Today we got the Eurostar from Brussels to London, arriving in London at around 12:30. We got the tube to Old Street, where we met Sarah, a family friend who is living in London. She gave us the keys to her place, and we went back to drop our bags off. With our bags out of the way, we got the tube back in to Covent Garden, where we had drinks at the White Lion – the first pub we drank in when we arrived in London three months ago. After a few hours, we walked to West End, to The Queen’s Theater, where we saw Les Miserables, which was excellent.

October 8 – Day 86

Today we planned to meet a relative of mine and be shown some family history. We met Elaine at Euston Station, and got a train to Watford, where we met Alwin. They drove us to The Grove, which is now an exclusive hotel, but was once the home of an Earl. We then went and looked at the house where my relatives had lived, which was interesting. We looked around a bit more before coming to The Stables. It is now a restaurant, and we stopped for a delicious lunch. We drove on after lunch, and visited the church where the graves of some of the family are. After that, Alwin dropped us back at Watford, where we got a train back to Euston. We said goodbye to Elaine, and headed to Harrod’s for a look around. We didn’t stay long, but got some cupcakes for dessert :) We slowly headed back to Sarah’s place, stopping off along the way at Oxford St, and a pub or two. We had dinner with Sarah and her brother, Ken, which was really fun. It was nice to see people we know.

October 9 – Day 87

Today we planned to go to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard, but slept in, and didn’t think we’d make it. Once we woke up, we rushed to the train and went to Charing Cross. From there, we started walking to the palace, but stopped when we saw a police motorcade heading towards us. We soon saw most of The Royal Family, including The Queen, go past on their way to a church service – very exciting! We kept walking down The Mall, and saw the changing of the cavalry, which was also fun. We continued walking down to the palace, but found out that the changing of the guard wasn’t happening today. The guards must get tired on these days :) From the palace, we walked through Green park and had a pub lunch, before heading to Lord’s for a tour of the ground. The tour was good, but the guide was a bit annoying. We were still glad to see it. After the tour, we met Sarah and Ken to see Annie Get Your Gun. It was pretty different from Les Mis, but we had a good time.

October 10 – Day 88

Today we went to Portobello Road to see the markets. It was packed, but we looked around for a few hours. We were carrying enough by now that we didn’t want to buy anything more. We kept exploring for the rest of the day, but were pretty relaxed. After dinner we went to our friend’s place for a party.

October 11 – Day 89

After packing our bags, we went to Brick Lane, stopping at markets along the way. After a delicious lunch, we had a few drinks before heading back to Sarah’s to get our bags, and head to Heathrow. We flew to Bangkok and stayed for two nights, before continuing back to Sydney.

We arrived in Brussels a little bit late, after missing our train from Amsterdam. When we got to our accommodation, there was no-one there (I had said we would arrive in the morning). 20 minutes later, we were let in to the beautiful B&B we stayed in. We dropped our bags, then headed to the centre of town, a ten minute walk.

We were both reminded of Paris walking through the streets, it is a beautiful city. We soon found a cafe for drinks and a very late lunch. We kept walking to the centre of town, to Markt Platz, which is very beautiful. I soon spotted a beer shop (proudly stocking 250 beers), and procured some room beers. We stopped in another cafe that offered beer tasting, including some crazy Belgian fruit beers, before a cheap dinner of Greek food.

It did not take long for me to decide that the beers of Belgium are my favourite of all the countries we visited in Europe. The strength and variety of the flavours and styles makes it an unmissable country for any beer geek. The most incredible thing is that after a day of tasting, drinking beers between 6% and 11% ABV, you feel fine the next day :)

October 4 – Day 82

Today we planned to do a walking tour of Brussels, but couldn’t find anyone offering one. We then thought we’d do a bus tour, but the Brussels Marathon meant that there were a lot of closed streets, and they were only stopping at about a quarter of the stops. Instead, we bought a little tourist book, and walked around by ourselves. We had a look at Manakin Pis, the little peeing boy. There are numerous legends about him, and why he is eternally peeing. When we visited he was wearing one of his 800+ outfits, which is incredible. We decided to go and see the rest of the collection in the museum at the King’s House.

After that, we headed to Delirium Cafe, which is truly incredible. They  hold the Guinness World Record for the most beers available – 2004. I set out to taste the best, working through a few Grand Cru’s, and plenty of other Belgians. The cafe itself is amazing. Every surface is covered in Beer paraphernalia. The entire roof is covered in serving trays, and all of the light comes from beer signs, as far as I could tell. A must see for anyone who likes beer at all.

After a thorough sampling of their Bible-esque menu, we continued on Simone’s tour of Brussels. We stopped at St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a Palace, Gardens and the Clock. After all that walking we were ready for more drinks, so we stopped at a bar for drinks, where we met the craziest American of the past three months (he had plenty of competition), then headed off to dinner. Brussels in a day :)

October 5 – Day 83

Today we headed to Brugge, laughing all the way at quotes from ‘In Brugge’. When we arrived, it was raining, but we decided to walk anyway. We went in and out of chocolate shops all the way to the centre of town, also stopping for the best hot chocolate I have ever had. A bowl of steaming milk, into which you drop a chocolate cup full of chocolate bits. Delicious. By this stage it was pouring, so a canal cruise didn’t look very appealing. We spotted a bus tour going past, and ran and got on. It showed us all the places we would go for the rest of the day.

First, I climbed the 366 steps of The Belfry tower in the main square. Even in the rain, the views were excellent, and I was lucky enough to be at the top when the 29 tonnes of bells started to ring. It was deafeningly enjoyable. After climbing down, I went to a beer shop I had spotted from the tour. As soon as I walked in the door, I saw something very special on the counter – beers from St Sixtus in Westvleteren (the abbey that produces the ‘best beer in the world’. They only had the 8 in stock, but I got a bottle. This is against the wishes of the Abbey, but I was worried about missing out. Hopefully the beer gods forgive me.

Next we walked through a beautiful garden, into the stunning ‘Houses of God’, which were built for the poor. They surround a beautiful courtyard – definitely worth a visit. From there, we went back to the train station, and back to Brussels. Naturally, we headed back to the Delirium Cafe for more research.

October 6 – Day 84

Today, I made the pilgrimage to Westvleteren, which will hopefully have cleansed me of my sins yesterday. Westvleteren is not an easy place to get to. Here is what we did, and what you should do: Getting to Westvleteren (Home of St Sixtus Brewery) First, we bought return tickets to Poperinge Train Station (~35 EUR per person). On the platform, we called up the belbus company that will take you from the station to St Sixtus (about 8km). They said the bus would be waiting when we arrived (around 11:30). We got off the train, and sure enough, the bus was there waiting for us.

15 minutes later, we were at the Abbey. We told the driver we would be waiting at 3 to get the bus back to the station (BIG MISTAKE). The Abbey is actually not very appealing, and you can’t see much. Across the road is the cafe where you can get the beers though. I sampled the range (8, 10 and 12). Each beer is better than the last, and the 12 is truly outstanding. It really is the best beer I have ever tasted. I had a few more of them. It was pouring with rain, and we soon gave up walking around their gardens, and headed back for a few more beers. It turned out it was a beer purchasing day at the abbey, and I can confirm that they have a pad of paper with people’s vehicle registration, as well as their order, and the time they will arrive. Amazing.

IMPORTANT TIP: If you ask the belbus driver to come back and get you, they will NOT do it. We were pretty confident that the driver had understood us, but evidently not. You cannot make a reservation with a driver, you need to do it over the phone. This was a very expensive mistake for us. After asking around, we eventually got a phone number for a taxi. We were told that this was very unusual, but I had no idea how bad it would be. The bus cost 3.20 Euro for both of us, I thought a taxi might be 10-15 Euro. It actually has to travel to St Sixtus from another town, and they have a fixed rate to take people from the abbey to the train station.

The driver said 45 Euro when we got in – I couldn’t believe it, so we called the taxi company to confirm, and were told it was 40 Euro – for an 8km ride. Had we known, we would have hitchhiked with one of the cars at the abbey picking up their beers. If you plan to get the belbus, make sure you book the return trip when you call, there is absolutely no other way of getting back to the train station. We were back in Brussels by about 7pm, where we had dinner and headed back home to pack.

I had an excellent day, even if it  was a bit expensive. I would consider hiring a car with GPS to get there (if you have a non drinker with you). Apparently it is much quicker, and probably doesn’t cost that much more if there are 2+ people going. I loved Belgium, it was one of my favourite places of the trip. I hope to go back one day soon :)

We arrived in rainy Amsterdam at about 6pm, after a long train trip from Berlin. We had a little walk around, then had overpriced drinks in a little pub nearby. After dinner, we walked through the infamous Red Light District, and were shocked and amazed. Wow. After a few more drinks at the hostel we called it a night.

September 30 – Day 78

This morning we did the free New Europe tour of Amsterdam, which gave us a lot of the history of the city, as well as places to explore more. After the tour, we went to the Anne Frank House, which was very interesting. I haven’t read the book, but it sounds like an amazing story. Walking back to the centre of town, I was lucky to spot the Beer Temple, a newly opened pub (the first American pub in Europe or something). They have an incredible range of good American craft beers. I was ready for a change from the European beers (as good as they are) and enjoyed some hugely over-hopped IPAs. After dinner, we headed back to the Red Light District for a live show, which is exactly what it sounds like. It was crazy! On the walking tour we heard about how the Red Light District is being shut down by the conservative government. Girls windows are being turned into fashion displays, and the Coffeeshops are slowly being closed down. I wonder what the new plan for tourism is – they haven’t had to do anything for a very long time!

October 1 – Day 79

We started today with a visit to the Sex Museum, which is pretty tame compared to a walk around the Red Light District. We then set off for Heineken, to do the ‘Heineken Experience’ – (Meet the beer, share the magic: Marketing Gold). It was actually a really good tour. I wasn’t overly keen on doing another mega-brewery tour, but it is worth it. You get to see more than you do at some of the other tours. As a bonus, I think my two free beers turned into about 8 – if you pour your own, it doesn’t count, so Simone and I both did that. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Amsterdam drinking and relaxing.

October 2 – Day 80

After getting tickets for our train tomorrow, we went to Amsterdam Zoo, which was a nice break. Simone had fun :) After that we went to the Beer Temple again, where I had fun! We drank for a few hours, and relaxed the day away. We went back to the Red Light District one last time, and visited the Erotic Museum. We’ve seen lots of these museums. It wasn’t very different from the others. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, and a great place if you want to smoke. If I was going back, I wouldn’t stay as long, or I would go with a different mindset – not trying to ‘see things’. It is a very relaxed place :)