The Final part of the Europe journey:

On the 9th, Monday, Vanessa took us downtown by way of the river where we saw our first baby ducks.  Brian and I went out on our own and walked around the old town.  The buildings were beautiful and the beer was even better.  We got us a Magnum bar and a couple beers and some fries and ate by the water.  Then we took a tourist boat around for about 45 minutes through the canals to view the city while sitting on our butts.  Our guide was great, he was very sarcastic and funny.  Then we went to a pub and had a few beers and talked til we were tipsy and wandered into a very big, very grand church.  We walked home.  Most people in Belgium don't walk, they ride bikes and everytime someone found out we were walking somewhere from 1-3 or 4 kilometers they were in shock.  We made it home and had dinner and went to bed.  In the mrning we went to a chocolaterie and got some handmade Belgium chocolate and then walked to the train station, about a mile away, and were on our way to Brugge.

When we got to Brugge we walked by another canal and sat on the daisied grass and Brian napped while I read the Bourne Identity.  Then we continued our walk by the water and made our way into town.  We got some fries (Fries are not French, they're Belgian) and found our hostal.  I took a nap  and then we wentout and got a pizza and soup and went back to the hostal.  Our hostal was also a bar and we sat in the bar eating pizza and watching the football game (soccer, our kind is called American football).  On Wednesday we went out to the fresh food market in the square and got food for several meals and then went to a little cafe and had Belgian waffles with powdered sugar (the way they eat it).  We rented bikes and rode along the cobblestone, vibrating, til we were out of the city and on the smooth path by the water over to the next town, Damme.  We parked and walked around the small, small town then ate lunch by the water.  Brian took a nap under a tree and I read.  We went back to Damme to a pub and had a couple beers then went back to Brugge and found another pub, one the locals go to and had several more beers.  I like the fruit beers.  I don't mean fuity, girlie beers, they're real beers brewed with fruit like cherries, peach, raspberry or strawberry.  They're fantastic.  A local at the bar asked us to dinner the next night with him and his kids.  We rode back to the hostal and went to bad.  Thursday we went to the park by the water and read and talked a lot.  Then we got a veggie burger and fries in town, picked up some chocolate and went to the hostal to rest before dinner.  Geert was a really nice, very intense man with a 12 year old girl and 14 year old boy.  They were smart and polite and constantly bothering one another as siblings do.  We had a wonderful dinner and fabulous conversation.  We went home and packed and went to bed.  In the morning we walked to the train station by way of the water and went to Brussels.

We spent a couple hours in and around the train station there eating lunch, reading Tree of Hands and then boarded a bus for London.  People were very pushy when we tried to put our luggage in the boot of the bus.  We read and ate and went through customs and luggage check at the border and then the bus drove into a train and we went under water over to the UK and into London. 

It was dark and we had to take a very expensive tube over to where our hostal was and found our hostal was in a very nice park.  My head was hurting from the ride under the water and so I got to the girls dorm and went to bed.  In the morning I got up at 8:30 feeling fantastic and had a really good, big breakfast of baked beans, scrambled and sunny side eggs, granola, yogurt, cheese, jam and bread, orange juice and hot chocolate.  We walked to the park and sat in the beautiful warm 80 degree weather and soaked in the joy of the day watching parent with their kids, swans and dancing pigeons, and little boats.  Read Salem Falls and just generally lazed about in the sun all day long, sitting, walking and talking.  We had dinner outside at the hostal and went to bed.  In the morning it was another beautiful day and we took a doubledecker bus downtown and saw the Palach and Big Ben and many other city sites while crossing several of Londons bridges where we ate candy covered peanuts.  We took another bus home and got some pizza and ate outside talking philosophy until late and then went to bed.  Monday we went to the park again and read and then went to the science museum, which wasn't so great and had lunch out on the lawn.  We got some groceries and lazed about in the breeze and then I made dinner and we had wine and talked.  Tuesday morning came early and I got up at about 3:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep, so I packed and couple hours later we picked up our packed lunch and walked to the train which took us to the airport.  Then 8 hours of sitting and eating and reading later we were home and Josie was in our arms and it looked as though we had brought the sunshine home with us.  It was another beautiful day!

The End...