ELEVEN

 

At London Heathrow airport between two of her favorite things: Harry Potter and Giraffe. I got an English Breakfast but ran out of time to really enjoy it so I had to inhale it. Even inhaled, it was such a delight. 

2024 week eleven

Welcome to Brussels! First stop: Waffles. 

Next stop: Pastries.

In the metro with a full wall Tintin mural. 

Metro into the city. 

Very important stop: Frites. And then more frites. And then further frites. All the frites. 

Brussels.

Easter chocolates and displays were everywhere. 

After 20 years I am reunited with my beloved fricadelle and viandelle. 

Theo could NOT keep himself off the ground. I don't know what the pull of the Belgium soil was but he was constantly touching the ground. Apparently, he was just getting into the local spirit because two minutes after taking this photo we saw some local children playing in a literal pile of trash with parents looking on fondly. 

We went on a peeing statue tour of Brussels. Girl peeing. 

Boy peeing. 

Touch the statue for good luck. 

Graffiti street. 

Royal residences. 

Saturday morning croque Madame and cappuccino. I got to stretch my "ordering in French muscles" and accidentally ordered us each two pieces. 

The kids elected to got to church with the cousins while Matt and I toured the Atomium from the 1958 Worlds Fair in Brussels. 

Matt had his own religious experience in the light rooms. I had to pull him away from the lights and music. He was ready to dissociate into a meditative trance. 

Sunday afternoon in Ghent. 

If you look closely you can see Theo trying to sabotage every family photo. Too bad he's cute and his faces don't do much damage. 

Gravensteen castle tour.

Theo staring down the toilet hole. 

Ghent rooftop view from the battlements.

V beholding the torture chamber. 

The kids got helmets and weapons from the gift shop. As soon as we got back to the cousins house Theo shot me with a sharpened stick in the leg and drew blood. He lost his crossbow for the rest of the trip. Maybe he wouldn't have if he had said "I'm sorry" instead of "Why was Mama standing right in front of me while I was shooting?!"

The kids were so delighted with Belgian food. They got to eat at this rare local restaurant twice. Best vacation ever. 

After the kids were sated with McDonalds, we went to get croquettes and more frites. 

Goodnight Ghent. 

At a park with the cousins.

Indoor park to get all the wiggles out. 

V and T got to visit the cousins' school.

While the kids played with their cousins for two days, Matt and I headed up to Bruges. 

Climbing the Bell Tower. 

We got to hear the 27 tons of bells up close. 

Bruges from the top of the bell tower. 

The steps up were wild. 

Our hotel was the white one on the right. The wooden hotel to the left was the one Collin Ferrel jumped out of in the film In Bruges. We really enjoyed seeing all the film spots from one of our favorite films. 

Enjoying a local Trappist beer made by Belgian monks before our canal boat tour. 

The bell tower square. 

Moules frites and Carbonade Flamande. 

Breakfast in our beautiful hotel. 

On the kissy kissy bridge. Where Matt is not kissing me, but just trying to make me laugh. 

Gruuthuse Museum. The family made an addition to their palace so they could watch mass next door without having to leave their house. Original live streaming.  

At the Basilica of the Holy Blood where Matt and I got to see a phial of dried blood that is supposedly Christ's blood. 

The Easter chocolates were just stunning. 

At a bagel salon for lunch. The bagel was more similar to bread than bagel BUT the Moroccan spiced chicken and pickles on it were incredible! Hot earl grey tea with chocolate cake for dessert was superb. 

Beautiful handwriting. 

Matt got a waffle on a stick. 

On Wednesday we reunited with our kids for a tour of Aachen and Cologne. 

The ceiling of the foyer of Aachen Cathedral. We unfortunately didn't get to stay for the English tour and so we didn't get to see Charlemagne's tomb, but the Cathedral was incredible. 

So many of the castles and cathedrals took centuries to build. Charlemagne was on a tight schedule and finished his cathedral in 20 years. He scoured the earth for the greatest craftsmen and built this 1000+ year old monument to human engineering and craftsmanship. I was overwhelmed by the opulence. 

In the chapel of St. Nicholas. 

Aachen Cathedral in the background.

I had to stop in a tea shop and get some tea. There were so many tea shops in every town. Tea was more represented here than I knew. 

Bakery display.

V is very excited about her pretzel. 

I got a local specialty in Aachen called Printen. It is similar to a gingerbread with bits of candied ginger and anise seed with glazed almonds on top. Also we had the best coffee everywhere we went. Matt felt that the portions were too small for him, but it was the perfect amount for me. 

Theo's patron saint is St. Albertus Magnus. We got to go see his tomb in Cologne. 

St. Andrew's Cathedral where the tomb resides. 

St. George and the dragon was depicted everywhere. 

Lunch in Cologne. 

Inside Cologne Cathedral.

Front of Cologne Cathedral.

We had to give the kids a bit of a break and let them chase pigeons for a while in between sacred sites. A homeless man was trying to give them pointers for catching pigeons. He also kept calling Theo "Prince Harry." 

Cologne Cathedral was unbelievably large. 

St. Ursula Cathedral stained glass. 

The Golden Chamber at St. Ursula. The story of St. Ursula is that she was a Britannic princess who, with a group of 11, or 1,100, or 11,000 (depending on the version) was on a pilgrimage to Rome when they were slaughtered by Roman soldiers and buried in a mass grave. She is now the patron saint of archery. 

What we do know for sure is that this was a site of a Roman massacre of youths. The bones were used to make a mosaic in a side chapel. There are over 800 skulls and the bones of at least a 1,000 children in this room. 

You can touch the bones of St. Ursula and make a wish. 

Theo at a candy shop. 

The men and kids went to a fancy cheese shop while Melissa and I went to a local store called "Dille und Camille." It was like Magnolia Market meets Ikea meets a boutique store with all the beautiful household tools you never knew you needed. 

Our last day. On a train to Ypres with one of the cousins. 

We went to Ypres to take a tour of some WWI sites. Theo read a Hazardous Tales book about the trenches and has been very interested in it. When the tour guides saw the boys' enthusiasm, they decided to go off script and take us to various sites they thought the kids would be the most interested in. 

Our tour guide, Kim, was just awesome. She really kept the boys engaged the whole time. 

In a bunker. 

In a trench. 

Kim has made friends with some local farmers who find artifacts regularly in their fields. One has a barn full of his finds and she brought us there to touch some of what he has found. There are so many artifacts in the fields around Ypres that new things are found monthly. Bodies and ammunition are found so regularly that the farmers find them to be more of a nuisance than anything else. Much of the ammunition is still live, so there are still WWI casualties happening each year. 

At the largest allied cemetery in the world: Tyne Cot. 

We came home to a garden full of jewels. We had such an incredible trip, but it does always feel good to be home. 

Quotes

Theo

"When I grow up I want to be Asian."

Singing "Sushi every day. That's the way I play. That's the life for me -just eating sushi."

The seats in the cousins' van turn to face each other, "These seats would be good for fights."

During the trench tour "Is the gas poisonous or does it just smell really bad?"

Tour guide- "Have you ever smelled something so bad it made your eyes water?"

Theo -"My dad's farts."

Veronica

"We didn't have to walk around old buildings, we just got to do what we wanted to do -go to parks and play and eat McDonalds. Best day ever!"

Regarding her Tamagotchi but excellent life lesson, "If you give it too much love then it's unhappy."