Thursday, January 5, 2023

Travel: Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands


Last summer, after a couple years of saving, we were able to fly out as a family to visit my sister, her husband and their new baby in Belgium. They are stationed near Peer, Belgium in the Air Force. It is a tiny base with no housing or schools or even a commissary. They have to drive to the Netherlands to visit the BX. But the street and town they live in is lovely. Very bucolic. There are horses in the backyard, wheat fields on the street, and a quaint temple at the end of it. 
 

They sleep with windows open. The doors are unlocked all day, even when they leave the house.



Meeting my niece for the first time was amazing. Ellie and Scarlette hit it off pretty quickly.


We made our way to the city center. The streets were immaculate, the buildings had fun details like this cheeky fella holding a shutter open.


We ate some gelato, fries with copious mayo, and walked around.



The poppies and wildflowers were everywhere. I was totally enamored.


We visited Antwerp, Belgium and went sightseeing, but I didn't take a ton of photos that day. It was mostly about soaking it in and spending time with the family. We drove to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg next. The Walls of the Corniche were awesome to see, encircling the city. They are called Europe's most beautiful balcony and I can see why. 


There was a small market going on in the city center. I picked up a few thrifted trinkets from a sweet lady. We visited the museum and ate at McDonald's of all places. The girls loved seeing the menu differences. And yes, instead of a Quarter Pounder, I had the Mc Royale. 


Luxembourg was Savanna's favorite place.


After that we rested a day and hung out at the house, watching TV, catching up. Then it was Scarlette's 13th birthday. She chose to go to a theme park in the Netherlands (I looked up a lot of different places, an arcade, a zoo, and more- this is what she landed on) called Eftling. It is an old fairy tale theme park that was utterly enchanting.


We rode rides, Scarlette and Dustin rode a roller coaster, we did a boat cruise, and walked through a fairy tale forest.


The food was surprisingly cheap. I am used to Disney and Universal prices. The huge hotdog I got was only $4. It would easily have been $14 at Disney. It was delicious too.


We spent a week staying at their home in Belgium. It was charming, beautiful and peaceful. The second week we all packed our bags and took the EuroStar high speed rail under the channel to the UK.


I will post that adventure next. We loved Belgium. Adam, the girls and I still talk about it. It was funny, even a couple nights ago Adam told me he had a good dream about being back there.

6 comments:

  1. So glad you got to go Julie! I have been enjoying your posts >3

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    1. Thanks! I am still so thankful we were able to make it a reality. Hope you are doing well and congratulations on your great news!! I am so happy for you!

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  2. Hey Julie, Sandra here. :) What an amazing looking holiday! I’m so glad you took such lovely photos, but even gladder that you took the time to just enjoy it. What a quaint little place! Cell phones and the like don’t even look like they belong.

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    1. Hi Sandra! Hope you are doing well! You are right. Life certainly moved at a different pace there and I was happy to take as many moments to be "in it" as I could. How are you doing??

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  3. Oh my goodness, this gets me wonderfully excited for visiting Belgium in a couple years. We won't be in nearly as pastoral an area, just hitting a few cities, (my mom was born in Belgium) but we hope to see as much beautiful European countryside as we can in our travels. Germany looks to be promising for the quaint country town life. These photos contain such magic, I can almost feel the breeze of the fresh air there. Did you go in June? I'm pushing for that month, if it works out. Happy you got to spend quality time with your family<3
    Jay

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    1. How fun!!! You will love it! We did go in June and the weather was perfect. We did stay in a very rural area. It was quaint. We did get a chance to head into Antwerp which was huge and bustling. As was Brussels, where we flew into. Ghent is lovely according to my stepdad and sister. Maybe another time. Are you traveling with a group or just you and hubby? Either way you will have a blast. I wanted to get into Germany as well but there was not way to do it all. Take LOTS of photos!!! I cannot wait to follow along.

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