DAY 1.5-2 TRAVELING & HUY

And we're off! Well almost. Our 3:30 flight from Houston was delayed due to a "loose bolt" in the engine. Sounds like something they might want to fix. After some poor man climbed into the engine to retrieve the bolt, we really were off. The pilot said he was going to "push her hard" to gain some time...let's just say we left 3 hours late and arrived only one hour late.

It was an uneventful night on the plane other than we had to fly way north to avoid Hurricane Bill - we had a layover in Amsterdam and connected on a puddle-jumper to Brussels where we had some folks waiting for us :).

So great to see Megan and Clay after being a part for so long. Megan of course was crying and Clay was just smiling - it was a wonderful reunion.

After pausing next to a Coke machine we had seen earlier in the airport that I am sure no Coke brand executive in Atlanta would approve, we were off to the train.

It's a beautiful ride on the train to Huy (about a one hour trip) with most of the ride along the river Muese. One of the most interesting things I noticed on the low altitude flight from Brussels was how much barge traffic they have on the waterways. Hundreds of canals criss-crossing the verdant landscape. You can see this here:

It was great to catch up on the train. We talked about what had been going on in the States and about what they have going on here. Their dear friends Brent and Daisy are heading back to the States tomorrow (Tuesday) so they'll be spending some time with them while we are here. One of the big reports from America was talking about Michael Jackson - which led us to find out people love him so much here in Europe that he shows up in graffiti. Hmm...which led me (Clint) to start chronicling graffiti...here's a photo of "Big Jo":

I digress...so we get to Megan and Clay's beautiful apartment above a cheese shop and they unpacked the bag of "goodies". Clay got some Oatmeal Cream Pies...

Megan got tons of her baking goods...

And then they found out that all of these items they requested were sent as a gift from Grandma :)...

Notice I haven't said much about sleeping yet...we're about 28 hours into the trip and Mel and I have slept a combined 2 hours...So we go to the Grand Place for a brew...

I had a Westfalle Tripel which is in a special class of beer known as a "Trappist" beer meaning that is is brewed by monks in a very specific method. There are only seven recognized Trappist breweries in the world and six are in Belgium. It was good.

Grand Places are commonplace in Europe and is the central gathering place of the town right in front of city hall - these are super cool. One of the buildings in the Huy Grand Place says it was built in the 1780s...wow. This is a picture of city hall with a "Minute Maid" umbrella in the foreground...

As I mentioned, Brett and Daisy are leaving so we went up to "Old Huy" and to a little green space to have a picnic.

We ate pitas...

They played cards...

While I took a nap in the sun...

Then we went back to Megan and Clay's...this is the last thing Melissa saw at 7PM...

It was a good day...