Campanile Maubeuge

... countryside from London to Dover is so pretty, and it isn’t that far so I am very excited about our train trip to Edinburgh for New Years. As we were driving into the Ferry Port, the tour guide says "oh it looks a bit choppy out there", not very reassuring. As you get onto the Ferry they serve hot English breakfast which went down a treat, even though the boat was swaying a lot. I remember saying to Todd, “sea sickness is all in the mind on a massive ...

Hi,

Gisteren zat onze K3 meidengroep (Karen, Karolien, en ik) met ouders en broer bij het reisbureau Lotus van Meneer De Groen.

Deze meneer heeft al veel gedaan om ons verblijf in Nepal zo aangenaam mogelijk te maken.

Nu is het alleen nog wachten op antwoord van onze stageschool en dan zijn we zo goed als klaar met alles voor Nepal!

Ook ...

... the city centre to see some more of Brussels and figure out Bruges the following day. We saw more of the city, and went to a chocolate museum with testers (YUM!), and watching a demonstration. We browsed around the MASSIVE Sunday markets, and even found this cool secondhand market that was great fun and interesting to look through. We also were determined to find this "Manneken Pis" statue which is a statue of a little boy taking ...

... After I had the ticket I had to figure out where the "platform" was...not an easy task... A wonderful man, who spoke no English managed to communicate to me where I needed to be. He must have seen my perplexed look on my face...lol

I arrived at Bruge which is the sweetest, cutest little city. The people here have a wonderful relaxed attitude and everyone ...

... Chartres and Rheims, we finally managed to complete the set by visiting this one. There was also an added bonus, it is also the largest. Inside, there was your usual churchy stuff to see, but it did have one attraction, there was the supposed head of John the Baptist. We did manage to see it, it was all black and rotting, but it made me think about how many John the Baptist sites we had seen !!! After a walk around, we ...

... s had to put up with a very cranky Kate today, it's too early for all this movement and decision making and all before coffee. Sitting at the little airport cafe drinking our last espresso and munching on those fabulous croissants, I've come to realize that the European lifestyle suits me well. Our flight will be 9 hours (omg...9 hours) of nothing but ...

... she became their patron saint. The city still greatly revers her and has lavish festivals in her honor yearly. The church is decorated head to toe in amazing stain glass windows of which some were lost to the air raids of WWII. The intricate, hand carved wooden tryptychs, marble statuaries, and St. Waudru's carriage fill this church with much the same awe that is commanded from the larger cathedrals. Like other cities in Europe, Mons is no disappointment. Its ...

... internship over there. Second, I'm doing my internship at Callebaut (the chocolate producer) to study the fermentation of cocoa beans (a crucial process right after the harvest and right before the production of the actual chocolate). So these are the notorious cocoa beans...

The only way we felt we could see everything we wanted to was to take a tour of the area. We signed up too late for the 40 person pick you up and drop you off at the hostel tour so we were forced to make the trek into Ypres and find one there ourself. Luckily for us the weather was horrible and we were the only two people on our tour. It was run by a retired British teacher who changed the tour to make it ...

... the medeival Sint-Janshospitaal. The bulk of the museum is in the hall that served as the hospital ward, and one of the pictures displayed there shows the ward as it used to be, with wooden bed stalls on the spot where you stand when looking at the picture, giving a powerful image of the history of the place. The church attached to the hospital is well worth seeing, as is the upstairs hall with its near-parabolic ceiling support beams rising from the floor.
Bruges, Belgium mike.griffin