Brussels (Jan. 31)

Park Cinquantenaire
Bus-Bike-Pedestrian lanes, DO NOT CONFUSE THESE or you'll be run over
Dumb, dumb, dumb
Lilia, me, Magda saying goodbye
Hazy sunset
Wittamer Chocolates, mmmmm

*more to come*

Brussels (Jan. 30)

Notre Dame au Sablon
Gar du Petite Sablon
Museum of Ancient and Modern Art - saw Leon Spillaert exhibit (LOVED IT)
European Parliament - went to a cocktail
Cathedral
Chocolate, OMG OMG OMG
Grand Place
Emilia, Lidia and I eating at a really good Kabob shop, secured ourselves free drinks too

*more to come*

Brugge Bruges Brugges (Jan. 29)

Concert hall
Fountain
Window scene made up COMPLETELY of chocolate
Eating the best bratwurst EVER
Brugge Belfry, i climbed its 366 spiralling stone steps, and payed for it later
Church steeples and a gargoyle (can you find it?)
Mirror image canal
Seattle, Austin, and Portland (from left to right): found them in the Belfry
At Beir J: Portland, Austin, Seattle, Portland, Portland, and of course the New Belgium Fat Tire sign (this is THE PUB that New Belgium Brewery was first imagined). Had some amazing Brugge Zot and Wastyntie (mustard seed beer) here.

*more to come*

Brussels for a bit (Jan. 27-28)

Jan playing for us
Lidia
Group pic (Lidia, Mateusz, Emilia, Magda, Jan, me, Daniel)
Royal Palace
Emilia, where'd your lips go?

I just wrote up this post and the computer deleted it ... don't feel like retyping it right now, so you'll just have to wait. bah

Amsterdam (Jan. 26-27)

Amsterdamstraat at night, sic canals, bridges, canal bus, and me. Also, St. Nicolaaskerk.

It was overcast and slightly drizzly the whole time I was in Amsterdam. As long as the wind wasn't blowing it wasn't bad at all. Other wise it is absolutely beautiful: buildings, canals, the hoists built at the top of every house so that furniture can be moved (staircases are too narrow!), as well as the fact that every house is built to lean forward slightly (corner houses look like they're from a Dali painting).

The first day, after getting hopelessly lost on bad directions to my single hotel, I went to the Anne Frank House, Rijkmuseum, and the Van Gogh museum. Turns out Fridays are museum nights so there was live music at the Van Gogh museum. I saw 4 paintings by Vermeer (not Girl with the Pearl Earrings, though). After the museums finally closed at 10pm I headed off and found a garishly foreign square where I hid in a side street and ate Thai food.

There was a stand-up comedy performance called Boom Chicago Late Night that I went in to see at 11:30pm. Lucky for me they had a policy of giving away free Heineken to people who shouted out good ideas for the next skit. Mine was "the splits" and landed one of the guys about six inches off the floor before he fell over.

Saturday was much more relaxing. I rode on a Canal Bus for a bit before heading off to FOAM (photography museum) where they had a disturbing exhibit of Amsterdam police crime scene photos. After wandering around the town a bit, I'd given up on actually trying to find anything on purpose, I came across the Flower Market. One house seemed to be having an arguement on the top floor and someone through something out the window, shattering glass onto the street right next to me. The Old Dutch Pancake House is amazing. But be warned, most places need reservations to get in because it seems like people like to eat there. :-)

London explorations

Tate Modern - slides you could go down
London shuts down with this much snow, not a lot
Ciocia Sister Jolanta (my Aunt) and me
Trafalgar Sqare
Wicked
Ella and Piotr

Just now wrapping up two days in London visiting my mother's cousin, Ella, and her husband Piotr. I'd just met Ella once a few years ago and was happy to be coming to visit her some more.

On Tuesday they met me at Waterloo and we headed off for Tate Modern by way of a brisk walk down the Thames in the bitter wind. I loved the Picasso and Klee, but there were also some oddities: a canvas painted only black, a neatly piled of bricks, and a box of Brillo pads ... if I'd known this was art I could have been a famously rich artist. *chucks the engineering books out the train* Went down one of the shorter slides as I'd forgotten to get a ticket for the 5 story one when we came in. It'll just have to be one of those "next times."

We then headed off home to play with their wonderful border collies, Aza and Latek.

Wednesday morning I went to go visit my Carmelite aunt, Sister Jolanta. Everything was running a bit slow because London had seen some snowfall overnight. Although it didn't last long it was nice to wake up to a white city. Spent 2 hours with her catching up on family events and pictures, as well as meeting two other sisters who came to see the Astronaut (close enough to Aerospace Engineering for them).

Had to high tail it across to Charing Cross at Trafalgar Square so I could get a mere 45 min in at the National Gallery. Whizzed through the Sainsbury exhibit (almost), saw Monet to Picasso (gorgeous!) and ran upstairs for a bit of Leonardo daVinci.

My rush was all because I had splurged and bought matinee 4th row center tickets at Apollo Victoria Theatre for Wicked. Made it just in time and had a blast. Amazing show, great voices, entertaining and endearing. I really do like the Wicked Witch of the West, not so much of the East.

Tried to get on the tubes when the show got out but it was smack in the middle of rush hour so I ran back up the stairs and right into a pub, nursed a pint at a much sought after table, and read the local tabloid news before braving the crowd below.

Ella and Piotr have been amazing. They're so nice and welcoming, but ready to trick you into believing that the public bathrooms have been closed right before your arrival ... once again. Funny how that seemed to keep ALMOST being the case. I'll have to come bother them again for longer next time I'm here and hopefully they won't mind as much. ;-)

more from Haslemere, England

Jas, Dorotka, Uncle, Aunt, me eating dinner
Jan teaching Lilia how to play rough
Lilia showing Dorotka how much she loves her.
Who knew Lilia was a ballerina?!?!?!?!
Aunt, Uncle, and I eating at an amazing Indian restaurant. Pre-digging in.
Barrycroft (front and back views)
Lilia being taught to drink Rum and Cokes by Jan

I spent most of Saturday relaxing at Haslemere. You can see we amused ourselves with Lilia when we got back home. She immediately rolls onto her back and waits for the petting to resume.

Sunday Kinga, Stasek and I went to London, meeting and calling on Polish families. Got myself an unlocked phone over here so I can call/text cheaply (turns out my phone is too new to have the software available in shops here). We ended the day at this amazing Indian restaurant called Shahanaz in Haslemere. Oh my how I love Indian food!

Haslemere, England

Here are a few pictures from Haslemere with cousins (Jas and Dorotka), Aunt Kinga, and Babcia (granny) ... and I can't forget, the dog, !

I somehow managed to stay awake with everyone else until midnight even though I hadn't really slept in 3 days and was only able to cram myself into 2 seats to sleep on the 8 hour flight over. It's amazing that I even made the connecting flight in Houston, as they had delayed us in Austin because of continuing bad weather and back logs of flights needing to get out.

I caught the train from London Gatwick to Haslemere, changing in Guilford. It felt so good to relax a little, close my eyes, and listen to the wheels clacking away. Babcia and Kinga were home in Barrycroft (no need for street numbers here, the house has its own name). Babcia liked her slippers and socks so much that she had them all ready to wear by thinking ahead and stuffing the socks into the slippers. And of course, Lilia greeted me immediately by jumping up and putting her paws on my shoulders, me with bags and all! She's one of the longest dogs I've seen, not counting the weens(!) and such a sop (labrador and german shepard mix).

Jas then stole one of the cars, and Dorotka, Lilia, and I jumped in for an adventure ride to Blackdown. On a clear day you can see the coast from the top of the park. But watch out for the massive holes in the ground where the German bombs landed during the war, thinking that the lights the town had planted on the hill were Haslemere's location.