Bruges, Belgium

We had a long weekend due to the federal holiday on Monday.  October 3 is German Unity Day.  This is the day that celebrates the unification of East and West Germany and Berlin reuniting to one city in 1990.  It is interesting to walk and ride around with these older German citizens knowing that they each have their own memories of the war time.  They can probably remember the wall going up and exactly where they were when the Berlin Wall came down.

This weekend it was sunny and warm so to enjoy the beautiful weather we headed to Belgium.  This was the first time for all of us to be in Belgium.  We traveled through the Netherlands to get to Belgium.  Crossing the borders is nothing like it used to be.  You cross into the different countries of the European Union like we cross to different states.  There's just a sign posted on the side of the road that you'll be crossing a border in 1 km and then you pass the sign that says Welcome to the country (in the native language).  So simple - which is convenient, but no stamps in your passport.  It's also super convenient that everywhere we've been so far has used the Euro...no need to exchange money and be left with extra Liras, Francs, etc. afterwards.

We made our way from home for 2.5 hours to Ghent, Belgium and checked into our Holiday Inn.  This is one of the few hotel chains that allow children to stay for free and allow more than 2 people in a room.  With our "large" family it works well, especially since Greg earns hotel honor points when he travels around...makes for a good option:)

After stretching and checking out the room we continued on about 30 minutes more to Bruges, Belgium.  Finding a parking spot was surprisingly simple.  We first headed to the canals and beautiful old buildings that fill Bruges.  Around every corner there's a cool building, church, canal bridge, and more. 
 

Bruges, Belgium

Canals ran throughout the city.

There were also LOTS of people!  We had heard that many Germans would be headed to the coast to enjoy the long weekend and sunshine.  Well, it was a bit too busy to really enjoy the city.  Checking to make sure all three walking boys were still with us, not running into someone or something, and staying clear of the horse drawn carriages made for less than a relaxing stroll! 

Some of the many people who were also enjoying the beautiful day!

 After walking for a while we decided to try to find a cafe I had read about on-line.  It was suppose to have a huge electric train layout.  Sounded perfect for our boys!  Greg entered it in the GPS and trusting that it wasn't too far away we headed off. 

As we crossed over the busy highway and away from the canals I began to wonder if we would really find this place...and if it would still be open when we got there.  Not wanting to snack too much while walking as the objective was to eat when we arrived at the cafe the boys did REALLY well. 

A t-shirt for sale:)

As it got later into the evening and the streets got quieter with many apartments around us I started to prepare the boys that we might not be able to actually see what I had wanted to show them.  We eventually found the address...it was someone's home.  The boys assured me that it still was the cafe and that maybe we should check it out further:).  They really wanted to see the trains.  I assured them that there would've been signs and pictures of trains on the windows if it was.  So, now to make the trek back to the van and still without dinner.

The residential area where we ended up.

Greg decided to give Liam a ride as he was walking slower and slower as the trek carried on.  Alex and Carter just kept walking with surprisingly minimal complaining.  We crossed back over to walk along a canal which made for a nicer setting than the busy road. 

Greg and Liam, Alex and Kaleb

The boys and I started singing and counting our steps in English, German, and Spanish to get their minds off their tired legs and feet.  We stopped counting after 1,000 steps and that was not counting the trek to the residential area.  We finally made it back to our original starting point and it was 2 hours later...and we still had a good 15 minute walk back to the van.  We walked for about 2.5 hours without taking a break.  Those boys were quite the troopers...and slept good that night!

Kaleb discovered he could prop his feet:)

Schloss Burg on the Wupper

A beautiful sunny day so we headed to Wuppertal to explore another castle.  About 45 minutes from home is the Wupper River where there is an ancient castle sitting atop a hill.

View from the castle.  The tower in the distance probably wasn't there 800 years ago!

Exterior of the castle.  Statue of the original person living here and a fire truck!

The castle was built in 1133.  Yes, almost 880 years old!  As we were climbing some worn stone steps on the tour we were discussing with the boys all the people through the many, many years that would've walked along and caused them to wear down.  Pretty amazing! 
The castle needed to be fully renovated due to its age, but it is restored nicely and one of the oldest around.  We took a tour of the interior of the castle.  The boys enjoyed seeing the interior - this was our first interior castle tour.   

Looking back towards a part of the castle we toured after walking around the wall.

They also liked the collection of armor, weapons, and models of the castle and surrounding buildings.

This is the castle with the surrounding buildings which have now been turned into restaurants and gift shops.  The left section of the model is what we toured.

We walked around the top of the exterior castle walls.  The boys enjoyed pretending to shoot arrows out the narrow openings in the walls and then hiding behind the wide openings - like they had learned the knights did during battles.

                                                   Do they look like they're having fun???

There was a festival going on so the interior courtyard of the castle wall was filled with food tents and quite a few people.  We expected it to be a medieval festival, but never found that portion of the day!  It was a fun castle to see anyway.

Kaleb enjoying the day:)

On a side note, the ride in the van was quite enjoyable this time.  Alex and Carter spent the time reading their chapter books.  They were so excited with how much they read.  They were quite proud:)  It also helped that Liam and Kaleb fell asleep.  Made for an unusually quiet ride!

School Update

The boys LOVE school at the International School of Dusseldorf.  They are happy to go each morning.  They are being exposed to so many learning opportunities in and out of the classroom.  The friends they are making are from around the world.  They are often discussing the child they know from Japan, Brazil, India, the Netherlands, Denmark, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, France, and the list goes on.  Pretty cool!

We still ride the bus to school each morning.  We often see the same bus driver and some of the same people on the bus with us.  Some mornings the bus is very busy; other mornings it's pretty quiet.  Every morning as we come around the corner to Klemensplatz (the stop where we transfer to another bus) Alex asks what time it is and whether we'll beat the 760 bus.  If we make it in time we can transfer to a bus that drops us off one block from the school.  If we're late (because of construction in our village) we have to continue on our initial bus and get dropped off two blocks from the school (about a 10 minute walk).  We usually make the transfer, although it has been an immediate transfer sometimes with the new bus arriving as we're getting off or already sitting there...so it's not always a sure thing!  (There are quite a few of us (10-20 people) that make the transfer.)

After School Activities start this week.  The school offers an assortment of activities for all of the students.  You sign up for an activity and can participate the entire year.  Liam is playing soccer once a week.  Alex and Carter are playing soccer and basketball - each once a week.  The boys enjoy staying after school to play on the playground, too.  It is a social time for the parents and the kids love it.  On a nice day it's not uncommon for lots of people to be hanging out at the school a good half hour to hour after school ends.  

I'm trying to find ways that I can volunteer and be involved at the school with Kaleb in tow.  Sounds like I can help with the "I Garden".  It is a portion of the playground they have available to the kids twice a week for activities and projects during recess.  There is so much going on at the school to tie the core subjects in to everything else.  Great for the kids!

If you want to check out the school, their website is www.isdedu.de.  There are blogs from each of the classes with lots of pictures so you could see the boys with their classmates doing their daily activities.  I believe you'll need a password for it so if you're interested e-mail me and I'll let you know.  It's pretty fun.  I enjoy them and the boys love seeing themselves on the blog:)

We usually ride the bus home, too - unless Greg is gone and left the van for us to use.  This has been happening atleast two days a week lately.  In which case I try to find a close parking spot (not a simple feat!) and drive us home.  The boys really love that! 
But, most days we take the bus and are figuring out which option we like best to get to our bus.  It's about a 15 minute walk from school to our bus that will take us home.  We have a few options to get there:
        *walk the 15 minutes (What I usually do with Kaleb when I'm going to get the boys in the afternoon, but the boys' least favorite option as you can imagine)
        *walk a block to the bus stop where we get off in the morning (This only works if we're leaving directly after school as we need to time this bus' arrival with the departure of our bus.  It does result in us waiting 17 minutes for our home bound bus at Klemensplatz.)
        *walk two blocks (10 minutes) to catch our home bus and ride all the way home without transferring  (This is becoming our favorite option...although they do need to be encouraged to walk quickly so we don't miss the bus:)  It works well when we stay after for activities or if they want to play for 15 minutes instead of waiting at Klemensplatz.)
         *walk about 5 minutes the other direction to catch the commuter train which takes us to Klemensplatz.  (Works fine when we're leaving immediately after school but then we have to wait for the bus.)
So, as you can see it is kind of like a chess game to figure out which route to take to get us to our bus to go home.  It only comes every half hour (other buses and trains come every 10 minutes) so it is motivating to not miss the bus by a few minutes.  I am learning the routes and schedules of the different buses.  I can see why people who do this for years can tell you exactly where you'll be on each route and how to get to where you need to go most efficiently!  Thankfully there is a website that helps you plan your journey.  You enter your departure and arrival stops and it will plan your route options.  VERY helpful! 

I like riding the bus.  It is much less stressful than driving...of course it isn't cold, windy, and rainy yet so we'll see when we get a good stormy day and we're standing out there waiting:)  I also meet lots of Germans that I wouldn't meet if I always drove my van everywhere.  Kaleb always gets lots of comments.  I often have to say "Entschuldigen.  Mein Deutsch ist nicht gut."  (Excuse me.  My German is not good.)  Sometimes the person then speaks English.  Other times they smile and say something else. 

The ISD is really a friendly, happy place to be.  I can see why the boys love going there each day. 

Krefeld British Days and Country Fair

On the grounds of the Burg Linn (castle) in Krefeld there was a British Day festival and Country Fair.  There were vendor booths set up selling a variety of items - everything from coats, jams, antiques, yarn, and many other things.  We bought me a scarf (Everyone in Germany wears them!) and some fudge.  The castle grounds were beautiful on our sunny day.

There were also Scottish Highland games.  We watched the caber toss (people dressed in kilts tossing a long tree trunk to flip it end over end) and the hammer throw (a metal weight with metal ring handle thrown for distance). 

Castle in the background, white tents for the vendors, Scottish games participants in the field.

Action shot of the man doing the hammer throw.

Several men were walking around playing the bagpipes which made for a festive atmosphere.

The highlight of the day was the Sheepdog trials.  We really enjoyed watching the border collies herd the sheep.  It's amazing what they can do with just the one word commands from their owner.  It reminded us of Sydney, our border collie.  There were many poses that the dogs looked just like Sydney.

Bagpipes, crowds, nothing could distract the dog from his job of herding the sheep.

The dog's owner used three different languages to talk to his three dogs - each dog got a different language.

Looks just like our Sydney ready for the frisbee to be tossed!

One more...just 'cause he looks just like Sydney back at home!

On the Move

And, He's off!  Kaleb is crawling!

 He was only just mastering sitting up without toppling and now he's moving around.  He had been getting up on all fours for awhile now, but in the last few days he coordinated all of his limbs to move himself around.  He can now go get whatever or whoever he wants.  (He has bumped his head three times already today so this new found freedom has come at a cost!) 

We have lots of baby proofing to do around here!  When we moved in we weren't thinking about small hands low to the ground.  There will have to be some shifting of items to prevent little hands from getting a hold of potentially dangerous items.  Still no teeth on the little man, but he's on the move!

Lintorf Handwerker-Markt

There was a handwerker markt in Lintorf, a neighboring village.  It took us about 10 minutes on the bus - nice to not worry about traffic or finding parking:)  The main street through Lintorf was closed to traffic and about 150 craft stalls were set-up.

There were people making buttermilk, wooden shoes, candles, wood carvings, wax molds, metal work, jump ropes, and lots of other things by hand.  It was fun to see the crafters work.

The firemen were doing a demonstration, too.

There were also food stands...we got pretzel rolls, one of our new favorite snacks!  There was also lots of bratwurst and beer of course...the main staples of gatherings in Germany.

We bought a few items.  We chose a wooden car for Kaleb.  It's just the right size for his little hands, and definitely something he'll grow into and be able to push around.  The big boys loved the wooden weapons that one person had made.  We opted for wooden knives with holsters.

We also got some all-natural handmade dolls...yes, even for our boys:)  (We have to balance out the weapons, right!)  They are "Wichtelpuppen" dolls made in the tradition of Waldorf dolls from Westfalenstoffe fabric which is produced without chemicals.  The doll Kaleb is holding below fits perfectly in his chubby hands and has a rattle inside.  He's a fan.  The other doll Liam has claimed:)  There are pictures below.  It is called the "Guten Morgen, Guten Nacht" doll ("Good Morning, Good Night").  It's very cute.  You flip it over to have the awake or sleeping baby.  They're both made from very soft fabric.

Kaleb with our new treasures - two dolls, wooden car, and wooden knife with case.

 

guten Morgen

guten Nacht

Here's the doll sideways so you can see how to flip it over to wake or sleep the baby.

It was a hot day but we had a good time wandering through the market.  That evening we went out to dinner with other JCI ex-pat families.  It was a great restaurant along the Rhine with a playground for the kids - a bonus since when you go out to dinner it can take an hour at least to get your food.  The boys were exhausted by the end of our busy day.

Blumen

A beautiful aspect of this area is something called Blumen.  There are fields of flowers planted along the roadside.  The public is welcome to self-pick the flowers (with the supplied knife) and then pay the posted amount for each flower. 

The boys didn't have school today so we took the 5 minute walk up the road to the closest Blumen field.  (Most of these flowers were past their prime so it's hard to see all of them.)

 There are horses on both sides of the road.  The horses are a common sight around here.  If not horses, horse trails...or horse droppings left behind for everyone else to enjoy! 

 This field had gladiolus and sunflowers.  We chose some of each.

Liam helping choose.  He's holding the supplied knife...no, he didn't use the knife:)

And 10 minutes later fresh flowers in your home!

These fields are all over the place.  There is a different field that we pass on the way to school.  People get to pick fresh flowers for their home and before the flowers are picked everyone else gets to enjoy the blooms on the ride or walk by.  Another great idea from the Germans!