Tapis de Fleurs

We were up and out before the crowds this morning and went for breakfast in the Grand Place where I had an omelette with smoked salmon - it was delicious!  The staff were really friendly and let us go upstairs to take photos of the flower carpet as you get a much better view of it.  

We then went to the Brussels Museum where they had an exhibition of Belle Époque posters which was really interesting, and we paid to go on the balcony to see the flower carpet from a different angle. I was able to take a panoramic shot from here, that I’ve added to my extras.

There are over 500,000 begonias which are hard planted in about 4 hours, it really is an amazing work of art!

The rest of the day/evening has been spent catching up with old friends from when we used to live here.  At lunch time we met Mary, Jenny, Sue and Jacqui at one of my favourite restaurants L’Entree des Artistes at Place du Sablon.  Then at 7pm we went to a typical Belgian Bar A La Mort Subute and met for drinks with Sandra, Kristina, Fiona & Sybil.  Chrissy’s son Matt and his Belgian girlfriend Margaux also joined us, as did Xena the young Belgian girl who I met when she was studying in Brighton.

Xena had messaged me earlier in the day to say that her parents would like to meet me and asked if I would like to meet them. Theyre such a lovely family, and hugged me and thanked me for helping Xena when she was having a tough time, they even invited us to their house tomorrow, but I explained that we already had plans, however I said that I will return with Alan some time.

It’s been a really wonderful day, full of laughter and Chrissy has enjoyed meeting my friends, who between them all, paid for our evening!