Ah, the (mis) adventures of the McNamara's continue in Europe another day.
To start off, I have a correction to yesterday's post. We have NOT adjusted to the 6 hour time change. A couple hours after I submitted my last post and went to sleep, Mr. Cale awoke bright-eyed and bushy tailed, ready to go. Apparently he simply thought it was his mid-day nap, rather than bedtime. Upon notifying Kristin that he was awake, she smiled drowsily and said cheerily - "Gooood Morning Cale, how are you today!" I then informed her he had only been asleep for about 3 hours, to which she responded (after a few moments of letting the implications of that sink in) with - "oh". It was then 3:45 pm EST, and 9:45 pm Belgium time. After many attempts to get him to sleep, it was apparent it wasn't happening. So we found a wing of the hotel off the lobby reserved for business meetings and let him run up and down it for a couple of hours. Then, when he tired out a little, we held him and sang to him walking up and down it for an hour longer. Then it was more walking and singing to him in the dark in our room. Finally, at 1:30 am Belgium time (7:30 pm EST) he fell asleep for the night. Coincidentally, exactly at his normal bedtime...So new plan, we will not be trying to adjust him to the time change.
Day 2 started officially for us at 11:00 am Belgium time (5:00 am EST). Cale woke up a little earlier than usual, I think mainly because his last meal was at 12:30 pm EST the day before. It was just as well since we had to check-out at 12:00 pm. Kristin got him up and we played/cried for breakfast/packed. Then she headed out to order breakfast (more Beligan waffles) while I finished packing and loaded the car. At breakfast we met a nice father/son duo from Marquette Michgan that were traveling Europe for two weeks. Really neat. After breakfast we headed to the car to get out of town. I paid the parking at the meter and was ready to go when Kristin decided we should get some water for Cale. We had about a 50 - 60 mile drive to Brugge, so it sounded like a good idea. She headed back into the hotel to find some and returned a few minutes later with a 7 Euro .5 liter bottle of Evian from the hotel restaurant. She asked how much that was, and I informed her it was a $10 bottle of water. These Belgians can see us coming a mile away. After lamenting on our ignorance we went to leave the garage, only to find out we had to pay 5 more Euros to leave since I had waited a few minutes after initially paying. - how about kicking a man when he is down? For those of you keeping track at home, that .5 L of water ended up costing us over $17.
Driving to Brugge was nice, but hairy at times as we left Brussels. There seems to be intersections that have no signage at all - at least that I could figure out. After only a couple white knuckle experiences, we made it to the highway, and even manged to find a super market to buy a 9 L pack of water for less than 3 Euro. Take that Belgium!
We arrived in Brugge a little after 2pm local time. After checking into the hotel, we headed out for some lunch. Brugge is a quaint, absolutely gorgeous little European town, with a large network of canals and beautiful architecture. We found a small cafe right at the intersection of two canals and ordered some soup. While it was being prepared, Cale ran around the sidewalks laughing and squealing while Kristin chased him. It was really a wonderful moment watching them. After lunch we wandered some more, ordered some amazing Belgian cheese for Cale's lunch and found a cafe to get him some warm milk. We also decided to take a boat ride through the canals. The ride was breathtaking, although a little tight quartered. Cale seemed to enjoy it, but I'm not sure the Chinese tourists in designer suits enjoyed Cale touching them with his cheesy fingers (or his many shrieks from not being able to run around).
After the boat ride, we headed back for nap time. It is great being on an infant's nap schedule. We all just cuddled up for a couple of hours and took in some well needed rest. Cale woke up around 7:30 pm local time (1:30 pm EST) and we headed out for dinner. We found a nice little restaurant amongst the many that surround the city center of historic buildings. It was a beautiful setting with all the lights illuminating the buildings. We ordered the Flemish beef stew and a shrimp scampi dish - both were delicious. Unfortunately Cale wasn't that hungry since he only has a light snack after his nap, so Kristin and I alternated playing with him on the sidewalks and finishing eating. Again it was really fun to watch Kristin playing with him with the backdrop of cobble stoned streets and centuries old buildings all around. I laughed as he shrieked at the top of his lungs, listening to his own echoes off buildings. Paying for dinner was another comical episode, where using a credit card the waiter asked me to type in the amount (so I could include a tip - why is everything in Europe so weird?!) Not being familiar with the device, my initial attempt was denied by my card. After panicking that my card was turned off due to a fraud protection protocol (e.g., from a bunch of sudden charges in a foreign country), instead it turns out I had tried to pay 6200 Euros for dinner (for those of you keeping track at home, that's close to $10,000 US), rather than 62. How we will ever make it back to the US in one piece is beyond me at this point - but at least we have a bunch of funny stories; no blood, no foul...right?
After letting Cale run around a bit more, we stopped for some Belgian chocolates (which are sold everywhere!). Then back to the room at about 10:00 pm local time (4:00 pm EST). All we had to do was figure out how to entertain a 1 year old, in a 10 foot by 10 foot room, for the next 3 hours, without getting kicked out for too much noise (or going freaking insane). After many cycles of peek-a-bo, wrestling, flipping the light switches, messing up the TV, eating his dinner, and taking a 45 minute bath, it was finally bed time. He went down without much trouble and fell asleep again at around 7:30 pm EST. On a side note, I am going to have to try some of the warm milk we bought twice today for Cale at restaurants. Both times he flew through 4 ounces of it barely stopping to breathe (and never letting the cup leave his mouth). That, combined with the diaper change subsequent to the first cup, makes me think there is something "special" about it. Will investigate further and report back on this tomorrow.
Tomorrow we plan to take a carriage ride in the "morning" and then head to another local city named Ghent. I'm trying to get pictures posted, but my darn computer can't find the camera for some reason (despite my informing it that it is right next to me). Hopefully I will figure this out soon.
To start off, I have a correction to yesterday's post. We have NOT adjusted to the 6 hour time change. A couple hours after I submitted my last post and went to sleep, Mr. Cale awoke bright-eyed and bushy tailed, ready to go. Apparently he simply thought it was his mid-day nap, rather than bedtime. Upon notifying Kristin that he was awake, she smiled drowsily and said cheerily - "Gooood Morning Cale, how are you today!" I then informed her he had only been asleep for about 3 hours, to which she responded (after a few moments of letting the implications of that sink in) with - "oh". It was then 3:45 pm EST, and 9:45 pm Belgium time. After many attempts to get him to sleep, it was apparent it wasn't happening. So we found a wing of the hotel off the lobby reserved for business meetings and let him run up and down it for a couple of hours. Then, when he tired out a little, we held him and sang to him walking up and down it for an hour longer. Then it was more walking and singing to him in the dark in our room. Finally, at 1:30 am Belgium time (7:30 pm EST) he fell asleep for the night. Coincidentally, exactly at his normal bedtime...So new plan, we will not be trying to adjust him to the time change.
Day 2 started officially for us at 11:00 am Belgium time (5:00 am EST). Cale woke up a little earlier than usual, I think mainly because his last meal was at 12:30 pm EST the day before. It was just as well since we had to check-out at 12:00 pm. Kristin got him up and we played/cried for breakfast/packed. Then she headed out to order breakfast (more Beligan waffles) while I finished packing and loaded the car. At breakfast we met a nice father/son duo from Marquette Michgan that were traveling Europe for two weeks. Really neat. After breakfast we headed to the car to get out of town. I paid the parking at the meter and was ready to go when Kristin decided we should get some water for Cale. We had about a 50 - 60 mile drive to Brugge, so it sounded like a good idea. She headed back into the hotel to find some and returned a few minutes later with a 7 Euro .5 liter bottle of Evian from the hotel restaurant. She asked how much that was, and I informed her it was a $10 bottle of water. These Belgians can see us coming a mile away. After lamenting on our ignorance we went to leave the garage, only to find out we had to pay 5 more Euros to leave since I had waited a few minutes after initially paying. - how about kicking a man when he is down? For those of you keeping track at home, that .5 L of water ended up costing us over $17.
Driving to Brugge was nice, but hairy at times as we left Brussels. There seems to be intersections that have no signage at all - at least that I could figure out. After only a couple white knuckle experiences, we made it to the highway, and even manged to find a super market to buy a 9 L pack of water for less than 3 Euro. Take that Belgium!
We arrived in Brugge a little after 2pm local time. After checking into the hotel, we headed out for some lunch. Brugge is a quaint, absolutely gorgeous little European town, with a large network of canals and beautiful architecture. We found a small cafe right at the intersection of two canals and ordered some soup. While it was being prepared, Cale ran around the sidewalks laughing and squealing while Kristin chased him. It was really a wonderful moment watching them. After lunch we wandered some more, ordered some amazing Belgian cheese for Cale's lunch and found a cafe to get him some warm milk. We also decided to take a boat ride through the canals. The ride was breathtaking, although a little tight quartered. Cale seemed to enjoy it, but I'm not sure the Chinese tourists in designer suits enjoyed Cale touching them with his cheesy fingers (or his many shrieks from not being able to run around).
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
After the boat ride, we headed back for nap time. It is great being on an infant's nap schedule. We all just cuddled up for a couple of hours and took in some well needed rest. Cale woke up around 7:30 pm local time (1:30 pm EST) and we headed out for dinner. We found a nice little restaurant amongst the many that surround the city center of historic buildings. It was a beautiful setting with all the lights illuminating the buildings. We ordered the Flemish beef stew and a shrimp scampi dish - both were delicious. Unfortunately Cale wasn't that hungry since he only has a light snack after his nap, so Kristin and I alternated playing with him on the sidewalks and finishing eating. Again it was really fun to watch Kristin playing with him with the backdrop of cobble stoned streets and centuries old buildings all around. I laughed as he shrieked at the top of his lungs, listening to his own echoes off buildings. Paying for dinner was another comical episode, where using a credit card the waiter asked me to type in the amount (so I could include a tip - why is everything in Europe so weird?!) Not being familiar with the device, my initial attempt was denied by my card. After panicking that my card was turned off due to a fraud protection protocol (e.g., from a bunch of sudden charges in a foreign country), instead it turns out I had tried to pay 6200 Euros for dinner (for those of you keeping track at home, that's close to $10,000 US), rather than 62. How we will ever make it back to the US in one piece is beyond me at this point - but at least we have a bunch of funny stories; no blood, no foul...right?
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
 |
| From 2009 Belgium Trip |
After letting Cale run around a bit more, we stopped for some Belgian chocolates (which are sold everywhere!). Then back to the room at about 10:00 pm local time (4:00 pm EST). All we had to do was figure out how to entertain a 1 year old, in a 10 foot by 10 foot room, for the next 3 hours, without getting kicked out for too much noise (or going freaking insane). After many cycles of peek-a-bo, wrestling, flipping the light switches, messing up the TV, eating his dinner, and taking a 45 minute bath, it was finally bed time. He went down without much trouble and fell asleep again at around 7:30 pm EST. On a side note, I am going to have to try some of the warm milk we bought twice today for Cale at restaurants. Both times he flew through 4 ounces of it barely stopping to breathe (and never letting the cup leave his mouth). That, combined with the diaper change subsequent to the first cup, makes me think there is something "special" about it. Will investigate further and report back on this tomorrow.
Tomorrow we plan to take a carriage ride in the "morning" and then head to another local city named Ghent. I'm trying to get pictures posted, but my darn computer can't find the camera for some reason (despite my informing it that it is right next to me). Hopefully I will figure this out soon.
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