Just Being a Belgian Tour Guide (July 4th-10th)

I have never been a tour guide, but definitely felt the stress of taking everyone around and being responsible for them having a good time. I desperately wanted my aunts and parents to believe they had experienced the trip of a lifetime, particularly because my aunts were only here for a week and were new to the whole traveling abroad thing. Where to go? What to do? They didn't care, but mentioned seeing Paris.

Despite getting into a hit and run accident in the parking lot of the Neuhaus Chocolate Outlet Store (if you come here, you have to get chocolates to take back, right?) on Monday of our big week, I believe the trip was perfect. (Sunday we had visited Brugge, a city in Belgium.) My car was hit by Anonymous causing my parents, the kids, and one aunt to head home with the TomTom. I needed to find the police station and report it for insurance purposes. I thought it'd be pretty simple since I had a sweet chocolate outlet lady helping me, but I did have the not always reliable GPS in my car.

After asking for directions from about 5-6 people, some of whom spoke perfect English, Aunt Susie and I never found the police station in that commune even after driving around for 2 hours. It had supposedly been moved recently to a different location, but after calling K at work and telling him I was just going to have to wake up early the next morning and go to our local station, he said, "Well, I guess that's what happens when we're living in a foreign country, not really speaking the language." (Neither one of us has been great at learning French.) I'm so thankful to have an understanding husband. He didn't raise his voice or act like I was a complete idiot, but agreed with my decision and realized I had tried my best to make the situation right. Luckily, I never did break down and cry during that "dent" in the day...I came pretty close though!

After reporting the crime at the police station on Tuesday (very nice people I might add), we were in the car for a 3 hour ride to Paris. We spent Tuesday through Thursday there, mastering the metro system and visiting many tourist sights you just have to do while you're in Paris. Friday was spent running around getting ready for the cruise, visiting the Butte de Lion where the Battle of Waterloo occurred, and making a quick trip to the Beersel Castle (You have to see a castle when you're in Europe!).
I realized I've adjusted to some European ways that my aunts got a kick out of seeing such as men peeing on the side of the road, the not so apparent toilet flushing systems (sometimes you have to stare at the toilet for a few minutes to figure out where the flusher is), always carrying spare change just in case you need to go to the restroom in public, screenless windows, and much more. My Aunt Susie took great notes to report back to Grandma.

Below are pictures of Brussels on the Grande Place with the kids, my aunts and dad before heading to the Neuhaus Outlet.


Eating Belgian waffles with powdered sugar for dessert. What was my son doing??
The evidence:

I will never forget it raining when we ascended the Eiffel Tower producing a rainbow my children are so blessed to have witnessed (even though they don't realize it).

At the top of the tower, you can see how far away other tourist sites are located. See how far away from home we are?

The left side of the rainbow was much more visible.

If you click on this picture and look really closely, you can see the rainbow on the right near the buildings. Priceless!

Metro Masters!

This is what my children thought of the whole sightseeing thing...one is fake smiling and the other is exhausted from all the walking. They're such troopers!

Aunts Sally and Susie were people watching and eating lunch at my favorite restaurant that has a killer Greek salad, Cafe di Roma, on the Avenue Des Champs-elysees in Paris. It doesn't get any better than this!