When we were posted to The Hague in the Netherlands, my friend and I would take the train to Antwerp that had a quilt shop with an ad advertising it as the largest quilt shop in Europe! We so enjoyed the two hour train ride, enjoying a good cup of coffee. We could walk to the quilt shop where we discovered this lady used to live in the States. She had brought most of her fabrics, quilt tops, threads, etc. with her when she moved to Belgium. Her prices were much more expensive than in the States so we didn't buy much, because we could order from the States. However, this lady was a wonderful person who enjoyed all the Americans who crammed into her shop. It was a small shop by our standards, and it made us realize how much space our own stores have. I found twenty quilt squares, pinned together, that were handmade by a church group in Tennessee. Need I write that I bought them, so their story is that they crossed the "Big Pond" twice--going to Belgium and then returning home to America. By the way, after shopping, we would hit the wonderful cafes to get fruit beers and Belgian Waffles. Then on to the wonderful chocolate stores. Finally, we would be zigzagging our way to the train station where the conductor had gotten used to the two strangely funny American women, so he would yell out in Dutch "Hurry or you two will have to spend the night in Antwerp!" I agree that we had the best of both worlds. :lol: