Thanksgiving in Germany

We had a great Thanksgiving. We decided to visit Aleks' brother and his family in Germany while Isaac is still under two and we only have one kid. It was a lot of fun. We got in early Thanksgiving morning, slept for a while and had a nice turkey dinner that Harmony prepared. We took the boys to the park. Jack is seven months older than Isaac and they had a lot of fun playing together.

Isaac really enjoyed Jack's toys and Jack was kind enough to share.

We spent the weekend in Belgium. Our first stop was Waterloo where we learned a lot of interesting stuff about the battle there and climbed a large monument. Isaac was really excited that there was a lion on the top. It was really windy up there, but cool to see the battlefield.



We spent a lot of the weekend with the boys in strollers and they were good sports.



We spent a day in Brugge. It is a really cool city that has been dubbed the Venice of the North. Back in the day is was a massive port, but then the harbor silted up and it faded away. Now it is a massive tourist destination, though November was fairly quiet. We saw the chocolate museum there, complete with a full size chocolate statue of Pres Obama.




We took a break and gave the boys a break from their strollers. They had a lot of fun running around and burning off energy.


There were a lot of horse drawn carriages cruising around. That was one of the best kid-friendly things there. Isaac loved to watch the horsies go by.




Another fun break for the boys was putting them on the merry go round. Isaac and Jack loved it...



...until it ended.



We stayed in a great bed and breakfast. Isaac and Jack loved to meet up on our bed for some play time. They only had one head butt, but there were no tears shed since they were having too much fun.



The last day in Belgium we saw a lot fo WWI sights. That was really cool. We started in the town of Ypres and drove through this monument to get to a great museum documenting the battles that took place there. This was the home of Flander's Fields where nearly four years of trench warfare took place. It was pretty amazing to see.


We trekked around the area, looking at old trenches and cemeteries. The area is dotted with them. I can't imagine living through that.




Isaac did well snoozing in the car.



Back in Germany, we went to Aleks' old house. He lived here for about five years as a kid.



We went to a Christmas market in nearby Mainz. It was really cool. Isaac loved the nativity with all the animals.



I guess that we did not learn our lesson in Belgium, because we put him on another merry go round, which he loved. The aftermath from this one was exponentially worse than in Belgium. I am pretty sure that everyone at the market could hear him shrieking. It probably did not help that he had not taken a nap that day...



The next day we went up the Rheine. It is littered with castles and cute towns. We saw a few castles.



We had to wait for our tour of one of the castles. Thankfully they had goats that kept Isaac really entertained.



I took a little trip to Athens for a conference for two days. It was really pretty, though I missed Aleks and Isaac. The mediterranean climate was pretty nice, compared to Germany.




My hotel had a great view of the Parthenon.



When I got back, we went to Heidelberg and saw the castle there and puttered around town. It was a fun last outing for the trip.



The last night there, one of Aleks' childhood friends and his wife and daughter came over for dinner. We had a really nice time with them.