OUR FIRST VISITORS!
We had our first visitors last Wednesday! Justin and Amy Coleman, Scott's friends from work, were vacationing in Amsterdam and drove to Brugge to stay a few nights. We had an excellent Fondue dinner. Thanks Justin for suggesting the restaurant - and getting us there!

Up until now, we haven't experienced the much talked about "rain in Belgium." Their rain isn't a hard rain, but a steady misty rain. It's been a steady mist since Saturday night. It doesn't stop people from going out though. They just bring their umbrella and rain coat. I was hoping to make it to the bakery and butcher today...I'll wait until this afternoon, just in case it stops. Why chance getting good shoes wet? ;)

We finally built all of our IKEA purchases and now are stuck with masses of card-board. They are strict on recycling here so we have to wait until the card-board date comes up and then we can stick it all outside. There are seperate dates for regular trash, cans/plastic, card-board/newspaper, glass, and then batteries and such. If they catch you putting cans in with regular trash you can get fined. It seems like just yesterday I stuck whatever the heck I wanted into the BFI container.

Thursday night, the guys went out from Scientific Atlanta for Nate's going away party. For Nate's wife, Amy, all the girls went to a Moroccan restaurant which was approximately 2 blocks from my house. It was a good chance for both Scott and I to mingle with everyone. I got to meet practically the entire Brugge Foreigners Club. Scott was home by 10 and I think I stumbled in around 1am. I guess the guys didn't have a Moroccan Belly Dancer for entertainment like the girls!

Home Sweet Home! We are finally in the home and all of our belongings arrived safely. The very bottom of the house is the "cellar" or a place I'd like to call "scary." It's right out of a movie. The main floor is the kitchen, dining, 1/2 bath, and laundry room. The 2nd floor is the living room, office, and a 1/2 bath. The 3rd floor has two bedroom and a full bathroom. One bedroom is the guest bedroom and the other is our closet. I know it sounds odd to have one room totally dedicated to clothes, shoes, and purses, but the Europeans do not have closets. Finally the 4th floor (kinda of like the attic) is the master bedroom and another full bathroom.

We ventured off to France last weekend. Not to Paris, but IKEA! Needless to say that was an adventure. We can barely navigate through the U.S IKEA better yet one in French. Near the French IKEA is a Carrefour (kinda of like a U.S. Wal-mart/Target.) We purchased our television from there, barely. The VISA company decided to finally question where we were so denied us. After 30 minutes we were able to purchase the TV, but the employees were not too happy with us, Americans.

Then, the highlight of the weekend: there was a MEXICAN restaurant next door. For those who don't know, Scott loves Mexican, especially ON THE BORDER. Again, it's all in French (we don't speak a lick of French)so we decided to wing it as we've been doing. Scott orders his normal burrito and I a quesadilla. Scott's beef burrito comes and he digs right in. To his surprise there were vegetables in his burrito (pea pods, green beans, peppers, corn, more green beans, a little meat, and a tad of cheese) Let's just say that was more vegetables than he'd had this year. My quesadilla was not made with normal cheese so I took the cheese out and just ate the tortilla. Bottom line: We will not be returning to the Mexican restaurant nor the France IKEA. The French upheld their reputation.

It's Friday now and our week has gone by fast. We now have our wireless up and running as well as our Vonage. Our telephone number is 404-642-6945. It's an Atlanta number so no international rates apply. Call whenever you'd like.

I'm taking the train to meet Scott after work today and we are going to the Brussel's IKEA and Carrefour to finish furnishing our house.

Until next time....

Lacy-

We made it! It seems like we've been on the road forever, but we finally made it to Brugge, Belgium! We received the keys to our home today and our container of belongings arrives on Monday.

It was a lot of firsts for us today. We established a bank account and received (debit-ish) cards, purchased a washer (we have no way of getting it to us though. Our plan is to put it in our rental car and drive a couple miles with it - we'll keep you posted on how that goes) and finally we registered at the town hall to be residents of Brugge, Belgium.

We've been having a blast on our journey so far. We arrived in Venice, Italy on Thursday, 25th (I think) and had Shannon's weddings the 26th and 27th. That's right - 2 weddings. To get married outside in Venice you have to have a civil ceremony at the town hall. Scott and I were witnesses for that wedding! The outside wedding was beautiful! Thanks Shannon and Josh for letting us tag along and be a part of your special day. (The picture above is from the canals of Venice)

After the wedding, the entire wedding party of 12 boarded the Splendour of the Seas by Royal Caribbean and cruised to Athens, Greece - Mykonos, Greece - Rhodes, Greece - and Dbrovnik, Croatia.

Click HERE to view all of our photos.

(For those of you who do not have a Kodak Gallery account, still click above and it will route you to the Kodak website. Then look for the link that says "View Photos Without Signing In" and you will be taken directly to our photos )

Well, that's all for now. Check in regularly for more updates and pictures from us!

Love to all,
Scott and Lacy