Our First Market in Belgium, What A Surprise!!

After losing our internet connection for several days... We're back!  Photos are saved, so it's just our timing that's off.  So that never changes for us, we're always off!!!  You would be amazed to hear our language now.  We're not sure what it is.  Definitely a mix of the Queen's English, French, now a touch of German and Dutch, with Spanish thrown in when in a panic.  My dog won't even understand me!  Suze and I put our heads together to remember our high school and a bit of college French.  Two 1/8 brains working together sometimes pull up the right word.  Sue's job is to act out the word. It's a very entertaining act and we have drawn spectators. 

 

The two Sues enter the market after many narrow escapes dodging the mini cars and trucks in the small streets.  We just happened across this market and arrived 30 minutes before closing.

Flowers are available in every market.  Some are cut for making your own arrangements and bouquets and others are available for planting.  Gardens are really big over here.

We tried to take this little girl's picture but she wasn't too enthused about it.  We were all laughing, even her mother.  She was really having a good time eating her waffle.  Hey, we interrupted!!
  

Here's the main candy counter.  Kids would come by in flocks and fill bags full of the huge selection of different candies.  They were almost all hard candies and you could really tell which were the favorites.

Bras!!  They must love the bras here because there were 3 or 4 locations offering them.  All different kinds, just like the candies.  We were glad that they weren't being tried on in public.  Just sayin'.

This lady was so very happy to show us her little dog.  I think he was a puppy.  We thought he was the cutest little guy!  Very active and very friendly.  They take their dogs everywhere here and just love their dogs!
  

Oh yes, the vegetables!  For this section I chose the beautiful display of green lettuce and onions.  It was gorgeous.  Most people have a large vegetable garden here and eat from their garden. The extra is often sold in the market so others in apts. or the elderly can take advantage of the fresh offerings.
 

Oh yes, some of our favorites... the pasteries and desserts.  They are magnificent works of art, especially in the local bakeries.  Most use the local fruit and berries in season.  We have been so good, completely restraining ourselves most of the time!

Cheese!  Wonderful cheese!  We usually have this with some good meat and bread for lunch.  It's quick and we can carry it for a few hours without refrigeration.
 

Fish is bountiful even if we are landlocked.  Here in Belgium they eat much river trout, eel, and shrimp from France.  We haven't been searching out the eel, but have tried the other fish.

OK, this photo looks like pizza.  It was actually our last stop in the market, buttons, buttons and more buttons.  Every type is sorted by size, color and pattern and put into a separate tube.  The tubes are then sorted according to color.  It looks really cool, not like pizza!