Friends and Family, Plants, Travel
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The Abbey & The Flowers

I realised at some point that I took just too many photos in Bruges to make them reasonably fit into a post.

The city of Bruges is undeniably beautiful. Not to mention that on our single day’s trip we visited a lot of chocolate shops, ate some waffles, gobbled some truffles, drank fancy hot chocolate, and even managed to find some moules (mussels) and frites … so the necessary food shots all have to be included as well.

And I know my father would miss it if there wasn’t at least five or fifty shots of one or both of his daughters stuffing their faces!

Don’t worry father, those photos are coming.

But for now, let’s take a detour, through the abbey.

 

Not so far from the city centre- yet far enough to see, on a rainy day at least, a marked drop in the number of tourists- is the ‘Princely Beguinage Ten Wijngaarde’.

Which, by the way, is a new word for me.

Beguinage: a locale to house beguines (la religious women who do not take vows or retire completely for the world).

This Beguinage, which was built originally in 1245 (!!!), not only houses some beguines (a flurry of beguines? what do we think the collective noun is?), but also several nuns.

 

(^neither Beguine nor nun. This is, in fact, a heathen!)

The Princely Beguinage is known for its wonderful white houses, and for its tranquility.

They also had bluebells, but they were not so great a visual feast for we, who had seen the hallerbos! 😉

And so, to honour the tranquility, when we sang, we sang quietly…

She climbs a tree….

…and scrapes a knee…

… her dress has got a tear…

… she waltzes on the way to mass, and whistles on the stair.

and underneath her wimple, she has curlers in her hair. I’ve even heard her singing in the Abbey!

dundundunDUN!

Anyway.

After the brief musical interlude, we headed past perils unknown (dragons!), to Minnewater park:

(Possibly also past WAMPIRES (which is the way to say vampire in German I am fairly certain)).

True to it’s name, the park featured a whole lot of water. Some of it consisting of the ‘recently fell from the sky’ kind, and the large majority belonging to the Minnewater river.

Nice huh?

Thing is, I like water, but what really makes my cold little heart sing, is plants:

This sickness, it is of the familial kind!

Look, to be perfectly honest, this kind of ‘planted in a garden bed’ ornamental thing is not usually my jazz.

But these were Just.

So.

Lovely.

   

Once, recently, a close friend asked me why I have so many plants in my appartment, and why I like them so much.

I guess the truthful answer is probably that our parents instilled a strong love of nature in us both as kids.

But the answer I gave was something more like this: I love plants, and find constant unending delight in their complexity and diversity. They make me happy.

And if plants can make me so joyful, in so many situations- well then that is a very easy method by which to find happiness. And then, why would I ever wish to have a different view of the world?!

 

1 Comment

  1. Pingback: Back to Belgium (Bruges) – Fish with Whiskey

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