Antwerp - Belgium

After our lovely trip to Dubai, we went to visit our good friends in Antwerp.  It is always nice to visit a new city and to spend time with good people.  Anskar and Ivon live in a beautiful downstairs apartment in central Antwerp.  They have a lovely garden that is just perfect for relaxing in.  We were blessed with fine weather each day we were there.

Buzzy Bee Belle chilling in the garden in Belgium.

We didn't do much tourism in Antwerp.  We ate a lot of really yummy European food (bread, cheese, chocolate, waffles...need to go on a diet soon!) and tried a different Belgium beer each day.  We mostly hung out and enjoyed spending time with our friends.

Chocolate covered strawberries...mmmm

European dining...love it!

bread

Mint flavoured jinever

When in Belgium, drink beer!

When in Belgium, eat chocolate....mmmm

One day, we visited Ruben's House.  It is the former home and studio of the famous painter which has been turned into a museum.

Ruben's House Courtyard

Our good friends from Germany drove 5 hours to visit us for the weekend. We spent our time catching up and enjoying the Belgium beers.

We had a very enjoyable time in Belgium.  It was a lovely way to catch up with good friends and to reacquaint ourselves with European culture.  My biggest culture shock so far is how many people there are in     Europe.  In New Zealand, we lived in a little bubble of very few people - it was nice!  Europe is packed with people and it is very busy.  Life is much faster - very different from what we've grown used to in our lovely bubble of NZ.

Next stop, Paris to meet my mum and visit our close relatives who recently moved there. We are most excited about seeing Pierre, Sara, Lillian and Sylvia :-)

Dubai

We landed and we were greeted with a wall of heat and humidity.  It was great!  We made our way to immigration where Robert was sent away to buy a surprise one day visa. I could enter into Dubai freely as a European, but Robert, with his Canadian passport had to buy a visa to enter Dubai.  There was some issue a year and a half ago with Canada not giving visas to people from the UAE so the UAE returned the favour.  So Robert went to get his visa. I claimed our baggage and went to meet our friend, Spencer who was waiting for us in arrivals.  It is always great to see a friendly face waiting for you at an international airport.

Driving from the airport to Spencer's place was great.  Dubai is a very futuristic city.  I could imagine cars flying and zooming between all the tall buildings.  Spencer has lived in Dubai for almost 6 years and has seen the city grow.  It was interesting to hear about how the city has changed from a complete desert into the metropolis it is now.

Burj Khalifa

We loved being at Spencer's place.  It was very modern and had a fantastic view of the Marina.

View from Spencer's apartment

Spencer's pool and beach

Chilling with Spencer

After some chilling out, Spencer took us for a one day tour of Dubai.  We went to the sail building and a touristy souk where there were many sparkly things.  The best thing about being in the souk was the air conditioning.  It was super, super hot outside - only bearable for a couple minutes and then we craved air con.

After a visit to the Souk, Spencer took us to the desert.  WOW!  This was our very first time being in a desert together.  It was amazing.  HOT, very, very hot and windy.  It was like a Wellington wind, but hotter, much hotter.  I loved how peaceful it was - almost eerie.  I could not hear anything but the wind, no birds, no trees, just wind and sand.  Watching the sand move was awesome.  It was like fine dust particles floating and weaving their way to their next destination.  The sand itself was very fine and soft.

After the desert, we went back to Spencer's place and went down to the beach for a swim and for some beers.  The ocean water was like a hot bath!  It was lovely.  Spencer and Robert took the kayak out and I soaked in the sights and sounds.  I listened to the birds and the sound of construction.  The sun started to go down and the lights of the buildings started to twinkle.  It reminded me a little bit of Hong Kong. 

We only had a day in Dubai, but it was a fabulous day and it made us feel excited that this would be our 'weekend' spot away when we are in Jordan.  It'll be lovely to have such a good friend close to us.  We are really looking forward to our next visit to Dubai.

Look! We have a stow away from New Zealand - Buzzy Bee Belle.  Thanks Emma :)

Next stop - Belgium!

The next few weeks.

I write this with 4 days left to go in the wonderful city of Wellington.  We are busy packing, cleaning, sorting, organising, tying up loose ends, going for farewell dinners, coffees, smoothies and finishing work.  It's busy, but it's beautiful.  The weather is awesome today.

Our journey begins here in Wellington.  We fly to Christchurch to Dubai.  We have a day/evening in Dubai, then fly to Amsterdam.  There we catch a train to Antwerp.  This time next week, we'll be there, enjoying a Duvel beer with our friends in Belgium!!  Woohoo. Next stop, Paris!!!  We'll arrive there on the 8th where I will meet my mum for her birthday.  So excited.  Next day, we'll see Sara, Pierre, Lillian and Sylvia!  More excitement.  It's going to be so much fun hanging out in Paris.

From Paris, Robert and I part ways for 3 weeks :-(  Ouch, it's going to hurt as we don't often spend much time apart.  Even thinking about it makes me sad so I'll focus on the positives!  I can't believe I leave the love of my life in the most romantic city on the planet!  I must be crazy! Focusing on the positives, it allows me the chance to visit my Nana who I haven't seen in 10 years!  Yes, an entire decade.  Needless to say, my Nana is getting very excited.  I spoke to her yesterday and she is planning on making me a good ole Irish Stew with dumplings....yum!

From Belfast, I travel to Limerick where I'll catch up with my HUGE Irish family.  There are so many of them to see, I hope I manage it all in 6 days :-)  Robert will stay in Paris and then fly to Canada for a few days and then he has to travel to Texas for professional development - very fancy!

From Limerick, I fly to London and Robert flies back to Canada.  My time in London will be jammed packed with seeing family and friends, plus I'll be going to the Olympics with my little brother.  He has scored us tickets to watch the volleyball.  What an awesome little brother!

From London, I fly to Halifax to be reunited with my love and beautiful family and friends.

Next stop - Amman, Jordan!

Feeling incredibly lucky to have family and friends all over the globe.  Life is wonderful.  I'll keep this blog updated with pictures and stories from our adventures.  This is our main blog now.