Home, Sweet Home

We made it in yesterday afternoon, no hiccups in the travel plans, thank goodness. That's always a good thing. We left Brussels at 10:30 a.m. and arrived home around 3:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. Brussel's time). A long day but I think we all were glad to get home. Well, actually, the kid has completely fallen in love with Europe and plans on moving there one day now. I've told him he has plenty of time to plan on attending a university abroad. We'll see if he feels the same once that time rolls around. Anyway, it's really good to be home. You should have seen this island last night! ha. I cleaned it all up and sorted all my goodies; at least the ones that were down here! (I have yet to unpack my bag yet.)

What a whirlwind trip it was. So many wonderful memories were made. Again, I will have to have the hub download all my pics from his computer to mine so I can share the beginning of the trip with you. So much to tell and show you from Amsterdam, Bremen, and Zurich.

Here's a few more shots from Brussels. We were passing this studio and I glanced in (of course). There, hanging on the wall, was an oil of the teenager when he was a baby! I swear, it is HIM! We spoke with the lady who was sitting in for the day and she told us the artist, Benoit Vercammen, was coming in later that afternoon. We had to meet him! Why I didn't take any pictures of him and some of his work in this studio is beyond me, but i didn't. Oy. He was a very nice gentleman, young, very young. We told him that this looked just like our son when he was a baby. Look at the likeness! Yes, we purchased the painting and had Benoit take the canvas off it's stretcher and now have it here to have re-stretched. I can't wait to see it, probably hanging over our bed. We are the first in the United States to have one of his pieces; and he was very excited over this. He has one in Australia and several were being sent to Africa. The kid was a tad jealous. We may have to have commission Benoit to do one of the kid when he was a baby! Hmmmmm.

This is the only cat we saw the entire trip. He was inside a promenade, and we chose "his" cafe to eat breakfast. We ordered omelets (which later gave me quite a fit--I was in all night with the "trots" (to the bathroom!! Thank goodness it was the last night and I was finished traveling.). I did, however, enjoy a lovely show on the Royal Family photographers on the BBC.

I found this awesome miniature shop that was unfortunately closed. Grrrrr. I thought of Ulla, of course. Wish I could have made it in there. They had everything. I adored the little shop armoire filled with yarns and all the porcelain sets from Germany. I wrote the website down -- somewhere -- and can't seem to put my finger on it. If I find it, I will pass it on if anyone is interested. Didn't I tell you Brussels was amazing?

Some more window shops of an antique store and a picture of Van Gogh himself. I couldn't stop looking at this gentleman sitting at the table next to us enjoying lunch. Does he not look like a Van Gogh? Click on it, and you tell me.


These are buildings in the Grand Place. Truly remarkable architecture. Sigh.

I, like the kid, already miss Europe.