Golden Tulip Antwerp Centre

... had no hostel and no way to get to Brussels on Friday, but this was when I freaked out a little. Like you would expect, the one time we really needed a chocolate place, we could not find any. So we speed walked back to the Mannequin Pis, and luckily found those chocolatiers open in such a touristy area. I bought an unhealthy amount of chocolate, and later picked up a sweet beer mug as souvenirs.

Continuing our walking tour, we wandered to the Palais ...

... waardoor Antwerpen een echte oorlogshaven werd. De Franse bezetter besloot tot de aanleg van de Bonapartesluis, het Bonapartedok en iets later ook het latere Willemdok. Toen Antwerpen in 1830 met de Belgische Revolutie temaken kreeg, hield het Nederlandse leger onder leiding van baron Chassé de citadel bezet. Halverwege de 19de eeuw was duidelijk dat het Belgisch leger niet voldoende mogelijkheden had om een aanval te weerstaan. Er was behoefte aan goed ...

... Gisteren de beschrijvingen van de uitstappen gekregen van Jeannine van Successo Travel (Italië) Ik kan nu eindelijk beginnen met het inbrengen van de belangrijke locaties in mijn Garmin Mapsource programma. Kort: - Verblijf in Sirmione / Hotel Alfieri - Excursie hele dag Verona - Excursie hele dag Venetië - Halve dag excursie Sirmione / Gardone - Halve dag Malcesine / Monte Baldo

After going to sleep at 5:00 in the morning, we got up 3 hours later at 8:00, packed, and headed to the Metro. Taking the metro back to the train station, we hopped up to Brussels, arriving around 1:00 or so. We wandered around Brussels for a short time, interest faded rather quickly ...

So I guess the coach is trying to send a message to some guys that aren't hitting that well and gave me a DH slot during Sunday's game against Mortsel Stars! We beat Mortsel 8-1. Scored 5 runs in the first inning and I think it helped our confidence after a 4 game skid. From then on we took control of the game. Kenny pitched a gem, working through 8 innings. But **** I never thought I'd be hitting again. I guess I'll be in ...

... like I was crazy and didn't say yes or no. Obviously he wouldn't, but I said I was tough and thanked him for the advice anyways. Not sure what I am up to tomorrow, but I am tired so off to bed. I still think this city is so strange, like it's having an identity crises, but whether or not that's just Belgium will have to wait for another day. Hope everyone's Christmas was fun. Enjoy the rest of the holidays if you are still on them. Talk to you later!! Bonsoir (again!)

... means to **** without caring. To make that even more impressive, it's a hyphenate from his two parents' last names, and they are both German and would have known what they were naming their son, and STILL did it. Which gave us all a good laugh, especially in picturing him trying to clear German passports. The girl that we were talking to was from eastern Germany, and she was 1/4 Jewish and started getting in a long conversation with me about that, and ...

... renditions of American songs interlaced with Dutch and we couldnt understand much of anything. The locals really seemed to like it and the kids we were talking to had come from 20 minutes away by bike just to watch it. This morning we had the best breakfast served by the two owners of the house who also sat down and ate with us. Homemade bread, eggs, sausage, amazing coffee(I need to get one ...

... to come into restaurants and bars throughout Europe to sell things to the bar/restaurant customers. Things from Polaroid pics to roses to cigarettes, they come in and ask you right at the table. Often times, the person says hello to the bar/restaurant help and they say hi back. It's almost viewed as a service. It's very odd because in the US, that would never happen. So at the Kulminator, when the guitarist walked into the bar, the people at the bar turned off the music so ...

... a few more Dutch lessons are in order! From Poperinge it is a short drive to Ypers. There is a good explanation of Ypers in the July 8 travelpod, which we won't repeat here, except to note that this is the site of the Mennen Gate, a very moving WWI museum, and a town totally rebuilt from its own ruins after WWI. We wandered around the town of Ypers as well as the outskirts and saw many war memorials and military cemeteries. It is amazing how ...