A Glance of Brussels Flower Carpet – A fun Friday!

Brussels Flower Carpet or mostly known as “Tapis de Fleurs” has finally made us all tremble our hearts. When they’ve decided to reveal the designs of the Brussels Flower Carpet 2018. To be held exactly at the same place at Grande Place one of the most beautiful places in Belgium according to most of the Belgian populations.

Tapis de Fleurs 2018

This year’s gorgeous design of the Brussels Flower carpet devoted to Guanajuato, a Mexican region with an exceptionally rich culture and flower tradition. The perfect timing to also celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Grand-Place becoming a Unesco World Heritage.

The “Tapis de Fleurs” is composed of over 500 thousand flowers! (that’s insane right?) Yes! you’ve heard it! The Brussels Flower Carpet is 75 m long by 24 m wide. 1,800 m2 of begonias, dahlias, grass, and bark.

According to a credible source, hundreds of people were volunteers to assemble the brussels carpet in less than eight hours. For the record, the first Flower Carpet of Brussels was created in 1971 by the Belgian landscape architect Etienne Stautemas.

But before all the details, let me just give you guys a quick peek of what had happened that day before I’ve seen this magical flower carpet of the year!

How the day started

It was Friday the 17th of August when my friends and I decided to go out for a small bonding together in a shopping center. Since it’s been a long time since we haven’t dined out together I think it’s time for a heart to heart talk and blabbering for us.

In the afternoon after our respective shifts at work. Michel (my friend) and I went first to our  “rendez-vous” place at Woluwe Shopping and there we stroll around the place and see what would be the restaurant that we’d choose for our lunch.

Waiting for our “maman” (just kidding) to arrive. It’s Eli that’s still MIA (missing in action) no, actually, she was still working by that time and she’ll be finished soon.

We’ve grabbed some smoothie at Helixir Smoothie Bar. I took a Mango Tango with (mango, orange, banana, yogurt, and ice cream). While Michel took a classic one with cherry, apple and passion fruit.

Lunch time is crunch time

Gyudon & Gyoza

The great search of our destined restaurant has ended and we went for Asian Food this time. Yes! you’ve heard it Asian style for a change. The last time we went for a “restaurantje” was with all our colleagues in a Greek restaurant in Zaventem.

All the three of us agreed to eat some Japanese Food. And there you go we headed for that small Japanese restaurant in the corner just in front of a Sushi Bar in the underground area where restaurants and shops located. This restaurant and the sushi bar is the same company called Sushi Mart.

We all have chosen what we’ll eat and coincidently Michel and I took the same “Plat” (dish). Gyudon menu with a Miso Soup and a plate of Gyoza. On the other hand, Eli opted for some Japanese noodles.

I have a secret to expose, I love Japanese Food so much! sushi, sashimi, ramen, katsudon, tempura, tonkatsu, oyakodon, and many more. In fact 3 days ago my hubby and I went out with friends to eat Japanese food as well. And guess what did I ordered? Katsudon!

Cheat day’s specialty 

What’s a cheat day without a dessert? Well, this is the moment that we’ve been all waiting for. We went to the Australian Home Made Ice Cream. It’s one of the prominent ice cream vendors in Belgium, if you ever come here? don’t your ever miss to taste their home made ice cream.

Selfie time

Though we belong to the group of people who promote healthy living, sometimes, we have to give ourselves a cheat day. So here we are savoring 2 ice cream scoops each.

We tried a different combination of flavors Michel chose stracciatella & nocciola. Eli has speculoos & cuberdon, and I picked coconut flavor and vanilla (sugar-free) in a cup. It was a lot for me, a scoop is pretty huge and 2 makes it even bigger.

Finishing our desserts we went for a small walk and after some minutes we didn’t even notice the time it was already 6:30 pm so we parted ways and I went to the city center via “Metro” or subway.

Visiting the Brussels Flower Carpet

While I was on my way to the city center, I texted my hubby to come so we can see the Flower Carpet together. I waited and kill the time by wandering around the shops near the subway stop.

After some time my prince charming came and we spent our moment looking at Brussels Flower Carpet at Grande Place!

The Grande Place was really stunning! with all those gorgeous flowers well designed & arranged. It has a charm that makes you wanna stay there and just stare at it all day.

Arriving at the place was quite challenging, it was covered by people in every inch of the brussels flower carpet’s barrier. We had a hard time looking for a good spot.

In the end, I didn’t care if I get a good photo angle or not, I just dive in and grab a place as fast as I can whenever there a free space.

Hubby took a picture of me with the Flower Carpet but it really looks like a “selfie” since my face is too close. Haha! I’m not saying that my hubby is not a good photographer but actually there’s a reason for this outcome.

As I’ve told you the place was so crowded! Hubby had a hard time to step back. In spite of that, I still give my best smile to make my hubby happy.

Searching for another great spot, at last, we found one. And there we had our couple selfie in the midst of the crowd.

Actually, there’s a perfect spot where photographers could really take a great shot. All you have to do is to go the entrance of the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) pay 6 euro entrance fee and get to its second floor and there you have the best spot you can get in this area.

The second option is you can go to one of the restaurants in the area but the place is difficult to have. You should get a reservation for it and secure your spot.

The third option, get a selfie stick or a tripod to take a decent photo of the Grande Place and the Brussels Flower Carpet.

Panorama Photos

The day is not yet over!

Phad Thai Kai

Moving on, we walk through another exposition in front of the Bourse/Stock exchange building. There were also flowers in form of chapel/churches from all over the world. I took some photos but I was too far because it was as crowded as Grande Place.

We were heading home at that time, decided to walk instead of taking any public transportation. On our way, there’s a Thai restaurant who caught our attention and made my hubby hungry.

So we went inside and eat some Thai food. We ordered a menu, I got the Phad Thai Kai (chicken flavor) and hubby took the Khao Phad Kai (fried rice with chicken). Both of us have the entrée with Kha Nom Jeed Kung (ravioli shrimps soup).

It was so delicious that after the ravioli soup we were kinda full already. We ate some of our main dishes and then we ask if we can take out the rest for home.

Visit Thai Bangkok website if you’d like to try some of these traditional Thai food and you can also order online.
Located at 54 Boulevard Emile Jacqmain, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. Tel. no. 02 217 59 03

A Glance of Brussels Flower Carpet – A fun Friday!