday and she gave me a bunch of free stuff(they were moving back to the states). So as i was going through her stuff i saw christmas light-PERFECT I thought!! So I got some nails and hung those lights. But then I needed some cushioning for the chairs- cuz they're a little hard. So i found some and some fun little battery lanterns. So here is the final product. First with the flash.

Then what it really looks like at night- looking back toward my apartment.

Then looking out toward the view.

I must say that last night I spent some time out there reading by my little oil lantern- it is great!
I also said in my last blog that I am trying to explore Brussels and get to know it a little better. Yesterday I did another couple of hours of walking around the city. This time I started in a familiar area- by the Merode metro stop but went in a new direction. I ended up finding this great park not too far from Cinquentanaire. Brussels has so many cute little parks tucked away everywhere.

From there I just kind of headed downhill- not really knowing where that would lead. I ended up walking through this great park of town- a little seedy but it had great little groceries-anything from turkish to carribean to african. So now I know where to go when I want something special. I also found my new favorite window- I mean who wouldn't want to live here!

Eventually after some more exploring I ended up at the beach that they bring into Brussels every summer. Down by the water-not that you would ever go in the water(too nasty)- they bring in truck loads of sand and set up all kinds of food stalls and things for people to do. Here is the "boat" that you can walk through to get in.

And in case you didn't know- Newcomb crosses international boundries- they were playing it here!

So I was pretty tired and hot so I decided to sit by the "beach" and water and grab something to eat at one of the stalls. I got some thai food- a huge take away container full for only 5 euro!! and sat and ate. I have to say the view was a little sad- about every 5 minutes a barge with coal would come down the river. Pretty cool though- they all had a car on the top- which means that people live on them! But it was nice to just be outside in the hazy sunshine:)
So after walking for about 5 hours I headed back home pretty tired but again glad that I spent some time exploring.