Pictures

Trey and Bella at our first restaurant with a mini statue of the famous "peeing boy" in the background.

Fresh, hot, gooey waffles!!!!

Pictures

Those are stacks of cheese in one of the stalls in the Xmas market

This is a real man painted as a statue in the Grand Place

A side view of the Grand Place

Grand Place

Part 1 continued

We went back to the apartment early on Christmas Eve to read stories and play games. Our jetlag was really bad and none of us could go to sleep until 4-5am, which meant we woke up at 12-1pm on Christmas Day - fun, fun! We each had brought a small gift for each other and we enjoyed the simplicity of our gift exchange. Since we had slept most of the day, we hurried to get dressed and get back to the Grand Place (only thing open) to finish exploring. The place was packed, but still we marveled at the beauty of the city center. We also had our first Belgian waffle, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! We bought it off of the street, wrapped in paper and piping hot - I don't think I can eat waffles again here in the States! By the way did I mention that it was COLD in Brussels? After about 2 hours of walking, I could no longer feel my feet! Enjoy the pictures, and more later!

Brussels, Part 1

To pick up where I left off, Trey only got worse, so we made the call to Belgium's universal healthcare line and a English speaking doctor showed up within an hour at OUR apartment! I knew he was catching a cold, but I felt he had strep throat because that was the root of the pain (and fever), plus he had the white spots on the back of the throat. Well anyway after an exam and throat swab the doctor confirmed the infection and prescribed meds and we were off to the pharmacy. By the way, the house call cost us $40 - we were sure it would cost a lot more $$$$, but obviously the Europeans know how to make healthcare affordable! He wrote 4 prescriptions and that cost us a whopping $20! Enough about that, he made a full and speedy recovery and we were back in business!

On Christmas Eve, we took off for the Grand Place in the center of Brussels to visit the Chirstmas markets and go ice skating. The Grand Place was absolutely beautiful and all the vendors in the stalls had amazing things to sell (we picked up a handmade nesting doll for Bella). We had our first meal in a restaurant there as well, and it was amazing. Trey had the rabbit, Hamartrya and I had a traditional beef stew and picky Bella had a cheese pizza! We also had our first taste of Belgian beer - very good!

I'm not a slacker, our computer crashed!

On our second day in Brussels, our computer crashed, cutting us off from everything, so I will have to do a lot of catching up! We are back in the U.S.A, and as soon as I get over my jetlag, I will recap our wonderful European escape!