Hi everyone from Brugges in Belgium,

We left Paris and began our busabout adventure. It was off to a rocky start...we left our hotel in plenty with plenty of time to find our first pick up point....except we didnt read the french street signs very well and walked (with 20kg) backpacks for aproximately 15 minutes in the wrong direction. Anway to cut a long story short, we asked a french man if he spoke english and he didnt..so we used the universal sign language of pointing to find out we had gone the wrong direction. this is when the pain began....we had to run (dont forget the 20kg we were both carrying) for our bus....we made it...with 1 minute to go...the bus was almost pulling out of the carbay when Mike got to the bus and slowed them down. Talk about The Biggest Loser.....we could make our own show over here...

Anyways...for those that dont know busabout. it is a system that is hop on hop off...so you go around and get off when you want and get back on two days later...or longer if you like. its a great way to do it because you have the freedom of choosing what you want to do and you also get to meet people on the way who usually end up going to the same place as you anyway. we are all aussies so far and we have made friends with four other couples so far who we are all meeting up with in Amsterdam.

Anyway the bus journey was good. Bek slept and Mike watched scrubs. We arrived in Belgium which is the most beautiful little city with the most funny locals. they have the strangest and best sense of humour and are not afraid to make fun on themselves. Our room mates were Kate and Dan are from Brisbane and we have hit it off with them really well.

Our first thing to do in Belgium wasnt so exciting...washing...but it needed to be done. A crazy Flemish woman yelled at mike for doing it wrong...they do that alot here...yell....not in an angry tone just a loud one.

So we went off to explore the mark (thats without the e) and we got the biggest pastas you can imagine for 3 euro and we couldnt finish them. After this we went back to the hostel for a free walking tour...it wasnt the best but it was free and a bit interesting. after the tour we bought frittes...french fries with hamburger sauce.When we got back we had happy hour at the hostel and met afew more of the people on busabout and enjoyed the 1 euro beers. Speaking of beer we did a tour of the oldest brewery in brugges....and Uncle Angelo was right...according to our tour guide...beer is good for you it assists with constipation, menstration and menapause issues. It also provides you with lots of good vitamins and minerals your body needs to assist it with digestion.

The next day we all slept in (kate dan Mike and i) and then got up and went for a belgium breakfast of belgium waffles..and they were as good as they look in the picture. We also went and got some belgium chocolates. literally every second store is a chocolatier and the place smells amazing. In the afternoon after our brewery tour we went on a canal ride around the beautiful city. In the afternoon we lazed around in our room and had a nanna nap and read our books (mike is panicking because he is almost finished his second book!!) we then went our for some coffee with kate and dan and had the most amazing hot chocolates. We both said that once again this is a place that both sets of our parents would also like. The most amazing little streets with coffee shops galore and shops with lace and teddy bears and nick nacks that our mums would love. Mum we found a christmas shop that you would have loved to have a look in with the most amazing decorations.

After this we went to see Michaelangelos sculpture of Madonna with Child and then went home and made our own dinner. Mike cheeseburgers once again, he cant seem to escape them. In the evening we loaded more of our photos and then had a great time with the otehr couples playing games...yes it sounds bad but it was really good fun. Especially after a few beers or so.

Today we got up and had breakfast with dan and kate...they provided the bread we provided the juice!

We are off now to have one more look around. Our bus comes past to pick us up at 1pm to head off to Amsterdam. We have arranged to have a group of us (DONT READ ON PARENTS) meet us in a coffee shop somewhere in Amsterdam to "live like locals". We thought it would be more fun and safer in numbers!

Thats if from Belgium. Mum and dad, give us a msg when you get back from your cruise. we hope you had a nice time and we will give you a call to hear all about it.

Thanks Vicki and Elise for the messages from home. Have you moved into your house yet?

Thanks to everyone else who has updated us from home. We are sorry we dont always get back to you straight away. Its hard to get heaps done when we are paying bucketloads to use the computer. But we love love love hearing from you all. Carla, enjoy your trip, Bec i will write back soon...so good to hear from you and that your enjoying your new job..not long till you will be hanging with the egyptians, Lishy.....you shakespearian you...and Karlee keep up the study and the emails...we LOVE your weekly updates hehe. Laurenzo...Mike says thanks for the footy updates he reads them two times over so he doesnt miss anything and Roxy...you look after Lauren...bet your loving your walks. You havnt had one in about 10 years so make the most of it!!!