Weekend with Friends

In early August we had some friends from college (John and Brianne Holcomb) come to visit. While they were here we did alot of catching up and took them to see some of the local-ish attractions. Saturday morning we went to Brugge (I've posted pics of it before) and strolled around. There is a pic of Zane waiting patiently near the canal while we shopped at the antiques street market. Brianne is a pharmacist and found a new mortar and pestle of her collection. We visited the Cathedral again and had lunch. From there we went to Ghent. We had never been there before, so it was new for all of us. St. Micheal's Cathedral was beautiful and was unbelievably used for a horse stable during the French Revolution. Our main goal was to see the Castle of the Counts, which we finally found after wandering aimlessly for a bit. The castle was amazing and Logan was soooo happy to be able to get out of his "trolley" to explore it on his own. Zane found the weapons exhibit very interesting, but I honestly do not see how anyone could possibly lift this sword, much less fight with it. Logan enjoyed the view from the battlements where the archers protected the castle from. This guillotine was just outside the torture museum, which I found fascinating. I just don't know how they came up with the ideas to do those things to people!!! Zane also found the dungeons very fascinating. What gets me is that they even made their dungeons architecturally interesting, where you would expect them to be a square box???? After thoroughly examining the castle we stopped in the Grand Place for a bit before heading home. The next day we traveled to Tongeren to a large antiques market. Brianne found some Christmas presents and I found a very cool old mirror. My only concern is the fact that it weighs a ton and I'm afraid to hang it on my wall. I guess it may just have to sit on the mantle. It was great to spend some time with good friends again. We haven't gotten to see much of them in the years since we all left Stillwater.