Belquie-The FINAL Day

So what would you do on your final full day in Belgium. Us, we did what one would normally do on the first day, same as we did in Paris. We did a bike tour of course! Dad was on this "Let's do bike tours every where we go" kick so we found one to do in Brugges. It was GREAT! The guide was this kid getting his masters in art history so he knew ALL sorts of good stuff (naturally ;) ). It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time!

You ever go to Brugges, go on this tour. It's worth it, I promise!

Here he is, explaining things in a court yard.

And we're off! I'm getting good at "bike-by" shots

"Lover's Lake"-who wouldn't want to be in love here??


Yup-we saw a windmill. It was awesome. And it still works!

The first shot looked like the windmill was coming out of my head-this one is better.


So dad lost his phone on the tour so we had to rewalk parts of the route we biked. It gave me the chance to take some more "artsy" photos.

Seriously, who doesn't love this?

Man has to earn a living somehow right? Why not stick a horn on a violin and try that out?

Now you all know how much I love churches. We went into this church that had a piece that Michael Angelo sculpted that actually got to leave Italy in his life time. It's Mary and Jesus, in case you couldn't tell. It's actually fairly small but it's pretty amazing.


Original fresco from the early part of the church. That angel looks a little mad, don't you think?

As seems the norm around this part of the world, the church was dedicated to Mary. And so she's in a lot of the art work.

These were all plaques thanking/dedicating Mary for something in all different languages. There were about 3 walls of these things. And they were pretty full to!


So have I told you about the swans around here? Like in the UK, swans are protected in Belgium. So they pretty much do what they want. And in case you didn't know, swans are kinda mean. Ok, they're really mean. There were these swans that hung out in the canal by our hotel window so we would watch them swim around all peaceful like, until a boat went by. Then they went into attack swan mode and chased the boats down the canal. It was really amusing to watch. I took a few shots of the swans doing this but this one is the funniest. It's like the swan is saying "yeah you better keep going! stay away from my turf!" Go to http://thecypruslife.shutterfly.com/ to see all the photos of the swans around Brugges.


Our last meal was at this restaurant that we found that used to be some kind of guild. It was right on the canal (of course) and was in this really cool old building. Mom and dad both ordered the ham hock, thinking it wouldn't be as big as their face. Well, it was. Dad took it like a champ and was ready to chow down.

Mom freaked out a bit. You can't really blame her can you?

The food was OH SO tasty so it was worth gorging ourselves. After eating we went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep before going back to Paris the next day. Mom and dad were going straight to the airport hotel since they had an early morning flight while Matt and I spent our final day exploring the sights in Paris we didn't get to see but wanted to. That will be on the next (and final, you lucky, lucky people!) post!

One Year Into It

So we've done it! We made it one year living abroad! Who would've thought that we could actually do it and not kill each other, ourselves, the dog, and various other people ;) Just kidding. It's been a trying year (but what year hasn't really?) but we've had TONS of fun and adventures in the process. I've decided to do a quick year in review, life on the island and adventures taken.

Where would we be without good friends made? Probably curled up in a ball on the couch a lot, crying to myself.

We had a Christmas away from family but at least we still had our lovely sweaters.

Matt got to be manly and see some cars zoom around real fast with some other manly men!

What would life be like without playing at the beach? Especially since we live only 10 minutes from it!

And I happily get to ride some ponies and work on my game while here-I may even prove to be a rider yet!

That's basically life for us on the island-eating, riding, good friends, and wearing ugly clothes. Happily as life continues on we are getting a busier social calender-that shows we're really adapting to life here right??? We've also become part of a great Baptist church and are getting to know the people slowly yet surely. The pastor (Mark) is American so he thinks we're the greatest things since sliced bread, especially Matt since they've started watching football games together.

And as all of you loyal readers know, we have done quite a bit of traveling this year. We've hit 5 countries this year, making my goal of a trip about every 3 months right on target. We have plans (or at least I do) for more to come this year, hopefully including a long jaunt in Australia/New Zealand (what?? It's cheaper and quicker to fly from here than the states. Don't judge us!) I am off to Portugal with mom next month for a week of riding fancy horses and a little sight seeing-I'm excited to spend the time with my mom one on one. And to ride fancy horses too. We're going to check out Lisbon for a few days as well so I'm starting off this second year with a bang!

Trip #1: Jolly ol' England. Everyone must visit the motherland right? Well, I don't think this was fully our motherland (oh Italy, we'll get there some day!!) but we had good friends there so we went the week of Christmas. It was great! Snow, cold, decorations, and sight seeing!

Trip #2: Greece-It's close. It's cheap. It's a must do on any European traveler's list. And it was FANTASTIC! The food was great! The sights were beautiful. We do plan to hit other parts we didn't see the first time around!

Trip #3: Israel. The Holy Land. The place of Mecca for all Christian in the world. We were fortunate enough to get to go with a fun family from church. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazarene, Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan river was all we saw but it was more than enough for our weekend away! Now when we read certain Bible stories the landscape, buildings, and city plans make more sense and we can actually visualize what we're reading about! It's so awesome!

Trip #4-Paris. Oh how I love thee! We got to meet mom and dad there and explore the city some. We saw all the major sights despite crappy weather for the most part. I really do love Paris and I'm always happy to go back and explore (AND EAT!!!) more!

Trip #5-Belgium. OK, technically this is part B of trip 4 but we can class it alone since it is a different country. After leaving Paris we went to Belgium to eat lots of chocolate and waffles. Oh man; if we lived there we'd gain about 60 pounds in no time! But the landscape was lovely and the food divine!

So there you have it! Our first year abroad. Man, we've done a lot haven't we?! Here is to year two with more adventures, friends, food, and loving life despite being so far away from those we love.