100% Secure & Versilles

Since the Baddley's had already done Normandie and Giverny the decided to do Disneyland Paris. (Their kids were begging, since it was a favorite place to get over home sickness when they lived in Paris) We beat them home and found out that our 150 year old is very secure. Short of breaking a window we could not get in and we tried everything. The family had remodeled and put in new windows and doors. We tried an extra key and it worked fine. However apparently the cleaning lady put all the keys in the doors and locked them from the inside so we found out that even with the key and a little bit of force the doors couldnt be opened from the outside. Luckily for us the "guest house" was unlocked. There was a small bed that we tucked the girls into with their clothes still on and a few chairs that Ryan and I sat on as we waited for the Baddleys to come home. (The girls still talk about the dress that they slept all night in. The things that make an impression on them!) Anyhow, we tried every window, balcony and still nothing budged. Very safe!! We all feel into bed when the Baddleys make it home.







The next morning we packed up the car and kids again for a road trip to Belgium! We went to the city of Brugge and it was truely one of the most charming, fairytale places I'd ever been to! There was a river that mandered all through the city, lots of old beautiful building. Think of Venice with Norwegian arcitechure. There were pillars and domes and arches and beautiful things that I can't even describe with my limited architecualr vocab. Needless to say it amazing! Albeit quite touristy. Another thing that I loved about Brugge was all the bikes. Everyone biked. It was obviously the main mode of transportation. There were middle age women riding down the street together talking like they were on their way to have lunch. Older people doing errands. We parked near the train station and saw the biggest, fullest bike racks in the world! There were rows and rows of bikes. Where had all the people gone and was there anyone left in town?? Allison and I got a kick out of the fact that the bikes were all older bikes, very European looking. Almost to the point where it was totally lame to have a new bike or new bikes just didn't exist. Suprising how fasinating the bikes were!











Equally fasicanting to me were all of the beautiful shops. I love shops!! Belgium known for its lace, chocolates, frites (fries) and waffles, definitely did not disappoint. The only disappointing thing was not having enough time to explore them! Thankfully I did get a sample of each of their stars! If I had to rate my favorite item here it would have been the waffles. A wome