Royal Greenhouses of Laeken

Last night my mother and I visited the royal gardens. I had seen some photos of other people who had went and it looked so beautiful! It has been sunny now for about a month and every year I fall in love with new flowers & plants and I just want to walk around in gardens all day.

This one especially was a big garden. Royally big.

There was a path leading through different greenhouses filled with flowers of all shapes, sizes and colours. The gardens are only open to the public a few days a year and I remember going there when I was very little, but it had definitely been a few years. Walking along, so many memories came back to me that seemed long lost of eating vanilla ice cream and running around in the sun.

It took us almost two hours to walk our way through, of course sometimes stopping to take pictures and taking in the beautiful sight. My favourite bits were outside, where the plants were growing next and onto the buildings and the falling night was creating a beautiful light.

Although I must admit peeking through windows and the last bit of daylight complimenting the shape and colour of plants wandering off was a close second. I always find it so beautiful how they grow to the light of the sun to bloom freely. I'm always happiest in the sun, too.

All buildings surrounding the grounds had crowns on top of them. This one building pictured above was home to all kinds of tropical plants such as palm trees and cacti, but by the time we got there (which was by the end of the tour), the night had already fallen and the photos just didn't come out as well as I had hoped.

I had a lovely end of the day and am definitely planning on going back next year a little earlier on the day, so I can enjoy the sun, the flowers and the walk even more. This time I didn't get my vanilla ice cream, but we did stop for a hot chocolate and some postcards at the gift shop.

When visiting new (or old) places that sell postcards, I always get some to hang on my wall. That way it's easier to remember the beautiful days I've had on days when I don't feel like doing anything at all. It reminds me of how wonderful life can be and what treasures can be found just around the corner.

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Speak to you soon,
Lize

Outside is the right side⎪Camping

Camping out in the garden

It seems my photo is a bit out of focus, but I honestly didn't even have enough place to look trough my lens.

I have been gone for a while. I guess I was figuring out what on earth I was actually doing. Holidays always leave me in sort of a daze, being happy and sad at the same time can be so confusing. I decided that I still wanted to do this for myself, though. For that maybe one day when I'm old and bored, I can come back to this place and read about how I used to spend my time off and what I hoped to become.

I spent last year studying, trying to figure out if I made the right choice and studying some more. I felt unsure of the choices that I made and even now I'm hesitant about what my future may bring for me. Since I didn't pass all of my exams, I have to retake two of them this summer. They're in two weeks and I started studying yesterday. It felt like a big adjustment after weeks of trying to not think about school at all. I wasn't in the right mindset for it and it left me feeling very tired, which is when I decided to set up my tent in our garden and create a place to be alone with my thoughts and become myself again.

This tent is actually meant for four people, so given the fact that I was by myself in there, I had enough place to sleep in different positions without having to feel too claustrophobic. I have always been font of camping, even though I have never actually done it out in the woods. Most of the time I stay in our own back garden. Close to home, but it still seems so far away when you're in there and the zipper's up. I made hot cocoa and watched Submarine and I felt so at ease with myself that when I woke up this morning I was happy to start studying again. It kinda made me feel like I was going somewhere.

I once made this photo set of screenshots that I took whilst watching the movie. It looks so peaceful out there.

I must admit I felt a bit nostalgic, though. Last time I camped out I was in high school and everything seemed so much easier, so effortless, so logic. Thankfully my cat joined me by nightfall and I felt a bit less alone. I still wish I could have been someplace else when I woke up this morning. As if the night had brought me a peace of mind and a different place to restart. To begin again, not to merely go on.

Where do you like to go when you're trying to get away for a bit?

Speak to you soon,

Lize

Outside is the right side ⎟Garden Tour

You may have remembered from my last post that recently I decided that outside is the right side! I have always been one of those gawky kids who was reluctant about going outside on a nice summer's day and rather spend it inside cooling off. As a result I still am the exactly same shade of white today that I was when I was born, apart from a few holidays tans that have faded away a long time ago.

But since I am leaving for Barcelona in just a few days time and I can safely say Spain is one of the hottest countries that I have ever visited before, I felt like it would be a good idea to prepare myself for outside fun times and took my camera outside to photograph my vibrant garden!

As you probably can tell, I'm a very lucky girl and have a big beautiful garden to relax in and discover when the sun decides to come out. You may not be familiar with Belgian weather, but I'm sure you've heard of London weather before and let me tell you, we're stuck in the exact same situation.

Thus, when the sun comes out, it's a true blessing for us and therefore try to enjoy it as much as we can. 

As you can see in the background of the picture, there are lots and lots of big trees. Those belong to my neighbour who owns quite a few sheep and has a huge ground that they can walk around on. I can imagine those trees are decades old, since there are so many of them. I think our whole neighbourhood sees them as a blessing, because they really make our view even more beautiful.

And right at the back of the picture is the forrest.

You can only begin to imagine how lovely the view is from our roof!

Our garden stretches out more to the left as well, as you can tell from this picture. We've been growing  an apple tree and a cherry tree there, but they're only a few years old and look more like the skinny first graders of trees. There's a also a huge amount of plastic on the floor that is supposed to be our pool, but still has to be filled up with water. So, that's why I didn't include a photo of this in my tour.

Towards the right of the picture you can see our lavender starting to grow.

I think this is my favourite part of our garden. These flowers make our garden look a bit more wild and rough and are a home to many kinds of insects in the summer. As long as the snails and bees stay over there and I can just enjoy looking at them, without getting stung or slimy, I'm okay with it. 

Lavender always reminds me of the south of france where there are loads of lavender fields across the roads. I remember those drives as one of the best memories of my childhood. Being a little kid in a different country always made me feel like an explorer, which I why I find travelling to be such an awesome experience.

"Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful;

they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul."

- Luther Burbank

Speak to you soon,

Lize