Hils's journal

The journey home was as long and as tedious as the journey there, with the added bonus of stopping at a chocolate factory on the way. Alas, Willy Wonka wasn't home but I did buy rather a lot of Belgian chocolate. Yum! Bought the toy cat on the ferry and named him Archie as I had already mentioned. I also found the most adorable little Dalmation puppy toy too and they were on special offer so Mum-Ra bought a collie for Dad-Ra and I got the dalmation for free. I have named him Ioan since Ioan Gruffudd was in 102 Dalmations. Yeah, I spend most of my holiday money on toys. I'm 26 going on 6. I don't think I'll ever grow up

( Journey home pics )

And that ends my Belgian adventure

Quiet day today. We went to Ghent in the morning and went into a few chruches. I also went up the belfry which was really scary but I got some good photos. We looked around a few shops but overall the city was pretty quiet. It was quite eerie really. Felt like a Sunday. In the afternoon it was raining so I stayed in the hotel room while Mum-Ra went back into Brugge to look at lace shops. Tomorrow is a full day of excursions so I hope the weather is better

( Ghent. Not diaup friendly )

Mum-Ra always insists on going to Europe by coach and it takes bloody hours. Still, I spent a large portion of the journey asleep so it wasn't too bad. I always love going on the ferry as you can guarantee that no matter what the weather, the channel will be rough as hell and I love bopping up and down. On the way down I had time to explain to Mum-Ra all about the joys of Jamie Bamber. She was already familiar with him as it's her Hornblower DVDs I watched (really need to give them back and buy my own at some point). I then explained to her how I'd set up archielives. She picked up on the idea very quickly and wrote Archie Lives on my bottle of water. LOL.

I saw this absolutely adorable stuffed toy cat on the ferry. It had the biggest blue eyes and of course I immediately wanted to call him Archie. Haven't bought one yet but will pick one up on the way back.

Didn't take long to get to the hotel after we got to Calais and it seems really nice. The food is amazing and I expect to get very fat while I'm here. Full day in Brugge tomorrow. Should be good

( Journey There pics )

Next lot of photos to come after I've been into town and bought some lunch