So the weekend goes fine, after presents, on saturday we had my housefreezing party. All the greek gang and Onno, was fun playing music of the eighties and drink agua de Valencia… On Sunday, we went to a chinese restaurant and at night, also out… burning the last days in Utrecht!!

On train, 3h30min from Utrecht, we arrived into Bruges. It’s a charming town, as people said, and very pretty (people said also of Köln, but it’s not true!!). We stayed in a youth hostel, in a tiny apartment room, and was nice, and also had a skylight window!! I put my bed underneath and watched the stars (ok, not so much to do, only Aldebaran and the Moon). With the morninglight we went to stroll. Arrived to the Grote Markt, with the Kerstmarket there, and I iceskated for 1h while my friend Sandra climbed the Tower. The previous night we went in the Kerstmarkt drinking glüwein and warme chocomel met Baileys en slagroom… delicious!!! ,and  also went to the next door youth hostel bar to listen some jazz, wasn’t a good idea walk more in the freezing cold. That morning we went for pannekoeken for lunch, and made a little route while eating chocolates (with every frozen gust of wind,we took a chocolate… (oh! divine!!!). Walk on the Begijnhof (Begines covent) and one of the canals before going to the station for the next train to Brussels.

We arrived into Brussels at 17h, and roaming around Central-Noord to find our hotel, we arrived there at six. The hotel was fantastic, cool decoration and we had a room big as an apartment, 2 storeys, 2 toilets, wow… We went with all the greek gang for Dinner to Comocomo, in Beurs, to eat basque tapas (the idea wasn’t mine), and after to a bar nearby. Arrived to the hotel and took another drink on the fancy and supertrendy lounge, and go to sleep in our marvellous room.

At the morning, went walking downtown to breakfast in a plein close to Beurs, and roaming from the huge Kerstmarkt again and (no time for iceskating) bought our stuff (i got a nice necklace and the pendant is a sundial with a dragon), and eat something in a dark restaurant ,waking in the Grote Markt, with the light and sound Xmas display, quite cool, in Beurs, go to see the Manneken Pis and to the station again where all people left but me, still went to Sacre Coeur Eglise and to see the Atomium. In three hours I was again in Utrecht. Now only thinking on the next party…. housefreezing-Xmas one!

Ten minutes before starting our Sinterklaas party on Thursday 4th, i checked the email and saw that I have had the short-stay for going to Japan 3 months!! Wow… after that, the party was quite good, with all the fun of the poems, weird wrappings and mojitos, … Sinterklaas also gave me a nice poem, a tiny light and a pair of wooden clogs!!!

On Friday we went to celebrate the good news to a heavy-metal-hardcore Sinterklaas concert in Zeist, close to Utrecht. A colleague (actually, an ex-colleague) from the Institute played with his band, called Grindpad …and was fun!!   http://www.peppel-zeist.nl/

On Sunday, today, still celebrating Japan with my friend Terhi in the sushibar…we ate so much sushi and sesame icecream!! And i just realized, taking to her, that the excellent ‘glog’ in Stockholm is not made with wine… but with blackcurrant juice! that’s the reason i liked so much….