There comes a time in a man's life, in which he has to meet the parents. Now does a man give hugs, does he bow, does he give his girlfriend's mother a signed, framed photo of himself, does he discuss the many indicators that he is the reincarnation of Enrique Iglesias? No. A man plays it cool. A man keeps his shirt on, a man pretends to be normal. I mean, can you even imagine introducing your parents to this. Yeah, all of this (motions up and down body). This is the unfortunate task that Sarah was faced with, when we met her parents in Belgium. Sarah's parents spent a few days in Paris with her aunt and uncle ahead of meeting us in Bruges, so Sarah had a few days to kibosh my idiotic ideas.
If you take the Eurostar to Belgium, you are required to pass through Brussels. From there, you have up to 24 hours to catch a train to any other city within the country. Since we got a free day in Brussels, we decided to stay there for a night and view the city before heading to Bruges. Upon arriving, we ventured out to the main town square and found a beer festival! Talk about stereotypes. We weren't allowed into the main section however, since we had a backpack. No doubt that was due to the terrorist attacks that have occurred recently. If only we lived in a world where people didn't resort to violence...
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| There's a bone in my hand that connects to a drink, on the crowded streets where the glasses clink. And I'l buy you a beer and we'll drink it in deep, because that keeps me from falling asleep! |
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| In case you were unaware, The Smurfs were created in Belgium! |
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| Similar to Prague, Brussels has a giant clock with interactive figurines. |
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| The door that incepted itself. A door within a door within a door. |
The next morning, we wandered around for a few hours to see some of the main attractions and buy chocolates for our work friends. They're so needy! After completing our shopping, we hopped on a train to Bruges, where there was a cheese and wine festival upon our arrival...I really don't know how we time these things out, it's like the universe wants us to be alcoholics! However all the old people were scrounging through the cheese tents, like bottom feeders around a dead whale carcass. Some greedy, old bastard cut in front of me and took the last two pieces of cheese. These old people have no rules, they don't understand the queue, and they don't respect the cheese. #StillBitter
After succumbing to the realization I was never going to get any cheese, Sarah and I decided to drown our sorrows in a couple of pints and play some pool. We had a pretty low key dinner, before retiring back to our hotel for the evening, as I needed my beauty sleep before meeting Sarah's mother. I mean let's be honest, I need my looks. All it takes is reading a few lines of this blog to realize I wasn't going to impress them with my personality or charm.
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| Thank you James and Jules for introducing us to the movie "In Bruges". If you ever come here, you have to watch it, it's hilarious. |
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| Definitely a tourist town, but it's clean and pretty...And full of life's most important things: Beer and Chocolate. |
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| I'm so wrapped up in a daze, hoping this is just a phase. But when all is said and done, I know you are still the one. You're the only one. Cupid's bow, it stung. And now you're the only one... |
Sarah's mother had never met a former male model before, so after recovering from her initial daze, we were on our way. We'd already met via FaceTime, but it was nice to finally meet in person! We didn't waste any time in getting our tourist on, so we headed to the Historium to get a little history about life in Bruges and soak up the views of the town square. We spent the rest of the day wandering around, sneaking in cheeky pints, and enjoying the cuisine. Sarah's parents were also excited to catch up on sleep, as they were staying in a hotel outside of the latin quarter in Paris, where the music blared all night long! They're lucky I wasn't there with them, because I would have thrown down on those dance floors, and there are some things you simply cannot unsee.
Day two started with a boat trip along the canals and ended with a trip to the chocolate museum, as Belgium, of course, is famous for it's chocolate. We learned that Belgian chocolate is regulated, based on the percentage of cocoa beans that are used vs. other ingredients, which is likely the reason Belgian chocolate is considered to be some of the best in the world. I like to mix in these facts from time to time because as many of you know, my blog stands for two things: Providing educational information and respect for women. Our time in Bruges was limited, however, so after leaving the chocolate museum, we had to make the train journey back to London.
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| Probably one of the favourite night shots I've taken. Still can't believe I've had my camera for 3 years now. It's captures so many amazing memories, it's almost like a travel companion. |
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| This is how you get all your ducks in a row... |
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| I got my eye on you, what you gonna do? |
Upon returning to London, I had to go back to work, but Sarah had taken the entire week off to show her parents around. We also took Sarah's mom to Book of Mormon for her Birthday, which is a must see for anyone! Now, I'm sure most of you consider me to be a manly man, both for my love of Appletinis and my incredible facial hair, so you can probably understand my tentativeness about how enjoyable a musical was going to be. But I was dead wrong. Book of Mormon is effing hilarious, a must-see! I will never lack faith in a musical being entertaining ever again. I absolutely loved it. Sarah also got us all tickets to do a tour of the Buckingham Palace State Rooms, which are only opening during the summer months.
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| Often confused for being London Bridge, this is actually Tower Bridge |
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| Taking a sunset cruise along the Thames |
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| It was a good year and a half London. I shall miss you. |
Have I spent at least 30 hours of my life watching some dude with crazy hair talk about Ancient Aliens? Absolutely I have. So there comes a time in a man's life when he needs to search for things, Loch Ness Monsters, Bigfoot, Aliens. That time is always. Thus we took Sarah's parents on a trip outside of London to Stonehenge, a mythical place created by druids, with a lot of conspiracy theory indicating extraterrestrial assistance. Now you probably picture Stonehenge as being this really spooky rock structure in the middle of the woods. Let me reset that picture. You can literally see cars zipping by a few hundred meters away on the giant highway that runs parallel to it. It's cool to think about how it was created, but it just wasn't what I imagined. It also may not have helped that it was bucketing down rain!
After leaving Stonehenge, we headed to the Roman city of Bath, which is known for it's natural hot springs. It's one of the prettiest cities in England, so it's a must see for anyone that wants a day trip out of London. Since we were there on a combined bus tour for Stonehenge and Bath, we had about three hours to grab lunch and wander around the city before we had to head back.
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| Ancient Aliens baby! |
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| Bath is amazing, definitely one of my favourite cities in England |
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| I convinced Sarah there was a ghost in this photo... It may or may not have just been a projection on the wall... |
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| This is basically what I used to picture when I thought of England. Now I know better. |
After Sarah's parents returned to the U.S., we spent the next four days selling all of our furniture and moving all of our belongings halfway across London, as we had to move out of our flat. We were on a four day time crunch, because we were going to our friend Chloe's wedding in Normandy that weekend! There's never any time for rest with us. Luckily our friends Ian and James were willing to let us crash with them between the time our flat lease ended and when we moved back to America. Talk about having amazing friends to bail you out! I owe them more gin and tonics than they can ever consume!
After the wedding, we had no more trips planned... But there comes a Thursday night before your girlfriend's last day at work and it just seems like you should fly her to Budapest afterwards. But that's a story for another blog...
Random GoPros
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| The view from the Historium |
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| It's definitely worth taking a canal ride |
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| I didn't realize they were using my calves as moulds for these statues... |
Sarah and Sean's Sensational Stockpile of Snappy Snaps
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| How you doin? |
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| I just have to say you look so god damn good, I give ya crazy mad props, cus I know should... |
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| Such a diva, with the hair flip |
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| If you find a wishing well, something as dreamy as me might just appear. But I won't wish you well, I'll just give you hell. |
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| It's too close, it's just disturbing. |
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| Listening to the audio guide and getting drenched with Sarah's parents. |
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| My sleepy lady |
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| To wander the world next to you, is all that I could ever do. So rain, rain go away. Come again another day. All the world is waiting for the sun. Rain, rain go away. Come again another day. All the world is waiting for the sun. |
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| I'd like to think I have everything I want from this life... |
