Beth & Bret's European Visit #2

My sister and her husband got the opportunity to get to visit us for the second time.  It was gonna be a short week, so we had to fit a lot in quickly!  They arrived on a Friday just in time to have a yummy Narttaya dinner, watch Preslee play volleyball, and watch our kids so we could go to ISB night!

On Sunday we started the excursions.  Grand Place was first up and it was market day, so they got to shop for some local goodies.

Galeries St-Hubert....an elegant area right outside the Grand Place.  There are nice shops, cafes, and lots of chocolate window displays inside.  I have a few favorite stores in here :)

Hôtel de Ville....city hall

Beth & Bret with #4 on the way!

I just got a new camera, so I was having fun taking pics!

They just started having the horse and carriage rides again.  It's quite busy in the Grand Place so I'm not sure how easily they get around.

Waffle time!!  These things are so good!  Nothing like you expect them to taste.  The American "Belgian waffle" is not even close.

Mannequin Pis in his FBI outfit.  He has over 800 outfits now!  This one commemorates the Congress of the FBI National Academy in Brussels

We did a walk around Brussels, that I haven't done before, and we ran into parts of the city's 12th century wall that still is standing....Tour de Villers

Notre-Dame de la Chapelle with it's black bell tower.

Dog-loving Belgians....they have their own bathroom in the park.  Maybe they should think about having this in the malls around here.  It's a bit gross to come by a pile of poo as your shopping.

Skate park

Big man and a little door......hahaha

I finally made it to see the Petit Sablon...took me long enough.  A beautiful garden area in the "upper town" of Brussels.  The Grand Sablon is full of shopping and cafes and leads you to the Petit Sablon.  The Grand Sablon divides Brussels in two, it's kind of the stepping stone between the lower and upper halves of the city.

Notre Dame du Sablon....yes, there are a lot of Notre Dames in Europe

A grand statue of Godefroi of Boullion stands in the center of the Royal Quarter of Brussels.  He was a soldier who fought the first Catholic Crusades.

Royal Palace of Brussels.....the King and Queen do not actually live here but this is the official work place of the Belgian monarchy.  

Carillon Clock...the figures, from Belgian history, move every hour

Then that night, Mike met us at Hard Rock with all the kids.  Our fave place in Brussels!!!

LUXEMBOURG

We traveled to Luxembourg the next day to visit Vianden Castle.  It's one of the largest fortified castles west of the Rhine.  It's fully restored on the outside and inside after left to ruin in the 17th century.  It was high up on a hill, overlooking the town, which made it not so easy to walk up to but we made it.  There are a few pics from the inside, but I mostly just took them of Emerson. :)

Cutting those eyes...this girl and her facial expressions kill me!

More hair!

On our drive back from Luxembourg, I decided to take them to the Battle of the Bulge monument since we were so close.  One more site to mark off their list!

The next day was the Atomium and chocolate excursion!

E loves going to the chocolate store!  Taste testing all day!

I tried to take them to Beersel Castle after chocolate but it was completely being restored...no visiting allowed.

The next day they hopped on a train to Brugge.  They took the tram from my house, then got on the metro to the train station...all by themselves!  They made it and had a good day too!  Brave!

Up next we went to the Battle of Waterloo site and had a fun time at McDonalds!

Starting the climb up the 226 steps!

I kind of like this pic with the shadow of the Lion statue on the Panorama building.

Views of the battlegrounds are what you can see at the top.  There are markers around the huge Lion that tell you what town you are seeing.

It wasn't easy carrying this big girl up all those steps!

Beth made it too!!

We picked up the kids from school and headed to McD, so Bret could have the experience of ordering a beer with his burger and fries.

Their last day we decided to go to Monschau, Germany.  They really wanted to go to Germany and I think this town is the cutest, and it's close as well.  We had another great, sunny day to enjoy this little bit of Germany.

They had the trashmen exhibit there.  Which I thought was strange because Monschau is not that well known, or at least it's never really all that crowded, and this exhibit goes to all the big cities around the world.  Even Brussels...see pic below.  They travel the world in sea containers

The sign said "The Trash People are images of ourselves.  We produce trash and we will become trash." The artist of these trash people is HA Schult

Ending the day with a yummy schnitzel lunch!

We had a great time with Bret & Beth.  They are always happy to be here and are thankful for the opportunity to travel Europe with us.  I hope they enjoyed their travels this time around!