The Revolving Door

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We purposely planned our time in Europe so that we would be able to take advantage of the nice summer weather for travel and use the fall to entertain visitors. We thought this would give us the opportunity to explore many places so we could give any guests informed travel advice. Aside from the fact that the weather was miserable this summer this plan has worked really well. Now we are knee deep in visitors from home.

My mom and four of her friends arrived a few days ago. Dazed they tackled Leuven on day one, and rented a car on day two to drive to the Netherlands where they would spend the night in Amsterdam. While they were touring windmills one of Jonathan's colleagues from home and his wife arrived. On their second day they left to go tour Luxembourg for two nights. That evening the ladies returned. Two days later I dropped them off at the train station for their whirlwind two days in Paris, and while at the train station I picked up a former colleague of mine, Paul, who was in Brussels on business. We enjoyed much Belgian fare with him and later in the day we had dinner together with the folks who had returned from Luxembourg. Paul returned to Brussels in the evening and Jon and Sue stayed with us two more nights before returning home to Massachusetts. My mom and her friends returned the evening that they left and spent two more nights with us as well.

Sure it was a whirlwind of changing sheets and keeping track of who was where, but it was so much fun to be able to share our lives here with so many people from home. Hopefully they not only got a taste of Europe but a different sort of travel experience staying here with us (and the three loud little girls!). It is Wednesday and they are all home now, but tomorrow I will start washing and cleaning again for more friends who will arrive on Saturday!!

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Photos

Girls showing homestate pride
The ladies my mom traveled with brought over Patriots warm up jackets and pants for all the girls. They loved them and insisted on immediately changing into them, which actually worked out well protecting them from all the rain all day while we toured Gent.

Mormor and Eliza
My Mom (Mormor, which is Grandma in Norwegian, to the girls) and Eliza on the train. Eliza has been waiting for Mormor to come visit her for six months and has had a wonderful time showing off her new vocabulary for her.

The Posse at Gent
The girls and I went with my mom and all her friends to explore Gravensteen Castle in Gent. Despite the rain we had a good time exploring, shopping and eating pannenkoeken!

Me and Paul
I convinced Paul to leave Brussels and come spend the day in our little town, which he thoroughly enjoyed. We managed to ply him with plenty of Belgian beer, good food and historical sights during his short visit. Here we are toasting in front of our comic strip mural.