Forest visited

I'm been trying to figure out where I want to start with all the posts I need to catch up on. I was behind even before we left to the U.S.! So I think I'll post a couple to catch up before I start on our U.S. trip. I need to tell you about our Wales trip too- but that might come later.

Anyway, let's start with our buddy Forest who visited us in September. The weekend before we left for the States, Forest was able to make a quick stopover in the UK and visit us in Oxford. Forest and his wife Nikki were good friends of ours in Eugene. Forest was also a Physics grad student at Oregon. He finished about one year before Brian, and they moved south to San Diego where he works for Hewlett-Packard. At HP, he does a lot of work with a branch in Israel, interesting enough. So about 3-4 times a year they send him over there to work for a few weeks. This trip, he was able to get a day and-a-half stopover and could pop over to Oxford.


Luckily, Brian was already in London for a conference on the Thursday Forest arrived. So Brian met him at the airport and they took the coach together into town. Friday the boys explored all day and I met up with them for some punting late afternoon/early evening. Then we embarked on a typical Oxford pub tour and met some interesting characters for the evening. Was fun to talk with some locals and do the typical pub thing.

Unfortunately that's all the time we had, as Forest had to catch the coach early in the a.m. the airport to fly back to the States. But it was awesome to see him even for a short trip. After all that time you spend together in grad school, it's fun to reconnect in your "new" lives too.

Brian Turns 3-0!

Today is Brian's 30th Bday!


Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate while we were back in the States. As we're still recovering from the long trip and jet lag, we don't have big plans for the day. But I made pancakes and sang him Happy Birthday this a.m. We'll grill out for dinner since it's his fave thing, and probably hit the pub for a quick pint.

If you have a chance, please email or call to wish him a Happy Birthday anytime this week!

P.S. I know I have TONS to catch up on the blog from our trip, so bear with me and I'll get it going again this week!

Princess Diana Memorial

I was in London two Saturdays ago to run some errands (i.e. teapot for Marcy she spotted on her trip over) and realized it was the 10-year anniversary of Princess Diana's death. I remember being in Okoboji, Iowa at the bar with Paul and Melinda watching the horrible news unfold on a TV there. Then I was in London and Paris a few months later for a J-term, and visited both Kensington Palace and the tunnel in Paris where she crashed. So many memorials, flowers, poems, pictures, letters, etc., where placed in both locations.

Well I visited Kensington Palace again to see what type of memorial they had this time. The Palace is doing a special 6-month exhibit on her life inside for a tour. Outside on the gates, there again are flowers, pictures, letters, etc., from people all around the world. By no means is it even close to the amount as 10 years ago, but still powerful.

The royal family is so closely watched and so loved here. It's really interesting to read about what life is like for the princes and now with Charles remarried to Camilla. Such drama I tell you!

Wrap Up Parents Visit

We didn't have any troubles traveling back to the UK from Belgium. Well except at Heathrow they were annoyingly slow with bringing Dad a wheelchair from the airplane to the baggage terminal. But we weren't in a hurry to get anywhere at least. Took the coach back to Oxford and due to road construction, was dropped off right in front of our flat - so that saved us a taxi ride. Dad wanted to finish his trip with some fish and chips for dinner, so we popped down to Summertown to our local pub, the Dew Drop Inn, had some good pub grub and then I helped Ma finish up packing at the flat.

They took off Tuesday morning, early enough, but we saw them off at the bus station and knew we would be seeing them again in only a month or so in the States!

Battle of Waterloo and LLN

Ahhh! I really need to wrap up telling you about our trip- I'm so slow!

Okay, anyway, Sunday was our last full day in Belgium and Brian had really really wanted to visit the historic battle grounds of Waterloo. The Battle of Waterloo was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle in 1815. He was beat by the English Duke of Wellington (who is a major war hero in the UK) and was taken prisoner. Napoleon sounded like quite a cocky character and was an interesting prisoner of war. The battlefield is basically just current farmland, but is protected from further development. There is a large mound you can climb to the top to get a nice view of the land and envision the battle. Honestly, it wasn't super exciting, but still nice to do it and say you did.

I didn't mention, but Brian, Kelly and Marcy went to Waterloo, and Bruno, who is currently Charlie's landlord, was kind enough to drive us there. He then also took us to the ruined cistern abbey of Villers-la-Ville. It was amazing!
I haven't seen anything like it yet, and it was absolutely incredible. Talk about an amazing place to get married or attend an outdoor play or concert. They currently were doing a summer show of Dracula, and they use the abbey as the backdrop. That had to been so cool!

We arrived back into LLN by about 2ish, which was perfect to finish watching the juniors team, which Charlie coached. Then his seniors team played at 3:30. Earlier in the week, Charlie jammed the crap out of his finger, and it was black, blue and he had to stick a pin in his fingernail to drain the blood. Yuck! But it was okay enough for him to pitch that day. And he pitched great! He's batting again too, but that was more difficult for him with the finger. Sounds like since that game, he's been hitting home runs like crazy! Well they won their game and of course we were all there cheering them on. Afterwards, the guys chill on the bleachers and enjoy some Belgium beers and smokes. Definitely different then how they do in the States!


Dad and Charlie even went out on the field after the game and played a little bit of catch. Was fun for Dad to be catcher - and Charlie pitched him a few fast ones. They used to play catch for hours in the backyard in Mason City, so was neat for them to say they did in Belgium too.

We hitched a ride back to Charlie's flat and had a little family BBQ of Belgium sausages, tried out various Belgium cheeses and a yummy fruit tart for dessert. We had to take off the next morning to fly back to England, so we crashed out after filling up on good food and beer of course!

Trip to Brugge

We enjoyed the last weekend of my parents visit in Brugge on Saturday and Louvain La Neuve on Sunday. LLN is where Charlie is playing baseball. I know I've blogged about LLN and Charlie playing baseball there a lot, so I won't try to tell you much of the same. But a recap on our weekend should do the trick.

We awoke Saturday morning from our hotel in Brussels, grabbed some croissants and coffee/tea for breakfast, and had few hours in the morning to shop. Ma and Kelly found some fun Belgium tapestry cushions and other trinkets. Charlie was playing a game a few hours north in Antwerp, so the four of us decided on a day trip to the lovely city of Brugge.


Brugge is one of the European cities untouched by a World War, and has retained its architectural beauty and charm. It has a small canal weaving through the city, which is now popular with tourist boats. But on a sunny day, it's a beautiful place and small enough to walk around for the afternoon. There is a large market square in the center of Brugge, with cafes dotting the sides. As most European cities, there are a number of large and impressive cathedrals to visit as well. We didn't do much more than wandering around taking in the sights of the streets, buildings and cafes.

Warning! (Another non-family friendly photo - but had to show you a European-style Belgium chocolate store!)













We left Brugge by late afternoon so we could travel to LLN and meet Charlie there after his game. We met him at one of his fave cafes, along with his friend Stan. Stan was an exchange student in Oklahoma during his junior year in high school, so he speaks English very well and I think he has fun chatting with Americans when he can. Stan was kind enough to give us all a ride to Charlie's flat, as it's a bit outside of the city center, and Charlie only can travel by bicycle. LLN is too small for public transport, so you have to rely on rides or find a bike.

We had brought some Chinese take out with us for dinner and just relaxed at Charlie's flat. Brian and I had been there just a few weeks before, but Mom and Dad had a chance to check it out. Have to admit it was a bit weird all of us cramming in there for two nights to sleep, but luckily Charlie could crash in another room, and Brian and I dragged an air mattress out on the patio. I told Brian to just think we were camping under the stars!

J'aime Paris!

I don't know much French, but hanging out in Belgium in four different trips at least has taught me some of the basics. It's fun to learn a new language when you can practice in a real setting. Although you'd have to get Charlie's opinion on that one - he's been immersed into French for 6 months! His French has really improved since my first trip, so don't be surprised when you see him next you'll get a kiss on the cheek and he can speak close to fluent French! He can also speak great Spanish, so I think he's could find a cool job in the U.S. since he knows three languages.

Well our trip to Paris was short and sweet. Mom, Dad, Kelly and Brian (Charlie had to practice) took the TGV (fast train) between Brussels and Paris, which was about an hour and an half trip. Pretty quick! We arrived by noon and went to check into our hotel. It was a quaint, 2-star hotel in a great area of the city. 5 minute walk to Notre Dame and very close to a metro stop. We grabbed some sandwiches at a little take-away cafe and headed to Notre Dame to eat outside and soak in the view. There was a huge que (line) to get inside and an admission cost. But we've gotten smart with Dad's disability and can usually surpass the que and even get in for free at places. So I asked a policeman/guard person and looked like we could go in the special line. What we didn't realize was that a funeral for a recently passed cardinal was being held in the cathedral, and we were in the line to pass by the casket and pay our respects. Was interesting that the cathedral continued to allow the general public in to tour the inside while this huge funeral was being held. It was beautiful inside, and we left just as the official funeral service started.

Next we headed to the Arc de Triomphe on Place Charles de Gaulle via the metro. One thing I want to note about the metro in Paris, the Parisians riding were very kind and considerate when they saw Dad get on the metro. Every single time we got on, someone immediately gave up their seat for Dad. We were incredibly impressed with their consideration, as you don't really think they are caring much for the tourists or just minding their own business. I'd say in London on the tube it only happened about 50% of the time.

Back to the Arc de Triomphe, so we stopped for photos and then parked Dad in a cafe along the Champs Elysees. Brian, Kelly and Mom took a long walk down the entire street filled with fancy shops, cafes and posh looking Parisians. At the other end is the Louvre. On the way, we took a short detour to visit the Grand Palais (fancy palace built for one of the World Fairs) and the Alexandre III bridge, gorgeous Art Noveau style built in late 1800s. It took a good two hours to walk the entire length, and then through the gardens and huge grounds of the Louvre.




(This might not be a "family-friendly" photo, but we couldn't help but laugh at the tour bus company from Germany!)














We took the metro back to meet Dad at the cafe, and then we all headed to the Eiffel Tower. It wasn't exactly a warm sunny day, but at least it was dry. It was incredibly windy under the Tower, but it's an amazing sight to be walking underneath, with how huge and industrious it is. We didn't bother taking one of the two elevators up, as the que was really long. You could also walk to the top, but no thanks on that one! We didn't find a cafe view of the Tower, but we did stop for some Bordeaux and frommage (cheese) at a cafe close by.

We headed back to our neighborhood for dinner at a typical Parisian cafe out on the sidewalk. We weren't sure what was a "French" specialty for dinner, their options seemed pretty normal. Although they do like "French" fries there too! Frites!

Mom wanted to see the Eiffel Tower at night, so after dinner Bri, Kel and Ma headed back to the Tower. We went to a different metro stop, so we had a better view from further away. It was gorgeous! Initially it did some fun sparkly thing for a bit, and then just stayed lit up. Was definitely worth going back again.

After that, we were really exhausted from all the traveling around, and knew we had a full day ahead on Friday, so we went back to the hotel to crash.

On Friday, we were actually catching the train back to Brussels at about 10 p.m., so we had a full day to explore. Ma and Dad wanted to go to the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa so we headed there after a quick breakfast stop at Starbucks. (Yep, they are over in Paris too and we needed our familiar fix!)

I knew at the Louvre there was no way Dad could walk it, so Brian and I went to figure out a wheelchair plan and it was pretty slick! The only thing that wasn't so slick is that the Louvre wasn't exactly built for wheelchairs in mind, so for the first hour I think we rode the elevators up and down trying to figure out their convoluted maze! But eventually we made it to all the hot spots we wanted to see (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Napoleon states rooms, and Greek statues to name a few). It was great, and brought back thoughts of the popular book, the DaVinci Code. They have a tour to follow the book/movie, but we didn't have time for that. The Louvre actually took most of the day, and we quick just grabbed some sandwiches while we were there. (Actually Brian and I had crepes!)

We wanted to take Dad back to the other viewing area of the Eiffel Tower, especially since it was an easier trip on the metro for him. We found a cafe not too far with somewhat of a view of the Tower for a bit more wine and cheese. The French don't have it too bad! We headed back toward our area again so we could grab our luggage and shop a little bit before we headed back to the train station.

Ma and I left the boys at a cafe, and explored down the way and stumbled upon the Latin Quarter. Great area (but also touristy) of lots of great restaurants, shops, and just fun ambiance and excitement. We liked being where the action was, so had fun just roaming a bit. After a bit had to get back to get the luggage, the guys, a slice of pizza for dinner and back to the train station.

All went well until we got off the TGV train, and was looking for the city train to go one stop to get to our hotel. Well we found it, and it was way on the other end of the platform, so we ran for it and made it, but even though it sat there, the doors were locked and we couldn't get on! So I was a bit irritated at the train for that, but there was one more to catch. So we went to another platform to catch that train. We had a few minutes to wait while another train came first. Well that train was taking too long, so our train switched platforms without any announcement. Somehow, out of the corner of my eye, I saw our train listed on a different platform and realized we had like a minute to run down, around and back up again! Argh! So off we went and running again we barely made it! I had never seen Dad move so fast and I swear he was doing stairs in twos! That wasn't the most fun of the train stories, and goes to show you always have to be paying attention!