Trier and Belgium

This blog is long overdue. I’m going to make it short and sweet with a bunch of pictures.

After Chloe and I had our most delightful few days in Luxembourg we headed on a train to Trier, Germany and then off to Belgium.

Trier, Germany:

The most eventful part of our little side trip to Germany was hopping on the wrong train getting out of Germany. We didn’t have a pass to be in Germany and were so worried about being fined (which came later in the trip). I was so glad when we were back on the right train heading toward Belgium.

Trier is known for having some of the oldest buildings in the world. The architecture was incredibly. It was fun wandering from street to street checking everything out.

Here I am unhappily waiting at the train station for the right train.

Brussels:

We made it to Brussels later at night and Berenice’s (my mission comp) friend was there at the train station to meet us. She was positively delightful. She took us on a tour of Brussels and let us stay at her home for the night. She made us an absolutely wonderful meal and treated us like gold. It’s nice having such good friends because they have the greatest connections.

There’s nothing quite like a Belgian waffle. So wonderful.

Sweet shops everywhere…it’s like being in heaven…

Mannekin Piss

Brugges:

This place is absolutely incredible. I loved our time in Brugges. I loved the little canals. I loved our little bike ride out to a little town that I can’t remember the name of right now but it was perfect. I loved the windmills. I loved our photo shoot with the stolen sweater and my new hat. Oh the stolen sweater. Chloe will forever deny that the sweater was stolen but the truth is, Chloe is a thief.

Our hostile was something else. The second night we stayed there our roommates were two guys that came in to the room in the middle of the night drunk drunk drunk and smelling awful. At the time it wasn’t so funny but when I look back on that night with the drunk men it makes me smile. Oh Brugges…how I love you!

Outside of our hostile…trying to replicate what our roommates looked/acted like.

Loved the windmills!

Photo shoot with the stolen sweater, new scarf, and new hat all purchased/stolen in Belgium…

Chloe writing…or should I say drawing in her journal. She mostly just draws pictures to tell her story. Here she is drawing the story of the stolen sweater.

Ghent and Antwerp:

On our way to Rotterdam, we took a couple side trips to see Ghent and Antwerp. I was super tired at this point and was done trying to find my way with a map (apparently I was the only one who could read the map) so we mostly just wandered around with no agenda.

Safari

 

After our climb on Kilimanjaro, Chloe and I got to go on a 3 day Safari.  My favorite part of the safari was our guide, Sam.  He was perfect.  We had lots and lots of time with him so we did our best to learn everything we could.  Good guy, we really lucked out.

 

We spent one day in Lake Manyara, one day in Ngorongoro Crater, and one day in the Tarangerie.  It was all so incredibly beautiful.  So typical of the Africa we think of in America.  Beautiful scenery, incredible trees, and amazing animals.  It was so so so dry and quite hot.  It will start raining in a few weeks and everything will turn nice and green but for now there’s just a whole lot of dust.

The highlight of the trip was seeing the lions.  I’ve been on a couple other safaris and had yet to see a lion.  I was paranoid that it would happen again but fortunately we lucked out and saw five lions.  They were magnificent.  Seriously, it’s like you have to whisper when in their presence.

   

We also saw two cheetahs chillin’ out by a rock:

And a leopard eating a warthog in a tree:

There were plenty of elephants, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, water buffalo, impalas, wildebeest, hyenas, dik diks, and birds to keep us highly entertained.

The trees were amazing:

   

This was also the first time I’ve ever seen an ostrich outside of the zoo:

And way off in the distance you can see some tiny little pink dots…Flamingos:

This was the view from where we ate lunch:

It was all so AMAZING!!!  The perfect way to end our 3 1/2 week adventure.  Now on to a 10 hr bumpy, hot, and dusty drive to Nairobi, a quick farewell to my sweet traveling partner Chloe, a sleepless night at the airport, and a flight to Zambia.