A Day at the Beach...

Saturday morning, we had the pleasure of meeting Wade, my good friend from High School at the Brussels airport. He had a three hour layover on his way to Rwanda for "Official White House Business." He's kind of a big deal! It was so nice to see him, and get to have some waffles. I hadn't seen him in a while, so catching up was a treat!




The weather had been so nice on Friday, and Saturday was no different. As we were leaving the airport, we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do. There are still a few towns/villages we haven't seen, and as we were brainstorming, Stephen offered up the beach. Who turns down the beach? Especially when it's sunny!!


So, off we were, eager and excited about seeing some waves. Oostende, the town we visited, is in the middle of the Belgian Coast off the North Sea. The harbor was beautiful, and housed dozens of yachts and large sailboats. They even had a boat that was used in Battle ages ago! It really was gorgeous.


We followed the water to the sea, stopping for a quick glance at St. Petrus Cathedral. It was a gorgeous cathedral, with amazing stained glass. Gracie was quiet, thank goodness!!


We then continued on to the water, passing Fisherman's Wharf and vendors selling fresh fish and gumbo. We couldn't really figure out what fish it was they were selling, but a lot of the locals were eating it, so maybe it was good?? Once at the beach, we were in heaven. It's so crazy seeing beaches here and comparing them to the ones in the states I've been to. I'm used to greased girls laying out on towels with loud music and volleyball, etc.


Here, we were greeted by sweaters, gloves, scarves and the like. This didn't stop people from going, though. The beach was packed, with families, girl/boy scout groups, couples, kids, it was great! Gracie LOVED the sand and getting to dog-watch. She wanted nothing to do with any of the "fetchers," but wanted to see what was going on with the "barkers."

We made it down to one of the rock formations and took some great pictures. We wanted to see how Gracie would take to the water. We didn't get any action shots, but she didn't prefer it, let's just say that! The weather truly was perfect, warm in the sun but not too chilly! Much like San Diego! Along the main beachfront were tons of restaurants and outdoor patios, gelato places, shops and places to sit. It was really nice!


They have a casino on the main beach, but we went inside and it was vacant. Not sure what was going on there, letdown for sure! We ended our day having a nice Chinese meal overlooking the harbor.


It was an amazing, impromptu day...just perfect! We can't wait to go back sometime this summer. I'm sure there will be better people watching by then anyways!

Video of our day at the beach:

To see all of our pictures, visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/katie.dotson/OostendeBelgium