Finally to start posting about my trip!

The short of it: one week around Belgium and then two weeks at a watercolor painting course in Southern France. The long of it: I first traveled up to Spokane the night before my flight and then caught a bright and early flight out of there. I then flew from Spokane to Phoenix, Phoenix to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Brussels. I nearly missed the plane from Frankfurt to Brussels because of that bloody airport. Seriously, take note. Do not get a short connection in Frankfurt. The transfer between the two terminals is total murder and you have to go thru security, passport control, customs and the whole nine yards at each end of it. They only gave me about 45 minutes between flights and that was a disaster. I ran through all parts of that airport and arrived, completely out of breath, at my plane just as they were closing the gate. Yikes! That was a close one! Thank goodness I caught that. After three other flights, I really did not want to miss the last leg of the trip. Then by train from the Brussels airport to the Brussels North train station to meet my friend Elselien. Quite a long day, if you ask me….but you know me, I didn’t stop there!

We checked into the Van Gogh hostel in Brussels in the afternoon and met up with Vincent and his friend Katrin. We then headed to the main station to purchase my ticket for the trip down from Antwerp to my painting class in Gramat, France. We also explored the downtown area including the main squares, grand market place and Manneken Pis which is the original sculpture of a little boy peeing in a fountain and it’s become rather a symbol of Belgium. Eventually, after about 30 hours of traveling, I crashed into bed at the hostel.