My First Watery Wednesday!

I thought this picture was appropriate for my first "Watery Wednesday"

I hope I'm not getting in to deep!

A Morning Walk In Oostende

After watching the victory game of Club Brugge last night we drove to Oostende to spend the night. Oostende is the largest coastal town in Belgium.

Our plan today (Nov 1) is to take a walk along the beach before heading back over to Brugge to spend the day. We are staying at Hotel die Prince and it is right in front of the beach! We of course have a room with a view of the lower roof and the rooms across from us. Not the view we were hoping for, but a view none the less. After we have breakfast in the hotel we bundle up to prepare for our walk.

I was so excited to see the waves of the North Sea rolling in as we stepped out the front door of our hotel! It is a day with no sunshine, grey skies, and a light wind. But that's not stopping me, I see a Lighthouse up ahead!

As we continue to walk we see an open air fresh fish market and must stop in to have a look. And what better place to get the catch of the day then from a market on the beach!


Now if you're not into fresh fish you could certainly get yourself some prepared seafood dishes or some dried fish that is hanging from the canopies of the kiosks that line the waterfront.

We made our way to the Mercator Marina and got a close up look of the "Mercator Ship"


The Mercator was built in 1931 and was used by the Belgian Navy until 1960. Now it is a floating museum and tours are available, but we chose to save this for another day and continue our walk through the shopping street while making our way back to our hotel.

I just love the shopping streets of Europe! These are streets where no vehicles are allowed! They are also a shopaholics dream. Walking along cobblestone streets passing stores selling clothing, housewares, flowers, chocolates, pastries! And no shopping street is complete without the "Golden Arches"!

You know the day is going to be a great one when you can start with a walk on the beach!

Next stop, Brugge.

You can see more pictures of our walk by going to "Where's Debbie" and click on the album "Oostende"

There's a Lighthouse at Byron Bay!

The great thing about home exchanging is that you meet some really wonderful people that are always happy to share information with you about where they live. They love to give you tips on the best places to eat, which typically are not in any travel book. And they love to tell you what "must see" places you should visit.

Helen has certainly made my trip to Australia an unforgettable one! With all that she has to do to prepare for her 9 week trip to Europe, during dinner last night she can't help herself but to offer to take Sharon and I to Byron Bay!

Why I'm I so excited about this little excursion today? There is a Lighthouse there people! And for those of you who have been following this blog and reading about my travels, know very well how excited I can get about a Lighthouse.

What a beautiful drive to Byron Bay which is about an hours drive south of Surfer's Paradise on the Pacific Highway.

Helen decided that it would be great to see the Lighthouse from a distance first. What a great idea! And apparently this is also a great spot to wake up in the morning and brush your teeth.

Okay, I'm ready to get closer to that Lighthouse you see in the background of the picture above. Helen dropped Sharon and I off at a lower parking lot of the Lighthouse so that we could enjoy the views as we walked up to the Lighthouse.


Helen opted to drive around to the other side and walk the trail up from there and meet us at the top.
The Cape Byron Lighthouse was built in 1901 and stands 22 meters (approx. 72 feet) tall and has the most powerful light in the Southern Hemisphere.
After taking pictures from every possible angle, we decided to take a closer look at the little cottages that you can rent. We then came across someone selling ice cream and decided it's time for an ice cream cone! Mmmmm, nothing better than fresh mango ice cream on a hot day walking around a Lighthouse.....life is good!

It's time to start taking the trail down the other side. On the way down I am breathless by the views of the ocean, the coastline, the Lighthouse! And then to top all this off, the trail takes us to the "Most Easterly Point of the Australian Mainland".

Well I say "Let's get down there so we can say we stood on the most easterly point of the Australian Mainland!"

As we continued walking along the beach to get to where Helen had parked the car we came upon some surfing competition.


We make it to the car but Sharon and I decide to continue to walk along the path that will lead us to where Helen will once again meet us. It's time for some lunch now and we decide on a great little restaurant, The Byron Bay Cafe which is located right on the beach. So you know what this means....lunch outside on the deck!

As we were enjoying our lunch we noticed that a triathlon was taking place just a few yards down the beach.

The time has come when we have to start thinking about heading back to Surfer's. So we decide to take a little walk through the streets of Byron first and check out some of the sites. It was pretty exciting to see "The Beach Hotel". Why? Because it is owned by Paul Hogan, you know "Crocodile Dundee"!

Now the next thing we come across might not seem to exciting but I have never heard of an organic donut. So you know I had to try one!

This was such a great day and we will never forget all the amazing sites that we saw today. The Lighthouse, the most Easterly point of the Australian Mainland, surfing competition, a triathlon and Crocodile Dundee's hotel.
 

If you would like to see more pictures of our day just go to "Where's Debbie" and click on the album "Byron Bay"

A Day at the Races

It's March 11th and this has been an absolutely amazing day. After spending all day on the beach yesterday, we decide to give the beaches a break today and experience a day at the race track. No not Daytona, but the Orange Park Kennel Club Greyhound Race Track.

Neither Stijn or I have experienced Greyhound racing before, so we thought it would be something fun to see and do a little betting while we're at it. Neither one of us had a clue how to place a bet but the staff there was exceptionally helpful and friendly.

So now we have a race book and the 4th race of the day is about to start. We looked over the eight dogs we had to choose from and made our selections for the bets. Sad to say neither one of us won on this race. But it seemed as the day went on we were becoming a little more savvy, or maybe lucky, on picking our dogs. The 6th race I made a Show, Place, Win bet on "Where's Flythang" for $6.00 and ended up winning $15.00!

This is my winning dog.

The next race I won $4.60. I then used these winnings for my next bet (and Stijn's) and ended up winning another $13.60! Okay, I'm loving greyhound racing! The eighth race found both of us picking the wrong dogs, but the ninth race we picked up the winnings again with Stijn winning $4.00 and me winning $3.00. We decided that the tenth race would be our last wager of the day.

Well now I have a theory that I am going to use regarding my betting. There is a dog listed named "Wheres Santiago". This is a sign ! Why? Well remember that I won a race with "Where's Flythang" and if you have been following this blog you know that you can see all my pictures at "Wheres Debbie". You got it! So I bet $6.00 on "Where's Santiago" for Show, Place, Win........and he comes in 1st Place!!!! I won $39.60!!!!

Dinner was great tonight at the Aqua Grill compliments of "Where's Santiago"! This was a great restaurant located in the Sawgrass Village located just across the street from our home exchange location. We sat outside on the deck overlooking the water while we enjoyed our dinner. We started out with some Fried Green Tomatoes along with a glass of wine for me and a beer for Stijn. For the main course Stijn ordered Seafood Jambalaya with rice. This was an amazing rendition of jambalaya with little neck clams still in the shell, fresh fish, chicken and andouille sausage all simmered in a spicy New Orleans red sauce. I had the basil seared Salmon and egg fettuccine tossed with jumbo shrimp, peas and sun dried tomatoes in a pink vodka sauce.

A great way to end a day at the track!

If you would like to see more pictures of the races just go to Wheres Debbie then click on the album "A Day at the Races"

Blue Spring State Park Florida

I am in heaven being so close to so many beaches here in Florida. In fact on Saturday and Sunday we just explored a couple of beaches and just enjoyed our days taking walks and lying out working on our tan's. Well I worked on my tan and Stijn worked hard at not burning. I think our favorite was the beach at Guana Reserve just about 15 minutes south on A1A. We spent most of the day here and enjoyed finding sharks teeth again like we did this past October in Venice Florida while on a home exchange.

So today, March 9, we are all rested up and ready to do some more exploring. We went to Blue Spring State Park which was about a 2 hour drive to the south. We again decided to take the A1A for obvious reasons, until we had to take the I4 inland to Orange City. The A1A of course took us through St. Augustine where I could see a Lighthouse in the distance and also a sign that there was going to be a Seafood Festival the weekend of March 14th. See why it's good "NOT" to travel along the Interstate. You miss little things like this. So we will definitely be coming back here.

The reason we picked Blue Spring State Park as something we wanted to see while in Flordia was because this is a designated Manatee Refuge to the growing population of the West Indian Manatees. They come here to escape the cooler waters of the St. Johns River between November and March. Blue Spring is an artesian spring and the water is at a constant 68 degrees. And you can rent canoes!

We pay $5.00 to park and set out to walk through the Park on it's elevated boardwalks along the spring waters in hopes of seeing some manatees. We saw some beautiful scenery, but no manatees. So we decide it's time to rent our canoe and paddle out onto the St. Johns River.

It is only $10.00 for the first hour to rent a canoe, so after paying we walk down to the shore line, pick out our canoe and start paddling. We were given a map with some suggested routes to take while we are enjoying this perfectly sunny day on the water.

We first explore a lagoon just to the left of us and as soon as we enter the lagoon Stijn is spotting alligators along the banks. Camera in hand I start snapping pictures. Then up ahead Stijn spots a couple of alligators in the water. More pictures! He's not real excited by the idea that we're not moving while I'm taking pictures and we are in the middle of a lagoon with alligators all around.

Yes, this is a picture of the front of our canoe with an alligator just ahead of us. "Keep paddling" Stijn says with an anxious yet firm tone.

We paddle back out onto the St. Johns River and here we see a few more alligators and some turtles sunning themselves on fallen trees along the banks.

Now we head into an area that is going to take us through a loop and here we see more alligators, turtles and birds. We pass a house boat and wave to the people on board. They inform us that there are a couple of manatees in the area and that we should keep an eye out and maybe we would see one. They also pointed out that there is a "Huge" alligator just ahead of us crossing the water. Cool! After paddling a little further down we can hear the people on the house boat telling us that there is a manatee about 40 yards behind our canoe and he is coming straight towards us. We turn to take a look and we could see the wake of the manatee coming straight in our direction. As he approached our canoe he circled around us and we could see him just below the surface of the water. Magnificent! Then he stopped just behind Stijn, lifted his head out of the water, took a look at us and then re-submerged and swam away. This was the most amazing thing I have ever seen!

Up ahead we did see Mr. Big along the shore to our right and he was "Big"!

Satisfied with all we were able to see, we decide it's time to head back and turn in our canoe. Afterwards we take a little walk over to see the Thursby house which was built in 1872 by Louis Thursby and is a nice little museum that is free with some history on the area along with some artifacts.

This has been an amazing day and I will never forget the experience and the feelings I felt when I saw my first manatee.

If you would like to see more pictures of our day please go to Where's Debbie and click on the album "Blue Spring State Park"

Europe In 30 Days - Deauville and Honfluer France

On our way to Honfluer our route takes us through the seaside town of Deauville and we decide that we must stop here and take a walk on the beach. The street we park on is lined with beautiful Victorian style homes facing the ocean. I must say this is the widest beach I have ever seen and It's my understanding that you probably still wouldn't be able to find a spot to lay out during the hectic 100-day summer season here. Deauville is a playground of resorts, casinos, watersports, sunshine, shopping, horse racing and sandy beaches backed by wooded hills. So lucky for us we are here in January bundled up and enjoying the solitude that is rare in Deauville.

As we come into Honfluer the sun is just setting and as we drive past the picturesque harbour "Le Vieux Bassin", lights from the restaurants circling the harbour are reflecting off of the water. We find our hotel which is the Ibis Hotel once again. This is a very inexpensive chain of hotels throughout Europe, however they are not short on room size or amenities. In fact we have another great view. It's not the ocean mind you but it is beautiful!

We start our day walking around the harbour on cobbled streets and past half-timbered or slate-fronted buildings, popping in and out of little shops. I even find a great little vase with an etching of Honfluer.

Of course I am taking pictures of every one of these great buildings on our way to a lighthouse we spotted in the distance. Gotta have a picture of that to add to my collection.

Normandy is one of the few regions in France that does not produce wine, so what does one have when in Normandy? They have Calvados. Calvados is a cider brandy with many subtle variations. So the greatest find of the day was when we stumbled upon a little shop selling all types of Calvados.

And then there was that great little sign "Degustation Gratuite", that's free samples! So we try a few ranging from very smooth to a "I can't swallow this stuff, I think I'll buy one for my son-in-law". So I buy a smoother apertif for me and a stronger digestif for Sid, along with some others that Stijn purchased also.

Well sadley it is time to head back to Brussels. Our week in France has come to an end and I can't believe all the wonderful places we were able to visit while on this trip thanks to a home exchange in Provence and to Stijn for my wonderful birthday gift of Brittany and Normandy.

You can go to Where's Debbie to see the pictures of Deauville and Honfluer.

Home Exchanging

Check my blog often to see where my next home exchange has taken me. Maybe somewhere you have heard of, and maybe not. See pictures and get my favorite picks for sites, restaurants, pubs, routes, beaches, etc.
I promise you this will be exciting and you are gonna want to pack your bags and go!