Our Holiday is Over -- Too Soon!

Here's a short clip of the Pre-Queen's Day celebration in Amersfoort:




So, I haven't posted in a week. Wanna' know why? I'm a big DOOFUS! That's why! I left the USB cable for my camera at home!! I had fully intended to blog and post some pictures at least every other day so that I wouldn't forget all of the details of our holiday. I'm glad I didn't lose the cable, but damn, how could I have left it at home? I can't remember crap now. I hate when that happens. I've uploaded my photos to Flickr (for my non-geek family and friends, that's over on the right in the sidebar just below the "Twitter" box).

Antwerp

Oh, our first night in Antwerp, I told WHH that I needed to get something to eat so that I could take my medicine. I checked out the room service menu and selected the cheeseburger, really without thinking twice about it. Where the hell is my BRAIN??? Huh? I really think it's gone into hiding. Anyway... it was delivered along with 3 Duvels (WHH needed a snack too). A tiny salad garnished the plate along with the obligatory yummy French fries. I ate some of the salad, WHH popped open a Duvel, then I took a big bite of the most horrendous-tasting burger -- E V E R! That's when I remembered that horse meat is a big favorite in Belgium, and I'd just seen it on the menu at Tavern van Rijswick. It had to be horse meat!!! It was awful, but I did not get sick from it. I don't want another one, but ok, I lived through it.

The next day we went to the taxi queue at the hotel and WHH told the driver, "We'd like a tour of Antwerp. Can you do that for us?" Harry, the cab driver, took us on a two-hour tour of Antwerp stopping at points of interest so that I could take pictures. A lot of tourist spots were closed because of May Day, but it was very interesting and I loved all of the architecture.

Brussels

We drove to Brussels the next day. I say "we", like I drove the car. I did not. WHH did all of the driving. I just tried to keep him from running over bicyclists and pedestrians. He did a great job. :D

We only spent a few hours there in the heart of the city. WHH remembered where Mannequin-Pis was and took me there so that I could see the little guy for myself. I just loved that fountain, especially since I have two sons who were into "sword-fighting" when they were little. Hell, they probably still do that (heh). I bought a little gold charm of him for my bracelet.

Brugge

The next stop on our tour was Brugges (Bruges), my favorite of the three cities. We stayed at the Hotel Prinsenhof, a beautifully appointed and charming hotel. It is family-owned and the personalized service was so nice. The website has a short video. Check it out if you have a few minutes.

At the DeCarre Restaurant, I had one of their specialties, rabbit prepared Flemish-style. The portions were huge, and it was delicious. The rabbit was slow-cooked in a plum gravy, it was really like stew.

We took a boat tour, and WHH got some very nice pictures. The Belfry/Belfourt at the town square was hosting a Salvador Dali exhibition and an exhibition of sculptures by Irenee Duriez. I fell in love with one of the Duriez sculptures and we bought her. She won't be delivered until the third week of this month. We've already decided where she will be displayed. I can't wait, and I'm happy that we splurged on this piece. When she arrives, I will take lots of pictures.

Back Home in Singapore

We arrived home early yesterday morning from Amsterdam. When we walked into the apartment, it was hot and stuffy. It's a damn good thing that I asked Jing to check on our place while we were gone because the dining room aircon leaked all over the place. Somehow, Jing managed to move the dining table out of the way and hauled the rug out to the laundry room to dry. Fortunately, it dried out just fine without staining, at least that I can see now.

I also discovered that while I was gone, I WON A T-SHIRT from Dave2's 4th Blogiversary! YAY me! If you haven't checked out Dave's blog yet, you seriously need to get with the program! In addition to the free Bad Monkey t-shirt, I ordered a watercolor print of his photo, "Tuscany", and I ordered a watercolor print of "Smoking Bad Monkey".

WHH spent the entire day yesterday catching up on a jillion and one freakin' emails. I was very proud of him that he did his best to relax while we were gone. That's hard for him. He likes to work, ok, yeah, he likes beer too. Mostly, he works too hard. He came home from work today in a good mood.

I almost forgot... here are some of the beers we tried: Duvel, DeKonninck, Primus, Tongerlo, Jupiler. I liked Jupiler best. :D We will be spending the next 9 months trying to lose the weight we gained last week. Such is life!