Hi, I'm Neil

Its time for some good blogging again, I seem to be always in the mood to write these days, but not that much happens this side of the water although this week has made a nice change, and was packed full with great trips and things to do.

Monday, was the day me and Juli decided to go to Belgium for the day. A friend asked me where I get the all the money for these trips, well to be honest, all these nice places we go are usually within a two hour radius of the town we live in, so all you really need is a few sandwiches and a tank full of petrol. Apart from that you just need a sunny day and the will to get up off your ass and do something. Made me think about how lucky i am, living in such a great place. Anyways, totally off the point there, we went to Belgium, and it took longer than we though, all in all about two hours. We had expected a few changes but to be honest it just looked like holland, all the people spoke dutch, Antwerpen being an old part of Holland, but there was one thing that really struck us. There were NO road signs when you got to Antwerpen, NONE!! so naturally we got lost. It seemed like every street was a one-way street, and it felt like we were going round and round in circles, but we finally found our way and were able to set off for the day.

The area we arrived in as we came off the motorway was horrible, The city looked run down, and it felt like we had gone back in time to the DDR times in East Germany but it turned out we were still five km’s from the city centre. The city itself is actually not that big for being the “diamond capital of the world” infact in the end it took us three hours to see the whole lot. They have one of the nicest cathedrales i have ever seen. The thing is so big you really cant imagine. As you see in the picture, Juli is small in comparison to the door, never mind the rest of the building. The city was full of churches and small mosques, full of great little cafe/bars, great for any couple looking to spend a romantic night there. We didnt, we wanted to do the tourist stuff ;) After enjoying the sun, enjoying the coffee and some chocolates we decided to call it a day and head home, we had spent about 7/8 hours in total from door to door and the legs were getting sleepy.

Tuesday was the day Juli started back to University. She wasnt looking forward to it, she didnt really get enough time off because in Holland they like to work the feet off you but she went in head held high as she had passed all her exams and became one of the few that actually do so within twelve months. The rest of the day was spent bumming around watching TV and following the news of the storm hitting New Orleans. Thank god they were more prepared this time round.

Today, well, Juli decided it would be fun to go to the coast of Holland to a town called “Den Haag” which some of you might know, its the home town of the European Court where all the big boys go before the court of Human Rights. But thats not what we were there for, last time i checked i hadnt killed anyone. We took off and had another two hour journey ahead of us. The weather wasnt playing fair but at least it wasnt raining. We arrived in the town and made our way to the beach. ‘What a view’ was the first thing that hit me. In front was a beach that seemed like it stretched forever. The sand was golden and the water was…hmmm not blue but still nice. Rike, a friend of Julis’ decided it would be fun to jump into the water even though it was freezing, well they do say its good for the immune system. After drying off we took off down the coast enjoying the beach which was full of surfers and people flying kytes* We walked around for a few hours, got something to eat, loved every minute and then decided it was time to call it a day. Funny story, or not so funny, on the way home there was a car on fire, with the driver just standing beside it looking on in shock, i have no idea how it happened but it was obvious that the cars engine blew, and the petrol had caught fire. Pretty crazy, but im sure the guy only lost the car and nothing else.

Im heading home to Ireland for my dads birthday, and also to visit the friends i didnt get to see a few weeks ago, and then a few days later im off to uni again, damm i was getting used to my home comforts. This will prob be the last blog i will write before i get back to uni, but that leaves time for me to think about what i can write next time round.

I hope your reading this in good health and ill see you all soon.

Neil