Brugge and The Hague

A couple of weeks ago we had a long weekend so we took a trip to Belgium and the Netherlands.  We drove and the kids loved going on the EuroTunnel (not the driving).  You drive your car into the train and ride for about 30min.  It was pretty cool.  It felt so good to be driving on the right side of the road again (All mainland Europe drives on the right) even though our steering wheel is on the wrong side.  Brugge is amazing!  Such a beautiful place.  We stayed right in town and enjoyed this awesome walking city, cobble stones everywhere and lots and lots of chocolate shops.  We would start in about 10:30am trying the different chocolate shops just to make sure one wasn't better than another.  We had a nice boat tour and enjoyed walking all over town.  We had a great couple of days there.  The weather was a bit cold but no rain until Holland.  We tried to stop in Brussels on our way to the Netherlands but because of traffic we scrapped it.  We made a pit stop in Antwerpen on our way to The Hague.  We got into our hotel which seemed really nice and headed to the dining room to get some dinner.  So we are sitting there waiting for our food and I notice a few tables away that the people kept staring at us.  I figured it was because of our "large" family which happens on occasion but they just kept staring.  I was getting pretty uncomfortable at this point until I see them pointing to the floor.  I look over to see a little mouse...I gasp and instinctively pull my feet up which made them laugh, not funny in my mind. The little old man gets up with his napkin and tries to throw it on the mouse which didn't work and it scurries under our table somewhere and then disappeared or else off to torture someone else.  A few minutes went by and the manager comes over and says "so I hear you had a little visitor" a little visitor...yeah I say eye brows raised. "Yes, well it's a known problem and we are working on it."  Working on it! are you kidding me! Where I come from you can't have mice in a restaurant. I didn't really know how to reply to him I was still shocked. Needless to say no one was feeling very hungry after that.  I guess we'll never forget that evening right?  As for things we did we got to see a cute little art museum, walked around their downtown, saw the Temple, went to church all in Dutch, saw windmills, and went to Keukenhof (amazing gardens).

 Brugge

 Brugge

 The oldest Brugge bridge "Mead bridge" where back in the day they would sell mead and other herbs.

 crow-stepped gable, very typical of Brugge

 fun holland shoe decoration

 loved all of the bicycles

 The Easter bunny managed to find us in Begium and left some delicious chocolate eggs in carton.

 A sampling of some yummy chocolates!  Melt in your mouth goodness that have divine fillings not sickeningly sweet gooeyness that we do in the states.

 The kids begged to stay for primary in The Hague and ended up with these darling bunny breads from a sweet Dutch lady who spoke very little English.  They came with an egg in the middle.

DE KERK JEZUS CHRISTUS VAN DE HEILIGEN DER LAATSTE DAGEN 

Den Haag Nederland Tempel

 The Hague standing across from Museum Gevangenpoort where we saw Vermeers' Girl with the Pearl Earring (it happened to be on loan from the museum we wanted to go to but it was closed).

 Parliament buildings and Knights hall

 The Hague, I need that door.

 Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse- Holland

 making wooden shoes

 We were lucky to not have rain until Monday our last day and we happened to be outside most of the time which made it slightly miserable but I thought these tulips captured the drops beautifully.

 Amazing colors...they had some awesome greenhouses which allowed us to escape the rain.

 Stroopwafel, yum.

Family came to town

We enjoyed a great four days with our first visitors. T-man's sister and her husband came to visit a few weeks ago.  We wish they could have stayed longer but alas there is much to see in Europe.  They left their little munchkins at home much to the disappointment of their cousins, but brought along soon to be number 4 :)

 A trip to Bath - Once a posh resort of the Romans circa 70 AD and built over the only natural hot springs in Great Britain.

 We ate dinner at "Yak Yeti Yak" a Tibetan restaurant.  It was a fun experience.  Gracie made it known that the incense was a "yucky" smell but the food was good.  And sitting cross-legged on the floor helped us get even more into the experience.

 We took a ride on the "Brighton Wheel." A special treat for the kids.

 Beautiful Brighton seashore.

 We discovered these gardens in Rottingdean.  Apparently Kipling lived there for a while. It was a series of  about four gardens separated by stone walls and cute door ways.  Letty wanted to live there (she must be craving some grass).

A tourist stop at StoneHenge

 Having fun with Uncle W

 Arundel Castle, former home to friend of William the Conqueror, the Count of Norfork.  Unfortunately it was closed for the season to reopen on April 1.  But we enjoyed the town quaint hilltop town.

 Cute girls holding hands.

Looking down on Arundel castle

On the way home T-man had to stop and check out what this was.  It is a chapel attached to a private boarding school called Lancing.

Extras

Before I get too behind I just wanted to share some random pictures.

Letty's school has been studying the Titanic.  They had an "Edwardian" dress up day and they had to go as someone on board the Titanic.  I encouraged her to be a maid since it was relatively simple.

 Caught red handed sneaking some cereal.

 During term break we went to a soft play place.  I found Gracie in line by herself all hooked up and ready to climb.  She had a blast.

 Sprout enjoyed a fast ride down the slide with Letty.

 Letty (Hermione) on dress up as your favorite character day.  Luckily it was easy since she has the uniform and she borrowed a tie from dad.  I must say I don't really enjoy dress up days.  I didn't like them as a kid either and now I'm plagued with them since her school seems to think they are really fun, ah well.

 enjoying her view

 Down the road not very far from us you find this.  The town to the right is called Rottingdean.  I'm not sure what their offical title is, but I call them the white cliffs of Brighton, and they are made from the same stuff (chalk) as the white cliffs of Dover.

 Rottingdean

 having fun

 Looking so big

 Collecting chalk.  The white "rocks" behind them are all chalk

Enjoying some time at the park (where we end up almost everyday)

Reeeeach

London

Several weekends ago we took the train up to London for the day.  We didn't hit as many spots as we would have liked but we left when everyone was still happy so we considered it successful.  

 The flight section of the Science Center.  Standing in front of the Wright brothers photos.

 Little A sitting on some flight ride at the Science Center

 Outside of the Natural History Museum, we didn't make it inside this time.

 Buckingham Palace gates.

 Buckingham Palace

Victoria Memorial right in front of Buckingham Palace.  Gracie was already pretty worn out.