Normandy visit w/Grammy and Papa

A road trip to Normandy is something almost all expat families do while they are in Belgium. Knowing that Ted is such a history buff, we chose his visit for this trip. We loaded the car with things for the kids to do, food to eat, and put our bags in our new top of the car luggage rack. The family truckster was ready for the 5 hour drive, and the Griswold’s started yet another European Vacation. First real stop (not counting potty breaks) was in a town called Honfleur. It was my favorite town, and might even be my Sedona of Europe! Seaside, marina, lots of cafes/restaurants, old churches, and tons of charm. Kids’ favorite part was the double decker carousel.

Back in the car, we headed to Bayeux where they have a huge cathedral as well as the Bayeux tapestry. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of this amazing piece of embroidery, so you’ll have to check it out for yourself at: http://www.tapestry-bayeux.com/. It was definitely impressive.

Our bed and breakfast was in a town outside of Bayeux called Balleroy. We were the only people there for both nights which was very nice. Each morning we had a lovely breakfast of fresh fruit, yogurt from a local farmer, soft boiled eggs, and pastries.

Friday morning we began our tour of Normandy with our private tour guide, Bertrand. We started looking at different tanks located in Bayeux, including the Sherman. We then headed to the Germany military cemetery, which interestingly enough, used to be an American cemetery. From there we went to St. Mere Eglise where the first parachuters were dropped on the D-day invasion. We visited the US Airborne Museum here, which was of particular interest to Ted as he was in the 82nd Airborne division during his Army tenure. From there we headed to Utah beach, where Lindsey decided it was nap time. I stayed in the van with her while the others had a history lesson beach side. Nicholas played in the sand and was oblivious that learning was going on. :) Back in the van again we headed to Pont du Hoc. This was a strategically important station for the Germans, as they could see both Omaha and Utah beaches, and could reach them effectively with their long range guns. It was evident from the massive bomb craters that remain today that US and Allied forces understood the importance as well. Several bunkers, guns, and other evidence of the war remained. The kids thoroughly enjoyed running around here (again oblivious to the history behind it all). It goes without saying that watching the kids play on the same beach where so many armed forces men and women made the ultimate sacrifice can give you a new appreciation of the freedoms we have. I don’t think we’ve ever taken it for granted, but we can also never give thanks enough. Next stop was Omaha Beach and this time the kids and I played in the sand for a bit. Quick pit stop at a nearby souvenir shop for Nicholas to pick out an Army helicopter/jeep Lego set from Grammy and Papa and then we were off to our final destination, the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. This is no small place (over 172 acres). Our entire tour with Bertrand lasted from 9:30 am until 6:00 pm with lunch in the van. It was a long, but very interesting, informative day.

Saturday at 10 am we headed back into Bayeux to buy a few more souvenirs and then we were off to Rouen, France. This city was much bigger than we had anticipated and by this point we were all pretty exhausted (including a huge crying fit in the car from Lindsey who wanted to sit next to daddy who was driving). We ate lunch, walked around and saw their enormous and impressive cathedral and got back in the car. By 7 pm we were back in Belgium and it felt good to be home! Nicholas got right to work putting together his Lego project with Paul and Ted. :)

Unfortunately, Sunday was the last day of Grammy and Papa’s visit. They left the house at 8 am, and we rested all day. Even Mother Nature was sad they left as the weather was overcast and gloomy (complete opposite from the other days they were in town). We’re already looking forward to their next visit over here and hope to take them to Italy . . .

Belgium visit with Grammy and Papa

Grammy and Papa visit Belgium!

We just had a great visit with Ted and Rochelle this past week! (Ted’s first visit to us and Rochelle’s second.) They arrived on a Sunday morning and after a quick breakfast at the house, we were off to the Waterloo market. It’s a small local weekly market with varieties of fruit, veggies, bread, meats, cheeses, flowers, etc. We picked out meals for a few nights and were happy with our purchases. That afternoon we started our history lessons and went to the Butte du Lion in Waterloo.

A brief summary: The 'Butte du Lion de Waterloo' or mound of the lion of Waterloo, is a war monument to commemorate the famous battle that occurred June 18th, 1815. The French troops of Napoléon Bonaparte fought against an mixture of 'allied' troupes, essentially representing the rest of Europe. The most popular of the leaders were the english Duke of Wellington and the Prussian General Blucher. The memorial was erected by the King of the Netherlands on the spot where it is believed his son, the Prince of Orange, was wounded. The Lion on the top of the hill is the symbol of the Netherlands coat of arms, and it’s paw on a round sphere symbolizes the global nature of the victory. For additional information, go listen to the Abba song :-)

The next day we were off to Bruges via train. We enjoyed walking around the quintessential town and took a horse drawn carriage ride as well. Tuesday was a morning of rest and then Paul and his parents walked around the main street in Waterloo and did some shopping. Wednesday he took them into Brussels while I took the kids to our local pool. Perfect plans for all of us! Thursday we headed to Normandy which is a slide show in itself as you may have already seen. :)

All in all it was a perfect mixture of doing things in Belgium and allowing the grandparents quality time with the kids.

My 3rd European soccer game in Europe?

Taking advantage of our central European location, I decided to head up to Amsterdam to watch Holland play last Sunday in their 3rd World Cup Final, and first in 32 years . A quick 90 minute drive got me just a 30 minute train ride from Amsterdam Central station. Although a short train ride, it might have been the loudest 30 minutes I have ever experienced with all of the vuvuzela’s being blown. It was ridiculous. A 20 minute walk from there, and I had arrived at the Museumplein (Museum Square), where >100,000 Dutch fans gathered to watch the game (which was actually being played in South Africa).

Forget the passport, you needed some orange clothing to get into the country on Sunday. For those with more limited closets, I saw creative body paint, life jackets, and highly reflective orange jumpsuits doing the trick.

I arrived just before 3pm, a full 5 and 1/2 hours before kickoff, and the party had already started. The front “half” of the square was already packed, and they weren’t letting anyone else in. The second half was well on its way, and a quick walk through told me it wasn’t the right place for me to watch the game. Plenty of singing, dancing, and general happiness until around 6pm, when the party “officially” started. This, of course, is when the beer tents opened! Local radio personalities started talking over the loudspeaker, and really got the crowd going with some local / national songs that literally had 100,000+ fans screaming, clapping, and waving their hands in unison.

The most impressive moment occurred at 8:30pm, when immediately after kickoff the aforementioned 100,000+ fans who had spent the last 5+ hours partying, singing, screaming, and dancing, immediately turned extremely, quiet, deadly serious, and intensely focused on the game. I left the park at halftime, and worked my way through multiple pubs as I headed back towards the station to catch my return train. For those who didn’t catch the game, Spain scored with only 4 minutes left in overtime, leaving the Dutch with no excuse to miss work Monday.

Stockholm and cruise

Stockholm

We fell in love with Stockholm! I am sure summer is a perfect time to visit with the sun shining, breezes blowing, and the flowers in bloom. A winter visit might make me change my mind with piles of snow everywhere and about 5 hours of daylight (not sunshine, but daylight!). Stockholm is a bunch of islands/peninsulas that are surrounded by water. Cruise ships come right into downtown and dock so in the summer it’s full of tourists. The city has a great vibe to it with lots of cultural things to do, plenty of parks, great museums for adults and kids, and many historical sights.

One place we all loved was the Vasa Museum. It’s actually an embarrassing story for Sweden that they’ve turned into a national treasure. It took almost 2 years to build this impressive ship and on her maiden voyage in 1628, she sunk right off the harbor. In 1956, an explorer found the ship preserved in the water only 300 meters from where it sank (not sure they were really looking for it that hard!) and in 1961, the Vasa was recovered and work began to restore the ship to its former glory. For 17 years, they sprayed the ship with a chemical compound that replaces the water in waterlogged wood to prevent shrinkage and cracking. The museum opened in 1990. Their website is full of information if you want to learn more: http://www.vasamuseet.se/en/

While we were in Stockholm, we were also able to take a short boat ride through the archipelagos to another island and also visit a place called Junibracken (tribute to the author of the Pippi Longstocking series). We stayed with Swedish friends that we have met here in Belgium and were able to see two different parts of Stockholm through them as one lives in the country, and the other more of a suburb. Paul and I got time alone to explore the old town, Gamla Stan, and enjoyed drinking a beer on a floating bar/restaurant. Knowing that we have friends there, it’s a place I would love to revisit if possible. :)

Cruise

Our friends, the Diehl’s, suggested we all take a short 4 night Royal Caribbean cruise this summer leaving from Stockholm with ports in Tallinn, Estonia and St. Petersburg, Russia. It was a great vacation! The length of the cruise was perfect for our family, although the ports weren’t very interesting to the kids. A typical day was to get up and have breakfast from the buffet in the Windjammer. We’d then leave the ship for some sightseeing (took a Hop-on Hop-off bus around Tallinn and a walking tour around St. Petersburg), back to the ship for lunch and swimming. Nicholas and Jason would then spend some time at the climbing wall. They loved it there and were actually quite good at it. Then time to shower and change for dinner. Our wait staff was great with the kids and attentive to their needs. The kids also spent time in the kids’ club and one night stayed through dinner on a special pirate themed evening.

We had amazing weather with high’s in the 80’s and rarely a cloud in the sky, which we are so grateful for. Especially since St. Petersburg gets only 60 days of sunshine a year! (Clearly we won’t be moving there anytime soon!) One night the adults felt like kids again as we played BINGO after dinner with people two to four times our age. Brian and Danielle won $184 so it was well worth our $16 investment. :) One night Paul and Brian went out after the kids fell asleep and another night Danielle and I did the same. Summertime is known as the white nights because the sun doesn’t set until 11:30. It rises at 3:30, so we were very pleased to have interior rooms without windows! All in all, it was a great, relaxing vacation!