Tuesday 16th MayArrived, on the Eurostar, in St Pancras but couldn't work out how to get to Bethnal Green until a friendly information man told us to take the tube to Liverpool St & catch a bus which dropped us very near St Peter's vicarage. There we sat in the garden of the church & were regaled by Graham, who gardens there. Adam then arrived & served us tea in the garden whilst waiting for Heather, Dick's cousin. It was great to see them a...

Saturday 13th May Myriam & Herman arrived at 10 & announced that they were taking us to the hotel in Brussels, which was a pleasant surprise to us, as we thought we were going to the local station to catch the train. When we arrived we stored our luggage, said good bye to them & walked around the area to have a coffee as we couldn't check in until 3pm. Jenny rang Francoise, who she was to stay with & it was agreed that she would meet Jenny at the...

Thursday 11th May Herman drove us into Antwerp where we parked just opposite the Steen, an old fortress on the River Schelde which guarded the city. From there we walked to the large square in front of the town hall & then on to the cathedral which is truly magnificent. A bit further on we had coffee in a huge hall, which had been in the palace of Leopold 1, the first king of Belgium. Then down to the central station to look in the windows of the shops se...

Wednesday 10th May Myriam picked us up at 8.30 for breakfast at their unit & then took us to Ghent, about 60 km away. It was a fine day & was starting to warm up. Ghent is a magnificent medieval city which apparently, was the second most important port in Europe in that period, with many churches & a fine cathedral which we visited. We took a boat tour of the river & canals around the inner city & were very impressed withal the fine building...

Tuesday 9th May Up at 5.30am to leave the house at 7 to get to Eastleigh to drop off the car & catch the plane. Luckily for us at the airport we managed to get a cab which followed Dick, whilst he refuelled & dropped the car at the rental office & took him back to the terminal, where Jenny & Jane were waiting. The 50 minute flight to Amsterdam was fine & we caught a train to Antwerp where we were met by Herman, our cousin's husband, who took ...