Week 15, Days 4 - 7: Belgium

Note to readers: Since originally posting this on May 24th, I have updated this blog (with pictures, obviously) in order to better account for my adventures on these days and to split out the trip by Country. Here's Belgium! Week 15, Days 4 - 5: Gap white spring coat with embroidered flowers (one of those items that has received more compliments to money spent on it than any other article of clothing - winner!), BR black 3/4 sleeve tee, Express Jeans, Lovely Day Shoes (travel clothes for the overnight flight!) - notice the carry-on suitcase for the European trip...yes, thank you, thank you...you can now crown me expert packer

Week 15, Day 6 (guest appearance from Mikey): Lavender BCBG long cardigan (which can be worn 5 ways and will make repeat appearances throughout the trip, white BR A-line skirt, Black sleeveless Ann Taylor chiffon/lace top (which you can't see, but to be true to this challenge, I won't re-wear it!)

Week 15, Day 7 - guest appearance, Maggie as we pose in front of the sign of our demise, Delirium Tremens! (evening attire as I recycle my day attire for another day of the trip): Magenta BR ruched scoopneck long-sleeve tee (it was cold that day, especially on the boat ride!), stripped BR jeans, Northface zip up windbreaker (also came in very handy during the trip!)

I'm sitting at the laptop of our very gracious German hostess, trying my best to type on her German oriented keyboard to provide an update for my blog readers. These past few days have been nothing short of amazing - beginning with a mini-conference in Ghent, Belgium. We spent a couple days in Belgium at the Marriott which faced a canal in the city center. The beer was delicious and extremely dangerous as many of the offerings were over 5% alcohol. One beer, appropriately titled Delirium Tremens was 9% alcohol. It had pink elephants on it - and when we asked the bartender why, she matter of frankly told us it was because you see pink elephants when you drink too much of it. We had a bit of a Hangover the movie experience where after about 5 hours of drinking these high octane beers, we ate a curried chicken pizza at Pizza Hut back at our hotel room, and then passed out. The next day, we retraced our experience by reviewing my camera pictures to figure out what transpired the previous night (including needing to figure out where one of our fellow travelers left his camera) and were astounded by all the activities we engaged in the evening before...let's just say that none of us had any recollection of Mike playing the drums at the last bar we were at...and, no, he has never taken lessons.

The last evening in Belgium ended with a boat ride on a canal down the Ghent river...and more ingestion of the over-the-top beers. We also did a little bar hopping...one bar was appropriately titled the Bicycle Club as there were a number of bicycle tires hanging from the ceilings of a dimly lit bar and what would best be described as an indoor junk yard, complete with Jesus head figures and random paraphinilia. At one point, a well know ex-SIOP president got up from the table, staggered a bit, and ran into a stack of "artistically" (or shall we say haphazardly) arranged panels of wood knocking them over. The owner of the bar simply came back into the "garage," and re-arranged the slats of wood in almost exactly the same way they were before our fellow partier knocked them over. The SIOP president shall remain un-named, though I must say that he was "encouraged" by the high alcohol content of the beers to let loose a bit.

The last day in Ghent was spent packing up and departing the Marriott, and heading to our next adventure...Koln (the place where this post originated, but note that the two dots above the "o" are no longer appearing when I type "Koln" due to my americanized key-board...onto the next post!