Amazing Antwerp!

Jess and I decided to head to Antwerp for the day, yesterday,so we invited a couple of friends along for the fun. Brandon has been involved in a summer camp at KB, so Jess and I have been left to entertain ourselves for the last two weeks. (We were pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.) To add to the adventure, we took the train. I love this train station. It's very pretty, and the employees are extremely kind and helpful with "unseasoned" travelers like us. With tickets in hand, we were off.

This is the Antwerp Central train station, and it was amazing. We hadn't even gone out into the city yet, and we were in awe of the architecture. If you get the chance to take a train anywhere in Europe, do so through this station. Wow.

The double doors in the center lead to the inside part of the station. The details were so pretty.

Once you enter the doors... wow, again! I hadn't realized it at first, but this is where one of those surprise dance numbers was filmed that you see on YouTube. (I'd love to see one of those live. They look like so much fun.) Anyhoo, if you go down the stairs, though the doors, and take a right, you will be at the front gate of the Antwerp Zoo. We didn't have time for that adventure today, but we will certainly be back for it some time soon. Instead, we were on a mission. We went down these stairs and back into the train area. That's where all of the shops are...

This is what we were looking for, but more about that later. First, it was time to explore the city before we had to head home again. The Boy wasn't going to stay at camp forever, so we were on a time crunch. We only had 3 hours to explore!

There were lots of things to see here. There were amazing buildings and statutes everywhere you looked.

This view is back toward the train station. You can just see the

dome of it's roof in the distance. Is it just me, or does every statute in the city bear a striking resemblance to William Shakespeare?

It's hard to tell from this picture, but this lightening bolt statute was covered in gold leaf, and very pretty.

This is one of the things that we came to see. It's the Cathedral of Our Lady. Even though she was having a little work done, she was still beautiful! She is also the tallest building in the entire city. I know what you are thinking. Is that another Shakespearean statute? Why, yes. Yes, it is.All too soon, it was time to head back to the train. We didn't get a chance to check out the Grote Market, Het Steen, or the famous statute of Brabo and the giant's hand. That's OK. I will most definitely return to this lovely city and explore some more.

Central Station was quiet when we returned to board our train. Apparently others had more time to explore than we did.

I did happen to score a lovely souvenir of our trip. This was the main reason for our quick jaunt to Antwerp. I have started to collect the Starbucks collectors mugs of cities. (My friend Erika got me hooked on them, so feel free to blame her for my latest insanity.)

She's lovely, isn't she. Quite stylish, as well. Ahhhhh, I wonder what the common folk are doing today. Sitting in a train station, admiring their coffee mug, of course.

Hunt For The Ellusive Creature...

It was raining this morning, so KB's Camp Adventure took the kids to Molenheid to burn off some energy. We Mom's tagged along for the fun. I just have one word for this place...amazing! It doesn't look that big from the front, but it just goes on and on forever. (This is a trait that most Belgian businesses seem to have.) They have several indoor pools, tons of indoor playground equipment, a putt putt golf course, a little go cart track, and even an outdoor playground.

They also had a great cafe area with seating that overlooked the main room of the play area, so we could hang out and chat while the kids ran around and had fun. But Jess and I weren't there to chat. We were on a mission. We were hunting for the elusive creature called...The Boy.

Wait a minute? Is that him on that parachute ride?

I think that's him, shooting the enemy with the air powered ball cannon up in the obstacle course area.

Or maybe that's him, sliding down from the wooden tree house. It's hard to be sure. He's just so fast.

Shhhhhhhhh! I think we have him cornered on the rope bridge. Now if I can just get a little closer...

"Seriously, Mom. You have GOT to stop following me around with that camera. It's embarassing. The guys are starting to talk."

Blauwe Bessen (Blueberries)

It's yet another fantastically beautiful day in Belgium, so Jess and I decided to spend the morning picking blueberries with friends. We went to the Blauwe Bessenplantage in Gruitrode, and had a great time. You can't miss it. Just look for the huge inflated blueberries waving you in! (That's how you know it's picking time.) This place is really big. There are row after row of blueberry bushes, just waiting to be picked.Don't they look amazing? They taste even better! We were out there about an hour and got a ton of them. Well, maybe not a ton, but we did pick a heck of a lot of berries! As we picked, we categorized them. We started out with enough for muffins, then worked our way up to a small pie. By the end, we had enough to make a large cobbler, a pie, and a few dozen muffins. I think we're set! My lovely assistant, Jess, braved the wilderness (spiders) and helped me out by picking the majority of them. She might have a new career going for her... It was a relaxing way to spend the morning. We paid for our blueberries in the little shop, and picked up a few other goodies as well. They have a great selection of blueberry products. They sell blueberry everything, in fact! You can try it in wine, champagne, jelly, beer, syrup, a blueberry/chocolate candy bar...the list goes on and on. For those who are not quite as adventurous and energetic as we are, you can purchase blueberries that are already picked (but they cost a lot more, as you are paying for that labor.) We waved a final good-bye to the giant berry and headed back to base. It was a berry good day. (Oh, come on. You knew that was coming. It was too good to resist.)

Magical Maastricht!

I've been trying to get over to Maastricht for a long time, and today was finally my day! It was definitely worth the wait! Maastricht is beautiful! We parked over near the train station and took off to explore the city.There is always something going on in Maastricht. They have a different market just about every day of the week. One of the reasons I wanted to go today is because on Saturday...they have a flea market! They had lots of interesting things to see, and I am not one to turn down a bargain. When we were done checking out the flea market, we headed toward the main part of the city. We passed this lovely statute on the way to the bridge. This is the St. Servaasbrug. It's a beautiful stone bridge, and there is a platform on the side of it so you can stand there and watch the tour boats and swans go by. This is D.L. Vrouwe-basiliek (D.L. Church Lady). Quite frankly, I thought this one looked more like a stronghold than a church. I love the name, though. It makes me think of those old Saturday Night Live skits. There are lots of narrow, winding streets all over the city. Each street is full of great little shops, where you can find just about anything you can imagine. You can get everything from a fancy tea pot shaped like a wedding cake, to a dressy hat to wear to a garden party. They also had lots and lots of clothing stores. It's a shoppers dream!After wondering down the narrow streets, we came out at the market area and the Stadhuis. The Stadhuis is the Town Hall, and it is a very impressive building that dates back to the mid 1600's. All that exploring was making us pretty hungry, so we stopped for something to eat at the shops beside the Stadhuis. No, we didn't eat at McDonald's. (Although Brandon conned his Dad into buying him a milk shake after lunch.) We had delicious pizza and spaghetti bolognese at Pizzaria Napoli, a couple of doors down on the left. If you're in the area, I'd recommend this place for lunch! Not only was the food fantastic, but the staff was really friendly and they were a lot of fun to watch. After eating WAY too much, we were off exploring once again. There are interesting statutes and fountains all over the city. This church really caught my eye. Actually, it's two churches. The dark gray building on the left with the red tower is St. Janskerk. The golden one on the right is St. Servaas-Basiliek. St. Servatius Basilica was built on the grave of St. Servatius, a distant relative of Christ and John the Baptist. The original stone church was built there in 550. Throughout the years, it was destroyed by war, rebuilt, and expanded into the beautiful building that it is today. St. Jaanskerk is St. John's Church. It was named after John the Baptist, and the main part of the building was built around 1200. If you are wondering about the red color, The church was originally painted to protect the porous stones from weather damage. The Chapter Lords of St. Servatius, the builders of the church, used red paint for all of their belongings. It was sort of their trade mark. The paint got it's color from the iron ore it was made from. Although it is now painted with modern paint, they kept it's red color for historical reasons. When you enter the church, there is a little brown door on your right. (It's on the left of the main doors in this picture.) For a mere 1,50 euros, you can climb up to the top of the church tower. What they don't mention to you, is the fact that it is a tiny spiral stone staircase, and there are over 300 steps to reach the top. I should have suspected something when the man said, "Can you go to the top? You are young! Of course you can!" The view is worth the climb! It's amazing! As a bonus, the church bells on the Basilica chimed for us while we were admiring the sites. All of Maastricht was at our feet. Too soon, it was time to go back down. If you think a tiny spiral staircase is intimidating to climb up, just wait until you have to go back down it. We had a fantastic day exploring Maastricht. It's an amazing and magical city. I hope to return to it some day and see what other treats it has to offer. (And get some more pizza.)

Home Again, Home Again...

The past two weeks flew by in a whirlwind of activity. We ate, visited, shopped, swam, ate and visited some more, and pretty much ran around like crazy people during the entire trip. As you can see in this picture, the cats were thrilled to have us back in their lives, even if it was for a short time. Tink could barely contain her enthusiasm. Ashley informed me that she has been following our adventures on my blog, but wanted to know why there weren't more pictures of her and Tink on there. (I believe her exact words were "Churches, corn, amusements parks, blah blah blah...I want to hear more about me!") We had a wonderful time being spoiled rotten by all of the Grandparents. They took us to all of our favorite restaurants and stores that we had been missing so badly. We also reconnected with family members that we haven't seen in at least 5 years (pre-Alaska). While talking to family and friends, I realized what a nomadic lifestyle we've been living for the last 20 years. Being part of the military family, I've come to recognize that there are 3 categories of people: those who will always feel the place that they grew up in is the best, those whose "last base" is so much better than any place they've lived in (including their current location), and those who feel that wherever they are living is the best place in the world to be. We happen to belong to the last group. Each location we've lived in has been the most fantastic place to be. Granted, we've been very fortunate in where the military sends us, but still...home is where you make it. Before our trip to the states, I was missing the familiar. I missed being able to read everything, to understand every word spoken around me, to drive on wide roads and find all of the things I needed in one central location. I missed the ease that comes with being in a place where I actually know what's going on. And I missed family. Our two weeks back in the states, as hectic as it ended up being, was medicinal. It was a welcome break for a tired soul. But, that said, flying back into Belgium filled me with a feeling of coming home. Although I still miss my family, my home is now here, surrounded by all of the things that make this country so special. Yes, I might have to work a little harder for things here, but it's worth it. Of course, if someone wanted to put in a Walmart and Sonic in the neighborhood, that would be nice, too. I'm just saying.