Beautiful Belgium

Good morning everyone, hope you are well and enjoying a lovely weekend.

One of the reasons I have been away from Blogland over the past few weeks was due to a lovely 5 day trip to a European country I had never visited before - Belgium!  Such a lovely place, the people were so incredibly friendly and helpful.  For example, when asking directions in incredibly broken schoolgirl French, the lady being asked (who was just standing outside her house smoking a cigarette) didn't speak much English, but signalled us to wait, went next door, called a guy out (who was in the middle of eating his dinner) who, speaking perfect English, helped us with directions in the most courteous way possible.  The landlady of the little flat we rented for the duration of our stay ignored our impossibly late arrival (Sat Nav - brilliant for main roads but didn't show the side roads!) as if this was the original plan anyway, and welcomed us so very warmly and with impeccable courtesy. 

We stayed in a little town called La Roche en Ardenne - so pretty, but with a very harrowing history, having been all but destroyed in the Second World War (part of the Battle of the Bulge).  The townspeople honoured the British and American soldiers who liberated them - on every street corner we found memorials, plaques and tanks (this one has been restored as it received a direct hit and all inside were killed)

More memorials...

This is a memorial to the many civilians who lost their lives...

Hard to imagine now, the grief and desolation that engulfed this pretty, friendly little town...

Our accommodation was simple, but simply ideal...

Lovely garden and terrace, complete with a wood burning oven...

Friendly neighbourhood pets...

Little kitchenette and comfy living room...

Lovely views of the town from the window...

However, we did not spend that much time in this charming place, as we headed each day to somewhere else in the Ardennes...

Beautiful isn't it?  But we weren't there for a woodland holiday.  No, we were there for something quite different...so, lovely readers, where do you think we were, and for what reason?

Hopefully back soon to reveal all!!

Have a lovely Sunday, Helenxx