To Antwerp!

We took a 40-minute train ride from Brussels to Antwerp to spend a day sightseeing. It was a breath of fresh air from the packed, tourist-riddled city of Brussels for the Flower Carpet weekend. Upon arrival at the Antwerp train station, we found the ceiling so beautiful, we had to stop and take a group photo. 

All arrived in Antwerp

All of the photos on this post were taken as made a 20-minute walk last over an hour thanks to amazing shops, photo opportunities, and busker watching. 

Buildings in a row

Antwerp Architecture

Antwerp's buildings were similar to Brussels' architecture, but the streets seemed wider so that you could better appreciate them from across the street. There were also statues of the city's most celebrated artists, Van Dyke and Rubens. 

Van Dyke statue

There were also rows and rows of red city bikes available for anyone to rent should they so want. 

City bikes ready for use

Part of the silliness: My friend Julie photo bombing my take of this eagle and fountain. (If you zoom in, she's seated on the corner of the fountain, looking back at the camera.) 

Julie photobombing (seated, at corner of fountain)

And Julie's husband Dan, not-so-subtle photo bombing of my photo of the giant hand statue.  

Her husband, Dan, photobombing (not so stealth-fully)

Once the lot of us finally made our way to Antwerp's city center, we were not disappointed. The statue is the celebrated Brabo Fountain, sculpted by Jef Lambeaux. It depicts the 16th C legend that tells of Salvius Brabo, a nephew of Julius Ceasar, who defeated the giant Druoon Antigoon and cut off the giant's hand and threw it in the Schelde river (the same punishment the giant inflicted on soldiers who couldn't pay his toll). 

Antwerp town center

In the picture below you can see the tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady, the most ancient and largest gothic cathedral in this region. Building of this cathedral started in 1352 and was finally completed in 1521. I have seen so many old buildings, yet I am still amazed with each new historic building I see. I hope I never become blase about seeing this sort of sight! I don't think I will...

City square, with the cathedra of Our Lady's tower on left

Flower Carpet in Brussels Grand Place

Our friend, Cindy, had always wanted to see the flower carpet in Brussels ever since she heard about it several years ago. It is organized and paid for by the Turkish Embassy to celebrate Brussel's acceptance of Turkish immigration into their country. The flower carpet is only in place for three days, and only happens every other year. Needless to say, the weekend we were in Brussels was a huge tourist weekend. Oh well, it was worth it! 

Flower carpet viewing balcony

We had to wait about an hour in line to get up to the town hall's viewing platform. If not for the pushy German lady who cut in line behind us and proceeded to try and cut in front of me, the wait would have been a lot of fun. Don't worry, I called her out and made her get back behind me! (Nothing gets me more hot & angry than a big ol' cheater!) Once we made it into the town hall we had to wind our way up to the viewing balcony. On the balcony we were allowed to hang out and take as many photos as we wanted. 

This was the 50th anniversary of Turkish Immigration in Brussels, and the flower showcased in this flower carpet was the begonia. The carpet was 75 meters long and 25 meters wide.

Flower Carpet detail 

All of the ladies (save Cindy, who was somewhere on the balcony taking photos) posed for a group shot with the flower carpet behind us. 

The gals on the viewing balcony

My wide angle lens wasn't quite wide enough, but I was able to get most of the flower carpet into one shot. You can also see the amazing Grand Place buildings that boarder the square. It really is one of the most beautiful squares I have ever seen, even without the flower carpet! 

Almost all of the flower carpet

More shots of the flower carpet.

To the right...

... and to the left

I also got out my cell phone and attempted to take a selfie. I'm not very good at this selfie thing, but trying to take them always cracks me up. 

Flower carpet selfie fail! 

After our uber-posh dinner of mussels, duck, and the like, Bill and I (along with Cindy & her husband, Brook) walked back to the Grand Place to see the flower carpet all lit up at night. We are so glad we did! Not only did I get this pretty cool shot below, but we also got to see the music and light show. I took a few short videos of the music and light show which I will post below.  

Flower carpet at night

Enjoy!!

Our Muscles Went to Brussels!

Our group of friends here in the UK all got together and organized a trip by train to Brussels, the capitol of Belgium and the E.U. Bill and I were asked if we wanted to tag along, and just like that, we were going to Brussels! 

One of the couples had the foresight to bring a few bottles of bubbly and plastic glasses, so once in the Chunnel, pop! went the cork and the festivities began. 

A bit of bubbly for the Chunnel

After a group effort finding the metro, our hotel, and the restaurant where we had dinner reservations, we got to have some fun playing tourist before the end of our first night. The photo below isn't the greatest, but we're in the "Grand Place" (pronounced grand plass), the historic town centre of Brussels. And I just had to do my "muscles in Brussels" pose. I'm such a nerd! 

My muscles in Brussels

The next day was a day of gawking at sights. One of the most prominent is Manneken Pis, the little bronze statue of the boy peeing into a fountain. Apparently the little pissing boy has numerous costume changes and on this particular day he was wearing some sort of traveling attire. I have included another picture (taken on our last day) of the more traditional, buck nekkid, Manneken Pis.  

A clothed Manneken Pis

And a naked Manneken Pis

We also saw this really cool statue at the Grasmarkt. I am not sure if it has any historic significance, but it was a pretty cool statue. Enjoy! 

Dude and his Dog

The day was not just about sight seeing, but also gorging on food!! We had freshly made Belgian waffles with all the trimmings.

Belgian Waffles!

And in the afternoon it started really chucking down rain, so we ducked into one of the Delirium beer purveyors to enjoy their goods. There were about 5 different Delirium pubs in a one block radius, all had a different vibe and different clientele - we went to the boring quiet one, which was AWESOME! 

Belgian Beer

We did a bit more sightseeing before taking a wee nap prior our dinner reservations. Below you'll see the flower carpet viewing balcony on the Town Hall in the Grand Place. There will be a lot more on the Flower Carpet in my next blog post. 

Grand Place Buildings

On our way back to the hotel for the wee nap, Bill and I ducked into St. Michael's Cathedral.

St. Michael's Cathedral

I lit a candle for my mom, and then we spend about a half an hour looking around the beautiful cathedral. 

Lighting a candle in St. Michael's Cathedral

St. Michael's Cathedral nave

That night we went to a rather expensive, Michilin-starred restaurant in the city centre. Many people ordered the mussels & frites (fries), which they said were amazing. I am not a fan of mussels, so I had a delicious duck breast. 

After dinner we ducked back into the quiet Delirium beer emporium, and I tried yet another bier. It was delicious!

More beer!

California Dreamin'

After our visit in Missouri, we boarded another plane and made our way to California. We spent several days with my family in Southern California and had a really good, healing visit. The Friday we were there we had my mom's celebration of life, so my immediate family as well as mom's siblings and dad's siblings flew out to California for the weekend. Along with the family, quite a number of family friends, co-workers, old school chums, and the like attended the service and reception. It was great to honor my mom with such love. 

While in California, our youngest niece, Emery, lost her second tooth. The next morning, she found the tooth fairly had left her a whole dollar for her tooth!! When asked what she wanted to buy with her dollar, she said she wanted to buy a be-jeweled, golden sword. Well, Uncle Bill decided she didn't have to wait, and origami'd Em's dollar into a wee sword for her to play with right away. She was pretty tickled with her new dollar-sword! 

Uncle Bill rocks

I didn't take a lot of pictures in Southern California, but we had a great time. Sometimes I think you just need to put down the camera and experience life, you know?

At the end of that weekend, Bill and I picked up a rental car and drove up to our old (and future) stomping ground. Once there we checked out our house, grabbed some grub from one of our favorite taquerias, and headed down to Lover's Point to watch the sun set. I love North Yorkshire, and I love Monterey - we are very, very lucky!

Lover's Point at dusk

While at home I got to have breakfast with my shift at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and check out their newest exhibit, Tentacles. As always, their exhibits do not disappoint!

Visiting the Aquarium

New octopus friend

Nautilus 

I had to take a picture of my favorite of all the exhibits of the Monterey Bay Aquarium - the great tide pool and bay! 

Great tide pool at Monterey Bay Aquarium

Bill had to go to work that day, so after visiting the aquarium, I swung out to my other volunteer location, Point Lobos. And wouldn't you know it? Some humpback whales were putting on a show, just for me! I was so happy!!

Humpback whale tail

Humpback spout 

As I walked around Point Lobos I took in all the sights and smells. It really did feel like I had just been there a week ago, not going on a year and a half ago!

Point Lobos

Point Lobos

I was glad I took the time to walk around Point Lobos when I did, as it turns out we were booked solid for the rest of our California visit. Between servicing appliances in our home, taking care of paperwork, and visiting with good friends, we had barely a minute to spare before we had to drive to SFO for our flight back to London. 

Point Lobos

Two and a half weeks in the states was a lot of time, but it went by so very quickly! And what a whirlwind - I think we both felt like we needed a vacation by the time we returned from our vacation!

More Fun in Missouri

After our weekend adventures in the Ozarks, we hitched a ride with family the four hours or so to Kansas City, Missouri. We spent a few more days with Bill's mom, and got a chance to hang out with the always entertaining and delightful Granny. 

Bill and a happy granny

Granny has been a huge cycling fan for years, so we promised her goodies from our Tour de France adventures. We picked up quite a lot of merchandise from the "Fun Park" so that all our family's race fans got a little memento from this year's race. Granny received a t-shirt and carrier bag and she couldn't have been more excited. 

Granny with her new Tour de France shirt

She made sure we took a photo pointing at our day one finish line on the back of her shirt, and another one of her wearing and holding her new items. Granny must have had me laughing up a storm, as this photo is quite blurry - sorry! 

Granny with her Tour loot

One night while we were visiting Bill's mom, we drive over to Alan's side of KC (the Kansas side) for dinner. We drove by the Schlitterbahn water park because it had been in the news lately. Their new waterslide, the Verrukt, had to be retrofitted before humans could ride it. It seems the drop was so steep, the first few trial runs (with weighted dummys) catapulted the riders into the air. Oopsies! The slide has now been fixed and Bill wanted to ride it, but we never had the opportunity. Maybe next visit... but I certainly won't be riding it with him! 

World's tallest waterslide, Verrukt

We took advantage of the mild weather the next day to go to Powell gardens, a botanical garden near Bev's home. I took quite a number of photos of their flowers and lilly pad covered lake, and most turned out great. With such a nice day, it was hard to take a bad photo! 

Powell Gardens

Beautiful day!

Even more lillypads

The gardens are quite large, so we caught a little trolly to take us to different sections of the park. In one section they had yet more beautiful flowers and a gorgeous little chapel.

Flowers

I am sure they host quite a number of weddings in this beautiful chapel!

Chapel

It was a lovely, warm (but by no means hot) summer day and we just really enjoyed hanging out and relaxing. What a wonderful day!

Bev and Bill, chillaxin'