Brugges - part I.

This place is insanely beautiful. That is all I have to say. That's why I will be posting part two :-)

Toto miesto je proste nádherné. To je všetko, čo k tomu mám povedať. A preto bude aj časť druhá.

Brussels walk

In the beginning of March I visited Brussels for the first time. My friend Adrika accomodate us (me and M.) in her beautiful house, drived us from and to the airport and did everything so we would feel like at home.  We had a great time with her and her son Oskar.
It was a really short visit, but I think I had the chance to get the feeling of the town, even though I definitely did not see eerything. Here are some pictures from our walk in the city, I left our Mannen Pis and other famous sights... In the afternoon we took a walk near Adrika´s house. It is a beuatiful neighbourhood with lot of houses in art nouveau style, charming laks Etangs d´Ixelles and an old monastery Abbaye de la Cambre.

Začiatkom marca som bola po prvýkrát v Bruseli. Ubytovala nás (M. a mňa) kamarátka Adrika vo svojom nádhernom dome, odviezla na z a na letisko a robila všetko preto, aby sme sa tam cítili ako doma. Asi preto nám tam bolo tak fajn a tešili sme sa, že sme strávili zopár spoločných chvíľ s ňou a malým Oskarom.
Boli sme tam celkom na krátko, ale myslím, že som získala z mesta nejaký pocit, aj keď sme zďaleka nevideli všetko.
Tu je zopár fotiek z prechádzky po Bruseli, zámerne som vynechala klasické atrakcie ako Manneken Pis a podobne..
Poobede sme sa šli prejsť aj s Adrikou a Oskarom po okolí tam, kde bývajú. Je to krásna štvrť, kde nájdete veľa domov postavených v štýle art noveau, krásne jazerá  Etangs d´Ixelles a veľmi príjemné zákutia starého opátstva Abbaye de la Cambre. A svietilo nám slniečko, čo je v tomto období vždy tak trocha o náhode.

He really has a Green Thumb!

Les Galeries Saint Hubert

In the streets of Brussels

Nice detail on the shutters.

View towards the famous Grand Place (Town hall in the picture)

We stumbled upon a popular thrift market. It looked liked people just empty their trash there really :-)

Lovely house in art nouveau style

I love those houses!

Beautiful afternoon sun at Etangs d´Ixelles

Abbaye de la Cambre

Pine tree story

I promise this is the last snow post this winter! But I have to share a story from the heaviest snow fall this year. It all began so nice. Huge snowflakes started falling down from the sky around 10 a.m. and because I was home with flu, I could not stop watching them from the window. At some point I could see just a white blur. Things started to get more serious when it did not stop for several hours and the snow was wet and heavy. I heard a scary cracking of the wood from outside and I knew our 40-year old pine tree didn't bear up against such a weight. Two big branches broke down. We spent the rest of the day until dark trying to shake the snow off from all our trees and branches we could reach.
After two weeks, my dad and husband climbed up to the very top of the pine tree and filed off the branches properly (they were still holding on up there, supported by lower branches) with a handsaw, because it was dangerous walking at the pavement as they could fall down anytime. I was scared to death to see them up there...and relieved when they were down again.
At this moment, there is no snow anymore, the spring is coming slowly, and our poor pine tree is quite shorter that her twin sister which survived without any harm.

Sľubujem, že toto je posledný snehový post tejto zimy! Ale musím sa podeliť o príbeh z tohtoročného najzasneženejšieho dňa. Začalo to tak pekne. Obrovské vločky padali z neba už od 10 ráno a keďže som mala chrípku a bola som doma, nevedela som sa vynadívať. V jednom momente ste mohli vidieť len nič a belobu. Vei sa začali komplikovať keď neprestávalo snežiť ani po niekoľkých hodinách a sneh bol mokrý a ťažký. Začula som desivé praskanie dreva a bolo mi jasné, že naša 40-ročná borovica tú váhu neuniesla. Zlomili sa dve veľké vetvy. Zvyšok dňa sme až do zotmenia pobehovali po záhrade a snažili sa zo všadiaľ, kam sme dosiahli,obúchať sneh.
Po dvoch týždňoch tato s Marekom vyliezli až hore na borovicu a snažili sa tie vetvy poriadne odpíliť (lebo sa tam stále držali a podopierali ich ešte aj spodné vetvy), pretože viseli priamo nad chodníkom a mohli spadnúť hockedy. Umierala som od strachu keď boli tak vysoko..a uľavilo sa mi až keď boli v bezpečí späť na zemi. 
V tejto chvíli už niet po snehu ani pamiatky, pomaly ide jar, a naša úbohá borovica je skoro o polovicu nižšia ako jej dvojička, ktorá to prežila bez ujmy.

It is just starting here

The same branch after a while

And again, already broken...

Next morning was beautiful...see the broken pine tree on the right?  Half of the height of the other one.