Nh Molenvijver Genk

... in the room' hitherto but not this time so if you are offended by stories of legal drug taking then you might want to tune back in next paragraph: This was definitely the swankiest coffee shop I had ever been in. In the foyer there were glass electric barriers one in one out and the guy on the door scanned my passport before letting me through. Not at all like Amsterdam where they just have a laminated menu on the bar, but I kinda liked it ...

... speeds, and gears, that have been hitherto unreached since the panniers went on. The Belgian countryside sped by and it was pleasant enough a few thatched cottages and MANY quaint bars. No pictures though - I was on a mission!
The map proved to be a great success and just knowing more than a couple of place names and their relative loctaions was priceless. Meanwhile, I decided it was time to get brushing up the Francais and the "Learn in your Car" went on ...

As you can see by my video, I started the day in high spirits, taking down the camp in the dark had also been a bit of a faff in woodland but I got under way in just about an hour and you wouldn't know I'd ever been there..

I made it to s'-Hertsogenbosch with no trouble and (after a scout about) found a place where I could leave the bike for a euro while I went for some breakfast. There was a very handsome column topped with a glittering golden dragon outside the ...

Well, I'm back again and so much has happened since I last wrote - enough to turn my trip very nearly on its head...

I'm in Belgium now and back on an AZERTY keyboard, so this is difficult to type, but here goes: After leaving Sara's place in Aarhus, Denmark, last Wednesday, Claus and I spent the morning wandering through Aarhus in the rain, looking at a church and hunting for the town hall. We then headed to Odense, also in Denmark. On the way, we stopped for a traditional ...

(Steve)

Before heading off on our trip, I contacted some of our relatives in Holland and they invited us to spend a few nights with them. So whilst in the Netherlands we stayed with two families and were treated very well, enjoying home cooked meals, fantastic dutch beer and good company. We first travelled to Boukoul to stay with Peter, Ingeborg (Dad's cousin) and their family Maud(14), Hugo(12) and Twan(10).
Arriving in Roermond late in the ...

... between noon and six but it must have been at least 60 or 70. By 6 o'clock most of the guests had left and the party turned into a family affair. The group slowly dwindled until by midnight it was me, Welmoed, Pepi, Bogusia and Marc endlessly telling jokes. Wow! 80 years old and she partied for 12 hours!

... for those who don't know it is the Belgian capital or Raw Sugar and live according to its sugar bets factory). There was also a sort of Carnaval things and we walked into it to enjoy a crowd in a party mood and took some Jenever. It was looking promising and I was thinking we could still do something up for Halloween and party it over. We passed back at Geert and Kathleen and took some cheap foamy kids tools and plastic guns and head to Leuven, hoping ...

... amazement we saw that the sign on the black iron fence above the enclosure confirmed it was indeed a ‘Tasmaanse Buidelwolf’.

Perhaps in a bid to prevent the Dutch caging us up like our presumed-extinct local friend, we decided to flee from the Netherlands entirely, though just for the rest of the day. After hiring bicycles we had barely pedalled our way out of the western edge of the town before ...

... je moest het maar iets nodig hebben en het thuis hebben laten liggen.

Maar zo, ik vertrek! Ik ga genieten van mijn jaar in het buitenland, aan het strand, tussen de palmbomen, de blauwe zee. Zoals ik het opnoem lijkt het wel een droomvakantie. Maar vergeet niet: de nieuwe taal, nieuwe mensen, nieuwe gewoonten, nieuwe omgeving, ... Hier lijkt het een avontuur dat ik absoluut niet wil vergeten.

Later meer.

Groetjes Stefanie

... Which has been a nice coincidence shortly after my arrival. I shortly talk with her and I will try to join them tomorrow! I will look forward to it. The party was amusing, it made it really different than the last 4 months in Europe. After the long night we stayed to sleep at Stan's friend Steven. 'tot ziens' --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- ---------- October 19 I think I'm gonna try to stay a long ...