Visiting our Southern neighbors!

Me sipping colored drinks in Belgium!

Picture linked from http://www.regenbooghuislimburg.be , ©2012 Johan Vos

Some hours before...
The gas meter of my car shows half full, or half empty, depending how you look at it. I think it might be pretty smart to fill it up just in case I run out of gas because I actually can't remember a) whether I'm still insured for assistance abroad and b) what their phone number is these days. So I am at the gas station and guess what. The valve cover, which is electric, doesn't open. Oh Noes! Drove back home, while figuring out how to get that thing to open up again. While looking things up on the interwebs I hear a whirring somewhere in back of the car and hey, it is unstuck again! Saves me from yet again removing all the plaster and pay the garage a visit where they know me a bit too well for my own good by now (but that is another story)

Next is to call Julie, that I'll be (finally) on my way and going to see her place before going to Hasselt, Belgium. "What ? that's not possible ?" Blonde as I am I had mistaken that her other obligation would have been at early evening and not at day time. However, she and a couple of others would join me in the evening. Erm, ok. lets go to Hasselt straight away then. Hasselt is a big town in the Belgium province of Limburg, and also where the grand reopening of the Regenbooghuis Limburg will take place. The Regenbooghuis (Rainbow house) is shared by all Limburg LBGT chapters.

  As usual I arrive exactly on time: Too late for the pride event in city center, and too damn early for the opening reception. Therefor, I need to entertain myself till then. The entertainment will be as follows: I try not to trip over the cobblestone paths of Hasselt city center in my sky high heels and look around some Belgium shops. City center is nice and compact, quite a mixture between shops we have back home and those you only have here. Didn't buy a thing and headed over to the Regenboog huis to see if people where coming already. Staff was busy with preparation and said I could probably find a little group that went for diner in city center.

So I walked back to city center (remember, highly impractical shoes hahaha),  did an heroic effort to spot that group (just as invisible a I seem to be in large crowds there days), and decided to order an salad.

Salad was good, decided to hang around in my seat, looking at people to see if they where looking at me (none)  and finally walked back to the Regenbooghuis. Back there the road was blocked, balloons in all colors of the rainbow in an arch over the street and a ever growing crowd entering so that something that looked quite large in the beginning became quite cramped :)

Being an outsider figuratively and literally I didn't know anyone there, and Julie still had to come. I did find Tanja hanging around, which I knew from Eindhoven, and later on Veronick from Facebook also joined which I knew she would come (really cool to have met you in person for real girl!!!). There where speeches by municipal and provincial representatives, and there was also an amazing fire act with fire breathers on the street, It was reminiscent of that fire bending you see in Nickelodeon's the Last Airbender cartoon show :)




Around that time Julie also showed up. I also had a lovely chat with Willemijn and wife making it a lovely and cozy evening in Belgium till my hurting feet where calling it a day, dodging a couple of masculine men on my way to the parking lot, and did the long trek home :)