Hello everyone!

We hope this post finds everyone well. So sorry it has been so long since our last post. I got out of my groove since we slowed down our travels in the past few weeks. We actually spent two weekends in a row in Brussels and I must say it was nice to relax a bit. The first weekend we were just plain lazy and wanted to hang out in Brussels. I think the biggest fun we had was watching that incredible Steelers and Colts game at our local English sports pub with friends. The following weekend we had our last visitor in Brussels, one of Joe's friends from GE in Milwaukee. We had fun hanging in Brussels with him and easing another rookie into Belgian beer and of course watching the Steelers beat the Broncos to make it to the Superbowl!

But, realizing that our time is quickly coming to an end we have gotten back on the horse and scheduled our last three weekends with some trips. This past weekend we flew to Glasgow, Scotland for a quick tour of both Glasgow and Edinburgh. When I say a quick tour I mean a quick tour - I think we spent more time in route than we did walking the streets. Because we flew into and out of smaller airports for some cheap flights we had plenty of train travel. But, seeing some of the countryside of Scotland was really beautiful. Plenty of green and hillsides filled with sheep! We also enjoyed going to another english speaking country and getting to guide ourselves through the streets without the added pressure of not knowing the local language. We also decided that with our few encounters with the locals, the Scottish were by far the nicest we have experienced in our travels in Europe so far. I guess it is easier to judge since we understood the language, but it was pretty obvious just by the facial expressions and acknowledgements that we have not seen in other countries. Both Glasgow and Edinburgh were beautiful cities of Georgian architecture and rich in character. We first toured Glasgow, running quickly through the streets to the Necropolis (a massive cemetary). Then we hopped the next train to Edinburgh and were able to tour the streets and the Edinburgh Castle. As the sun went down we enjoyed just hanging out in some pubs and taking in the Scottish culture.
And so we had to fly back to Brussels Sunday afternoon, glad that we had the chance to take in some sights, but still hoping to end up back in Scotland to see even more of their famed highlands and coastlands. If you care to check out our pics you can find them at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=d3mrqfc.jiup3as&Uy=8x5s2&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=983080004398_39163444708

So, I guess I have blabbered on too long and should wrap it up! We are in our last two weeks as of today and are starting to pack up our belongings and get ready to head back to reality. We have some more fun packed in for our last two weeks including a few going away dinners with friends and co-workers and two more trips: to Venice, Italy and Stockholm, Sweden. We look forward to those and also to getting back home!

Au revoir - Take care!
Jackie and Joe

Bonjour everyone and Happy New Year!!

We hope the holidays treated everyone well! We had a fairly quiet Christmas in Brussels. We got together with a few american friends we have made out here for Christmas dinner, which was really nice since we were all so far from home. Other than that we just relaxed and awaited the 26th and 27th, when our 5 holiday guests arrived! We were lucky to have our sister Jessie and four MU friends take their Christmas vacations out to visit and travel with us! It was a good thing we were all comfortable with eachother as 7 total in our apartment was quite a squeeze - but everything worked out great and we had a LOT of fun together. With almost two weeks to spend (except we only had Margaret for a week :( ) we were able to tour Brussels, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brugge, Dublin, Ghent, Namur, Dinant, and Barcelona - in that order!
We celebrated New Years together in Dublin - it was great to celebrate in a country that spoke english, served a lot of beer, and knows how to party! We had three full days in Dublin and even got to spend one day touring the countryside south of Dublin, including a 45 acre garden - which was lovely - even in January!
The following weekend we were able to head to Barcelona and see even more than we had in our first tour of the city!
All the days in between our international cities, we toured the major Belgian cities. Of course the country was in a cold spell during their visit (temps in the 30's with flurries), but the snow made for some great pictures and reason to sneak in the many pubs to warm up! And of course now that our visitors are gone... it is back in the 40's and sunny - go figure!
Our pictures can be viewed at:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=d3mrqfc.rrru82w&Uy=nzf2q9&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Well, since we had a full two weeks of action, this past week has been really slow for us and we even spent this weekend in Brussels! It has been nice to catch our breath and relax for a weekend. But, we are realizing how quick our time is going and with only one month left we hope to get in a few more trips!
We hope this post finds everyone well and hope to hear from you soon!!
Happy New Year!
Jackie and Joe