Update from Brussels

Want to know what's crazy?  The amount of vacation time the french have.  Have I mentioned this once before?  I think I have.  Anyways, I suppose it would not be surprising that children also have an insane amount of time off from school.  Right now, we are in the midst of their first vacation, two full weeks off here at the end of October.  (Stay tuned for the two weeks off in December, February, and April as well...)

I shouldn't be complaining though because this means travel time for me!  This past Thursday, we arrived in Brussels at about 9 pm at night.  We spent the first 4 nights staying with Sophie's mom in her apartment, and are now spending the next 4 nights with Andrea's parents.  They both live in the city, about 15 minutes from one another, and have all been extremely gracious and welcoming toward me, which I can't thank them enough for.  I was certain that it would be so weird to be staying with these people I had never met before, but it has actually been great.  Sophie and Andrea still have to work this week, so they flew back to Geneva Monday morning, and they will be back Friday night.  So right now it's just me, the boys, and the grandparents.  

Over the weekend, I had quite a bit of time off to explore!  On Friday, I walked to the University area of the city, which was just 15 minutes away.  Since it was still a week day, there were a bunch of students around, walking to and from classes.  The next day I felt a little more ambitious, and asked Sophie for directions to where the shops and restaurants were.  She explained, and gave me a pass to ride the tram to get there.  Instead however, I figured I could use the exercise and decided to try and walk, following the tram tracks.  Well, wouldn't you know that at a couple different points, the tram tracks can take one of multiple routes.  Twice, I took the wrong way.  I finally ended up at a tram station that Sophie did not mention, but read the map and figured out where I was vs. where I needed to be.  I got on the next tram going in my direction, and the card she gives me didn't work!  No one noticed, but the machine (thank goodness it was a little machine and not the driver) clearly said "bad card" and spit in right back out at me.  I move along like nothing weird happened.  I felt a little guilty about riding the tram, but I didn't really have another option.  I got off at the station I was supposed to and started walking around.  I didn't find much though...the following day I realized that had I just kept walking I would have eventually found all the shops.  (Although, Sophie could have also just told me to get off at a tram station further along.)  I did find a coffee shop though, and for the first time since being in Europe (and not being at Starbucks), this place had expensive, overly sweetened, high calorie coffee drinks and not just 1 ounce espresso's and 5 ounce cappuccinos!  You can imagine how excited I was.  I think I ordered the equivalent of a caramel frappucino, because to be honest I've never actually ordered one from Starbucks.  It was fantastic.  (I also ordered a quinoa salad to balance myself out.)  Success all around. 

The next day I visited the Avenue Louise area.  It was a Sunday, so a lot of the main shops were closed (so annoying), but a lot of the smaller ones down the road were still open.  It seemed like every other store was a Belgian chocolate shop!  I hopped in and out of all of them to get a free sample from each :) I also found "Gone Girl" playing at the movie theatre nearby, so I was pumped to get to see that, and in English too.  And then I got some dinner, alone, at this cute pita place that Sophie and Andrea had recommended.  I got a Belgian beer as well, definitely one of the best beers I have ever had.  Definitely nice to have some time to myself considering I had had a lot of James and Matthew time thus far, and would have a lot more in the coming days.  

Monday we woke up and the boys and Sophie's mom and I headed straight for the Grand Place. (pronounce it in french, with a long 'a', plaaahce)  It was beautiful!  We got there early, about 9:30, before a lot was going on, but by 2 pm or so when we left it was crowded with people.  Sophie's mom, Lucia, has lived in Brussels her whole life, so she knew exactly where to go, what shops/restaurants were good, what sights to see, etc.  So helpful!  And she was so kind to me...bought me a delicious belgian waffle, and paid for the 4 of us to do a little horse and carriage ride around the Grand Place for a half hour!  We had the best tour guide as well, pointing out interesting spots around the city, history about the church's we were passing, the roads, the food, the culture, everything.  It was awesome. 

The past couple days have been spent relaxing at Andrea's parents home.  It's beautiful!  It's a row house, but it's 4 stories high and quite deep, so what it lacks in width and yard space it certainly makes up for.  I have my own room and bathroom, and the grandparents have been so generous.  They're also the perfect combination of loving and firm with the kids, which makes my job easier.  

Yesterday, the grandmother, Anne, was preparing an apple crisp to take to a dinner at church that they were going to.  She prepared a smaller separate one for me as well!  SO sweet, and I had known this lady all of 24 hours.  They also prepare a full pot of coffee every morning, and more in the afternoon if needed.  Couldn't be happier about that!

I'm looking forward to seeing some more of Belgium in the next couple days.  My lovely bestie Brigette has hooked me up with a friend of hers from when she studied abroad here a few years back.  He's going to show me all around Leuven, Belgium tomorrow (Thursday) and then am still hoping to get to Bruges on Friday.  Saturday morning we leave for Ireland! Can't wait!

J'adore Paris!

About 72 hours ago I arrived back home in Valleiry after my weekend in Paris, and even now, looking back at all my pictures, I still can't believe I was there.  We only spent a grand total of exactly 25 hours in this amazing city, but we barely let a second of it go to waste!

We geared up for the whole ride share experience again, and (promptly this time!) met our ride outside the train station in Annecy at 7:30 am Saturday morning.  We were riding with a couple and their young baby, which yes, I was very skeptical of at first.  But it turned out to be no problem at all.  We picked up another friend of theirs about 2 hours into the trip, switched vehicles, and were in Paris about 4 hours after that.  They dropped us off at a metro station right on the outskirts of the city, and after a difficult ordeal of trying to obtain the proper metro ticket, we were on our way to the Arc de Triomphe to meet up with the brother of a friend of Val's.  (The kindness of strangers that we have experienced thus far has been amazing!).  

We successfully made it to the Arc de Triomphe (although no one told us that you had to walk underground to get to the actual arch...) and found our new friend Dimitar after about 10 minutes of walking in all the wrong circles around the Arc (which was insanely impressive, I have to add.)  We then quickly changed our clothes in a street-side, one stall, public restroom, which was more or less disgusting.  But we are getting pretty good at packing and changing in any situation!

We then walked down the Champs-Elysees boulevard, a large, crowded street with lots of restaurants, high end shops, and of course, tourists.  We passed the biggest Sephora make-up shop I have ever seen, a Disney store, Zara, Longchamps, Tiffany's, and countless others.  The Champs-Elysees ends at the Place de la Concorde, and then begins the gardens that surround the Louvre.  We also stopped at le Pont Alexandre III, and saw both le Grand Palais and le Petite Palais, two art galleries. 

In front of Le Petite Palais - stunning!

And then we walked all throughout the exterior of The Louvre, which was honestly one of the most impressive things I have EVER seen.  I kept wondering just how long it must have taken to build, and then to fill up.  My dad had tried to describe to me how big it was, but you cannot comprehend just how big we are talking until you see it in person.  It just kept going and going!  And it was so beautiful!  After seeing just how vast it was, we realized we probably would not have time to do it justice in the short 24 hours we had.  It looks like you could easily spend two days in the museum and not get bored!  And the gardens outside the museum were as equally beautiful as the architecture of the museum itself. 

We had booked a one night stay at the Louvre Youth Hostel, right nearby.  We went to check-in after walking the Louvre for a good hour.  The hostel was very basic, exactly what we had read online.  We were of course sent up to the fifth floor, no elevators!  We were staying in a room with 3 bunk beds, ours up in a little loft by itself!  Our accommodations were fine, except for the obnoxious people we were sharing it with who turned all the lights on when they came in late (and we thought we came in late, around 2 am.  We were courteous and made it up to our little loft, by ladder, in the dark!).  Oh yeah, and the bed bugs.  Val got bed bugs.  Womp womp.  We're pretty sure that the movie "Taken" may have been filmed in our hostel also, but basically it was all good.

Anyways, after we checked in and changed our clothes, we found a cafe to split a bottle of wine at before we were to meet our friends an hour later.  Although late, we successfully navigated the metro again and found Dimitar and Ihab (yes, those are their real names).  They led us to see the Notre Dame Bisilica which was AMAZING!

We then headed for a bar/restaurant and got some dinner, but neither of us were too impressed, so we decided we would leave our new friends and head for the Eiffel Tower, which by this point we were both itching to see.  And I am so glad we did, because we got there just in time to see it light up at midnight!!  Another simply amazing sight.  We lingered around for awhile and tried to get some good pictures, and then headed to a nearby cafe that was still open for a chocolat chaud et tartelette aux pomme (hot chocolate and apple tart).  Too expensive, but delicious :)

We headed back to our hostel where we got a pretty terrible 6 hours of sleep, but oh well.  Woke up the next morning and got quickly ready, had a lovely french continental breakfast (complete with delicious, fresh, french bread, unlike any hotel in the states with their stupid stale bagels) and were on our way!  We headed to the Musee d'Orangerie, recommended to us by a few friends, and are so glad we went!  We got to see some Monet, and holy crap are those paintings incredible.  We had no idea how big they were!  Lots of other artists were also showcased, and the biggest perk of all was that admission was free for us because we have student visas!  Score. 

We left and then went to see la Tour Eiffel during the day.  It was still incredibly amazing.  We debated going up to the top, but realized we probably would not have enough time, so we'll have to save that for the next trip, because, yes, I already want to go back. 

Our last destination was Rue Cler, a small, cobblestone, traffic free street close to the Eiffel Tower that I read about in my Rick Steve's travel book.  It was adorable, a real look at Paris without the whole bustling city factor.  It was shop after shop of locally owned produce stands, fromagerie's (cheese shops), boulangerie's (bread shops), patisserie's (pastry shops), wine shops, chocolate shops, etc.  We lingered about, had a cappucino avec un pain au chocolat, and before we knew it our time was up and we had to make the journey to where our next ride was picking us up to go back home.  This time, we arrived on time and our ride was late.  He spoke no english, but I effectively communicated with him on the phone to find out that there was a lot of traffic, and he wouldn't be there for another hour.  We made no stops going home though, which was fine by us since we had already grabbed food to eat for dinner, and were back in Annecy almost exactly 5 hours later.  Not bad!

As I'm typing this, I'm in the middle of packing the boys clothes and packing my own, because my next adventure starts tomorrow!  We are headed to Brussels, Belgium!  The boys have the next 2 weeks off school, which means vacation* for us.

*I will still be working most days.  But, at least I will be working in two new countries. 

We will spend the next week in Brussels, and then the last week of October we are going to Ireland!  And no, I still can't believe it.  I am SO excited!  Both Sophie and Andrea are from Brussels, and still have lots of family there.  Andrea is also half Irish, and still has family in south-western Ireland, accounting for that fun trip.  I will have a bit of free time, though!  I am looking to take the train from Brussels to Bruge one day next week.  Any other suggestions for places to hit in Brussels though are appreciated!  In Ireland, we will be staying in a family cabin close to the Atlantic Ocean.  The pictures look unbelievable, I seriously can't wait. 

A bientot, mes amis!  

Misc. thoughts

Hi friends!

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted!  I just haven't had too much to update about.  It's been a couple of normal, busy weeks.  The boys have been a bit sick off and on, which means I am home with them more, and things have been a little crazy.

It's weird how this place is really starting to feel comfortable.  I can get basically everywhere I need to go without my GPS, and I can communicate decently well wherever I go.  I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere with my french!  Unfortunately, there has been a small issue with my lessons.  Last week, we all took a placement test, and I tested into the intermediate class.  However, for this week and the next, intermediate meets in the afternoon, and my schedule with the boys does not allow me to go to class in the afternoon.  I can only make the morning session, which is when the beginner class meets.  So, even though I am past the beginner level, I have been going to that class instead.  Thankfully, after the October holiday*, the intermediate class will meet in the morning and I will be able to go back to that one.

*These children have so many days off.  Basically, after 6 weeks of school they get a two week holiday.  So, the boys are off school the week of October 20th, and the 27th.  I'm not complaining though...next weekend we are heading to Brussels for the first week of their holiday, and the week after I will be in Ireland!!  It's unreal.  I am SO EXCITED!

Anyways, to continue with the french class info, it hasn't been terrible being in the beginner class.  It's a good refresher course for me.  And, just being in class and relearning everything has made me want to start speaking french at home a lot more.  As many sentences as I can say in french with Sophie and Andrea, I try to.  So, about half of what I say at home is now french.  So much fun!  I'm studying a lot more in my free time too, just to memorize more vocabulary.

I also didn't realize this until last night, but today (October 10th) marks exactly halfway between when I got here and when I'm going home for Christmas.  Time flies!

Being as it is now October, I've also been trying my best to educate the boys on Halloween.  It is apparently becoming more popular in Europe year by year, but there is virtually no representation of it in our small town, or the surrounding areas.  My mom sent the boys two adorable costumes, a Buzz Lightyear, and a Ninja, that the boys both love.  But it's hard to explain the significance of the costumes to two 3 and a half year old boys.  So, I've tried to come up with some Halloween crafts, and food to make with them to show them ghosts, vampires, witches, pumpkins, black cats, etc.  I think it's more fun for me then them honestly. 

The weather hasn't turned too cold yet, and I keep saying I think it will soon, but it still hasn't.  I'm getting a feeling that we're not going to get too much fall, and it will just leap to winter in about a month.  Right now our mornings are in the 50's or 60's, but it almost always reaches the 70's by the afternoon. 

And in more travel news, Val and I are off to Paris this weekend!  We have a ride there, a hostel right next door to the Louvre to stay in, and a ride home on Sunday.  It's unfortunate that our trips have to be so short, especially since there is so much to see in Paris.  I am sure it will not be my last time there this year :)  But thankful that we at least get to go for the weekend!  A dream come true, for sure.  Stay tuned for a (hopefully) adorable picture of me in front of the Eiffel Tower! 

Au revoir!