Bruges 24/05/2009 Our day started with a couple of flights of stairs from our attic room down to the breakfast area and ground level. It takes some serious consentration to navigate down the narrow stairs without getting your footing wrong. Leon had a couple of close calls and almost bought the farm/hotel twice. Breakfast consisted of the usual, bread, cold meats, cheese, yoghurt, fruit juice, and tea. You eat like it’s your last meal because a day of exploring can be extremely tiring so we need the energy, and it helps that everything at the buffet table is fresh and yummy. We had 3 must-do items on our list for the day, Salvador Dali exhibition in Market Square, Belfry Tower…all the way up and the Basilica of the Holy Blood in Burg Square. The Dali exhibition ... read more

Namur 22/05/2009 It’s time to leave Paris, too soon, but we will never forget this wonderful city and will remember these three days for the rest of our lives. We made some wonderful memories, and hopefully we will be able to come back to Paris in a few years and explore a lot more of the city. After much deliberation we decided to skip Brussels, we only saw a small part as we rushed from the one train station to the other. We felt like it’s time to get out of the hustle and bustle of a big city, and since we didn’t go to La Proviance, we headed for Namur. Namur is a gem of a town, we actually had no idea what to expect, and were pleasantly surprised. We actually wanted to visit the ... read more

Paris 20/05/2009 Again we got up bright and early as we have a lot to do today. We buy tickets for the hop-on hop-of bus to explore Paris some more. Unfortunately we can’t go into all the places we would like to see, there is just too much to do and to little time. The streets are filled with coffee shops and small cafes, all the outside tables face the street and in Paris it seems the main past time is people watching. The vibe in Paris is amazing and we feel energetic and actually kind of jubilant. One of the best things we did today has to be the Catacombs. We went down what seems like hundreds of stairs and end up in a tunnel with a low roof and dainty lights. As we walked ... read more

Sightseeing in London 18/05/2009 We were so glad that we decided to have this extra day in London before continuing our travels. The last few days we slept very little, to make sure we use our time to sight-see, and as the saying goes “sleep when you’re dead”. We didn’t mind in the least when Jaco asked us to stay at his place till 10h00, to open for the electrician to reconnect the neighbors power. This gave us time to sleep a bit later, repack our bags for the next week and a half and make some back-ups of the photos we’ve take so far. At 10h30 when the electrician still had not shown up, we decided to do a bit of sight seeing. We went to Tower Hill station and fount a gorgeous Italian restaurant ... read more

Oxford, Cotswold, Slaughter, Burford, Bourton on the Water & Bristol 16/05/2009 http://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/oxford-cotswolds-bath-lacock-and-stonehenge.html use the link to see the tour description We woke up bright and early and got ready for our only planned tourist trap tour. Jaco took us for a healthy McDonald’s breakfast, and even Leon enjoyed McDonald’s, which he usually despises! We had bacon & cheese Bagel with hot chocolate. Even the McDonald’s are better in London. The décor is much better and it’s much cleaner and neater. From there it's off to find our pick-up point. Jaco dropped us off and went off to work. We had some trouble finding where we should be as there was no clear indications, just a hidden street address, and after recalculating we found the pick-up point, that we walked past twice before realizing!... read more