We are home now. The house looks almost as it did when we left – just a few things in different places and a few new things that were not here when we left. Somehow, it feels different though. It sounds odd, it smells different and yet it is all so familiar.

Now, for the real story. Our marathon final day.

I woke up at 7:30 this morning, suddenly, startled out of sleep by what must have been an anxiety dream. This after struggling to get Kate to go to sleep the night before and finally succeeding at around midnight. I did my best to go back to sleep and gave up at about 8:30. I got up, made some coffee, and added things to my Amazon wish list.

Kate woke up at 9 – grumpy and whining. Ken and Mariah woke up shortly after that. I made the girls two bowls of cereal while Ken and I threw ourselves together and got us all out the door (and nearly completely packed) for a walk down to Starbucks to breakfast (you owe me $10) and then a walk to find a change bureau so that we could get enough euros for our taxi ride to the airport. We took two strollers and walked fast. Our final walk through the chilly streets of Paris ended in a panicked sprint to find ANY PLACE to get change and make it back to the apartment with just barely enough time to finish packing and be ready for the Taxi. The taxi was of course early. I threw the last few things in bags while Ken sprinted up and down the stairs with our luggage and then we said our hurried, and teary eyed goodbyes and jumped in the car.

The ride was slow but uneventful. We walked into the airport, mailed in our TVA forms, waited in line forever to check our luggage. Then waited in line to get through customs. Then we took the tram to the correct terminal which Kate LOVED. Then we waited in another security line – the real one where you take off your shoes, take out all electronics, etc. etc. Unfortunately, this required a great deal of unpacking. For nearly this entire hour and a half long adventure through the airport, Kate pulled not just her suitcase, but her and Mariah’s suit cases behind her. No complaints. Totally keeping up with our grown-up pace. It was impressive especially considering this was “nap time” and she had not slept well the night before.

We had a speedy snack before making the final boarding call. While we ate, Ken commented on how oddly calm the entire process had been. As we waited in line to get on the plane, Kate’s boarding pass was randomly selected for a security screening. She and I got out of line and followed the very friendly flight attendant to the table where they looked in her bag, and used the metal detector wand and patted her down. She and I stood there with the old woman in the wheelchair who had also been randomly selected (seriously) and I did my best to reassure her that she was doing a great job.

We finally got on the plane and got settled. Both of the girls were so excited to have their personal TVs they asked repeatedly for the 20 minutes until we were in the air if they could watch TV. Ken finally “radioed the captain” to tell him that Kate was ready for takeoff and miraculously, the plane began to move. Kate and Mariah think their daddy is very very powerful. Once in the air, everything seemed to be going well. They were happy, Ken and I were watching The Bounty Hunter on either side of the four seats we occupied, laughing together at the funny spots while the girls watch Franklin and Sam Sam and occasionally asked for some help with something. We had dinner. We made multiple trips to the bathroom. We assisted with games and coloring. By the fourth hour in, Ken and I had given up trying to watch our movie. The girls were showing no signs of sleeping, but they were clearly exhausted. At the 5 hour mark, during a trip back to the bathrooms I gave in to Mariah’s request for ice cream and we brought back Haagen Daas Ice Cream bars for everyone. Finally, at 6 hours in (10:30 Paris time) Mariah fell asleep on Ken. Kate refused. I tried to work with her a little, reassuring her that if she slept on the plane, then she would be awake enough to play with her dolls when we got home. It was at that point that I wondered how I was going to survive the next 5 hours of our flight. We reasoned with her, we bribed her, we scolded her, we played games with her, we did everything we could think of to try and get her to go to sleep. Finally, we gave up. She watched more TV.

Mariah woke up after about an hour and a half. She was hot and Ken was uncomfortable so I took her back to see if we could get some ibuprophen or acetominephin or something to cool her fever. The flight attendants were very helpful and provided Mariah with just what she needed. Unfortunately, it was too late. Around 8 hours into our flight, Mariah threw up, completely missing the barf bag that I had anticipated we might need, and projectile vomiting the contents of her stomach mostly on me and the floor. Ken and I spent the next half an hour cleaning Mariah, me and the floor with the help of the sweet but squeamish flight attendants. Fortunately, I had a clean shirt and Mariah had a change of clothes. Not much we could do about the hair though. Back at our seat with our stash of barf bags, a box filled with warm washclothes from business class and a few towels, it dawned on me that Kate’s potentially sleepless night had gone from an issue of great concern to a interesting factoid. Hey! Kate’s going to pull her first allnighter! I said to Ken. I don’t think he was that amused.

We made it through the next three hours with three more vomits all squarely landed in barf bags (yay Mariah) and Kate never did go to sleep. Getting off the plane was quite a chore as well. But after two sets of lines, we made our way out into the warm Los Angeles night and waited just a minute for Grammy T who came to pick us up.

Last night we got a terrible night’s sleep and Kate was very congested when she woke up so today we decided to take it easy. We spent the day doing laundry, working to figure out how to get everything into the bags we had on hand and still meet all of the FAA luggage regulations. Ken made it over to Starbucks in an outfit that Kate responded to with “you look like a genius” for one last fix before we leave ($10 we’re back there tomorrow morning). We managed to get almost everything packed (hopefully the rest will be done early tomorrow). AND we spent a great deal of time researching knock knock jokes. Here are a few for you.

Knock, knock
Who’s There?
Gorilla
Gorilla Who?
Gorilla me a hamburger, I’m hungry.

Knock, knock
Who’s There?
Cow-go
Cow-go Who?
No, Cow go MOO!!!

Knock, knock
Who’s there?
Dishes.
Dishes who?
Dishes me.
Who ish you?

Knock, Knock.
Who’s there?
A little girl.
A little girl who?
A little girl who can’t reach the doorbell!

Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Little old lady.
Little old lady who?
Wow! I didn’t know you could yodel.

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Tank!
Tank who?
You’re welcome!

Knock, Knock.
Who’s there?
Police.
Police who?
Police stop telling these awful knock, knock jokes!

What can I say, it was a boring day. This was the best we could come up with!

See the (incredibly boring) slide show from the day

We woke up early (8:30) and had some frozen croissants and puttered around. We decided we wanted to give the girls one last trip to Jardin des Tuileries and get rid of our last 2 carousel tickets. We thought about taking the bus or metro but it was SUPPOSED to be 69 and mostly sunny. So, we decided to walk down since it was downhill and take the bus back.

We finally got out of the house at 12:15 with one stroller. We walked by 2 Starbucks and I had no problem skipping them. Yeah me! We picked up some sandwiches on the way and finally arrived at the Jardin at 1:30. Just in time to enjoy a small picnic. It was really nice to get out and have fun. It was nice not to think about leaving Paris and instead enjoy it.

While we were eating our lunch, Wendy had this bad feeling it was going to rain. I said no way! All of a sudden the wind picked up so we stopped eating ran to the carousel and as we started to walk to the bus stop the rain started. Just a slight drizzle at first. Then it dropped 10 degrees, the wind picked up and sure enough sideways RAIN. We scrapped the bus and made our way to the metro. Once inside we warmed up and had a pleasant ride back.

When we arrived at our stop it had just stopped raining so we made it back to the apartment without any issues. We took some well deserved naps and then just enjoyed the apartment. Mariah spent her third afternoon in underwear without any mishaps (and second day with no wet diapers). At one point Wendy and I were in the living room working while the girls colored at the little table in their bedroom. Mariah came into the doorway and said “I peed!” which usually means that she has to pee but under the circumstances, it seemed like it was going to be a mess. Wendy jumped up to take her to the bathroom but when she got to the doorway Mariah was standing there holding out the potty seat insert filled with pee. That’s my girl!

I made chicken piccata with pasta and greens for dinner. We had some leftover white wine from Henry and it was delicious. After dinner the girls played Farmville (thanks Sheri) and I cleaned up. Wendy read the girls some stories and put them to bed. Hopefully Kate’s sniffles will be gone in the morning.

See the slide show from the day

Today was a strange day because after spending most of the late evening hours last night making sure we had the presents we needed to bring back and strategizing on how to get everything back it almost seemed as though we were planning on leaving. That meant that we needed to go to march saint pierre to get our tax credit. So that was the master plan for the day.

We quickly got everybody dressed and out the door by 10AM. We packed umbrellas and rain jackets as there was a 90% chance of rain. We brought our Picard croissants with us to eat on the road. So, we were out the door and on our way to get our tax credit. With two strollers and food in hand we made record time. This area of town is very dangerous to any who loves fabric. As we started getting closer to the store Wendy was already getting worried. I quickly threw the credit card into my front pocket and we were safe. Whew! At the store I delivered the appropriate documents (passport) and got my paperwork for the tax refund.

The weather was still friendly so we decided to head back and stop at Montholon Square. The kids were so excited as it has been a while since they had fun outdoors. We were a little worried because they were tired and last time they were tired Kate fell and hurt herself. So Wendy watched the strollers and I went in with them. Kate ran onto the slide and Mariah followed. Kate came down the slide perfectly and Mariah followed with a huge grin on her face at the top. She pushed and came down the whole way on her back and immediately started crying. So much for parks when they are tired! Mariah regrouped and they had a great time.

We left and decided to pass on the groceries and instead we headed back to the apartment for lunch and naps. We had a $4 frozen pizza and then it was nap time. Kate, Wendy and I took short naps. I decided to run out to the grocery store to purchase food for the weekend and for the next family coming in. On my way, I dropped of a bottle of wine at Henry’s that we wanted to share with hi later and told him we would come by at 7 to drink it. Then I made my grocery trip with delivery without any problems. I am feeling Parisian now!

Once back at the house we had snacks and since the girls were out of control (tired) we made an early dinner for them. They had spinach and cheese ravioli with pesto sauce and diced tomatoes. Wendy and I snacked on their leftovers. We left the apartment and headed to Henry’s. He had already opened the bottle of wine to let it breathe and we got really excited to drink it. The problem was Henry got a very important phone call that lasted 20 minutes. By this time it was 7:45 and the girls were done. Kate fell and almost broke 3 bottles. So Wendy took them back to the apartment and I waited for Henry.

After his phone call he had many, many customers and by 8:10 we had our first glass. It was delicious! Just like I remembered it. Henry seemed impressed which made me feel like I really understand wines now. He pulled out a bottle of white and another Pinot that he wanted me to try. The Pinot was tough and I didn’t like it as much. The white was good. I told him I thought it tasted like a 12-13 euro bottle and he looked it up and it was 13. I am definitely understanding this wine thing. I left around 8:30 with the leftover Pinot I brought and the white he opened and a little drunk. I came home and the girls had been bathed and were snacking before getting ready for bed. Wendy is the best!

As the kids played Wendy and I decided to make dinner for ourselves. we made an unbelievable steak with caramalized onions and a red wine reduction sauce. I cooked it to a perfect medium in a skillet. We added some frozen greens and finished the Pinot. Superb!!! My new favorite dish. The kids finally fell asleep and we are not to far behind.

See the slide show from the day

Today’s mission was to have a successful tissue (fabric) shopping experience. We started the day like we start every other day… tired. We had no food. We have little cash. We turned to our old friend, Starbucks because we could feed everyone, get our caffeine fixes and charge it. We headed out the door with TWO strollers today knowing that we would need them in order to make the long walk south to Starbucks and then North to Marche Saint Pierre. The strollers clearly confused Kate and Mariah, but once we were moving, they sat comfortably and we were able to make quick work of the first leg of our trip. Coffee, milk, pancakes and a Brioche au Sucre – yum. We even sat down to enjoy our late breakfast. Back on the road we marched up from the edge of the 2nd Arrondisement all the way up through the 10th and into the 18th. In spite of the overcast skies and the 81 degree weather with 100% humidity (no exaggeration) we made record time.

Once in the store, Ken gave the girls a pep talk and explained that this trip for me was like going to a toy store or riding on a carousel for them, and that they needed to be on their best behavior. They agreed. Once we stashed our strollers, we headed up stairs to make our choices. Immediately, Mariah had to go to the bathroom. Ken took her while Kate and I shopped. Ken asked the sales person if they had a toilet. He was allowed entrance to the “private” toilet since it was for Mariah. They came back immediately. The toilet was a hole in the floor. Mariah would have none of it. She said she would hold it. We took our chances. She was wearing a diaper after all. A little more time spent looking and Kate suddenly had to go. Brilliantly, Ken remembered the green public toilet outside across the street. He grabbed some change and bravely took them outside. I stayed and enjoyed the calm of shopping with no distraction.

When Ken and the girls arrived at the toilet, it was occupied, but there was no line. The woman who came out spoke English and generously explained that he could not go in. He needed to wait for the door to close, the bathroom to clean itself and the green light to come back on. Then, he could push the button and enter. Once inside, he assessed the situation. The bathroom was very clean, and slightly damp. He dried the seatless toilet and created a paper seat. Kate was a pro. Mariah followed suit. Hands were washed. The door was opened and voila! Our first street toilet experience and it was totally painless!

When they returned, I had made some progress but had not actually gotten the fabric cut yet. Ken sat down on the floor with the girls to tell them stories and was quite convinced that they were going to fall asleep in his lap (no such luck). I continued my shopping. I was making some real progress and decided I wasn’t going to leave anything on the racks. I explained to Ken when he was trying to reassure me about my choices that I wasn’t worried about regretting what I purchased, I was worried about regretting what I left behind. Finally, two sales people and who knows how long later, we were ready to check out. The only problem was we didn’t bring a passport so that we could take advantage of the VAT tax credit. Now we have to go back tomorrow. Oh Darn.

Back home we made ham sandwiches and had some fruit and took nice long naps. We woke up late. Ken went to Picard to stock up on a few items to tide us over for the next few days and made a detour at Henry’s across the street to return a glass. Of course, he was handed a glass of wine when he walked in, and then another before he could leave. Meanwhile after a successful potty day for Mariah, she decided to spend some time in her princess undies. Unfortunately that meant multiple trips to the potty which ultimately resulted in us running out of toilet tissue. Good thing I have a stash of purse sized Kleenex packages. Kate, Mariah and I played Farmville on Facebook (speaking of which, I forgot to harvest my fruit). THEY really enjoyed it – I did it for them I swear. Once Ken returned with a new bottle of wine and a sack full of groceries, we were really ready for dinner. Fortunately, he made some excellent choices and was happy to make a bowl full of pasta bolognese and a salad. All I had to do was make the salad dressing. The girls had some trouble sitting still during dinner and started asking to go outside and run around. I suggested they do some yoga in the living room. Kate taught Mariah her favorite poses. Mariah was a willing student.

Then we had the sorbet and profiteroles that Ken picked up from Picard, and played some more and worked a little. Mostly we strategized about exactly how we are going to get all this new stuff home. Just four more days and we’ll be in Los Angeles. Where has the time gone…

See the slide show from the day

Today we went to the Eiffel Tower, or as we say in France, Le Tour Eiffel. We took the bus right outside our front door, almost all the way to Trocadero. We got off at a stop that we thought would be a quick jump to our destination and what did we find? Le George V. Of course we had to go in. There were an unreasonable number of flowers in the lobby. We made a quick tour and decided that it is beautiful, but not terribly interesting. We left quickly, and took photos out in front.

Then we picked up some sandwiches and made our way to the Champs de Mars to sit among the broken glass and cigarette butts for our picnic – not as glamorous as one might think. After lunch we made our way to the lines to buy our tickets. We decided to brave the stairs to the 2nd level. Kate was surprised at how short the trip was up the stairs. I was amazed that she made it, and how cute it was to hear Kate as she climbed the stairs turn back to Mariah and say “Where are we Mariah? It’s your Eiffel Tower!”. Ken was exhausted from carrying Mariah and the stroller up the last half of the trip. We decided unanimously, that it was good thing we waited until we had our Paris legs because if we had tried to do this shortly after arriving from the States, we never would have made it.

After reaching the second level, we took a few photos and then decided that since we made it that far, we really should buy the tickets to take the elevator to the top. We bought our tickets and got into the 30 minute line. Ken suggested that I take Kate inside to wait in the 5 to 10 minute line for the bathroom while he waited with Mariah. I agreed. It was a great plan. Kate and I made our way inside and got in the line of about 20 people waiting for the bathroom. We waited. And we waited. And we waited. I started to worry about how long we had been in line but I didn’t bring a watch, or my phone so I had no idea how long it had actually been. By the time we got to the front, we realized that the long wait was directly caused by the bathroom Nazi. I know she would be horrified that I called her that but SERIOUSLY. She took perverse pleasure in making us wait for the bathroom. When Kate and I were finally allowed admittance, all three stalls were empty. SERIOUSLY. Its not like she didn’t see me standing there in front of the glass door waiting to be allowed in with a four year old. And then she had the gaul to scold us for being slow – believe me, we were not slow. We made it back just in time. Ken was panicked that we would miss him and he would have to get out of the line he had been in for the last 20 minutes.

We planned for a 75 degree day with scattered clouds and got a cloudy day with drizzles and strong winds. No idea what the temperature was, but at the second level, Ken is fairly convinced that while Kate and I waited for 20 minutes to use the bathroom that with the wind chill, the temperature was about 40 degrees. He described the crowd waiting for the elevator to the top floor as “antarctic penguins huddled together to stay warm.” Kate swears that being cold and getting the goose bumps was one of her favorite parts. I remember that she complained miserably about being cold while we were in line.

The most ironic part of the trip to the Eiffel Tower today was that Mariah fell asleep waiting in line to get to the top, and she slept until just after we walked out side of the second viewing deck at the top of the Eiffel Tower and into the freezing cold. Fortunately, she was awake enough to enjoy the view from the warm inside of the first viewing deck, and we all enjoyed the trip down the elevators in spite of the long wait in line. We even have a video for you to watch to see just what it looks like to descend from top to the bottom. It was quite an afternoon.

The other less interesting parts of the day included the funny conversation with the concierge about the expected package from UPS that required a signature. She is sweet and funny and demands that we talk to her in French which is really so refreshing – to have someone be sweet and funny so that we WANT to speak French to her. She is very encouraging. We took the bus to the Eiffel Tower which was great. We can’t believe that we didn’t take Annouk’s advice to use the bus system before now. They were clean and quick and easy to get on and off of. Then after our Eiffel Tower adventure we walked to the other end of the 7th to visit Le Grand Epicerie at Le Bon Marche, had a snack, visited the bathroom twice and bought a few goodies for dinner, and to bring home with us. Then we took the Metro (which seemed grungy and cumbersome after our lovely bus ride) back home. Somehow that last part after the Eiffel Tower visit took us four hours. Almost as long as the whole Eiffel Tower adventure! For dinner we had our new favorite dinner of Ham steak with Cassis Ketchup and haricot verts and regretted that we didn’t buy a case of the L&A Lignier Passetoutgrains when we had a chance.

See the slide show from the day

After 3 days of eating very greasy/heavy Belgium food we decided we needed fruits and vegetables. We headed to Marche Saint-Quentin for help. Half of the stalls were still closed for August but we found 2 great produce vendors. We filled our bag and headed home to make some lunch. But on the way to pick up a baguette, we couldn’t stop ourselves from buying lunch form the boulangerie as there food looked and smelt so good. We picked up a pizza baguette and an apple tart and combined it with the leftover shrimp and avocado from last night. It was delicious.

After lunch we decided the girls, who hadn’t slept much last night, needed to go to bed. There was no way we were taking these freaks out of the house. They fought going to bed so much that I ended up sleeping with Mariah in my bed and Wendy slept with Kate in Kate’s bed. Mariah and I napped while Wendy dosed and Kate stubbornly fought sleeping. After Mariah and I woke up I worked with Kate and got her to sleep. I think she was just testing Wendy who had told hr that she wasn’t going to be able to leave her room until she napped. She was extremely tired!

After naps we played in the apartment for a while and then at 7:15 headed to the wine shop to return the wine glasses that we washed for Henry. I offered to wash them after the late night of drinking (I was technically drunk after all). He is anxiously awaiting his new dish washing machine though. After a 2 glasses of wine from bottles he had open and waiting, we headed to I Cugini (which was now open again) and had a wonderful dinner. The girls were once again angels thanks to their required naps.

We came home late and put the girls to bed and then spent the rest of the night working. We have a lot of catching up to do.

See the few photos we managed to take today

The end of our whirl wind weekend getaway had come. Or so we thought! Somehow we managed to fit three countries and a late, and very French dinner with our new friends into the day.

First thing in the morning, Ken rallied the troops to get us dressed and packed and out the door by 10. While checking out, Hans (yes, seriously Hans) teased me about not being able to get into Knokke-Heist if our car wasn’t nice enough and of course I believed him. Then after a good laugh, and an explanation of why he was teasing me so brutally, he suggested that we drive an extra 10 minutes to see Sluis in The Netherlands. Since we thought that was such a great idea, he gave us a whole itinerary that took us through Damme then up the canal to Knokke Heist, then over to Sluis and back to Paris.

Our first stop in Damme had the primary purpose of getting breakfast for Ken who, in his usual selfless way, had refused breakfast in the hotel room in favor of packing while I enjoyed my smuggled instant coffee from Le Touquet and Kate and Mariah had cereal. The town was one  street. It was a pretty street, but it was a very small town. We tried to go to a restaurant to sit down for a little snack, but they didn’t have anything quick and breakfasty. They sent us up the street to the bakery/deli. Fortunately, it wasn’t a long walk. Upon entering the beautiful little shop we instantly wanted to buy one of everything. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough cash, and they didn’t take credit cards so we opted for just what we needed. As we left, the wind began to howl.

We tried to follow the signs back to Knokke Heist, but chickened out when Goozus told us it was the wrong way (even though we saw a number of expensive cars following said signs and were quite sure they were on their way there too). We turned around and went back through the town where the empty market stalls had evidently blown over while were were away. On the way down the road to Knokke Heist, we began to worry about a possible tornado. Not that we know anything about tornado weather, but it looked like we were on the Kansas plane in some strange adaptation of the Wizard of Oz. When Kate started asking if we were indeed in a tornado, Ken responded with “not unless you see flying cows.” Once in Knokke, we realized that what we thought was going to be a sunny cool afternoon lunch at the beach was more like a brief stop in near hurricane winds with the sole purpose of saying that we went there. We attempted to get help at the visitors center but the person at the desk suggested that we leave town for some Dutch version of Chucky Cheese. I think not. After a few quick photo ops in front of the fountain with the pink water, the Roy Lichtenstein inspired bench and on the beach, we ran back to the car and headed to The Netherlands.

Yes, we were on our way to The Netherlands… for lunch.

We headed out of Knokke-Heist, Belgium on our way to Sluis, The Netherlands with the expectation that Goozus was there watching over us. Little did we know that Goozus doesn’t really know what is going on in this part of the world. Maybe the Flemmish/Dutch named streets are just too long. We got lost a little, but managed with a combination of good signage a limpy Goozus and a little luck. We found parking (yay) and were rewarded with a beautiful little town. We took pictures. We visited the strange store that was part fish market, part home store, part hardware store and part grocery store. Everything from live lobster to three foot high wood elephant sculptures. Our lunch was delicious and after being initially worried about the friendliness of the establishment we were enchanted by our waitress who talked to us at length about her recent trip to Santa Moncia. She said if we ever want to do a home exchange in Sluis, she is up for it. Ken couldn’t decide between all you can eat ribs or all you can eat mussels and opted for the ribs since he had eaten about 6 pounds of mussels that weekend already. He didn’t get past one plate. The waitress seemed surprised. After two full racks of baby back ribs, I didn’t blame him.

After lunch we got on the road back to Paris. On the way, we decided we had to stop back in Brugge since we forgot to pick up chocolate before we left. We were driving right by it afterall. This ended up being a lengthy detour, but I think that the girls will agree that it was worth the wait. Not sure about Ken.

The road back to Paris was long, but we managed to make it back with minor detours and only a few lost moments. We didn’t get back into Paris until 7. Our dinner plans were for 8. Ken needed a nap. I really needed to wash seriously stinky blankies. We managed to make it out of the house and down stairs to our planned meeting spot (the wine shop across the street Le Paradis de Benjamin) by about 8pm. No one seemed phased that we were late. Wine was poured, the girls plopped down on the floor with their pens and coloring books and we enjoyed a few glasses of wine before walking over to dinner.

We made it around the corner to Pre Cadet by 9pm – which was evidently just when we were supposed to arrive. Stephan (our newest French friend) knew the owner well, and we had a prime spot waiting for us in the center of the small but lovely restaurant. We were treated like old friends. The menu was explained in great detail so that we didn’t have to worry about ordering something we didn’t actually want to eat. We shared a magnum of beaujolais. Ken had the thickest seared tuna steak I have ever seen. I had the best entrecote (steak) I have ever had. The girls loved their avocado and shrimp salad. Stephan and Henry shared the Ris de Veau – which unless you like brains and tongue you should never order. Antoine (Stephan’s friend) ordered the entrecote a little late as he planned to stop and have a drink but decided in the end to stay for dinner. Thank goodness for Antoine. Kate loved him. They spent the entire dinner engaged in a lively conversation. So much so that Mariah had to get up from her seat to go and join in at one point. For dessert I had the floating island (amazing) and Ken had the apple tart tatin (also amazing). Kate and Mariah had glacé – Vanille for Kate and Pistache for Mariah. After dessert, we had this remarkable plum liquor (brandy maybe?). The kids behaved better than any day on this trip. They truely enjoyed themselves with the company. We left at about 11:30 when Mariah started asking to go home. We all walked back to Rue du Paradis. Ken walked me up stairs and then went back down to the wine shop to join Henry, Stephan and Antoine for the continuation of the party. I was quite happy to put the girls to bed and put my feet up.

Ken:
Our party continued at the wine shop were we all had some more wine and  listened to rap as Henry and I bonded over Rob Base and Public Enemy. We had great conversations about politics, home prices and Jewish girls. All three Frenchmen had dated a Jewish girl in the past. The night ended with some good laughs in the street and goodbye to Stephen who was leaving for business the next day.

Being in the company of good friends made me forget about being homesick.

See the slide show from the day

We woke up to a beautiful morning. My goal was to take a ride on the canal boats and Wendy wanted to visit the Lace Museum. We arrived at the canal boat stop and found that there wasn’t a wait and there would probably never be one. So we decided to wait until after naps to make sure the kids could handle it. So we continued on and found  world famous Belgium Waffle’s from a little stand at a little farmers market. The waffle was sugary, very greasy and heavy. Nothing like what I was imagining. It just sat in my stomach like a brick. Wendy and the kids could not finish theirs.

On our way to the Lace Museum, on the other side of town, we passed by the Chocolate Museum. It costs 15 euro and didn’t accept credit cards, so no tour! We would rather buy 15 euro of chocolate than see how chocolate is made. I am guessing you use milk and mix it with cocoa and then cook it. Anyway, we continued on our walk with a map in hand and Goozus by our side. Still, we could barely navigate this place. We finally found the Lace Museum building which had barely any signage and found out they were closed. So we visited the Museum Shop instead. It was about 100 square feet in all. At least we were able to understand how lace was made by viewing some of the displays at the shop.

The kids were already starting to meltdown so we decided to have an early lunch at this pub nearby. It was great. They spoke English and the man was so good with the kids. The Belgium beer (blonde) was great and it was a nice change form all the wine we have been drinking. We left happy and went straight back to the hotel for naps.

After naps we headed to the canal boat tour. It was 30 minutes and was a great way to see Brugge. Brugge and this canal tour made you feel like you were at Disneyland. The tour guide’s first line was “we are going on a 30 minute tour and hopefully this won’t be like the Titanic, ha ha ha it’s just a joke!” Wendy and I really enjoyed seeing the architecture and hearing the stories. The kids liked the boat, water, swans and ducks.

Now it was time for an early dinner (6:30). We wanted to go to Bittersweet but they had just closed. They were only open for breakfast and lunch. So we went next door because they had pasta (always a winner) and there were other kids there. The first problem we had was they required everybody to order a meal. Seriously, they would not allow Kate and Mariah to share a meal. Then when we found out we couldn’t get tap water so we bought a 7 euro bottle. There was another family next to us that the girls kept looking at so I started a conversation with them. There was a British man and his 2 kids. We talked and played together and then paid our outrageous 49 euro pasta and water dinner. They were looking for somewhere to go for dessert so we walked them to our favorite ice cream shop. They too were shocked at how cheap it was.

When we got home everyone was in a good mood so we decided to let the girls watch some TV. There wasn’t much on except Nat Geo Wildlife, Nat Geo History and Sports car racing. Kate wanted the Gorillas, Mariah wanted car racing and Wendy thought it best to watch archeology. I however was in control of the remote. I thought it was best to watch the Gorillas as it was fascinating. Wrong Wrong Wrong!!! Never let your children watch Nat Geo Wildlife at 9:45PM. The Gorillas were cute until they showed a couple dead. Oh no! Kate said “they died because there was a man with a shooter”. We stuck it out quickly changing channels when the music made it sound like something bad was going to happen and by the end Kate said “the Gorillas were just playing dead”. We agreed with her and I am no longer in charge of the remote!

Of to bed and just for the record there were no nightmares.

See the slide show from the day

We had a lazy morning in our comfy hotel room and opted to eat the Special K we brought with us and drink the in room instant coffee which was surprisingly good. We tried to find the weather on TV since it seemed a little cold and cloudy. We used the free WiFi service (which was irritatingly slow) to check out our route to Brugge and planned our day.

We headed out of the hotel and into town at around 11. We were planning to rent one of the four wheeled bicycles to take a tour of Le Touquet but they didn’t take credit cards and since our cash was precious after loosing the atm card, we opted to skip that activity. It was windy and drizzley anyway. We went down to the beach one last time to walk along the boardwalk and ride the carousel. The girls rode the miniature horse tricycles. We headed back into town to find lunch. Ken had the mussels and fries he had been hoping for in Dijon. Kate enjoyed them as much as Ken.

Back on the road and on our way to Brugge, Belgium. Mariah took a nap on the 2 hour car ride. Kate of course didn’t because she is “too grown up” to take naps.

We found our way through Brugge to our hotel with great difficulty. It seems that Goozus really doesn’t know how the streets work in Belgium and its perfectly normal to close major thoroughfares without concern for how that will confuse visitors. This hotel was more of an apartment than a hotel. We had two rooms and a kitchenette. The hosts were really charming and friendly, and sent us on our way out for the evening with a certificate for a free drink at a restaurant on the Market square, a map and a group discount card to use at museums and other attractions. We considered taking one of the horse drawn carriage rides around the city but the line was so long, we gave up hope and decided to have dinner instead. While we ate, they closed. It was a good thing we didn’t stand in line because we would have been turned away. We had a reasonably good dinner with pretty good service right in the middle of everything.

Afterwards, we found a delicious ice cream shop where we got three single scoop cones for 3.60 euro total. We were a little shocked since we’ve become used to 4euro a scoop in Paris. We walked and window shopped a little more before heading back to the hotel for baths and sleep.

See the slide show from the day