Hot Off the Press ;)

The Leuven Bears had their first "press conference" it seemed more like a night for the sponsors and their guests to meet the team. Lindsey, Malu (Dior's teammate John's wife-they are from San Francisco too!) and Tofi's sons were with me. I have become absolutely obsessed with the Tofi babies.



The boys from left to right are Ioane 3yrs old , Tommy 2yrs old and Ernie 1 yr old. So many people think the boys are older than they are because they are so tall!



Don't they all look so excited ?! The man in the front middle is Dior's new coach.

Dior in his new jersey no more Green and Gold and a new number.

Lindsey, Me and Malu :)

The speeches were all in Dutch so we didn't understand a word hahaha the introduction of each player was in English though. When Luis the manager was introducing Jared he said Jared was an avid reader... Lindsey looked at me and said "Jared doesn't like to read!" Then when Dior was introduced Luis said something about Dior "sometimes" playing defense. Third (this was the best) he said Benson another player was here with his girlfriend Lisa. I thought YESSS Benson lives around the block that must mean there is a Lisa around the block from me!! YAY a new friend who lives right by me... I spent the rest of the press conference looking for "Lisa." Only to have Luis tell me oooo no those intros were all lies I just made them up because all the lines rhymed and they sounded funny!! hahahahaha so there is no Lisa :( 



Luis and his wife :)

Coast of Belgium- Knokke

Lindsey and I have been having so much fun on our little road trips to the away games. We have been trying to leave early in the morning so we can spend the day in the city where the game is... the early morning part hasn't been successful but seeing the cities has been. We visited Knokke (the "e" is pronounced like an "a") this is a city along the coast of Belgium. The beach looked so nice I would love to go there on a hot day. The weather has been very nice but I have a feeling its going to start to get cold soon.

The white cloth fences are around the beach chair in case you want privacy on the beach or to block the sand.

There are a lot of buildings like these in Belgium.

Wish I had my bathing suit that day.

Finally a Visit to Brussels

Dior and I took a day trip to Brussels... we quickly learned that day trips are not easy without a GPS. Getting to Brussels was easy because all of the highway signs were pretty easy to follow but once we got into the city we were completely lost. Rarely do we see street signs here. The good thing is that everyone speaks English so we were able to pull over and ask people which way to go. We ended up parking near the center of the city and walked around. We found a two really cool malls... of course leave it to me to visit an awesome city full of historical landmarks but only go in the malls :)

M for Museum

In Leuven there is a museum named "M for Museum." Dior and I went there on his free time and really enjoyed their permanent collection. The only trouble we had was that a lot of the art and displays didn't have a name, artist or date. They have an upper floor where traveling exhibits are displayed... when we went it was modern art. I am not a modern art fan at all. I love classic paintings and more specifically paintings that tell me a story.

Dior in M for Museum

This is a classic painting of St. Peters in Leuven.

This is a classic painting of Leuven.

This was my favorite piece in the museum. Each panel represents a part of Jesus life. What made this so special to me was that its named after Saint Anne the mother of Mary. In the first panel on the bottom left is scene of baby being born. The baby is Mary. I had never seen Mary's mother in an art.

This the first panel the scene of Anne having Mary.

The dish collection.

A huge chalkboard with an outline of a person.. this was in the modern art section. not a fan.

We are on the roof of the museum !

Amsterdam!

Lindsey wrote this on the beach accross the street from the Bears game.
I wrote Leuven.. you can see a bit of it above haha

Until I see Paris.... Amsterdam is now one my favorite cities. Lindsey and I drove the Smart Car to Amsterdam, the drive was about 1 1/2 or 2 hours. Belgium is very close to everything. We first went to Anne Franks' house.  It was a moving experience to be in the secret annex, especially Anne's room. All of the wall decorations Anne put up of movie stars were still there.

Standing at the Franks front door.

Next we went to the Van Gogh museum. We got to see a lot of his paintings but Starry Night was not there and neither was my favorite Cafe Terrace.

I cant believe how many bicycles there are in Amsterdam! Its CRAZY millions of bikes more bikes than I  have ever seen in my life. the roads, sidewalks, parking lots, EVERYWHERE is covered with bikes.

We went to the Leuven Bears game Saturday night and we lost to the #1 team in Holland. Then we stayed at a Hotel in Apeldoorn and Sunday morning we drove to a city outside of Amsterdam to see the "windmills."  I loved the windmills, it was nice to just walk around outside.

I have one complaint. A big complaint about Holland. I pretty much complained about this all weekend so it wouldn't be right if I didn't share it with you. On the highway there were certain areas where traffic would form. Understandable, traffic happens. I figures maybe there is an accident or construction. Above the highway there are electronic signs that usually tell you the speed limit...if there is a RED X in the box that means that lane is closed on the highway therefore that lane needs to merge into the other lanes. Everyone obeys these red x boxes. We saw these two or three times and EVERY time we saw them there was NO REASON for that lane to be closed. nothing in the road, no accident and no construction. they just close the lane for no reason. Coooool traffic signal Holland.

Next Stop Amsterdam!!

Before I talk about my exciting trip... Wednesday the Leuven Bears had a game and we destroyed the other team by 30 pts. After the game it was very late so we stopped at McDonalds for a quick bite :) The burgers taste pretty much the same as America. In Europe the McDonalds sell a chicken burger called CBO (chicken bacon onion) that are very popular.

Tomorrow I am going on a road trip to two of Dior's games in Holland this weekend. Lindsey and I are driving the Smart Car so we will see how many stories we can tell about our niffty vehicle. First we are going to Amsterdam for the day and going to:
1.) Anne Frank's House
2.) Van Gough Museum
3.) Lunch at a cafe... the food cafe not the "other" cafes or possibly BURGER KING :)
4.) if we have time we are going to the Heineken Brewery.

The Leuven Bears game is in Apeldoorn this is hotel we are staying at http://www.booking.com/hotel/nl/van-der-valk-de-cantharel.en.html VERY NICE. Cant wait to check out the sauna after the game!

Sunday Lindsey and I are driving back towards Belgium and stopping in whatever city looks interesting on the way and going to the Leuven Bears second game in Holland.

Finally some traveling :) You cant imagine how excited I am!!!