Winter weather didn’t put a damper on our fantastic visit with Kevin and Stefanie. We picked them up on Thanksgiving Day at the airport and gave them the quick tour of Brussels. Unfortunately the first day here is pretty much a waste; it’s pretty exhausting coming our way so we try to keep the sight seeing to a minimum. After a few quick looks around the city we headed back to our house. Bailey was so excited to see some of her friends from back home. Since NATO doesn’t have Thanksgiving we decided to postpone our celebration to Friday, in the meantime we introduced them to “Steak on a Rock” and Belgian beer. Thankfully, neither disappointed.
Other than Keith having to work a short day on Friday it was not unlike a typical Thanksgiving. Kevin and Stefanie got to sleep in, and I did last minute grocery shopping. Our friends here bought us the necessary fixin’s from the military base. The local store doesn’t sell Turkey (only whole chickens), or any of the boxed favorites like Stove Top stuffing. While I started the Turkey in our tiny oven (cooking in Celsius) Keith took them out to meet the cheese lady to pick out some yummy items for the evening. The food turned out wonderful and the night was great, we had the McCrea’s and our Friends Dan, Susana, their daughter Sofia and dog Emma, we couldn’t ask for better company on Thanksgiving Day. Overall a great Thanksgiving!
On Saturday and Sunday we went spent going to two different cities, Brugge and Monschau, Germany. The holiday season is clearly a fun time to be in Europe, all the villages and cities set up outdoor Christmas markets. Brugge is no exception; all the booths were set up selling all sorts fun items. We took them on the standard walk through town, on a canal ride and of course stocked up on beer and chocolate. Monschau, Germany is about an hour and forty five minutes from our place. It’s a small village just outside Aachen. Basically it was like something out of a fairy tale. A perfect German village nestled in the bottom of the mountains with a stream running through it. It didn’t hurt that while we were there for their Christmas Markets it started snowing! It was something right out of a movie. The town was decorated for the season, and pine booths were set up throughout selling Gluevein (the spiced hot wine) hot chocolate, bratwurst, waffles, and all sorts of yummy goodies to keep you warm. We had lunch on a glass enclosed terrace overlooking the stream, watching the snow. Kevin and Stefanie had success in purchasing an authentic German Cuckoo Clock, Keith and I are sure to get one before we move home.
Keith headed back to work on Monday after dropping us off at the train station. The three of us headed into Paris for the day on the high speed train, we only had one mission to accomplish. Stefanie wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We walked around for a bit letting the grey sky’s clear up and checked out their Christmas booths along the Champs Elysees heading from the Louvre to the Arc de Triumph. After lunch and a slight clearing of the skies we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. To my delight the lines seem to disappear with the winter weather so we made it to the top with little delay or complications. Mission accomplished. The rest of the day was just bonus.
Their whole trip was a real treat for us. Not only do we enjoy getting to show people where we live, but we really love getting to go on these day trips with our friends and family. The only problem is the time seems to go by so quickly.
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1 comment:
That is so awesome! I am glad to hear Thanksgiving and the visit went well!!! I hope Kev got some booyah beers :-)
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