Belgian Family Coppens!

2009 06 30-07 02 - Days 4-6 - Antwerp-ish

Belgium is flat!
Which is nice if want a leisurely bike ride... they have this great numbered signpost system that means you can plan a route and then cycle all over the place with nothing but a bunch of numbers on your handle-bars. Nice.
(rumour has it the system originates from the Netherlands)

A great couple of days near Antwerp with Dieter & Rut

When I saw them last it was
'Just the two of [them]'...


but now they have 3 beautiful bouncing babies - Suzy, Lou & Francis!
Happy Times! :)

Hair Cut!

2009 06 29 - Day 3 - Luxembourg

I cut my hair.
That's the end of that story.
Except perhaps to say - I wonder whether I'll be tempted to have anyone else cut my hair somewhere else in the world... hmmm I'll let you know.

Luxembourg!

2009 06 28-30 - Days 2-4 - Luxembourg

It was great to see Heloise, Mervin & Julian in Luxembourg.

A couple of lazy days catching up and chilling out.

I was so relaxed there, at some point I had this really calm/blue sky/fresh air brain sensation... I realised that it reminded me of school holidays - junior and early high school years. I think it was something to do with having a big pool of nothing ahead of me in time, all I had to deal with or think about with any application was today and maybe something in a couple of days, but that probably didn't need to be dealt with now either! Very refreshing!

It was also nice to see Peggy, though a shame for just a few hours.

Brussels!

2009 06 27 - Day 1 - Brussels

After a lovely dinner with Geoff & Linda we wandered up & around this 'Cinquantenaire' triumphal arch - nicely lit at night don't you think?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinquantenaire

Beer!

2009 06 27 - Day 1 - Brussels

Many of you will know that I don't really 'do' beer... well, as it's probably pretty difficult to get hold of cider most places I'm going, I decided that I'd persevere with beer.

This was the first 'pint' of my travels and it was pretty good! But, being in Belgium, I suppose most of you would expect it to be good.

Day 1 - delays! (what else!?)

2009 06 27 - Day 1 - Bristol-London-Dover-Calais-Lille-Brussels












Nothing like a 05:20 train to kick-start your travels eh!
Both Dad & I hadn't had much more than 1 hour sleep at the time of this departure photo... thanks for all the help Dad! :)

Eschewing the convenience of the Eurostar, and it feeling 'right' to leave this sceptred isle by the sea, I opted for a Bristol-London-Dover (trains) Dover-Calais (ferry) Calais-Lille-Brussels (trains) extravaganza! Interestingly it was actually cheaper by train than bus... at 5 in the morning anyway.













Unfortunately I underestimated the connection time between train stations, ferry terminals and the ferry on both sides of the channel (since when are foot passengers last on and last off!? humph!). The result was an expected Brussels arrival time 3 hours late! Doh! Given that Geoff and Linda were expecting me in Brussels, it was also unfortunately that the work phone I had with me wasn't set up for roaming international use... One brief, but expensive, credit card based phone call later I had ample time to digest my early travelling education.














Fortunately the sun was shining and Calais has a lovely town hall just outside the station and a nicely shaded park (in the direction of the arrow) where I was able to laugh at the situation a bit and just relax with properly nothing to do for the first time in living memory! ;p

Goodbye Family!

2009 06 - leaving

and Happy 97th Birthday Granny Mary! :)

(would you look at the size of that pepper grinder!)

Goodbye Dundee!

2009 06 - leaving

After 11 years here it's weird to think I won't be coming back to this place anytime soon...

Goodbye friends!

2009 06 - leaving

Ok so this was Mick's leaving party photo... but it was the day before my leaving party, many of the people are the same and he did a better job of organising a group photo than I did!
(the other two are all mine!)