This is Jason again providing the next installment of our trip (I promise only Paris is after this post). We continued on with my mission theme by visiting a few more of my cities. To do this we rented a car and headed to France. We first stopped off in Lille. My actual area was mainly Villeneuve d'Ascq but as there is not much to see there we checked out mainly downtown Lille as well as the chapel.

On the way to downtown Lille we stopped off to see the Gare de Lille. One of my favorite parts about France is the old stations. I think they are fun to watch people as they come and go. We walked around the center of town for a while and enjoyed the good weather!

We spent the afternoon eating baguette sandwiches and walking the streets.

 We stopped by my old chapel in Villeneuve D'Ascq on our way out of town. We made it to St. Omer, France by the late afternoon. St. Omer was probably my most favorite area during my mission. St. Omer is a small town in the countryside. We got around by bike and I was lucky to be there during the spring and summer when the town was beautiful and the weather was wonderful. Some of my best memories are here with Elder Smith and Elder Smith (Yes, I had two companions in a row with the last name Smith).

While there we picked up some French style Chinese food  (I wouldn't recommend it) and ate a bunch of delish pastries (not pictured but probably should be).

 We took a walk in my favorite park as well. We were surprised with a little rain but that didn't dampen our spirits.

On the way out of town to Paris we stopped off at a windmill overlooking the countryside. We took in our last gulps of fresh air before we went back to the city for our final stop! I loved being back in my mission. It was so much fun to speak French again and see the familiar sites and people.

Next stop: Paris!

Belgium!

Lets see if you can tell a difference in blogging style between Kasee and me (yes, Jason is writing a blog post for the first time in  2 years! Did you know that I am the one that started our family blog only to relinquish the reigns after 2 posts?) After Morocco we boarded the plane in Tangier and headed to Brussels, Belgium. Although we witnessed many differences between each place that we visited I found the airport security differences to be very interesting. Security in Morocco consisted of a metal detector at the door and one security guy that didn't seem to mind when it went off. Anyways on to Belgium.


You may ask why Belgium? I went on a church service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (www.mormon.org) to Belgium and north eastern France. What this means is I spent 2 years teaching people in French about our church as well as providing service for anyone in need. During the two years I agreed to not phone home (emails were ok), watch movies, date girls, or even stay up past 10:30 and sleep past 6:30 am. These rules were in place so I could focus 100% on missionary service and I loved it!


We were welcomed to Belgium by my good friend Patrick. Patrick and I met when I was in Namur, Belgium, my last stop before I went home. He would meet us for lunch every Friday and we developed a great friendship that has lasted over 5 years since I have returned home to the states.


With Patrick we went and visited Namur. I'll be honest, we didn't see or do anything too exciting to the average tourist but it was wonderful to be back walking the streets of my old cities and hearing the familiar French accents in each town. I was also able to see my old apartment located within the house of Madame Bourginogne. She was an angel at 89 years old. She loved taking care of us even if that included a scolding for not wearing warm enough clothes when it was cold outside. She passed away a few months after I left.

We also visited the Citadelle in Namur. It provided us with great views of the city!

We were lucky to be in Namur on market day. The market was full of clothes jewelry and delicious local produce. We also tried to local favorite "le cuberdon." It was a grapish chewy treat.

For lunch we got what I had been waiting 5 years for... Belgian frites. They were as good as I remembered. I made myself sick trying to eat all the fries that we bought but it was totally worth it! 

To finish the day with Patrick we stopped off in the small, quaint town of Dinant. It was fun to hang out with the Mrs. and with Patrick while exploring the streets of this little town. [The inventor of the saxophone was from Dinant]

The next day we said our goodbyes to Patrick and headed to Liege. Liege was my first city that i lived in during my two year stay. We spent the morning walking the streets and again revisiting the familiar memories of my mission. 

We couldn't leave Liege without eating at my favorite friterie. We shared a mitraillette: a large baguette topped with fried meat and tons of Belgian frites and then topped with your choice of delicious sauces. 

After Liege we headed over to Nivelles. We enjoyed a romantic walk through the park where I used to hang out on preparation days during my mission (this is the 1 day during the week where missionaries can do something besides missionary work). 

 We also checked out the local LDS chapel as well as my old apartment and downtown Nivelles.

We even lucked out and they were having a little carnival in the center of town. As a missionary I always wanted to participate so it was fun to be able to with Kasee. Kasee got a barbe a papa which is the term they use for cotton candy. 

 Barbe a papa directly translated means dad's beard which Kasee demonstrates in the picture below.

 After an evening of hanging out and eating we retired for night at our countryside hotel. To get there we followed our GPS. Our GPS, however, did not warn us that it would be taking us on a windy 1 lane road through the countryside to get there. Although it was nerve racking to taking blind curves for about 20 minutes we did see the beautiful countryside and arrived safely at our quaint little hotel.

Next stop: France!