Eventful weekend

On Saturday my friend Ingrid and I had plans to do one of our long hikes together.  It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm and we decided to go on the walking paths around Huldenberg.  We didn't realize there was a local bike race being held in the town, though - when we got there a lot of the center of the village was blocked off and there were food and drink tents set up and a few carnival stands.  Not quite the atmosphere we were expecting but we figured it would at least guarantee a nice cold beer after our walk so we found a parking spot in a little side street and decided to set off.

While we were standing on the corner of a this little side street with another side street, consulting our map and deciding which way to go, an empty Mercedes with a horse trailer hitched to it suddenly rolled across the intersection and right into the house on the other side of the street!  We were stunned.  There was no one else around, so we finally decided to go notify one of the policemen who were standing around in the center of the town for the bike race.  When we had done that and came back, there were some neighbors out and they seemed to know who the car belonged to.  It seems the brakes on the car must have given out, and it simply rolled away...later we realized how lucky we were - engrossed in our map I don't think we would have seen or heard it in time if it would have been aimed at us, and we probably would have been hit.

Anyhow, we walked for a good two hours, through fields, little wooded areas, paths that weaved us through little rural neighborhoods.  Along the way we stopped for galloping horses and racing cyclists hurtling down a 17% grade hill at 90 km an hour - quite impressive!  We were hot and thirsty and so glad when we got back to the town center and could sit in the shade and drink a well-deserved Hoegaarden!  Boy, did that taste good!

Yesterday morning Linda and I headed out bright and early for a free guided tour of our city's Botanical Garden (picture right).  It's a lovely place - we have always gone here to take the photographs for all of my kids' first communions and confirmations - but I never visited it as a tourist before!  It was interesting and I learned a lot - and enjoyed the morning sunshine and chance to catch up with my friend.  Thankfully there weren't any runaway cars, galloping horses, or flying cyclists - I don't think I could handle so much excitement two days in a row!