Hi Everyone! Hope you had a nice Easter – we missed seeing you all and wish we could have been there! Our Easter day consisted of flying back to Antibes with a panini for dinner and jelly beans for dessert! Our flight for Brussels, Belgium left around 4:00 pm Friday afternoon and we arrived in Brussels around 6:00 pm. We quickly realized that the people in Belgium speak many languages, including French, Flemish, Dutch and a little English. With the help of a nice man, we caught a bus to our hotel and decided to just stay in for the night since we would have to take the metro into Brussels city and Jen wasn’t feeling well.
Saturday morning we took the metro into the city and were very impressed by how pretty everything was. The weather was beautiful, sunny and mid 70’s. The entire city smelled of waffles and strawberries! There were little counters on every corner including in the airport and metro station, selling freshly made Belgium waffles! (This was our favorite part!) Of course we had to try some and got two with hot white chocolate, one with strawberries and whipped cream, and one with butterscotch ice cream. The waffles themselves are coated in a sweet glaze and are so good they can be eaten plain. Every where we looked people were eating waffles! We were also amazed at the number of chocolate stores selling Belgium chocolate of course! Each street had at least two chocolate stores on it and were all decorated for Easter. We had never seen so many chocolate fondue fountains!
We spent the day walking around the city and were able to see many of the famous sights including the Grand Place, (the famous square of the city) The Manneken Pis , (the statue of a little boy peeing) The Gallerie St. Hubert, (an old, covered street of shops, theatres and cafes) The Bourse, (Brussels stock exchange) The Royal Palace and Royal Park, (where the King of Belgium lives) St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral and the famous Atomium (built for the world’s fair, it is a model representing an iron atom).
Sunday morning before our flight back to Antibes, we saw The European Union Buildings and The Cinquantenaire (three arches similar to the Arc de Triomphe) which were located close to our hotel. We had to check out of our hotel at noon so we walked to a nearby park for a little while before heading to the airport. Our flight for Antibes was a little late in taking off and left around 6:30 pm. Since it was Sunday we had to wait almost an hour for the bus from the airport to Antibes and didn’t get back into our apartment until almost 10:00 pm. When we did get back we were lucky enough to be able to skype with Mom, Dad, Jul, Nanny and Pop-Pop and Aunt Lynnie and Steve for a little bit before we went to bed! It was really nice seeing everyone especially since we couldn’t be home to celebrate with them.
Today was warm and sunny in Antibes so we did a little bit of homework and then went to Nice to go to the beach for the day! It was nice to relax after a busy weekend! We hope you all had a great Easter and are doing well! We miss you so much and will see you soon – just about a month left! This weekend we are heading to Monaco for the Masters Tennis tournament on Friday and then to Aix-en-Provence with CEA for the day on Sunday. We will let you know how everything goes! We love you!
Love, Em and Jen
** 1: One of many chocolate stores! 2: Em in the famous square. 3: Jen in front of The Manneken Pis . 4: Different waffles we could choose from! 5: Em with her first waffle, covered in white chocolate. 6: The Gallerie St. Hubert. 7: Jen in front of St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral. 8: Em in front of the Royal Palace. 9: Jen holding our second waffles -- strawberries with whipped cream and butterscotch ice cream! 10: Em in front of Atomium.
Saturday morning we took the metro into the city and were very impressed by how pretty everything was. The weather was beautiful, sunny and mid 70’s. The entire city smelled of waffles and strawberries! There were little counters on every corner including in the airport and metro station, selling freshly made Belgium waffles! (This was our favorite part!) Of course we had to try some and got two with hot white chocolate, one with strawberries and whipped cream, and one with butterscotch ice cream. The waffles themselves are coated in a sweet glaze and are so good they can be eaten plain. Every where we looked people were eating waffles! We were also amazed at the number of chocolate stores selling Belgium chocolate of course! Each street had at least two chocolate stores on it and were all decorated for Easter. We had never seen so many chocolate fondue fountains!
We spent the day walking around the city and were able to see many of the famous sights including the Grand Place, (the famous square of the city) The Manneken Pis , (the statue of a little boy peeing) The Gallerie St. Hubert, (an old, covered street of shops, theatres and cafes) The Bourse, (Brussels stock exchange) The Royal Palace and Royal Park, (where the King of Belgium lives) St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral and the famous Atomium (built for the world’s fair, it is a model representing an iron atom).
Sunday morning before our flight back to Antibes, we saw The European Union Buildings and The Cinquantenaire (three arches similar to the Arc de Triomphe) which were located close to our hotel. We had to check out of our hotel at noon so we walked to a nearby park for a little while before heading to the airport. Our flight for Antibes was a little late in taking off and left around 6:30 pm. Since it was Sunday we had to wait almost an hour for the bus from the airport to Antibes and didn’t get back into our apartment until almost 10:00 pm. When we did get back we were lucky enough to be able to skype with Mom, Dad, Jul, Nanny and Pop-Pop and Aunt Lynnie and Steve for a little bit before we went to bed! It was really nice seeing everyone especially since we couldn’t be home to celebrate with them.
Today was warm and sunny in Antibes so we did a little bit of homework and then went to Nice to go to the beach for the day! It was nice to relax after a busy weekend! We hope you all had a great Easter and are doing well! We miss you so much and will see you soon – just about a month left! This weekend we are heading to Monaco for the Masters Tennis tournament on Friday and then to Aix-en-Provence with CEA for the day on Sunday. We will let you know how everything goes! We love you!
Love, Em and Jen
** 1: One of many chocolate stores! 2: Em in the famous square. 3: Jen in front of The Manneken Pis . 4: Different waffles we could choose from! 5: Em with her first waffle, covered in white chocolate. 6: The Gallerie St. Hubert. 7: Jen in front of St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral. 8: Em in front of the Royal Palace. 9: Jen holding our second waffles -- strawberries with whipped cream and butterscotch ice cream! 10: Em in front of Atomium.
WOW I finally got a chance to get caught up on your blogs- you two have had the most jam packed five months of anyone I've ever known. I can't wait to see you and travel safely!
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