Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium

The Grand Place

The Town Hall

Brussels' town hall stands 96m tall

Close-up Look of the building

Guildhalls

I don't know them! They just want me to take picture of them lol

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THE GRAND PLACE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

The Grand Place or Grote markt (in French) is the central square of Brussels. It is surrounded by Town Hall, Guildhalls and the Breadhouse. The square is the most important tourist destination in Brussels.

As I mentioned on my previous post, that I finally got a job and my first day was here in Belgium for 3 weeks training. For 1 week I just stayed at my flat, it was very cold it's around -8C and it just snowed 2 days before I came.

I asked my colleague if she can take me to Brussels and she accepted my request so we went last Sunday February 12. I was so thankful that I met her before she left to Italy otherwise I would have not seen this place or if I did see it by myself (without her) I would have only taken pictures of the buildings and places in Brussels without me in the pictures hehehe. And I'm so very thankful for her kind gestures of bringing me here eventhough she's been in Brussels twice during her stay in Belgium for her training.

Brussels from where we staying is a 1 hour and 20 minutes by train (without transfer) but you can choose other train that has 1 transfer and it will take you only for 54 minutes. But then we opted to take the longer trip to avoid hassle and transfer ;-)

It's been almost 2 weeks since I got here in Belgium but seems like a month or 2 already. My first time to be far away from my family for 3 weeks. And I still have 8 more days to go! I will miss my son's birthday on the 21st :-'( And now I'm sick, I had fever 3 days ago and until now I have cough and cold.

Oh I miss them so bad, there's no place like home.

PS:

I had unforgettable experiences during my first day here and during my first ride on the train to Brussels.....but I decided to keep it secret....hahaha.

Louvain-La-Neuve

Sorry again for my long absence. Anyways, I'm happy to share with you that finally I got a job! After almost 1 and a half year of staying home, God is really great to bless us this 2012, I can't thank Him enough.

Well, Feb. 6, 2012 was supposed to be my first day of work but then our HR called me Monday, Jan. 30 that they wanted me to report Friday, Feb 3rd to get my laptop and cellphone because I wll be having my training in...EUROPE!!! W-O-W as in WOW I was shocked and surprised! I didn't think that I will be leaving sooner than I expected.

The above picture was taken from my flat where I'm staying right now until the 25th of Feb, 3 weeks of training away from home. I didn't bring my personal laptop, I just brought my ipad but there's no wifi here (hmmp!), well what do I expect it's not a hotel it's just a business flat close to our office. So until now I'm thinking of finding ways to upload my pictures from my camera. As if I have many pictures already hahaha, since I came I never had the chance to walk around the area yet since it's already dark once we get off from work.

So where am I???

Louvain-La-Neuve Center

Mt. Rainier with Lenticular Cloud

Lenticular Cloud on Mt. Rainier taken 2 weeks ago

Two weeks ago while I was dropping off my son at his school I saw this lenticular cloud on top of Mt. Rainier, the sun just started to rise at the back of the mountain that made it yellow on the background. I usually see this type of cloud on top of Mt. Rainier but I never had the chance to take a picture of it. It disappears fast maybe due to the wind is pushing the clouds away from the mountain. So that time, when I went home I immediately grabbed my camera found a nice spot along our neighborhood area and took this picture. But the view was not that good as when I saw it earlier but at least I still had the chance to take this shot and after few minutes (as soon as I came home) the thick fog with sun rays covered the view of Mt. Rainier. I guess I was lucky that time ;-)

Lenticular clouds are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes, usually perpendicular to the wind direction. Due to their shape, they almost look like an UFO (Unidentified Flying Objects).

Our neighborhood with Mt Rainier view taken yesterday

Yesterday, I saw again the nice clouds forming around Mt. Rainier but I didn't have my camera with me. I just took a picture after an hour but the clouds were not as beautiful compared to what I saw an hour earlier. Lesson learned: I should always bring my camera whenever and wherever I go.

This was taken last summer, August 2011 on our way to Mt. Rainier's Paradise Resort

Last August was our second time to go to Mt. Rainier National Park, and the weather that time was so clear and bright. We brought our friends who visited us from California. It's amazing to see the Mt. Rainier closer than I would imagine. This snow-capped mountain really amaze me every time I see it. The pictures below were all taken at the same day.

Taken at Mt. Rainier National Park's scenic view point last August

Another close up shot of snow-capped Mt. Rainier during summer

Taken last August, even if it's summer there's still some snow at Mt. Rainier National Park's area and the mountain itself

The kids really enjoyed the stay at the picnic area where they were throwing snow balls, sledding and sliding on the snow. We were not ready of the cold weather, we ended up having wet shoes and the kids with wet pants ;-)

By the way, we didn't get the chance to park and see Paradise Resort Visitor's Center it was jam packed with tourists and we could not find a parking spot, we were expecting that because it was summer and the weather was nice and clear to see and enjoy Mt. Rainier. We just opted to park just right after the Visitor's center down the hill where we found a small falls where we took some pictures.

Niagara Falls- Ontario, Canada

The "American Falls"(left) and the "Bridal Veil Falls" (right) taken from Ontario, Canada side

The Horseshoe Falls (taken from Canada Side)

American Falls

Another view of Horseshoe Falls with the Maid of the Mist Boat Tour

Another shot

Another view of American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls

Taken from the park just right across the view of the Niagara Falls

Hard Rock Cafe Ontario, Canada with the view of Skylon Tower

The view of Skylon Tower

Hershey's Store

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Niagara Falls is the collective name for the 3 waterfalls: "Horseshoe Falls (The name is derived from its horseshoe shaped), the adjacent "American Falls" and the small "Bridal Veil Falls" (both are within the US border). Much of Horseshoe Falls is located on Ontario, Canada and that's why it's also called Canadian Falls.

The Bridal Veil Falls is named for its appearance and is located next to American Falls separated by a small piece of land called Luna Island (see my first photo above).

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July 16, 2011- This was the last day of our trip in Canada before driving back to Ohio. We didn't have enough time to explore Niagara Falls in Canada but there lots of things to explore around the area than in New York. My brother-in-law (my husband's brother) and his kids went with us to the falls and we spent only a couple of hours before we parted ways. We parked in the Skylon Tower's parking lot but we didn't have the chance to go up to the tower to see the view (weird huh?!).

That day was a nice and clear than the day we first saw the falls in New York side. It was a perfect timing to take pictures although we got sunburned from the intense heat of the sun.

The view of Niagara Falls in Canada for me is better than New York, although the American side view is much closer to the falls...... so I guess it's better to see both ;-) like we did hehehe.

If you want to compare the views, here's my previous post on Niagara Falls in New York, USA...click here.

Niagara Falls, New York

American Falls

American Falls

Another view of American Falls

American Falls overlooking Canada side

Double rainbow and the Maid of the Mist Boat Tour

Horseshoe Falls

Maid of the Mist Boat Tour

Overlooking the people below from Cave of the Wind (I'm not sure if this falls is the Bridal Veil Falls)

Another view of the Horseshoe Falls

The Map

Another Map ;-)

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Niagara Falls- is the collective name for the 3 waterfalls: "Horseshoe Falls" (The name is derived from its curving, horseshoe-shaped crest), the adjacent "American Falls" (which is within the US border) and the small "Bridal Veil Falls" which when combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfalls in North America. Much of Horseshoe Falls is located in Ontario, Canada, that's why it's also known as Canadian Falls. Niagara Falls is the border between Ontario, Canada and New York, USA.

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The photos above were taken 4 months ago, I'm far behind posting my travel blog when we went to Ontario, Canada hehehe. And it's a week of adventure so I'm trying to catch up now (I hope I can hehehe).

July 10, 2011 (Sunday)- After a week from our travel to Las Vegas, we went to Toronto, Canada to visit my brother-in-law and his family who lives in Mississauga, Ontario Canada. It's been 10 years since we last saw him. It was still summer then and we expected the fare would be soaring high and yes, it was high especially we didn't plan this travel ahead of time, it was just 3 weeks before the flight when we bought the tickets. We opted to fly to Cleveland, Ohio than flying straight to Toronto, Canada since it's a lot cheaper and at the same time we could see other scenic views along the way to Canada. So from Ohio, we rented a car and drove up to Canada, and our first stop was in Niagara Falls, New York. It took us 5 hours to Niagara Falls. Initially, our plan was to leave Saturday morning but then we were 10 minutes late when we arrived at the airport check-in counter hehehe. They changed our flight to Saturday evening, at 11pm and fortunate that the airlines waived our fees, we didn't get to pay any fees when they changed our flight. We arrived in Ohio Sunday morning already and we just slept during our 5 hour-trip. Our itinerary got messed up due to our late trip, we're supposed to stop in downtown Ohio and drive around that area but instead we drove straight to New York.

When we were in Niagara Falls, we didn't try to go to any boat tours since we had limited time and besides I don't want my camera to get soak and wet from the falls hehehe. When I saw the mist I have thought I won't get nice views from the boat hehehe and I was right. We spent 2 hours at Niagara Falls State Park and then we headed straight to Mississauga to attend my brother-in-law's son's birthday, it was tiring and a long walk but we had fun.

For my pictures, too bad I forgot to bring my tripod and I was so disappointed with my settings, I could not figure out to adjust mt speed settings hehehe I think I have to learn more on my camera settings I was too lazy to do that before the trip.

On my next post, is Niagara Falls, the Canada Side( better views).

Pumpkin Patch, Puyallup

Pumpkin Patch at Picha's Farm

Hayride

Scarecrow and bunch of pumpkins ready for pick up

Different Kinds of Squash

Corn Maze

Haystacks and the Pumpkins

We had a family picture here

Wow Big Squash!

Pumpkins

Picha's Farm

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Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday, Oct. 29 was bright and sunny and I thought it was the right time to see a pumpkin patch, it's been gloomy and rainy for the past few days and even weekends and so that day I was so excited to drive around again. I haven't seen a pumpkin patch before but I heard a lot of things about that and I was so curious to bring my children there, at the same time I'll have the chance to take pictures. I just googled pumpkin patch and came out from my search that there's one place close by our house, the Picha's Farm.

We had our late lunch at around 1:30pm in a Thai Restaurant and after that we headed straight to the farm. It took us only 15 minutes to get there. It's a bit muddy due to it rained the whole Friday.

We bought kettle popcorn but didn't buy any pumpkins, I don't know how to make a pumpkin pie ;-) and I don't make a jack-o-lantern too hehehe, so we just went there just to see and check the pumpkin patch and take pictures as our souvenir and for my travel blog hehehe. My son didn't try the corn maze since it so muddy and the farm was closing already.

We enjoyed going to Picha's Farm and we'll probably go back there when it's strawberry season. My children love strawberries. I hope to go back there.....soon!