Brussels

Over Columbus day weekend we decided to take a trip to Belgium. Brussels was a very easy 3.5 hour drive. We really do enjoy these 4 day weekends because it gives us a great opportunity to travel to a new place! Brussels was a neat city and we did enjoy our time there. However, the highlight of the trip was the day we spent in Bruges (post below)! In Brussels, the most spectacular sight is the Grand Place. It is a square in the middle of the city with gorgeous buildings, many restaurants, and shops. I know I always talk about the architecture in every city we visit, but EVERY European city seems to always amaze us! These buildings were beautiful and as we walked the city we found a lot more we liked. Unfortunately for us, the weather wasn't so great as it rained a lot. We still managed to enjoy our time and find fun things to do. Highlights included the Grand Place, the MANY MANY chocolate shops around, and Mini Europe. I am not exaggerating when I say that every other store was a chocolate shop. Addy was in heaven (so was her mother)! We also had some of the best hot chocolate we've ever tasted. Jeff enjoyed some delicious Belgium beer, so everyone was happy! To get to Bruges we took an hour train ride that was very easy and fun for the kids.

Grand Place, the view was really hard to capture on camera because it was more like a square. But we did take pictures at almost every angle:

Grand Place:

Grand Place:

A view of the Atomium which we went up. It was pretty neat, and had great views of the city. It was built for the World Fair in the 1950's:

Inside Mini Europe which was a little park that had replicas of all the great tourist attractions in Europe! It was really interactive and very cute. A great way to plan our other trips as we got to see the highlights of every country!

Replica of a town in Holland:

Replica of Grand Place, a much better depiction than the pictures I have above:

Parliament and Big Ben:

On our last day, we visited a Brewery that gets raving reviews. They gave us tastings of their beer. I must admit I am not a beer fan, but this beer was REALLY delicious! Jeff really liked it and we ended up buying some to take home.