Brussels, Bruges and Ghent

The Rousseaus arrived on the 15th, and we took them to the Natural History Museum to see their fantastic dinosaur exhibit. It was really neat, and the kids loved it, although Amelia got a little nervous toward the end. The kids had a great time playing with each other!
On Sunday, we made the trek to the Netherlands for the Sinterklaas parade (see the previous post). Then on Monday, we took them down to downtown Brussels and did some sightseeing (Ste. Catherine's cathedral, the Mannekin Pis, the Grand Place, the restaurants). We did a little shopping, a little chocolate tasting and a lot of walking. The kids loved riding on the Metro (Jack just kept repeating "choo choo ride.")

On Tuesday we drove to Ghent to see the castle and the churches. T.J. and I had a nice cappuccino while the Rousseaus toured the castle. I actually had 2 cappuccinos (when I find the opportunity, I take advantage of it!) and then went shopping (just a little!). We then headed toward Bruges, where we were staying in a castle for 2 nights.



The castle was really neat -- originally built around 1100-1200 but extensively rehabbed in the 1850s. Reportedly, Napoleon visited there twice. It was all very ornate with lots of old pictures and beautiful stained glass and painted ceilings. It was a really nice stay, and close enough to Bruges that it was a quick drive there for sightseeing and dinners.

We had a nice time walking around and seeing the sights, including one of the few Michelangelo statues outside of Italy. Everyone else took a horse and carriage ride around town, while I selfishly stayed behind to watch the strollers (and then immediately took off for the shopping district, stopping for a takeaway cappuccino along the way).

The girls had actually stopped earlier in H&M for a mini-shopping excursion. Amelia wanted a glittery Hello Kitty shirt, and then went berserk when she saw My Little Pony shirts as well. We also, of course, had to buy some glittery pink shoes to go with her new shirts. Jack got a white t-shirt, so as not to feel left out.

After our time in Bruges, we headed to Oostende, a coastal town on the North Sea. The kids got to play on the beach a little, and they had a ball, even though it was a little dark and cold.

The week went by really fast, and we were sad to see them leave. Now it's time to get ready for the holidays.

Just Different Enough...
My latest vents:

1. Bought new lights for the Christmas tree, because, of course, our old ones won't work here. Got three strands of 50 lights each. Opened up the package at home and found that instead of one long strand of 50 lights, it was a CIRCLE of 50 lights. So putting them on the tree was quite a challenge.

2. The kids had some gorgeous portrait pictures done at Jack's creche, and I was trying to order them last night. Of course, they don't have 8 x 10, 5 x 7, etc. Everything is just different enough that nothing fits into the frames that I have -- so now I have to buy all new frames.

And what I'm pleased with....

1. Christmas markets galore! So many, that I won't be able to attend all of them. So we're planning one Saturday in Germany, one in Brussels, one in Stockel -- and who knows where else. There are just too many to go to, but they all seem neat!

2. I found bagels in the grocery store today, and I heard that the British store sells Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Life is getting good. Seems like peanut butter, syrup, takeaway coffee and rice-a-roni are the few things I still can't find, so my list has definitely gotten shorter over the past year.

3. I LOVE riding my bike -- even in this cold, damp weather. It's been so nice to pick Jack up from creche on the bike, fill my basket with groceries and get some exercise. (Although the ride home is uphill, and that's always fun with a 12 kilo kid and groceries.)

So overall, life is great here. They're starting to decorate Stockel -- they just put up a giant Christmas tree and were stringing lights. But we're looking forward to our visit to the U.S.

Sinterklaas and Beaujolais

The Rousseaus just left from a weeklong visit with us. We all had a great time, and the kids especially loved having extra playmates.

Last weekend, we took a trip to Oosterhout, the Netherlands to welcome Sinterklaas to town. (For a little history of the tradition, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas). Everyone was lined up along the waterway, and Sinterklaas arrives by boat from Spain, with his Zwarte Pieten (men and women in blackface, if you can believe it) and his white horse, Americo. The men and women in blackface are because they are the ones who come down the chimney to deliver the gifts. There were even kids in the audience dressed in blackface! They gave all the kids horns, so there was quite a bit of noise.

We were a little far away, so it was hard for the kids to see him arrive, but they were excited. We were trying to explain the difference between Sinterklaas and Santa (since Sinterklaas will deliver presents to the kids on Dec. 6, while Santa will bring presents in the U.S.) It seemed easiest to just say they were brothers, especially because I think my explanation is already forgotten.



After he disembarked from the boat, a parade began. It was mostly his helpers at first, distributing oranges and cookies and candies. It was interesting to note that most goodies were unwrapped. Can you imagine letting your kids eating unwrapped food handed out at a parade in the US?.




The kids were excited to see Sinterklaas up close, but he went by really fast. It was a lot of fun to experience a new holiday tradition (even though it seemed really politically incorrect).

Beaujolais Nouveau
It's been a while since I had my beaujolais parties (before kids), but I still enjoy it. There were a TON of different bottles available when it was released on the 15th, and I snapped up quite a few (I now have more wine than I can ever drink, I think!). We went to a party at my French teacher's house for the release, and she had several wines and lots of fancy cheeses. It was great fun!

More to Come
There's more to come later this week about our trip with the Rousseaus. It's hard to blog after a week of traveling (even though they were short trips), but I'll try to do it in pieces....

Grocery Shopping at the Gas Station -- Who'da Thunk It?

Before I dive into today's post, I forgot to mention an unexpected sight on our Strasbourg adventure. As we were driving into Colmar, France, we came upon the main roundabout in town, and there -- smack in the middle -- was the Statue of Liberty. Turns out that Colmar is the birthplace of the fellow who designed and sculpted the statue. Pretty neat find.

So back to gas station shopping. Let me first preface this by saying that it is virtually impossible to do all your shopping at one store. No two stores carry the same thing, and availability is always in question.

For example, Amelia has been begging for blueberries for weeks now. I've searched everywhere but haven't found them. Then I randomly went to the corner produce market on Sunday, and found 3 lonely containers. Success! Of course, each little package (think small, flat box -- maybe one and a half handfulls of berries) was 4 euros ($5.50). Price starts to become little object when you're desperate (and no, there's no frozen blueberries).

And Monday, T.J. came down with the flu (or something) again, so Jack and I stopped by the gas station on our way to pick up Amelia. I needed gas anyway, and I was curious about the store inside, as it seemed pretty comprehensive (they actually had carts outside). So we go in, and walk immediately into a miniature produce aisle. Every bit of produce you might want -- including BLUEBERRIES! (Now, ask yourselves why a major grocery store can't carry blueberries, but the gas station minimart can...) They also had chocolate chip cookie dough, meat, wine in juice-box-sized containers -- the whole gamut. AND, they're open on Sundays. Hooray. What a wonderful find...


Shopping in the International Section
Went to Carrefour this morning for shopping, and they've added a new "International" aisle. This used to be just Old El Paso products and some Chinese food. Now they have Golden Griddle pancake syrup (there are only 3 stores that I've seen syrup in). A regular-sized grocery store bottle for 10 euros (14 bucks!). I will clearly be bringing syrup back with me on all my visits.

And now they have Oreos -- and chocolate covered oreos -- no-name brand Fritos and stuffing mix. Just a few little goodies from home, which is nice to see.

Lantern Parade
Amelia's school is having a St. Martins Lantern Parade tomorrow night. See here for a bit of the story: http://www.funsocialstudies.learninghaven.com/articles/stmartins.htm. They made paper lanterns on Monday, and they'll put candles in them for the parade, and we'll march around in the cold and the rain, and then the kids will eat cookies and cakes, and won't go to bed until late.

It really seems like a neat idea, weather permitting. We had gone to the African Museum on Sunday (mostly because it was actually open), and when we were leaving, we saw many families arriving with their lanterns. Apparently a German church was sponsoring a parade on the grounds of the museum (also the former summer home of the king).

The Sweet Taste of Starbucks
A few weeks ago, T.J. had a meeting in the Netherlands, not far from Aachen, Germany (the location of the nearest Starbucks!). The sweet man drove to Aachen after the meeting and got me two tasty drinks and brought them home to me. The best early Christmas present ever!!

It's Not Vacation Till Someone Gets Pinkeye

I'll leave you with that teaser for just a few minutes while I fill you all in on the week's happenings.

Jack followed up his tiny pee on the potty with a tiny poop on the potty the next day at creche. I haven't been able to replicate the miracles at home, but we're working on it.

On Thursday, we headed to Strasbourg for the long weekend. We stopped in Luxembourg City for lunch and had a nice Italian meal. We walked around a little bit, but since it was a holiday and we were on a mission, we didn't linger too much.





We went on to Strasbourg and checked into our hotel. We had asked for connecting rooms, but, as usual, we didn't get them. We had rooms across the hall from each other. T.J. won the draw for the solo room for the first two nights, and I was looking forward to having my solo night on our last day there. (Big lesson learned there.)

We got there late on Thursday, so we had time for dinner and then bed. The kids actually did great all sleeping in the same room, and I secretly enjoyed being able to go to bed at 8:30. And T.J. enjoyed being able to go out to pick up some beer and then watch TV on the computer that we brought along.

The kids woke up bright and early the next day. We got some pastries and juice and had breakfast back in the hotel. Then we went off in search of the Neunreiter legacy (our ancestors emigrated from Strasbourg around 1870).

We took our address of the mysterious Neunreiter business and set off Friday morning in search of it. We took a tram (Jack was very excited) just outside the city center and took a 5-minute walk. We found the street, then I realized I forgot the specific address number back at the hotel. But, luckily, it was a very short street.

We almost passed it. As we were walking by, I peeked around a corner into what looked like a pavement courtyard with a big garage. And on that big garage was Neunreiter, S.A. (or something like that -- I took a picture). So far as we could tell, the business operates out of a big garage. An eldery couple pulled in to the courtyard (parking lot? I dunno), and I used my best French to try to explain. From what I could gather from them, Neunreiter Industries isn't booming. I guess they're more of a distributor (or glass and ceramics) or something now, and there's not a Neunreiter in charge. She did give me the name and telephone number of the man who runs it (or something; French isn't so good). Apparently, someone isn't there on a regular basis. So my hopes of coming home with loads of Neunreiter-embossed goodies were in vain. I was pretty bummed to be coming away with only a picture of a placard on a garage. It was like getting a picture of a lemonade stand.

So we walked across the street to continue our journey, and I turned back from one last look. Then I noticed the giant entryway (that we had walked into, but hadn't really noticed) and saw that there was a big stone archway into which was carved "NEUNREITER." Now THAT was impressive.

The entryway was built in 1906, I believe. Pretty cool. So back in the day, they were obviously much bigger. The entryway was attached to the building next door, which is now office space for some other company.

So still not what I had hoped, but it was pretty neat.

No Neunreiters in the Strasbourg phone book, but I don't think that included suburbs. One day, I'll have to come on a nonholiday week and try to go to city hall and see if I can go through records....



It was pretty neat to think that we were walking in the same places that former Neunreiters had been walking a century or two ago.

We found another carnival, no surprise, so the kids loved the rides. And we got some wonderful crepes. We did some sightseeing and walked around the city and had a great time.

On Saturday, we took a drive down south towards Colmar, France and stopped at Mount St. Odile. On the way back, we took the Route du Vins highway through the vineyards and saw a million wineries. We stopped at one (we chose it only because it was one of the few we found open) and got some red and white wines.

On the drive back to Strasbourg, T.J. started coming down with the virulent 24-hour bug that attacks out of nowhere (chills, fever, aches), and Jack was starting to cough and was starting with a runny nose. I ended up taking the kids out solo Saturday night to a traditional Alsace restaurant (I had a tarte flambee and hot wine, which was great!). The staff didn't seem so happy to see me (an American with 2 little kids), but they were pleasant enough. Amelia was pleading for a teddy bear, but luckily, all the stores were closed by the time we were done with dinner.

So I obviously didn't get my solo night in the hotel room, with T.J. being sick, so I had a third night with the kids. They were funny to listen to -- they would talk with each other, and Amelia was trying to tell Jack stories.

We woke up Sunday to Jack with pinkeye (again!) and a really goopy nose and bad cough, poor kid. We drove back to Brussels without incident and were glad to be home.

Tuesday -- It's Spreading
So I took the kids to the doctor yesterday -- they were scheduled to get flu shots. But Jack started running a fever, so I knew he wouldn't get one. I took him in anyway, to get some drops for his eyes (and also ended up with drops for the nose, plus 2 different kinds of cough medicines). Amelia got her flu shot, and woke up this morning with mild pinkeye in one eye.

So I went without contacts today so I could put homeopathic drops in my eyes in hopes of avoiding it spreading to me.

Both kids stayed home from school (Jack is still running a high afternoon fever, but feels great!), and we made a carrot cake for a tea party. We walked down to the market in bright sunshine, but 1/2 way there, it clouded up. By the time we finished our shopping, the heavens opened up, and it was a long, wet walk back. I had brought a rain cover for the kids, so they were warm and dry. I, however, was drenched. Rain was pouring down my face, and Amelia was clamoring for me to tell her stories. Not a fun adventure.

Becoming Official
I got notice last week that I can go pick up my permanent residence card, meaning I can travel freely. The police are coming by for a final visit on Thursday, and that will clear the way for all the paperwork.

That about sums it up here. We're getting ready to celebrate St. Nicholas day -- Dec. 6, I think. That's when the Belgians do their big gift-giving for the children. It'll be a nice way to celebrate Christmas here and then do the holidays in the States. I don't think we'll be doing a traditional Thanksgiving, either. Not much in the way of turkeys, cranberries, stuffing, or the like.

We're missing sunlight desperately. Getting dark by 5, and still dark around 7. It's only going to get worse ....

Have a great week!