Belgium

The best thing about Europe is that other amazing countries are so accessible from wherever you are! During my trip to England in Summer 2006, I hopped the Chunnel train to spend the weekend (July 15-July 17) with Ana-Maria and Yves. For those keeping score, Ana-Maria used to live at my mom's place, and we attended her wedding in Peru in 2005. I observed in glee as the monolingual English erupted into Dutch, French, and German (there are three official languages in Belgium) and found my way to Antwerp amid train transfers with ease in French. We spent Saturday in the picturesque and romantic Bruges, hopping over to Ghent for dinner and raspberry beer. Sunday was spent in Antwerp, and on Monday I spent the day in Brussels. Although my careful itinerary fell apart when I discovered that practically everything in Brussels is closed on Monday, I did see the "Mannequin Piss" and a beer and chocolate museum! The photos from that weekend can be found here, or in the full trip set if you'd like to see them in order.