Florida

Hey,

As Eline visited us in NY we visited her in Florida. She has a lovely place there in Fort Lauderdale and of course her swimming pool is awesome.
We spent some time on the beach, visited Miami (crazy town), lost my cell phone , drunk wine in the pool mixed with water and salsa dip, got attacked by some see cows, fair to say I had a hell of a good time!!

Visit from Florida

The weekend after Niagara falls Eline from Florida came over. She is doing her internship there in a company called Omnicom. So we took her up from Newark airport and introduced her to everybody. The next day the weather was really bad, it rained for the entire day. So the first thing we did was buying an umbrella. We showed her all the typical NYC tourist attraction and fair to say I don’t even need a map to find them in the city. I know my way around the city (especially midtown), but we still haven’t seen everything. The street system is really easy, you have avenues that run through the length of the city and you have streets that run in the width of the city.

Eline is a really cool girl and it immediately clicked between the NY gang and her:). Luckily the second day the weather was a lot better and we took the opportunity to visit the statue liberty.

Here are some pictures
MOMA

The gang

In a cab

Little Italy

Niagara falls

As you probably already noticed blogging is not really my thing, but I’ll try to catch up where I last left.

So after my guest from Belgian went home went to the Niagara Falls in the weekend. It was a 8 hour drive on a very peaceful road (unlike Boston).
The weather was great and we could take some beautiful pictures of the crazy waterfalls. We also went on 3 different visit tours: the first one we walked in to the American waterfalls, yes of course we were all dressed up, see picture :)
The second tour was going in the Canadian falls with a boat, that was by far the best one :) and on the 3th we went up a big tower to see the falls from above.

Then we drove further into Canada to Toronto, in the city there is not that much to see but the coolest thing we did was eating dinner in the world’s largest tower, the CN building. The restaurant was really nice and the cool part was that while you’re eating the floor turns around giving you a beautiful view of the city.

Guests from Belgium

Hey I know it has been a while, sorry. But I’m back!!

So 2 weeks ago my parents, brother and of course my lovely girlfriend came over. They came to see where I’ve been living for the past 2 months and of course also to visit NYC!!

It felt really good to see everybody again, Natasja I really miss you. We stayed for 5 days in NYC and we had a great time. We visited some typical tourist attractions and did a bit of shopping, Abercrombie !!! The store is just madness as is the city. As you can see I’m not the only fan of Abercrombie :). Here is a picture of Natasja and Arnaud in front of our hotel.

Luckily the weather was nice so we could walk in central park and my dad could take these beautiful pictures with his new camera.



For dinner in the evening we went to some nice restaurants and of course Rue 57 a good restaurant on 6th avenue, 57 street.
We also took a tour bus to see upper Manhattan and we drove trough Harlem.

An then the time came to say good bye again, it felt a bit weird when my taxi drove away bringing me to the ferry. But everybody had a great time and enjoyed the city.

Love you all!!!!!

Boston

Hellow here I am again

I think I’ll continue to post in English it’s just better that way. But I know I’m not perfect so I make spelling mistakes.

So what did we do last weekend: we went up north to Boston! Normally it was a 5 hour drive but it took us 7 hours to reach our hotel. We are already used to driving on the highways but driving in Boston is just mad. I was at the wheel when we reached the city, we drove from tunnel to tunnel without going out the tunnel, cars coming in from everywhere and double bridges. I can assure you, it’s a bit tricky. But we made it and finally reached our hotel which was a lot different from our Marriot hotel in Washington, DC. And to make things even more exciting Leen lost here master card!! We tried contacting the last place where she used here card (yes it was a fast food chain) but without success. Luckily by coincidence she found here card back; it was hidden in a small side pocket of her wallet. The feeling of relief for here as for Elke and me was really big.

So after risking our lifes in Boston traffic and still recovering from the master card experience we reached downtown Boston. We followed the freedom trail, it’s is a 2.5 mile red walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally significant historic sites, everyone an authentic American treasure.

The next day we went to a lovely part of Boston called Beacon Hill. There we visited “Beacon Hill Chocolates” they sell the Mary chocolates which we are also trying to sell. In the afternoon we went to Harvard were we got a tour from a student. Here you see me touching the foot of the founder of Harvard University, it is supposed to bring good luck.
In the evening we went eating in Cheers café and again I noticed that the eating habits of some Americans are so wrong. You never see them using their knife which results in using their fingers. And when they leave the table it looks like a pig has eaten there. Funny to see tough :).

On Sunday we headed back for a long drive home.

Tomorrow Natasja, Arnaud and my parents are coming over. I’ll pick them up at the ferry. I can’t wait to see them!!!


Greetz

Philadelphia

Hey hey hey everybody

I'll do this post in English; the reason for this is that last weekend we had the change to stay with a lovely couple called John and Christine. They’re friends of Leen’s parents. So its beer related:).

They live an hour away from Philadelphia. We arrived there Friday evening at their beautiful home and after getting a grand tour of the house we ate pizza (the best I’ve eaten in America since I’m here), drunk beer and shared all our stories.

The next morning we went to Philadelphia in John’s brand new car. A big and very powerful SUV (a V8). I think that if you use this car in Belgium you’ll spend a fortune on gaz. The car was really nice and it was cool to finally sit in a big car because normally if we drive our little Kia we always get passed by by those giant cars. But now we had POWER :).

John and Christine were so nice that they guided us around the entire city. We visited the liberty bell, the national constitution center, the independent hall,… and of course the ROCY stairs:). For lunch we went to a Belgium bar who served all kinds of Belgian beers. It’s called Monk’s.
By then another couple joined us, they were friends of John and Christine. Jason & Michelle, also really nice people, although Jason wasn’t the best in estimating how long we’ll have to walk (“JUST ONE MORE BLOCK”):), but he had an iphone so that made up for it :).
starting from the left (Michelle, Jason, John, Christine)
In the evening we went to a place where people hang out. It’s like the street in Ghent (“Overpoort”) but only bigger (No surprise, this is America). There we had the change to eat the typical cheese steak. It was really good and I even finished the other half of Leen (as she is such a big eater:) ). For dessert we tried water ice, it’s like a squishy from the Simpsons:). Luckily I didn’t get brain freeze. But by then we were a bit tired and headed home.

The next morning we set out for our quest in seeing Amish people.

I really want to thank John and Christine for their hospitality: guiding us around the city and letting us stay at their home. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! (in Dutch: heel erg bedankt!!).

Greetz

Washington, DC

Hey

Vorig weekend zijn we met onze wagen naar Washington, DC gereden. Twas in totaal 5 uur rijden waarvan het langste stuk op de New Jersey Turnpike. Das een autostrade maar nog BIGGER :) (Gelijk alles hier). Toen we dan aankwamen in de stad, was het super warm, echt mooi weer. Nadat we de valiezen in het hotel afgezet hebben zijn we bijna direct naar het witte huis gaan kijken. Wel tof om zo eens in real life te zien.

Zaterdag was het ook weer lekker warm en hebben we de rest van de stad gezien, tis totaal anders dan NYC. Super proper en mooie parkjes. Wel heel veel politie en bewaking vooral dan aan de government buildings. Heel toevallig was er zaterdag de Cherry Blosem Parade. De Japanners hebben die bomen cadeau gedaan aan de amerikanen en in deze periode van het jaar staan ze in bloem en die amerikanen vieren da dan. Die stoet was echt grappig om te zien, zo veel fanfares en dan van die cheerleaders ervoor met hun pomponekes :). En dan nog zo bekende mensen van american Idol op een wagen en ook miss America maar die trekt op nie veel :)

Tegen de avond begon het zwaar te onweren en dan was het een stuk frisser. De laatste dag zijn we nog naar het pentagon gaan kijken en ook de cemetry van Arlington, das een begraafplaats voor al de veteranen. Daar liggen meer dan 290.000 mensen. Overal waar je kijkt zie je er liggen. Op de terugweg zijn we even gestopt in Baltimore, ma daar was nie zo veel te zien, de inner harbour was wel mooi, en dan lekker gaan eten in het Hard Rock Café.

Kheb trouwens nog nooit zoveel fastfood ketens gezien, zelf tot in het centraal station in washington had je er zeker 20 naast elkaar. Tis nie moeilijk dat ze hier zo dik zijn.

Dit weekend gaan we naar Philadelphia, we zetten vanavond nog aan. We kunnen blijven slapen bij vrienden van de ouders van Leen, heel handig natuurlijk.

Groeten