Rebecca and I have been talking about buying bikes, so on Thursday night, we went finally did it. I now have a pink and grey 18-speed city bike, reminiscent of my first real bike -- a pink and grey Huffy 10-speed. Either bikes haven't changed that much in 20 years, or I have the same taste as I did when I was a 10 year-old. No, I think the real problem is that I refuse to spend over $500 on a bike so I'm stuck with what is in my price range!
Our motivation to buy bikes was the gorgeous weather we have had this week. We decided that if we bought bikes, we'd bike out to Waterloo this weekend. And that is exactly what we did today. We set off on the 18 km ride (about 11 miles) to Waterloo at about 1 pm. The ride is really nice ... most of it is through la Bois de la Cambre and le Foret de Soignes, two beautiful parks/nature reserves that begin in Brussels and spread out into the suburbs.
Unfortunately, the trip was not without complications. Both of us had some issues with the seats on our bikes, but thanks to Rebecca, we sorted that out after a few stops trying to fix them. The thing we couldn't fix without help though was the flat tire I go half way through the forest. However, we got very lucky and found a great bike shop as soon as we got out of the forest. We had to wait for about an hour ... which we put to good use eating sweets at a bakery across from the bike shop. But for a small fee of 12 euros, my tire was fixed and we continued on our journey.
We finally arrived in Waterloo about 4 hours after we began, but it was well worth it. See that hill in the background? That is the monument to the Battle of Waterloo. It is called the Butte de Lion ... there is a giant lion statue at the top of it.
At the top, you can look out and see the countryside and imagine how the fateful battle ue nfolded. And of course, there are re-enactors! They promised to show us how to load and fire a musket, but they also promised us it took a long time, so after climbing to the top, we decided to head back to Brussels.
So while it took us 4 hours to get there, it only took us just over an hour to get home to Brussels, all bike parts working up to standard.
The trip was fantastic. We had the weird experience of actually being in Belgium while we were riding, stopping at bike shops, and visiting Waterloo. Brussels is just a city ... it could be anywhere ... and with its dual Flemish/French identity, it doesn't have much identity. But being out in Waterloo, which really is just a suburb of Brussels, it really felt like we were in Belgium proper.
I'm so glad we made the trip and now I'm looking forward to planning more bike trips. If the weather is nice next weekend, I think my bike and I will be hopping a train to Oostende to see the Belgian beach.
On the night it opens (which was this past Thursday), there is a big "opening ceremony." We missed the fireworks display, but we were there to see the light show synchronized with classical music. It was pretty cool ... and pretty lucky that it happened this year so that we were able to see it. 
We were trying to figure out how all the flowers remain in place, but when you look closer, you see that it is petals, not full flowers. But again, still no clue how it stays down. That doesn't matter though ... it is still pretty impressive.
