Bastogne, Belgium and Luxembourg

At the end of the summer, before school started, we took a week long trip to Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. It was one of the best trips we've taken so far since being over here.

Our trip began in Seville, Spain where we flew to a small airport about an hour outside of Belgium. We flew Ryanair, the discount airliner that usually doesn't take you to the main airport. This was okay with us because we were renting a car and staying at the airport hotel for the night before driving to Luxembourg the next day. We didn't arrive until 11:00 p.m. so we all needed to go to bed before driving a few hours!

Mardasson Memorial

Finally after a good night sleep and yummy breakfast we were on the road to Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg. We had done some research before and had to decided to stop in Bastogne, Belgium on the way to see the Mardasson Memorial and have lunch. The memorial honors the memory of 76,890 American soldiers who were wounded or killed during the Battle of the Bulge. Located right next to the memorial is the Bastogne War Museum which we did not visit. The views from the memorial were beautiful and the memorial itself was amazing. Both Eric and I were in awe of this amazing place in Belgium that honors American fallen soldiers. It is unreal to think that 76,890 people were wounded or killed here during WWII…there really are no words.

Next stop…lunch! We had also done some research (thanks Trip Advisor) about where to eat and decided we were going to to eat lunch at Wagon Leo. It's located in downtown Bastogne and is an old tram carriage that was converted into a restaurant over sixty years ago. When we first arrived we weren't sure if we should stay because it looked fancier than we expected and let's be real we had a 3 and 5 year old with us who had just behaved impeccably at a war memorial…would this behavior keep up over lunch? But…we stayed and the food was great, the kids were great and the waiter even thanked us for all The United States had done for his country in war time. Really? Did that just happen? 

Being silly after the train ride

Caverns

After lunch we loaded back up in the car and continued on to Luxembourg City. Once there we checked in then left to explore. After a near death experience on a busy road and Eric asking a blind french speaking woman for directions (yes…it really happened and I bring it up whenever I can) we finally found the city center, which turns out is only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. It was already late in the day so we opted on a train ride to see the city and then dinner at an Italian restaurant before heading back to the hotel. 


The next morning we checked out and got ready to head back to Belgium, this time to Brussels. Before leaving Luxembourg we visited Petrusse Casemates, which are underground ruins of an ancient castle in the city center. We also stopped at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial about 2 miles away from where we were. The cemetery contains the remains of 5,076 American service members, most of whom died during the Battle of the Bulge. General George S. Patton Jr. is also buried here.

Stay tuned for more…next up Brussels, Bruges and Amsterdam.

Puerto Sherry

Beach selfie!

Walking to Puerto Sherry

When we moved here two years ago we took the plunge and decided to live off base, it wasn't really a plunge, there were no 3 bedroom houses on base available so we didn't have a choice. It was the best decision we didn't make ever! We love living off base. We live in El Puerto de Santa Maria, the town right next to Rota. The base even has a "Puerto" gate so we don't have to drive though Rota when going and coming from base. We live in section of Puerto called Puerto Sherry. It is right near the beach, shops and restaurants.

At the marina

Yesterday we went to the beach at Puerto Sherry for the morning and early afternoon, came home and napped (yay!) and then went back down for dinner. One of our favorite restaurants to go to is Crefondue. They have salads, crepes and fondue! The girls love fondue and you get yummy salads and savory crepes so it's win for everyone. There is also a great view of the sunset during dinner. The only downside is they don't open for dinner until 8:00 p.m. but since we all napped for 3 hours in the afternoon we were all ready for a late dinner. We love living within a 5 minute walk from Puerto Sherry. This will be one of the things we miss most when we leave Spain.

View from the restaurant

Eventually I will take pictures of our spanish house and post them! Adios!

Cadiz Market

Ceramics

Wishing Well

Cadiz is a city located about a 30 minute drive from our house. It's the oldest continuously-inhabited city in Spain and one of the oldest in southwestern Europe. It is rumored that the giant trees in the squares of Cadiz were brought to Spain from the New World by Christopher Columbus. This past weekend they had a market that comes once a year. The market is usually held around the Spanish holiday, Assumption Day, which was this past Friday, August 15th. Assumption Day celebrates the day that God assumed the Virgin Mary into Heaven following her death. It's a National Holiday and most stores and business' are closed. You can get to Cadiz from our house by driving or taking a ferry. We wanted to be able to leave when we wanted so we drove in. It ended up being a great day, even though I didn't buy anything at the market. I couldn't decide on something I needed or wanted. There were lots of people and vendors, as well as some music. The market area gave off a great vibe and it was just fun to be there. After walking around the market for a little bit we decided to take a break with frozen yogurt (for the girls) and beer and tapas (for me and Eric). Although there was a breeze it was really hot and after a few hours we were all ready to go home and jump in the pool for the afternoon!

Beer and Tapas!

On a side note, yesterday was my last birthday in Spain! It was a great, low key day. I look forward to, hopefully, being closer to home next year and able to spend the day with my family! 

Taco's and Swimming!

The view of our walk

Hola! This past weekend we didn't do anything exciting enough to scream, "We live in Spain!" It's so hot in southern Spain in August and the traffic is terrible…especially in the town we live in. We keep saying we can't wait for the tourists to leave, which sounds funny to me because I'm only here temporarily and am kind of a tourist myself.

Nachos!

Yesterday we had to get out of the house! But, what could we do that didn't involve driving (traffic/no parking), beach (too crowded), shopping (it's Sunday…everything is closed). We decided to go for a walk to a new taco place that we'd heard about from other Americans that is located in our town. It was a couple mile walk and hot but no complaints from the girls because they fell asleep in the stroller on the way. We made it and enjoyed some yummy tacos and nachos in a nice air conditioned restaurant…this was a treat considering most restaurants here don't have a/c. Not as good as tacos and nachos in the states but definitely yummy.

We began the hot and steamy walk back home. On the way we stopped at Eric's favorite bakery and picked up a few treats to enjoy at home. It didn't take long for all of us to jump in the pool the moment we got home too cool off!

Hasta luego!

Update

Okay…I know I'm really, really bad at keeping up with this blog. I've decided I'm going to make a real effort to blog at least once a week from now on about life in Spain. I've realized we have less than a year left here…yikes! I started this blog with the idea that I would write about cool things to do around here, restaurants to visit, trips to go on, etc. but I think for this last year in Spain I'm just going to write about day to day stuff with our family. Basically, what it's like for my family to live in southern Spain and the exciting things we get to do here and also the not so exciting things…because although we are living in Europe sometimes we stay home all weekend and do nothing! If I can keep up with this, like I say I'm going to do, then it will be a really nice reminder of our last year in Spain and hopefully something the girls can read later on and appreciate!

Her haircut wasn't nearly
as traumatic for me.

I was going to end there for today but here's a brief story that happened today and why being in Spain can sometimes be frustrating. I took the girls to get their haircut at the base salon today…however all Spanish locals work there. Therefore, English is their second language and Spanish is not even my second language because I can basically order food at a restaurant and check out at the local grocery store. I told the hairdresser I wanted a few inches cut off of Lily's hair. I cannot describe what happened next accurately. She grabbed all of her hair, as if she was going to put it in a low ponytail, and cut all the way across her neck. I completely freaked out and had to go to the bathroom so I wouldn't meltdown right there. At this point there wasn't anything to do about it anyway and I didn't want the girls to see their mom crying like a lunatic. Eight hours later and I'm feeling okay about it. She loves it and it does look really cute…and it will grow back!

Before

After

Hasta luego!

Tapas and Helado

Couscous with dried fruit was so good!

Spring time is finally here! This past weekend the weather was 75 degrees and sunny! On Sunday we decided to drive to downtown Puerto for lunch and ice cream. There are so many restaurants downtown that we could probably go to a different one every weekend and still not eat at them all.

We parked in a lot along the river and walked into the downtown area. All of the restaurants were opened and busy. We decided to try El Sitio de Velez. We found a table under an umbrella outside. This turned out to be an excellent choice. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. The girls ordered juice and ravioli's and Eric and I ordered a beer and shared some tapas…a salad, couscous dish and empanada type dish. The girls even made a Spanish friend while we were there. The three girls ended up playing for most of the time, allowing Eric and I to enjoy some adult conversation. We even got to hear Rebecca and Lily use their spanish while playing…they know a lot more than they let on!

Ice Cream!

Love these two cuties!

After lunch we walked around a little more and went to a new ice cream place…there are lots of places that sell ice cream downtown. This one just happened to be right around the corner from where we ate lunch. It was the perfect ending to an already great day.

Disneyland Paris (with a quick Eiffel Tower stop!)

I'll admit it…I'm terrible at keeping up with this blog. Since my last post about Medina Sedonia we've traveled to Switzerland and Barcelona. Maybe I will catch up and blog about those trips soon. Since we just got back from Disneyland Paris this past Sunday I thought I would blog about it while it is still fresh in my mind.

There is so much to say about Disney Paris. I will start with the logistics. We flew out of a Malaga, Spain (2.5 hours away but the price was right) on a Tuesday, stayed at hotel at Charles de Gualle Tuesday night, stayed at Disney Wednesday through Saturday and stayed at the same airport hotel Saturday night. We had a very early flight out of Paris and Disney is not near the airport. We also arrived in Paris Tuesday afternoon, so decided to take the girls to the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday before heading to Disney.

I did a lot of research and pre-planning for this trip. We chose to go during the slow season, however it was still very busy. We knew the weather was going to be cold but weren't expecting rain everyday on top of the cold. We bundled up and made the best of it. I had also packed two umbrellas that came in handy. I feel like we crammed a lot into 5 days and it's hard to write about all of it so here is my Disney top ten list:

1. Getting to Disney - you have a few options when getting to Disney. We flew into Charles De Gualle airport and decided to take the RER train. It was about a 45 minute trip and cost 36 euro for the four of us each way. You can also book the bus through Disney or take a high speed train that would have cost more but the ride is only 10 minutes.

2. If you can - Stay at a Disney hotel. We had a 5 minute walk to the park from our hotel, which was great for going back and forth when we didn't want to be there all day. Breakfast was included in our stay as well as our park tickets for the entire time we stayed there. They also held our bags on our last day so we could check out of the hotel and still go to the park.

3. Take advantage of early park hours. If you stay at a Disney hotel you can enter the Disneyland Park two hours before opening. Not every attraction is open but the most popular ones are. We took advantage of this and the girls were able to do all the rides they wanted plus more without waiting in any lines!

4. Pack snacks and water. You are allowed to bring your own food and drinks in. We packed water and snacks, which allowed us to save money and time. Plus - it's great to pull out a snack when the kids were getting restless in a longer line.

5. Purchase a meal plan as part of your stay. If you stay at a Disney park you have the option of getting the half board meal plan or full board. The half gets you one meal a day and the full two meals. We did the half board plan and used it for dinner every night. You can eat at many of the hotel restaurants and all the restaurants in the Disney Village. You have to make reservations beforehand.

6. Meeting the characters. This probably caused me the most stress the entire trip because my kids couldn't wait to meet every character and get their autograph. However, the characters aren't around all the time. There are special times when they come out and if you aren't there on time you end up waiting  in a long line. Make sure you read the program to know the times, places and characters to meet.

Snow White

7. 3-4 days is enough! Disneyland Paris isn't anywhere near as big as in the states. There are only two parks and they are both small. You can easily see everything in 3 or 4 days and that doesn't mean you will be on the go all the time.

8. Getting to Paris. If you made the trip to the Paris area to go to Disney you might as well see some of city while you are there. You can set up tours at your hotel or do it yourself and get there on the Metro.

9. Check the weather! Check the weather before you go and dress appropriately. I knew before we went that it was going to be cold and rainy so I packed hats, gloves, jackets with hoods and umbrellas. Thankfully we stayed mostly dry!

My favorite picture!

10. Preplan! Leading up to the trip I did a lot of research so that life would be easy while we were there. I downloaded a map of the parks before we went and we checked off what we wanted to do for sure. I measured the kids and looked up the rides they weren't tall enough for so we wouldn't even waste our time going to them. We made a plan at breakfast of where we were going to go first, what rides we would get fast passes for, what shows we would see, etc. This saved time in the park. We didn't stay at the park all day…we got there early and spent the afternoon in the pool or napping before going back at night.

If you are looking to relax a Disney vacation is not for you…although we did find time to enjoy the hotel pool and even fit in a nap one of the days. The good thing about being on the go all the time is that we all slept really good every night, which doesn't always happen when the four of us are sharing a hotel room. We've done a lot of traveling since moving to Spain and this was one of our best trips. Watching Lily's eyes light up when she met Minnie Mouse melted by heart and having Rebecca tell us every night before bed, "today was the best day of my life" made the whole trip worth it!