On first arrival to Belgium, I have to say, I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’m in Liege. Which Lonely planet claims you either love it or hate it. I use to trust my Lonely Planet book like some sort of religious scripture. This was one of my downfalls. Their books are a decent guideline, but then you realize they never say anything bad about any where. They are always positive about everything. I mean, being positive is good. But I’ve gone to some museums - or other points of interest - suggested by Lonely Planet and they totally were lame. I think someone needs to write a guide book where they recommend places to go and places to avoid. I guess I could do it, but I’m lazy. Anyway LP is OK, but I realize I should only take ideas from it and not do everything they say.

Back to Liege. I don’t love it or hate it. It’s not bad. Some interesting sites. The highlight of Liege was actually going on a day trip to Spa and checking out some natural springs. Also, going to the sauna for a couple hours was nice too. The steam in the steam room tasted like mint. As well, I had my first waffle in Spa. I was walking back to the train station when I came across a small bakery. I found out a little old lady – looked to be about 70 - was running it once I went inside. She spoke a little English and helped me pick out some waffles. I ended up getting rhubarb and apple. She also gave me some free pastry as well as a gift. For this reason, I’d recommend you go to Spa.

Bruges is mental. There are so many people (read as tourists) there. I understand they made a conscience decision to become this. So naturally you find nearly everything is overpriced. The city is amazingly beautiful and, as LP tells me, a touch fake. However, I had a hard time telling what was supposed to be fake and what was actually really medieval. So, I was pleased. Fighting with the crowds is never fun, but I’m one of them, so I cannot complain… too much.

Gent (Ghent or Gand or Ghentd or Gaunt, etc.) is sort of like Bruges with a medieval old town. However, it is commonly missed by tourists, which is something I love. I did arrive on a Sunday during a massive parade and the streets were packed with people. And, if they weren’t packed with people, they were blocked off for the parade. I was worried this would last my entire stay, but once Monday rolled around, it was a lot more comfortable. I highly recommend Gent. But in July, they have a massive festival, so if you want to avoid the crowds don’t go then. Oh I almost forgot. Gent, and Belgium in general, is infested with cyclists. However, cobble-stoned roads with tram tracks in them plus rain equal disaster for cyclists. I witnessed two painful crashes. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt, but lots of people have those little seats for their babies on their bikes and it just made me cringe everytime I saw one. Luckily, no babies were involved in the accidents I witnessed.

Antwerp is supposed to be one of the fashion capitals of Europe, but not on the same level as Paris. I don’t particularly follow fashion, so I honestly don’t care. Antwerp is just OK. I mean, it’s got some cool sights – the Cathedral is quite nice and they have the oldest skyscraper in continental Europe – but it’s just not as nice as a place like Gent or Bruges, but I would say it is nicer than Liege. It is one of Belgium’s big 3 – Antwerp, Bruges and Brussels – but I haven’t been to Brussels yet, so I can’t really criticize it properly. It’s worth a visit, but 3 nights to me seems a little bit excessive.

I won’t be back in Belgium until after I do a tour of The Netherlands. At which point I will need to be in Brussels to catch a train to London. So this post will continue later when I return.

Luxembourg City is a great city. I wish I could spend more time in the country to see the other towns, but I decided to spend more of my time in Belgium. To be completely honest, I didn’t realize that Luxembourg was bigger than just one city. It’s a small country – 3rd smallest in Europe – but not as small I thought apparently.

L-city is very 3 dimensional. They should have packaged 3d glasses. After a long 3 days of walking throughout the city, my legs were killing me with he number of hills I had to climb. It is worth exploring every valley and hill you can climb though for some great scenery hidden away throughout the city.

I’m not updated as often as I use to. I’m not really surprised. As much as I want people to be up-to-date. Doing this is becoming too much of a chore. Anyway, I’m going to sum it up.

Kolding, Denmark (Aug 30 to Sept 1)

• Quiet town. Not much going on except on Friday and Saturday nights.
• Went to the beach and got sun burnt.
• Took a bus to Billund to check out Legoland.

Skagen, Denmark (Sept 1 to Sept 3)

• Walked to where the seas meet.
• Not much else to do. Just relaxed and read.

Århus, Denmark (Sept 3 to Sept 6)

• Århus Festival was on. Checked out some live music.
• Walked around the harbor area.
• Generally explored the city.

Hamburg, Germany (Sept 6 to Sept 9)

• Explored all the touristy locations that interested me.
• There was a bicycle race in the city which generally obstructed everything. Seemed like everyone was wearing gold medals after. I didn’t get one though. Jerks.
• Drank beer.

Dusseldorf, Germany (Sept 9 to Sept 12)

• Drank more beer. It’s still not as good as it was in Munich.
• Searched many book shops trying to find books in English that I actually want to read.
• Checked out the modern district, shopping street, and old town.

I know it’s not much, but it’s the basics of what I’ve been up to.