Team G: Europe

Me and Jason went to Europe back in May and I wanted to post some pictures, but my thoughts seemed to drift another way after we got back. Here are some pictures from Bruge, Belgium (my favorite place). We could hear the church bells ringing as we walked down the cobblestone road eating Belgium waffles. Yes, it was amazing. There are waterways that boats travel on and we even took a little ride. Brugge is sometimes called the Venice of the north because of their canal system. Our whole visit was so picturesque.

This is called the church of the lady (not to be confused with the church of OUR lady which is in Denmark). We were confused because we thought we would see the Christus here and instead we saw the Madonna (which is still pretty cool, but seemed like a let down....)

We discovered that all of the water was warm in Europe. I don't think they believe in ice. Even we got bottled water it wasn't very cold (but it looked pretty so I was okay with it).

This was our waiter at a little restaurant in Bruge. I took his picture because I wanted to remember him. Everyone in Belgium speaks either French of Finnish. He spoke French and couldn't seem understand my request for a WAFFLE. I JUST WANTED A WAFFLE.... I thought it would translate. He acted exactly as I would have imagine a French waiter acting (although I don't know where the idea I had was conjured up). He didn't make eye contact and was all about getting the job done as fast as possible. At first, I just thought everyone was rude, but after awhile, I realize that it was just their culture. It was like they didn't have time for courtesy. We felt like a lot of people in Bruge were kind of irritated by tourists; which I found pretty funny because it is such a touristy place. They were especially annoyed when we pulled out our VISA. Almost everywhere accepted VISA, but they did not want to take it and showed open annoyance at us for trying to pay this way.

We bought some of these little candies because they looked so interesting. I can't remember what they were called. They are basically a hard sugary shell with liquid sugar inside. I didn't love them, but they were fun to try.

This was waffle #3. The famous liege waffles. The entire trip was worth it for just a bite of this. It doesn't look like much, but trust me when I tell you that it is probably the best thing I have ever eaten. We went to a place called Bruge waffles and Frites in Provo a few weeks after we came home. They CLAIM to use the same ingredients and are able to duplicate a waffle made in Bruge. Not so. The place was good, and we wanted it to be the same, but it just wasn't. The sauces were especially different. They must use higher quality ingredients.

These are some picture from Copenhagen, Denmark. We went to the temple. It was closed the day we were there, so we were only able to see the outside. It was kind of interesting because it was in the middle of some apartment buildings; kind of hidden away. I am so used to seeing huge temples with a large area for the grounds. This was definitely not like that; much smaller and tucked away in the city. It was beautiful.

This is a castle we went to. It was really great (for the first hour or two). Our tour guide was very passionate about the history or her country and we saw more artifacts and heard more information about Denmark than most of the people living there having probably seen and heard. Fun for awhile, but we were ready to move on.

The highlight of Denmark was going to the church of our lady that holds the original Christus statue. I read an interesting article about the statue here: The Christus Legacy

I'm not sure if this picture needs a caption at all. It doesn't matter that you can't read what the breads are called. Pointing to what you want works just fine. I had something called a Pain Au Chocolat. It is basically a croissant with two big sticks of chocolate running through it. Yes, that's right. It was out of this world. The croissants and bread were so much different than I have ever tasted (and I used to work at a bakery). It must go back to the ingredients. I should mention, in light of this picture, that no one in Europe was obese. I'm sure there are some obese people there, but we didn't see anyone who was. Look at all these breads? How is that possible? I am going back to the ingredients...we have been duped in America. (And it doesn't hurt that everyone seems to ride their bike there).

Here are some pictures of Norway. I loved this huge door because it had a number 5 on it (and the number 5 is kind of big deal if you didn't know).

We went a Viking museum. It was interesting....not my favorite. It seemed like a lot of things we saw dealt with life and death. They bury people at Stonehenge. Some of the churches had a crypt underneath because they buried certain people beneath churches (which actually makes sense to me now. It wouldn't have made any sense before). The ships that were found had the remains and many "burial gifts" which they had on display. It was all intriguing, but I was a little done with all of the "burial practices" by the time we got to Norway. One too many reminders of burying people. It's a little different when you are thinking about your own child and not some old person that lived hundreds of years ago.