On Sunday we did what turned out to be our last load of laundry in Europe, as our flight home was scheduled to leave London the following Friday. We also took a trip to Bobber's office, where we got on the Internet, updated the web site and moved email in and out. Everything worked flawlessly, and most of you found a message from us sometime Sunday or Monday. Back at the house, we repacked our stuff and got a couple of packages together to ship home on a slow boat. On our way out of town Monday morning we spent some time at the post office getting our shipment on its way.

With four days left to travel and two "travel days" on our rail pass, we could visit one more place before heading back to London and our plane home. We planned to chill out for a couple of days in Belgium, using one travel day to get there and our last travel day to get to London on the Eurostar. To get to Brussels we needed to take the Rhine valley train from Freiburg back to Koln, then transfer to a Thalys train from Koln to Brussels. Reservations are mandatory for the Thalys train, and we also had to pay a supplemental fare for this "premium" train. We had to go through the ticket line to reserve those seats before we boarded our northbound train out of Freiburg.

We'll end week 8 and begin week 9 as we board our train from Freiburg to Koln on Monday, November 26. In a few days we'll tell you about how "premium" the Thalys and Eurostar really are; and we'll talk about our time in Brugges, Belgium, our last days in London, and the fiascoes of our return trip from Heathrow to Chicago. One thing we can say tonight, on our first night back in La Crosse, is that our first few days at home will teach us many more things about the lands we've been exploring for the last two months.

It's good to be home. Our last message in this series will tell you how we got here.
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Obbie and RoZ