Belgium - Livy

With broken hearts, we left France. Our next country was Belgium. (Only three more and then home!) In Panama we met 2 boys in there late 20's who lived in Belgium. We really hit it off with them and my parents ended up going out to a bar with them two nights in a row. Rubin, one of the boys, graciously invited us into his home. This is the second time in 2 weeks. We were leaving France a little early though, so we decided to hit Bruges for on night and Ghent for half a day. In Bruges, we were staying at a little hotel in the center of town. The next morning we tried to ram everything in, but we just weren't there long enough. We did a small boat tour through the cannals, visited old churches ( I don't know how many more I can manage!) and went to the church that supposedly held Jesus's blood, called the Holy blood.

Behind us is a whale made entirely made of plastic that was found in the ocean!

All the buildings in this town were so beautiful

a church

The Holy blood church

The inside

"Jesus's" Blood

A different church

The canal

Me at the cannal

The boat tour

A church from the water

The bell tower

That is a lot of picture, huh? And we were only there on day. Imagine how many more we would have taking if we were there any longer!!!

We got in the car and started the drive to Ghent. After Bruges, I don't know how we are going to see all of it in half a day. As soon as we parked we got out of the car, got a fast lunch and started walking. This city was just as beautiful as Bruges, but to be honest, I could not tell the difference between the two. So far Belgium is a very beautiful, very old fashioned and very amazing country.

The town bell tower

I think this was a old church

All the points have statues on them  

This was a old church

The inside. Me and Anneka were playing wedding in it

An old fort

Under the fort, this was my favorite part of the city

A really cool arch

Our time was up in Ghent. Now we had to continue our journey to Brussels. The apartment was really nice. Very open and light. Me and Anneka spent the weekend doing homework and watching shows. My parents were having a blast talking with Rubin and his roommate, Cedric. One night Rubin's sister came over to babysit. Mum, dad and Rubin went out to a bar to meet Joaquim.

The main square, The grand place

A cool building

A massive church

Joaquim, Dad and Rubin

Mom, dad, Joaquim and Rubin

After our lovely stay in Brussels, we headed off to meet our other pair of Belgium friends the De Leeuw family. This will be the fourth time, fourth country and fourth continent we have met these guys. Do you remember Vincent and Matthias? If you don't, either read my Costa Rica, Australia or Chang Mai in Thailand. They were staying in a little town in the country. ( Hi guys) We sadly were only here one night, but that is all the time we had.  All of the kids immediately started playing like we had seen each other yesterday. We went to a town fair, before dinner and had a blast. Our parents gave me and Anneka 5$ each to spend on rides and games. Me, Anneka, Vincent and Matthias all went on the same ride. It was really fun. Me and Vincent had a little extra money so we went on it twice. I played a game were  you had to shoot ballons with a BIBI- Gun. I won a small stuffed bear, and Vincent one a toy police set. When we got back, we played cops and robbers.  It was a great day.

The ride we were on

The next day, all we did was play cops and robbers. We had all slept in a huge tent the night before and were using that as a jail. It was so fun. When our parents told us it was time to go, it really felt real this time because this would be the last time we saw them on our trip. Me and Vincent both have Messenger so we are able to stay connected that way. We were all sad to go, but we feel so close with these guys that my parents forgot to take a picture with all of us in it. We did get a picture of the little girls though:

They each got matching dress up dresses at the fare

In the short time we had in Belgium we sure did see a lot. It is such a beautiful country and I wll definitely come back when I am older. 

NEXT STOP, HOLLAND