The 21st of July is our National Holiday and as tradition wants it, it's either (in 80% of the cases) raining or there's a heat wave on, so it didn't come as a surprise that as soon as we crossed the border into Belgium, it started to rain.

We weren't looking forward of getting back home so soon, so when we saw the sign for Ieper, we looked at each other and said 'let's stop for coffee'.

Well, that was the best decision we'd made the whole weekend. As soon as we drove into town, we knew we had made the right decision. We drove through the Menenpoort, which was gorgeous, and then found ourselves on the market square with city hall and the lakenhallen, which house the 'In Flanders Fields' war museum.

Since we were here for coffee, that got priority. We had apple pie at 'Le Mirroir' and afterwards stole a map at the tourist office and set about exploring the city center.

Unfortunately, our exploration was cut short by the weather, which drove us back into the car and onto the highway for another 3 hour drive home.

I've probably made this sound like this wasn't much of a trip and it is true that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone... at least not the places we visited. But we did have fun and staying at the Chateau and dining at their excellent restaurant was an experience in itself... yet we probably won't be going back there anytime soon. Sorry.

The Jolly Du Grand Sablon was a sight for sore eyes being that I accidentally misread my map upon departing the train station, but I did get to see the rest of Brussels so I had that going for me, which was nice. The Jolly is very well located because its actually fairly close to the train station, when reading your map correctly, as well as the Grand Place. The property itself does have a great onsite restaurant for breakfast, but during my travels I typically don't find myself leveraging onsite features because I'd rather be wandering around town. This area is amazing during the holidays and I definitely spent an evening or two sampling many of the fantastic Beers at the great collection of bars all within walking distance. Also, there is a large flea market that takes place just a short walk from the hotel and it was great just walking about meeting people and asking them about some of their items. There are a number of other hotels in the area, but for the value I found this to be a great property, especially since the location is ideal. Upon returning to Brussels I would definitely stay here again without hesitation. Hope this helps. Cheers, Jason

Today was a disaster! We had the morning to see Brussels, and then in the afternoon I was to interview at the Free University of Brussels (Belgian universities are either Catholic or Free). We wandered around the centre of Brussels, which was beautiful. The Grand Place was circled by guildhalls so ornate that even Lydia thought it was overdone, and she has a very high threshold for gold, statues and ornamentation. We wandered around the Royal Palace and gardens and saw thefmous statue of the little boy peeing, and then I headed off for my interview with a promise to Lydia to meet her in the Grand Place between 6pm and 6:30pm so that we could catch our train.

I had been told that the ULB was only ten minutes away by taxi but I left myself an hour so I could see the campus. When I hopped in the taxi I gave the full address and even a map I had found on the website, but the taxi driver snorted dismissively and said he knew where the university was. Ten minutes later I was there, and I walked around campus for half an hour before starting to ask people where the institute was. I was dismayed to learn that it was on another campus, but I still had half an hour, so I hopped in another taxi, cursing the first driver. The driver took a long hard look at the map and started driving. Half an hour later I was getting nervous, so I asked how long it would be. He replied that the second University of Brussels campus was not actually in Brussels, and that it would take another half an hour. Great, I was going to be thirty minutes late. Half an hour later I asked again, getting really nervous. He replied "I will stop the meter now (at 150 Euros!) because I am lost". We drove backwards and forwards for another complete hour, despite the map with every turn-off listed, until he finally found the second campus. Despite being called the University of Brussels and being right next to the "Brussels South" airport, the second campus was actually just outside Charleroi, deep in Wallonia and closer to France than to Brussels!

An hour an a half late, I had to skip my interview with Muriel, their head of immunology (on the promise that she'd drive me back to Brussels, an interview me during the hour-long drive). I had a great chat with Etienne and then started my presentation. Just my luck, I had brought the wrong one - but maybe the adrenalin kicked in or something, because I gave one of the smoothest talks of my career. The questions afterwards by the selection panel were great, very insightful even without considering that their speciality disciplines were not immunology. The package they offered was also great, tenure in three years and funding to match the VIB offer. The only downsides are the low pay and the fact that it would be a commuting job. If it was in Brussels itself it would be a no-brainer, but now we have to weigh up the cost of me driving every day to work, or Lydia finding a job locally.

Like I said in the introduction, this blog is for the 4 or 5 times I have been to Bruges.   Each time was with different people because it seems whenever we have visitors we go to Bruges, Oostende, and Mons.   Anyway, each time I’ve been there I’ve taken the people with me on the most popular walking route.  We park in the underground Parking garage at the Centrum Zand and the walking tour starts on Zuidzandstr. Where we can see all the shops, there are many shops along that street.  Then we come upon St. Salvators Cathedral.   The tour really starts at the Market Square.   IN the Square is the Belfry, Provincial Palace and the Statue of Breydel/Coninck.  The Market Square is also the place where you can take the tour of the city by vans or horse drawn carriages.  After the market we go to the Burg, where the City Hall and Basilica are.  Take Bind EzelStr (Blind Donkey Street) to the first view of the canals.  Follow the canals along the Rozenhoedkaai and Dijver all the way to the Church of our Lady.  Here is where you can take the cannel boat rides.  It’s a nice way to see a lot of the city by boat.  I’ve done the boat tours twice now.  The walk from the Rozenhoedkaai to the Church is really nice, many photo opportunities.  Inside the Church of Our Lady is Madonna by Michelangelo.   Usually we keep following the canal and see all the Chocolate and Lace stores.  The entire City is full of Chocolate, Lace and souvenir stores.  Speaking of Chocolate, the last time we went to the Chocolate museum.  Very interesting museum it is.  There are sculptures made out of Chocolate and a live presentation on how they make chocolate, including free samples.  A must for any chocolate lover. 

We've been to Oostende several times.  Now every time some of our relatives come and visit we take them to Brugge, Mons and Oostende,  it seems like.  On July 12th we went back,  I think this is the 7th time.  Not sure.  We rented the bikes where 9 people could fit on it and drove around the boardwalk for 30 minutes.  Then we flew kites on the beach.  It was to cold to go swimming.  I'm staritng to think we won't have a summer at all this year in Belgium.   One of the best things about Oostende is eating.  The seafood places are great,  but this time we didn't want to spend the money.   Here are some pictures frmo this trip. 

Since I lov to sleep, I hav to get used to wakng up early, when I'm on a holiday, so I'm able to see things in day light, haha. This is some thing I still hav to get used to. We wak up early to get some cofee and hav breakfast, which was like one thing realy. Havng to check out of the hotel, we had to bring our suit cases to the city, so we decided to put them at the train station. While we were lookng for that, this old woman kept helpng us, which was so sweet, but at a certain time annoyng. I was in the tram, and this woman put all her bags there so I, can come through. The old woman was talkng the whole time and sayng I had to come. Haha, these bags were holdng me from movng any where.

I know I am from 'belgium', but since I hardly know any thing of 'antwerp', you can imagin how much I know about 'brussls.' I did not know how we had to get there, which is why we askd the old woman, he say we had to get. We were lookng for the train station, but she say we had to stop at the GP. So we had to walk all the way to the train station, to put our bags there. After that, we went to the Grand Plaza to take some picturs and to MP. This was one of the frst times, that I realy felt like a tourist, since Javier brought his tripod and put it in the middl of the Grand Plaza to take a pictur. Walkng around with that, makes you look like a tourist and felt as though I was with a Japanese tourist, takng picturs the whol time.

After visitng the 2 only things you can see in 'brussls', except for one thing, but it was so far, we took the train to 'antwerp', to meet JP, who had been talkng to each othr for a whil. We went to sit by the river and had some laughs about culturdifferencs, who became clear. I think 'belgies' or 'europeans' are more distant then people for some where else. We giv hands when we meet some one, but they are used to be less formal.

We evently took the tram to 'berchem', where I liv, to hav dinner with the famil y. This was so nervos moment for me, since I nevr took some one to hav dinner, not even some one I datd for over, 2 years. It is so important to me, what they think, so I was even more scard then when I went to pick him up. The dinner went so good and my brothr even invitd him to his weddng, haha.

After havng a long dinner, we went to the café. There we had some drinks and he got to see, some friends.

I wak up around 4 am to get ready to take the train to 'charleroi.' I went to airport around 6 am, to pick up Javier. We had been talking for over 6 mnts and was so nervos to see him, but not so nervos as I expectd. I talkd with 'sameer', becaus he has been followng this for months. He is so great, he tryd to make me less nervos, which he did. Then I called 'shom', to calm me down, which he also did, although I did wak him up and he was sleeping. Haha, but it was so good to hear his voic for the frst time. He told me, I could, cal. I told him, if he is certain becaus it is so early.Haha, I felt so bad, he was stil sleepng. When I finaly took the bus, I did some mediation, haha. I was sittng there, positiv thinkng in, negtiv out. Haha, don't hav a clue what peopl must hav been thinkng.

I arrived at the airport, after 10 minuts with that bus. The airport in 'charleroi' is so bad, becaus you see the airport the whol time, but the bus keep drivng around it. I kept lookng if I could see peopl. When I got out of the bus, Javier was already there waiting, but I had to search for 2 mts out side to find him. This is so bad, when you are nervos and not findng some one, but knowing that the person is there. So I finaly found him, on the othr side of where the bus stoppd. After meetng, we got in side and startng to drink a cofee. If you hav to wake up around 4 am, you hav to get a cofee, haha. When the cofee kickd in and we both wak up, we took the bus to the city and the train to 'brussls.' After many trams and searchng for the hotel, we both fall a sleep, since we both did not hav any sleep the days before.

I think around 4.30 pm, I had to go to visit famil y, since I did not see them for a long time, I had to go, while Javier stayd in the hotel. There was a concrt, which they always do, when we visit. I stayd there until 7.30 and then I had to come back to 'brussls.' When I got back, we saw a movie, I can't remember which one, which is why I hav to, start writing things down. We decided not to go see the city that night, since 'belgium' is a countrie, where every thing closes so early and there is nothng to do. We were in a place, not so far from the city, but you hav to take a tram to get there. We will explore the city tommorrow.

It was so weird, becaus it was not so weird.

With the morning in Blankenberge, we spent the evening in Brugge, a gorgeous city in western Flanders. The entire city centre is World Heritage listed, and the market square and medieval bell tower certainly deserves it. We walked around the city and also saw the 15th century Burgher's Lodge and St Jacob's church (built around 1240), but the highlight of Brugge was in the museums.

The most dissapointing of the three museums we visited was Choco-Story, the story of chocolate in Belgium. Fairly standard stuff about the history and production of cocoa. We learnt that the largest cocoa producers are the Ivory coast (35%), Ghana (20%), Indonesia (15%), Nigeria (5%), Cameroon (5%), Brazil (4%) and Ecuador (4%). After the Spanish colonisers of Mexico found out about cocoa, they took to it with such relish that they had their servants pour them cocoa even during religious services. The Bishop of Chiapas, Don Bernard de Salazar, prohibited it during mass. Most people responded quite reasonably by just stopping going to Church, except one cocoa fantatic, who murdered the Bishop, ironically by putting poision in his own cocoa. It was only in 1528 that Cortez, the famous leader of South American genocide, brough back the secret recipie of cocoa to Spain (700g ground cocoa, 750g white sugar, 56g cinnamon, 14g cloves, 1 pinch aniseed, musk, amber, 14 pepper grains, 3 vanilla sticks, 1 hazelnut, orange flower) and in 1580 the first chocolate shop opened in Spain. The true highlight of the museum, though, was when Lydia inadvertantly stole chocolate.

More interesting was Lumina Domestica, with the world's largest collection of lamps. The lamps stretched back into our earliest history and into modern lighting, and the collection surprisingly interesting. For example they raised the question of lighting in ancient Egypt. I remember seeing the ancient Eyptian temples that had been occupied by Christian monks while in Egypt. Compared to the tombs the Christians didnt find, these temples had two obvious characteristics -firstly the sculptures within reach had been destroyed, as they tried to scrub rival gods from the walls, and secondly a thick layer of black grease covered the walls and roof, unlike the perfectly clean stone on undiscovered temples. The mystery is that while lamps and torches were used in every day life, leaving greasy black traces on the walls and roof of common Egyptian dwellings, no traces were left on painted and engraves rock of tombs - so what did the artists use as light when working in the tombs? It has been postulated that it could have been mirrors, but the best Egyptian silver mirror only reflects 40% of light, so after only a few turns nearly all the light would be gone. Tantalisingly, in the interior chamber of Hathor in Denderah, bas-reliefs 4,200 years old strongly resemble electric light bulbs. This might not be as outrageous as it sounds, as prototypic electric batteries were discovered from ancient Baghdad, 15cm high and 7.5cm in diameter, capped with a bitumin stopper with an iron rod emerging and inserted into a silver-plated copper cylinder. Testing shows that addition of grape juice to the battery generates an electric current of 0.5-1.5 V. So could the Egyptians have developed a clean burning light source?

By far the highlight of the three, indeed the highlight of Brugge and possibly all of Belgium, was the Friet Museum, dedicated to both potatoes and fries. The humble potato was first mentioned by the Spanish in 1537 in Colombia, but thousands of varieties were grown for thousands of years before then. When it was brought to Europe it became the new stable of the poor, giving a high yield per hectare (now on average it gives 16 tonnes per hectare, compared to 3.8 tonnes per hectare for rice, with Australia being the most efficient grower producing 100 tonnes/hectre compared to 40 tonnes/hectare in Europe/USA and 5 tonnes/hectare in Central Asia) and with the added advantage that an underground crop could not be easily pillaged by feudal lords and armies. Potatos were also excellent for nutrition, being one of the rare few vegetables which contain all the essential amino acids. Likewise, they eradicated one of the three most feared diseases of the Middle Ages - ergotism (along with leprosy and the plague). Ergotism was caused by fungus on rye, poisioning it, and causing problems for the very poor (rye bread was the stable food of the poorest people of Europe). The condition caused gangrene, vasoconstriction, loss of feeling in the extremities and hallucinaion. It was called "St Anthony's Fire" because as a cure people went on a pilgrimage to Saint Antoine-l'Abbaye (which often worked because it removed the eater from the local crop of contaimanted rye). Once the potato replaced rye as the food of the poor, the disease dramatically reduced in incidence. Although to be fair, reliance on potatos caused its own problems, as the Irish found out. Despite the enormous advantage of the potato to the poor (or perhaps because of it), the Church looked down on the humble potato, labelling it as the vegetable of deauchery. It was used in witchcraft, and as it grew underground it was associated with the devil and sexual appetite. The London surgeon John Gerard wrote in 1597 "I planted some in my garden, they are nourishing and fortifying and provoke debauchery". Perhaps related, we saw the "maiden potato", a type of extremely knobbly potato so named as it was very difficult to peel, and only after a girl developed hands skilled enough to part it from its skin was she deemed ready to marry.

Beyond the potato, the museum leapt into the world of the fry. Fries were invented in Belgium, but named "French Fries" by American soliders as they didn't understand that the French-speaking soliders from Wallonia who gave them Belgian fries were not actually French. We saw historical frying equipment, including the short-lived fries robot, and early ads for fries. We also found out about a number of world records:
- The largest weight of potatos peeled by give people with standard potato knives in 45 minutes = 367.8kg.
- The largest potato = 2015g, 25cm long and 70.5cm in diameter, grown in 1992 by one Mr Schotten.
- Endurance frying record (most fries fried in 72 hours) = 15 000 boxes, by one Ludwig Reymen from Kalmthout on the 2nd to the 5th of April, 1987.
- Longest fry (potato puree division) = 9 794 metres (and 2cm by 2cm), by one Stephan Tyvaert.
- Largest potato crisps = 10cm by 17.5cm, by the US company Charles Chip (using extra large potatos).

Waking up in Ghent, we decided to take advantage of the biggest benefit of living in Belgium - the ability to zip around Europe by train. Lydia decided that her life's ambition was to see the Zandsculptuurfestival in Blankenberge, a tiny town on the coast of Belgium. The town certainly had ocean alongside land, with a strip of sand in the intermediate zone, but no Australian could ever call it a beach. Luckily, the beach wasn't our aim, we were here to see het zandkasteel. Every year in Blankenberge they create the world's biggest sandcastles for the Zandsculptuurfestival. This year the theme was princesses, specifically Sleeping Beauty, Cinderalla and Rapunzel. The sandsculptures were indeed impressive, in both scale and detail. The secret is to use angular rather than spherical grains.

I've never been to terminal five of Heathrow before (always being redirected during teething troubles), but it surprisingly nice. We flew from Montreal to Brussels overnight on Sunday-Monday, with a five hour stop-over in Heathrow. Lydia really enjoyed the shopping, buying a new cute hat and spending her life savings on Smythson of Bond Street stationary (which she promptly left on our next flight - but she got it back a few days later), and I enjoyed the relative tranquility of a terminal which doesn't make constant repetitive statements about staying by your luggage and boarding.

So we had two days in Ghent, Belgium, for my job interview at VIB (the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology). We spent the first evening wandering around the city, with nice old buildings, Ghent Castle and stunning Churches and Belfreys (including a couple of World Heritage sites). English was more common here than in Montreal, with the Flemish much more comfortable in adopting a language for utility. One of the nice things about the city was the way almost the entire population got about by tram or cycle. The beers, of course, were stunning, with an extraordinary diversity in flavour.

Our second day, the 15th, was also our first wedding anniversary, and the most important one to Lydia (being paper). Unfortunately she had to make do with a romantic dessert date in an exotic city, as I spent the day at the interview and couldn't even give her her present (I had foolishly assumed that Smythson of Bond Street could whip up some social cards in under three weeks, but at least I knew they did handbags as well as stationary).

So the interview went quite well, my talk was well recieved and the questions they asked very exceptionally difficult ones, but ones I had previously contemplated. It was very odd though being introduced as "the youngest person they have ever had interview for VIB, at 28", and my age was brought up at each stage. More worrying though was after my talk, when I was interviewed by the external panal, and the first question they raised is why my current supervisor didn't support my application. I was thrown off to say the least, but when they explained that he hadn't sent in his letter of support I breathed a sigh of relief - forgetting to send in a letter was okay. I just wish they had let me know in advance so I didn't have to send an urgent email to Jessie and Sasha pleading for the letter to be sent within 24 hours. The letter eventually came four days later, well after they made their final decision, but in the end I guess it wasn't make or break - they offered me the job! Really good news since the position had tough competition. The advantages are obvious - we'd be in the heart of Europe, in a charming town, a quick train ride from anywhere else. It would be amazing for science too, since the position includes a research budget of 2 million Euros. I essentially wouldn't need to worry about grants and could do any project I could think up and would have great collaborators available. The key disadvantages are the low salary (Belgium pays researchers far lower than the rest of Europe, even if they are willing to give them big budgets to spend on science) and the fact that it is not an academic position. My position would be with the VIB and would only be hosted by a university, so no tenure-track or anything. That makes it an amazing position for five years, but insecure after that if my work doesn't generate patents for Flanders.

I had known for months that I would be traveling Europe with my childhood friend Dan during the summer of ’95, but like most other pending dates I had put off getting ready to the very last minutes.  Dan’s cousin (who we affectionately call Kin) and another friend were to pick us up at 7:00 am and take us four hours to Chicago’s O’Hare for our flight.  As it was ten PM, I had nine hours to move out of my apartment, put my things in storage, pack for a four month trip (and I am notorious for over-packing) and say goodbye to my current girlfriend.  Like most times under pressure, I performed amazingly with the help cigarettes, coffee, beer, then coffee, then beer:  anything to change the pace and beat the monotony.  Anything in my apartment that was sentimental I packed and moved to storage; everything else I gave away.  I said goodbye to my baby while packing.  She was great not to make a big deal out of my leaving.  It seemed to be relatively easy for both of us because she planned on a reunification in four months and I didn’t.  By morning I was so tired I couldn’t even think.  I was so delirious I took everything that came to mind and made the heaviest backpack Europe would see that summer.  Literally, as I was sitting on my pack and zipping it up, Dan’s cousin pulled up with a case of beer and we were off!  
    We arrived at the airport, checked in our packs quick and easy (the old days!) and had 2 1/2 hours to kill.  We went straight to a bar (which was conveniently and oddly located directly across form our gate) and started with shots.  I was really tired, getting really drunk and don’t remember much except Dan’s cousin occasionally going over to the gate, talking to the attendants, coming back and buying more shots.  “Hey, Kin.  You think we need to get on the plane?  Everyone else is getting on?”  He replied that he would figure it out and that we should take the shots sitting in front of us, this time toasting to France.  I figured I would let someone else handle the logistics; it was worth it to me even if I missed the plane.  With beer in hand, I made two overly sentimental phone calls to two friends who had birthdays this day, May 3rd.  I arrived back to my bar stool to find the two shots I had fallen behind.  “Here’s to Italy and Amsterdam!  Hey Kin, that sucker’s scheduled to take off in ten minutes?”  In Kin’s lovable, laid back manner, “Plenty of time, plenty of time.  No problem.  I will let you know.”  We were literally alone at the bar, not a single person left in front of the gate, but nothing seemed odd to Dan and I.  Finally, right about the point that I couldn’t speak or think of another country to toast, a stewardess gave Kin a hand signal, we all hugged and were escorted on the plane.  Lack of sleep and too much booze will make you stupid and I was the poster-child.  The entire plane was filled except for one on row entirely open for Dan and I to stretch out on.  I thought we were just lucky?  If I had just one more drink, I should have made a toast to those stewardesses for reading the situation perfectly and rearranging passengers to accommodate them away from us and to accommodate us into a deep, well deserved sleep all the way over that big, lonesome♣ Atlantic Ocean.
In Tangent #1:  My Main Man Dan
The first time I truly met Dan was when he was sitting in front of our third grade class lacing up a brand new pair of blue and white tennis shoes.  You see, up until that time, because of a deteriorating hip Dan wore a big, heavy, loud brace attached down a metal rod and connected with a little brown boot.  I knew of him, but nothing about him.  I would hear him as he always came quickly down the hall bouncing and squeaking; but more noticeable (unbelievable) to me, always with a smile on his face.  I couldn’t imagine how hard that must have been for a young boy?  Kids are so brutally honest!  It would drive most people into an isolation that would be tough to ever get out.  Dan handled it with that smile on his face, a good attitude and the drive to not only compete; but be better than everyone else!  He was motoring through those halls with an attitude like, “Nothing can hold me back, not even this!  What about you?”  That’s how he has fought every battle in his life.  He is extremely physically and mentally tough and I could see it, even, back then.  I’ll remember that day forever!  A crowd had gathered in front of the classroom and when I went to take a look, it was Dan getting, and so deserving of, center stage.  We were all so happy and excited for him that day he got rid of that brace and shitty brown boot and laced up his bright new shoes!  We ran out to the playground and just watched in amazement how the biggest smile in the school could actually get bigger.  It’s that good attitude and smile on his face that he is famous for.  He would be the perfect person to travel with:  opening up so many people, cultures and opportunities (not to mention keeping me out of trouble).  Speaking of which:  that short, little, skinny kid hopping along in that squeaky, brown brace turned out to be an incredible physical specimen!  He was the fastest kid in school, scored the first touchdown for our football team, set a 400lbs. bench-press record weighing in at 160 and never shot over 80 in a round of golf.  He’s a straight-up stud!  And, he was never without a girlfriend.  I was the rebel of the two, but it was actually Dan’s idea to go to Europe.  In so many ways, I owe the entire, wonderful experience to him.  Years later and from an older perspective, I have been honored to meet people that have known him.  I feel like his great personality and positive nature reflect off of me like a badge.  For all of the positive elements that he has added to my life, as one of my oldest and best friends, I hope this book and these words can give just a little back.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I came around from my coma right around the time those big wheels hit the tarmac.  My first trans-Atlantic flight didn’t seem that bad?  If Lindbergh could have seen me now, he’d be pissed!  It was 7a.m. Belgium time and Dan and I were almost accustomed immediately.  Getting smashed in the afternoon certainly has its benefits for traveling long distances on airplanes.  I can just imagine some little man or lady petrified the entire time over that big, cold ocean while I slept like a baby.  Now, they have to sleep the whole day to get themselves straight and I am ready to take on the city, the country, the continent.  This was the first and last day Dan and I would 1.) Jump in the first source of transportation we see and get screwed with the uninterruptible fare and 2.) Carry around our packs sweating while looking for a place to stay and 3.) Stay at the standard International youth hostile listed in the standard travel book.  It didn’t take long to figure out the better routine.  Store the packs in baggage check and talk to some people, figure things out and find a cool, cheap place with a little class.  The last thing you want to do when you get to a new city is get a bad taste in your mouth letting people take advantage of you and your uncomfortable situation carrying around all your belongings.  Eventually, we found The International Youth Hostile, threw our stuff in the eight person room we were sharing and didn’t take notice of the strict curfews?  The city was beautiful!  Random, little statues on the sides of the street were older and had more history than our famous monuments.  You could feel the age behind this place!  Everything was interesting to us and using the theory of reciprocation, people were incredibly nice to us.  One person stood in the middle of a street with our camera until Dan and I were able to exactly recreate a mural of two “friends” walking arm and arm painted huge on the side of a building.  I look back on those pictures and laugh realizing that the mural was a gay pride symbol.  What the heck?  We were gay if it means being happy.  We were happy as hell!  I think we laughed for an hour straight when we saw that famous little statue taking a piss.  That would become our mascot and closest symbol for the next few months.  That afternoon, while grabbing a beer at an open-air café, two of our newest European friends informed me that Amsterdam was only a few hours by train.  “Dan I know it’s more my thing, than your thing; but this is my thing!”  The rest of the night seems like a blur.  I think this is mainly due to the actual realization of how grand the trip really would be.  I do have pictures of crawling on statues of animals and smoking cigarettes with new friends on the steps in front of historic, huge buildings.  Again, when your adrenaline is pumping that hard it’s easy to lose the memories into a dream … and the next day didn’t help either.

Hotel Beau Site is not so far from the centr of the city, with the tram about 10 minuts. It is clean, so good room and you hav a bar. They even giv us wine and food. The hotel is in quiet place and you hav a night shop. I like that, for when you don't hav smoks or some thing to drink any more. You pay around 35 euro for a room.

Again we wak up so early, to get ready and go to explor the city. The plan was to go shoppng, which we did, but came back with nothng to buy. We decided to see the city a littl and to visit 'Aquatopia.' We should hav looked better, when we walkd in and bought the tickets. It was obvious when we enterd, this was a place for children, who wanted to see some fish. I thought we were going to see so great things here, becaus I heard a lot about the place. I hav to get to know my city a littl, becaus it was embarsing to walk around in a place for children, payng 27 euro. We did see some sharks, haha.

We got back to 'berchem' and changed to hav dinner in the city later. We could borrow the car, the smart. Since I can't driv, Javier had to driv the car, which he liked and did not find to be a woman car at all, haha. We found to eat some italian, food and bought some things to eat for later that night.

We got back and saw the movie 'Into the wild.' The thing is that, I saw it, he fell a sleep. I lov this movie.

The next day, I wok up and got breakfast, by the, bed. Haha, so sweet. The weathr was so terribl, so we watched 'Lost', since I did not see them yet. I had to be at work, to pick some thing up, so we went to 'Quick.' After being there for a whil, we went to buy some food, since we were going to make dinner for some friends.

I don't hav the foggst clue how to make any thing, so Javier told me what to do. We made 'callinelones', I think, haha. It was so good.

After dinner we got back and I still had to pack every thing. I think we arrived around 12.30 am and the cab would be there around 2.30 am. I'm scard when I leav for a trip, so I just startd packng every thing that I saw and did not think about what I would take. I through every thing in there, what I saw, and Javier, kept sayng I should not take so much, so I startd to take every thing out and then back in. I was confusd, haha. The cab eventualy went to pick us up and we arrivd at the airport around 3.30 am. The flight would not leav until 6.30 am, but the check in was around 4.30 am. While we were at the airport, Javier told me, that the suit case would be more then 15 k, so we went to see how much it was and it was around 20 k. This is what you get when you confuse a woman what to bring and what not to bring. After puttng things in his bag and puttng things in the hand luggag, we checkd in and finaly borded the plain to 'venice.'

Belgium was kind of a convenience trip at first.  To clarify, I went on this trip with 30 other UT students, none of whom I was previously acquainted with.  About a month before the trip and in an effort to make the best use of my 3 day weekends, I started looking for places to go.  I had London and Ireland set, so I just needed one more place for the last weekend and I wanted someplace a little exotic.  Belgium was simply the cheapest and I'd heard wonders about its chocolate.  So, there I was.  I sent a mass email to everyone in my program hoping someone would want to go with me, and I received two replies.  I was happy to have travel companions but a little worried about who they would be, considering that half the people on this trip were Greek letter-affiliates. ;) 

And so, to Belgium I was headed.  About two weeks before the trip, I was discussing accomodations with my pretty awesome travel companions, when we had two new companions join us on the trip.  So we were an eclectic group, but I was tres excited nonetheless.

Apparently, in all the excitement, I completely forgot to pack my camera.  =(  And so, I have no evidence I was there, except for my becoming a chocolate snob, a beer connoisseur, and a professional waffle-eater. =)

In all seriousness, I fell in love with Belgium.  Brussels was amazing, as we were learning about everything EU in class.  Antwerp was high-class and fun.  And Brugge, was beautiful- the Venice of Belgium.  Belgium had a charm I couldn't resist.

**Edit** I still don't have pictures from my own camera, but I did take some with one of my companion's.  So I've added a few. =)

Very close to my work there is a great Italian restaurant; Ricotta & Parmesan. It is one of the oldest armouries of the capital, which was converted into an restaurant where you can get original pasta and antipasti arsenal with Italian style. The building that houses the place dates back to 1892. The owner have done a great job in keeping the spirit and atmosphere here based on historical references. Along one of the wall almost following haft of the restaurant in length antique cabinets displays Art Déco cases, real antique buffet, cooking utensils from another century, even fancy cooking pots which apparently are former belongings of the grandmother of the present owner. Ricotta & Parmesan has managed to create a place where you feel welcome and make you long for the next visit. The food here is excellent and the prices are fair.