Belgian Exposure

We decided to try out a trip on low cost airline Ryan Air with the family for a very short weekend visit to Dublin.  We left REALLY early on Friday morning and spent 2 quick days and returned to Belgium Sunday morning.  After our ~ 1 hour drive to the Charleroi airport, we navigated the airpot check-in and security and got to the gate about 30 minutes before departure.  On arriving at the gate, I started to get an earful for not reserving "priority seating" as it turns out everyone just gets in line and the only chance to sit together is if you get in line early enough or get lucky enough that there are open seats together.  Since we weren't particularly early, it didn't look great for us since we were quite a ways back in the line.  Afer about 20 minutes of anxious waiting (and repremanding) we got on the plane and got 4 seats next to each other.  Disaster avoided, but lesson learned to always pay the extra 4 Euro and get priority seating on Ryan Air.

We got into Dublin pretty early so when we went to the hotel to check-in, the room wasn't ready yet.  We ended up just dropping our bags and heading out to explore a little of the city.

We had to visit Molly Malone (you can click the green play arrow about in the center of the page to hear the song)

In the evening we made our way down the coast for a meal at a pub and a nice walk along the sea.  Most definitely the highlight of the trip.

The trip wore us all out....

The next day we were out and about for more site seeing including the Hard Rock.  

As usual, the highlight for the kids was the wide open space to run (who cares about the cool castle in the background)...

I'm glad we went to Ireland, but the take away for us was that 2 days was way too short of a trip for a flight with 2 young kids.  Another location that Nik and I both agreed would be fun to visit without the kids in tow.

We took a weekend trip to England just across the channel to visit Dover and Canterbury in early September.  We had learned our lesson trying to go towards the "Belgian Coast" from Brussels on a Friday night (traffic is crazy ridiculous).  In hindsight, I would say the heavy season of travel to the coast was probably behind us, but we didn't want to take any chances.  So, we left the house ridicuolously early, took the channel tunnel over again and got to Dover bright and early on Saturday morning (well at least early).  We spent our Saturday morning strolling around Dover and found a playground for the kids to run around in.  We had muffins for breakfast at a coffee shop (I miss convenient coffee on the weekends).  

We purchased a family membership in the English Heritage society (since it would basically pay for itself with any additional visits to English Heritage site).  Membership in hand, we visited the wartime exhibits in Dover which was pretty cool.   Sam thought the silhouettes of the ships on the glass were pretty cool as you could line them up on the horizon of the water and were used to distinguish friend from foe that was in the channel during the war.

Not so secret anymore....

We did manage to have a little drama to the day when we had a ticket on the car when we returned 9even though I had paid via an automated service by mobile phone).  It was an unusual "pleasure" to be able to read the ticket and actually find the local office where we were able to actually explain the situation and get it resolved (No payment required!)  If we would have gotten the ticket in Belgium or France, we for sure would have paid it rather than struggle through the language barrier.

We checked into our hotel and then headed on our way to Canterbury for the afternoon/evening.  We enjoyed walking the streets.  As usual we saw the catherdral from the outside only.  We had a bite to eat at a pub, and joined a walking "ghost tour".  We had high expectations after we enjoyed the "Night Watchman's" tour so much in Rothenburg.  This one was much more theatrical by the guide and the rain through the evening probably didn't help the experience, but it was an alright outing with the kids in tow.

The guide to the ghost tour in Canterbury.

On Sunday we visited Dover Castle before heading back to Belgium.  For some reason, I have a fascination with doors, gateways, and entrances as you can see from the selection of photos.

The view from the top of the castle was impressive.  I got a kick out of the shadow that was cast down over the courtyard showing the castle crenelations clear as day while taking in the lay of the castle grounds.

Not too long after getting back to Belgium, we took a weekend trip to Bruhl Germany with Jeff, Julie, and Kaylee to go to Phantasialand amusement park.  

We stayed at the hotel that was a part of the park and had a pretty cool Asian theme to it, with the park entrance right out the back door of the hotel.

We all had a pretty good time and I would recommend going to the park for an overnight trip.  There was plenty of entertainment and the rides were pretty good with the highlight being the Black Mamba (suspended seating roller coaster) that left us all a little queasy after riding.

A week after Nik and the kids got back to Belgium, Sam was back on his way to school.  Here is on the first day going back to ISB (2nd grade).  He looks like an old pro.

'Tis the season for finding our mail in the box riddled with holes.  Almost every day we find the mail looking like it's been sprinkled with acid in varying degrees.  Newspapers and magazines as well as bills that have holes through the outer envelope and all of the layers of paper inside.  We found the culprit at last.... (beware blatent pun)..... new definition to the phrase "Snail Mail".