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 “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”  – Tim Cahill

Happy faces  , warm hugs and oooh so unending stories  of  both the reminiscing of the past and updating of our present lives . It was a week of old friends reconnecting and meeting new ones  amidst of these pandemic .

18th of October

  Finally the  day has arrived that I am picking Klara at the airport . This was her first trip back in Belgium after almost 2 years and I hate to admit I did miss her craziness .

  Klara , is like my big / little sister she used to come and visit us 3x a year on my birthday week , mama’s and her pre -birthday celebration . This routine was broken due to the travel lockdowns during the pandemic. I love our randoms topics over a cup of coffee . We would roam around almost  anywhere , I will be her personal guide , photographer / driver  . 

Aachen , Germany

Nothing has changed even if the pandemic have halted our yearly tradition for days I gladly played as her guide , photographer /driver and oooh laughing mate . We visited Aachen Germany ,had our afternoon coffee at  Middleburg , Netherlands  and got lost Sluis , The Netherlands and Knokke .

  Aachen is a charming German town that is  located in west of North Rhine  Westphalia , part of the Border Triangle of  Germany , The Netherlands and Belgium  . A one hour and thirty minutes drive from Brussels National Airport .

This was Klara’s first time here and so we have explored the place together with my mother and her friend . We had a quick lunch at Hanswurst . Here they call everyone  Hans + your name  and I find it funny  to hear.

  They serve the typical German bradwurst with sauerkraut  and fries . We counted the fountains of Aachen and admire the cathedral .

We ended our visit in Aachen with a coffee at starbucks

Middleburg  , Zeeland  ( more than just KFC craving ) 19th of October

  Aside from our craving for a KFC ( Middleburg is the nearest from.where I live) Middleburg is a worthwhile place to visit .

The.capital of the province of Zeeland . Middleburg have also played a role in the scientific revolution the early moderm period . It is a small town and has its own charm .

We have considered one of the highlight of this roadtrip was the 6.6 km or 4.1 mi tunnel estuary between Ellewoutdijk and Terneuzen .

  The Western Scheldt Tunnel is considered to be the longest tunnel  for the highway traffic in the Netherlands.

Driving thru the West Scheldt Tunnel gives me some kind of  thrill while both mama and Klara deal with their anxiety in a funny way mama keeps on holding her chest while Klara telling us stories about the movies where all the vehicles exploded in the tunnel 🤣( her subtle way of telling me to drive carefully)

Walking around Middleburg gives you a very relaxing vibes . We have also explode the pastry and bread of the area .

We end our visit here with a huge coffee and a trip back go KFC 😍

Windy Sluis and Knokke ( 20/10)

Our roadtrip continues .. due to the pandemic we have avoided the cities which are known for its low vaccination rates and high level of infected cases . Instead we have visited the charming small towns nearby us . We have conciously decided to visit some towns on a week day where it is normally calm than in the weekends .

Sluis ,Zeeland and Knokke were part of this concious decision . Both towns would be quite hectic during weekends .

Sluis is small ” Burgundian” town . A dutch term for fun-loving and almost eclectic . This has always been part of Klara’s visit to us . We just love the idea to be in another country in about 30 mins drive ( Sluis is part of the Netherlands and it is just 30 mins drive from where I live) .

We have our light lunch at the Molen van Sluis . We love the huge open space of the area , the food is simple but delicious and the service is very good . I have to say they need our vaccination certificate before entering the restaurant which gives us more secure feeling .

After our lunch we strolled a bit and then went for a late coffee break at De Eetbotiek . This was used to be the famous restuarant of chef Sergio Hermans Restuarant De Oude Sluis . Now it is turned into a fancy tearoom . They have both vegan friendly foods , coffee and if you just love to eat some out of the box food pairing then you should come here . The interior decoration is sooo welcoming .

Tito ‘s streetfood night

Go! Supporting Filipino cuisine 🙂 . Tito’s streetfood is a small filipino restaurant in Bruges . This is actually the first one here . Personally I love this place because it is quite fun seeing these second generation ( children of immigrant pinoys) to embrace our food integrate in the oooh so high competitive world of restaurants in Bruges .

They have pimp up the image of our greasy , sometimes salty /sweet filipino food but still manages to hold on to that authentic taste . The price is very reasonable. And the most important of all is that you can feel the filipino Hospitality dressed in a tall blond blue eyed youngman at the bar .

Like Pot Mami in Ostende , the name of Tito’s restaurant is dedicated to an uncle who have open their eyes and made them fall in love with pinoy food through his lutong bahay cooking .

Curious about this place check the website – titosstreetfood.be

Klara pre birthday party was worth it

32 years and her friend are coming.. 21st of October

This was the day that my highschool classmate and friend would arrived in Bruges . But due to the unpredictable storm in Germany their ( together with her housemate /friend) was trip to Belgium was postponed for today .

Ju have invited them for lunch but since they can’t come we ( klara mama and myself ) have made the best out of everything.

Klara did some tiktok while ju and myself sang our lungs out . Nothing beats a delicious food and wonderful company .

Finally she came 22nd of October

After 32 years we have finally got to chance to meet again . I got a little bit of emotional whenI picked them up at the station.

After i picked them up the station we had then started our walking exploration in Bruges .

Yes, Bruges the Venice of the North home of the Brugse zot beer , Domique Persoone the chocolate line and yes the madonna and child of Micheal Angelo . Bruges is medival city and one of the UNESCO heritage.

It was a short walking trip but I did hope I was able to show them the beauty of the city that I love .

Rotterdam , The Hague , Uitrech and ms Rotterdam 23/10

It was a short Bruges visit and a short night too .. the party goes on but this time we have to go to Rotterdam to celebrate the birthday of our friend Viv aka ms Rotterdam .

First things first , we have dropped and wave goodbye to Klara who can”t join the Rotterdam party for she must fly back to Ireland for her son’s birthday .

It was a day of fun , shopping, food or also known as ladies day out.

We had our lunch in The Hague home of the king and Queen of Holland .

Somewhere in the huge streets of chinatown in The Hague you can find Cafe Nordrick . A small all filipino eatery that offers a buffet for 22 euros ( eat and drink all you can ) . The food were decent enough .

It gives me the carenderia feeling back home . The decor brings you back to the Philippines.

I like the bopis and pork menudo. Killer pork or spicy pork was also ok.. I was just a bit disappointed by the tempura since you can chew the shrimps head plus it was cold .. I do hope that they would have a warm platter/ heating platter to keep the food warm especially the fried ones .

The desserts were okey buko pandan , maja blanca and a butter cake . They are not Barrio Fiesta but given time and chance they might catch up .

After the cafe Nordrick lunch we roamed around  The Hague  and we end up at TK maxx … shopping time !!

Let ‘s Explore Food  this is how ms Rotterdam celebrates

  Happy birthday Viv ! This was her evenning . You can feel the love that surrounds her  especially her son who have spoiled her that day ..

We were treated for a surprise . Her birthday celebration took place in Food Explore Uitrech a huge  food hall with all kinds of cuisines that you can think of  asian  , mexican  , european and all in betweens.  It has approximately 20 different kinds of kitchen inside the hall.  Your eyes are filled with the prettiness of the food ohhh and they are delicious too .

It is considered to be one of the largest buffet  in the Netherlands . So how does this work ? 

Since it is a eat and drink all you can . The prices varies  from the hours that you are planning to stay inside . Here below  is the price menu for friday, saturday and sunday for dinner  .

It was worth a 3hours  food experience . You can see that with our happy faces

The birthday celebration of Viv continues at here home with a glass of whisky and a walk through the highschool memory lane . While I slept my eyes out since I was not feeling well .. Ju, Che , Viv stayed up till 3 am I could hear their laughters integrated through my dreams 🤣🤣

The Day after 24/10

This was supposedly my day of Rotterdam marathon but unfortunately I came down witha bad colds( not covid i assure you🤣🤣) that I have to give up the marathon .. it is just a stop in between. Next year I will be running myself to the finish line and fulfill my bucketlist .

Ju and myself drove home back to our realities . It was a week of love , friendships and food …

Note for the Ladies

Klara ,

I never imagine how much I miss our bonding each year. You are the sister that I never have. We just keep on sharing coffees , travels and all ..

Ju,

Ahhh you are my home even in silence . Distance does not define our friendship .. To 32 years and beyond

Che,

This week was a very fun whirlwind for us . Let us not wait for 32 years to meet again . I am so grateful for this moments that we have shared

Con our sleeping beaty

I so love your eyes , and our stories . I thank God to have a new shade sa rainbow of friendship ko .. hopefully to our next adventures

Viv ,

You know I love you and your aura keep that free spirit of yours and that warm smile ..you are for me the best ms.rotterdam / mayora ..to santorini

Friendship doesn’t recognizes distance this drawn by boundries of Love,Respect and Understanding .