A Gorgeous Church on a Gorgeous Day

Yesterday's Wild About Wednesday was definitely one of my favorites!  I'm not sure if it was the beautiful blue sky day, that we practically had the place to ourselves, that there was LOTS of running around room for the little ones or what, but I really enjoyed our trip to the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart!

The Basilica is a very prominent point in the Brussels skyline so I knew I always wanted to go visit it and it did not disappoint.  Since it's in Brussels it was pretty easy/quick to get to...even if we did have to take two trams and one metro each way.  And once we arrived and were standing next to it...the place is HUGE (it's the fifth largest church in the world)!  Autumn and Brooklyn enjoyed running around the lovely fenced in grounds.

They are those two little specks in the picture above :o)  After lots of running around we decided to head indoors.  The inside is stunning if nothing more than for its sheer size.  It felt sort of modern and old at the same time...Andi and I had a bet going on when it was built (I won...I guessed 1894 and it was 1880, but I'm not bragging...hehe :o)  Here are some pictures of the inside...

After wandering around the impressive downstairs we paid 5 euros and were headed to the top!!  It was so easy...even with strollers as they had a lift.  And the panoramic views from the top were amazing!  We wandered around the top several times enjoying looking down on Brussels bustling city in all directions.  It was lovely...my pictures don't do it justice at all!

Autumn and Brooklyn had fun running around and climbing around the top.

I loved our trip to the Basilica and I would definitely recommend it to all our Brussels friends looking for a fun, cheap outing around the city.

The Antwerp Aquarium

Last Wednesday we hopped back on the train to Antwerp, but this time were headed for the Aquarium.   Just like the zoo it is super close to the train station so made for an easy trip. Our friends Jodee and her son Jef joined us for the fun! We had a tip this aquarium was fun (way better than the Brussels one) and I would whole heartedly agree! They didn't have a TON of stuff, but everything was very well done...well everything except some of the areas where we were concerned about the kiddos falling in to the tank with the sting rays...ha!! It wasn't really that dangerous, but we definitely kept an eye on them. Here are the pics from the day.

This cute little blue guy is lethal!  

I'd hate to run in to him in a dark alley :o)

And after a quick picnic lunch we just couldn't resist another ride on the cars. It's going to be a sad day when we go to Antwerp and these fun cars aren't there any more.

I'm so thankful for another fun Wednesday with my little sweetie!! I wish she could stay this age forever...she's lots of fun to travel with (and not old enough to really protest or tell me she doesn't want to go on another adventure). I think I need to freeze time...has anyone figured out how to do that one yet :o) Please let me know if you do...ha!

Minnie Mouse or Bust!

Since we had to cancel our trip to the UK we decided to head down to Disneyland Paris for the weekend.  We'd been wanting to take Autumn there at some point so this seemed like the perfect excuse...unfortunately we didn't consider the fact that it was tourist season in Paris...or that it was going to be 100 degrees...literally!  It was fun, but it was also kinda miserable :o)

I was so excited that her first birthday Minnie Mouse outfit still fit!  We were on a mission to find Minnie Mouse while we were there so she could show it off, but that is one hard mouse to find :o)

Autumn enjoyed meeting the characters (except Woody...she was a little scared of him), riding the rides (she's still talking about the teacups and dumbo), and going on a vacation that was all about her!

We had lunch at the Cowboy Cookout on the second day and what a great decision...air conditioning and lots of characters!  The food was yummy too!

Even though we were in Europe we still enjoyed the spirit of Disney.  Everyone was super nice...spoke great English, and it was just the all around fun time you would expect from Disney. I'm so glad we got to share this experience with Autumn...she was definitely due for a vacation that was all about her!

And we didn't stop there...after two days of Disney we headed to Versailles to see the famous Chateau. Unfortunately after we checked in to our hotel (that specifically said air-conditioned rooms on the brochure) and learned that there was no air conditioning, but only a "cool comfort" system...which the receptionist assured me was a good thing because your room would be "10 degrees cooler than it is outside"...um, what? That's not a good thing when it's THIS hot outside! We had planned to see Versailles and climb the eiffel tower on Sunday before heading home, but after waiting in line at Versailles for over an hour and squeezing through narrow hallways for what seemed like forever in the way-too-hot chateau with far too many strangers, we decided to forgo the eiffel tower and just head home. I never thought I'd be in Paris twice and miss the eiffel tower both times, but it has happened. I guess it just means we'll have to plan another weekend in Paris...one dedicated specifically to seeing the eiffel tower!!  And that is never a bad thing. Here are the pics from Versailles.

Stilettos made from pots and pans...crazy!

Autumn was so ready for the eiffel tower in her cute dress my Mom bought her...

hopefully it will still fit next time around

We enjoyed pretty much everything about our weekend in France.  But on the next one if we could have a lot less people and a lot less heat...that would be great :o)

Click here to view the full album.

A carpet made of flowers :o)

One of the biggest attractions Brussels has to offer is when they transform the Grand Place (or main square) into a brightly colored carpet made completely of lovely flowers.  I have been excited to see the "Flower Carpet" since we arrived here in Brussels and finally last week, it was time. This event only happens every other year and only for a few days so it can be tough to catch. We were actually supposed to be in the UK nearly the entire time is was here, but because we are illegal AGAIN we didn't want to risk crossing the French border with our expired ID cards, and trying to explain we're just waiting on the Minister to approve us.  Bad news for the trip, but good news for the flower carpet!  Jacob had Wednesday off for Assumption day so he got to join us on our trip to see the flowers.  It was another beautiful blue sky day in Brussels...and it was crowded, but not nearly as bad as I thought.

We paid the 5 euros to go up in the Town Hall and get the arial view of the carpet.

The guy told us it would take 10 minutes...an hour later we were back with our friends.

I'm definitely glad we got to see the flower carpet...especially on the first day...as some of our friends didn't make it till Sunday and after some unusually hot weather in Brussels it was all wilted and brown. And the flowers aren't the only ones suffering in this heat...100 degrees in Belgium with no air conditioning is proving to be miserable! Hopefully this heat wave will break soon...otherwise, we might be checking in to a hotel!