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!!!

Eurofolies!

Eurofolies is a big outdoor music festival for families that we went to on Sunday. The music sounded like Dutch Disney songs. There were lots of tents and stands with people selling food and kids playing games.  Dior's team had an area decorated in Leuven Bears jerseys. We bought some nachos and to our surprise they taste just like the ones at home!  This was probably the first day our Smart Car didn't help us out, the team met at the practice gym then we all followed each other to get to the concert. We ended up being the last car, the manager was in front of us but he didn't realize we were behind him probably because our car is so mini. He went through a yellow light and we got stuck at the red light. Once you lose the train of cars your pretty much lost. we had to pull over and call someone to come back for us. So mad at the little car until we found a tiny parking spot that we fit in which made us happy.

On Saturday we went to the movies to see The Expendables. They play American movies at there cinemas and just add Dutch subtitles. Someone told us they dont like changing the spoken word because it always ends up changing the story. Woo Hoo! American movies !!

I've been really homesick so Dior decided to take me to a Mexican restaurant named Casa VeraCruz. Yes Mexican restaurant in Belgium even though I haven't seen any Mexicans. Everyone recommended this place to us so we thought how bad could it be? WELL Dior ordered a burrito. that's all the menu said Burrito no choice of chicken, steak or veggies just burrito. His burrito was a tortilla with a can of chilli (the kind you put on your hot dog) then smothered in some funky red sauce. It was terrible. I ordered a chile con pollo dish.... why were there almonds on my chile con pollo? The only thing that walked by our table that actually looked and smelled good were the fajitas. we will have to wait a couple months before we go back  to as Dior calls it "Casa Very Nasty."

The Leuven Bears had the first preseason game in a city about 2 hrs away. Lindsey (she is married to dior's teammate Jared) and I got a ride with Erwin, Kathy and their daughter Sofi. Erwin is on the Board for Dior's team and their family has been extremely helpful and nice. The team lost by 8pts. but we looked good so i think they will do great this season.

Me, Lindsey and Sofi at the first game.

Leuven has been great but I do have one major issue with this country, city or area not sure how it works everywhere but in Leuven they only pick up your garbage every other Sunday. That means you have to keep your garbage in your home until that particular Sunday. You can hide it in a cupboard, closet, balcony (we don't have one) or garden if you have one. Our backyard is used for parking so we cant put it there. The apt. building has closets in the cellar that you can I guess rent so the team got us one they are called "lockers." This is where we put the garbage for two weeks. GROSS. In some places this can cause a maggot problem! YUUUCK. I'm used to my garbage being picked up once or twice a week.

Here is a picture of that little walkway we drove the Smart Car through. In person two people walking side by side are the width.

America in Belgium

We were supposed to wake up early on Sunday and go to Brussels for the first time then come back and meet Dior's team for a city tour of Leuven at 3 p.m. Instead I slept in guess I might getting back to normal :) We met the team and took a tour of Leuven we started with the Main University Library. I was proud of myself because I had read a lot of about the library before coming to Belgium. This library was destroyed during World War I so after the war American schools donated money to rebuild it. I read somewhere that they wanted to make it a massive library to symbolize their alliance and victory. If you walk through the library the names of the American schools who helped build it are engraved in different areas of the library. Sadly, USF was not one of them. I think only two California schools helped I cant remember which ones… maybe Pomona was one? So here is a little bit of America in Belgium.

Then we walked to the Old Town Hall. This is probably the most photographed building in Leuven. Its covered with hundreds of statutes of important political and Catholic figures in Leuven when the building was made. I am going to try to find a book on who the people are. A funny story the guide told us was that in front of the building there is a tree because Brussels and Leuven were in competition to be the “main” capital city of Belgium. Both cities were building their town hall at the same time so they planted this tree to see whose would be the first to grow. Silly old timers. If you are in Leuven they will say their tree was first if you are in Brussels they will say the opposite. I wonder which one is prettier Leuven’s is decorated with ribbons.

This is a St. Peters church very nice. They have a nativity scene up all year. They also have signs up for Father Damien he was recently named a saint and he was from Leuven.

These are some of Dior’s teammates.. The guy in the first picture on the far right is from San Francisco, he plays on Dior’s summer league team too.