Away from the gray...to flowers on Parade

It has been soooo gloomy in Brussels lately. We've had some short bursts of sunshine most days, but really it feels like it's been raining for like a month straight. Yesterday though despite the gloom (and even though the weather report was calling for mid 50s and rain in Holland) we decided to pile in the car and head for the flower parade. My sister Erin and her husband Andy were safely in Madrid so we had the day free so off we went. We got a bit of a late start and somehow the 2 hour trip took 3 and 1/2 hours, but by the time we arrived in a small town just down the road from Keukenhof our luck started to change. We managed to drive right on to the parade route (minutes before they closed off the street) to find an ideal parking spot right on the route 10 minutes before the parade started. And the clouds parted and the sun came out...it actually even felt somewhat warm. The 45 minute parade was a lot of fun! There were marching bands (Autumn especially loved those) and tons of beautiful flowers...they smelled fabulous too.

It was fun seeing all the locals watching the parade
out the windows of their adorable little houses.

And all the beautiful flower floats

I think this VW van was my favorite

Autumn's favorite was definitely the marching bands.  

After one would pass she would say "more, more"

It turned out to be such a great day and I'm so glad we made the trip!  Click here to view the full album of our trip.

We weren't done yet though...after the parade we make a quick detour to visit the cute little coastal town of Noordwijk.  On the way there we found our tulip fields and got some family shots of us in the tulips :o)

Then in Noordwijk we found a souvenir shop that had the wooden shoes for Autumn that I didn't get a chance to buy on our last trip up.  Yeah!

We took in the lovely beach for a bit and then piled back in the car for our trip home.  Luckily it was much shorter than our trip out although the clouds came back and it poured most of the way, but it was a great day soaking up lovely Holland and some sunshine!

More Tulips...in Belgium!

Our friend Pennie recommended a place to get a tulip fix right here in Brussels...and bonus...it's on the grounds of a castle :o) Since it is only 20 minutes away we decided to head there after church on Sunday and I'm so glad we did. Chateau de Grand-Bigard is such a lovely place and the flowers made it even more beautiful! It was cold and rainy so we only stayed for an hour or so, but we loved it and even plan to go back during the next month (we bought a "season pass" for only 5 euros extra). Here are some pictures from our trip to the castle (and a few extra of Autumn having an easter egg hunt down at the Abbey).

Click here to view the full album.

Easter in Holland

After we had finished frolicking in the tulips (actually I wish there was more frolicking and more tulips...haha...just kidding) we continued our long Easter weekend exploring Haarlem and Amsterdam. Really it was more exploring of Amsterdam...the extent of our Haarlem experience was mostly just sleeping...or trying to sleep as we attempted to drown out the rowdy party-goers that passed by our window into the wee hours of the morning! Seriously, it was the strangest thing...Haarlem was quite a sleepy town while we were there...not that many people around, not much even open, but every night around 3 or 4 am I would wake up to what sounded like a party going on just outside! I swore there was a bar right below our room, but when we checked, it was all just little shops...so I guess it was a moving party roaming the streets every night. Aside from that, Haarlem turned out to be the perfect place to escape the busy overcrowded streets of Amsterdam each evening and was an easy commute by train (which saved us the hassle of trying to park in Amsterdam). We didn't get to explore much of Haarlem since almost everything was closed on Sunday and Monday (including the Corrie Ten Boom House which I've heard is a must see...maybe next time), but we did enjoy two nice dinners there...including some yummy Mexican! Here are a few shots of Haarlem...

On Saturday morning we jumped on the train and headed for Amsterdam (only a quick 15 minute jaunt)...as soon as we got off the train we were greeted with the thousands of bicycles. It's amazing to see how many people in The Netherlands ride bikes...especially on cold rainy days like the ones we spent there.

We decided since it was so chilly, now was the perfect time to take one of the canal cruises in the covered boats. We bought our tickets and patiently waited in line while more and more people started pushing their way in front of us on the tiny little dock. So many that by the time we boarded the boat there were no seats left...urg! Pushy Europeans...didn't they learn it is rude to butt in line! The canal cruise was nice and the sun even decided to make an appearance. Autumn's favorite part was running up and down the aisle while her new little boyfriend chased her around. Pretty sure someone has a crush :o)

We learned on our cruise that real estate (especially along the canals) is very pricy in Amsterdam, so you end up with super tiny houses like this one...

Or houses "falling" forward like this one (it's subtle, but if you look close you can see the one jutting out towards the top)...where they try and take advantage of every last inch possible.

We passed the Anne Frank house and this beautiful church...

And great little house boats like this...

Overall, I really enjoyed the canal cruise...I think it's a great way to see the sights in Amsterdam...especially on a chilly spring morning. After our cruise we found some lunch and then set off on Rick Steve's walking tour of Amsterdam. Here are some pictures from our walk...

We headed back to Haarlem for the night, but were up early the next morning to head back to Amsterdam to go to Easter service. One of my favorite memories was during the Easter service, the choir had just finished a song and Autumn started clapping and shouting "bravo"...ha! It was the cutest thing ever :o) We spent the afternoon exploring more of Amsterdam before heading back to Haarlem for one final night. On our way back to Brussels we had planned two stops...Delft for some lovely hand painted pottery and Kinderdijk for the windmills. The blue pottery was beautiful...although quite pricy (like this one that was 12,595 euros...better start saving my pennies...ha)!! We bought some of the knock offs as they were much more reasonably priced.


Our trip to Kinderdijk was a bust though as the Garmin said we were one minute away, it instructed us to "turn right and board ferry." Considering it was cold and raining and Autumn was sleeping we opted to not board the ferry and headed for home. We'll save the windmills for a nicer day :o)

Overal it was a lovely trip to Holland. Hopefully we'll make it back for more tulips and more windmills....and if we're lucky some warmer weather and sunshine.

Click here to view all the photos from our trip.

Flowers, flowers, everywhere...

We headed to The Netherlands this weekend to visit Lisse and the famous Keukenhof gardens. As soon as I learned we were moving to Brussels and started doing some research, one of the first things I knew we just had to do this spring was head to Keukenhof for the famous tulips. Here is the blog post that inspired me...you can see why this was on my travel "to do" list I'm sure :o)

We had planned to go the weekend of the flower parade just as they did in the post, but when we found out our friends Liz & Matt and their cute daughters Grace & Audrey were going over Easter weekend we thought we'd tag along for the fun! Keukenhof is only a little over two hours from here and a relatively easy drive so we headed out early Friday morning and we're in Lisse by lunch.

And as soon as we neared the park the flower fields sprung to life! Here is a picture of some beautiful purple hyacinth...

I was excited and ready to see more! Once we got in the park we found our first of several pairs of wooden shoes for our two cute models to try out :o)

After a quick bite to eat we set out to explore the park. There were flowers everywhere and the tulips that were blooming were quite amazing. Unfortunately I think we were a few weeks early for the full tulip display in all it's glory, but we truly enjoyed the flowers that were there. And a greenhouse in the center of the park had tons of different varieties of tulips...more than I even knew existed...some that were taller than Autumn was! I tried to get a picture with her next to the crazy tall ones, but she wasn't in the mood :o( We wandered around for a few hours enjoying all the park had to offer (including a playground and petting zoo) until we all decided we were tired, cold, and ready to head to Haarlem and our hotel. Here are some more pictures of the park...totally unedited...can you believe the color of some of these flowers...it was striking!

Click here to view the full Keukenhoff album.

The flowers were a great beginning to our first spring here in Europe and left me craving more! So much so that if the weather is good in a few weeks we just might head back to see the flower parade and some more tulip fields :o) Maybe we'll even bike through the fields as I had originally planned. Come on sunshine and warm weather! :o)

More to come on the rest of our 4 day weekend in the Netherlands...next up Haarlem, Amdsterdam, and Delft. Stay tuned...

Rebels without a cause!!

So I guess technically we have been living in Belgium illegally for the last 5 months since our US passport expired and we had yet to be cleared for our Belgium ID's. But FINALLY after several extremely long visits to the Brussels commune office we are legal again!! All I can say to anyone planning to move here (or probably most other foreign countries)...do not, I repeat, DO NOT, come here without a Visa! We had plenty of time to get Visa's while in the US before we came, but Jacob's company was just not on the ball and told us not to worry about it. Thankfully they did provide us with help while we were here to get it all sorted it out with the commune...and I'm not sure we would have been able to do it without her with all the red tape and hoops they make you jump through. But it's over now and we can rest easy again without the fear of being deported :o) I can't wait to hold that Belgian ID card in my hand!! All that's left now is to pick them up on Tuesday. The funny thing is, even though we are just getting them we have to start working on the renewal process for them in early May...since they will expire at the end of July! That's how long it took to get these stupid things...so long they are almost already expired...ridiculous! Oh well...it's always something...

On the fun side though...now we can travel freely throughout Europe without the fear of someone noticing our passports are expired. Where to go, where to go...:o) For now we're planning...

The Netherlands (Haarlem, Keukenhof, Amsterdam) this weekend

Switzerland, Austria, Germany (we think) end of April

London beginning of May

Italy and Eastern Mediterranean cruise end of May

Woohoo!! I'm so excited!!