Belgium - Days 1 and 2

Left for Belgium on Friday, May 24th. Arrived safely and went straight to Tatiana's surprise bachelorette party. Met some of her lovely friends. 

Went to get drinks, driving around the beautiful city. I love Europe!! The old buildings. The cathedrals. The history. 

Tatiana's house is actually quite large for a Belgian house. Downstairs with a dining/living room and kitchen. Then 3 bedrooms upstairs. And a loft bedroom. I'm in the loft. The only time it's hard is when it's dark and I need to use the restroom and I have to go down the ladder in the dark. And it squeaks. 

View from the loft - aka my bedroom

They only have one bathroom for the whole family. That's very typical here. 

I haven't taken many photos yet. My phone was dead yesterday and I just now charged it and I forgot my camera. 

Yesterday we went to church in the morning. The closest ward is 45 minutes away. It's an English/French ward. There is a US base close by. So there are tons of Americans in the ward. They have someone translate for sacrament meeting, and everyone wears these earphones so they can understand the talk.

The three languages in Belgium are French, Dutch and German. Most people speak Dutch and learn French. But the ward is in the French part of Belgium. 

After church we drove to Luxembourg. It was beautiful. Everything is so green and lovely. 

Tatiana lives in the country. So it's lush green rolling hills everywhere we to and gorgeous cottages. And cows. 

It's so fun to spend this time with Tatiana before she gets married. I'm so happy she's found such an amazing man to marry. He's so good to her and a righteous priesthood holder. 

It's so funny we are getting married so close to each other. It's made it fun, being able to relate to one another. With our hopes and fears and anxieties and all that. 

Today we drove a bit. I've seen so much of this area because everywhere you go it takes so much time to drive. I spent the afternoon working on wedding decorations with Tatiana's best friend Anna. She's awesome. We all walked to this outdoor cafe where I had -  a BELGIAN WAFFLE! Couldn't come all the way to Belgium and not have a waffle. It had chocolate sauce and ice-cream. Amazing!!! The chocolate and sweets here are amazing. 

Then we went to try on her wedding dress and pick it up. It's gorgeous. We stopped on the way home and got Belgian fries and meats. SO GOOD!!!! 

And now it's already 10:45. The days go so quickly. 

I'm enraptured with Belgium. The scenery, food, people. All of it!

I'm grateful for this opportunity to travel and to be with a close friend on her wedding. I'm grateful for time away from work (which has been very stressful lately) for time away from wedding planning for myself. For a chance for Trevor and I to miss each other. The longest we've been apart is I think 3 days. I'm missing him more than I expected to so soon. 

We're going to Brugge  tomorrow morning early. I'm excited. Then France later this week and hopefully the Netherlands as well. 

Love 

Brittney