Novotel Noord Antwerp

... Fernando in Peru !! I am SO happy!<br>I will be there from December 12th until 30th and spend New Years Eve in Den Haag. <br><br>So many exciting things are going to happen, hehe... and please come and visit me in Dublin, you are all very welcome!<br><br>Big Hugs,<br><br>Jo x<br>

We arrived in Antwerp after an hour and a half train ride through beautifulness. The train station was the prettiest train station I've ever seen. Now our goal...to find Josh. His phone wasn't working so we emailed him the night before to tell him what time our train got into the station so he could meet us. What a wait but we eventually found him and ate our first Belgian Waffle! So warm, so sweet, a little caramelized sugar on the ...

... br><br><br><br><br><br> Dinner <br><br><br><br>I have some more relatives in Antwerp that visited my family in Sydney about a year ago, Irene and Jacques, and their children Gabriella and Joey. Irene and Jacques took me out to dinner at an expensive restaurant, and knocked back my offer to pay. Thus I received a free meal of bruscietta, medium-rare steak with bernaise sauce, red wine, and a variety of red berries with vanilla ...

... district composed of tiny streets bordered with 3-4 storey buildings....very European. After finally ditching my suitcase and hockey bag (of clothes) I wandered down to the water and had a look at the port off in the distance. After a while it started to rain so I made my way back to the train and eventually to the hostel. The Aussie and I split a pasta and played some more pool ...

... one of those sad stories, it has been dumped the day before and runs around in the garden. It lands on my lap and ... I decide to take it home. But, it is not my home and it is not right to give people pets they did not ask for. Frankly, I would not do it anymore, but that is too late. So, the kitty came home and is called Junior because he looks like Suus, so Suus ...

... who did it in 3 clicks of his mouse. I mean really, was she still drunk from breakfast?? That ordeal over, I offered to pay, only to not be able to locate my wallet to hand, so Vicks paid the damage, to leave me further in debt to her. I then thought where my wallet might be, and wasnt sure. So, with Vicky in ever increasing states of slight panic through to mild delusion, both her and myself turned my luggage inside out in the middle ...

... was slow, we stayed inside, it was rainy and grey and cold. We played again the board game and later when Mathilde was back by the evening we ate a good meal with her mother and watched Brokeback Mountain. Which was quite a deception! 'what are you doing' Ok the acting was cool, but I didnt like the way they were picturing them putting their life priority. So what they couldnt be together and it was sad. Millions of Gay or Hetero couples are on the same situation. -----------

We are now here in sunny Brussels, but before I type what has been happening here, I must fill you in on our last full day in Paris. We started in the morning at the Laundromat down the street and around the corner from the ETAP. After washing our clothes in this facility featuring a sign asking people NOT to vomit in the bin, we headed to Gare du Nord to change to the RER Line B station Luxembourg (on the corner of Le Jardin de Luxembourg) where we used the Internet café to bring ...

... the World...there's sex and drugs everywhere. That was also very interesting. I saw the Red Light District where women stand behind glass scantily clad trying to sell themselves and red lights are shining everywhere...ads for sex shows every ten feet...and drugs being sold and smoked in the "coffee shops". Wow. Amazingly enough though no one experienced any violence or negative people. It's a different kind of people that live here but it's kinda cool. All good things do ...

... weight put me (safely) between two different cords, and naturally to get more bounce, I chose the thinner one. I don't think that was such a good idea. They put the harness on and attached the cord to my feet (and also the torso, just in case) and away I went. On the way up the guy is chatting you up the whole time so you don't get scared and cop out. Your back is to the edge of the edge of the crate so you don't even realize how ...