And That's Silly..

You’d think we’d be greeted by a bunch of yelling Vivios, maybe tears included, but it was empty. No Vivios, or anyone else. After a couple beers (which John had conveniently packed all the way from Santiago, a little silly because we were MUCH closer to Brewdog at that point) and some Frisbee playing we finally saw some familiar faces.

We really enjoyed the 'Tractor Pulling Silly' sign and especially its placement next to 'F***Me'

Dad! And Jennifer! But no mom? How strange. Anyway, my dad explained that he figured we wouldn’t catch the first train and had planned on picking us up from the second one he had told us about which was an hour later, not the 15 minutes later one, so that’s the confusion. Although his same logic was that if he didn’t hear anything from us it was because we didn’t have time to send anything saying we made the first connection, and we hadn’t sent him anything… So really he just had no faith in us whatsoever. Fair I guess.

When we pulled into the house of my cousin Jennifer and her husband Jim, we were greeted by a bunch of smiling Vivios and some dogs.

Tina Laying in the Hammock at Jennifer and Jim's

We immediately cracked a few more beers, and then played some Boules Ball and laid in a hammock.

What Form

European life is rough. After hanging out at their place for a bit, we all drove over to Mons, which is where a friend of Jennifer and Jim, Marilee, lives in this HUGE old mansion with a large backyard where we all drank more beer and wine and just hung out in the grass outside. There was a lot of talk about the Deux Chevaux everybody owned, and some stories about Marilee's life.

One of the Deux Chevaux

Anyway, since nobody knew what else to do, we all walked the few blocks towards downtown Mons, getting a bit of a history lesson from Jennifer and Jim on the way, to a nice restaurant on the plaza where we started with a few pitchers of the house wine (still bubbling, so perhaps not fully fermented?) and ate a lot of moules and frites. It was kind of awesome.

Building where Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto in Mons

On the way back, Jim gave us a ride in his convertible Deux Chevaux which was fun, and then Acacia and I got our own room in this awesome bed breakfast with a pond, swans, sheep, and a nice little orchard. Also, when we arrived there, it was a little like Christmas with all the things my parents had brought from California including gifts from other friends and family transported via the Vivio’s luggage.

We crashed pretty immediately after arriving at the bed and breakfast, and then woke up in time for a solid Belgian breakfast with omelets, pan au chocolates, good bread and cheese, and some other tasty items. Turns out our plan to stay in Silly was ending then. After breakfast we stopped by Jennifer and Jim’s to pick up Tina, Brodie, and Diane’s luggage,  and to have a few beers of course (which we found hiding in the cellar of their house) and then were off to the train station for Brussels (with roadies/trainies/trackies- more beer).