A Weekend in Brussels

We stayed around town this weekend...mostly to get some things done around the apartment. It is finally starting to come together...although we still have 3 more lights to hang...not too bad considering we started with 13!! Thank you Jacob! We still need the movers to come pick up the boxes...hopefully sometime this week. And we still have some decorating to do and some things that still need a home. I'm hoping to post some pics/video of the place later this week so you all can get a glimpse of our apartment life. I think it's turning out quite nicely and is definitely starting to feel more like home!

I wanted to hit up the Brussels flea market this weekend as well to see if we could find any cool antique pieces. Just some small end tables, a desk, that sort of thing. So we headed over there early Sunday morning before church (which by the way, we did find a church we like fairly well...it's kinda far away from here, but when you need it to be English speaking it's a little harder to be picky about where you go)...anyway...and the flea market was a total bust. I think we saw one booth that had ANY furniture and it was UGLY!! There was lots of silverware...boring...and old art...and lots and lots of glassware. I didn't expect it to be awesome, but I was hoping for atleast better than what we got! Jacob made a good point though...this flea market happens every Sunday and these dealers are just not going to lug their big stuff out there every weekend. If you want the big antique finds you are probably going to have to go to a store or to an annual flea market...which is what we plan to do...next weekend! I found this website that has the "top 10" European flea markets...Brussels surprisingly made the list so I'm a little apprehensive about the source, but we're planning to head down to Lille France next weekend for their annual flea market! It happens the first weekend in September and is supposed to be huge! Attracting over 1 million people each year surely we will find something cool! So keep your fingers crossed and check back next week to hopefully see our great finds!

Later that day we decided to head over to one of the other tourist attractions in Brussels..the Atomium. And as you can tell by the name, this is a lovely...and NERDY sculpture of an atom that was Brussels version of the "eiffel tower." And this is totally my opinion, but I think they kinda missed the mark. We didn't go up in it...5 of the 9 domes are open to the public, but it's kinda blah from the outside. Maybe I'm just too head over heels in love with the eiffel tower to let any other sculpture into my heart...haha! Anyway...here are some pics...what do you all think?





Right next to the Atomium we found a little village that had a Mexican restaurant where we just had to have lunch! I didn't think these places existed in Brussels, but we found one! And Los Tacos did not disappoint...well ok, the chips and salsa did...a tiny bowl of stale chips just does not compare to the endless bowls of warm delicious chips you get a El Maguey...but the chicken chimichanga that Jacob and I both had were quite delicious! Definitely different from the ones back home, but it was still VERY yummy!!

In this same area we stumbled upon another tourist attraction! Mini Europe! Promising miniature replicas (1 to 25 scale) of all the beautiful tourist attractions scattered all throughout Europe! From the eiffel tower, to the leaning tower of Pisa, to Brussels own Grand Place...it was a great way to see some of the best in a one hour trip around "Europe." Although many of the things were very well done, Jacob and I both agreed, it's a cute idea, but really not a must see for anyone coming to check out Brussels. So if any of you coming to visit just have to go to Mini Europe...you will probably be taking that trip solo...haha...sorry! Here area a few pics of it though so you don't miss out! I just love the ones of Autumn and the leaning tower of Pisa...shows you just how little things were!

Paris was perfect!

We had such a great weekend exploring Paris together! The skies were mostly grey, but the temperature was a perfect 70 degrees and we had a great time wandering around this beautiful city! There are so many gorgeous things to see there and I'm sure we barely scratched the surface, but the main focus of this trip..especially for me...was the eiffel tower...and it did not disappoint! I just couldn't get enough! I kept snapping pictures from every different angle...and although the grey skies took away from how beautiful this structure is...I still was in total awe. And truly, pictures do not even do it justice, it is huge...and the details on it are so impressive. I've posted some of my favorites below for your viewing pleasure, and am currently looking for a place to store the entire album online and will update with a link when I do.

Now on to the trip...we drove down there early Saturday morning and it rained almost the entire way. There really wasn't much to look at along the way either...I felt kinda like we were driving through Missouri...mostly cows and corn fields. We arrived at our hotel, the Novotel around lunch time and checked in to our lovely little room. We ate some lunch we had packed from home and headed straight to the eiffel tower. It was about a mile and half walk from our hotel and I got more and more excited every time I caught a glimpse! We kind of came in from the back so there weren't many people around...and I was like "this is crazy, where are all the people"...but once we made it to the main area...we found them!! Tons and tons of people! The place was swarming with tourists...AND beggars....AND relentless vendors...with huge rings strung with cheap metal eiffel towers...it was kind of annoying. Jacob finally told me to just not even look at them and to pretend you don't hear them and that worked pretty well...better then the word no...that didn't seem to work at all because they just kept pressing! It was fun to watch the cops chase them away though...it was kind like a game of cat and mouse. We wandered around for hours...up and down the river banks, visited the Paris "Statue of Liberty" (Jacob knew about it from the movie National Treasure) and just took it all in. Then we headed back to our hotel for some dinner...Pizza Hut! Haha...I know it sounds terrible, but it was right across the street and we had brought some food from home for Autumn because I'm always so scared to eat out with her allergies...so we just had pizza hut picnics in our room...both nights. Hey, it was cheap too!!

After we finally got Autumn to sleep for the night (as an aside, I don't know what we're going to do, but the girl was totally freaked out by sleeping in a hotel room...she was screaming at the top of her lungs every time we tried to put her in her bed...and she normally goes right down...not good if we're going to be spending a lot of time in them the next few years) we snuck up to the roof top restaurant and took a few pictures of the eiffel tower all lit up. It was awesome...and right at 11 o'clock it started to sparkle like it was covered in the most brilliant diamonds...it literally was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I've seen video of this before, but in person it is spectacular!!

The next morning Autumn was up screaming at the crack of dawn (I'm sure our neighbors loved us :o) so we headed down for our free breakfast buffet....it was SOOO good...I was quite impressed. They even had dried apricots...one of Autumn's favorites. So after a good meal and a morning nap (thank goodness) we were ready to head out again. This time we set off for the louvre. It was a bit further...somewhere between 2 and 3 miles, but a decent walk. We wanted to go in and see the famous Mona Lisa (it only costs 6 euros each for the main part...which I think is a bargain), but the line was so long...so we decided the outside was good enough for this visit. After a quick lunch and a wardrobe change...Autumn had totally exploded out of her diaper and all over her clothes...luckily we were able to strip her down without getting poop all over her! She was wrapped in my scarf for a bit while we searched for her nice eiffel tower onsie...haha! What a mess!

Next we headed off on a boat cruise on the Seine River through Paris. It was a lot of fun and we got to see the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and many other icons of the city! It was nice hearing some of the background too from our tour guide. The greatest line was "the French did not like the eiffel tower when it was first constructed...they thought it was ugly and was going to fall down on them" Ha...it cracked me up for some reason! The best part of the cruise though was watching Autumn interact with everyone...the girl is so friendly and people just love her! I don't know where her outgoing personality came from, but I hope it continues!

And one other tidbit from the cruise that I thought was interesting was on one of the bridges, "lovers" come from all over to lock a padlock on it and then they throw the key into the river and it's supposed to symbolize eternal love (unfortunately she said the paris police cut all the locks off every year and throw them away), but still the idea is a cute one. Here is a shot of the locks...

That night after pizza and getting Autumn bathed and in her pj's...we all walked back to the eiffel tower to watch the lights come on and to see the sparkling show one last time. It was so much fun...the place was packed! People were having picnics all over the lawn and just having a grand time! We headed across the street and scoped out our spot by the fountains and waited for the show. It was a great night and I got some great pictures...including one of the bride and groom that came up for a photo shoot right in front of us (I thought for sure they were going to fall in the fountain as the photographer had them spinning around, dancing, etc right on the edge). But everyone stayed dry and we enjoyed our evening in this beautiful city!

The next morning we were up for breakfast and then back on the road. It was hard to leave...especially as it was an absolutely beautiful day...not a cloud in the sky! But I know I'll be back and will have another chance to enjoy this magical place!

Oh...sweet Par-eeee.....

We are coming to visit!!! Jacob already has his first three day weekend so I can't think of anything better than to head staight to PARIS!! I am ecstatic about this trip! We decided to drive as a tank of diesel will likely take us the whole way and back for about 100 Euros...and the train (probably due to the last minute booking) was going to be 300. The train only takes an hour and a half and driving will be around three and a half, but we decided it was worth it...and are hoping for some scenic french country side along the way. Unfortunately too Jacob will have to drive the whole trip as our car is a stick shift and I have yet to learn to drive it. Hopefully he's up for the task and Autumn and I will be good driving companions:o) This will be her longest trek in a car yet too so wish us luck!

We also found a hotel on last minute travel.com for only $300 for 2 nights...and yes that's US dollars...woo hoo! And it's less than a mile from the eiffel tower!!! You can actually see the beautiful landmark from the rooftop restaurant...we will definitely be heading up to check that out! I have always dreamed of going to the eiffel tower and am just so blessed to be able to actually do it! Stay tuned next week for pictures and the details of how the trip went!!

Autumn's new LOVE!

Autumn is totally, hopelessly, madly in love with....KETCHUP!! Haha...I think the girl would put it on everything if she could! Here's a couple of pics of her enjoying her new favorite treat! :o)




Yum Yum!! She was actually having a real meal here too...although I'm sure all she could taste was ketchup :o)

A Day at the Beach...

Jacob ended up taking most of this first week in Brussels off work...since most Belgians take the month of August off there just isn’t much going on at the office...and it gave us a chance to get a little more used to our surroundings before venturing out on our own (minus the 7 HOUR walk Autumn and I took by ourselves the other day...but that’s for another post). And because he’s on “vacation” we figured we might as well take advantage and head to the beach!! I have ALWAYS wanted to live close enough to the beach that we could take day trips there and now we actually do! Granted the Belgium coast line is not the most beautiful pristine beach in the world...no super soft white sand like you would see in the Caribbean, but it has sand, and water, and waves!! And this was Autumn’s first trip to the beach so how could it not be perfect!


We didn’t bring swimsuits or anything because we assumed the water would be freezing, but actually it wasn’t bad at all. And Autumn absolutely loved it! She was having a great time splashing around in the water!


Unfortunately Autumn’s infected lymph nodes started oozing some nasty blood while she was playing and it got all over her clothes so we decided to take them off (a few minutes prior we had seen a completely naked like 7 year old girl pooping on the beach so we figured Autumn in her diaper was not that big of a deal!) Haha....too bad I’m totally serious! Who does that?



All in all we had a great day at the beach and the weather cooperated perfectly...it was around 70 degrees and blue skies for most of the day! Then just as we got in the car it began to sprinkle slightly...talk about perfect timing. We enjoyed our day at the beach and can’t wait to take more road trips around Belgium and the surrounding countries...I already have SEVERAL places in France that I can’t wait to visit!