The first of our wine trips with the gays - We went to the Aars region in Germany (great Riesling and white wine) at the end of winter and did quite a bit of hiking through sludgy snow. Regrettably the cafe at the top of the mountains was coincidentally closed on the day we were trekking which didn't keep us in good spirits, but we stocked up on the wine while we were there...May 2010 - with Tom's father quite sick, and Bie working quite a lot with little time off, I decided to go with Maarten to Croatia (Dubrovnik - staying in Cavtat). One of the most beautiful countries - dirt cheap, not yet in the EU, and slightly ruined. Am not entirely sure why, but I have the feeling that the war may have something to do with it.
Maarten and I rented scooters for a day and just went where the wind blew us. We ended up crossing the border into Montenegro (back into the Eurozone), but were more impressed with the landscape Croatia had to offer.
Suzi and Glenn visited us in April 2010, so we took them on a bike ride through Antwerp, then a boat trip through Brugge as newly engaged sweethearts. Am bummed to have missed the wedding last weekend, but was quite happy to get to spend time with them while they were here...
Once again, in April 2010, I ran 5km, this time recruiting a couple of colleagues and a dear friend, Sabien. This time breaking the half hour barrier (well, 29:29 is only just, but good enough!!)
I gave up a free ticket to Rock Werchter to see the flash of lightning known as the Tour De France fly through Kontich. The ambiance was fantastic despite only seeing the cyclists for a second...
My parents came over again for a visit (seeing more of Europe than I ever will) but between all of their travelling, they decided to visit us. Mum went home early, and dad stayed on, so we decided to do a road trip through Germany and up to Denmark. This first picture was on the afsluitsdijk in northern Holland - the largest Dyke in the world (and the bloody windiest!). Which one is dad??
Once we arrived in Rige (on Jutland/Jylland - the mainland part of Denmark) and marvelled at its beauty (the oldest city in Denmark), we considered legoland until discovering it wasn't opening until the following weekend (I should have researched this a little better...). Then Dad decided to call the family farm he and mum worked on in 1971, and to his amazement, they remembered him and invited us up! We had a fantastic time there, and they even found this old photo of him with a few of the kids of the other workers!
After leaving Farso in north Jutland, we drove south, and briefly saw the Island of Funen (Fyn) before crossing the most enormous (not to mention expensive!) bridge across to Zealand (Sjaelland). We met up with Dad's cousin Bente at her beach house in Kalundborg (being november in Scandinavia, I wasn't really up for a dip), and met her new boyfriend. I have never seen such an in-love 70 year old!
We then drove on to Copenhagen and it reminded me quite a lot of most European cities, but the Danes were fantastic and friendly people! Funnily enough, we went on a bus tour, and the most famous icon of Denmark (the little mermaid) was on holiday in china. So, after missing Lego land, this was a bit of a bum! I did learn a little about the hippy part of Copenhagen (Kristiana) which was eye-opening...
The inevitable trip to tram-3 (as they put it in Flemish) was planned for 5 dec 2010, but I decided to have a combined party with Philippe to celebrate in november. Kym and Benj even decided to haul their 30-31 year old bodies over the channel to see us once again!
More highlights to come...!
