Best Western Grand Hotel Heerlen

... and filling our heads with fairy tales. We then headed back to Emil's pretty great student apartment, before heading out for a Greek dinner (Emil, Claus and I) and then to a pub for some pretty good Danish beer. We were joined later by Claus's lovely girlfriend, Louisa, and her friend, Charlotte. It was a great evening with great company, and for those who may be wondering, both Claus and Emil are in fine form and doing very well. Odense is a pretty city, and despite the huge ...

... from them over the years. Although they don't speak english and we are equally proficient at dutch, we were able to enjoy each others company and acknowledge our family connection. After heading home, we stayed up watching english movies!! with dutch subtitles of course.<br>After having a fantastic sleep, we had breakfast and went for a bike ride. Feeling quite dutch, we rode around the quiet streets of Boukoul and into neighbouring towns where we saw Grandma ...

During our stay in Spa we had the most scary, horrible, unpleasant experience ever in a restaurant.<br><br>The restaurant to avoid is "Le Bouchon Gourmand", the owner does not hesitate to insult customers, lock them into the restaurant if there is a dispute on the bill, and claim more money than is due. <br><br>See more on www.bouchon-gourmand.blogspot.com

... nice and made me feel good. Then, when I was cooking some dinner, she came up and gave me a blanket, sheet set, and some tea candles. She also has given Nil a wooden spoon, a strainer, and two dish towels for me. Isn't that sweet??? I thanked her tons and gave her a hug when she left. So now I have a few less items to buy to make my new place feel like home.<br><br>Well Nil just got home and she is going to eat a bit of food with Markus and ...

... space isn't exactly the safest place to be. With the German national elections coming up, tensions are high. <br><br>At least the weather is nice here, though! We are having a little Indian summer, about 70 degrees and sunny outside. I better take advantage of this now, because I hear the winter can be really terrible: sunrise at 10am and sunset at 4pm.. we shall see how that goes.<br><br>Ok well Nil should be here any minute, more later!

After popping into and out of Germany, we were now back in Belgium. It was beginning to get a bit dark, and we still had at least 200 miles left to drive.<br><br>Gaz's motor was struggling, and threatening to overheat, so we stopped to let it cool down.<br><br>With the vehicles all decorated with stickers, we attracted a bit of attention, and a Belgian couple took our ...

Once in Elsloo, we stopped to find postcards (having completely missed the observations again), only to find that the only card shop was closed that afternoon.<br><br>Up the road a bit, and Kieran was dropping a card into the door of a Landy enthusiast they had met on the recce. The guy turned up at that moment, and so we were invited in for a refreshing cold drink. The Landyprikkers overtook us at that point, and went on their way. We then ...

... our waiter at the steak joint. He has already run my credit card and says that it's too late. Rather than taking a tip from us, he is trying to give us free courtesy drinks. We, of course, refuse as we don't drink. But I get the last say by leaving a cash tip. I am looking forward to a good sleep. Sorry, there are for this and the last entry. It was getting darker after Vianden, and although it was a beautiful ...

... technology. Mind-blowing. Finally I gave in and we went to the viewing area for the Netherlands/Serbia and Montenegro game. The Netherlands flag is red, white and blue.... and their uniforms are completely orange!?! Don't ask me. The fans next to us kept singing, "Schade Deutschland, Holland ist dabei" to the tune of "Yellow Submarine" which means, "Too bad Germany, Holland is here".... stuck in my head for DAYS. The Germans around us responded by ...

... edge of the town centre there were a number of different animal statues set around the bottom of an old concrete enclosure. After coming across a dog-like creature with a striped back, we jokingly pronounced it to be a Tasmanian Tiger, looking up at us in recognition of spotting two of his own. Despite the uncanny resemblance we dismissed it as something more European, like a fox or a wolf or something, until with ...