Park Spoor Noord

Today, we headed out to the new water park in the northern section of town. It has 2 very shallow splash pools and a great sand playground. It is free and just opened this past June.

The area around the splash pools was set up with fabric sling chairs and large lounging pillows. There were cool tables for picnicing or for the restuarant. There was a bar and a DJ playing music! It was great!

Normandy

I think the kids will formally protest if we try to put them in the car again anytime soon.

We drove just about 1000 miles over 3 days when we went to Normandy, France. The car ride there took about 8 hours with holiday traffic. We had done our homework before we left by watching The Longest Day and were ready to see it all.

We stayed in Bayeux and shortly after arriving, we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry. It was really amazing to see and hear the story behind each panel. Unfortunutley, they did not allow us to take pictures. We had dinner in town and crashed for the night.

Sunday morning, we headed out to Omaha Beach. The beach is marked with 2 memorials. It does not need much else, it is really moving just to be there knowing that 3500 Americans lost their lives there.

Afterwards, we drove up the hill to the American Military Cemetary. It is in a beautiful location overlooking the beach.

In the afternoon, we went to Mont St Michel. It almost looked like a mirage as we were approaching. The first building on the island was a church almost 1300 years ago. Over time, the church was expanded and houses and businesses were built. During low tide, you can walk all of the way around it. A causeway was built in 1879. We thought it was funny that while in the parking lot, our GPS showed that we were in the middle of the water.

Monday we set off to see more D-Day sites. Our first stop was Arromanches where there are over 140 cement caissons that form a semi circle in the water to form a harbor to offload equipment.

We then went to Longues-Sur-Mer to see the German cement bunkers along the coast. Our next stop was Point du Hoc. We were anxious to see the cliffs the rangers scaled but were most surprised by the enorous craters and destroyed military bunkers still there from the bombings.

We should have gotten on the road, but wanted to go to St Mere Eglise because it was so prominantly featured in The Longest Day. We were surprise that they had a dummy soldier hanging from his parachute from the side of the church. It was kind of weird but it gave you a good sense of what it was actually like.

It was a great trip and a long drive, but very interesting. The coast along the English Channel is beautiful and the water is much prettier and bluer than I expected. The towns we traveled through were very old and quiet.

I posted a lot of pictures to Flickr.

Zomer van Antwerpen

We have been hanging around home for the past few weekends. It is nice not to have to pack everyone up and get on the road but it can be boring in our little apartment. Fortunately, the city has scheduled multiple events everyday during the summer. Some are big and some are small, but it gives us a reason to get out and take a walk.

Saturday night, there was a concert in the Grote Markt. Colin brought all of his instruments and wanted to go up on stage and play with the band. Sunday, we went down to a small craft show and ended up over on Groenplatts to hear a band play. Colin had his instruments with him again and I went up with him onto the gazebo and he played is flute along with them. It was so cute and after one song, the band all cheered for him.

Colin admitted to me today that he understands what our sitter and his teachers are saying to him in Dutch. We knew this but, for some reson, Colin would not confirm it. I think it is funny too that he now asks to watch Buzz L'eclair instead of Buzz Lightyear. The Disney channel we get is all in French.

Chloe has been getting very jealous when Colin is with me. She will scream and try and push him away from me, it is really funny. I think she has about 4 teeth coming in right now. She has been waking up 1 - 2 times a night and I am exhausted.

This weekend we will be heading to Normandy.

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July! Not much going on here in Antwerp. Hope everyone is having a good day!

In the past 2 days, Chloe has decided she wants to walk everywhere!!!

Paris

I realized after my last post that the girls did go out for a few drinks on Sunday night. We went around the corner to a bar that specializes in Genever, a local drink here. Genever is a type of gin that is often flavored and served in shot size glasses. We tried several flavors including banana cream, blood orange and chocolate creme. They were so good.

Monday morning, we started our day early and took the train from Antwerp to Paris. Our hotel was very tiny but in a great location near the Trocadero. The Trocadero provides the best view of the Eiffel Tower and we were able to get many good pictures there. We hopped on a tour bus and got many great views of the city. We made stops at Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe.

Tuesday morning, Chris and I went over to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be.

Paris, as well as most of Europe, was in the middle of a heat wave. The tempurature was in the mid 80's during most of Chris and Mom-Moms stay. It does not usually get that hot and most homes and businesses do not have air conditioning. We were very lucky that our room in Paris had air.

We were all worn out by the end of the visit. Colin, Chloe and I dropped them off at the airport while Craig was a work. Colin cried after they walked into the airport. We are so glad they came to visit and were able to see where we were living.