Au Revoir (french); Tot ziens (flemish); Sayonara and Aloha L.A! ______________________________


Hi everyone!

As most of you know, Ray has accepted a 2-year assignment with Toyota's European Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. For those of you who do not know, Belgium is located next to France, Germany and the Netherlands. The home of NATO and the European Union, it is considered the "gateway to Europe" with its easy access to many European countries. (Hint, hint--good excuse to come and visit!)

Ray started his new position in February, 2008. The girls and I arrived here in late March. We are living just outside the city of Brussels in the commune of Tervuren, Belgium.

Although we are sad to temporarily leave our family and friends, we are excited for this adventure. What an opportunity to leave our tiny box and experience life outside of America!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Amsterdamn, its cold here...!!!

Well, at least the first day was...



The girls and I are running out of time here in Europe. We are down to our last 12 months (I know, is the glass half empty or half full, right?) Anyways, from now on, every weekend has to count...
With our home visit to LA coming up in a few days and the year pretty much winding down, we decided we still needed to get out and knock a few more "must-see" cities off our list. So we decided to make short hop out to Amsterdam, to see what the city had in store for us!





A less than two-hour drive from Brussels lands you in the capital of the Netherlands. Amsterdam has some beautiful buildings with truly unique architecture. The city is built around a series of 5 canals that ring around the city center. Conveniently, most of the city's tourist attractions are near the canals and are easily accessed by several boat lines that allow you to navigate the canals and hop on or off as you please. With our two little ones, this was an ideal setup.



We arrived on Saturday afternoon and found the ambient temperature hovering around 0 degrees celsius, or 32 F. Once the wind started to blow, you knew that it was going to be a long day outside! Right across from our hotel was a casino and the Hard Rock Cafe, where we decided to stop for lunch.













After a short walk down the block, we stopped to buy some oliebollens, or "Oil Balls" as the loose translation came out to. Jo had read about these in her ever-present guide book and wanted to try them out. Although they were ok, they were not what we were expecting. In fact, the Okinawa Dango's at the JCI or Faith Methodist carnivals in California would have put these to shame!! Part of the problem was they had been sitting out for awhile and were stone cold.









We went back to the hotel to warm up in the lounge and recharge. In the evening, we walked down to the Leidseplein which was a lovely pedestrian friendly area with several restaurants. The girls and I found a charming little pizza place, where we had a simple dinner of pizza and chicken. Still a bit cold for us, the last thing we wanted was for the girls to catch a cold before flying home to LA, so we decided to call it a night.





The next day started out clear and sunny with the temps climbing up to an "almost balmy" 5 degrees C (40F). However, during this time of year, there is less than 8 hours of daylight so we decided to get out and start enjoying it.



We boarded our canal boat and made our first stop to the Anne Frank House. This is a very moving exhibit located at the same office building where she and her family spent 2 years hiding from the Nazis to avoid persecution during World War II. Unfortunately, her family was discovered and sent to a concentration camp. As we all know, her diary was left behind and as such, brought worldwide attention to her story and her account of what happened during the holocaust. It's a very sobering exhibit and something that shouldn't be missed on any visit here.



We spent the rest of the day touring the rest of the city via canal boat and had lunch at an Irish pub right alongside the canal. One thing we noticed about Amsterdam is the great variety of different cuisines available here. Indonesian food is also really big here, most likely due to the influence from the colonial days of the Dutch East Indies. Many have said the best Indonesian food comes from the Dutch. Here we all enjoyed our lunch of fish-and-chips, cottage pie and chicken satays.

Before we went home, we stopped and had some pofferties, a small crepe-like donut, served hot off the special pan and smothered in powdered sugar. If you know my girls, you would know that almost anything served warm with powdered sugar would be met with squeals of delight and some power munching. Just stand back and watch your fingers...



After a full day of walking and touring the city, it didn't take long for the girls to fall asleep in the car, on the way back home. Even after we got home, they went upstairs, brushed their teeth and fell back into a deep sleep. No doubt dreaming of warm pofferties.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Christmas at the Grand Place



The Grand Place is one of our favorite spots in all of Belgium. Although the traffic is horrendous and the parking can be annoying, we still enjoy visiting this famous tourist attraction. Especially during the Christmas holiday season, when all the lights are lit up at night, it is truly magical.



So, last night, Ray and I took the girls to show them how the Grand Place does Christmas. After a wonderful dinner at Chez Leon (one of the girls' favorites), we walked to the central square and we were dazzled!! We hung out just enjoying the beautiful music and watched the light show illuminate the guild houses, the town hall and the huge Christmas tree.





So, afterwards, we walked over to Place Saint Catherine's to see the Christmas Market. After three rides on what are probably the most unique carousels anywhere (check out the pics!), as well as snacking on Master Waffle Maker Philip's yummy waffles, it turned out to be a wonderful evening out.

Philip and DS trade hats


Some "wild" carousel rides...










But, unfortunately due to the late hour and since the next day was a school/work day, we had to head on home. But we were 'oh-so-happy' to see the Grand Place during Christmas time...

And, the smiles on the girls' faces as they went to bed that evening was, well... priceless.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas Markets in Germany



Probably one of the most common words of travel advice we have received since moving to Europe is "you just HAVE to visit the Christmas Markets in Germany!" And although Jo and I had a chance to see a couple of the Belgian Christmas Markets last winter, we have been politely told that no one does them as well as the Germans...

So we were quite excited to spend an extended weekend in nearby Cologne, Germany to check out the festivities. There are literally hundreds of Christmas Markets held all over Deutschland, with many of the larger cities having more than one. In fact, Cologne has six this year, including a floating Christmas Market, held on a river boat!

Christmas Markets are basically very large outdoor winter parties that attract huge crowds. People show up in snow, rain or shine to gather with family and friends and kick off the holiday season.

We found that the crowds can be especially large during the prime weekend hours, but luckily our girls are early-risers, so we usually beat the crowd in the morning. However, by midday, it becomes very difficult to make our way through, with the girls and our stroller in tow.



Food and warm alcoholic drinks are a big part of the Christmas Market experience. Hundreds of vendors set up booths to sell such delectables as candies, baked goods, pretzels, candied nuts, barbequed meats and strudels. Our favorites were the wonderful roasted bratwursts, spiced (and spiked!) hot cider served in colorful festive mugs and baked apples stuffed with nuts and cranberries, served warm from the oven, drizzled with a sweet vanilla sauce.










The Cologne cathedral served as a dramatic backdrop to one of the Christmas markets held in Cologne.


Nothing like a candy apple break to keep the girls occupied...



The girls were able to enjoy the many rides at the Christmas market.



All in all, we had a very nice weekend in Cologne getting into the festive Holiday spirit. As an added bonus, St. Nicolas eve fell on this weekend. On this special night celebrated all over Europe, children who were good all year were visited by St. Nicolas and received a nice gift. The kids that were bad during the year received something, shall we say, not so nice.

Our girls woke up to find that St. Nicolas was able to come by the 3rd floor of the Cologne Marriott and left two nice gifts in front of our door. We knew he would bring one, but were surprised to actually see two gifts.

I guess PS got lucky this year...