Tag: expat life

Kindergarten, Already?!?

Mandatory first day of school photos!

Seriously, how is my little girl in kindergarten? Well for starters, kindergarten in Germany is actually preschool. In Germany, schooling is taken seriously. Before the age of 3, kids go to Kita (daycare) or a Tagesmutter (day mother) if their parents work or need child care. Kindergarten or preschool begins at 3. Once the child is 3 years old, they have to be accepted into a preschool somewhere within city limits and if you are lucky, near your home. At the age of 6, kids go to regular school. Oh, and homeschooling is illegal. (Crazy to think about in the time of Covid-19 where families in the US who have never thought of homeschooling before are potentially choosing that option to keep their kiddos safe).

Our town has a system where every child is given a Kinderbetreuungspass (childcare pass) number. Parents register their child into a childcare system and apply for different kindergartens. Carson was luckily accepted into a preschool near our home, about a 10 minute walk. Her best friend also goes to the same school.

So excited for her first day!

Carson started school back in August. What is different between the American schooling system and the German schooling system is a phase known as the “settling in” phase. From my experience as a teacher in the US, parents drop their children off at school on the first day of school in the morning and pick them up at the end of the school day. Yes, there are tears (by both parents and kiddos) but its more of a jump with both feet into the deep end approach. In Germany, its a weeks long process to get the children ready and comfortable with going to school a full day. More of a dip your toe in the water and gradually walk until the water gets deeper and deeper approach. By week two the water has reached your knee caps and by week three its at your waist.

Minnie backpack & bunny, she’s ready to go.

Just to give you an idea of what the “settling in” phase looks like, everyday week one, the parent and child experience the classroom for one hour. The child is allowed to explore and play while the parent sits off to the side. Throughout the “settling in” phase the parent is only to interact with the child if and when the child interacts with the parent. Week two, the child and parent go into the classroom for two hours. If the child seems comfortable, the parent leaves/waits outside for the last 15-30 minutes. The length of time is dependent on how comfortable the child is and whether the child can be comforted by an adult other then their parent. Week three, the child goes to school for about half a day. For Carson, this meant that she was dropped off in the morning and I picked her up right after lunch. Week four, the child goes to school for the entire day but the parent is a quick phone call away.

Yes, this is a long process. However, I found it particularly helpful. I do not speak German and Carson does not speak German. I am also very used to the American school system and knew very little to nothing of the German school system. It was nice to be in the classroom to experience circle time, play groups, toilet breaks, and interactions between Carson and classmates/teachers. Since her “settling in” phase was during a global pandemic, only one new parent/student combo were allowed in the classroom at a time (and with a mask, of course). In normal, non-pandemic times, 3-4 new students and their parents would be in the classroom at the same time.

Carson has been in kindergarten for about four months already! Wow, where has the time gone? After a month of Carson going to kindergarten regularly, I met with her teacher to check in on her progress. It was a 30 min parent/teacher conference where Carson’s teacher informed me that Carson loves all things school related, especially circle time and singing. She said that Carson has many friends and while they may not speak the same language it hasn’t stopped them from communicating and playing all day.

Carson prefers to walk to and from school. No more stroller. Such a big girl.

Danke!

When the holidays roll around, Jeff and I love spending time with our family. Usually we are in LA for Thanksgiving and DC for Christmas. For the past two years, we felt that flying to the states for Thanksgiving and then again at Christmas would be too taxing, especially on Carson. She is a great little traveler but the 3 day jet lag is no fun. Luckily for us, we haven’t had to spend Thanksgiving alone. Last year our LA family met us in Paris. This year our expat family gathered in the Eifel region of Germany.

2018: Paris, France

Grimm Family at the Eiffel Tower

Paris is a 5 hour drive from where we are living in Germany. Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, Jeff took a few days off from work and we headed to Paris to meet up with our LA family. In total we had 7 adults and 1 baby. We rented a beautiful 4 bedroom Air BnB near the place de la republique, complete with a full kitchen so we could prepare a somewhat proper Thanksgiving dinner. Days were spent exploring the city and nights were spent drinking too much wine and catching up.

Marche Des Enfants Rouges & a Croque Madame
Exploring Paris!

At that point in time, we had been living in Germany for two months and while I wasn’t completely homesick, I was definitely missing American TV…or anything in English. On Thanksgiving day the crew headed out to gather ingredients for dinner while Carson and I enjoyed couch time and American Netflix (yes, there is a difference in what is offered on Netflix dependent on the country). I was also stressed out because all of our belongings had been delivered to Germany the day before we left on this adventure and our new home was a complete disaster, more on that in another post. Thankfully, I was able to relax and enjoy some quiet time. Turkeys were unavailable at such late notice as they aren’t a staple in France, but we were able to scrounge up a whole chicken, herbs and fresh veggies for our feast.

LA Family & our Thanksgiving Feast

2019: Schleiden, Germany

This year for Thanksgiving, we celebrated with our expatriate crew: 31 adults, 1 teenager, 3 toddlers, & 2 dogs or 20 Americans, 5 Australians, 3 Germans, 3 Frenchmen, 2 Canadians, 1 Brit and 1 Egyptian. Two fearless leaders took charge and found an entire hotel for rent on Air BnB in the small town of Schleiden. Seriously, it was just our crew taking over this hotel that was complete with industrial kitchen, large dining room and bar area. Instead of taking off time from work and celebrating on Thursday (actual Thanksgiving), we all decided it was best to wait until the weekend. Days were spent exploring the outdoors on hikes and going to Weihnachtsmarkts (Christmas Markets). Nights were spent playing board games and watching American college football.

20 weeks pregnant with non-alcoholic wine & Chex Mix and play time.

Not only is it pretty cool that our group gets along so well but that everyone did their part when it came to the Thanksgiving feast. Whether they made one of the 3 turkeys, prepared a side dish like green bean casserole, potatoes or stuffing, baked pies, decorated tables, or brought snacks for when we weren’t feasting…we all did our part.

Industrial kitchen food prep.
Food prep, turkey time & waiting on the feast!
Buffet style feast & dessert table (bad pic).

I’m looking forward to see what’s in store for Thanksgiving 2020.

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Lady Luck

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Before leaving Chicago, Jeff and I had quite the social circle. We loved spending time with our friends who, to be honest, became family. We knew that in moving to Germany our social group would change and possibly be nonexistent. I’ll just say that Lady Luck dealt us a pretty great expat hand.

Our expat community is large and includes members from Australia, the UK, Scotland, Spain, France, Germany and of course the US. We spend a great deal of time together but about once a week the ladies break away for Ladies Night (Montag oder Mittwoch fur Mädchens, Dienstag oder Donnerstag fur Damens, Freitag fur Frauen…you get the picture). Usually it’s a nice dinner with good wine, thoughtful conversation and belly laughs. Sometimes it takes us on an adventure or a weekend away (more on that in another blog post). Every time we are together I think to myself, these girls get me. We’ve all chosen or been thrown into the expat life and are surviving with grace.

I want to take a blog post to recognize these wonderful women, friends. Expat life comes with its challenges. These women are strong individuals and believe in celebrating each other rather than bringing each other down. They are trustworthy and honest, compassionate and non-judgmental, extremely supportive in good and bad times, humorous and are overall enjoyable to be around. We don’t need specific reasons to meet but occasionally it’s to celebrate a birthday or enjoy one last night together before an unfortunate departure.

As a stay at home mom, I live for these nights out. Please don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter with 100% of my being but I do love my nights away where I get to be “me” again. What some fail to realize is that stay-at-home moms don’t get to leave work or have weekends off. In fact, sometimes our “boss” can be a real pain, especially when tired, hungry, or well, it’s a Tuesday. My boss comes with me everywhere! And, not sure how your vacations are but mine are always work trips where my boss flails her little body around in a 2″ x 2″ space on the airplane.

Our ladies nights usually take place in restaurants around Essen. Essen is the town where the majority of us live. Coincidentally, essen also means food or to eat in German. However, as mentioned earlier, sometimes our ladies nights turn adventurous. Duisburg is a little town about 20 min from where we live. It is the home of an unusual attraction called “Tiger and Turtle”. This walk-in roller coaster like attraction was opened in 2011 and built atop a former dump. A climb to the top, promises beautiful views of Duisburg and the Rhine River on clear days. And the answer to your obvious question is no. No, you cannot climb upside down on the loop…but wouldn’t it be cool if you could?

A Moral Dilemma

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Imagine yourself in a foreign country, where you don’t speak the language, and are unfamiliar with who to call when you need help (first responders; police, firefighters, paramedics, etc). Coming from Chicago, I would say there are some things I’m pretty savvy at such as taking public transit, perusing local museums, finding a good deal, and spotting a thief. That’s right, a car-door-handle-checking, thief.

Before I ask you the question, let me paint you the picture…My mom, friend Stephanie, Carson (baby) and I had just checked out of the hotel in Copenhagen (more on the trip in another blog). We were standing on the sidewalk with all of our luggage, waiting for Jeff to get the car from the parking garage. Rolling down the street on his pretty descent bike (I’m now assuming stolen) is a man riding extremely close to the cars. He was a little wobbly so I kept an eye on him. I was trying to assess whether he needed help or was drunk and well, looking out for my family, friend and all of our luggage. I’m to be on alert when we are traveling.

After watching him for a few seconds, it dawned on me that he was checking the handles on every car door to see if the car was unlocked. Again, coming from Chicago, I’ve seen this a few times.

Finally success! The van at the end of the street, three cars from where we were standing, was unlocked! He double checked that the van was really unlocked, parked his bike behind the van and jumped right in. He made eye contact with us before he jumped in as if to say “yeah, what are you gonna do about it?” but in Danish as we were in Denmark.

Steph, my mom and I acknowledged to each other that this was actually happening but were not sure what to do. If we approached he could possibly hurt one or all of us, which none of us were willing to risk with the baby in our arms. We also didn’t know if he was working alone or with a crew. At the same time if we approached, he could have been spooked and ridden off, saving the owner of the van their possessions and the hassle of filing a police report, an insurance claim, and trying to get their items back.

By this time, Jeff had pulled up with the car and we quickly loaded our luggage, the baby and told Jeff what was happening. He decided that while he might not be able to stop it, he could at least tell someone. He went to the nearest store, literally across the street from where the crime was happening and told the store owner. She immediately came out and called the police (or whomever) to report the incident. Unfortunately before she could come out, the thief had finished and ridden away with his treasures.

Jeff reported what he could to the police over the phone but since the crime was no longer in progress it was no longer an emergency. We waited for about 30 minutes for the police to show up but needed to get on the road for our 8 hour drive home.

Now, here is my question to you, what would you do? In Chicago, I would have called the police immediately, taken pictures for evidence and said something. But in Copenhagen, Denmark…I did not.

Please tell me in the comments. What would you have done and why?

A Tale of Two Cities…Buda and Pest

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Ten adults, three kids, and one long Easter weekend in Budapest with friends, coworkers and family. Since Chamonix went so well (more about that in another post), we decided the group should travel again. Many of us are expats from the US so traveling around Europe is a high priority. What’s great about this group is that on trips such as this, we feel very comfortable breaking off to do and see things on our own then join the group for group activities. The bad thing is that with a party of 13, sometimes it’s difficult to find seating at a restaurant for dinner especially in Budapest where many of the restaurants we came across were quite small. For this particular trip we had 9 Americans, 3 Spaniards, and 1 Brit! The expat family that travels together stays together!

We arrived to Budapest on Thursday evening and after a night of restful sleep, well as restful as it can be with a toddler sleeping in bed with you, we decided to walk around the city and explore. The first sight we came upon was St Stephens Basilica. This incredibly beautiful neo-classical building houses a mummified relic, the holy right hand of King St. Stephen. You can even pay 1€ to see it lit up. Since we went over Easter weekend, the basilica was adorned with so many beautiful white lilies, daisies and tulips.

Next we walked north on the Pest side along the Danube to the Shoes on the Danube memorial. This memorial is “To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45.” During WWII about 3,500 people, 800 of them Jewish were brought to the river, ordered to take off their shoes, and shot so their bodies would fall into the Danube. Living in Europe, there are reminders everywhere of WWII like memorials, tombs, and stolpersteins. This memorial made me quite emotional, especially the pair of children’s shoes. The pebbles represent prayers and all the shoes were full.

Some in the group are planners (not us) and booked a wine cruise along the Danube. A lot of interesting information is provided about the landmarks you can see from the boat. I highly recommend this as you taste the many different wines of Hungary…and by many I mean 7. You get 7 glasses, not just tastes, of wine. Since Carson counted as a full drinking human, we occasionally got a generous pour, like my glass of rosé!

After the wine cruise, we continued north. A short distance along the river is the beautiful, neo-classical Parliament building. Then found a spot for a quick bite to eat and refreshments (photo credit: Tracy Still).

Making sure to leave no landmark along the river on the Pest side unseen, we continued our journey through the Olympic playground/park then to the musical fountain on Margaret Island. We somehow managed to show up to the musical fountain for the last show of the evening. The fountain played music by Simon & Garfunkel and the Beatles, changed colors and shot various water streams of water to the beat.

Walking back to our hotel at the end of the night seemed to take forever but did provide beautiful views of the city at night.

Saturday we took a 3 hour Bike tour through Budapest. We saw a ton of landmarks and got a little different history from the day before. We learned that King St. Stephen has a daughter named Margaret. He promised to commit his daughter to a life of devotion if the Mongols could be driven from the land. They were and she was. She took residence on this island, hence the name, at the age of nine until she died in her early 30s. What amazed me the most about the bike tour was that Carson slept though most of it.

Saturday afternoon found us hiking up a hill to the Royal Palace/Buda Castle on the Buda side and Instagram posing along the way. Of course refreshments were in order once we made it to the top!

On Easter Sunday, Jeff took Carson for the morning and a small group of us headed to Gellért Thermal Baths. The Romans are said to have discovered the thermal pools and used them religiously. Now tourists and locals alike enjoy the warm therapeutic waters of the thermal baths that can be found all around Budapest. Gellért has 8 thermal pools ranging from 19-38 C. May-September there is also an outdoor wave pool but we didn’t get to experience that.

In the afternoon, Jeff got some guy time on a beer bus and I took Carson to the Easter Markets. So many local vendors, so many beautiful things for sale, so much delicious food! We also spent a little time letting the girls play in a park by a fountain. They were champs being confined to their strollers for most of the trip (…and yes, they matched).

As it was Easter, many things were closed so we decided to host the group to a large pasta dinner at our hotel, which was an apartment style hotel…the only way to go with a little one! Everyone pitched in and we were able to have a wonderful Easter celebration. The picture below is of me about to try a Rachael cake, a Hungarian Jewish traditional cake comprised of many layers. Let’s just say that I’m glad I tried it but it was not my favorite. Crushed sesame seeds make up the bottom layer and the flavor from the seeds overpowered the rest of the cake.

Monday, our final day in Budapest led us around the Jewish quarter where we were staying. We toured the Dohány Street Synagogue. It is the largest Jewish house of worship outside of NYC. The courtyard to the side of the synagogue was the burial spot for 2,200 unidentified Jews during WWII. Behind the synagogue is the Tree of Life Memorial. Each leaf on the weeping willow memorial has an engraved name of a person or family who was murdered during WWII. There are hundreds of thousands of leaves.

Not sure how or why we didn’t find the Ruins Bars earlier but on the last day our whole group made our way into Szimpla Kert the first romkocsmá (ruin pub). These bars started as pop up bars in abandoned warehouses in the Jewish Quarter. Now these warehouses/bars are comprised of many different rooms, tons of random items like one would find in a rummage sale, art installations and graffiti…everywhere! The ruins bars are really cool.

Food. Can we just talk about the food for a minute? Not only is the Hungarian cuisine divine, and I’m not just talking about the goulash, but around every corner was another delicious, tasty treat. Thankfully our group is great at sharing!

Road Trip!

When a friend from the states, who has explicitly gotten their passport to come and visit, finally comes to visit…Road Trip! And what better way to break in the passport then to go to as many countries as possible in a short amount of time. Jeff’s good friend, Grant came to visit recently and hopefully we his European adventure didn’t disappoint. Our 5 day adventure took us through Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Below are quick descriptions of places we visited and some pictures from along the way.

Day 1:

  • Cologne, Germany
    • Kölner Dom/Cologne Cathedral-This amazingly beautiful cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. One of its treasures is the Shrine of the Three Kings which it is believed to hold relics of the three wise men. The Cologne Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
    • FRÜH am Dom-After admiring the cathedral we headed to a traditional German brewpub a few blocks away. It’s the kind of place where you find a seat wherever you can, share, tables with strangers, beers are refilled almost as soon as they are empty and your beer consumption is marked on your coaster. (The marks on this coaster indicate the beers of the group…not just me. We each had 3, 0.2L kölsch beers).

  • Remagen, Germany
    • Brücke von Remagen-In the closing weeks of WWII, this critical remaining bridge over the Rhine river was captured by the US Army. This bridge was on Grant’s list of things to see as his grandfather took part in missions that helped secure it. The bridge collapsed 10 days after it was captured in 1945 but the towers remain.
  • Koblenz, Germany
    • Deutsches Eck-The German Corner is in Koblenz and is where the Mosel river merges with the Rhine. At the eck is a statue of Wilhelm I, the unifying emperor of Germany. This statue was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in 1993.

  • Augenroller (Eye Roller)-This is a strange monument that you might walk by if you didn’t know to look for it (or what it does). It’s the face of Johan Lutter, a 16th century robber. His eyes “roll” back and forth like the pendulum of a grandfather clock and every half hour his tongue darts in and out for a few seconds. He was beheaded for his crimes so some say he is there as a reminder to stay on track others say that he is there to taunt the citizens of Koblenz.

Day 2:

  • Verdun, France
    • Verdun Memorial-An extremely well done Memorial/museum to commemorate the Battle of Verdun in WWI. Over 230,000 young men died out of 700,000 casualties (dead, wounded & missing) during the long battle, Feb. 21, 1916-Dec. 19, 1916.
    • Duoaumont Ossuary-Just a few minutes down the road lies a memorial and 13,000 crosses which hold 130,000 unidentified remains from the battle. The ground around the Memorial is still sculpted by all of the bombs that were dropped and each year they find more remains of soldiers who died on the battlefield.

  • Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
    • Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial-The burial spot for General George S. Patton and 5,073 WWII American soldiers. While sad, the cemetery is incredibly beautiful. Included in the entrance of the cemetery are 2 maps that depict happenings during WWII. We arrived 10 min after closing so we came back the next morning before heading to our next location.

  • Luxembourg City-After visiting the American Cemetery we explored Luxembourg City. It was a Sunday (which means a lot of things in Europe are closed) but it’s pretty small so we were able to see a lot of the greatest hits before checking into the hotel.

Day 3:

  • Brussels, Belgium
    • Brasserie Cantillon-small brewery that makes phenomenal sours. Seriously delicious! If you are in Brussels, make the stop!
    • City exploring took up the rest of our day. We took Grant to all of our favorite places from our last trip. Check our “I Can Show You The World” blog post for more on Brussels.

Day 4:

  • Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    • Markthal-We drove from Brussels to Rotterdam and went straight to Markthal. It’s an apartment building, parking garage, and food hall with just about every food imaginable including our favorite, the fresh made stroop waffles. I didn’t know about stroop waffles until we moved to Europe and now they are one of my favorite foods…especially when made fresh! Imagine a circular thin waffle, cut in half then slathered with fresh caramel in the middle. Soooo delicious! (Jeff’s new favorite is the stroop waffle with Nutella in the middle. Yummy!)

  • Cube Houses-These are quite interesting to look at. They are houses that have been tilted by 45 degrees. The houses are lifted and are supposed to represent trees. Together they are supposed to create a forest. One owner has turned his cube into a space that curious visitors can tour. Rotterdam is an extremely modern city full of art. It pretty much had to be after getting almost completely demolished in WWII.
  • Vessel 11-This British Gastro Pub on a boat docked in the old city harbor was a recommendation from a good friend. I’m glad we trusted her. The atmosphere is cozy and unique, very nautical. We had a few drinks and the Bitterballen. If you’ve never experienced Bitterballen, you should. They are Dutch beef ragout balls. If beef stew could be in meatball form, this would be it!
  • Fenix Food Factory-In an old warehouse lies the Fenix Food Factory. This collective of restaurant is extremely hip and modern. It reminds me of Union Market in DC, a lot of delicious restaurants in one location. We got beers at Kaapse Brouwers and a Japanese pork pancake. Both were excellent choices.

  • Delft, The Netherlands
    • The city of Delft-is located between Rotterdam and The Hague in South Holland. It is known for hand painted blue and white pottery and is said to be the birthplace of microbiology. There is a medieval Oude Kerk (old church) which is the burial site of the famous artist Johannesburg Vermeer. The main town square that sits between City Hall and the New Kerk (built between 1381-1496) has plenty of shops with fresh Gouda, ice cream, blue and white pottery, wooden shoes and souvenirs. The city center reminded me of Amsterdam with all of the canals that run through the city.

Day 5:

  • Haarlem, The Netherlands
    • Frans Hals Museum-Our last stop took us to Haarlem to visit the Frans Hals Museum. Grant has been a big fan of the way Hals painted regular, everyday people since he learned about the artist in college. Hals was a Dutch Golden Age painter alongside Vermeer and Rembrandt. The museums collection includes other Dutch artists from around the same time period as well as modern art from Dutch artists. This museum is a definite must see if you ever make your way to Haarlem as it is incredibly well done.

Celebrating with Fire

Our mid-March adventure took us to Valencia, Spain for Las Fallas with our Swedish/Spanish friends (we’ll get back to them in a bit). Jeff and I had heard about this festival in Spain where they build these beautiful sculptures then burn them to the ground on the last day. Without knowing much more, we decided to go and bought our plane tickets. What could be better than a festival where everything is burned…besides Burning Man?

Year of the Woman!

A little background: Each year the many different neighborhoods in Valencia (around 350) sponsor and build a Fallas* composed of ninots** that are based on a broad theme. Sometimes the theme is satirical and usually focuses on local, national or world politics and events. Sometimes the theme pokes fun at trending societal norms and daily life. Familiar faces (celebrities, world leaders, and famous locals) make up the ninots which help tell the story, compose the theme and make up the gigantic Fallas standing between 35-50 feet tall.

Ninots are used to create the larger Fallas.

Fallas and Ninots

*Fallas means fire and refers to both the festival as well as the large statues/structures created.

**Ninot is a smaller statue. Many ninots together create a Fallas.

Brexit

Beachy Keen!

Where did this tradition stem from? Great question, I’m so glad you asked. In the 15th century, carpenters in Valencia would have to work by candle light and special lanterns in the evening during the winter months. The eve before the spring equinox and subsequently also the day of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of carpentry (March 19), the carpenters would stack their wood scraps, candle wax, and other junk they found when spring cleaning into the middle of the street and set it a blaze! By the end of the 18th century the wood scraps were formed to look like people, usually celebrating well known locals.

Well known locals

So…way back when the fallas were made out of wood, candle wax and junk, what are they made of now? Again, excellent question. Now, the ninots and fallas are made of wood and papier-mâché. Artists spend hundreds of hours meticulously constructing, sanding and painting the papier-mâché ninots. The artists and designers get one day, March 15, to take all of the ninots and erect the fallas in the middle of the street. Reminder, there are at least 350 of these being constructed at the same time and that just talks about the large fallas. Each neighborhood also sponsors a fallas infantiles or children’s smaller fallas only about one-third the size of the regular fallas. There are 600+ fallas, large and small, around Valencia during the festival.

Fallas Infantiles

Children’s Fallas

So what exactly happens? When do we get to the burning of these beautiful sculptures? Patrons of each neighborhood walk to the Plaza de la Virgen in traditional Valencia costume with an offering of flowers for the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Forsaken. These flower offerings then cover the statue of the Virgin Mary…no, she does not go up in flames during this festival.  Women are dressed in beautiful bodices and flowing skirts of various colors with their hair plaited and decorated with gold pins and covered in veils of lace. Many of the dresses have been in the families for generations and even serve as wedding dresses. Men, also known as falleros are dressed like pirates in black pants, black jacket, white shirt and colorful scarves and tend to carry flasks.

Traditional dress, band, parade and flower offering.

A band, las desperta, is placed at the start of each neighborhood parade and firecrackers follow. Speaking of firecrackers, everyone and I mean everyone is either throwing poppers or lighting firecrackers. The bigger and louder the noise, the better. There is also a fire parade, Cavalcada de Foc, leading the casal faller or fire starters through the streets to their respective falla and incorporate colorful, noisy fire displays.

Cavalcada de Foc or Fire Parade

March 19 at 10:00 pm (22:00) around the city, the smaller fallas, fallas infantiles, are lit. The larger structures don’t burn until 12:00 am (00:00) the morning of March 20. Fireworks are places inside and around the fallas to start the burning of these incredibly beautiful structures also known as La Crema. After a 5-10 minute firework display (in each neighborhood at each fallas) that rivals 4th of July firework displays in the states, the fallas eventually catches fire and they burn baby, burn. From start to finish the entire fallas has burnt to the ground in around 30 min leaving nothing behind but a smoldering pile of rubble. By morning, clean up has happened and one would never have guessed that these magnificent structures had even existed.

Falla and Falla Infantile before and after.

Back to our Swedish/Spanish friends. Jeff and I met them on our honeymoon cruise in 2016. They had delicious looking deserts so I just had to ask what they ordered and if it was any good. My inquiry about sweet treats led to a wonderful conversation and lifelong friends. They were so kind to visit us in Chicago for New Year 2017 and we were finally able to visit them this year in Spain! We spent a few days with them in Torrevieja before heading to Valencia. Their hospitality is unmatched! We had an extraordinary visit and hope to see them again soon.

Our Swedish/Spanish Friends

I Can Show You The World

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Brussels, Belgium

Brussels, Belgium was a place that I never knew I wanted to go and is now a place I can’t wait to go back. It easily sits in my “Top 10 Cities Around the World” list alongside Barcelona and Venice.

While the Germans don’t really celebrate Halloween (it’s a new holiday, only partially well received around here), there is a national holiday for All Saints Day, November 1. If All Saints Day lands on a Thursday, as it did in 2018, Jeff’s company provides a bridge day or Brückentag on Friday allowing workers an extra day off or a bridge to the weekend. So we packed up our bags and drove about three hours to Belgium to explore the wonderful city of Brussels!

This was what one might call a “last minute trip” that we decided to partake in on a Monday with a departure of Thursday. While last minute planning is exhilarating it also comes with some challenges such as acquiring a hotel at a fairly reasonable price on a European holiday weekend. Luckily I have a husband who is talented in seeking out good hotels at decent prices. It also helps that Jeff and I realized that when exploring a new city, the hotel is where we sleep at night…not where we spend the majority of our time. We are always looking for a comfy bed, clean linens, close to public transit/trains and free Wi-Fi. In Europe we have found that the NH brand meets our criteria.

We ended up staying at the NH Brussels EU Berlaymont. As the name suggests, the hotel is located about a block away from the Berlaymont Building which is the home of the European Commission and the European Council. It is also a quick walk to the train and Parc du Cinquantenaire.

The Grand Place in Brussels is a large, open pedestrian area that features beautiful architecture such as the Town Hall and the Guildhouses. It was about a 30 min walk from our hotel or a quick train ride. Our first day exploring Brussels, we walked from our hotel, through Brussels Park, past the Palais Royal, took a few pictures, warmed up with some hot chocolate then made our way to the Grand Place. Unfortunately I can’t remember all of our details over the three days we were there but I do remember the overall great vibe and picturesque places that Brussels had to offer.

When I think of Brussels, more specifically Belgium, I think of food. Yummy, delicious food! Waffles, chocolate and beer were the first to come to mind. For some reason I didn’t know that Belgium is also famous for fries. I guess I’ll have to go back! Back to the food we did eat! The waffles with Nutella were incredible and can be found EVERYWHERE! So melty and delicious. We had milk, dark and hot chocolates at a chocolatier Laurent Gerbaud. Then spent a good amount of time drinking beer. Why not, right? We went to 2 beer locations, the first was a beer bar Moeder Lambic, the second was a brewery Brasserie Cantillon that specialized in sours. We did grab a beer at Delirium Café but it was packed so we stayed outside.

Brussels also has Manneken Pis, a well known public sculpture. The good news is that there is not just one but three of these statues! There is a boy (the original), a girl (outside of Delirium, thought to have been placed there to encourage tourists to eat at the restaurant that was there before Delirium), and a dog (newer and it’s painted yellow not a fountain). We only made it to two. The boy statue periodically gets dressed in costumes. Not exactly sure what this particular costume represented.

Besides the peeing statues, Brussels is full of beautiful, public art. If you ever get the chance to visit, do it! See all of the wonderful things and eat all of the delicious food!