Belgium!

So, I am currently in Leuven, Belgium.... This is an amazingly beautiful city. This is exactly what you think of when you think of Europe: old, rustic, elegant. I've been able to visit with Tina and Horace so much, and it has been absolutely wonderful! They are doing some amazing things in this city and are already beginning to see the fruits of their labor. 

When we left the airport, we stopped by the monument to commemorate Napoleon's last battle, which was neat to see. I'll post pictures when I get home. Then, on the way, we stopped into town to get Belgium waffles (amazing! I took a picture so that you can all be insanely jealous). They're smothered with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Today, we went into town with the kids and had sandwiches and pastries that leave Krispy Kremes in the dust. I'm hoping that we can do more "kofekooks" tomorrow morning before I leave :) 

Tina and I went shopping in the afternoon, and we both found really good deals on shoes (shhhh! I know!). Tonight has been so relaxing. Tina and I are going to have a chick flick and pajamas movie night, yeah for 27 Dresses, which she hasn't seen yet :) Well, I fly out tomorrow at 11 something in the morning, and my flight lands in Cincy at 6. So, I will be at my home sweet home soon enough. 

Thanks for reading the past few weeks..... 

Day 11.... I think?

I do believe that my days are a little confused.

We caught the train to Glasgow this morning, which was so easy and fast (less than an hour!). We met up with Jenna's friend Roz, grabbed lunch, then spent the afternoon in various cafe's, pubs, and pastry shops, which was a really wonderful way to spend an afternoon. We made dinner here at Roz's flat, and are really just relaxing, talking, and enjoying the company.

I'm getting a train to the airport in the morning, so that I can fly to Belgium.... more from there tomorrow!

Day 9.....

Edinburgh. Yeah, I want to live here. Especially after today.

The picture to the right is of Barra and I framing a London Bridge sign.... sorry it's late :)


Jenna and I bought tickets for an open bus top tour, which was, as we found out, WELL WORTH the money. There is no way that we would've had time to see everything that there is to see in Edinburgh.

On our tour, we stopped at Edinburgh Castle for a few hours, which is the picture directly to the right. In the castle, I found the doorway that is just my size :) The castle holds the Scottish crowned jewels, which I also got to look at. Beautiful, but no picture-taking allowed... sorry :-/

After dinner, we went to a beautiful little park, where there was a castle, called Lauriston Castle. It overlooked the sea, which was just gorgeous... and pretty much solidified my decision to move to Edinburgh.

We're traveling to Glasgow in the morning, where we will be guided by a friend of Jenna's. We'll stay there tomorrow night, then I'm off to Belgium!

Check out the full photo albums from the past few days:

London: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2241577&l=13aca&id=12308386
London and Edinburgh: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2243752&l=ee7eb&id=12308386
Edinburgh: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2243793&l=52e66&id=12308386

Days 7 & 8

Well, Day 7, which was Part II in London, started off relatively well. We got to sleep in a bit, since we had done so much the day before. We took Barra out to breakfast (we stayed at his house), then decided to go to a shop to pick up a few things. Somehow or another, I put my wallet down in the shop, and realized that I didn't have it when I went up to pay. So, Jenna and I scoured the store (and I mean, we searched every stinkin' possible INCH of that store!) and couldn't find it. We notified security, went to every shop in the plaza to ask them to look out for it, and also to the main security booth for the plaza. We prayed and prayed and prayed that it would work out well, as I had every credit card, my SS card, driver's lisence, etc. in that wallet. As Jenna and I started to walk back to Barra's, we saw the security guard from the shop and he told us that someone in the shop had turned it in to the desk. Everything was there (praise the LORD!) and in tact.

That whole ordeal just kinda set the tone for the whole day. I started it out just by being totally frazzled and frustrated and exhausted. Eventually we got out of the house and on our way to see Buckingham Palace (which, by the way, is pretty much a letdown unless you're there for the changing of the guard, which I wasn't.... the guards weren't even outside the gate for me to take a silly photo with!)

After Buckingham Palace, we rushed to get over to the Hillsong Church of London, where they had a 5 pm service, which was pretty cool. A serious focus on worship, but if you'd like to hear my thoughts, just ask :) I really needed to go to get my head set on straight again. God is good.

We met up with Barra for dinner at Pizza Express, which sounds kinda cheap and gross, but is actually a seriously great place to eat. We had a ball, and then walked around London taking pictures and being goofy. Check back to facebook later for those, as they'll be up later tonight.

Today, we got up uber early and took a train to the airport and went to Scotland. Jenna's grandparents live in Edinburgh, which is where I am now. IT IS BEAUTIFUL! I would love to be able to live in this city sometime in my life. Pictures of Edinburgh will also be up tonight. We went to a Cinese photography exhibiton at the City Art Center, which was really touching and moving. Right now we are at Jenna's cousin's flat, making dinner and just relaxing. Should be heading back to the grandparents' early tonight, so that we can get a serious night's rest to be all go for tomorrow.

We'll be in Edinburgh until Wednesday and I have a lot of castles to see :) We may take an open top bus tour of the city just to make sure that we get it all in. We'll have to see if it's worth the ten pounds.

London photos!

Me and Larissa with the Invisible Man



Me, Jenna, Amy, Larissa at Westminster Abbey

Day 7: London (Part I)

Well, it has been one full week since I left the lovely state of Ohio. I posted a picture of my time with Debbie in Liverpool/Southport. The picture is of Deb, Jenna, and I in Southport, the beach town near Liverpool.

We got up uber early to take the train from Birmingham to London... It was kind of nice to see a bit of the city before everyone flooded the streets. We first went to Covent Garden, which was just full of nice little shops (and cafes! After getting up at 5:15, the cafes were seriously necessary for these tired girls!). We shopped around, watched a psycho street performer juggle knives while balancing on a pole and spinning a long knife above his head.... crazy. At the North Face store, I bought a compression sack so that hopefully I'll be able to fit everything in my pack and not have to buy another suitcase.....We'll see.

We met up with our friend Amy in the afternoon, and did some sightseeing at Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Camden Market (think Chinatown, but in English). Eventually, we bid farewell to Amy and Larissa, and made it back to Jenna's friend's house, Barra, who is kindly giving us a place to crash here in London. Tomorrow is Day 2 of London. Check back tomorrow for more!

Days 4, 5, 6

Whoa. So I haven't had consistent internet access for the past few days, so I apologize for not keeping up on this. Okay, so Wendesday morning we took a boat back to England, which was really smooth. Then we met up with the lovely Debbie Robinson in Liverpool. We checked out the Cathedral (largest in the city, 4th largest in the world) and a few shops before it POURED down rain for the rest of the afternoon. We had dinner at Deb's parents house, where they were having a big potluck dinner for a girl who was going to be moving the following week. It was a great time of fellowship. I loved being about to simply talk about Jesus, faith in Liverpool and the Church with these awesome, on-fire belivers. PLEASE - pray for the city of Liverpool. It is a city that simply needs Jesus, but has been so put off towards it. Pray for revival. It WILL start with the young adults and teenagers.

Yesterday (Day 5), we started driving towards this place called Cedar Farms, about an hour outside of Liverpool.... we got lost and ended up in this seaside town called Seaport. It was such a fun adventure, and I finally got to have "proper fish and chips." Yummmmmmo :) After Seaport, we went to Deb's Bible study small group, where we talked about prophecy of the Old Testament, relating it to our lives as believers now. If you want to know more, just ask :) Again, another great night of fellowshipping with believers. Afterwards, got some pizza and watched episodes of the British version of The Office.... which, by the way, Americans totally copied off of. Now, I knew that ours was based on the British version, but oh me goodness, some of the jokes and punch lines were EXACTLY the same!!! I was gutted, as Deb would say. Liverpool was, by far, the most relaxing leg of the journey so far....

until....

We only made our train to Birmingham with 2 minutes... not joking, 2 minutes to spare before the train pulled out! We went to the Beatles museum this morning (amazing!!!! Definitely worth checking out if you're anywhere NEAR Liverpool) and it was just really tough getting through traffic at the train station. We finally got there, jumped out of there, said the quickest goodbye of my life, and went running towards the train. We were headed towards the departures screen when I glanced up at the nearest train. God was looking out for us, because it just happened to be our train. Had we gone to the Departures screen, we would not have made it on. Let me just say that I am not much for cutting it close like that!

So we are currently in Birmingham, visiting with Larissa. We met her at her school, where we played loads of games with her 2nd graders. They were just so precious. I could totally work in an English school :)

Tonight we're headed out for dinner and just kind of a relaxing evening catching up, which is really what this trip is all about ;) The train leaves for London tomorrow morning at 7 AM. Yep, the middle of the night. We're trying to convince Larissa to come along, as she would love to see our friends, Mel and Amy (from summer 06). I'll meeting up with my cousin, Michael, tomorrow as well for lunch; he'll also be coming around with us for the sightseeing :) We're staying with Jenna's friend from high school, Barra, so hopefully he has internet and I will be able to upload some photos from Liverpool and Day 1 of London.

Thanks for reading :) Love to all....

Facebook albums

Here are the links to the facebook photo albums, which have nearly EVERY photo that I have taken on my trip :)

Part I: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2241530&l=bfeeb&id=12308386

Part II: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2241577&l=13aca&id=12308386

Day 3: Isle of Man Part II

So today on the Isle of Man was quite a day. We got started at around 9 AM, and went to Jenna's old high school so that I was able to see a Manx school. It was all so polished, neat, clean.

After the school, we went to downtown Douglas, where I was able to pick up some things to take home. I also changed my money, where it was a TERRIBLE exchange rate, my US dollars going for less than half the British pound. Kind of disheartening. Every time I am in a shop or restaraunt or any place where I have to spend money, I automatically double it in my head, because that is what it would cost in dollars. I'm on vacation tho, so I need to stop doing that :)

We took a bus that morning to Port Erin, where in the photo, I am standing with my feet in the Irish Sea. Even though it is an island, it is seriously deceiving. An island brings things to mind like palm trees and warm weather; however, even though the IOM does have palm trees, it sure has been freezing cold! The wet weather has held off, even though we were forecasted for rain on BOTH days! God is looking out for us... I think because He knows that my little umbrella won't hold up against this constant British rain ;)


After Port Erin, we went back up north towards Jenna's home of Douglas, but stopping in a little fishing town called Castletown.... Take a look at the picture to the right and guess why it may be called Castletown. We were close to the closing time for the castle, so we just checked out parts of it... I am in enchanted by castles. I'm a bit sad that we don't have more castles in the States! I guess tho, that only having them in Europe and not back home makes it that much more wonderful to see.

We came back to Jenna's for another wonderful English dinner (I think that I might love Yorkshire pudding!). At sunset, we went out to the coastal town of Peel, where there are ruins of the Peel Castle. I had a great panoramic photo of the castle, but it deleted as I was typing..... Blogspot isn't so easy to work with, so I'll have to just load it up tomorrow when I update again :) The castle was amazing, and even more so at sunset! Just gorgeous.

Jenna and I are taking the boat back to England tomorrow. At 7 am.... It's now almost 1.... We'll meet up with Debbie in the morning in Liverpool, which will be fun! Especially as I haven't seen Deb since we left Camp Allegheny during the summer of 06! Check out the facebook album from that summer for some really "ace" photos of us from those days. Oh, speaking of Facebook, I was having some trouble uploading photos, but that's my plan for tomorrow. Rather than fighting with Blogspot, I've decided just to put all of the photos on Facebook and include a link to the album.... which will (hopefully) save me loads of time and a few headaches. Look for that tomorrow, hopefully ***sigh***

Days 1 & 2 (continued)

So blogspot doesn't allow you to post a ton of photos at one time, so we may have to figure out something else for the photos.... if you all don't mind an extra step. For now.....

Today was the national day for the Isle of Man, so we went to a fair and a barn dance, which I can best describe for the Americans as a hoe-down. The first picture is of the hill where the Vikings read off all of the laws written for the Island when it was first established. pretty cool. The next photo is of the Manx band that played at the dance. The next is one of Jenna and I there.










Jenna's dad gave me some SWEET England socks!



This is the boat that we took to get to the Island of Man from Liverpool. We had to stop with only 15 miles to go because we "ingested" something... Jenna thinks that it may have been a seal. Sad day for the seal.


Here are a few random photos that I took during the walk that Jenna and I took this afternoon... We walked probably upwards of 3 miles. I'll be able to feel it tomorrow, thats for sure.




This celtic cross statue is just gorgeous. It was up at the festival.

So a random story for the Tynwold Festival. We were waiting in line for the bus to go home when a few guys who had a bit too much to drink cross the street in front of traffic. The police stopped them to tell them not to do it anymore when one of the kids starts throwing a fit and giving them a hard time. He leaned in towards the officer, the officer starts pulling him across the street, away from traffic and into a parking lot when the kid starts fighting him to get away. Then another police squad shows up. Next thing we know the kid is getting lifted into the squad car by a team of probably 7 officers. He fights them MORE. They yell out "TEAM DOWN" and the kid is put down, thrown on the ground, cuffed and put into the car, the whole time yelling, screaming, swearing and making a crazy scene. All this happened not 20 feet in front of me. Sorry I didn't get a picture :-/

This was a crazy day. I learned a few Manx dances and saw a kid get arrested (it was reminiscient of my college days.... when are these kids going to learn to lay off the alcohol???). What a day it was. Tomorrow should be a busy day on the I.O.M. Check back later :)

Days 1 and 2

After I got off the plane on Sunday, Jenna and I traipsed around Manchester, where we checked out some sites and some seriously beautiful architecture. The picture below, on the right, is of a canal that goes through the city of Manchester.












In the afternoon, we took a train to Liverpool, to get to the coast. Jenna's family lives on one of the British Isles, so we would have to get to the coast so that we could take a boat to the island. In Liverpool, we went down the street that is all Beatles pubs and shops and that. The picture is in front of a pub where the Beatles (and tons of other famous British bands) have played.










My first "proper" British meal..... Yummmmm!









This is a picture of the Liver building in Liverpool. At the top of the building are statues of the Liver bird, which no longer exists but is an integral part of Liverpool :)










Keep reading other posts for more from these days.

I'm here!!!!!

Well, I made it! I am currently sitting with Jenna in the lobby of the school of music from which she just graduated, killing a bit of time since the weather isn't at its finest. Times like this where I am glad that I bought my mini umbrella :)

The flight to Manchester was great. The Lord really took care of me by putting me in first class. As most of you know, I was flying standby, so I was assigned seats that weren't taken by regular customers..... and in this case, just happened to be in First Class. I'm not complaining!!! I'm already thinking about ways that I can fenagle my way into FC for the trip home.

I can't think about the trip home because I have a lot of this city to see in just a short amount of time.... Have a GREAT Sunday! Praise the Lord!

ps - Thanks for all of the prayers for safe travel that came from so many of you.... it is greatly appreciated!

Today is the day!

I'm leaving in a few hours for the airport.... I can't believe it's finally here! I was talking to Doug last night, and was telling him that I've been thinking about this trip for years now, since I was in college.... and it's finally time. Whoa.

So. Here. We. Go.

Goals

Oh, I forgot...

I found out about the Visa, thanks to Jenna :)

I bought my day pack.

I need to START this packing thing instead of just thinking about it!

5 days till departure

I have tickets on Ryanair from Scotland to Belgium, where I will be able to spend roughly 2 days with my wonderful friends, the Henriot family! The Henriots (Tina & Horace, with kids Alec and Chloe) are missionaries near Brussels. I am so pumped to experience Belgium with Tina as my guide and to see the work that God has been doing in that city through them. You can check out their website at http://www.echo-movement.com/

Look towards this blog for updates as to my arrival, as well photos from my travels while I am there. I'll update as often as I have internet access....

Tickets!

This week, I bought my tickets to fly to the UK! I am flying into Manchester, England on July 6, at something like 10 AM. I am flying out of Brussels, Belgium on July 19 to go back to the States.

Jenna is an amazing trip planner and pretty much has my entire trip planned out... She's phenom!

Goals for June:
- figure out how to pack 2 weeks worth of clothing into one bag
- find the answers to these questions: How do I get a visa? What kind do I need?
- Get a visa
- Buy a good day pack

***Can anyone else think of anything that I need to do???