The countdown to my parents’ visit was finally over and they picked me up in Tienray for an afternoon of walking around Venlo looking at the shops and old buildings. In my opinion the prettiest building in Venlo is the city hall in the middle of a square. We ate dinner right in front of this massive cathedral-like building (pictured above). There was also a carnival taking place throughout the city. It was pretty cool to see the different shops and attractions set up wherever there was room throughout the city. It was definitely different than our carnivals here, where normally they would all be set up in group.
I spent that Monday night in Tienray at my hotel, but we were on the road early the next morning. On Tuesday, we visited two farms and tried a total of six horses: one five-year-old, three six-year-olds and two seven-year-olds. They were all very nice horses and lot of fun to ride; however, my favourite was a grey six-year-old mare from the first farm in Horst, Netherlands.
After visiting the second barn in Zandhoven, Belgium, we were super hungry so we picked a random restaurant and it ended up being very good. The place was a slightly upscale Italian restaurant and I definitely felt underdressed with my breeches, tall socks and slides! That night we stayed in a cute hotel in Belgium called The Pacific Hotel. We have stayed here several times before and I would recommend anyone in the area of Ravels to check it out. The lady who owns the place is very nice and even sent us home with a couple of super-cool European beer glasses.