WHO KNEW that the Tour de FRANCE took a tour thru Belgium!!??? Well, apparently not Jack and me. We happened to be in Ghent at the end of Stage 2 of the Tour. We don’t really care a whit about bicycle racing, so we NEVER thought to look at the Tour when planning our trip.… Continue reading “We’re here for the BEER.” – part 3: Ghent
Category: Travel
“We’re here for the BEER.” – part 2: Brugge
Brugge is a small town. It looks like it sprang forth off of a mid 19th century or earlier postcard. The canals are wide and clean and full of little boats of tourists. The buildings are stone with windowboxes and assakimbo windows. The people are open and friendly. It was an amazing change from Brussels.… Continue reading “We’re here for the BEER.” – part 2: Brugge
“We’re here for the BEER.” – part 1: Brussels
That was the motto for Belgium. And, it was the total truth. We did little sightseeing, no museums, and only took pictures of the facades of some of the more interesting buildings we saw as we walked to find more good beer. We arrived in Brussels by train, from Amsterdam and had to figure out… Continue reading “We’re here for the BEER.” – part 1: Brussels
Relaxing (?) in Amsterdam
With sad hearts, we left Seattle on July 1st. We arrived in Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam VERY early on the morning of the 2nd. We’d decided on 3 nights in Amsterdam before going to (as Jack put it) “The Holy Land” – Belgium. We could have stayed MUCH longer in Amsterdam, had that been our destination.… Continue reading Relaxing (?) in Amsterdam
Going Home
Our (first) summer vacation was a mixture of work, errands and LOADS of Belgian beer (more about the beer in another post)! We departed Cairo, after a hectic and nerve-crushing couple of weeks, on June 21st. We left in the middle of the night, and arrived for a lay-over in Amsterdam mid-morning. Nothing like a… Continue reading Going Home
Jordan – part 3: Day Tripping
From Wadi Rum, there is no easy way to get back to Amman. Our host, Zadane, suggested that we go to Aqaba, from which we can get a direct bus back to Amman. Sounds ok. Zadane “has a friend who runs a hotel”. How bad can it be? Yet another taxi takes us to the… Continue reading Jordan – part 3: Day Tripping
Jordan – part2: Wadi Rum
After the beautiful sensory overload experience that is Petra, we, again, hired a taxi to take our group (now down to 3 – one headed back to Cairo) to Wadi Rum. The trip was slightly more comfortable, rather accelerated but generally uneventful. We arrived in Wadi Rum and found Zadane’s house, where we met up… Continue reading Jordan – part2: Wadi Rum
Jordan – part 1: Petra
Ok, Ok, Ok – It has been over 2 months since the trip and I haven’t posted about it yet. Well, here goes. We headed to Amman, Jordan on March 30th with two traveling companions/colleagues for a whirlwind tour of many places that I’ve read about, but never figured I’d actually see. The “loose” itinerary… Continue reading Jordan – part 1: Petra
Qatar is DisneyLand
So…only a month or so after the trip, and another trip since then, I’m finally getting back to the blog. Sorry guys, apparently the month of March just disappeared. Yes – we went to Qatar from March 8 to 11. Why? you might ask. And, having been there, I have to admit, it is a… Continue reading Qatar is DisneyLand
Finding balance in Dahab
Jack and I knew we needed a “vacation” after the family left. We’d been trying to decide where to go/what to do since early December. The first thought was Petra, Jordan. Everyone we spoke with said we’d freeze our butts off in Jordan in January. We contemplated “Mombasa, in a barroom drinking gin” – you… Continue reading Finding balance in Dahab