Brussels

Hello again.

We have been quite busy traveling around Belgium in our spare time.

Last weekend we went to Brussels. This was sort of a spur of the moment trip spawned by the fact that Ben wanted to take his Level 1 Crossfit Certification class at the US Air Force Base in Belgium. I figured, why not spend the weekend in Brussels with the babes while he does that...So that's what we did.

We were joined by a colleague of mine, Micheal, who is working in our Europe office with me and the team last week and this week. He was planning to go to Brussels so we offered him a ride. It was nice, because I had someone to have meals with and I wasn't completely alone in case I needed help.

We got a steal of a deal on our rooms. Upon checkin I realized we'd been upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite. It was heavenly...especially with the babies. Ivy got the living room and Henry and I shared the large bedroom.

It was an adventurous weekend, but I didn't stress and I had a great time with Ivy and Henry.
Brussels is to Chocolate what Antwerp is to Diamonds. Every other store is a chocolate shop...and boy to they do chocolate right! Our hotel even had a chocolate shop in the first floor...Chocopolis. I bought 10 truffels and I think Ben and Ivy ate 9 of them.

Saturday, after Ben left for Chievris, the babies and I explored the streets around our hotel. We walked through the outdoor market in the square just across from our hotel. We spent some time looking in the shops. We wandered into the Grand Palace square and we eventually found Mannequin Pis.

Mannequin Pis is dutch for 'little man urinating' and that's exactly what it is. For as much attention as it draws in Belgium, it's a very tiny statue of a man urinating. Everywhere you turn in Brussels you see drawings and picture of 'mannequin pis'. I never understood it until I actually went. He has entire chocolate stores dedicated to his figurine. People flock to this tiny statue weekly just to see what outfit he has on. It is quite a scene.

When we found him, we also found a giant crowd of Japanese tourists taking his picture. As I waited for my turn I parked the stroller to the side. When I returned to Ivy and Henry (just a few feet away) I found that Ivy had become center stage. There were no less than 6 japanese women smiling at Ivy and taking her picture. It was quite hilarious. I had to take a picture just to prove it happened. :-)

Unbeknownst to us, last weekend was also a big celebration weekend in Brussels. I am still not sure what they were celebrating, but everytime I turned around there was a parade passing by. Saturday night the festivities heated up with some MAJOR fireworks. I had finally falled asleep around 11 and not 30 minutes later I awoke to blasting sounds. I truly thought we were being bombed. I jumped out of bed and looked out the window. Not a block from my hotel was a GIANORMOUS fireworks display. It was pretty, but so loud. Thankfully Ivy didn't stir, but Henry did. He went back to sleep with a bottle and all was right with the night again.

Sunday we awoke to rain showers and dreariness. We had to find a way to entertain ourselves until 4pm when we could load up the car and go get Ben. This was not helped by the fact that checkout was a noon and they wouldn't budge because the entire town was booked full Sunday night for some sort of convention. So, we had breakfast, packed up, then chilled/played in the room until 11:59. Henry even got in a short nap, which was helpful.

By the time we checked out the sun was shining and the rain was gone. We walked the streets and indoor malls, enjoyed a light lunch at a sidewalk cafe and played in the square for a bit.

At 4pm we loaded into the car and headed to Chievres Air Force Base, 30 km south of Brussels. I thought we'd get there in plenty of time. I didn't take into account the fact tha Brussels is nearly impossible to navigate without a Tom Tom. It literally took 1 hour for me to just get out of the city. Thankfully, on my third attempt at stopping for directions, a gentleman who didn't speak english and only spoke french successfully used hand signs and Franglish to show me the way. It was a miracle, but we made it.

We arrived at Chievris at 5:30 and met up with Ben who seems to have had a wonderful time. His blog is below.

Not sure what this weekend holds, but I'm sure there will be more stories to tell.

Much love.

Lindz