The Most Expensive Free Trip Ever - TR Link is Up! Pg. 164

Okay......first of all beautiful area you visited.

The lady with the dimpled behind...hmmmm...I don't even know what to say, except lay her on her tummy and she'd make a nice seat cushion.

I obviously didn't know what to say either.

It's nice to reconnect with old friends.

It's not bad visiting an area especially if you know someone that knows the area well and can take you to the local places.

Yeah, it's a lot better if you can get off the tourist path and have a local show you around.

Burberry--next time you are in the UK pavilion go in the shops where they sell purfume. They have Burberry perfume for women. At least they did a few years ago when my roommate bought some.

Um, why are you telling me this? :confused3

The plaid was REALLY big out here 5-6 years ago. Not a fan, but I did know Burberry........I'm losing Man points left and right....

The only plaid I know of is spelled "Woolrich".
 
My goals are simple this evening:

1) Remember that leak worthy grocery order with cream cheese in it a couple months ago??? I finally made THE cheesecake. I WILL eat a piece clandestinely tonight- if I could just get the kids to bed!! Check. And it's feeling might goooooooood.

2) Read and respond to 2 of your updates on the $5 TR. Almost. Read, going to post now. Check.

3) Get the answer up for RD #11. I think all the guesses are in. Phew! Check.
 
thanks for sharing your trip! great pictures. i loved the architecture there....beautiful! and the museum pics were great, too. when we went to NYC last year i could have stayed at the MET all day just wandering around with my camera. :goodvibes i really want to get to europe someday. the furthest away i've been is hawaii and while that was really fun, i just love the REALLY OLD historical destinations and so does ray. we just haven't saved the money to go across the pond. we keep going to disney world instead! :laughing:
 


My goals are simple this evening:

1) Remember that leak worthy grocery order with cream cheese in it a couple months ago??? I finally made THE cheesecake. I WILL eat a piece clandestinely tonight- if I could just get the kids to bed!!
mmmmm...cheesecake...my favorite..

. we just haven't saved the money to go across the pond. we keep going to disney world instead! :laughing:

i seem to have the same problem....maybe if disney world closed for a year or 2 I'd make it somewhere else.
 
Leaving the mug on the bench was pretty funny. Who'da thunk it'd be the photographer. :rotfl2: I think it's a swell picture- really!

Bad coffee?? That's an understatement! It's vile, puke-inducing rot. I'd stay at a mod for the coffee machine alone.

Good stranger searching method you employed there, my friend! Just call out a name and if he looks back, you're good to go. Now, if he turns back and has the "walk a little faster, kids, I'm not sure he's working with the full tostada" look in his eyes, you can always shrug your shoulders; and be confident you're never going to see him again anyway. Glad it was Marvin; that might a been a little awkward. :lmao:

Glad you are a good DISer and can adjust on the go the plans. Clearly you needed to do just that going into the game after the whistle. I'd have had a MAJOR panic attack if I'd almost left a ticket on the machine. Such amazing composure! :thumbsup2 The word hyperventilation comes to mind.

Ummm... not to be rude, but is your DN having a good time? Just wondering. THe picture in front of PH he seems, I don't know, kinda aloof or something.

The picture of Judy and DSIL is perfect. They both look so radiant and lovely! To me it just screams "Perfect Disney Day".

149,000- Now I know my target score...

YOU are a FP Pro!! Keep 'em comin' as soon as you can get them!! So many make the mistake of waiting until they can get on the ride, and forget to look at the bottom time. Good touring, right there!

Question: The stone work arch just to the left of the ToT- is that the entrance to F!? Just wondering as I may need to know where this is in Sept.

Marlene's mouth is simple to explain on her RnRC launch: Her face is being squashed by about 40 G's of force, which shouldn't normally be experienced by human flesh. Good thing it's elastic, or she'd have to go to school like that in a few days.

ToT is my favorite in all of DHS. No, take that back it's tied with GMR. It's certainly NOT as bad as I thought it'd be, the drops are actually kind of fun! I'd take those any day over the teacups of hurl.
 
One more exciting episode of the Glennbo Family Trek to the World! Prime Time Cafe.

DN is looking like he's enjoying himself a little more- Phew! I thought I was going to have to come out there and show him my arm flab and knock some sense into him.

Glad they could take you guys early, hitting a show is important stuff, you know. :3dglasses

Portions look great except for James'. What a rip-off that was! Teensy weensy. If a kid has to actually share to get enough, then I'd say a complaint might be in order. And trust me, I'm the LAST person to ever do that. But sheesh, fill the kids up. :sad2:

TOO FunNy that Cousin whatever his name was (Joey?) looked under the food! :lmao: He must get that stunt a few times a shift. :rotfl2: Love it that he came back and gave him a hard time! Did DN play along okay?? Or was he too embarrassed to have fun with it? (can you tell, I"m hitting the link and not the chatter?)

So, would you go back? This place isn't even on my list. I can make great lunch meat sandwiches and meat loaf and pot roast here at home. I suppose we could even put on some Lucy episodes for ambiance and, heck, I'm always screaming at my kids for elbows and stuff. :confused3 Well, ok, not screaming- I don't scream, but I do uh-hmmm.... remind them often. ;)
 


Hey Glenn!

Loved the Belgium TR. Like yourself, the buttoned bum left me not knowing just what to say. The pictures were great though. It was interesting to see the building with all the flag poles on it. Looks like it would be pretty cool to see whenever they all had flags on them. Looking forward to more!
 
My goals are simple this evening:

1) Remember that leak worthy grocery order with cream cheese in it a couple months ago??? I finally made THE cheesecake. I WILL eat a piece clandestinely tonight- if I could just get the kids to bed!! Check. And it's feeling might goooooooood.

Clandestine night-time eats are the best. We used to eat ice cream pretty frequently after we put the kids to bed. Then one time Judy was in the grocery store with one of the kids and she said, "we need to get some ice cream". Whichever kid that was with her said, "I don't know why we always buy ice cream....we never eat it!"

:rolleyes:

I see from the comment you put in for "reason for editing" that the cheesecake must have been good!

2) Read and respond to 2 of your updates on the $5 TR. Almost. Read, going to post now. Check.

I see your questions/comments are posted. I'll respond in a little bit.

3) Get the answer up for RD #11. I think all the guesses are in. Phew! Check.

I'll have to get over there too then.

thanks for sharing your trip! great pictures. i loved the architecture there....beautiful! and the museum pics were great, too. when we went to NYC last year i could have stayed at the MET all day just wandering around with my camera. :goodvibes i really want to get to europe someday. the furthest away i've been is hawaii and while that was really fun, i just love the REALLY OLD historical destinations and so does ray. we just haven't saved the money to go across the pond. we keep going to disney world instead! :laughing:

You're welcome. More to come. I actually took the kids to some museums today. It was "free admission" day, so we hit 3 local museums in about 4 hours. They were crazy busy and I'm now exhausted.

We'd like to get back to Europe sometime too, just not sure when. Somebody posted a TR on here about a resort they visited in Italy using DVC points traded into Interval International. It looked fantastic and I thought I'd like to pursue it also someday. But last year DVC switched to using RCI for their trades and that resort is no longer on the list. :sad1:

i seem to have the same problem....maybe if disney world closed for a year or 2 I'd make it somewhere else.

Hey, we've got World Showcase, right?

I remember a Letterman Top Ten list back during the election that said Sarah Palin was going to bone-up on foreign policy by visiting every country's pavilion at Disney's Epcot.

Hey Glenn!

Loved the Belgium TR. Like yourself, the buttoned bum left me not knowing just what to say. The pictures were great though. It was interesting to see the building with all the flag poles on it. Looks like it would be pretty cool to see whenever they all had flags on them. Looking forward to more!

Thanks. Yes, I don't remember ever seeing that building with all the flags flying. That plaza was the Grote Markt, or Great Market (I think).

I should have put this in the TR, but it was originally written to my parents and they already know this story:
The statue is of some guy who saved everyone from a giant who had been terrorizing them. He cut off the giant's hand, and threw it into the river. That's what he's doing in the statue, throwing a hand. And, Antwerp means "hand throw". Ant = hand; werpen = throw. That's also why there's a hand statue that Judy was standing in front of.

Still lots more to come...day trip to Amsterdam, a little more Antwerp, and lots of Vienna.
 
Whoa! I'm off the boards for a day and look how much catching up I have to do!

Thanks for sharing about your trip to Belgium. The pictures are fantastic.

"Lucy & Ricki" :lmao: I Love Lucy?

How was the Stella? Any better tasting when it's consumed in Belgium? I'm curious about this....

Parasite from the boar? Yuck. Remind me not to snatch any squirrels for my next dinner

That ad is very...um... european? Full on bum exposure :laughing:
 
I love the Antwerp story, B must be such a character... Will do a proper response soon!

Just to All7ofus: the German word for meat on a skewer is Schaschlik! Now I know that it must come from your -stan's language!! :goodvibes
 
These comments relate to my "I Paid $5..." TR. If you haven't read it, what are you waiting for? The link's in my sig.

Leaving the mug on the bench was pretty funny. Who'da thunk it'd be the photographer. :rotfl2: I think it's a swell picture- really!

Oh, I liked it too, but then when I got home I saw that mug and thought, "boy, that was dumb!"

Bad coffee?? That's an understatement! It's vile, puke-inducing rot. I'd stay at a mod for the coffee machine alone.

If you buy a drink mug you can get tea bags free (but you usually have to ask for them). I started doing that rather than drinking that coffee-crud. Judy makes coffee in the room, but she only drinks de-caf. I want the real thing.

Good stranger searching method you employed there, my friend! Just call out a name and if he looks back, you're good to go. Now, if he turns back and has the "walk a little faster, kids, I'm not sure he's working with the full tostada" look in his eyes, you can always shrug your shoulders; and be confident you're never going to see him again anyway. Glad it was Marvin; that might a been a little awkward. :lmao:

I wasn't sure how I was going to find him, and then it hit me!

He pops in on this thread every so often. We'll probably hear from him soon.

Glad you are a good DISer and can adjust on the go the plans. Clearly you needed to do just that going into the game after the whistle. I'd have had a MAJOR panic attack if I'd almost left a ticket on the machine. Such amazing composure! :thumbsup2 The word hyperventilation comes to mind.

I would have been in a panic if I discovered I'd lost a ticket, but with the CM alerting me before I'd realized it, the issue was resolved before I realized I had an issue. (Wow, that's gotta be a major run-on sentence, but I think it works grammatically. Maybe you could have one of your kids diagram it for me?)

Ummm... not to be rude, but is your DN having a good time? Just wondering. THe picture in front of PH he seems, I don't know, kinda aloof or something.

Yeah, he was having a good time. That's just the way he is. He's not aloof, but I don't really know how to describe him. Mellow, maybe.

The picture of Judy and DSIL is perfect. They both look so radiant and lovely! To me it just screams "Perfect Disney Day".

Yes, it was nice. They don't get to see each other a lot.

149,000- Now I know my target score...

My high of the trip (you still have more to go) was 167,600. On jenbear123's Speed Walkin' TR, hers was 166,600....1,000 less than mine! :p

YOU are a FP Pro!! Keep 'em comin' as soon as you can get them!! So many make the mistake of waiting until they can get on the ride, and forget to look at the bottom time. Good touring, right there!

Oh yeah, you gotta work it baby. Learn the rules and work it.

Question: The stone work arch just to the left of the ToT- is that the entrance to F!? Just wondering as I may need to know where this is in Sept.

Yes, it's that stone arch, but it's actually to the right of ToT. Well, it's not as far down Sunset Blvd as ToT, and it's on the right. The dragon (from Sleeping Beauty, ie. Malificent) you can see on the billboard in the picture you're referring to is the sign for Fantasmic!.

Marlene's mouth is simple to explain on her RnRC launch: Her face is being squashed by about 40 G's of force, which shouldn't normally be experienced by human flesh. Good thing it's elastic, or she'd have to go to school like that in a few days.

My mom told me that if I made weird faces, my face would stay like that. Wish I'd listened.

ToT is my favorite in all of DHS. No, take that back it's tied with GMR. It's certainly NOT as bad as I thought it'd be, the drops are actually kind of fun! I'd take those any day over the teacups of hurl.

Yes, my imagination of what the ride was going to be was waaay worse than what it turned out to be.

One more exciting episode of the Glennbo Family Trek to the World! Prime Time Cafe.

DN is looking like he's enjoying himself a little more- Phew! I thought I was going to have to come out there and show him my arm flab and knock some sense into him.

I'm glad it didn't have to come to that.

Glad they could take you guys early, hitting a show is important stuff, you know. :3dglasses

We're on a schedule people! :hourglass

Portions look great except for James'. What a rip-off that was! Teensy weensy. If a kid has to actually share to get enough, then I'd say a complaint might be in order. And trust me, I'm the LAST person to ever do that. But sheesh, fill the kids up. :sad2:

I'm with ya. I mean, I realize he ordered off of the children's menu, but that was nowhere near enough food for him. Fortunately, as a table, we had enough to go around.

TOO FunNy that Cousin whatever his name was (Joey?) looked under the food! :lmao: He must get that stunt a few times a shift. :rotfl2: Love it that he came back and gave him a hard time! Did DN play along okay?? Or was he too embarrassed to have fun with it? (can you tell, I"m hitting the link and not the chatter?)

It was a RIOT that he found those greens. Yeah, DN pretty much played along.

So, would you go back? This place isn't even on my list. I can make great lunch meat sandwiches and meat loaf and pot roast here at home. I suppose we could even put on some Lucy episodes for ambiance and, heck, I'm always screaming at my kids for elbows and stuff. :confused3 Well, ok, not screaming- I don't scream, but I do uh-hmmm.... remind them often. ;)

Yeah, I'd go back, but it's not a "must do". This summer we're going to try Sci-Fi instead, because we've never been there.
 
Whoa! I'm off the boards for a day and look how much catching up I have to do!

Hey, I just mentioned you in my response to All7OfUs, and how you came so close to beating my Toy Story Mania score. :woohoo:

Thanks for sharing about your trip to Belgium. The pictures are fantastic.

"Lucy & Ricki" :lmao: I Love Lucy?

You're welcome, and thank you. Yes, on I Love Lucy they slept in separate beds because to do otherwise was too risque for TV in the 1950's.

How was the Stella? Any better tasting when it's consumed in Belgium? I'm curious about this....

I don't really know. I've bought them several times over here since then, but I'm not enough of a connoisseur to tell if it's any different. Sorry.

Parasite from the boar? Yuck. Remind me not to snatch any squirrels for my next dinner

Was that really a possibility?
surprised.gif


That ad is very...um... european? Full on bum exposure :laughing:

Yes. Imagine me visiting Europe when I was 14 1/2.
bigeyedsmilie.gif


I love the Antwerp story, B must be such a character... Will do a proper response soon!

Yes he is. Looking forward to your post.
 
We'd like to get back to Europe sometime too, just not sure when. Somebody posted a TR on here about a resort they visited in Italy using DVC points traded into Interval International. It looked fantastic and I thought I'd like to pursue it also someday. But last year DVC switched to using RCI for their trades and that resort is no longer on the list. :sad1:


I should have put this in the TR, but it was originally written to my parents and they already know this story:
The statue is of some guy who saved everyone from a giant who had been terrorizing them. He cut off the giant's hand, and threw it into the river. That's what he's doing in the statue, throwing a hand. And, Antwerp means "hand throw". Ant = hand; werpen = throw. That's also why there's a hand statue that Judy was standing in front of.

Still lots more to come...day trip to Amsterdam, a little more Antwerp, and lots of Vienna.

That is SUCH a fun factoid about the name Antwerp, I had no idea.

The non-Disney options are a big selling point for Jeff on DVC....one of these days! Carn plane

:rotfl:
 
That is SUCH a fun factoid about the name Antwerp, I had no idea.

The non-Disney options are a big selling point for Jeff on DVC....one of these days! Carn plane

:rotfl:

Some people on the DVC boards say that trading-out of DVC isn't as easy as the salespeople make it sound, but we've never tried yet, so I don't really know.

But Jeff is having such fun with his plane!

Ready for more flashback TR?
 
My high of the trip (you still have more to go) was 167,600. On jenbear123's Speed Walkin' TR, hers was 166,600....1,000 less than mine! :p

Okay mister. I'm totally whooping your butt come Feb! You asked for it :p

Hey, I just mentioned you in my response to All7OfUs, and how you came so close to beating my Toy Story Mania score. :woohoo:
I noticed.....

You're welcome, and thank you. Yes, on I Love Lucy they slept in separate beds because to do otherwise was too risque for TV in the 1950's.

My mom adores that show. I watched it growing up. I might understand more of the jokes now as I'm older. My favourite was the Vitameatavegamin. "Are you tired, rundown, wistless? Do you pop out of parties? Are you unpoopular?" :lmao::lmao: It's so tasty too!

I don't really know. I've bought them several times over here since then, but I'm not enough of a connoisseur to tell if it's any different. Sorry.

No worries. But you gotta work on that beer palate of yours.

Yes. Imagine me visiting Europe when I was 14 1/2.
bigeyedsmilie.gif


I can just imagine what a teenage boys' mind thought :rolleyes:
 
The next day B picked us up at 6:30 am and took us to the train station. We bought tickets and got on the train without difficulty.

Here’s a picture of a chocolate shop that I took in Antwerp before we got on the train.

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After a 2 ½ hour ride we were in Amsterdam. We arrived at about 10:00 am. We walked through the old part of Amsterdam and looked in shop windows, none were open yet. Amsterdam has beautiful canals running all through it, and lots of bridges. We walked to a Rembrandt museum but learned that it wouldn’t be open until April. Since we couldn’t wait that long, we thought we’d walk to the VanGogh museum. People in Europe call him “VanGuck”.

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Anyway, while in the train station I had nixed the idea of taking a boat tour – it sounded too cold, and today was a cold day. But Judy saw that the boats were enclosed, and saw a store that sold tickets. So, on an hour-long boat tour through the canals we went. It was good.

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“7 arches” if you look at the series of bridges.
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One thing I remember the guide pointing out was that all the houses have a hook at the top – the reason is because the doors and stairways are all very narrow so they move furniture in/out through the windows.

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After the boat ride we found an English pub for lunch, The Old Bell. Judy had fish and chips and I had an English pie with a coffee. Judy had hot chocolate; she had a lot of those on this Europe trip, just to keep warm. My English pie was kind of like a shepherd’s pie, but it was in an enclosed pastry crust.

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From there, we set out to find the VanGogh museum. You had to stay off of the bike paths or else you’d get run over. I’ve never seen so many bikes. Well, we walked and walked, and got cold, and then discovered that we had made a big circle and ended up near the Rembrandt house again. I think we got messed up by some directions from the waiter at the pub. At least that’s the story I’m going with.

You gotta love “Glenn’s Hardware”!
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It was cold, so we decided to just walk back to the train station and head back to Antwerp. We stopped in a few shops to try to find a charm for Judy’s bracelet, but didn’t find anything. The trains heading south to Belgium leave every hour at 20 minutes past the hour. We got to the platform just in time, but we were on 14A and our train was on 14B (or, it could have been the other way around.) We could see it boarding, so we started running. It was a little difficult for Judy after a long day of walking but we didn’t want to spend an hour hanging around the train station.

We got to Antwerp about 5:00 pm and stopped in a couple of stores to buy a hat for me and a scarf for Judy. We should have gotten them in Amsterdam because it was so cold. I told Judy that it was “Amsterdam cold” there. We should be able to get a lot of mileage out of that joke later, like: “it’s pretty cold, but it’s not Amsterdam cold.”

Link to next chapter
 
That chocolate shop is to DIE for. :eek:

Incredible with the hooks for furniture. Is there where all the grand pianos falling on people's head jokes come from?

Too bad it was so cold. I hope you still got to enjoy yourself.

Love the streets and bridges over the water. Such a different place.
 
I love the Antwerp story, B must be such a character... Will do a proper response soon!

Just to All7ofus: the German word for meat on a skewer is Schaschlik! Now I know that it must come from your -stan's language!! :goodvibes

I'm not sure, but actually "our" language MAY have stolen it from Russian. I just know that's what it's called all over the former CIS. :confused3 and the Russian speakers use it with a slightly different pronunciation.

Yes. Imagine me visiting Europe when I was 14 1/2.
bigeyedsmilie.gif

I went when I was 16. Remember VERY, very little. The wine was flowing free, and the cruise ship wasn't carding. Ummm.... stupid!!!! (Those were the "stupid days" Cherie and I were talking about last week.)
 
That chocolate shop is to DIE for. :eek:

The picture didn't fit with the text I had written, but I wedged the picture in because I knew you folks would like it.

Incredible with the hooks for furniture. Is there where all the grand pianos falling on people's head jokes come from?

Exactly! We saw a guy hoisting an anvil while we were there. j/k.

Too bad it was so cold. I hope you still got to enjoy yourself.

Love the streets and bridges over the water. Such a different place.

I guess that came across....wasn't sure I'd mentioned it enough. That picture where Judy is standing on a bridge, she was not happy with me. Oh, CYNTHIA....that would be a picture where we're not "glowing"! She was so cold, and I asked her to pose, and she was like, "Just take the stupid picture!"

But, yeah, isn't it interesting how Amsterdam looks so different from Antwerp? And Vienna will be much different too.
 

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