Blair, Brussels, and Belgium Waffles

First things first, Milessa had been craving Belgian Fries since we left Canada back in March, so we found a little shop and got some! Never have I

seen a happier wife! We then followed Blaire's

directions to his house where we had a great visit with him before heading to bed. Blaire offered to

play tour guide for us for the day which was

awesome! He took us to Paschendale and a couple other war memorial sites, 1 specifically for Canada. Getting to travel around all those areas hearing the history and stories from Blaire was a million times better then trying to do it ourselves. We stopped in Ypres for fritas and to see another memorial site. Seeing photos of Ypres before and after the war was completely mind-blowing, as the city was hit the hardest and almost completely demolished by

bombs. We then went to Bruges walking around

for a couple hours with Blaire admiring the fantastic and beautiful city. We also probably had some more fritas or Belgian Waffles. The next day was a little less fun since Blaire wasn't able to come with us on our trip to Ghent. We got going a little late but were able to walk around most of the city and go inside the castle as well. Another big cathedral was inside the city as well with beautiful designs. Also, the best part of cathedrals in

Belgium is the outdoor urinals. Outside of most of the cathedrals was a little stainless steel, shoulder-height-walled, urinal stall. So while i peed standing at the urinal, I got to watch people walking by down the street with nothing but a little stainless steel divider. Nothing more liberating then peeing in public and having people watch you do it! The following day was Sunday and we were blessed to be able to go with Blaire to the English-French service with a good group of English and French speakers. We had a great time at church visiting with the people from so many different cultures before having lunch. That night we had to catch a train to Rotterdam so Blaire offered to drive us to Antwerp to catch the train there. But on way we stopped at Brussels Central and walked around the beautiful city centre and main square. It was the one place in Europe that

both Milessa and I had been at different times so that was a neat experience to remember things together we had seen before. Seeing Monica Pisse was definitely the high-light, I love that little guy. Almost as soon as we arrived in Antwerp, it began raining and we got to test out our new backpacks rain-cover! It passed. Blaire dropped us off near the river and we made our way around the city, buying Milessa's beloved Belgian Fritas for one last time before we boarded the train to Rotterdam in the monstrous central station of Anwerp.