Belgium - Brussels and Bruges!

Belgium! 

 

 

Our hotel was about a mile downhill (uphill back!) to the city center which made for a good walk each day hence the 32 floors and 17,000+ steps that day. 

 

Here we are on the way to the city center. 

In the interest of transparency, I'll just tell you that Caleb cried the whole way there that morning because he wanted to ride in the stroller.  Turns out 3 year olds are 3 year olds even in Belgium.  There was lots of drama over the stroller that weekend.  Lots of opportunities for character building for us all lol! 

 

On our walk, we found the most quaint little place to eat breakfast in.  Croissants, jam, hazelnut spread, eggs, and bacon and hot black tea. 

So wonderful (especially after our emotional and cold rainy walk there). 

Timothy also is in the little finger foods stage while still eating some purees to make sure he still gets enough food.  Its made restaurants soooo much better as he really could sit for about an hour eating little finger foods.

 

Some of the city

 

This is Caleb in the Grand Place - the old town square.  We forgot diapers and jackets and the first day it was rainy and cold so we bought this blue striped jacket for him. 

 

Without knowing it, we ate at the same restaurant in a different location on Sunday. 

Wonderful breakfast. 

On accident, I got the almond croissant.  Oh my - this is my new favorite pastry. 

It has some amazing almond yumminess inside and they have it here in Germany too at some of the pastry shops. 

 

Its hard to see in this picture, but this is the Manneken Pis which is exactly what it sounds like it is...a statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain.  Yes its actually one of the main attractions of Brussels.

 

Family pic in the Grand Place!

 

Next up...Italy!

Rothenburg ob de Tauber

This past weekend, we took our first overnight trip to Rothenburg ob de Tauber. 

It was a beautiful preserved old city with cobblestone streets, outdoor cafes, and a watchman's wall all the way around the city that you could walk.

We stayed in an adorable little old place called the Romantik Hotel.

 

 

Ben has been wearing Timothy in the Ergo carrier a lot on our little trips.  I'm glad they're getting a little bonding time since the sweet boy doesn't take bottles and therefore he and I are rarely separated.  

It gives me some time to walk around with just Caleb which I enjoy.

 

Walking on the wall - lots of stairs climbed that day. 

32 floors worth to be exact (according to FitBit).

Here, Caleb is pretending to be a soldier looking for the enemies!

 

We went to the Criminal Museum which was really gruesome and creepy.  Most of it went way over Caleb's head thank goodness but it was all about torture and punishment in the past of the city.

Not my favorite to say the least but maybe more of a guy thing?!

 

In the afternoon, Caleb, Timothy and I went back to the room to take a nap and Ben did some more exploring. 

This was glorious. 

It was wonderful to be stuck in the room with two sleeping boys having the really rough choice of taking a nap myself or reading. 

I did both and it was fabulous.

 

In the evening, starting at 8, there was a Watchman's tour in English. 

He had a great old timey accent and a sense of humor. 

He took us (and about 100 other Americans) around the city giving history and other interesting details. 

Towards the end as you can imagine, Caleb was uninterested so we stayed toward the back so he could walk around.  I met another mom there doing the same thing who actually is a mutual friend of one of the 3 friends I have here! 

God is so good to give me that encouragement and another potential friend. 

 

It was a gorgeous city that I would recommend to anyone!  This weekend, we are staying in Frankfurt and just being normal people.  Going to the mall for new work pants for Ben and maybe some Birkenstocks for me.  Eating in and finding some local fun maybe at a festival or the Palmengarten.  

Burg Eltz: Our First Castle!

This past weekend, we went to our first castle, Burg Eltz! 

We were all excited, Caleb especially. 

Funny because he's never been to a castle but just the thought of it was cause for excitement.

 

 

We had to hike a little under a mile up the hill to the castle.  It was a beautiful hike. 

Caleb is doing great just walking and keeping up with us {most of the time}.  In Germany, you see very few double strollers, unless you have twins. 

There's just really not space - on trains, buses, sidewalks, stores, etc.  So it's expected that the older kid just walks.  We got a single stroller with all-terrain wheels and its been working just fine. 

 

 

Look at that smile!  Also #batmanshirtforlife.



 

Inside the castle

 

We started in on a tour and then it was just too stressful to keep both boys quiet so Ben went through and I stayed and walked around and up and down with the boys. 

According to my fitbit, I walked 22 floors that day. 

It was a fun experience and we had lunch at the castle afterwards. 

Caleb has discovered Apfel Schorle which is a drink here that's half sparkling mineral water and half apple juice. 

It's become our special "big brother treat" to encourage good behavior or just to treat him. 

Afterwards we walked down and played in the river and skipped rocks.

On the way back up to the castle, Caleb walked in the bushes and got stung.  And he was tired and had only a short car nap.  Not a good combination.

I brushed the same one a little bit and it literally feels like a bee sting.  Just a few days before he had been stung by a wasp so it was a bad flashback and he was histerical! 

Ben carried him up the stairs to the castle screaming. It was quite the scene. 
 While we were checking out his legs (looked like small bites all over his calf), a nice English speaking family stopped and gave us some lotion. 
She saw my Aggie ring and turns out they are Aggies who live in Fredericksburg!  Ha!  Such a gift from God to give us some English speaking people to encourage us. 

 



 

A stop on the way back