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!

Medina Sidonia

Walking to the church

Medina Sidonia is a small village located a little less than an hour from where we live. We went there a couple weeks ago on a Saturday. It was a beautiful day out, about 70 degrees. It is a really small village with only a handful of things to do. We started at Plaza de España and found the tourist center, which is a tiny hole in the wall with limited information about Medina Sidonia. From there we walked to Iglesia de Santa Maria la Mayor, a church located at the top of a hill in the village. We walked through the church, the girls were very well behaved and quiet. Before leaving the church we walked to the top of the bell tower. It was up a very tiny circular staircase but we all made it to the top to enjoy the views. After the church we walked up to the castle ruins. There wasn't that much to see, it was basically really old ruins that looked like rubble but the views were amazing. We got a great view of the church and the bell tower that we had just walked up.

View from the ruins

We didn't know this before going but Medina Sidonia is known for cake and pastry. We found a little pastry shop on our walk back to the plaza. Of course the girls chose chocolate candies that didn't look that impressive. Eric and I decided to get these pastries that looked like ice cream cones. The cone part was a delicious wafer like pastry dipped in chocolate, which was then filled with vanilla or chocolate cream…YUM. We saved our treats for later, which worked out because the girls fell asleep in the car on the way home. We enjoyed our treats without having to share :)

Top of the bell tower

I don't think Medina Sidonia requires a second visit but we had a great time and was happy to see and experience another village in Spain!

I love Spain but...

Today it rained for the first time in about 5 months. I was also doing a ton of laundry today because we are getting ready to go out of town. I was feeling frustrated because although my laundry room is attached to my house I have to walk outside to get to it and it was pouring. This got me thinking about some things I miss about home that made my life a little easier and that I probably took for granted. Don't get me wrong I love living in Spain. The opportunity we have to travel is amazing and we are taking advantage of it. The girls are in Spanish school...loving it and becoming bilingual! We live in a beautiful house with a pool that is a five minute walk from the beach. I can shop at the local stores for fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables but can also go to the commissary and get my "American" groceries. With that being said there are things I really miss about home...

I miss drive thru coffee...or even coffee to go. There is no such thing here. The Spanish like to sit down and slowly drink their coffee in the morning. They have to drink it slow, it's only the size of a shot! They also don't eat breakfast...so if you're looking to have bacon, eggs and pancakes you better be willing to make it yourself!

I miss restaurants being open for dinner during American dinner hours. The Spanish don't eat until 9 or 10pm. Most restaurants don't open for dinner until 8:00...my kids are already in bed by then. The same is true for lunch...I want lunch at 12:00 not 3:00.

I miss central air conditioning in the summer and central heat in the winter. Marble floors get cold when it's 45 degrees outside and you don't have heat!

I miss DVR. I know I must sound shallow but we get 11 channels on AFN and we have to take what we can get. How am I suppose to watch my favorite show at 7pm...that's bath/bedtime?!?!

I miss fast, reliable Internet!

I miss things being easy. When you need to get something done like run an errand here it is never easy. Either you can't find where you're going or if you do your car doesn't fit down the street. You get to the errand to find out they are closed just because they didn't feel like opening that day or they are closed for siesta. The person you would like help from has no idea what you're talking about because Spanish is not your first language. Aaahhh!

I miss talking to my family and friends whenever I want and not having to worry about the 6 hour time change!

Birthday Girls!

Rebecca loved her gift from Lily!

Yay! I'm 5!

September is a time for birthdays in our house! Rebecca turned 5 on the 14th and Lily turned 3 today (the 27th). The girls were so excited this year and the best part was that they were excited for each other. Lily was so happy when it was Rebecca's birthday and the same for Rebecca. They just love each other so much and are too cute about it! This year both girls wanted a scooter for their birthday. We gave Rebecca her scooter on her birthday and too be honest I was a little worried about how it would go without Lily getting one too, but it was fine! Rebecca shared and they took turns. When Lily opened her scooter today they both yelled, "We don't have to take turns anymore!"

We had a joint birthday party for the girls on the Saturday in between their birthdays. I'm always a little sad when birthdays come around for our family because we are never with our families back home to celebrate. We can't have the usual family party where grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins get to come over and celebrate with us. However, we are very fortunate to have made some wonderful friends in Spain that made the girl's birthday party special.

Luau themed party -
Too cute not to include!

Happy 3rd Birthday Lily!

Although a very exciting month for us...I'm glad it's over. I made 25 cupcakes on both girls' birthdays for them to take to school. I also made a cake for each one on her actual birthday as well as a cake for the party. So if you're keeping track that's A LOT of baking for a short period of time. I do not care to bake/eat cake for awhile...okay maybe I will only need a few days to recover from the eating cake part :)

 

1st Day of School

Today may have been one of the most stressful days I have had during my time in Spain. Maybe I should say I was more anxious and nervous than stressed. Rebecca started kindergarten today and Lily started pre-k. Although they went to a spanish preschool (they call it a guadaria) together this past year, the teachers spoke both English and Spanish and there were American's as well as Spanish children at the school. Today the girls started public school out in town. School starts at age 3 in Spain so they will both be going to school full-time this year, which is only 9-2. To say I was nervous is an understatement. I think I always knew that dropping Rebecca off at kindergarten would be hard but I never thought it would be this hard. I've also always had a picture in my head about what the first day of school would be like for my kids (especially since I'm an elementary school teacher) and it didn't involve being in a foreign country where they didn't speak the language. What if she didn't know what the teacher was saying? What if the other kids didn't play with her because she was American? What if she was sick or had to go to the bathroom and didn't know what to say? These and a million other questions were running through my head. I was especially nervous that I wouldn't be able to communicate with the teacher because I'm not fluent in Spanish.

It turns out I had nothing to worry about. Eric said Lily didn't even turn around when it was time to leave. As it turns our there was a girl in her class that she knew from the guadaria and she was very happy. Rebecca had a little more of a tough time and cried a little but was fine once she went in the classroom and saw the other kids. Of course as soon as I left I started crying...all I could think was I hope I'm doing the right thing by not sending them to school on base. There are no other American's in Rebecca's class but her teacher speaks a little bit of English. When I picked her up she said she had a great day! I was so relieved. She understood everything the teacher was saying (I guess she learned more spanish this past year than I thought) and has already made new friends. Lily didn't really have much to say about the day, I don't know if she understood the teacher or not, but her teacher doesn't speak any English so she must have figured it out. She also only went for an hour...the 3 year olds go for an hour or two a day leading up to a full day to adapt. The hour must have wore her out though because she passed out in the car!

I still can't believe that my baby is going to be 5 on Saturday and is in kindergarten. I know that every parent says this but I really can't believe how fast the time goes by!

San Lucar de Barrameda

Getting ready for the race

And their off!

Betting booth - LOL!

Sanlucar is a town about 30 minutes from where we live. We have been there twice this summer. It is located on the beach and is known for beach horse racing, flamenco music and manzanilla (a type of sherry). The first time we went to Sanlucar was to watch the horse races in the middle of August. They usually happen two weekends in the month of August. We weren't really sure what to expect so we got a sitter and went without the kids. We got there a little late so it was already really crowded. The horses race right on the beach so the races begin at low tide. Although it was crowded, we were able to walk right up to the front to see the race. It looked as if most Spanish families had been at the beach all day. Definitely for next year we will take the kids and make a day of it! 

Lily not wanting to hear
about sherry!

Rebecca during the tour.

We went back to Sanlucar this past weekend. Our plan was to walk around, tour a sherry bodega, visit the castle and get some lunch. After parking and visiting the tourist office for a map we found our way to the Barbadillo bodega where we were just in time for the English tour followed by a tasting. I have tasted a few different kinds of sherry's since living in Spain and I think this was one of the best. We even bought a few bottles. If you are thinking of going here you can get more information at their website: http://www.barbadillo.net. The castle in San Lucar is right next to Barbadillo, however we could only look at it from the outside because it wasn't opened. After the sherry tour we were ready for some lunch. We hadn't done any research on places to eat and at this point were really hungry and hot so we settled on a place called Cerveceria Internacional. The food was okay, I definitely wouldn't go back here to eat. However, if you are into beer they have beers here from all over the world that you can try and they are reasonably priced. At this point we decided to call it a day. The kids were getting tired and we were all hot. We decided to head home and hit the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

Wine barrels.

Since Sanlucar is only a 30 minute drive away we can go back anytime! 

Adios!