Day trips

An old coworker of mine has noticed I haven't posted lately. I guess he's a little short of reading material to keep him entertained at work. So here goes:

We've taken a couple of short trips lately. One afternoon in Brussels and a day in Brugge with the students.

Brussels is only a thirty minute drive so we went over to check it out and do some scouting for a possible day trip with the students later.

Atonium building

Our first stop was the Atonium park area. We also looked in on a very nice indoor water park at that location. Not much else there, we passed on the rest of the tourist attactions. Instead we took a subway into the center of town.

It turns out that we came on the anniversery of the liberation of Brussels by US troops. So the town square was filled with vintage vehicles and people in costume. There was a band playing 40's music and even a marching band at one point. We tried a fizzy cherry flavored beer called Kriek. It was good for a hot day, but tasted nothing like beer. I think it's a Lambic beer which is normally very fizzy and often tastes more like champagne than beer.

Liberation day in the middle of Brussels

We also did a day trip to Bruges. It's about 1 1/2 hours by train. It was kind of hectic with the boys and the 24 students. I think Kathy and I need to make it back one day without the kids to fully appreciate the city. I think it would be fun to bring a bike to explore and to see it at night when it's all lit up.

Boys playing in the center of Bruges, the famous tower is in the background

Besides that we've just been starting to get into a routine. The boys go to school at 8:30 and get out at 3:30 most days, so I've had some time to take some bike rides to explore the area. I'll try to remember the camera next time to show some of the sites.

We also had a reception wine and cheese party for all 70 students that live in the dorm. That includes the 24 Loyola students from the US and all the other Belgium and international students that are staying there. It got pretty packed with that many people in the house, but everything worked out ok.

Next week Kathys parents arrive for a visit and I'm starting my first fencing class. So I should have more to report by next week.