We left for Brussels on the afternoon of July 14th. It's about a 4 hour drive. We popped in a movie for the girls. They share a pair of headphones so it's really quite funny. Bruce made some calls and then I helped him get through some emails while enjoying the beautiful German countryside. It is spectacularly lush here. Vineyards climb up the mountains and there are tons of different kinds of cows. They seem to hang with their own kind. We passed one field and it must have had about 6 or 7 different breeds of cows. One group all had black bums and then black heads but their middle sections were a ring of white. I've never seen anything like it.
We stayed in the Grand Sablon area of Brussels. It's a beautiful area. Littered with antique shops and cool little cafes and not far from Grand Place.
Once arriving in Brussels and checking out our fantastic hotel. We had two funky rooms across the hall from eachother! Can you say kids room!!! Yeah!! We made sure we hit all the tourist highlights. We rubbed the bronze lady's arm for good luck. I made Olivia do it a couple of times. We saw Manneken Pis. Really after those two and Grand Place you can tick Brussels off your list. Don't worry we had waffles later!
The highlight of our stay in Brussels was dinner both nights with Taylor Imrie (Taylor is David's son, David is Bruce's 'Big Brother') Taylor has been in Europe since mid-May and has had a hell of a time! The poor guy has been mugged not once, but twice. If he hadn't told us the story you would never have known the trip had been anything but a ragging sucess! Then on the second night he took us out for dessert and there was something going on a few tables away, but trying to figure out what people are saying when they want you to understand them is hard enough... Anyways all of the sudden the two men have taken it to the street and then I'm not sure what happened but my eyes were stinging and I was choking on a peppery taste, I looked around and it was affecting everyone sitting on the patio. One of the guys had Pepper sprayed the other guy!!!!! Seriously if my tombstone doesn't say never a dull moment I'm gonna be pissed!
It was so great to see Taylor! He is such a good guy. Shannon and Olivia were so happy to see their 'cousin'! Watching Taylor and the girls walk through the crowded streets of Brussels hand in hand is one of those pictures in my mind that I will hold close to heart for a long time.
After dinner the first night, we went to a favorite restaurant of Bruce's, he has recommended to many of friends and collegues visiting Brussels. My Dad may remember it too! Anyways we meandered over to Grand Place and they were doing this light and sound show, it was amazing! In the months that we lived in Brussels before we never saw anything like that, Shannon thought it went on every night and really wanted to come back the next night to see it! 10pm time to get the kiddles, and their parents to bed!
Bruce headed off to work the next morning and the girls and I hit Brussels. First stop for waffles and chocolate milkshakes! This really is Shannon's town! Olivia was absolutley fasinated by Manneken Pis. We literally spent most of the afternoon trying to find the PERFECT Manneken Pis souvenior! I really wanted to take them to the Parc du Bruxelles but they were just too tired. We opted for a couple of hours back in the hotel room watching a movie. They watched a movie, I'm reading 'The book of Negros', it is fantastic!
As we are packing up to go to Amsterdam Shannon realizes that her Pooh B. is gone! We rip both rooms apart, obviously it's in the car, right? Wrong! This truly the hardest thing that has happened since we've been here. We talked to the hotel staff.The only thing anyone can think of is that he got caught in the bedding and went to the laundry. We left our name and contact info with them, I've emailed them since our return. We haven't heard anything. It chokes me up just writing about it. Shannon has sucked it up this whole trip. She always finds the ray of sunshine in a situation and this has devastated her. She is having trouble sleeping... Pooh B. if you're out there, come home!
There is a disney store in Florence and Shannon said if her Pooh B. doesn't make it back she'll try and fake it with a new Pooh Bear.
Oh yea, Shannon got Birkenstocks!!! Bruce scored a couple of ties and some new cufflinks and a Lagiole corkscrew!!! The buying corkscrew was one of those great shopping experiences where I now know more about corkscrews than I ever thought possible. I love people who enjoy what they do like that! We went back to see Manneken Pis one last time and he was dressed! I've never seen him dressed before. He had on little blue EU pj's! Tuesday is a big day in Belgium, the King will be in a parade through the streets... Manneken Pis gets dressed up for special occasions!
I got some cool scarves. Scarves are huge here. Leggings with short dresses are everywhere, jeans are still a staple, the skirts with the bubble hem are huge! Woman here really accessorize too! It's all about the belt, scarf... One thing Taylor noticed that I missed, not a pair of yoga pants or a hoody in sight!
All right everyone off to Amsterdam!
The old fashion windmills are so cool. You can really feel the landscape change as you get closer to the Netherlands. Our hotel, which cost less per night than our crappy lunch in Paris is a little out of the way shall we say! The one room we are all staying in is consideralably smaller than the girls room in Brussels! Olivia and I end up on loveseat hide-a-bed sort of deal. The hotel is under renovation so parking is limited, none of the vending machines are working, and only 2 or the 4 elevators are working. The second morning we end up leading a convoy of people, none of whom speak English down the stairs (from the 9th floor) to second floor then Bruce finds another staircase, out the back of the hotel and around to the front for breakfast! Crazy! Shannon tried her 1st boiled egg here!
We arrived in Amsterdam late afternoon and Bruce had a brilliant idea. We went and say the new Harry Potter movie at this beautiful art deco movie theater in downtown Amsterdam. Bruce and I each enjoyed a beer while watching the movie, you gotta love that! In this theater there are assigned seats. I don't know if it is specific to that theater or a European thing. Cool though! I can not emphasize enough how beautiful the theater was!
The upside to the tiny room was that Bruce turned into Shannon's cuddle toy for the night. That helped dull the pain of Pooh B.s absense.
Saturday July 18, 2009. We did the Van Gogh museum, a canal ride and Anne Frank's house with pancakes for lunch! It amazes me how much the girls enjoy the museums. They each got posters of Van Gogh prints for their room at home. Toronto home that is! The canal ride was okay. I'm still looking for a tour that beats the Hop on Hop off bus in London! Everything has paled in comparison since!
We've been so lucky so far with line ups. No line up at the Louvre, on a long weekend Saturday in July, no line up at the Van Gogh museum (the Rijks museum had a huge line-up) and I happened across buying tickets on line for Anne Franks house that get you past the really, really long line up there!
What an amazing experience the Anne Frank museum is. There is a photograph of Otto Frank looking at the empty rooms, it is haunting me. We bought copy of the diary and then a book that talks about everything going around that time. It helps gives you some perspective to the situation. The one of the saddest things about the exhibit for me was a video of one of Anne's childhood friends who talks about being reunited with Anne on either sides of a barbed wire fence. She speaks of how Anne died only a month before the war ended, having lsot her sister and all hope that either of her parents had survived. Very sad.
Now we approach the hardest part of the day. Everyone is tired and hungry and we need to find a restaurant! To say that the girls have embraced European cuisine would be a bold faced lie! Olivia at this point is surviving on bread and coke and Shannon is just hungry all the time even though she has been pretty good about trying stuff! Only problem is she tries a tiny bite, says it's good and then doesn't eat anymore! I don't know what happened or exactly when it happened but something happened!
Bruce put his foot down and insisted on decent restaurant. Olivia ate her first hamburger ever and Shannon ate this disgusting thing called a coquette. I think it's deep fried pate! Seriously! Shannon ate that, the whole thing! Really! She has tried bratwurst, weiener schnitzel. The tide has turned.
Now we head home to Germany... After all this driving and a nine hour drive to Florence just a few days away Bruce is really talking about me driving standard again, I'm talking about trading this car in for an automatic car!!! Can our marriage survive another driving lesson? that is the question!
Yes it can!
Bruce wonders how far I can get in first gear?! I can definitely make it to the train station and that will get the girls and I to Mainz. I don't need to get any farther than that!!!
It's Sunday evening in Germany and not a store is open in sight, all we've got in the kitchen are fruit flies so we are off to another restaurant! Bruce takes us to this little German restaurant in Mainz. He is very hopeful, me, not so much. He order weiner schintzel for the girls and... THEY LOVE IT! It's the closet thing to a chicken finger Olivia is likely to get!
Another driving lesson is scheduled for tonight. Last night Bruce tried to go to second gear, but I said not on the first date!!!!!
We're off to Florence and points in between at the crack of dawn on Wednesday! Keep those emails coming, they are my lifeline.
Love to all!
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