Hello Bugabooers! Here's the plan.

I leave on Thursday, March 9, flying from Chicago into Brussels. Shortly after landing, I will eat a waffle.

My first official stop will be in Tervuren where I'll ShapeSnatch the bonobos at the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Then it's back to Brussels to see some Neandertals at the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. These will be the first original Neandertal fossils I'll have ever seen, so I'll try not to geek-out too badly in front of any Belgian. (I'll save it for this blog.) The next stop will be the Université de Liège to see the Engis 2 Neandertal.

At the end of March I head to Munich where I'll see some Upper Pleistocene human fossils at the Institut für Anthropologie und Humangenetik. After Munich, it's off to Turin and Ventimiglia, Italy, to see more Neandertals and Upper Pleistocene fossils. After Italy I'll head over to Spain around the third week of April, where I'll get to use all the helpful Spanish that Martin has taught me (chupa mi huevos?), and see a H. antecessor fossil at the Museo de Burgos.

I hope to get up to the Natural History Museum in London at the end of April/early May. If that doesn't work out, then I may try to head back to Germany and visit the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn and/or the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Stuttgart. Have Eurail pass, will travel.

Or, if I'm running out of money, I'll just come home early. (There are still other museums in the US to visit.)

I'll have internet access for the majority of the trip, so I'll try to post updates and pictures when I can. If any of you have been to any of these places, please pass along any advice on what I shouldn't miss while I'm there!

So wish me (and my Shapecam) good luck!