Hotel La Colombe Maastricht

... I've experienced (like something out of a comedy sketch show, where one character is only capable of saying 'no' - remind me to act it out for you when I get back to Australia), I discovered that, without residency in a European country, it is basically impossible to get a Chinese visa there. I have since spent hours trying to find a loophole, with little success, except the occasional 'If you bring us all your documents, and leave them with us for a week, then maybe we will ...

... into Maastricht to look around. We caught the train and then walked over the bridge to the old city centre. There were heaps of shops and a few beautiful squares. We managed to stay out of the rain by ducking into a little pub for a warm lunch.
We were sad to say goodbye but school break for the kids was over and we had to continue on our journey with lots more still to see. We had a great time with the Strous family and hope they will come and visit us soon!

During our stay in Spa we had the most scary, horrible, unpleasant experience ever in a restaurant.

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.

See more on www.bouchon-gourmand.blogspot.com

... taking a break underground to store some booze wasn’t quite the same as actually working in the mines. Kids as young as 10-12 joined their fathers for some back-breaking, intense labor. The stone was ideal for building, and a large portion of the Kölner Dom (or Cathedral in Cologne) was made with blocks from the cave.

After the tour, I had time to get a quick bite to eat, so I headed back to the main ...

... Maastricht, Netherlands, a very busy town with lots and lots of shopping. We arrived at our hotel- Galerie Hotel Dis (actually has an art gallery on the main floor combined with nice breakfast facilities and a ...

... shops everywhere, I like to stop in every once in a while and grab a piece of chocolate, try something new every time too! The hard part about food is not knowing what I am buying or about to eat. I tend to just stare at the menus for a long period of time, thinking maybe if I stare at if long enough I will understand what it is! That never works, but I try anyway. I have also found a new love in a ...

... windy laneways with breathtaking views (not just due to the 13 million piggeries scattered through this area) and it kept us away from the Spanish truck drivers' fervent attempts at squashing motorhomes - speaking of pigs! By the way - a quick revision of some of my top twenty drives: coast road Croatia; North York Moors; Pyrenees - Spanish side; Italian Dolomites -anywhere; Derby -sans contact lenses - driving Ivan to bus; to Watson's Bay hotel with ...

... Anyway...there are this so called coffee shops where today I experienced one of the strongest weed I have ever smoked: Jack Errer. I was for the first 20/30 minutes completely numb and sometimes afraid...after that I was still very stoned, but in a really nice way, smiling and very mellow for about other 4 hours...WELLCOME TO NETHERLANDS!

... Belgium’s two greatest commodities. After we picked our lunch items from the one-third of the supermarket aisles dedicated to groceries, Amber got side-tracked admiring the second third of the aisles, all dedicated to chocolate, while I went AWOL in the last third of the supermarket, eyeing off all the shelves stocked with beer.

We cycled back the way we came to return once again to The Netherlands ...

... natuurlijk een jaar lang niet zien. Ik vraag me nu al af hoe het gaat zijn als ik terugkom. Vooral naar studiekeuzes van vrienden, hoe mijn broers en zussen er gaan uitzien over een jaar, ...

Ik ben er dus volledig klaar voor. Koffer is gepakt (en ik hoop dat ik ook alles bij heb) en zit niet over de maximum limiet van het gewicht. Moet je ook kunnen: een jaar weggaan en maar 20 kg meenemen. Al zou ik het liefst met al mijn hebben en houden ...