Ava and Paul invited Stephen and I over to have dinner and then go see a "Tribute Band" concert. I was pretty excited, I love live music and love watching people pretend to be someone else. Ha! The concert didn't disappoint. I was worried that being Dutch, they wouldn't sound the same, or it would be a trainwreck. Well, all of them sounded just like the singers (well, close at least) and they put on great shows, and they served Cristal (not exactly what you were thinking, it's beer).
Although I don't know a lot of the Rolling Stones songs, they were great entertainers and really made everyone want to dance. CCR was awesome. Reminded me of college and Texas. It was really great, and the lead singer really got into it.
Tina, ha, oh Tina. Tina was a diva. She had four costume changes, and even a back up singer. I think her backup singer brought more attention and crowds than Tina did, at least to the 30 drunk guys in the front row. She was wearing this trashy outfit made out of patent leather that laced on the sides...I'll let the pictures and videos speak for
themselves. There were a few men that loved both, see pic. She was good though, Tina that is. She played all of the major hits, and some I had never heard. It's funny though, I didn't know the songs but everyone around me, young and old, knew every word. Guess she made it big over here!!
I'm sorry blogworld. Things got away from me, and I've neglected you! I apologize. There are a few things that I will be blogging shortly, from our recent adventures. A teaser...
Stay tuned...
to the two people we love dearly! Wish we were there to spend the day with you...
We woke up a little bit earlier on Saturday, due to the fact that Jeremy was very interested in purchasing a chicken to kill, pluck and make chicken tenders out of from the market. Fortunately, he decided not to follow through, but we still had a great time people watching and admiring all that the "La Batte Market" had to offer.
It was very warm and crowded, so we decided to throw in the white towel in the middle of the market. From there we decided to grab lunch, which consisted of "Boulets Liegiose," or Liege Meatballs and a Carlsberg. It was gorg
eous outside, so we ate and watched a few mapris walk by (that's man Capris for all of you that don't know). When it gets a little warm here, the clothes get weirder and weirder.
After lunch, we made it home and grabbed the car to head to Brussels. A friend I met blog stalking invited us to a Quatro de Mayo party at her place. She's originally from Texas and is living in Brussels, so it seemed a perfect way to spend our Sunday afternoon. Once we arrived, the ritas and Corona's were on ice and the sombreros were waiting for Lindsay and I to don. We had fajitas, refried beans, tacos, chicken enchiladas, queso (J&L sent Velvetta and Rotel, we did it right), and even sour cream. It was awesome...something we haven't had in at least 8 months! SOO needed. Once everyone (there were about 15 people there) had their stomachs full and palates wet, we decided to fire up the Wii. Stephen and I had never played the Wii, so it was AWESOME to play golf, bowling, and tennis! Stephen was good at tennis (of course) and I was good at bowling. I guess all of those Thanksgiving Colorama games helped me! Who knew?
We left Cindy's and drove again to the Grote Markt in Brussels to get Jeremy and Lindsay a Belgian Waffle. The got one with bananas and chocolate, and I think they loved it. We ended the night with a few episodes of the Chappelle Show (thanks Kelly) and again slept quite soundly!
If you get a chance, check out Cindy's blog, she's hilarious: www.newtobrussels.blogspot.com
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We decided to sleep in on Saturday after our night of conversation and fun. What we didn't realize is that we were sleeping through most of the river tours in Germany. Once we realized we were on a tight schedule, we hurried out the door and made our way to Bonn. Since we were making up time, it was VERY convenient that we were on the autobahn...it was not that great since our VW only got up to 190km or so (120 mph) but Jeremy still really enjoyed it (I think Lindsay might have wanted to throw up). 
We arrived in Bonn and made our way to the River Tour companies. After we realized we wouldn't be getting on a boat (we were too late and they stopped running the later ones because of the firework show later that night), we decided to walk along the river, enjoying the scenery and people watching. We decided to stop at a little restaurant on the water and have a drink...and that's when Jeremy smelled the sausages. We decided we had to have one, I mean we're in Germany. We made our way to the sausage stand and each got one. We were so excited you would have thought that we h
ad won the lottery. Jeremy didn't really speak, just ate. They were pretty darn good!
After our sausages, we decided that we had enough time to drive up and down the B9 (the scenic route along the Rhine) to see some castles. Once in the car, all we could talk about was how good the sausages were, and how we might need to get one for dinner. Very healthy. On our drive, we spotted some really pretty castles and some awesome views, and then we spotted something really cool! A chair lift going up the side of a mountain. We decide ve
ry quickly that we kind of need to check this out! After parking, we agreed that if it was more than 10 euro we wouldn't do it. I found a man driving a shuttle train and asked him how far away it was. He showed me the direction of the chair lift and said it was a thirty minute walk, and 6 euro. Although that seemed like a long walk, it was a beautiful day and the hillside was amazing...so we decided to walk. We arrived at the ticket stand 3 minutes later, and laughed at how LONG our walk was.
The chair lift ride was awesome. We saw the river and the castles and villages from an aerial view, and it was truly breathtaking. Gracie would have preferred a closed gondola ride, but she got over it once we got up to the top. They had walking paths at the top leading to various scenic view spots, and we chose the one with a restaurant. I'm glad we did, not because of the chicken wing/nuggets made with real chicken that we snacked on (you think I'm crazy, but this is a feat...REAL chicken) but more so watching the Paraglider's take off and land 15 feet from us on the side of the mountain. It was really neat. 
ht...already COLD. We agreed on a price we would not go over, and again it exceeded our expectations! It was 10 euro, and the funny thing was when the Jeremy handed the guy the PK and the money, he asked what I was going to be drinking. I laughed and said it was for four of us...he laughed and said, "That is for one person, no problem. We're German." We laughed about that for a long time!
blankets...they were doing it right. We found our spot to sit, conveniently 20 feet from the sausage stand (do you see a trend here?) and Jeremy and I went to get our loot. We walked away with 5 sausages
(no, not one for Gracie, although she would have dominated it...Jeremy wanted 2) without getting too fired up about the crowds. We had various instances where people would cut in line during their trip (really, every time any of us were in a line, someone cut--so Europe) and Lindsay and I had this happen to us when we went to get sweets. But, as true Kampen's do, we dominated the poor man and cut him off hard core. Nice! It's so frustrating. If I knew German I would have said something while giving him my shoulder in his gut...but instead I said "The line starts WAY down there," in my best Texan attitude-filled voice. :) 
The fireworks were supposed to start at 10pm. It was nearing 10:45 and we were getting tired. We were full of sausage and goodness, and kind of wanted to go to bed. We decided that at 11 if they hadn't started we would head home (which was 2 hours away). Sure enough, at 11 nothing was happening so we got our stuff together with our heads down and walked away. Almost out of the park the fireworks starting shooting off. We stopped, turned around watched from the hillside. It was awesome! From where we were at the time, there weren't any lights or anyone around us. It was perfect. Halfway through the fireworks, though, in true European fashion, three people walked up and stood DIRECTLY behind us. There wasn't anyone within 50 feet of us, anywhere they could have stood, but no, they stood behind us. AND lit up a cigarette. So frustrating. I love that people were here to see the madness of personal space deficiencies we experience here. I now just laugh when it happens, but it made me chuckle hearing Lindsay say "of all the places to stand, RIGHT behind us." You feel my pain. 
Two videos that I think you will enjoy:
To see all of our pictures, use the link on the right~
Below is what you might see waiting on the flight from Venice to arrive...
Well, one nice thing about Belgium is the random national holidays. I know that May 1st isn't necessarily random (Labour Day here) but it's nice to not have to work. Who am I kidding...I'm still not working. But it was nice for Stephen not to have to go to work. We slept in, had breakfast and then headed out to find 'something.' We figured being a holiday there had to be some sort of festival or parade. There seems to be a festival or parade most weekends somewhere, regardless of a holiday. There had to be one today, right? Well, there was. But it was really disappointing. We posted up at our "spot" and had a drink while watching the parade pass directly in front of us. Let's just say we were really happy that we had a seat and a drink, cause if I was standing to watch this I would have been complaining. It was pretty lackluster. But, we shouldn't complain...no work, free entertainment, and relatively sunny weather. May day isn't too shabby.
