Discovery... Written on the 23rd and never posted

I wrote this a couple weeks ago but never posted and thought it really fitting after this experience being so fresh from where I am now and how we got here.

I have realized what makes travel great is one thing for me...DISCOVERY

what makes a place great is what made Abbey road a great album or zeppelin's first album it was the whole album. 

What makes these places great is not one or two places its the whole place. 

With that said I have noticed that sometimes a person might say "you have to go here" 

Then you spend hours of time hunting for (missing busses, taking wrong turns) this place and by the time you get there you are a little irritated, not relaxed and the mood of what made it great for someone else isn't there. Finding a place yourself when you are in a fantastic moment is what makes it great and maybe not the same way for someone else.

Like that time we waste countless hours looking for the sewer tour in Paris (Annika) by the time we got there we were ready to commit harry carrie and the tour was well.... It was a tour of POO.

Things of interest... OR NOT?

So I had a few things that I found interesting from my experience so far...

First off I never hear anyone talk about any part of Holland or Netherlands than Amsterdam.

Cool city yes but we liked a placed called Leiden even more (birth place of Rembrandt my favorite impressionist). The coolest part about holland in general is that their bike trail system is better than any toad system I have ever seen. Well at least just as good. Anyway you can see below a garage of bikes in Leiden and you will notice that Everyone is on their bike... 

The Grimes on bikes in Amsterdam well that was interesting. Missy not so confident. She takes around 3 minutes to cross an intersection and can't figure why every corner is a near death experience. At one point I felt bad and thoughe maybe I should wait and cross with her... I almost got hit... She's on her own...

Also funny ordering a coffee and seeing a Joint menu... 

I rented a scooter in Leiden, awesommmmeeee

So next we hit Bruges or Brugge as they also say here

The home of the french fry which got it's name from the confused american soldiers in WW1 who thought the guys from Belgium (who spoke French) were French. When they were giving them friets, the American soldiers nicknamed them "French Fries". I wondered if the name was robbed from the French instead of given to them how that may have been different?

Well I really think the Fry has been perfected just about everywhere else in the world. I wouldn't say they have the corner on the market here...

Now with that said the waffle and the Trappist beers... OH MY!!!

Around 1000 beer producers only 6 of which are Trappist here in Belgium.

A little hype around that, there are many wonderful and small producers doing a great job.

Fun hunting them down, like collecting basball cards I guess.

Or for people that collect pins at Disneyland. Very similar.

Had that it was ok, that one was amazing, that was awful.... Etc

The other thing not so great actually bit of a dissapointment by my taste were the Moules or mussels. 

I think other places are way better. 

Missy could tell you recipe wise why but We both agreed.... Ahhh not so great.

The other thing I have found interesting is Luxembourg.

Always just pictured a big city.

In reality a beautiful vast country of forrests, streams, villages, farmlands with cows and big castles, ruins, you know all the sexy parts of a European place.

We havent even been to Luxembourg city yet.

Don't want to leave this beautiful part of the country.

We are off to meeting tonight in the city tonight so lets see.

Oh yeah ran into 2 sisters in a village yesterday out in service.

That was awesome.

Ran into these cute old German hikers yesterday also that were laughing about the slugs that we were intrigued by (amazing colors here) cutting with scissors when they find them in their garden. Of course we did not know this by the language because they didn't speak English but I regognized garden and the word scizza or something like that, and the scissor action with her finger...

Poor slugs...

Included a funny picture of a kid who was helping me with directions in holland and then he missed his bus...

So we chased it on the scooter and he ended up directing me to my spot as well...

He doesn't seem

Bothered by the fact that I am driving a scooter with one hand, in an area I have never been, and using the other hand to take a selfie... I like these people.

Funny everyone over here thinks California is the center of the universe...

Man, we are in trouble people!!!!

Update from the country of Luxembourg...

Well i just posted a couple things I wrote a while ago but couldnt get posted for one reason or another.

Anyway we are in Luxembourg. Not at all what I expected and VERY pleasantly surprised at what an amazing place this is. After spending time hitting city sights, must sees and attempting to taste every belgian beer ever brewed I was tired. I was able to finish off the Trappist list. 10 total I had had only 5. 6 Belgian, 2 Holland, 1 Austria, 1 US. Westvleteren basically unavailable unless you call 2 months in advance and go through a whole mess of rigamaroe. Well they say it is the best in the world. Is it cause most people will never taste it??? Well I certainly don't know how you could say that with everyone having different tastes and all. Imagine that. But it was good. Many of the beers I was fortunate enough to taste I probably never will again. Included pics below. Notice ridiculous prices some fetch. Enough beer geeking.  In any case I also met an old inactive brother. 30 years plus to be exact. Long story short I went out with him and his brother who is a brother and had a great time but had a wonderful opportunity to get him thinking....

Was a wonderful experience for myself and him. 

In any event we stayed up late talking a couple nights and so the break here in the country is very relaxing and different than the usual city scene that often happens with abroad travel.

At least for myslf there are places it seems are "must sees" which can tend to be tiring.

So we got here yesterday after meeting up with michael, annika, Jarmo and eila again in Brussels. We were together previously in Bruges together. So we were able to check out Brussels and then continue on to Luxembourg. We have not been anxious to hurry off to another city after the few we have visited thus far so enjoyed hiking these ancient trails where we pictured soldiers wielding swords and chain mail armour as they travelled from one village to another. Also saw a killer castle. Equipped with your state of the art twelfth century dungeon and torture chamber... EEKS, looked painful.

Well the family is having a great time.

Oh yeah and Missy sleeping on the floor...

I was mugged held against my will, tortured and after let loose from my captors.... I ran to the aid of my wife.

Actually I had no idea while I was wandering lost through the streets of Bruges that I even had the darn thing and by the time I realized it and saw the all on the floor waiting for me....

YIKES!!!

Seriously though i have had time to really laugh and visit with my family. My kids are hysterical and wife is amazing. What a family I have. 

CIAO FOR NOW. Gonna get back to my gripping book about the real story of the mutiny on the bounty...

LOVE YOU ALL

For the record...

By the way missy is at grimesabroadpart2.blogspot.com her blog is way better than mine but I thought it would be interesting to hear the other view and times possibly the "rest of the story" At times I'm certain I will be defending myself and then it will be the "real story".

Last trip I never read her blog till a year later at home when I compiled it into a book.

So this go round since I know she is writing about me.... WELL I am a helpless innocent poor guy who needs to defend myself.

Brocksarock1.blogspot.com

Landed...

So we are landed and settled in. All went pretty smooth, just had to wait for a shuttle at the Airport to go get our car. We met a kid who loved the F word. Missy said "maybe it's not a bad word here in Holland"? Hold on I need to eat my zalm (salmon on toast)...

WOW! It was insane... Ok so i'm back.

I keep catching sight of this smiley gent at the table next to us looking at his computer and smiling away. I started thinking, "maybe heA's smiling cause he just had a beer now he is having a glass of wine (10:20 am) so I think... Yeah that sounds great so here is my Affligem blonde That was calling my name. After all I have been waiting 3 years to enjoy a brew in this country once again....well folks we are of to see the tulip fields of the Netherlands. I included the photo where my eyes rolled to the back of my head after my first sip of beer in a foreign place with my family.  Is there anything that compares? In a week and a half the boys can have their own...

By the way missy is at grimesabroadpart2.blogspot.com

Brocksarock1.blogspot.com

Packed and Ready….

So, we are packed and ready to roll tomorrow AM to visit family and friends before leaving.
I am soooooo ready.
was looking at pictures of the kids from our last trip. WOW what a difference 3 years makes.
where did the time go?

The kids wanted one last day to hang out with their friends and frankly I needed the time to wrap up work projects. I haven't been this caught up in years, literally. Feels good. Forced me to get some things done that were on the back burner or just taking forever.

All good and see you all soon.
Will miss you all...

Leaving California… With an Achin… NOT!!!

Griswolds' move over...

So we are in the final stretch for our long awaited trip. 3 years in the making. The special effects are going to be unreal. I don't know if we are more excited this time but it sure seems like I am. We will be trial packing this week and tying up some final loose ends for work. We are determined to travel light. Last time looked like beverly hillbillies go to Europe. 5 bags each, 12 layers on to reduce the weight of our bags. digging through our bags and moving items from one to the other and weighing and re-weighing to meet the weight requirements. What a Joke and we aren't doing it again. So Here is my test blog. See you at the Airport...