Belgium Part 1

And here they are, the much-promised pictures from my trip. I am starting with Belgium because I am waiting to get pictures from some other people on the team from Poland. So you'll just have to remember that this was the last part of my trip, and the first part will come later. On February 8th, we got on in a rented van at 3:30 in the morning and drove to Warsaw. There were a lot of emotions all around that morning. As a team, we were all just in awe of what God had done and we weren't ready for the workshop to be done. We had built such strong relationships with the students and the team, and it was really hard to say goodbye. But we knew that God was going to keep working and it was time to go. We left Warsaw a half an hour late, so I missed my flight from Munich to Brussels. Thankfully, there was another flight about two hours later, so I got on that one and got to Brussels around 2:30 I think. Marie and her dad were at the airport to pick me up, then we drove to their house and I got settled. Then Marie and I talked and caught up with each other for a couple hours. It was so good to see her again. The next day, Tuesday, we took the train in the morning to Leuven, about 25 minutes from Brussels. We walked around and saw some neat old architecture, did some shopping, and had lunch.

Me in front of a map of the city. The temperature was in the 20's or low 30's most of the time I was there.

I think Marie said this was the city hall.

Right outside the train station in Leuven. After we had lunch, we got back on the train and rode to Ghent, about an hour away. This is an old castle that was originally built in 1180 called Gravensteen. It is now right in the middle of Ghent. I think we went to 5 or 6 cathedrals in all. Almost all of them had these ornate wooden pulpits with carvings all over them.

Some Turkish guy in one of the churches wanted to take our picture. Actually, he wanted to take it with his camera, so I gave him mine too. Not really sure why he wanted our picture, I think he was just having a great time being a tourist or something. You meet all kinds.

All the cathedrals were so beautiful. I could not believe the ceilings three or four stories up, the carvings in stone and wood, the stained glass windows, the list goes on. But these churches so full of everything beautiful felt so empty, especially after spending two weeks with people who were so focused on bringing glory to God and living in the Spirit. No matter how beautiful the outside is, it's the inside that matters.

The city of Ghent is very beautiful, and the city is dedicated to keep it that way, so I guess there are pretty stiff penalties for graffiti. However, they reserved this alley for all the graffiti anyone wants to do, hence the name graffiti street.

After all our sightseeing, we stopped in a tea room and shared these crepes with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Then we walked to the school that Marie's boyfriend is going to. His name is Amaury. When he got done with classes, we walked to his apartment, then to supper at a pizza restaurant.

My supper, a Margherita pizza. Sounds exotic, but it's really just a cheese pizza. Very delicious. After supper, we went to McDonald's because Amaury loves McFlurries. Then Marie and I got back on the train and came back to Brussels. A very fun, full day.