The End of the Dream

And finally, we've come to the end of the road. As you've probably guessed, we crammed months of adventures and experiences into two weeks. It was tiring, hours of driving (3480 miles in all), and hectic, but what a ride! Would we do it all again? You bet! As we stood in the JFK airport in New York, we took one last photo. (Do the kids look sick of posing for pictures?) That's when it really hit me that it was over. What a bittersweet feeling. But all in all, we were thankful for the experience and ready to see our little ones and get back to living the "normal" day to day life, which is pretty great as well. Thanks for joining me as I relived a memory I'll treasure forever.

Nadine and Matthew won't like that I've posted these pictures, but I thought they summed up how tired we were at the end....Plus they are HILARIOUS! Enjoy! =)

Belgium - Grottes de Remouchamps

During my research, I discovered that there were caves south of Liege. We weren't certain we were heading the right direction at first, because the signs kept saying we were headed to Luik. We crossed an invisible language line, and the signs then said we were headed to Liege. That's when we realized that Luik is the Flemish word. Our tour guide did two tours at once: one in French and one in Flemish. We were glad that Paul could translate. Nadine and Matthew are standing in front of the boat that took us back to the mouth of the cave. It was a fascinating experience to be floating down a river in a cave, with the cave roof at your head in places, and in near darkness. Amazing, thrilling,and a bit creepy all rolled into one. It reminded me at times of the 6th Harry Potter book. Ooooo! =) A great way to spend our last day in Europe.

Belgium - Brugge

Some say that Brugge is a "Disneyland" town - just done up for tourists. I say, I don't care...it's beautiful!! I would recommend this town to anyone! Everywhere we looked there was a photo-op. We started our evening with a Mexican Hotdog (of all things) and ice cream cones.

This is the famous Brugge Market Square. It's charming. Paul and Matthew purchased fresh fruit here the morning we left. Brugge is known for beautiful, handmade lace. I took this picture to show you the amazing detail - imagine the time this took! It was almost 4 feet across!

There are decadent chocolate shops on almost every block. It was a delight to see and smell all these heavenly treats, but oh, so dificult to choose. Our only regret: we should have purchased more! You can never have too much Belgium chocolate!

Belgium - Kortebrugge B&B

Our Brugge Bed and Breakfast was the most modern. Veerle, a language teacher (she speaks 5 lanuages), and Luc, a documentary photographer, were wonderful hosts. They made us a delicious breakfast, which included fresh squeezed orange juice, and "for the Americans", pancakes (which were really yummy crepes). Belgium has a unique and brilliant program for an incentive to save gas. The country pays people to ride their bikes to work - 20 cents per kilometer. Veerle receives 70 euros per month (aprox. $111). We saw this bike parking lot by the train station in town. There were THOUSANDS of bikes. We think this is a fabulous idea. We came home ready to go bike riding.

England - Dover

It is now day 13 in Europe. Before we left England, I thought it would be neat to see the White Cliffs of Dover. As you can see, they are actually white. We found out when we were in town, that you have to drive a half an hour up to actually access them, which was disappointing. At least we got to see them - an english landmark.

One thing I wanted to do was drink herbal tea in England. That turned out to be trickier than I thought it would be. The tea parlors we found were closed when we arrived. Then we searched in Dover and all we found were coffee shops and cafe's. This little cafe' was pretty and I was able to have chamomile tea, weak as it was, in England.

England - Brenley Farm Bed and Breakfast

Scott let the kids stay another night so that Paul and I could have a time alone in England. Thanks Scott. We stayed in this Farm house near Faversham. This is the road that led to the B&B - very narrow, a bit scary, and cool at the same time; couldn't see another vehicle until it was right in front of you - Yikes!

This is Maggie, our hostess. The farm has been in the family for over 100 years. Of all the breakfasts, hers was the very best: cereal, yogurt, fruit, toast, and even a hot breakfast cooked to order! Paul had a traditional English breakfast with sausage, bacon, potatoes, and eggs.

England - Whitstable

I wanted to see an English beach, so we went to Whitstable, north of Canterbury. We found a popular Fish and Chips place, and ate our food by the shore.

Along the beach were hundreds of these bungalos. They were darling!

I had to get a photo of a British phone booth. It reminds me of episodes of "The Avengers". I liked this house, but I took a picture to show how the people put a common stone in their buildings. You see it everywhere. It is a pale grey/ivory on the outside. When you break it open, there is a black rock that looks like glass. We brought one home.