Corinthia Antwerp

... the Chocolate Museum, which made me ridiculously excited. We timed it so we arrived right before lunch, and so we were able to get a bunch of samples during the chocolate-making presentation. Then we were able to sample different types of chocolate chips, from milk to super dark chocolate. I had to practice ridiculous self-control here, because I figured that grabbing the entire bowl of chocolate chips and dumping it into my mouth would not be socially ...

... not good for you to live like that, not the body or the mind, or even (and I'm talking American here) the bottom line, to only have 10 vacation days the whooooole year. Alright I'll get off my high horse now. But seriously, America, let's think about it. Since this is already kinda a random entry and it is Antwerp, seems like a good place to have a little talk about fashion. You guys, the eighties are rocking back hard over here. I ...

... We took a local city bus to her apartment a couple miles outside of the city center and discovered it was on the 6th floor (which sucks after carrying around a heavy backpack all day). All I can say about this hippy apartment was "wow," we were fed like kings, put up in beds, and then shown an amazing view of the city by climbing out on the front ledge and up to the rooftop for a couple brews. I have a few pictures that I can hopefully upload later, but ...

... adventures and is highly regarded in the comic world for his humanism and realistic portrayal of the stories. Between the years 1929 and up to his death in 1983, Herge wrote and illustrated 24 Tintin adventures, including the unfinished Tintin and Alph-Art. Herge's lifetime commitment to the art of the comic book earned him the honor of being inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2003. Down Kolenmarkt and across Rue du ...

... to the real prize, the reason we "modified" the plan, the reason we took the 14:13 instead of the 18:11, the reason we decided to do more than just change trains in Brussels, Moules frites at Chez Leon! one of my all-time favorite meals in one of my all-time favorite restaurants anywhere within the four corners of our little planet we call earth. After thoroughly ...

... day! Thus we moved to Achim and used my computer there while talking with him and preparing some dinner, that I flop sadly, while trying to make a cheese sauce for the rice. I finally stayed at Achim to sleep that night and could use the wireless connection of one neighbour on my computer. -------------- October 30 I went to Mathilde and with Dylan and Martin we played some game of Die Siedler von Catan (The settlers of Catan) until the afternoon. Then Dylan and me went ...

On Friday evening, we hopped on another overnight train, this time up to Paris, and then got a connection to Brussels. The night trains turned out to be quite expensive, I think because the routes we wanted didnt have a "couchette" (cheap bed) option...they only had full "sleepers", which cost more. On the other hand, they were really quite ...

... had signed up to be a student amassador, so I had 30 minutes until I had to be ready to go the airport. So I went to the airport to pick up our interport student, from London. He was really nice. His name was Ian. We pretty much just spent the day walking around town and having lunch. Then I gave him a tour of the ship. So, that was pretty much my stay in Belgium. At night when we were all getting back on the ship a band came out and a lot of people from the town to wave goodbye.

... out on the town to see what this place was all about. As with most European (and I imagine world) ports, the historical city center is never located too far from the docks. So after wandering a bit around the industrial section of Antwerp, we came upon this huge Renaissance-looking building covered in flags of most European nations. After a few beers at a local hole in the wall, we eventually headed back to the boat for dinner ...

... our next phase of trips. Our friend Sasha is coming to town for work (she works at the bank with me) and is staying on for a few days, but other than that, we are here with no real plans until we leave for the south of Spain on October 15. We are still working on the details of our road trip but have a pretty good idea of what we plan on doing and where we plan on staying. In addition to this, we are making arrangements for a 4-day trip over T-giving to Germany. Julie's family ...