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.
In October, Meade's parents, Barb and Don, came to visit for a couple weeks. Don traveled up to Edinburgh to visit a cousin, while we all went to Bath for the weekend. With its grand terraces, lofty townhouses of honey-colored stone, and one of the world's finest Roman spas, it is no hard to see why the whole city has been named a World Heritage Site by Unesco. We did an abbreviated tour of the baths (not the most captivating thing for 4 year olds, but they did great) and walked to the Circus, a magnificent circle of 30 houses. We stayed in a loft of a family's farmhouse (pictured) and enjoyed the best farmhouse bread and honey we have had since being in England.
On our way home, we stopped at Stonehenge for a brief walk around and also visited a Wild Animal Park.
For the rest of their visit, we mainly spent time at home with the grandparents thoroughly enjoying Linnea and Aaron.
It has been freezing cold here for the last several days and finally snowed a bit (about 2 inches) last night. We had a snow day today and looks like another tomorrow. We went sledding on a hill a short walk from our house with the neighbor girls. Lots of fun.
We had always told the kids that we would go to Legoland when mommy gets a job in England. So, after my first week of work at a local hospital, we finally went. It was the last weekend that they were open until next spring, frigid temperatures and 1/3 the price- perfect for us.
For Halloween, Aaron dressed up as a pirate and Linnea as a witch. Meade, Aaron and Linnea's school has a Halloween event, which is called "Boot to Boot." The kids play organized games led by older children in the gym followed by trick or treating from "boot to boot" in the parking lot. As you may know, in England, the trunk of the car is called the "boot." Why I really don't know. It is an extremely efficient way for kids to get loads of candy in a very short time period, that is for sure. Linnea and Aaron loved it!
After 14 months of frustration and waiting, I was finally awarded "full registration with a license to practice" by the General Medical Council in late October. The reasons for the tremendous delay were both my fault (not understanding the system) and (mainly) their fault in doing a very poor job of directing me down the correct pathways. The system for registering doctors here is a nightmare of a bureaucracy; the people in it do not even understand it.
Meade's Aunt Lynn came to visit from California in mid-October, which coincided with the kids’ and Meade’s mid-term break. For this holiday, we decided on Croatia, a country that we did not know very much about apart from the war there in the early 90s and having heard from others that it is a spectacular place.Turns out this is an understatement.
We stayed in an apartment in Cavtat, a small town across the bay from Dubrovnik, which was a great place to stay, as it was out of the hustle of Dubrovnik and its cruise ships, and the ladies who run the apartment transported us to/from the airport, picked us up in town when needed, arranged a rental car, brought us treats like pickled sardines and home-made olives, gave us tourist advice, and generally made us feel like home.It was up a hill about ½ mile from the beach overlooking a pool and the entire Adriatic coast.As it was easy to get around by bus and our hosts, we did not need a car, which was also great.
Highlights of the trip include:
Swimming in the Adriatic.While a bit chilly, the water is crystal clear and is bluer than any water we have ever seen.Apparently, seen from space, it is the bluest place on earth.
A day trip to Dubrovnik by boat.Dubrovnik is known as “the jewel of the Adriatic” (Lord Byron) and “paradise on Earth” (Bernard Shaw). Approaching this grand old city from the water was extraordinary.As you can see from the photo (first photo), it is an impressive sight-- the city is surrounded by ancient city walls that look out onto the endless shimmer of the Adriatic Sea.We walked all around the city walls in (for October) scorching heat, followed by a reward of ice cream for the hot and tired kids.We enjoyed a meal of mussels, risotto, and calamari (standard fare there) in a scenic plaza on marble streets surrounded by baroque buildings and local farmers selling grapa, olives, and fruit and veggies.
A day trip to Montenegro.Having no intention of visiting another country during our visit, or knowing much about it, we rented a car for a day and drove south to Montenegro.The drive there along the coast was spectacular and eerie, passing through war-torn and deserted villages as well as those still thriving.Once in Montenegro, things changed quite bit from Croatia.Being a member of the EU (Croatia is still not), and not having suffered the destruction during the war, Montenegro’s economy has been much stronger in the last 20 years, has more tourism, and is generally more frenetic.Felt a bit like Latin America.Armed with nothing but a hand-drawn map (that was not to scale) courtesy of our hosts and periodic torrential downpours, we really had no idea what we were getting into or where we were going.However, 10hours later we returned home having had one of the best drives of our lives.For part of the day we drove along a huge fiorded bay (Kotor Bay – largest fiord in Europe outside Scandinavia) with 3000 ft mountains rising straight from the sea. One of our stops included Kotor, a world heritage UNESCO city that like Dubrovnik, is walled and has nothing but stone streets and buildings, but unlike Dubrovnik is still a bit “ruined” and is sandwiched between this huge green bay and a steep mountain.Just above the city is a fortress accessed via a stone path built in the 13th century that we ascended to give us views reminiscent of Princess Louisa Inlet in B.C.Another stop was Budva, another walled city, which is near to the “Montenegro Riviera” so while another spectacular walled city, was over-run with tourists.We watched the sunset over the Adriatic sipping a bit of wine while the kids played on the beach and we got ravaged by Balkan mosquitoes.
A day trip via boat to the Elafiti Islands.From just below our apartment, we boarded a 20 passenger wooden boat and spent 10 hours cruising north past Dubrovnik to a small chain of islands, three of which we visited.The day was sunny and warm, there was all you can eat fresh fish, and it was great to spend several house at sea.If mainland Croatia is two decades behind the rest of Europe, these islands belong to another century.Extraordinarily picturesque, unspoiled by money and tourism, and (like the rest of Croatia) villages that sit at the waters’ edge.Needless to say, a sailor’s heaven.
Food and Cafes. The food in Croatia, while not its best facet, suited us perfectly.Either large portions of meat (lamb, veal, pork or beef) cooked over a fire in rich sauces, or large portions of seafood (sardines, calamari, mussels, shrimp, and local fish).We often bought food from a local market or fishermen and cooked at home or ate in one of the fabulous cafes.The cafes are run by local families, have reasonable and fabulous food, coffee and wine, and most sit in either stunning plazas or right on the water’s edge where you are likely to see a portion of your meal swimming by directly below you.
