Making Mussels!

One of my favorite things to do includes going to Carrabba’s with ReeRee and Reedaddy and ordering the mussels. Apparently, the “mussels in Brussels” is something you have to do in Belgium. However, Apple’s momma said she could do them just as well, so we made mussels and french fries. I will have to try this one day soon. We made them outside and the sun was going down so while they were cooking, I played paparazzi.

Homemade French Fries!!

with my camera. We ate, and ate, and ate! This was my last night in Belgium 😦 I had so much fun and the family was wonderful! Hopefully I’ll get to see Apple soon if she comes and visits friends in Florida!

Feeding the Coy Fish!

Apple’s momma and I feed the coy fish in the back yard today, so much fun! They eat right out of your hand. I had a video, but it’s not downloading properly 😦 However, it was beautiful outside!

Gent, Belgium

Beautiful Gazebo in the Park

September 21, 2011

Went to Gent today with Apple’s brother to pick up my train ticket and see some of the landscape. We didn’t have much time but we did see some beautiful parks!

Bridge in the Park

What do you do after the Gym?

So Apple is a Zumba instructor. For those of you that don’t know what this is, it’s a fast dance workout so you don’t feel like you are actually working out. I went to several of Apple’s classes this week. One night when we had done a workout in the gym and then two of Apple’s classes, I came home EXHAUSTED! So what did I do….ate chocolate! Apple found this endlessly amusing so we took a pic to share. 🙂

It was good too!

 

Festival in Brugges!

Twice a year in Belgium they don’t allow any cars in the city centers on Sunday. Instead you must ride a bike, take a train, or walk to enjoy the city. Brugges looked like a huge festival with dancing, free museum entries, and other activities. The weather was perfect so we spent the day wandering around the city eating Belgium french fries and chocolate. It was a spectacular day!!

Part of the city center

The flowers didn’t come out in this photo but they were beautiful!

Paintings on the Wall

Me and Apple ❤

Swing Dancing in Belgium!

Apple took me to a vintage show/ burlesque show and swing dance club! So much fun! I love dressing up and dancing!

Hard to see but it’s a woman doing her act

The ceiling was beautiful! It was a huge theater

Apple’s getting dolled up!

Singer of the show!

 

Event Promo Video-

Videos of Dancing-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJwvQ7pHBLA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH7gU1JXRQk

Brussels, Belgium!

Sorry there has been such a huge gap between posts. School is warming up here and there are events going on constantly so taking time to write can be tough!

When I arrived at the Brussels airport Apple came to pick me up so we could tour Brussels for the day. This included real Belgian waffles, seeing the key sites and watching the Manneken Pis statue being clothed for a festival. This statue is not as large as I thought it was but so cute in a “cute naked boy peeing in a fountain” kind of way. You would not believe the reactions from people watching this statue get clothed. I was packing back my fresh waffle topped with strawberries, powdered sugar and chocolate (if you can’t already tell, Belgium is going to be filled with food) and people were going crazy, like seeing this statue suddenly wearing a cowboy hat and boots made their whole month!

Posing in the letters at the Atomium!

Manneken Pis Statue

Little Peeing Boy after being clothed. Don’t worry, there is a hole for his…

The Grote Markt Grand Place

Atomium Structure

This dog was HUGE! And the little girl actually rode him around for several mins 🙂

Cut me some slack in these photos, by this point I had gotten up at 2 that morning, rode a bus, waited at the airport, took a plane…

The Grote Markt Grand Place is where they have the Carpet of Flowers every year. Google search it! It’s beautiful. Apple and I had such a great time!

Small note about the Dublin Airport:

So… I have a love-hate relationship with the Dublin Airport.

Negatives– I hope you’re magic, otherwise you will never figure out where your terminal is to check in. Be prepared to walk 15,000 miles to get to your gate once you’ve been patted down at security. (Yes I had the pat down)

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Positives– Not only did they let me have an overweight check-in bag, they also let me have two carry-ons when other airlines made me pay 60 bucks. Go Air-Lingus! Plus free Wi-Fi.

The scales are only tipped in their favor because my airline kicks butt.

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I made friends with a man who was equally confused and frustrated. He also cheered up when he discovered there was free wi-fi. Don’t remember the flight too much, I passed out before we left the terminal. It was an EARLY flight.

I’ll miss you Ireland! On the way to Belgium…

Sexy Castle with Anyah

Anyah wanted to bring me to a “sexy castle” in Ireland. We had such a great time! Then ended the adventure with some Chinese food!

You can never have too many pictures of Ireland!

Belfast Castle Courtyard

Photo fun!

Belfast Castle

Very hard to see in photo, but the view from the top was amazing!

Now all I need is a big pouffy dress, a huge library of my own and the Beast!

Castle at night

I left for Belgium early the next morning. It was so hard saying goodbye to everyone but I feel I’ll see them again. If you’re ever in Jacksonville or Northern Ireland- check out Celebration Church. They’re a great group of wonderful people!

Belfast with Melissa McMinn!

Friday, 16th of September

Today Melissa (a.k.a. Miley Cyrus) went to see beautiful Belfast. This included a fashion show, the building place of the Titanic, a big blue fish, coffee at The Red Berry and shopping!!

The Rise Sculpture

The Albert Clock

Queen’s University

Car pic! It was rainy that day so I thought I would get a photo in ahead of time 🙂

Miley Cyrus right?

The eye was closed because of the stupid fashion show

It wasn’t actually as dark as it seemed in the photos 😦

I don’t know how to caption this- Mary Poppins combined with “The Show Must Go On!” ?

I included this so you could see where it would have been stationed

Titanic sat right….THERE!

Big blue fish sculpture, OK…

YUMMMMMMM

City Hall

Once again, click on pictures to make them larger. There is actually a huge Titanic center being built at the moment at that spot. If I get to revisit my Ireland family, I’ll see how it turns out!

Future site projection: http://www.civicarts.com/titanic-signature-project.php