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The Highlights:

• Searching for "Mom's"scarf in half a dozen cities and finally finding the right one in Louvain-La-Neuve two days before they left!
• Trying not to laugh each time Dad bashed his head on the various pieces of furniture we encountered in our travels.
• The fantastic double mattress that Tony lent us while Mom and Dad had our bed. (Even though we were the ones on the floor, we really had the better deal...)
• Our hostess in Rothenburg who thought that Chad and I were siblings ("around 13 or 14 and 16 or 17"), that is, until she saw the beds pushed together...
• Having Chad's parents there for his birthday for the first time in 8 years.
• Our talks over supper or in the apartment in the evenings and the chance to pray together.

Travels
Paris
We drove from Brussels to Vimy on Friday, January 17^th so that Mom and Dad could see the Vimy Memorial (see our Rememberance Day photo album under the "Lest We Forget" heading below). Unfortunately I don't know what happened to our pictures that day... I can only find one so I'll include it in the Paris photo album.
Chad and I had found an amazing deal on a hotel in Paris through the internet, so our rooms were already booked for Friday and Saturday night. All we had to do was find our way there. Of course, this is always easier said than done in Paris! However, this time I had a map (thanks to an understanding father-in-law!) so it only took us about 45 minutes (and only one detour to deal with an unexpected one-way street) to drive through rush hour traffic and find our "Garden of Paris" ("Jardins de Paris" is a chain of hotels in Paris.). On Friday night Mom, Chad and I took the subway to L'Arc de Triomphe, walked down the Champs Élysées and had (the most expensive) hot chocolate (I've ever had!!!) at a sidewalk café. We all went to Versailles on Saturday morning and then the Three Musketeers once again headed into downtown Paris on the Subway (where I think I lost my scarf... Sigh.) We saw the Louvre, the Seine and Notre Dame before meeting up with Dad for supper. Then it was off to the Eiffel Tower for all of us. Sunday morning we slept in a bit, had breakfast at the hotel and then started the drive home. The original plan was to drive along the French coast up into Belgium, but we decided to save the coast for Monday and drove straight home to Louvain-La-Neuve.
Paris Photo Album

The Netherlands
On Monday, January 20^th, we drove up through Belgium, (past Brussels and Antwerp) and across the dikes to Delft in the Netherlands. Delft is very close to Rotterdam, and is famous for its Delftware china. After a few hours of souvenir hunting (for Mom and Dad, at least), we had dinner in a several hundred year old building-turned-restaurant calld "De Waag". Once we figured out that Dad had been given Mom's Cornish Hens (we thought the "veal" looked a bit strange...), we were able to enjoy our delicious gourmet meal. :)
Netherlands Photo Album

Die Romantische Straße
On January 23^rd, we drove through (blink and you miss it!) Luxembourg and down into Germany in search of "The Romantic Road" (by the way, "ß" in German is equivalent to "ss" in English.) According to one publication, "The Romantic Road is Germany's best known and most popular tourist route." It was established in 1950 as a way to promote tourism in Bavaria. At any rate, with Dad as our fearless navigator, we eventually found it; but not before Chad got to drive 190 km/hour on the Autobahn! Happy Birthday, Chad! (For the record, he said he didn't really enjoy going that fast, and I'm sure that statement had nothing to do with the presence of two Frau Schmitkes in the back seat... ;p~)
We arrived in Rothenburg ob der Tauber in the afternon and Dad found a lovely pink "gasthaus" (guest house) with a kitchenette, dining and living area, master bedroom and full bathroom with breakfast included for the incredible price of 70 Euro. (This was the first in a long line of pink accomodations while in Germany. Isn't the Winnipeg house pink, too? Must be a German "thing"... Note: Bill Schmitke hates the fact that his house is pink.) Anyway, Rothenburg was amazing and I could have spent the rest of the week there. Truth be told, we also might have spent the week searching for our lost camera case (with extra battery inside!). I gave it to Chad because I didn't want it to fall out of my pocket. Instead, it fell out of Chad's pocket somewhere in our explorations of the city. :p~
Rothenburg Photo Album
After an early breakfast (since Dad accidentally told our hostess that we wanted breakfast at 7:30am--in German, "Half Eight" actually means 7:30... Oops!), we continued down the "Romantic Road" (amidst somewhat sarcastic cries of "Look! It's a caaaastle!" from our navigator whenever we passed any building larger than a bus shelter... Clearly the romance of the scenery around him was having absolutely no effect. Must have been the lack of sleep... Eventually Frau Schmitke (I had become "Frau Schmitke Jr.") informed him that he wouldn't be able to see anything, castle or not, if his eyes were swollen shut! He only pointed out buildings over two stories tall from then on. ;p~). We stopped to explore Harburg Castle and then made our way to Füssen, home of King Ludwig II's "Fairy Tale Castles". Dad found us another pink guesthouse and we set out to explore the town. After supper, Chad and I took the car to a nearby hot springs since I'd never been to one, but we discovered that Friday evenings were "nude only". Perhaps we'll go to Banff someday instead. ;) Since we knew that Dad and Mom had gone to a hockey game in Füssen, Chad and I decided to visit the castles (which we hoped would be lit up at night). We parked the car and then hiked for about 20 minutes through the snow from Schloß ("Castle") Hohenschwangau up to Schloß Neuschwanstein, only to discover that the castle was covered with tarps and scaffolding! (On a happier note, the walk through the freshly-fallen snow was absolutely gorgeous!) We had planned to take a tour of Neuschwanstein the next day, but decided to drive to Schloß Linderhof instead. Once again, the castle was covered in tarp for renovations. However, we did take a tour of the inside and the scenery on the ride to Linderhof (through the Austrian and German Alps) was breathtaking. :)
Füssen Photo Album
Linderhof Photo Album

Salzburg
Our journey continued through the Alps towards Salzburg and as we drove by Innsbruck, I began to understand why my guidebook described it as "an important winter sports centre!" I'd only ever seen mountains like that in "Extreme Snowboarding" videos! Very cool!
Alps Photo Album
We stopped at a rest station just before Salzburg and it had a list of various hotels with a (free) direct line to each one. Mom and Chad found us a spot at the "Pension Adlerhof" (Alas, it wasn't pink. Only Dad has "the gift" for finding pink residences!) which we found without too much difficulty. Our host was very helpful and gave us suggestions on where to go in the time we had, as well as pointing the way to a great restaurant. (This was the restaurant where Chad and I plotted together to pay for the meal--a first since Mom and Dad had arrived.) Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the occasion because the camera battery was dead and our spare battery had deserted us in Rothenburg with the camera case (in order to meet up with my scarf in Paris, perhaps?). Chad, Mom and I set out on the morning of Sunday, January 26^th to see Salzburg's castle, "Festung Hohensalzburg". The tram up the hill (a.k.a. small mountain) was out of order for repairs but Mom found a sign that said it was only a 15 minute walk up to the fortress. The sign didn't mention that the road was liberally coated in ice and seemed to climb at a 45° angle! However we managed to make it to the top without the use of ropes or ice picks and enjoyed a fantastic view of Salzburg from the ramparts. We also took an audio-guided tour of the inside of the fortress and found out why there were turnip symbols carved into everything (It was actually part of the coat of arms for Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach. Go figure.). Mom stopped to buy a wooden sword and shield in the gift shop for Zac and Chad said he'd run down to where we were supposed to be meeting Dad. Well, remember the ice-covered road up? In the excitement of "conquering the castle," we forgot that we would have to go back down that road... Mom and I inched our way slowly down the hill (a.k.a. small mountain) and Chad (a.k.a. "Mountain Goat Boy") met us about halfway down. I think he had already run up and down the hill twice by then trying to coordinate our rendez-vous! Who needs a cell phone (for short distances) when you've got Chad? :) Anyway, we got in the car and headed out of town around 1:30pm. Our plan was to drive almost entirely across Germany and spend the night in Trier because Dad needed to be near Luxembourg to call his potential client on Monday morning. At the first rest stop outside of Salzburg, we stopped for lunch. This was when I noticed that my pillow was missing. I had set it on top of a suitcase in the hotel so that it "wouldn't be forgotten" and somewhere between there and loading the car, it was forgotten. Determined not to leave any more personal belongings behind, Chad and I drove back to the hotel. Thankfully it had been found and we were reunited. Hooray! We arrived back at the rest stop just as Mom and Dad had finished their lunch, so that was also good. :) On to Trier!
Salzburg Photo Album

Trier
We arrived in Trier around 9:00pm on Sunday night after driving through absolutely every kind of weather imaginable. We had snow of all varieties (from fluffy to sleet). We had rain. We had freezing rain. We had wind. It was nuts. Chad drove for the entire six hours and he did a fantastic job. However, arriving so late made finding a hotel (that didn't charge 130 Euro/night!) difficult. Chad and Dad did a lot of running around, but alas, there were no pink guest houses to be found! Instead, we stayed at the "Hotel Zum Christophel" which was a little more expensive than we had hoped for (although the host took pity on us and lowered the price a little), however, it was simply amazing. They served us a beautiful dinner in their dining room at 11:00pm and both rooms had humongous beds and real bathtubs! I hadn't had a bath since May! No, wait, that doesn't sound right! It's just that our apartment in Waterloo and here in Belgium only has a shower! Sigh... Nevermind. At any rate, I enjoyed my bubble bath immensely! :)
Trier is Germany's oldest town. According to the guidebook, "It was founded in 15 BC as Augusta Treverorum, the capital of Gaul, and was second in importance only to Rome in the Western Roman Empire. You'll find more Roman ruins here than anywhere else north of the Alps." So, after breakfast, we headed out to explore the town. Before lunch we managed to see the Porta Nigra (Black Gate), the Roman baths, the Dom (Roman Government building converted into a church), the Konstantin Basilika, and the remains of the Roman amphitheatre! After a hearty meal in an amazing converted wine cellar, Mom was ready to tackle Trier's shopping area (She was hunting for the perfect scarf, remember). I think we were finally ready to head home around 5:00pm or so. (Unfortunately, I was the only one to find a great scarf in a discount bin for 5 Euro...). We arrived back in Louvain-La-Neuve and went out for supper at "Il Dodge", an Italian restaurant here in town (They make fabulous pizzas!).
Trier Photo Album

Villers-La-Ville
The Villers Abbey has been Chad's favourite place in Europe. This is somewhat ironic as we only live about 10 minutes away and we sort of found it "by accident." Chad and I had noticed some amazing-looking ruins from the train as we were on our way to Charleroi airport for our Scotland trip. The sign on the nearest station said "Villers-La-Ville" (which means "Villers the Old" and is pronounced "VehLESS la VeeYAY" for those who care). We had intended to try to get back there but it just hadn't happened.
Well, on Tuesday, January 29 ^th, Mom, Chad and I decided to do some exploring. We took the car and followed the signs to the Abbaye de Villers. All I can say is, "Wow!" The Abbey was first established in 1146 (albeit, in a much simpler form...) and by the 14th century it owned property from Antwerp to Namur (thanks to the patronage of the Dukes of Brabant)! It was "closed" in 1796 and little less than 100 years later it had fallen into ruin. At this point it became the haunt of artists and poets seeking solitude and inspiration. (The website says that Victor Hugo composed "plusiers poémes" when he visited in 1862.) Recently, the abbey has become a site for artists, tourists and archeologists alike. Visit the website for more information and pictures. For us, the best part about the Villers ruin was that we could explore it for as long as we wanted and basically go anywhere. Chad found a bunch of underground tunnels that he could explore and I really enjoyed singing a version of "Dona Nobis Pacem" in the cathedral. :) We felt like it was a lovely way to close Mom and Dad's trip to Belgium. At any rate, the pictures speak for themselves.
Abbaye de Villers Photo Album

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Oh my goodness! Here's the story: On Wednesday, December 4^th, Chad and I took the train to Brussels National Airport to meet Steven Findlay (see "Scotland" below). Chad even had me make a little sign for him... But then, to my shock and delight, who should walk through the arrivals gate, but my mother! Chad had hatched this amazing plot to secretly fly her in! Unbelieveable! Here is the video [4.8Mb](length, 0:15) that Chad took of my reaction. I really don't think I was able to close my jaw for the rest of the day...and I still haven't stopped smiling! :)
We enjoyed Mom's company until December 17^th and then we had to return her to my dear dad who was beginning to miss her too much (OK, he was missing her that badly about 15 minutes after she left Kitchener on December 3^rd, but, really, who's counting?). ;p~ Having Mom here was an amazing Christmas present for all of us. We did do some travelling, but I think the highlight for Chad and I was our conversations on the trains to and from our destinations and around the table in our apartment in the evenings (and often late into the night...). Did you know that my mom dated a "Mr. Devine", a "Mr. Wright" and a "Mr. Howl" (her maiden name was Wolfe!) before she met my dad? Needless to say, there was a lot of hugging and laughing going on while she was here. It was very hard to let her go back home, but I was left with such a sense of gratitude for the time we'd had together. We'll be able to look back on our two weeks in Belgium for many years to come. The craziest thing for me is how everyone went to such expense and trouble to make this Christmas the best one ever. "Thank you" is completely inadequate, but, wow, thanks guys! You sure know how to make a girl feel loved!
Merry Christmas, Stephanie!

Travels
Paris
We let Mom recover from jet lag for her first few days in Belgium. However, bright and early on Saturday, Decmeber 7^th, we took the train into Brussels, picked up our brand new four-door VW Polo rental car and headed to Paris. The guidebook had told us that driving in Paris would be "...difficult but not impossible." Unfortunately we didn't have a good map of the city and were unable to buy one on the way (meaning: when I finally convinced Chad to stop and look for a map at the last gas station before the Paris city limits, they were all sold out. Sigh...), so we ended up spending over an hour driving around downtown Paris, trying to navigate by monuments. At one point Chad looked up and saw L'Arc de Triomphe at the end of the street and we realised that we were actually at Place de la Concorde, looking down Ave. des Champs Élysées. He was absolutely thrilled and would have attempted to drive around "l'arc" if his (rather frazzled) navigator hadn't reminded him that L'Arc de Triomphe was in the exact opposite direction from where our hotel was supposed to be! (I think I might have threatened to get out and walk at that point, too...) Mom said she had a great time seeing the sights from the back seat, at least. :)
We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Paris. On Saturday evening we took the "métro" (subway) to L'Arc de Triomphe, walked down Champs Élysées all the way to Place de la Concorde and then took the métro to the Eiffel Tower. It was a cold, windy and foggy night, but we had an amazing time anyway! Then, on Sunday, we walked to Notre Dame (it was quite close to our hotel), called Dad from a payphone in front of the Palais de Justice and spent the rest of the afternoon in the Louvre. On Monday we went back to the Louvre again (you really do need a full day at the very least!) and spent the afternoon there before driving home. We arrived back in Louvain-La-Neuve at about 9:30pm, dropped off Mom and our luggage and then Chad and I drove back to Brussels to drop the car off. We took the train home and made it in by midnight. All in all, the trip was a complete success! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Paris Photo Album
Louvre Photo Album

Brussels
Mom and I went to Brussels on December 12^th. I showed her le Grand Place, which was decorated beautifully for Christmas (complete with live sheep in the nativity scene!). Then we went to the Chocolate Museum and the Musée des Instruments de Musique for the rest of the afternoon. We went back to le Grand Place after dark so she could see the amazing lights and we discovered that a Christmas Market had sprung up in a street leading into the square. Well, of course we had to check that out! I won't tell you what we bought because it's Christmas presents for some of you, but I will say that we found a fabulous deal on handmade truffles! :) It was so much fun to spend the day laughing, talking and wandering through the shops with Mom! She kept thanking me for my patience as she stopped at each and every souvenir shop between le Palais Royal and le Grand Place, but really, I felt like I should be the one saying thanks for such a great day! :)
Mom and Steph in Brussels

Liège
December 15^th was Karen and Colin Godwin's 12^th anniversary and Chad and I had volunteered to babysit so that they could go away for the weekend if they wanted. The plan was to take the train to Liège on Friday night so that Colin and Karen could get an early start Saturday, and then sleep over again on Saturday night and go to church with them in the morning. Of course, when I arranged all this with Karen, I didn't know that my mom would be visiting that weekend! Fortunately Chad arranged everything with Karen and my mother ahead of time, so we all had a place to sleep... :) We ended up taking the train back on Saturday night as well so that we could go to Bruges with Mom on Sunday. All in all, it was a great day! Chad took Issac, Andrew and Natalie outside to play in the forest with a picnic lunch while Mom and I stayed home with Naomi (and mostly chatted while sitting on the couch, drinking tea, since Naomi was napping...). I made Shepherd's Pie for supper which was a big hit with the boys, and Karen had left us a "Tarte au Riz" (or, "Rice Pie") for dessert, which was also fantastic. We had a lot of fun and we were so glad that Karen and Colin were able to get away for their anniversary. We know we'll probably see the Godwins again before we leave Belgium (perhaps over the Christmas holidays...) and we're very thankful for the way that they've sort of "adopted" us while we've been here. :)
Saturday at the Godwins
"Feliz Navidad" video [16Mb] (Added December 31, 2002. Length, 1:51)

Bruges
Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny in Louvain-La-Neuve, so we were very excited to head to Bruges. However, the spectacular sunrise should have reminded us of that old weather warning, "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor, take warning!" because it was pretty cold and wet by the time we arrived in Bruges. We walked through Begijnhof and past Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk and the canals, however, it certainly wasn't as pleasant a walk as when Chad and I went in October. (Sigh...) Our spirits were lifted, though when we ended up in the Markt square and discovered that it had been turned into a Christmas Market, complete with outdoor ice rink! That was neat! We bought our lunch from a vendor in the market (stuffed pitas with andalouse sauce... mmmm!) and went looking for the fantastic gelati place for dessert. Alas, it was closed for renovations (and not reopening until February 14^th!), so we did the only sensible thing we could. We went to "Stef's Chocolatier" and bought a bunch of chocolates to sample. Then, we found a cozy tea shop, ordered tea and hot chocolate and began the elimination process. Darla and Shelley, you're each getting a 500g box of our favourites. It was hard work, but we persevered... ;p~ After we'd warmed up and dried out, we headed back out into the rain (by this time it was pouring, rather than "misting") and we began the search for an umbrella, the right lace souvenir for Mom and some more chocolates to send home with her. Victory was achieved around 6 pm and we walked back to the station to catch the next train home. We were wet and tired, but still feeling pretty good. First of all, I had set my alarm to remind me to give Mom a big hug every 15 minutes throughout the day, so I'm sure that helped the mood. Secondly, Chad's patience, sense of humour and encouraging attitude kept us laughing and smiling no matter what (He's so wonderful!), and finally, on the train ride home, Mom entertained us with stories from her highschool years (that's how we found out about "Mr. Devine and co." ;p~) and also the story of how her and Dad had met. Although it wasn't the ideal trip, we still managed to have a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. :)
Bruges with Mom

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Bonnie Scotland!
We flew with RyanAir from the "Brussels South" airport in Charleroi, Belgium into "Glasgow Prestwick" on Wednesday, November 20^th. Part of the reason why RyanAir can offer such cheap flights (£10 return for one person--that's pounds, not Euros), is because they fly into more "out-of-the-way" airports. (Sort of like how WestJet flies out of Hamilton.) At any rate, we had an hour bus ride into Glasgow and then another hour and a bit from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Thankfully, Steven Findlay, our host and one of Chad's former Shads, had given us excellent instructions and we arrived safely in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening. We stayed in Edinburgh with Steven's family until Monday before catching a train back to Glasgow to meet up with Felicity, another of Chad's Shad alumni (Say that five times fast!). Then, on Tuesday, November 26^th, we caught the bus back to Prestwick, flew to Charleroi and caught the train home. Whew!

Note: Shad Valley is an awesome "summer camp" for high school students hosted by various Canadian universities every July. Chad has been a staff member at Shad Valley Waterloo since 2000 and I joined him on staff this past summer.

Whilst in Edinburgh (pronounced "EDinburruh" not "EDinBURG" or "edinBURrow" or anything else!), we managed to tour Edinburgh Castle and much of the city centre (on Thursday), parts of the National Museum of Scotland (on Friday), the Highlands, Loch Ness and Castle Urquhart (on Saturday), and some of the other hills and glens (a gaelic word! Who knew?) around Edinburgh (on Sunday). We also got to sample some haggis, some Guinness and "lager tops" and we made friends with a complete stranger on our bus tour (Hi Erica!). And of course, I was in heaven with all the fantastic Scottish accents around me! (Watch out for "Glaswegian" though. I regularly had to get people to repeat what they'd said, even though I knew they had to be speaking English!) The Reids said my brogue wasn't too bad, but they might have just said that to be nice... (Alistair Reid was one of "my" Shads this past summer and it was fantastic to meet up with him in Edinburgh as well!) The only disappointment was that on Monday morning I woke up, got ready to go and was hit with a migraine just as I finished my breakfast. That was really frustrating as we had another full day planned. However, I was able to crash at Erica's and I was almost recovered by the time we met Steven and caught our train for Glasgow.

Hold that thought! OK, I have to interrupt myself to tell you more about this wonderful "Erica" person... On Saturday, Chad and I went on a marathon bus tour through the Highlands, past Loch Ness, around Inverness and back. We left at 8:15 am and got back at 8:15 pm. Well, about 20 minutes before we arrived back in Edinburgh, we started chatting with this girl in the seat across from us. To make a long story short, we found out that we had a lot in common and we ended up going out for hot chocolate once the tour ended and then getting together again on Monday for lunch. It was so crazy and cool to meet such a kindred spirit so far from home! Thanks God! ...and thanks Erica! You rock! :)

So, where was I? Ah, yes, on the train to Glasgow (once again, it's "GLAHzgoh", not "GLASSgow" or so we've learned!). We met Felicity, also from Shad Waterloo 2000, at the station and then she showed us around a bit. Due to the migraine, I wasn't up for anything bright or loud, so we settled in for a good night of laughing, catching up (and singing!) at "Waxy O'Connor's" which--if you're ever in Glasgow--was a really, really cool pub.

I'm interrupting again for some more definitions. Pubs are like cozy restaurants or nice coffee shops back home (like "Williams" for instance). "Clubs" are like our bars or clubs back home where people go to dance and to "pick up." There's no loud music in a pub ("background, not foreground" right, Findlay? ;p~) and people come to visit with friends rather than "party" per se. Chad and I are definitely "pub people" rather than "club people." :)

So, yeah, we saw Steven off at the station again at 11:30 and then headed back to Felicity's flat. We had an awesome sleep ('til 11:45am!), Chad learned the definition of "dodgy" (As in, "The shower temperature is sort of dodgy. I hope it's OK when you use it!") and we took the famous Glasgow Underground back to the city centre to meet Felicity for an amazing lunch--fantastic crepes and a view down Buchannan Street to match! Thanks Flic! :)
We were really glad that we were able to connect with so many people. Chad was marvelling at how many "people pictures" we have this time. Usually our pictures are 90% scenery and architecture with a few self portraits thrown in just to prove that we were there! :) Not that Scotland lacked anything in the way of either scenery or architechture! We know that we only saw a tiny bit of what Edinburgh has to offer, let alone the rest of Scotland. The Highlands are gorgeous! Everything was gorgeous! :) All-in-all, it was a jam-packed, awesome time! The hardest thing has been trying to narrow down the selection of pictures. You've seen how many pictures we can take in one day, and we were in Scotland for a week! Yikes. At any rate, we hope you enjoy them all. ;p~
Edinburgh Photo Album
Loch Ness Tour
Glasgow Photo Album

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Rental Car Road Trip
We picked up our lovely little VW Polo from the Bruxelles Midi train station on Saturday, November 9^th and headed off into the wild blue yonder. We thought we'd stop off in Tournai which is (together with Tongeren) the oldest city in Belgium before heading to the Vimy Memorial in France. As it turned out, we didn't make it to Tournai until the evening on our way home, but it was a worthwhile stop to see the 12^th century cathedral and the 13^th century bell tower.
Road Trip Photo Album

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Laren
We spent Saturday night at home in Louvain-La-Neuve and headed out bright and early on Sunday, November 10^th for the town of Laren in the Netherlands. Mineke, a friend from church, grew up in Laren and when she heard that Chad and I were going to Europe, she gave us her brother's phone number so that we could get in contact when we arrived. Meanwhile, I had discovered that my great uncle, Reuben Filsinger, had been killed in WWII and was buried in Groesbeek, Netherlands. To the best of my knowledge, no one from our family has ever been to see his grave, so I wanted to make sure that we went while we were in Europe. Groesbeek just happens to be in the same province as Laren, so I thought perhaps we could stay in Laren on our way to or from Groesbeek. Once she heard what we were planning, Mineke called ahead and arranged everything and then gave us an email address to confirm our plans. (Thank you so much, Mineke!)
We arrived in Laren after lunch on Sunday and found our way to the Koeslag farm at Lindenbergsdijk # 1. Mineke's brother, Hendrik Jan and his wife Dika (They introduced themselves to us as "Opa and Oma Koeslag") live on the family farm along with their son Appie (short for "Albert"), his wife, Hermien, and their three sons (Jeroen, Robbert and Martijn), oh, and an 11 week old black lab named, Dexter! :) Jeroen and Robbert are in university and Martijn is just finishing what we would call "high school".
We had a fantastic time with the Koeslags! Luckily for us, all of "the boys" were home so we were able to meet everyone. We had a lot of fun talking and laughing, playing with Dexter (He even managed to get his own photo album out of sheer cuteness ;p~), listening to and recording the "Grunzels," oh, and eating! (We actually took pictures of our meals so that you can at least see what we enjoyed so much!) Appie was a fantastic tour guide as well. He and Hermien, along with Jeroen's girlfriend Mika (someone please tell me if I've spelled that wrong!) took us to a windmill, a sort of playground (see a [6 Mb] video of us on stilts! Length, 0:19), a castle, the widest tree in the Netherlands and told us about his family's participation in the underground resistance movement during WWII, all before lunch on Monday! We are so thankful for everyone's hospitality! Hopefully we will be able to return to Laren before we have to head back to Canada (maybe during the Christmas holidays to hear the band). Oh, and the population of Toronto is 4 881 400. ;)
Laren Photo Album

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Lest We Forget
This is going to be a hard section to write, I think. I'm not sure what to say and I don't want to say too much or too little. In short, Chad and I have really gained a new perspective on how blessed we are to be Canadians and to have grown up in a peaceful country. We also realised just how little we know about the history of the 20^th century. Finally, we were struck with the need to remember what has happened in the past. Those who survived WWI are far and few between and even those who were children in WWII are now grandparents. We need to hear their stories. So, if you have a story, please tell it and if you know someone with a story, please take the time to ask and to listen!
We visited the Vimy Memorial on Saturday, November 9^th and the Groesbeek Canadian Cemetary on November 11^th. Vimy Ridge was an important strategic location in WWI that had been controlled by the Germans since the start of the war. Several attempts had been made to take the ridge, but all had failed. On April 9^th, 1917 all four divisions of the Canadian Corps, working together for the first time, took the ridge. Captured German soliders said that if they lost Vimy, they would lose the war. Thus, it was a fairly important point in WWI both for the Allies and also for Canada as a nation.

More than 7 000 [Canadian soliders] are buried in 30 war cemeteries within a 16-kilometre radius of the Vimy Memorial. Altogether, 66 655 Canadians died in the First World War.
--"The Canadian National Vimy Memorial" Government of Canada, Vetrans Affairs

This is why Vimy was the chosen site for a Canadian War Memorial. Both Chad and I sensed the (for lack of a better word) solemnity as we wandered the grounds and the interpretive centre. A group of British visitors (with whom we toured the tunnels) also remarked on the "solemn atmosphere of the place." The ground itself still mourns at Vimy, it would seem.
I was so glad that we were able to visit my great uncle Reuben's grave in Groesbeek as well. Unfortunately it began to pour as soon as we arrived, otherwise I would have liked to stay a bit longer, take a few more pictures and maybe sing "O Canada." I know that sounds sort of trite, but I wanted to somehow express my gratitude and my growing awareness of just how much has been sacrificed on my behalf. I was struck again by how little I know and how much I take for granted. Chad put it well when he said that he's like the character Marius from "Les Miserables". Marius gets to have this wonderful life because the people around him sacrifice their lives and safety to preserve his, but he is never aware of it. That's certainly how we felt after this weekend.
Rememberance Day Photo Album

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The Belgian Coast
Toussaints on November 1^st (or "All Saints Day") is a holiday in Belgium. It is supposed to be a day to visit the graves of your relatives with flowers and to pray for and/or to them. I'm not exactly sure of the details. At any rate, the university was also closed for Toussaints. Chad and I hadn't realised this, so when Tony mentioned that "tomorrow is a holiday" on his way home on Thursday, we thought we'd take the opportunity to do some biking along the coast the next day.

Note: "Halloween" has only recently been introduced (about 5 years ago) and is generally seen as a "North American advertising thing." Kids might get dressed up at school, but no one goes trick-or-treating. It's mainly the stores that put out decorations--and they're still up as I'm writing this on November 4^th! (I'm sure Wal-Mart has its Christmas decorations out in full force by now...)

Anyway, Chad arranged to borrow Tony's bike (we already have the use of Laurent's) and we boarded the train with them at 8:03am on Friday morning. We arrived in Knokke, which is about as far north as you can get on the Belgian coast, at 10:51am, found our way to the beach and started biking. Well, I had to collect some pretty shells and play in the water for a bit first, since this was my first time seeing the ocean... :)
Unfortunately the wind was from the southwest, so we were biking against it all day, however, we managed to get to Oostende (halfway down Belgium's 66km (!) coastline) by about 5:00pm. The first town we came to was Zeebrugge and we ate our lunch there on the beach while watching all the folks out with their kites (It was a good day for it, let me tell you!), then we biked along the dunes to Blankenberge. By that time our knees and rear ends were ready for a rest, so we walked all the way from Blankenberge to De Haan along the beach (about an hour of walking) and then biked the last 10km to Oostende where we ate an amazing supper at the "Grand Cafe Burlington". What an amazing day! The coolest part for me--besides getting to see the North Sea!--was that I was able to keep up with Chad all day "for real" (meaning he didn't have to consciously "take it easy" so I wouldn't collapse...). I guess all the stairs of Louvain-La-Neuve are paying off! :)
Coastal Bike Trip

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Bruges
I could say a lot about Bruges... It has been our favourite city so far, I think. People from Chad's lab kept telling us, "You have to go to Bruges!" And, while it took us just over a month of living in Belgium to get there, it was certainly worth the trip!
Bruges is known as "The Venice of the North" because of its gorgeous canal system. It is considered one of Europe's best-preserved medieval cities and was a very important cloth manufacturing town at that time. It has an 83 metre high bell tower (with 366 steps that we climbed!), several huge cathedrals and half a dozen museums...and a chocolatier named "Stefs"! However, I really should just let the pictures from our October 26^th visit speak for themselves.
Bruges Photo Album
Bruges Churches

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Leuven
We ended up in Leuven almost by accident... We were taking the train home from Liège and had an hour stop-over in Leuven. Leuven is the "birthplace" of Louvain-La-Neuve in a way because thirty years ago all of the French-speaking professors and students at the Catholic University of Leuven were "asked" to leave. They founded the town of Louvain-La-Neuve (with a lot of help from the government to be sure!) and the Université Catholique de Louvain-La-Neuve. However, relations between the two universities have improved over the years and Chad actually attended a conference there on October 30^th.
Since we had less than an hour to explore, we really only just whet our appetites. As you can see, Leuven is a very old, very beautiful town. (The university was founded in 1425!) We hope to spend a day there sometime soon. :)
Leuven Photo Album

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Liège
Our travel book described Liège as "one of those cities people tend to love or loath." Well, we loved it!
Chad and I could happily walk around and through old buildings all day long and Liège certainly has plenty of those! :) We took the train to Liège on Saturday, October 19^th and spent a few hours walking around the centre of town until it was time to meet the Godwins. The highlights were the Cathédrale St.Paul and the Palais des Prince Évêques.
We have a "connection" in Liège through someone at our church back home (Thanks, Dawn!), and so we were planning to stay overnight at the Godwins and then go to church with them on Sunday morning. (Colin and Karen are planting a church in Liège. They have four awesome kids as well: Issac (8), Andrew (7), Natalie (5) and Naomi who just turned one.) So, after we had done some exploring downtown, we met up with Karen, Issac, Andrew and Natalie at the "fnac" (it's kind of like a "Chapters"). We had such an awesome time at the Godwins! Chad was able to get a few good grass stains playing outside with the kids and I really enjoyed the chance to talk with Colin and Karen (in English! with another female!) before and after supper. (Of course, our dinner was absolutely delicious as well!)
We stayed after church on Sunday for a potluck and that was neat. There were a few people who spoke some English and Chad and I enjoyed the chance to practice our French, so I think we were able to understand and be understood... :) Thankfully, we could always grab Issac, Andrew or Natalie and ask "How do you say..." or "What does ____ mean?" if we were really stuck! :) We're hoping to get back to Liège a few more times while we're here. There's still a lookout with 373 stairs that we need to find and climb and we're looking forward to continuing to get to know the Godwins! Thanks God! :)
Liège Photo Album

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Brussels

Our First "Real" Trip in Europe!
We spent our first weekend in Belgium getting ourselves settled and resetting our body clocks since Belgium is 6 hours ahead of Waterloo! So, when the weekend of October 5th rolled around, we were ready to start exploring. We took the train the Brussels for the day on Saturday to see the sights (it's about a 50 min. train ride altogether). It was a cloudy day, but we had a great time wandering around the Grand Place and then to some of the other "touristy" sites like the Manneken Pis, the Cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudule and the Royal Palace (Belgium is a constitutional monarchy). After the awesome Musée des Instruments de Musique, (see below) we ate supper at a little cafe and since it had started to rain, we took the train back home. Clearly we have only just started to discover all that Brussels has to offer and we look forward to several more trips in the future.
Brussels Photo Album

La Musée des Instruments de Musique
This was definitely the highlight of our Brussels trip! As well as having examples of every instrument known to man from ancient times to the present, the museum incorporated sound into its displays! We were given headphones with wireless receivers and then each display gave off a weak signal that was picked up by the headphones as we stood in front of the display. It was just awesome! If you are ever in Brussels and you like museums and/or music, go to the Musée des Instruments de Musique! The added bonus is that it is housed in the very cool looking "Old England Building" which offers a great view of the old part of the city from the upper floors. Did we mention that we thought this museum was fantstic? :)
Musée des Instruments de Musique Photo Album

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In Louvain-La-Neuve

Our Place
We live on the top floor of a 5 story apartment building (Rue d'Hocaille 13-504 to be exact) in Louvain-La-Neuve. Our apartment is actually a loft, which is fun. The living area, dining area and kitchen are on the main floor and the "bedroom" and bathroom are upstairs. We think our little place is fantastic! :) If you have a high speed connection, you can see a video [12.7Mb] (Length, 2:10) of our apartment as well.
Louvain-La-Neuve Photo Album

The "Vingt-Quatre Vélo"
The 24-hour bike race took place from Wednesday, October 16th, 2002 at 1:00pm to Thursday, October 17th, 2002 at 1:00pm. You've heard of "street parties" and "block parties" right? Well, this was a "city party!" Unfortunately the square outside of our apartment was home to the "Death Metal Stage" and we were kept awake all night with loud, horrible music. However, other stages throughout the city had better music--as we discovered when we went for a walk around midnight. There was a blues band in the Grand Place when we walked through there... :) We also visited the "pit crew" who were repairing the punctured tires and bent frames of their group's vélo. As we watched everyone working together we got the distinct impression that the 24 Vélo could be about more than just getting very drunk. So, thumbs down on all the bad music and excessive drinking (not to mention random peeing in public places!), but hooray for the creativity and hard work that went into designing and maintaining all the vélos!
24 Vélo Photo Album

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On Our Way
We left Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Tuesday, September 24^th, 2002 on an Air France flight bound for Paris. From Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, we took the high-speed train to Brussels. Once in Brussels, we were met by someone from the lab at UCL (Université Catholique de Louvain-La-Neuve)in Louvain-La-Neuve (Thanks, Tony!)and driven to our apartment. I have put together a small photo album of our journey.

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Miscellaneous
This is a collection of links and information that you might find interesting or entertaining:

• See a very funny video [11.7Mb] (Length, 1:21) of Chad and Tony playing squash.
• Learn more about Belgian Chocolate.
• Learn more about St. Eloi, the patron saint of metallurgy, see his picture, and also the setting for our "Feast of St. Eloi" with everyone from PRM (unité de production mécanique et machines).
• Belgium Bed and Breakfast Woodside Bruges B&B is run by Luc & Stacey Van de Velde and is located in the countryside near Bruges, the Belgian coast and "Flanders Fields." We've haven't stayed there, but the prices are great and the location is ideal--right in our favourite part of Belgium--so, we'll definitely have to look them up next time we're in the country! :) Click on the link for more information.
• Google Search is handy for finding anything and everything on the web.
• Babel Fish Translator has been indespensible while living in French-speaking Belgium! ("Babel fish" were introduced in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. You stick them in your ear and they'll translate what you hear into your own language.)
• Mapquest has a map for everything. Handy when planning trips... :)
• If you need to laugh, visit Chad's Funny Page for a fantastic picture and a short story. :)
• I do have one wedding photo available. (It's 184k, if you don't have a fast connection and you're wondering if it will take forever to download.)
• Steph's first attempt at a website.

Finally, I will leave you with a short list of some of the definitions and discoveries we have made while in Belgium:

bisou (s.) or bisoux (pl.)

kiss (or kisses) on the cheek; the typical Belgian greeting.

kriek

cherry beer; "kriek" is the Flemmish word for cherry.

vélo

bicycle; "bicyclette" implies a child's bike.

les baskets

shoes used for sports, especially basketball (think NikeAir©).

"Ca c'est degolasse!"

"That's disgusting!" (accompanied by a very particular facial expression and hand gesture).

"Chouette!"

"Cool!" or "Awesome!"

location

rental, "rental car" = "voiture de location"

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Last Updated March 31, 2005

Belgium Adventure
created by Stephanie Schmitke

URL: http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~schmitke/belgium/main/index.html