The Events of Thursday, June 9, 2011

                “Good-bye London!” Abby dramatically wailed as we pulled out of our parking spot. Good-bye English-speaking, friendly people, good-bye familiar words, foods, and stores, good-bye lovely accents, and good-bye dramatic skies behind the silhouette of Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. We left our house in the suburbs of London ten minutes before nine. And drove through the city one last time, seeing the last double-decker bus, the last vintage taxi car, the last tube stop. As we passed out of the city, we saw our last glimpses of the delicious English countryside. Driving on the left side of the road, we had our last taste of crazy British drivers. But, even though Britain did have some negative aspects, it has been my utmost favorite part of this trip so far.

                As we were running a bit early, we took a detour and went to see the White Cliffs of Dover before going to our ferry dock. From the Visitor’s Center, we could see the Castle of Dover sitting majestically on top of the cliffs. We took a walk down a short path to a gorgeous view of the chalky White Cliffs of Dover. The alpine flowers waved wildly in the wind making it impossible to photograph their brilliant colors. We took a few pictures of the spectacular views and harbor and headed back to our car and rode on to the ferry dock.

                At the passport and ticket windows, they began by speaking French (probably because they noticed our car’s French license plate). We were taken aback, after being spoiled for the last month with English-speaking people. However, once we handed them our American passports, they switched to English and we were able to communicate clearly. We were on the ferry in no time at all and soon were out of our car and searching for seats in the lobby of the ferry. We claimed the only cushioned seats within view for our own and were comfortably reading, listening to music, working on the laptop, and chatting amongst ourselves as the ferry pulled away from the dock.

                Mom went out with my camera to take some pictures of the picturesque White Cliffs of Dover and the harbor. The boat briskly skimmed the beautiful blue waters of the English Channel. The gorgeous blue sky, accented with soft streaks of white clouds, passed over our heads. What a beautiful day today is! Mom passed out a picnic lunch and we ate a pretty regular lunch. Then, we each immersed ourselves in our individual activities. This ferry ride was our cheapest yet, but unlike some of our more expensive ones, it came with WiFi. So, we sent off some last minute e-mails, updated our website, and researched for the countries coming up, as we will not have internet for the next week!

                Time flies by when you are having fun and before we knew it, we were back in our car, pulling out of the ferry onto the dock in Dunkirk, France. For the first time in weeks we were back to driving on the RIGHT side of the road. We still needed to exchange our pounds into Euros, so we started looking for a bank. As we approached the larger part of the city, we parked and Daddy and I got out of the car. We inquired at a nearby TI (they spoke fairly good English) and they gave us directions to a post office they knew would help us. The directions were very clear, but obviously not clear enough to us. Daddy and I reached the end of their directions and there was no post office in sight.

                So, we ducked into a chocolate candy shop. The workers here did not speak English, so I looked up some words in my French book. “La Poste?” I inquired. The worker responded, “Ah, la poste!” Then, she took us outside and delivered a spiel of French that, although I know some French, made almost no sense to me. I caught a couple words and by paying close attention to her hand motions, we eventually figured out where it was in reference to our destination. Off we went, and sure enough, there it was.

                While we waited in line, I helped Daddy memorize how to say, “A money exchange,” in French. The “post office” was part bank and part postal services. When it was finally our turn, we communicated, as clearly as we could, our situation and what we wanted. The lady’s English was sufficient enough for us and after spending about a half hour of confusion, we headed back to the car, mission accomplished.

                About an hour later, we passed into Belgium, the land of waffles and chocolate. Now, we were in Ben’s hands, as he is a tour guide for Belgium. We listened to a Rick Steves’ Podcast about this small country and within a half hour, were unloading our luggage into our new apartment. This landlord and his three-year-old daughter, Valentine, were there to greet us. The apartment was definitely our cheapest and it is quite true that you get what you pay for, so we just dealt with the situation and settled in as well as we could.

                The furniture was dusty and worn. In the small and dirty fridge, I found eggs and cream that read, “Best By: June 2009.” Ugh. The flat was themed beach and they pretty much stuck with their theme to such an extent that at times it painfully clashed. But, it was a roof over our heads, so … “in all things give thanks!”

                Mommy made us a tasty spaghetti, meatballs, and corn dinner (after washing a few dishes). We ate this while listening to some of the jazz CDs that Daddy purchased (as someone was playing some repetitive, throbbing rock music nearby). For dessert, we finished off our baklava from Costco and some mini mint chocolate treats. Then, Daddy and Ben headed out to look for groceries while the rest of us cleaned up dinner. They were back within 15 minutes. Everything was closed. So, we relaxed for the rest of the evening. While Caitlin and I were reading on one of the couches together, it suddenly creaked and then collapsed to the ground. With a scream, Caitlin and I fell back with it and then bounced out as fast as we could. We fixed it to the best of our abilities, only to have it fall apart again within five minutes. So, we avoided that couch like the plague, before heading to bed at nine o’clock

                Caitlin and I were sharing a futon, so we went to make it up. The only sheets that we could find were two small toddler bed covers, so we put on of these on each half. Then, the only cover was the comforter which covers the couch that everyone had been sitting on all day. So, we found a cover for that and we shoved it in (even though the case was too small for the comforter). Our pillows consisted of two wool blankets covered with two pillowcases. Even though it was still light outside, we tried to be grateful and dreamed and hoped of better accommodations, perhaps for another day.