Christmas in Bruges and Amsterdam

We spent the winter break up in Belgium and Holland. Our friends, Yutaka and Lailee, who live in Japan, accompanied us on our road trip. We took our car on the Eurotunnel train this time, which was a new experience for us. The kids loved it. We spent the first couple of nights in a quiet sea side village called DeHaan. From there, we visited the quaint towns of Oostende and Veurne. We also attempted to visit the small abbey/brewery that brews the “holy grail” of Belgium beers, the Westvleteren Trappist beer, but, alas, it was closed. We had to make do with St. Bernardus and West Malle.

We spent Christmas in Bruges, which, wow, if you wanted to design a fairy-tale medieval town, it would be difficult to improve upon Bruges. With its cobblestone lanes, picturesque canals, and architecturally beautiful squares, we were very enamored with this city. On Christmas Eve, we went out to a very (for us) fancy meal of traditional Belgium cuisine. The kids were amazingly well behaved and stayed out until 9:30pm, which for them is a record. (Ok it was an hour later, so 8:30pm). While in Bruges, we spent a lot of time eating at the Christmas markets- Bratwurst, “Belgium fries,” Oliebollen (fried dough yumminess), and chocolate! I was in heaven with high quality (and actually relatively inexpensive) Belgium chocolates on every corner. We also did a lot of walking around the canals and visited an ice sculpture park and a chocolate museum.

Next, we visited Amsterdam. For the first time, our family stayed in a hotel, as we were unable to find an apartment around New Years, which is apparently quite a popular time to visit Amsterdam. We survived, but will not be too keen to do that again soon. Eating out three meals per day is of course not ideal for 4 year olds (or their parents). So, we went for more street food; by the end of the trip, we had had our fill of fries and fried dough! Highlights of our time in this magnificent city included visiting the “Heineken experience” (which the kids loved), a canal boat cruise, the Van Gogh museum, and the NEMO science museum. Best of all was visiting friends of ours from Seattle who have been living in Amsterdam for the last couple of years- Katie and Damon Goodman and their 7 year old daughter and 4 year old son. Linnea and Aaron were so happy to be in a cozy home with other children and toys, and we felt like we were transported back to Seattle for an evening, sharing travel stories, nostalgia for home, and pizza with Belgium beer. Aaron and Linnea got to ride back to the hotel via ?? bike, which is the primary means of transport for their family. They loved sitting high up in front, seeing everything (vs the bike trailer to which they are accustomed).

We spent New Years’s Eve in London with Yutaka and Lailee, and then they headed back to Tokyo, and we returned to regular life in our little village of Englefield Green.