Bruges was about an hour and a half drive from Brussels. Jackson and Seth climbed to the top of the bell tower while Owen and I attempted to hop into a few shops. Owen wasn’t thrilled with the arrangements! After their climb we met up for a lunch of Flemish stew for Seth and fish and chips for the boys and I. After lunch we walked around some of the churches in the city. It was neat to be in the churches on Good Friday and to see some very realistic images that gave us a fresh reminder of  what our Savior did for us when he died on the cross.

view from the top

366 steps!!

this statue of Jesus appeared to be carved from wood. It was in the basilica that supposedly houses a vile of Jesus’s blood. It was a beautiful little stone church. Even our rowdy boys began to understand the need to be quiet in churches.

After Bruges we drove a little ways to the coast so the boys could see the beach. It was fuh-reezing! but they loved it!

happy dance!

this was Owen’s first time to see waves, he enjoyed running from the incoming tide!

I think by the end of this series of picture travel blogs I will need to do a blog on how to travel cheaply in Europe with kids and how the heck we afford to do the day trips we do.  In all honesty a week of hopping around other parts of Europe was cheaper (excluding gas) than living a normal, everyday kind of week in Bern!! I wish the Swiss would realize the rest of the world just doesn’t operate on insanely expensive living.

Up next we drove to Maastricht in the Netherlands and back to Brussels for a tulip garden. The next day we drove back to Ramstein to again break up the ride home. I may try to squeeze all of this into the next post so as not to bore you all for days on end!

Following our family bowlathon we headed to Brussels. The boys did great and the ride was relatively uneventful. Well until just before we arrived. Twenty minutes from Brussels as the boys began to be really antsy and STARVING a car to the left of us hit a guard rail and began flipping in front of us. The car was completely crushed but the girl was pulled from the car and able to “walk” away from it. We were all very shaken up and obviously very thankful to be alive. It all went in slow motion.  And I highly recommend saying all of those meaningful things to family when you are not in the middle of a traumatic situation because you really are kind of focused on staying alive.

Back to Brussels… Our friends the Burke’s lent us their house complete with a black lab (and their Colombian maid that stayed to care for the dog). We didn’t use the maid but the boys loved pretending that they had a dog for the week. We stayed in Brussels the entire time and took day trips throughout the area. It was so nice to have a cozy home to come home to a cook normal meals in the evenings. After our day in Brussels Owen was obsessed with “fwench fwies” and waffles. He was disappointed to have eat normal food in the evenings.

We spent a very chilly, rainy day exploring the city in Brussels. Here are a few pictures.

super super long baguettes

and the waffles…

and the chocolates…

some like to savor chocolates….some just go for it.

tintin reminds me of my brothers…they used to read them when we were in boarding school. I hope our boys like the books too!

“it’s right there, can’t you see it?”

this statue was much smaller in real life than we imagines. Jackson thought it was pretty silly!

he was puzzled by the giant chocolate version

time outs occur even in Europe despite all of the recent media about European parenting.

Tomorrow I will try to hop on and share our day in Brugg. It was probably our favorite city so far!