More Visitors! {July 15-21}

After my dad’s program finished in Angers, my parents spent a couple of days traveling in Amsterdam and in Bruges, Belgium, then planned to come to our house to visit. I decided to go pick them up in Bruges and we drove to Ghent, Belgium for the afternoon. Eliza got to tag along, but it was the boys’ last day of school, so I had a friend take care of them until Nate got home from work. I was a little nervous about finding my parents in Bruges with limited cell phone / data abilities on both ends, but I found them at just the right time at their hotel. We enjoyed the day in Ghent – mostly walking around and looking at the buildings and bridges, visiting the castle (and hurrying through all the rooms that showed instruments of torture that were used in the castle and its dungeons), and going to the cathedral with the Ghent altarpiece.

 

We spent the next few days showing mom and dad around Luxembourg and attempting to show them some of our favorite places around. A few highlights from our time with them:

Thursday July 16

The American cemetery in Luxembourg, then a trip to the Pirate Ship Park and downtown for ice cream cones.

 

Friday, July 17

We headed out in the morning to go to Germany and visit Bernkastel-Kues and Trier. We packed everything up and stopped at the gas station to grab a baguette for our lunch, and I got in a minor accident when I didn’t see a car coming in the 2nd lane as I pulled out of the gas station. Very grateful it wasn’t worse, grateful nobody was hurt, and grateful my dad was with me to help talk to the other guy in French and help me fill out the paperwork, but it still put a damper on the rest of the day for me. Just one of those things that you replay in your mind over and over and that’s so frustrating. We headed out to Germany and as we crossed the border, Bennett threw up in the back of the car. Fortunately, there was a little warning and we caught most of it in a bag. We continued on and had fun exploring Bernkastel, although Bennett was obviously not feeling well the whole time and took turns riding in the stroller. I was hoping he had been carsick, but it quickly became obvious that he had some sort of flu. After walking around the town and eating our lunch, we headed back to the car and were planning to stop in Trier on our way home, but Bennett threw up right before we got back in the car, then again about 5 minutes before we got to the Trier exit, so we skipped the stop and headed home. Not my favorite day. We did still enjoy Bernkastel, and my mom happened to be next to Bennett all 3 times he threw up, so I at least avoided that :/

Saturday, July 18

We had plans to take a day trip to Strasbourg, but Bennett still was not feeling well so we decided to stay around Luxembourg. We went downtown and walked around the Saturday market and showed them the Grand-Duke’s palace, etc., then went to see the Casemates. It was Nate’s first time going, and the kids had fun showing him and my parents around.

After the casemates, we went to the castle park – one of the things the boys said they really wanted to show my parents while they were in Luxembourg.

         

               

Sunday July 19

After church and naps, we went for a walk down in the Pétrusse Valley.

  

Monday July 20

On my parents’ last day here, we went to Chateau Vianden. Nate decided at the last minute to take the day off work and come with us. We visited the castle, then had a picnic at the park by the river. That night, back in Luxembourg, we went out to dinner and walked around in the Grund area.

 

It was so fun to have my parents here with us and to show them around Luxembourg. We all loved their visit, and we were so sad (mostly me!) when it was time for them to leave. So glad they could come visit!