A Cherished Valentine Celebration

This Valentine weekend we celebrated in a small town in Belgium called Brugge. If you need Chocolate Therapy, like the poem I wrote months ago, then Brugge is the town for you. I think every other store is a chocolate store, which makes sense since Belgium is known for their chocolates. This is a romantic town, so I made some changes to my pictures to give them a romantic nostalgia feel although I’m still tweaking the pictures.

The first one is of two masquerade lovers. Carnivale is big in Europe.

As we were walking toward the stores and Market, I took some pictures along the way.

Here are some pictures of the Market Square and the Belfry Tower. I put the day pictures with the night pictures.

Here’s a picture of a sign I thought was cute.

Then we took a boat ride on the canal to see the city from a different view. 

While we weaved through streets and stores, I took pictures of things I found beautiful or interesting.

At night, a restaurant advertised their place by using a turning spotlight of a bat beaming down on the sidewalk and I happened to get a good picture of it.

This is a night picture taken of one of the many bridges.

We had a nice dinner and drinks, a few too many, and then stumbled back to our room to head out early the next day to a town called Zoutelande. For about four miles to Zoutelande, we drove through a tunnel under the sea.

I took a picture of this windmill as we drove into town. I didn’t make any changes to these pictures.

Our intentions were to take about a four mile walk down the beach, but the wind was wicked and we quickly changed our minds. Here are a few pictures of the beach and a couple riding horses.

This tree was laying in front of someone’s house with the branches holding coffee cups.

Then we went to a nearby town, Westkapelle where they had a museum with a dedication to the U.K. and U.S., who rescued them from German siege. 

A few more pictures from this area of the sea.

On our way home, I had to take a picture of a few German bunkers left from the war.

And that was our weekend adventure. How about you? What did you do? Do you plan on letting your loved one know how much you love them this Valentine’s Day or do you plan on letting someone know you’re in love with them? Or maybe you plan on buying yourself something special? Let us know. Hope you have a nice day and a great week.

The Close of 2010's European Journey

It’s picture time! Before I left for the States for the holiday celebrations, we went to a little town called Monschau—nestled in a valley by the Eifel Hills. Because I have a crappy camera, I was limited on pictures because it got dark shortly after arriving, but this town is adorable. They got some snow, so it added to the charm of the Christmas market—the snow fell on lights and decorations. It instantly became one of my favorite places. It’s like a place you’d see in a romantic comedy and wonder if it’s real, or a movie set. I’m telling you, Hollywood, someone better get there and film a movie.

This picture is of Monschau Castle, which dates back to the 13^th century. 

As we walked to the Christmas market, I took some pictures of the stream that ran along the walkway before getting to the center.

This picture doesn’t truly show the magic of the town, but it gives you an idea.

They had little evergreens hanging on buildings, so I had to take a picture of this one with snow resting on it.

We walked around the center where the markets were and then headed down another street. 

I took this picture of another stream that runs through town.

Here’s another picture taken from another area of town. On top of the hill you can see part of the castle. 

The next day, we went to my Love’s aunt’s house for a visit with his brother and his children. I took these pictures standing on a hill where they went sledding. It looked out onto the town.

So these pictures ended the sites of my adventures in Europe in 2010. Hope you enjoyed them.