Friday on the railbikes.

 

 

We were treated to another fun thing to do.

 



 

 

Yes railbikes. Pedaling on a set of abandoned tracks.

 

 

We all took turns pedaling and riding. It was a beautiful ride through the countryside. We road to a station then turned the bikes around and pedaled back.

Camping by the North Sea

We spent three days at Anne-Laure's brother's camp. It was very beautiful, very relaxing. 

  

   

 

We went to Brugge and walked around another fascinating city. We saw some very interesting sights.

 

 

There are so many things to see that it is hard to fit it all in. One building is more beautiful than the next.

 

 

The centers are quite large with many people and traffic. Probably as many bikes and horse drawn buggies as cars.

 

 

Fries are a big item here so we toured the "Friet Museum".

 

 

Walking to the North Sea.

 

 

Relaxing at a café with friends.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday at the castle.

Sunday service was great again. The music was very nice, although none was in English this week. Koen helped us understand the message.

 

 

After lunch we went to see the castle Alden Biesen. It was much bigger than I thought it would be.

 

 

 

There were many buildings making up the entire castle. We spent a nice afternoon walking around the grounds. It was very beautiful.

 

After dinner we watched Belgium win their second soccer match.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday June 21, 2014

Today we went back to the Fort d'Eben-Emael for the inside tour.

 

It was quit the interesting thing to see. The halls were long and covered many levels.

 

 

 

We were able to see how the soldiers lived. There were at least 600 soldiers living there and 600 were at a camp away from the fort. They switched every week.

 

 

This is our tour guide and he gave us a good history lesson during the 2 hour tour.

 

Friday June 20, 2014

We thought we were going to a chocolate factory near where Immig lives.

 

But it was a chocolate coffee house where you get chocolate to drink. You choose your chocolate flavor and then are served a cup of hot milk with pieces of the chocolate on a plate.

 

 

You mixed your own cup. Samples of chocolate were served with it.

 

"Fry" day of course meant fries and "questionable" meat for dinner.

 

 

 

 

Thursday 6/19/2014

 

 

We are off to the open market. Every Thursday there is a GIANT open market in the center of town. Venders of all types come and set up to sell their products.

 

 

 

Their trailers open up to look like a real store. This is a OPEN chicken rotisserie store.

 

 

 

In the afternoon Koen and Frank took a walk up to the top of a mountain that was built with left over debris from the C-Mine.

 

 

It was a spectacular view. We are staying in one of the houses in the center of the picture with the red roofs.

 

Catching Up

Sorry no pictures for Tuesday

 

 

Tuesday was a nice quiet day. The early morning was spent relaxing.  Before lunch Josh, Koen and Frank helped Koen's landlord unload 3 pallets of brick. Frank was introduced to "Stroopwaffles". It appears that we will be spending a lot of time at Ballinger's when we get back. The evening was spent watching Belgium  win their soccer match.

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Koen and Anne-Laure took us to a point called 3 Countries.

 



 

Germany, Netherlands and Belgium meet in this location where the cement pillar is.

 

 

We walked up 214 steps in a tower to get this view. It was beautiful. After walking up the steps we chose the elevator down.

 

 

We also stopped to see this castle, it even had a moat all around it.

 

 

Then it was off to an underground fort used during World War II. We had a picnic lunch there, and did the above ground trail it was the size of 150 football fields. We are getting a very good history lesson about Belgium. This picture shows one of the penetrations above ground. To see more about Fort d'Eben-Emael go to www.fort-eben-emael.be. Very interesting place.

 

 

A trip to Hasselt

On Monday Josh took Erin to the hospital in Hasselt to have her wisdom teeth removed. We caught up with him once Erin went in for surgery.

 

Koen, Anne-Laure and us walked around Hasselt in the afternoon.

 

 

 The towns are quite remarkable in design. We visited this cathedral, it was very beautiful. We saw their friend Nadine at the store she worked.

 

 

On our way home we stopped off for "Brussel's" Waffle. We did not get a picture of it so we will definitely have to get another one! Dinner was with Sam, Hilleen, Josh, Erin, Koen and Anne-Laure.

 

 

Sunday with friends

 

This morning we all walked to church. Koen explained what the pastor was sharing and we actually sang some songs in English.

 

 

We enjoyed another custom of getting together with friends on a Sunday afternoon for coffee and pastries.  Marc and Nadine are good friends of Koen and Anne-Laure. They made us feel very welcomed and we enjoyed this time of fellowship. This is a great custom to have.

 

A Day in Gent

Saturday we all went to Sam and Hilleen's apartment and they took us on a tour of Gent.

 

 

 

After walking around the city of Gent we all went to a local Soup Lounge for lunch. It reminded me of the soup kitchen on Seinfeld except we ate inside and everything was really good.

 

 

After lunch we went on a boat ride through the canals.

 

 



 

The tour guide spoke everything in English along with Flemish and French.

We had dinner at an all you can eat rib restaurant before heading back to Sam's apartment and then home. It was a great day to spend with friends.

 

Friday we split up, Joyce, Erin, Immig and Anne-Laure went to a speaking engagement, for Anna-Lauren to talk about her work in the field. It was coffee and tea breakfast. Followed by lunch at a friend of hers.

 

This is Anna-Lauren giving her talk.

 

Koen took Josh and I sailboating. 

 

 

Koen gave us both some time steering the boat.

 

 



 

 

It was a very relaxing fun day!

Friday is fry night so we went out for fries and "questionable" meat.

June 12, 2014

Today we went to Bezoekerscentrum Liebenberg which is a Nation Park. Naturally we could not read the sign that said Blotevoetenpad. It meant basically no shoes allowed. It was a barefoot walk down paths that had mulch, stones, log steps, log bridges, water holes, just a real variety of obstacles. It was a lot of fun and kept us busy for the afternoon.

The link to see more about this great park is www.Liebenberg.be.

We're finally here!

 

We have arrived in Brussels Belgium

 

 



 

This is the terminal as we first walked in. Taken from a coffee shop.

 



                
               At Pittsburgh International Airport. On our way to Charlotte. That is our first stop.

                                              
                                                Can't wait to see our friends!

Our Trip to Belgium

Our bags are packed and we are ready tot go!!!!