My Other Affectionate...Love....

8 Oct '07 8:52 pm

My third affectionate Natural love of mine in a row (after my garden and the Chateau), is the stunning natural beauty of lake Genval, again not far away from my house more than 10-15', by car..

This lovely lake was a deep love of mine, even before I moved to Belgium.. Cause , coming here with my husband, we were staying at a friend's house, who was also in love with it!So , we were all visiting together!

The lake is surrounded by magestic forests, lovely houses/villas, and good restaurants, the Chinese and one of the Italians being my family's mostly loved ones, both being what we call "family restaurants".

So, there we were yesterday with my husband and my little Nicholas, visiting the Chinese, but enchanted by the Autumn spectacle! Have a look!

9 Oct '07 4:14 pm

Thanks for the beautiful, peaceful pictures of Lake Genval, Liza! It truly is a lovely place! Do people have summer homes on its shores, or is it mainly a place for hotels and restaurants? And the surrounding forest - is that privately owned or part of a park or forest reserve? And what is the story behind the fountain? That's something I've never seen in Canada - a lake with a fountain in it! Here we see only pools with fountains, never natural lakes! It certainly was a great sight! Is it lighted at night? So many questions!! Come to think of it, I really know very little about Belgium, other than that it is bilingual, like us, and that it is the "capital" of the E.U. and the centre of the world diamond trade!

Cheers!
gordonf

11 Oct '07 6:23 pm

I just loved your remarks and questions,Gordon!

Well, as far as I know there was a natural lake at this site but the Belgians turned it even bigger/larger. Genval is the name of a close-by lovely village. People actually live all around, not just for the summertime. People enjoy enormously this blessed place, like they enjoy the Chateau de La Hulpe! You can find here all sort of lovely places to have family fun, and not only expensive, like The Chateau du Lac, which is now one of the best Belgian hotels.

Yes, the lake-fountain is lit up by night, and it is something really special, because the view is spectacular when the Chateau du Lac is also lit up all over! But, believe me, I would not like to live permanently around here..During the cold Winter days the cold is awfully humid and penetrating around here..

My photos are taken from both gardens of the Chateau du Lac and the Chinese restaurant, where I was with my husband and Nicholas.

I just found here a lovely Wikipedia link for lake Genval. Within this link you can also find the official site address:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Genval

11 Oct '07 6:40 pm

It is so beautiful,Liza-I can see why it is such a special place for your family to relax.I love the reflections.Very special in Autumn colours.
Dixie

11 Oct '07 7:08 pm

Thanks, Liza, for all the information about Lake Genval. I agree that it must be a beautiful sight at night when the fountain is lighted! On the Wikipedia site, it said that many of the houses around the lake are from la belle epoque - wonderful!!

-gordonf

12 Oct '07 8:26 pm

I took this sunset at Lake Genval this last June, where we had been with family and a very good friend (the ..roofplanting photographer, actually,...in Gordon's Diary) :

13 Oct '07 2:12 am

Hi Liza, sorry it's taken me a while to reply to this lovely post, but I just wanted to add my own admiration of this beautiful place (and its sunset - wow!). I can imagine you sitting, enjoying a lovely Italian or Chinese meal, along with the view over the lake.