Guanajuato, Mexico.
It’s hard to believe that the trip is soon ending.  This has indeed been a phenomenal trip, and in half a month, I have seen more of the country that I have ever expected.  See you all soon!

 I hope everyone had a pleasant Christmas. 

These few days have been adventurous I would say. I visited more Belgian cities than any tourist would imagine…well of course I did not stay too long for some of them…due to their small size…limited time, etc. I think I have too much to write about this trip to try to blog most of them during my holidays…so I will write all the gory details of the places I visited once I get back to Baltimore. Too soon, I suppose…I leave on the 30th from London and right now its already…almost the 26th!!!

Yesterday my hosts and I travelled to nearby off-beaten cities such as Lier and Mechelen. Even though they were just a little bit out of the Antwerp area, they each had their own style and I enjoyed every bits of it.

Today we went even further in our Belgian road trip…for the first time I travelled to the south of Belgium (the French speaking region). As we passed Brussels, which was probably a border between Flanders and French region of the country…the entire landscape along the highway changed. It became more hilly and less inhabited. Furthermore, as we entered each little city (all along the river, by the way…preeetty)…the French region looked like it was not Belgium (not like the cities I had seen so far). Less developed I guess? Well you will be able to see the pictures once I post them up.

Most of Belgian travelling is done…so far I have visited:

Flanders region-
Brugge
Gent
Brasschaat (only stayed there, did not tour around)
Antwerp
Mechelen
Lier

French region-
Namur
Dinant
Rochefort (I guess?)
Bouillon (chicken broth heh)
Orval Monastery
**and of course the towns in between them!!

and tomorrow i go tooooooo the capital BRUSSELS!!!

me up at a fort in one of the cities in French region of Belgium TODAY

Mechelen in the grote markt (central square) overseeing its most beautiful church in the city…YESTERDAY

Today my hosts and i took a short trip to Gent, which is a city 40 minutes away from where i am staying…in Brasschaat.  Gent is a medieval city that is comparable to Bruges, but less common to tourists.  The atmosphere in the Centrum (city center) was really awesome.   My host Olivier and I were both excited in taking pictures because the place was just…beautiful.  Medieval buildings well conserved, no Asian tourists (unlike in Brugge)…everything was new.

For lunch we went to a pub (yes…) and had a beer (i drank hot chocolate).  But it was the first time for me to taste a Trappist beer made in Belgium.  Yeah somehow Belgian monks brew beer…some of the best in the world.  The 2 types of Trappist beers I had from my friends cups were about 10% alcohol…and trust me…there are some that are stronger than wine.

At night we joined a party hosted by a couchsurfing couple and met a lot of new friends there.  A good thing about couchsurfing is…that you get to join Belgian social gatherings unlike normal tourists.  We had a variety of snacks and unlimited amount of hot wine and beer.

But the weather was so cold…my 4 layers of clothing didnt seem to warm enough. The weather was also foggy, so it wasnt the ideal day to travel around. Anyways, I biked out as soon as it became bright outside (9am) to Brugge. Brugge is actually surrounded by a canal…so to enter it I had to cross the canal and pass a city gate. Since it was so early in the morning; there werent too many people in the town. Navigation was relatively easy because I had some maps in the guidebooks. Too bad the weather was foggy; most of my pictures were really gloomy.

I went to the main post office in the Markt to send out postcards…the postage was 90 cents…even more expensive than in the states:::

some pictures–

This morning I barely was able to catch the train, to Brussels.  Then I missed the first train to Brugge, so I ended up arriving at 1pm.  My couchsurfing host, Jean Claude picked me up.  Together we then picked up his 2 daughters from school.  After this and that we went to the center of Brugge (JeanClaude lives in the outskirts of Brugge called Assebroek).  JC and kids were ice skating in the market while I took a quick glimpse of this medieval city.

I also got to try the famous Belgian fries….no fries were actually originated from Belgium.  When the Americans were served this dish by some French speaking Belgian, boom, they called it French fries.  Another touching story of how Americans screws up things, really.

If you ask me what is the difference between these fries and the ones sold in dear old Mcdonalds?  The answer is  that of course the Belgian version is yummier.  No kidding.  The fries are actually crispy outside and soft inside, I heard it is because of 2 rounds of frying these potatoes.  I do not know what calorie difference the 2nd frying has, but what counts is the fact that…not all fries are trash foods.  Oh yes,  this dish is served  with some mayonnaise.  Sounds weird but the combination turned out to be delicious::

Ah yes…I have exhausted my French abilities when I was playing with JCs daughters, Marie and Celine.  Also, the French keyboard that I am typing one is quite:::interesting::::

yesterday i had the longest walk ever, i really thought i walked 1/2 of london in 5 hours. hahaha i have a few pictures here and i’m in a hurry right now to catch the train to brussels!

bye!

me in the british museum

 nighttime walk along the thames.  started in st pauls cathedral, crossed the millenium bridge (as shown on picture) walked passed the london eye, and across the bridge to westminster abbey. 5 tube stations worth of walking

 along thames there was a skating ground