Sorry I haven't updated the blog the past couple of days. Here's the run down of the past three days.
Day 3:
We had planned to drive to Ghent for the day. The day got off to an exceptionally early start - Cale woke up a couple hours early, surprising Mommy and Daddy. All three of us were kind of crabby from the early start. We showered up and decided to get some breakfast before heading out. By the time we finished, Cale was ready for an early nap. Since we were also tired, we happily obliged. All three of us cuddled up and slept for a much needed 2.5 hour nap. Cale alternated between mommy's and daddy's chest. By the time, we woke up the daylighthours were mostly done, so we decided to relax in Brugge one more day instead of heading to Ghent. We stayed up late playing in all the cobble-stoned squares, bought a box of Belgian chocolates, and took a lot of fun pictures. We finished off the night with Kristin enjoying a warming hot cocoa outside a cafe watching Cale and I chased each other around a courtyard.
Day 4:
Day 4 was a travel day up to Bremen, Germany for the hypersonics and space planes conference I had a presentation for on Day 5. Cale spent much of Day 3 giggling at the many horses pulling carriages around the city, so we decided to hire one for this morning. However, time got away from us and he was happy simply getting up close to them and squealing with glee. It was probably more enjoyable for him to see them anyways, rather than ride in the carriage behind them. In lieu of missing out on a carriage ride, we settled for a cheese sandwich from a local shop on the center square. It was the best cheese (Old Brugge cheese) we have ever tasted.
After the quick stop, we checked out, loaded the car and headed out of wonderful Brugge. Luckily, Ghent was on the way to Bremen, so we were able to make a side stop for lunch on our way to Germany. Another memorable, picturesque few moments watching Cale and Kristin chasing the pigeons in another historic center square.
The day became more challenging upon leaving Ghent. Things started off by us being trapped behind a rear-end accident right in front of us. It was a low speed accident, with seemingly no damage. Nonetheeless the hit driver insisted on calling the police, and refused to move his car so those of us blocked could move on - at one point even chalking around his tires as evidence of his cars location. Things became significantly more comical when the at-fault driver decided to simply jump the curb with his car and leave the scene.
Unfortunately, we had many more unexpected delays in our travels to Bremen due to rush hour traffic around cities and TONS of construction. When the road opened up, I'd go with the flow of traffic at up to 180 km/hr, and even then a few cars would fly by me! However, it was always short-lived, and with all the delays our 5 hour car ride turned into 7+. Not an ideal situation for a 1 year old constrained to a car seat. Fortunately our hotel room was very nice at the conference and plenty big for Cale to run around and get his pent up energy out. We also took advantage of the hotel lobby, filled with models of hypersonic aircraft, rockets, and space planes. As our routine has become, Kristin and I took turns eating dinner (in the hotel restaurant) while the other let Cale explore his new surroundings.
The day became a long one for me as I stayed up until 2:30 am local time finalizing my presentation. I managed to squeeze in 3.5 hours before I had to get up at 6 am to get ready and head down to the morning speakers briefing and my presentation at 8:30am.
Day 5:
Wow has this been a tough day. The presentation went very well, where I had better than expected attendance for my early morning talk. I even had some nice dialogue with the Chief Scientist of Hypersonics at Boeing, as well as some engineers from the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA. However, the day would go down hill quickly from there.
First of all, while the conference hotel was nice, it was in a terrible location. We needed to get lunch before heading back to Brussels, but all we could manage was buying some bread and cheese from the local super market - not up to our new standards from Brugge. Then, a short while after getting on the road, we ran into construction. Only this time as I slowed down for the motionless cars in front of me, the car immediately in front of me and to my right did not. The car went head on into the back of a semi at nearly 80 km/hr! The car was completely totaled, as if a scene out of those head-on crash test simulations. As we drove up, the roof was gone and the front end demolished. I fully expected to see a corpse, but luckly just saw a man dazed staring out of where his wind shield used to be. Being the first one there, I quickly parked the car and made sure he was okay getting to the curb. Besides being visibly shaken, he only had a few minor scratches. Truly amazing. Since my cell phone doesn't get service here, I was trying to get one of the cars around us to call the Police - which for some reason was harder than it should have been. The man managed to come to his own rescue as he located his cell phone, 10 feet away from his car on the side of the road, picked it up and made the call. Being witnesses to the accident, and "in charge" of the man's well being since we were the first on the scene, we waited around until the police arrived. After a while, they took my statement, my passport information and my contact information. I checked on the man one more time, and then we headed out on our way, in disbelief of what had happened. I think the only thing that saved his life was his ability to swerve at the last minute - if there had been a passenger they would have been killed (I took a picture with my cell phone of the car and will post when I can).
Fortunately there was less construction heading away from Bremen than towards. Unfortunately, once we got near the Belgium border, about 1.5 hours to Brussels, some "genius" dutchman decided to completely close down the highway for construction. We spent nearly 2 hours driving all over the Netherlands trying to get back to Brussels since our GPS was completely in capable of understanding the highway was closed, and the Dutch have no clue how to string together detour signs. Finally I found a gas station to ask directions. But, to top things off, when I went to get out of the car, my dumb, over-sized nose slammed into the door. I then proceeded to get harassed by the gas station attendant for being incompetent. After begrudgingly being given somewhat understandable directions (I do not have a soft spot for the dutch and their ideas of directions after my 2 hour jaunt ), I got back into the car only to find out from Kristin that I had a line of blood running down my nose from hitting it on the door. Yikes! To finish things off, we finally made our way to Brussels, only to find out I had put the wrong Raddisson hotel in the GPS, and the one I had booked was too new to come up on the GPS. Ugh - all we wanted to do was get out of that stupid car. End of the story, we were supposed to arrive a little after 6pm (4 hr, 20 minute drive) in Brussels, and with all our set-back arrived after 9pm.
Luckily we have our best room yet of our hotel stays, and Cale had a blast getting all the energy out before bedtime. Tomorrow we head home, my pride (and my nose) a little bruised - I feel a lot like Clark Griswold right now - but a lot of great new experiences and memories for a lifetime. I hope we have no more major events ahead of us, and manage a smooth trip home.
Day 3:
We had planned to drive to Ghent for the day. The day got off to an exceptionally early start - Cale woke up a couple hours early, surprising Mommy and Daddy. All three of us were kind of crabby from the early start. We showered up and decided to get some breakfast before heading out. By the time we finished, Cale was ready for an early nap. Since we were also tired, we happily obliged. All three of us cuddled up and slept for a much needed 2.5 hour nap. Cale alternated between mommy's and daddy's chest. By the time, we woke up the daylighthours were mostly done, so we decided to relax in Brugge one more day instead of heading to Ghent. We stayed up late playing in all the cobble-stoned squares, bought a box of Belgian chocolates, and took a lot of fun pictures. We finished off the night with Kristin enjoying a warming hot cocoa outside a cafe watching Cale and I chased each other around a courtyard.
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
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| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
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| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
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| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
Day 4:
Day 4 was a travel day up to Bremen, Germany for the hypersonics and space planes conference I had a presentation for on Day 5. Cale spent much of Day 3 giggling at the many horses pulling carriages around the city, so we decided to hire one for this morning. However, time got away from us and he was happy simply getting up close to them and squealing with glee. It was probably more enjoyable for him to see them anyways, rather than ride in the carriage behind them. In lieu of missing out on a carriage ride, we settled for a cheese sandwich from a local shop on the center square. It was the best cheese (Old Brugge cheese) we have ever tasted.
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
After the quick stop, we checked out, loaded the car and headed out of wonderful Brugge. Luckily, Ghent was on the way to Bremen, so we were able to make a side stop for lunch on our way to Germany. Another memorable, picturesque few moments watching Cale and Kristin chasing the pigeons in another historic center square.
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
The day became more challenging upon leaving Ghent. Things started off by us being trapped behind a rear-end accident right in front of us. It was a low speed accident, with seemingly no damage. Nonetheeless the hit driver insisted on calling the police, and refused to move his car so those of us blocked could move on - at one point even chalking around his tires as evidence of his cars location. Things became significantly more comical when the at-fault driver decided to simply jump the curb with his car and leave the scene.
Unfortunately, we had many more unexpected delays in our travels to Bremen due to rush hour traffic around cities and TONS of construction. When the road opened up, I'd go with the flow of traffic at up to 180 km/hr, and even then a few cars would fly by me! However, it was always short-lived, and with all the delays our 5 hour car ride turned into 7+. Not an ideal situation for a 1 year old constrained to a car seat. Fortunately our hotel room was very nice at the conference and plenty big for Cale to run around and get his pent up energy out. We also took advantage of the hotel lobby, filled with models of hypersonic aircraft, rockets, and space planes. As our routine has become, Kristin and I took turns eating dinner (in the hotel restaurant) while the other let Cale explore his new surroundings.
The day became a long one for me as I stayed up until 2:30 am local time finalizing my presentation. I managed to squeeze in 3.5 hours before I had to get up at 6 am to get ready and head down to the morning speakers briefing and my presentation at 8:30am.
Day 5:
Wow has this been a tough day. The presentation went very well, where I had better than expected attendance for my early morning talk. I even had some nice dialogue with the Chief Scientist of Hypersonics at Boeing, as well as some engineers from the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA. However, the day would go down hill quickly from there.
First of all, while the conference hotel was nice, it was in a terrible location. We needed to get lunch before heading back to Brussels, but all we could manage was buying some bread and cheese from the local super market - not up to our new standards from Brugge. Then, a short while after getting on the road, we ran into construction. Only this time as I slowed down for the motionless cars in front of me, the car immediately in front of me and to my right did not. The car went head on into the back of a semi at nearly 80 km/hr! The car was completely totaled, as if a scene out of those head-on crash test simulations. As we drove up, the roof was gone and the front end demolished. I fully expected to see a corpse, but luckly just saw a man dazed staring out of where his wind shield used to be. Being the first one there, I quickly parked the car and made sure he was okay getting to the curb. Besides being visibly shaken, he only had a few minor scratches. Truly amazing. Since my cell phone doesn't get service here, I was trying to get one of the cars around us to call the Police - which for some reason was harder than it should have been. The man managed to come to his own rescue as he located his cell phone, 10 feet away from his car on the side of the road, picked it up and made the call. Being witnesses to the accident, and "in charge" of the man's well being since we were the first on the scene, we waited around until the police arrived. After a while, they took my statement, my passport information and my contact information. I checked on the man one more time, and then we headed out on our way, in disbelief of what had happened. I think the only thing that saved his life was his ability to swerve at the last minute - if there had been a passenger they would have been killed (I took a picture with my cell phone of the car and will post when I can).
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
Fortunately there was less construction heading away from Bremen than towards. Unfortunately, once we got near the Belgium border, about 1.5 hours to Brussels, some "genius" dutchman decided to completely close down the highway for construction. We spent nearly 2 hours driving all over the Netherlands trying to get back to Brussels since our GPS was completely in capable of understanding the highway was closed, and the Dutch have no clue how to string together detour signs. Finally I found a gas station to ask directions. But, to top things off, when I went to get out of the car, my dumb, over-sized nose slammed into the door. I then proceeded to get harassed by the gas station attendant for being incompetent. After begrudgingly being given somewhat understandable directions (I do not have a soft spot for the dutch and their ideas of directions after my 2 hour jaunt ), I got back into the car only to find out from Kristin that I had a line of blood running down my nose from hitting it on the door. Yikes! To finish things off, we finally made our way to Brussels, only to find out I had put the wrong Raddisson hotel in the GPS, and the one I had booked was too new to come up on the GPS. Ugh - all we wanted to do was get out of that stupid car. End of the story, we were supposed to arrive a little after 6pm (4 hr, 20 minute drive) in Brussels, and with all our set-back arrived after 9pm.
Luckily we have our best room yet of our hotel stays, and Cale had a blast getting all the energy out before bedtime. Tomorrow we head home, my pride (and my nose) a little bruised - I feel a lot like Clark Griswold right now - but a lot of great new experiences and memories for a lifetime. I hope we have no more major events ahead of us, and manage a smooth trip home.
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
