RED SEA HOLIDAYS DECEMBER 5

When I open the curtains at 6 am (if I am awaken) the sun shines and the sea is blue ! A very unusual view in December !

The breakfast is just wonderful such a choice !



salads



Yogurts



English breakfast



Olives, cheese etc





A large choice of pastry



and bread !

So Nicole and I eat like horses, but as lunch only a salad and then a real supper !

So far we still look slim and not (yet) like Ruben's female ideal !

We are too lazy to attend the shows or theater in the evenings it only starts at 9.30 pm and we are too tired. I think that must be the fresh air and sunshine the whole day.

At home I never eat breakfast, I just have coffee, but here I just can't resist the pastries, they are so light and not too sweet !

RED SEA HOLIDAYS DECEMBER 4

I must be really tired because usually when I am here I get up at 6 the sun is shining and I prepare my posts. This year I sleep ! This morning I woke up at 8.30 am ! Poor Nicole was wondering where I was, she waited for me for the breakfast !

The wind had slowed down and the sky was painted in deep blue without a single little cloud. It was warm but not too hot.

Our resting was interrupted by a "marching in" of the cooks ! They carried a long plate of delicious snacks to the beach bar and were dancing and made music ! What fun !



The cooks carrying the plate



They asked me to pose with them



and with Nicole too, the snacks on this huge plate disappeared in seconds ! It was as if an army of hungry aunts had passed by !


Yesterday evening a whole bus arrived with English people. After supper I talked to a young couple from Cambridge who had never been to Egypt and gave them a few tips.

I am sorry if I don't visit your posts very often, I try at least to answer your comments, but the internet connection is so slow that a snail is a race horse !

RED SEA HOLIDAYS

For the last day of Chantal's interrupted holidays, we took a taxi and went to Hourgada city centre. Driving in Egypt is a suicidal adventure but so far we had always survived. There are no rules although there are, but nobody cares. So it horns from all sides in concert and the driver doubles cars from right or left sliding like a snake through the traffic. It is a miracle that there are no accidents not even damaged cars !


Beautiful new wall paintings

We noticed that Hourgada had lots of new shops and the sidewalks which didn't exist last year and now they were now very nicely tiled. We didn't stay very long, just doing some window shopping because we already have enough Egyptian souvenirs.



After our last supper together we spent the evening in this huge hall which has lots of little corners for privacy, with comfortable sofas and chairs. Drinks are served and there is always a life singer, mostly English once and very good.

When I got up the next morning I heard a noise at my window as if somebody would knock. Now my room is on the 6th floor so it could hardly be a burglar. I opened the curtains and suddenly a pigeon walked into my room ! Then it flew around and I was anxious it would fly against a wall. Then it sat in a corner besides the door ! Then it decided to leave me, and flew out of the window ! Maybe the people who lived in my room had fed this pigeon during their holidays !

We took our last breakfast with Chantal, who had a heavy heart, being alone and handicapped is not an easy task to travel. So far I or her sons travelled with her. The taxi was booked for 9.30 am and arrived punctually.



I took these pictures of her when she left



and noticed for the first time that there were lots of works going on in front of the hotel on the other side of the road. It looks as lots of new apartments are being built. It seems to me that here the economy hasn't suffered too much from the lack of tourists, which is the only income in this area.

Nicole and I spend the rest of the day at the beach.

RED SEA HOLIDAYS

View from the Restaurant and Chantal swimming in the sea

After a very good night sleep we had breakfast and enjoyed our first day at the beach. The sun was shining and it was warm, we really all three purred. Chantal went even swimming, Nicole and I were too lazy and it was also a bit windy. Unfortunately our happiness didn't last long. Before lunch I went into my room to change and my mobile rang. It was Mr. G who told me that Chantal's son had called from Toronto because he couldn't reach his mother on her smart phone. For an unknown reason her mobile didn't work here. He informed me that Chantal's husband had died ! I was like knocked out ! How should and when should I tell her, after or before lunch. I decided after lunch so that the poor girl at least had something in her stomach.

We had lunch together and laughed and I had such a heavy heart !
After lunch I finally pulled myself together and told her what had happened. She wasn't very surprised because he was laying in bed like a living dead, couldn't feel or see or talk. She took care of him for 6 years and it had been hard. So it was rather a relief for everybody. The only thing which was so awful that for once she went on holidays it had happened the second day.

Now she has to fly home tomorrow, her sons arrive from Canada and Dubai. The care taker of her husband had already done the most urgent things so that she hasn't to worry too much. So we spent the day together at the beach trying to relax and forget what had happened.

Nicole and I felt so sorry for her, she never could go on holidays because of her husband, now she had found a retired nurse who stayed with him and she could go away for once, and this must happen. If only it had been before departure or after the two weeks holidays ! She was the one who needed a holiday break the most.



Chantal's last day, tomorrow morning she leaves !

ARRIVAL IN HOURGHADA EGYPT

On Monday morning Mr. G chased me almost out of the house he was so worried that I could miss the plane. We picked up Nicole and Chantal and got into a terrible traffic jam ! It had rained and the whole morning traffic in Belgium had broken down. I don't know how we managed but we arrived just in time.

From there everything went smooth, the disabled service came to pick up Chantal as she has one leg crippled from a Polio she had when she was 3 years old. and we were driven with a little electric car to our gate. That's great service, because Chantal couldn't walk such a long way with her crutches. At the control Chantal was ringing going through the scanning gate ! Her bad  leg is mostly out of metal ! Then her bag was ringing, I looked on the screen and saw something looking like a pistol ! I thought she certainly doesn't carry a water pistol to shoot on us, the guy emptied the whole bag and the pistol was a banana ! We all had to laugh and she even could keep it ! After a nice flight of 4 h we landed in Hourghada.



In Egypt we were picked up from the plane by a truck dating from the middle age. We all went in and then were driven to the main building. To unload us there was an elevator at the truck which went down slowly slowly making a noise like a chain saw.

There were many tourists lining up for the visa formalities, but we of course had priority, and were taken through all controls as the first once.

It was already 8 pm when we finally had our rooms and had checked in. The restaurant was empty, there were besides us two other people. We had nearly finished our main course that we were told that the restaurant would close at 9 pm ! We hadn't realized that it was so late, we had forgotten that there is one hour more ! Despite the tourist crisis this hotel is very busy. There are mostly Germans, Brits and Dutchs ! No Russians in view ! Good for us, bad for the Egyptian economy as one waiter told me.

It is very warm but unfortunately very windy too. Hopefully tomorrow it's less windy.

SHOPPING CENTER NIVELLES

Besides Brussels at 15 km from Waterloo the next bigger town is Nivelles also 15 km far. Nivelles has a very nice and huge shopping center, which is ideal for a walk when it is cold and wet outside.



Nicole and I didn't have any intention to buy something, but I finally came out with a white cardigan for my forthcoming holidays in Egypt.



There was a nice pirate boat in the middle of the way





with a rather "vintage" looking statue at the front. The red ribbons indicated the way to St. Nicholas who is very important for the children in Belgium and the Netherlands. In the Flemish part of Belgium it's even more celebrated than Christmas, just like in the Netherlands. That's on December 6th when all the gifts are brought by him.



This time St. Nicholas was sitting on his thrown in the middle of palm trees and not pines !



He was accompanied by the Père Fouettard who distributed sweets. A very long line of kids with their parents were waiting to be received by Saint Nicolaus and get a little gift.





On my way home driving through Waterloo, I saw that they had put up the Christmas decoration in the city center.

This will be the last post from Waterloo, later today I fly to Egypt together with Nicole and Chantal for two weeks ! We badly need some sunshine !