Day 69- We got our first visitors!!! Katerina and Stefan [her boyfriend, and name I can now properly spell thanks to the wii] came over and spent 4 days with us. It's awesome! It was a Thursday morning, Frank and I woke up at like 8...cause we didn't finish cleaning before our guest arrived. Frank sent me out to buy groceries while he did deep cleaning, like mop floors and clean the tub. I went out on my adventure, only to get shut down at the bank, cause they didn't take Frank's card, and to find out the grocery store was closed. As I took a moment to look around, I then learned EVERYTHING was closed. We figured everything was closed cause it was Assension, but then we learned it was cause I was just out too early. So around 9-ish I was able to drag Frank with me to go food shopping, and we came back with sooooo much stuff. When we packed the fridge we thought that it was thee most filled we've ever seen it. Frank washed the floors, and I got stuck doing a million dishes. I really don't know how the place got so messy, cause we purposly cleaned it on Sunday, and the place looked great.
With the apartment cleaned, we waited and waited. Finally a phone call, it's from Kat and she's in Waterloo, which means she over shot us by 20 mins, cause we live on Waterloo Street [Chaussee de Waterloo] we learned that in order to see where Napoleon died you'd have to pay 8 euros to walk up a hill. Kat said, "No way am I paying 8 euros to walk up a hill!" Turned her car around [really her boyfriends] and drove back to our place.
They arrived, and we helped unpack. We took a walk around our place, took them to a park or two, continued to walk to the center of town, and walked around it, where we bought some beer, waffels and fries. I think that's what's Begliums for! We did a lot of walking and ended up eatting at the local food place at the end of our street by our apartment. Great food, like always, we figured this was the most authentic Belgium food we could find, instead of over priced places in the center of town.
After our exhusting day, we just relaxed back at our place and played some wii. We made Kat and Stefan in our wii. They both came out really good. We had a boxing tourtament...where I came in last, I got beat by Frank and Stefan...AND IT'S STEFAN'S FIRST TIME!!! But Stefan got beat by Kat, and we could tell it was going to be an on going battle for the rest of the weekend.
[insert some pics of the day here]
Day 70 - It's Friday! we voted to go to the Atonium, it was a beautiful day, very clear and perfect for the Atonium. Unfortunately all of the other tourist thought so too. The line was forever long, like an hour wait to buy tickets, then a 2 hour wait to go up into the place. So we said, "screw that!" And explored around it. Frank and I finally got to explore the parks around it, cause in the Atonium you see the above view of the park, and the houses in the distance, the nuclear power plant, and a birds eye view of Mini Europe! So the park was cool, it definatly felt like it came from another planet, and the plants ate all the grounds keeper and started to grow uncontrollably. there are long rows of trees planeted in lines, but the trees are huge and grow a little funky. There were old bridges, trees shaped like squares, lots of bugs that didn't bite, small rivers, ducks, and pretty flowers. I think someone was taking some care of the plants. But we all agreed, at the times you spoted the Atonium from the forest, it definatly looked like it was a space ship that landed. [Interesting fact, the Atonium was built in 1958, closed after the worlds fair was over, then re opened in 2000 to make a lot of money to tourist, it's the year 2008 so it is the 50 years of Atonium!]
Since we couldn't go to the Atonium, we said let's go to Mini Europe, which was right around the corner, unfortunatly so was the line to get into it. So we said, "Screw that!" And looked for a place to eat. We found one, food was ok, propotions small, we weren't too happy, Kat and I were cause we got a yummy chicken with a crappy salad and fries. We also contemplated to see Iron Man at the IMAX theater there.
Since it was early, and we didn't want to wait around for 2-4 hours for Iron man, we went back home and just walked around, found a really chill bar to sit and eat at. Their onion rings tasted like WHITE CASTLES!!! It was amazing! And I got to try more authentic Belgium beer, which I love!
We saw Iron Man...AMAZING, THEE BEST MARVEL MOVIE TO BE REALEASED! And luckily the movie theater we saw it at they have the version OV which means Oringinal Version, so it was in English..THANK GOD, it had sub titles, and I caught myself reading them a few times, but they didn't distract me too much, THE MOVIE IS AWESOME! I RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE!!! BETTER THEN SPIDERMAN!
Best quote. I caught Kat looking into Stefan's eyes saying,"You're my Iron Man."
Day 71- Bruge or as we like to call it, Brick-opolis. It was swarming with tourist, worst then the Atonium. Of course, it's the town with the most bricks, on a Sat., on a 4 day weekend. So being that we're not a fan of tourist, [I might be] and even though we are technicly tourist, even though Kat played the, "Frank lives in Belgium" card, so she calims we're not tourist, I think we are. Bruge was very nice, cute shops, lots of lace and chocolate, lots of bricks, that's about it. After walking around, excaping the madness of the tourist we ended up in a peaceful park where there was another round building, made of brick, that was zip-tied closed, so we didn't go in, and then we just walked back. I think we saw the "real" side of Bruge.
We ate outside at, I'm gonna guess, a fancy resturant, cause the prices were high and the porportions were small. Kat got mussels, and they were so yummy, with fries. Stefan got a bowl of soup, Frank got crokettes[?], they only gave him two, and I got Prime rib[?] it was real good, but so small, with a tiny tiny salad. I think Kat's fries helped us all not starve to death. The service was slow, real slow. It felt good cause we were walking so much, but it also felt real slow, like I'm gonna miss my train if the guy doesn't move - slow. And for the first time, I was thinking of dining and ditching. I don't recomend it, cause I'm an honest person [most of the time] and these people work, weather they want to serve you or not, they are working, and then to not get paid. That just sucks, but so does waiting around for over 30 mins for a check, when the sun is setting and there are things you want to do. So I suggest we just leave, it was taking forever, let's just leave, no ones coming out, no one has come out, no one came out to even check on us. So I got up, followed by Stefan, of all people Frank wasn't leading this protest, it was me. By the time Stefan and I made it half way to the corner of the street, the lady came flying out and Kat caught her and paid. Kat's a saint. I was annoyed cause I thought we'd actual get away with it. Poor judgment on my part. But again, I don't recommend dinning and ditching, it's not nice.
So we got home, Frank cooked up one of his special chicken and shrimp rice combo. Really good, like always and more wii. Stefan went through training, really practicing to beat Kat at the game. Then we pooped out and fell right to sleep
Day 72- Sunday, and we're all still tired, all that walking the whole weekend, so tired. So we just chilled, and played wii, then Kat and Stefan took off. Frank and I didn't do much the rest of the day. But I think we got someone new hooked on the wii. We shall see what happends, tune in next week, see if Stefan buys one.
Things that happen this weekend that wasn't mentioned...Frank started a brick collection. I doubt it was inspired by Bruge, more like Frank really wanta Man-made grill. So we now have bricks set up on the launch pad. Almost complete, for now it looks like a Mario pipe. Each time I see it, I expect Mario to come climbing out, dust himself off and triple jump onto the next lunch pad in the neighbors yard and hear some cat hiss or freak out. And a little re-cap. It was really nice to have Kat and Stefan come out. Saved some of my sainity. Just nice to see old friends, catch up, discover new stuff, and speak english. It lifted our spirits. Oh and again, why Kat is a saint, SHE FOUND BACON! GLORIOUS BACON! We haven't found any at the two closest food stores. Now maybe we're just not looking hard enough, cause I don't shift through the isles looking for it, but she spotted it, IN A TRAIN STATION??!!! So we picked up two packets, and now we will enjoy the bacon to it's full extent!
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