Brazil, via Canada, The Netherlands, and Belgium
Natalia left for Greece after Palermo, to fly back to Brazil, and I headed up north, for a 3-day meeting in the Belgian countryside. The weather was lovely, and the colors of early autumn, combined with the softly rolling hills, made Pajottenland a gorgeous stop on my trip.
After the village of Gaasbeek, I headed back to Holland for a quick stopover, and a goodbye to my mum, with whom I visited the Rietveld Schröderhuis, in Utrecht. The house, a World Heritage Site, is unique for its open-plan architecture and a well known example of the De Stijl architecture.
In Utrecht, we were confronted with ‘the hype from Dubai’, pistache-cream filled oliebollen. Allrecipies.com calls oliebollen ‘Dutch doughnuts’, which is quite the insult, as oliebollen predate doughnuts, and are probably what inspired doughnuts in the first place.
Then, heading back to Brazil, I had to again face a long stopover in Canada, this time in Toronto. To facilitate this little project of mine, I had scouted online, and found a nice park full of benches, High Park.
But, upon arrival, the dozens of benches I encountered all had already been fitted with memorial plaques. Some sleuthing, however, provided the necessary fulfilment.
As from the start, so at the end, therefore I attempted to enjoy the delicacies of that Canadian institution, Tim Horton’s, and again I was left with a distinct feeling of ‘meh’.