A kid has to know his trains

Trains have been humming and connecting the cities of Belgium since 1835, and today, we had the opportunity to witness this 180 years old history of trains in the wonderful museum of Train World in Schaarbeek.  The recently opened museum, right next to the beautiful Schaarbeek train station, turned out to be a delight to the eyes and minds of the visitors. Belgium, being the first country to run trains in continental Europe, had a lot of engineering and transportation treasures to show us.  Our 4-year-old son could not hide his excitement; running from one locomotive to another, exploring various types of train cars, jumping on some of them, observing many old clocks and gadgets, as well as being dazzled by one of the most beautiful and alive model train scenery,  he wanted to see more and more and until his little legs started to feel really tired.

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There are a lot of surprises, for children as well as for adults, nerds, and geeks alike, and I don’t want to spoil the fun by talking about all the details. Careful observers will need to be prepared for a time travel, and a lot of energy: even if you want to take a tour quickly, it’ll take you 1.5 to 2 hours to explore this big museum. Train enthusiasts will spend at least 3 to 4 hours, and will probably cherish every minute of it. You can even get your hands (and shirts, if you’re not very careful, but who can accuse you, after all that excitement anyway?) dirty, if you touch some parts of the trains. You might, just like I and my son did, carry that oily dirt as a badge of honor, and postpone washing your hands until you exit the museum, only to have a delicious break at the cafeteria of the train station, which, by the way, will continue to mesmerize you with its aesthetics, and keep the feeling of time travel to a great extent.

This was our first visit to this great museum, but I don’t think it will be our last.

A kid has to pick his apples

Last week, we shared a first with our son: our first and biggest apple picking day in a huge apple farm. In other words, we participated in Appelplukdag 2015. The event had been organized in Mierhoopweg, Wijer-Nieuwerkerken region, and it took us about 1 hour of relaxed driving on a late Sunday morning. During the final moments of our drive, the scenery made us think we were figures in a painting depicting a pastoral scene. When we arrived at the apple (and pear) farm, we saw a huge crowd; hundreds, if not thousands, of cars, slowly being guided by young people to an available parking spot. After you left your car, you had a few choices: take a slow walk on a narrow lane to reach the main event, wait for a big tractor and its attached cart and jump on it, or, leave the nostalgia and get on the horse cart drawn by strong Belgian horses.

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