NH Mechelen

Every two years, the weather man declared, there are strong gales in the south of England, the type that disrupt train services, housewives lose their laundry drying on the line, umbrellas get blown inside out - and even trees are blown down. This was the day that we chose to fly to England. It's OK, the gales will die down sometime in the afternoon, said the same weather man, but not after we've flown over to ...

... Thankfully they don't start them before 8 a.m. We got quite use to the sound and may even miss them now that we are gone!<br><br>Another interesting find in Mechelen was the Toy Museum. The boys were very excited to be greeted by a 15 foot stuffed teddy bear. While we were visiting they had an exhibit by Playmobile. We all had fun building new cities and having some different toys to play with for a few ...

... the tracks I already recorded of KJ Sawka and Faisal Zedan.   The recordings couldn't have gone better.  Mainly we recorded hiphop, jungle, jazz, and R&amp;B patterns.  Fatty K's percussion skills truly have to be heard to be believed.  Now its time for us to head back to Brussels so I can make my flight to Istanbul.   Check out the youtube videos if you haven't already...http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=z440p4W2MOM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqqIklF3 rUQ To be continued...

... We went to the laundromat before tea &amp; after tea we packed up then relaxed in the dining room for our last night on board. The tour was pretty good all over, most of the people on board were retired couples from Canada or US, there was one family with an 8 year old girl, who did really well on the rides. It was good to get to a nice dry hotel room after though, nothing would dry in the damp room on the boat (i had wet shoes for a couple of days)

... might be! She has to come back to the station to pick us up. Dr T starts up his computer. I have no idea what he is doing. Until he says: it is in the scanner. He scanned it and left in there. I call Linda back. She is already on her way to the station and turns around to our house. Half an hour later, she arrives with the passport. What would we have done without her? If someone else would have given us a lift or we ...

... we went for just a coffee or lunch. So brace yourselves with patience cause you'll need it when in Belgium! After spending most of our time waiting and very little of it lunching, we had to go get ready for the second ceremony that took place at the impressive Mechelen cathedral. This time, the wedding was closer to what we had expected to see, but not entirely... Yes we did see the groom in a suit and the bride in a wedding dress BUT! the ceremony was sooo different and thus ...

... Midi station, storing our luggage in a luggage bin that could hide the getaway cars from The Italian Job, we headed north, by foot. Initial destination, the Grand Place, a 15 minute walk to one of the most visually stunning squares in all the world (a complete 360 of 15th &amp; 16th century architecture - tres magnific!). Quick photo-op, then off through the narrow ...

... and being ok fun at first but weird at last. Anyhow, Martin thought that I would hit on her but its not really my style and neither my interest, so we simply blast eachother with dumb remark... I didnt mind that much anyway. Later in the night we were moving back downtown to continue the party, the crowd left by group and sadly our group missed the last metro downtown. While I went to walk with Jenny instead, leaving the Icelandic girl behind, she had already hit on another ...

... of France, Queen of Sweeden, Norway & Finland and the Queen of Hungary. Can you imagine the entourage required for a family gathering? We found the park and the palace - but the park wasn't very pretty and the palace wasn't very palacial... at least not after the ones I've seen in other countries. We found out what the things we saw yesterday were - a statue that you rub for good luck (lots of countries have those), a swan which is only decoration and not much else. I ...

... view: THE FINAL DAY: FRANCE AND CHIMAY To get from Boullion to the Chimay monastery, the most direct route was to drive through France. Coming into France was not like the other European Union border crossings we'd experienced thus far. When driving across the German or Belgian borders, it's sort of like driving to another state in the U.S. There's a sign that says "Welcome to Germany" and that's about it. But, coming into France was a little ...