The sisters came

Laura and Heidi visited for a three day weekend, and despite fighting colds and battling shifty weather, it was a success. Did the inevitable tour of Brugge on Saturday, and on Saturday night walked around downtown Brussels, following our ears wherever they led us during the annual Brussels Jazz Marathon. Sunday there was a 20k race, so after doing some walking around the Avenue Louise/Parc Royale area, we met some folks from our church near the finish line and greeted runners as they came in. Sunday night Lauri's parents came through, so we went out to eat with them and the girls finally got to try some authentic fruit beer. On Monday we did more walking as nothing was really open (it being a bank holiday here) but we did manage to eat an excellent Thai meal and buy some chocolate for them to take home. The whole weekend was about taking in the sights, tastes, and sounds of Brussels, as well as chatting and chilling. I miss them muchly but will see them when I go to London in July.

The last round of visitors comes this weekend in the form of my parents. We will, of course, do some sightseeing, but most importantly we are going to talk through some wedding details, and my mom is bringing me a dress that I will most likely end up wearing, provided it looks all right.

Westvleteren

We got Westvleteren! Here is the proof:

Westvleteren beer, considered by BeerAdvocate.com and RateBeer.com to be the most enjoyable beer in the world, is brewed at the Westvleteren Trappist Abbey in Flanders. Technically, you cannot get this beer unless you actually go to the abbey. But as we were leaving the town of Gent last Friday, we saw a sign in front of a small restaurant that advertised the beer, and mercifully they let us take a couple of bottles out. We were giddy all the way home. We bought the 8% and the recently introduced pale ale 6%. We're saving the pale ale for later. Yum!

On a totally different subject, I recently finished the Harry Potter series, and I wanted to post one of my predictions for the last book before it comes out in July. Snape will die to save Harry's life. I am not claiming whether this will be intentional or unintentional, but it will happen. Mark my words.