It rained in Belgium - situation normal

Hi oh wonderous ones.
I have been consuming vast quantities of Belgian chocolate and beer and not necessarily together, either. But here is the story.
I arrived in Brussels after THE night whereupon i met Dan and saw Alan Rickman. Not sure if I have mentioned that before. I have? Oh well, I just mentioned it again. The fact that I met Dan and saw Alan that is. Anyhoo, what I didn't mention was that Nikki missed her last train from London to Watford and so came back to our B&B had a drink with us and dossed down on the floor for the night. We all got about 3 hours sleep. Sent Nikki off in the morning with a heavy heart. Bye mate. Will miss you a real lot. You are such a lot of fun but will think of you every time I look at the Watford Football Club bear. I had a blast with you even if you did swear at your car and got me drunk in Brixton.

The ride to the airport was uneventful. Expensive but uneventful. Em waited for me to check in and then we had breakfast and coffee and before I knew it, it was time to go through security. So I said bye to Em for the time being and look forward to seeing her later in the month.

At Heathrow, you almost have to take off all your gear to get through security: jackets, shoes, belts. Laptops out of bags, liquids in clear bags etc etc. By the time you get through, undress, put your stuff through get screened and then pick up your stuff and put it all back on and repack you are buggered. Bought a stripey scarf to compensate. MMMMM stripey warm scarf how I love you.

The flight to Brussels is comically short. Just enough time to gulp an orange juice and read a couple of pages of your book and presto you are there. I had packed messily the night before so my luggage was all over the place (I blame Nikki and Dan). Got it all collected and through security and sat to wait for Skaila to turn up. And waited. And waited.And waited.And waited.And waited.And waited.And waited. Had the bright idea to actually ring her and discovered that she thought I was arriving the next day. LOL. OMG. Anyway, she and Steve finally turned up in a taxi and we were soon off to Leuven with me covering my eyes because they drive on the wrong side of the road, the sillies. Don't worry Skaila, I have forgotten about it completely and will never mention it again... much.

The next few days were spent very pleasantly. I explored Leuven. It is a really beautiful place full of old architecture and little streets with shops and eatie places. Skaila lives in an awesome place. I had coffee in a little cafe next to the station overlooking the square where large pots of summer annuals are just starting to make a show. It snowed. I felt homesick for Australia and London. Skaila turned up after class with some friends and we all went for pizza where I had my first
BElgian beer. WOW. I could get to like this place. If only the sun came out.

The next day we all went to Brussels to have a look at the atomium,which is a building made of shiiiiiiiiiny large spheres joined by tunnels. It was built in the '50's for an expo I think and it is pretty cool. From afar it looks like it is hardly big enough for even one person to stand up in but in reality it is 9 huge spheres that contain various displays and a restaurant at the top. We had a lovely walk to it and a great lunch in the restaurant. The view from the top is terrific. Much like the London Eye, it is a good way to see almost all of Belgium without actually going there. It was sunny and a great day. IN the evening we went to a little bar called Amadee where you can have a drink, yes, but there are heaps of board games to play. The place filled up and it was a great night of, would you believe, Scrabble. Skaila, Kevin and I whiled away a few hours. I slept particularly well.

(To be continued. I am now going to sleep off the jet lag between Belgium and Boston.)