Nice building in The Hague

The Hague

The Hague, downtown

no words...no words.

We saw a whole herd of striped cows!

Lots of farmland

A sweet bridge as you approach Rotterdam

Rotterdam and Den Haag, here we come!

A sweet-looking noise barrier!

We passed some cooling towers (most of western Europe gets the majority of its power from nuclear)

Windmills along the highway

David was lovin' his Smart car

My coworker David was very kind to invite me on an adventure to Holland on Sunday. He rented a Smart car, so how could it be passed up?! We headed north through Antwerp, then crossed the Dutch border into Breda, Rotterdam, then The Hague! Here's an image of happy Dutch cows.

The Groet Markt (grand market)

This is Brabo, the guy who saved Antwerp from a giant by severing off its hand and throwing it into the river. Or so the story goes.

Town hall

Antwerp piques my interest :)

took a quick trip to Antwerp! 40 minute train from Brussels, known for good shopping and some neat buildings. This is Central Station, where you catch the train.

an example of art-nouveau architechure, right around the corner from my apartment. really cool

The wonderful ladies of Football Club Ireland. These ladies invited me to play on their team one day when I was running through the park. The team had its first friendly match of the year on Sunday - a fundraising tournament actually, World-Cup style where 32 teams played in brackets. Our first game, we won against a team of 11-year olds - no joke- only 4-1. they were good. we were only slightly better.

These girls are expats from all over - Anna from Estonia, Kara from Iowa, Maz from Malta, many from England.

David dips his new Orval glasses in the fountain for good luck...and perhaps a case of Giardia

Ruins

Fred and Sarah only think they're alone...mwah ha hahahahah!

The old church ruins. It was destroyed in the late 1700s after existing since 1000 or so, and then in the 1930s the new church was built along side it.

A half-hour deeper in the Ardennes is the Orval Abbey, where monks make our delicious, smokey Orval. Orval is one of the seven Belgian Trappist beers, made by Trappist monks. This photo shows part of the monastery gardens with peaceful sculptures, and some of the old church ruins as well as the new church steeple in the back.

A view from the castle

Falcon man with his giant condor friend, moments before throwing the bird toward the audience.

Big birdie!

Enter the falcon man, who began by showing us this gorgeous owl. He carried it around for a little bit, and then threw it at the audience! The very well trained owl flew over our heads onto a ledge in the castle stones, then flew back to the falcon man on queue.

Don't leave your puppies near the falcons!

Stephanie was the most excited.

Sarah and Stephanie pose excitedly with the vulture/condor in the background. There were 8 or so birds of prey with a foot tethered to their boxes, springing towards us from time to time. We heard a bell ring, alerting us to get to our seats quickly - the show was about to start!

Signs alerting us to the "Stupefying Falcon Show" really got us excited, so once inside the castle, we stood around for a few minutes in the rain to see what it would bring!

This past Saturday, my highschool friend Fred and his girlfriend Sarah (middle) invited us (my two ICF colleagues Stephanie and David, shown far left) out to the Ardennes to visit their apartment and see the Brouillon Castle and Orval Abbey. Two of their friends (and guys I went to school with) are shown on the far right, Laurent and Benoit.
This photo was taken outside Brouillon Castle but doesn't show how high we are on the mountain and the river flowing through the village below.

the harrowing decent

Montmartre

Another obligatory tower shot in Paree

What a looker!

(yes, that's gum dangling from my mouth -- can't take me anywhere)

The man looks good anywhere ya put him.

The necesary tower pictures in Paris

Bruges

The necessary canal shot from Bruges. Look at that handsome devil!

Bri and I went to Bruges for a day trip. Look at all the bikes outside the trainstation!

Whew! Watching two games was really exhausting but finally it was time for a drink.

At half-time, we jumped in the car and rode off to Brugges, where Carole had yet ANOTHER soccer game to play - this time, the Belgium women's indoor soccer semifinals. She scored two goals to win the game and they go on to the finals in mid-June. Pretty sweet. That's her in yellow up front.

That's her smiling after one of her four goals that game.

It was a beautiful day!

I visited my friend Carol for her soccer match a few weekends ago out in eastern Belgium, which is German speaking. On the sidelines nestled between a few other friendly spectators I kept cheering in English and getting funny looks and simply smiling because I can't say a single thing in German.

That's her with the sassy 'tude on the field.

I made it out alive from the greenhouses and exited his property, noting the lovely sky his home faces.