Sausages, beer and more sausages - Munich and Nurnberg



Marienplatz



After a week in Bavaria, it was a good thing that we left when we did. As much as we wanted to keep eating, I don't think our bodies could take anymore sausages, pretzels, potato salad and beer. Eating is one of our favorite activities to do while in Bavaria and Munich and Nurnburg were the perfect places to do it.

Out first stop was in Munich. We rented a very tiny apartment for 3 nights, which gave us plenty of time to explore the city. We hit all of the major sites including Marionplatz. We were so lucky to have decent weather and many people were out. One of the nights we were there, Munich was hosting Naples in a soccer match. The Italians made the city very lively and you could hear chants everywhere.

We stopped in the famous Hofbrauhaus to have a tradional liter of beer. We learned that a beer venue can only technically be called a beer garden if it is under chestnut trees.


Hofbrauhaus



Marienplatz

Just like in other places we have visited, Chloe is a popular attration with the Japanese tourists. The white, blonde hair makes her a novelty and people are always wanting to take her picture. Craig was joking that Chloe's picture is probably hanging in many Japenese living rooms. If only they knew that under that angelic white hair there was a crazy three year old ready to have a meltdown and any moment!

We scrapped our plans to go to Legoland at the last minute and went to Nurnberg and Playmobile Fun Park instead. We were pleasantly surprised with Nurnberg. Nurnberg was one of the cities heavily destroyed during WWII. They did an amazing job rebuilding that you hardly noticed that many of the building were barely a half centry old. Nurnberg is famous for 2 things - besides the trials. Lebkuchen, soft gingerbread cookies and sausages, which are sold everywhere!

Our Diet in Bavaria: Sausages, pretzels, beer, potato salad and sauerkraut.

The Playmobile Fun Park was great. All of the attractions were interactive and were exact replicas of actual Playmobile toys. They also had a huge indoor playground and a seperate play area with all of the Playmobile toys. Also, in typical German fashion, they also have their own beer garden. What is not to love about Germany!!

Cinque Terre Flooding

During the past week, we heard about the flooding and mudslides that have hit the Cinque Terre. It was just this past June that we visited the area and were amazed at how beautiful it was. Two of the towns we enjoyed most, Vernazza and Monterosso, were the hardest hit. Let's hope that they are able return to life as normal, sooner than later.

Vernazza - June 2011



Vernazza - After the Mudslide October 2011



Halloween

While Craig was making a quick trip to the US for work, we were very busy in Antwerp.

Last Saturday, we made a trip out to Plankendael, a zoo about a half hour outside of Antwerp. I had the kids believing that if we told the car we wanted to go somewhere fun, it would surprise us and take us somewhere.

Sunday morning, friends of ours from New Zealand invited us over for brunch and to watch rugby. New Zealand played against France for the World Cup Championship. It was my first (ever) rugby game and it was a great one to see because they won! To me, rugby seemed like a cross between soccer and football. I thought is was especially crazy that while medics were attending to a hurt player on the field, the game continued and the teams just played around them!

Right after the game, we went to the a Halloween party that was being held by the English speaking kids group we are apart of. Colin was a bat and Chloe was Ariel from The Little Mermaid. They also dressed up for school on Friday. Chloe is taking this role very seriously and has been practicing swimming while laying on the floor in her costume.



Ariel



The Bat

 This week is the Herfst Vakantie or Fall vacation. We will be going to Munich for a few days and if the weather is still good, we will also bring the kids to Legoland.

Crazy Chloe

Just further proof that Chloe is really a bit crazy. Check out how she starts copying Colin at the end and then turns it into a sneeze.

Disneyland for the second (and last!) time.

Hi! I am so far behind on my blog posts that I will try to catch up over the next few entries. Sorry for the wait.

In the beginning of October, we took our second (and very last!) trip to Disney, which is located just outside Paris. What a difference 2 years make! We didn't tell the kids where we were going until we were within about 10 miles of the hotel. We stayed at one of the surrounding kid friendly hotels with a circus theme. The kids had bunk beds that were able to be sectioned off from the rest of the room with a curtain. Mickey Mouse had left Colin and Chloe each a bags full of Disney goodies including fanny packs so they could carry their own stuff! We managed to unload the car and quickley get over to the parks.

The weather was perfect! Over the three days we were there, it was between 75 and 80 degrees. Chloe was soooo excited to see the princesses and go into Sleeping Beauty's (or as Chloe calls her - Sleeping Bleauty) castle. Disney is great because just about every ride is OK for kids of all ages. It was nice to be able to go on everything together.

No crazy stories from this trip but it was great and went fairly smoothly. Lots of pictures on Flickr.

                                              Kids with Fanny Packs

Our Local Star and Bal van de Burgemeester

Every year one of the local papers, Gazet Van Antwerpen, prints pictures of most of the Grade 1 classes throughout the Antwerp area. This year they photographed 1208 classes! Today was the day and Colin's class went to the news shop to buy their copies!

This past weekend we ate at the oldest bar in Antwerp. Not sure how this slipped by us until now, but we are sure to be back. The bar, Quinten Matsijs, dates back to 1565 and is named after the painter who worked in Antwerp. After dinner, we head over to the Bal van de Burgemeester or Mayor's Ball. It is common here for the cities/towns to throw a public birthday party for their mayors. We attended the party last year so we knew what to expect. As usually, we attracted and had some interesting times with some odd ball locals.

With Tracie and one of our new friends.

Soccer, Red Heads, Dogs and more...



Barbara and Roman



We are just coming off a busy week and a half.



Friends of ours from Atlanta came to visit with their 2 kids, Roman -5 years and Beatrice -17 months. Both of their kids have red hair and I was able to lure them to Belgium to attend the Roodharigendag (Red Hair Day) in Breda, The Netherlands. It was definitely a site to see. There easily had to be 2000 red heads that gathered for a weendend long festival that included taking an aerial group shot of the attendees. Antwerp was also celebrating their liberation from the Germans in WWII all weekend with different events around the city. The four of us managed to get out 2 nights in a row without the kids for dinner, drinks and the Liberation Ball.



Getting ready for the group photo

On Tuesday night, we attended the Belgium vs. USA soccer game in Brussels. When Craig bought the tickets, he had to declare who we were rooting for because they seat similar supporters in the same section. It was clear that we were the visiting team because we had a seperate entrance that was far from parking and at the back of the back of the stadium. It was my first soccer game and the American supporters were able to fill up almost an entire section. We went outfitted with our USA soccer gear that Barbara brought from the US. Unlike the Belgian sections, the American supporters were standing most of the game and definitely demonstrated the proper way to do the wave when it reached us. We even had Captain America, the Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam sitting by us. The US lost but it was nice that the team walked over to our section after the game and thanked us for our support.

The American Section

Colin and Chloe also started  school this past Monday. Like last year, I was the most excited for the beginning of the school year. This year, Colin is required to wear a uniform. They were both very happy when I picked them up at the end of the day. Colin was excited to let me know that there is a girl in his class from New Jersey named Lauren!

KG1 and Grade 1

Barbara, Todd and the kids left on Friday morning and we decided to have a low key weekend and rest up for the Bollekesloop 5K run we registered for on Sunday. If the name of the run sounds familiar, it's because it was hosted by the De Koninck brewery who also hosted the Bollekesfeest from my previous post. We met up with a group of friends and cheered on the kids as the completed the 1K Kids Run. Colin was giving it his all until he ran into someone and hurt his knee. He finished the run, but cried his way to the finish line. Craig and I ran the 5K and both completed it with record times - Craig 29:00  Me 29:13. You know you are in Belgium when at the end of the race you have a beer and a cone of fries instead of a banana or an orange.

Colin and his fellow competitors, Liam and Olive.



Runner #9222



We also had a surprise visitor for the weekend. Our friend Andrew's dog - Aussie! The kids didn't leave him alone all weekend, but I do think he liked the walk around the city we took.