Tweet11-07-2011 om 09:35 by Sueli Brodin

This weekend, while my husband and my son Tim went to visit the National Aviation Museum Aviodrome and the Batavia Yard in Lelystad, I devised my own plans to offer my daughters a special treat as well.

On Saturday we biked to Maastricht and spent the entire day shopping.



I took advantage of the sales season to buy them some lovely new dresses and shoes and we stopped by for lunch at  the Turkish shop at Mosae Gusto for delicious Turkish pizzas and fresh salads.



As we were strolling through the main shopping street in Maastricht, a friendly woman spontaneously offered to take a picture of the three of us.

In the evening, we spent a long time together watching music videos on YouTube, with lyrics, and singing and giggling along.



I knew that the Bastin nursery garden in Aalbeek was organising a special Lavender-themed event this weekend and I didn't feel like missing it, so I asked my daughters if they felt up to making the 11 km trip by bike. Luckily, they both said yes.



It was a beautiful sunny Sunday and there were bike paths all along the way.



As usual, my older daughter Naomi was full of energy and quickly took the lead.



We biked along typical farmhouses,  fruit orchards and vegetable fields...



...and finally reached the little village of Aalbeek.



When we entered the Bastin nursery garden however, it felt as if we had actually arrived in southern France.



There were a stall selling typical products of the Provence region...



and a herbalist was showing visitors how to make lavender scented soap.



All children were welcome to cut their own piece of soap.



Naomi and Sacha were happily surprised to meet some school friends at the playground and played with them on the trampoline for a while.



Meanwhile, I strolled around the nursery garden and admired the beautifully layout grounds.





The Trio Laroche musical ensemble was playing delightful French tunes as we sat down for a tasty Mediterranean flavoured lunch.



We spent a few hours at the nursery garden, thoroughly enjoying the holiday atmosphere.









On our way back home, we stopped at an archeological spot along the road where the remains of a Roman villa were recently discovered.





As we passed an old chapel, I was startled by the representation of two goats on the gate and wondered if the chapel used to be a meeting point for the mysterious Bokkenrijders (Goatriders) who roamed about in the area in the 18th century.



A few hours later, my daughters still felt fit enough to hop on their bikes once again and go to the sushi-bar that opened recently in the neighbouring town of Meerssen. They saw it as a perfect opportunity to wear their new dresses.



We took a seat right in front of the sushi chef and enjoyed watching him as he prepared the various sushi dishes and placed them on the conveyor belt.



He told us that he had learned his skills with an awarded African sushi master from London.



The Dutch owner of the restaurant explained that she and her husband had become acquainted with Japanese cuisine in Bali, where they had lived for some time, and had grown so fond of it that they had decided to open their own sushi-bar when they moved back to their native region of South Limburg. She proudly said that Také-Sushi was the only sushi restaurant south of Eindhoven that had adopted the conveyor belt concept and that she was keen to experiment with many new variaties of sushi, using innovative ingredients such as asparagus, beetroot and mango. She was also planning to include Japanese noodles on the menu card.



When we finished our lovely meal, my daughters smiled at me with a wink: "Tim and Papa will be soooo jealous when we tell them everything we did together this weekend!"

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