Monday, November 26, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Well, what can I say?! We had a fabulous time in Belgium and France, way better than even I expected. I have to admit that even the jetlag didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought it would be. The toughest part of the trip was packing--knowing what to take and what to leave behind. We ended up with a suitcase each plus 2 carryons which I thought was too much but when we arrived Heather said we had done pretty well. We left on Monday, September 24, flew all night then had a change in London at Heathrow and then boarded the one hour flight to Brussels arriving on Tuesday afternoon. Heather and her family live in Namur which is about 45 minutes driving time from Brussels. The kids were excited about finally reaching our destination and the party began for them as soon as we got there. Heather and Scott have three children, Callum 9, Fiona 6 and Isla Rose who is 3. Mix that with our two and it was a lively time. As anyone who travels with children knows, the most important thing is that they have fun. If that occurs without too much trouble on a regular basis then all is well. So it is pretty safe to say that our kids had fun. We have a digital picture frame with our pictures running in a continuous loop and Josiah asks on a daily basis if we can go back to Heather's house. I've explained to him that it isn't that simple so now when he brings it up he tells me that we have to get on an airplane and fly across the ocean to get to their house but that he wants to go anyway--and right now!
Hannah came down with a cold as soon as we arrived so we ended up laying low for the first few days. The weather was cold and damp for the first 5 days and I was beginning to think I had packed the wrong clothes but then it cleared up and was pretty mild for the rest of our time. We spent those first few days exploring Namur. It is home to one of the largest forts in Europe which can trace its history back about 2000 years which is what I love about Europe. There is so much history in every town and city and the architecture is a feast for the eyes. I enjoyed just roaming the streets of each city we visited and looking at the architecture. On Friday we took the train into Brussels which the kids enjoyed. We visited the Grand Place, the Palace, the Chocolatiers and Manneken Pis which I think was the highlight for the kids. In case you don't know, Manneken Pis is the statue of a little boy taking a leak which has become a national symbol for the Belgians. The kids got a pretty big kick out of him and Hannah bought a postcard of him to send to Heather, our sitter. Our last stop was Musee des Instruments de Musique which is as it sounds is a museum of musical instruments. The fun thing about it is that you get a set of headphones and as you walk through the museum and stand in front of the instruments you can hear them play. It was fun and the kids really enjoyed it. Josiah was getting tired so we made that our last stop. It took Josiah the first week before he got used to falling asleep in the stroller. At first we would tell him to put his head down and go to sleep and he would vehemently refuse and then he got to the point where he couldn't fight it so he'd turn his head and promptly fall asleep. I guess just from sheer exhaustion he finally gave in to stroller napping.
On Saturday we woke up to the street market all over downtown Namur. Heather and Scott live right downtown in the shopping district of so we just had to walk out the door and the market began right there at their doorstep. There were vendors selling everything you can imagine from clothing to fruits and vegetables to live peacocks. We enjoyed walking through the streets and seeing the sights and hearing the sounds of the market. We had lunch outside at a cafe and just happened to be on a pony ride route so as we ate lunch children went by on horses about a dozen times. After lunch we took the children for horse rides which seemed to be the highlight. We went back to the apartment and dropped off the kids and the boys and then Heather and I went shopping. We picked up sticky waffles (yum) and went window shopping under our umbrellas like native Belgians! The stores were quite busy as shopping seems to be a favourite Belgian past time. Belgians are very well-dressed from the littlest members of the house right down to their dogs. I enjoyed the fact that in Europe people get dressed as if every day is the most important day of their lives. Even at the park on a Sunday afternoon, people were dressed in their finest. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look good. You know the old adage, If you look good - you feel good. I have to admit it is way better than seeing people at the grocery store in the pyjama pants which is one of my biggest pet peeves.
On Sunday Josiah wasn't feeling well as he had come down with the cold next. One of the joys of flying, you have to breathe everyone else's air. We decided to keep it low key and stayed in Namur. We took the kids to the top of the Citadel again only this time to a park. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day so we walked with Josiah and Isla Rose taking turns in the backpack carrier. We picked up sticky waffles on our way, Art had been dying for one and then we walked along the river and up to the park. It was a beautiful walk. The park turned out to be more like an amusement park with go-cart rides and trampolenes and lots of fun places for the kids to play. The kids played all afternoon and then we headed home for dinner. Dinners! OMG, have I even mentioned what an amazing cook Heather is. She cooked dinner for us every night and it was always so exciting to see what was coming next. Heather is the friend who told me about The China Study which I've mentioned in my blog before. And if you haven't looked into it yet-- you're just too afraid! After moving to Belgium they gave up eating virtually all animal products which is a major life change especially in a country of meat eaters. They made the decision based on health reasons which was influenced heavily by The China Study. Not a light decision especially considering they were meat eaters, in fact, Heather was the one who told me where I could find organic beef when we were living in Cold Lake. I have barely been a meat eater for the past 10 years and yet I still have difficulty making the complete leap to veganism although since reading The China Study (okay that's the last time I'll mention it) it has been getting easier. So, back to fantastic meals. I don't know if we thanked her enough so let this be a tribute to her excellent culinary talents. Which unfortunately made Paris that much more difficult for us, but we'll get to that.
Monday we got up and went to Antwerp on the train. We were getting the hang of this by now and needed to because we'd be on our own tomorrow heading for Paris. Antwerp is a beautiful city with a very rich history dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. As Lonely Planet states it has a prime spot on the Scheldt River with access from the English Channel and the North Sea making it an important port. By the second half of the nineteenth century it had become the world's third-largest port and even my father has fond memories of sailing into Antwerp in 1946 on the Merchant boats. It ended up raining and by the time we reached Antwerp it was actually pouring so walking around and seeing the sights wasn't going to happen. After we had lunch we went to Aquatopia which is an amazing aquarium like none other I have ever been to. There was a gigantic tank which seemed to be built into the centre of the building with glass sides all around and as you make your way through the aquarium you get different views of the fish from different angles. It was almost as if you were in the tank at times. It was still cold and drizzly so we decided to try a bus tour to get a better look at the city. We ended up missing the last bus so made a quick stop at a diamond cutting store, had some dinner and then headed for the train station. We had to catch an early train the next morning so we needed to get back to Namur and pack.
Tuesday morning we were up at 5:00 am and left the apartment at 6:45. It's an early start but it was the only daytime train leaving for Paris on the "fast train". We had to take the train from Namur to Brussels and then transfer to the Thalys train which goes straight to Paris stopping only three times. We were all pretty excited about Paris and the train. The train reaches speeds of up to 260 km/hr but it doesn't reach its maximum speed until after it has made theses three stops, which I didn't realize at the time. I kept asking Art, "So are we at top speed yet, how fast do you think we're going?" His response was, "I don't know but not fast enough to be killed instantly if we derail." Funny the things you think about because the same thought had gone through my mind. It doesn't actually seem like you're going that fast because the countryside is rural. If you see any cars on the roads or farm animals closer to the tracks you realize how fast the train is going as they whiz by. It's only a 3 hour ride so we reached Paris before noon. We were staying in the Montmartre quarter of the city and our hotel was only a 10 minute walk from the Gare Nord station. It was sunny and warm so walking was perfect. As we began our walk we spotted the Sacre-Coeur on the hill and I got goosebumps. It was too early to check in so we dropped our bags at the hotel and went looking for a place to eat lunch. Food would turn out to be the one thing that would nearly ruin the Paris experience for us.
When searching for a place to stay in Paris you have to consider many things. Which quarter do you want to stay in; do you want to be close to "touristy" things, museums, etc.; do you want to be close to particular restaurants or markets so you can make your own meals; are you on a budget? If you're on a budget then you need to look closely at what your hotel has to offer. Do you want to share a bathroom, is breakfast included, what other amenities are included, what do others have to say about the hotel? And then when you are travelling with children you have to look at even finer points. We wanted to spend four nights so that meant we were on a budget, the quarter was fairly important to me, breakfast if not included at least offered at the hotel was a bonus but all important to me was a bathtub. A bathtub is at the top of my list of 'needs' when travelling with a two year old. It is the best place to get them clean afterall, especially when they hate the shower, and it can soothe a tired or cranky toddler and it's a great place to put them just for entertainment purposes. I swear to god, I chose the hotel based on the fact that it had tubs but as it turned out you couldn't ask for a tub, it was like a lottery. So when we checked in it was the first thing I asked for but unfortunately only the double rooms had tubs, we were out of luck. We needed more beds than one double. I had checked all the reviews and didn't base my decision on them because they ranged from "don't ever stay here...ever. the staff was rude, it was noisy and the towels were brownish with age and threadbare!" to "we had a great time, the staff was wonderful, I will stay here again if I ever come back to Paris". What do you do with that? I rate the place a 6 out of 10, in fact I wrote a review and expedia.ca published it on their website. The rooms were small, which we expected but clean (no brownish towels), the place was clean and the staff was very friendly and helpful right from the start. It's an old hotel and is worn with age and in need of some updating but we weren't there to stay in the hotel, we were there to explore Paris. They did serve breakfast at a cost of 6 euro per person and it was only continental so that was an area that was lacking. But I would have to say the worst nightmare was the bathroom. It was clean, like I said, but...small and not only did it not have a tub the shower was a handheld jobbie with no stall and no curtain. You had to stand in a basin which was only about 2 inches deep and although big enough for two people standing it was right on the bathroom floor so when you showered you soaked the floor no matter which way you aimed the showerhead. Art was outraged and wanted to go and complain which I thought was funny. I couldn't wait to see him shower the next morning. That by the way ended up being quite hilarious as he stood trying to clean himself with the showerhead in one hand and the soap in the other and trying not to spray water all over the bathroom. Unfortunately it didn't end up being very funny when I had to stick Josiah in there. I thought that I could sit him down in the basin but he insisted on standing and it was just plain slippery and dangerous. Bathtime ended with lots of tears and plenty of screaming. He stayed pretty dirty for the rest of the week.
Montmartre is the bohemian and artist district, Picasso and van Gogh as well as Salvadore Dali all having lived here at one point in time. It is still a huge draw to artists today and you can see them in the Place du Tertre. There's also a bit of a red light district with lots of strip clubs and peep shows and lots of cabarets including the most famous one, the Moulin Rouge. Montmartre is also the site of the basilica, Sacre-Coeur. The area is built on a hill (mont meaning hill) and is the city's steepest quarter so anywhere you go you are climbing through narrow and winding cobblestone streets or steep stone staircases. At the very top of the hill is the beautiful basilica, Sacre-Coeur, with breathtaking views of all of Paris. I had fallen in love with the basilica the last time I was in Paris and the fact that I could walk there from my hotel and overlook all of Paris felt surreal.
After scanning the menus of a few restaurants we found a place where we could eat. The toughest part was Josiah's wheat allergy. In a city like Paris, where every second person has a loaf of bread under their arm it was not going to be easy. According to Lonely Planet there were no vegetarian restaurants in our neighborhood so we had to check the menus of a few places each time we stopped to eat. Our first meal was just breakfast, you can't go wrong with eggs, a little pricey but okay. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a playground so the kids could play for a bit. Hannah climbed to the top of a set of monkey bars, jumped from a height that was way too high for her and ended up kneeing herself in the face and got a nosebleed, a fat lip and knocked a tooth loose. There were a lot of tears and blood. We got her cleaned up and headed back to the hotel to officially check in. After checking in we boarded the lift (elevator) to go and see our room. If we each took a deep breath and squished ourselves against the back wall we could fit into the lift but there was no way the stroller was going with us and Josiah could only fit if he was standing not up in arms. We found a parking space for the stroller at the front desk and anytime that Josiah fell asleep and had to be carried up to the room everyone else would have to walk the 5 flights of stairs. We had a good chuckle about it everytime we were pressed together like sardines and Art scared the crap out of me on a couple of occasions as he pretended to have his backpack stuck and dropped to his knees as the lift began to rise. After dropping off our bags and becoming acquainted with our room we went back out and headed for Sacre-Coeur. It had become warm and as we made the climb up the hill and up the 100 or so stairs we began to peel our jackets off. The basilica was our destination but we found ourselves distracted by the crowds and many other sights along the way. As you wind your way through Montmartre's streets and up the hill you catch sight of the dome of the basilica from time to time. Your eye is so drawn to it because of its snow white stone architecture. It is one of the most striking and beautiful sites in Paris and you can see it from so many places in the city. We made a stop in the Place du Tertre which was teeming with artists and tourists and had cutouts done of the children and then we finally made it to Sacre-Coeur. It was busy and Josiah was not in top form so Art spent a lot of time running after him while Hannah and I got to tour through the cathedral. I had told Hannah you could actually go to the top of the dome so she convinced us all to go. We climbed the 234 steps up the spiral staircase to the top which I was fairly certain was going to do me in. It's pretty tight quarters in the stairwell as well as at the top but the view was incredible and we got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. Everyone was getting tired after all the walking so we had a quick bite to eat to hold us over and then walked back to the hotel. Josiah was exhausted and ended up going out for take-out asleep in the stroller.
On Wednesday after breakfast we walked to the bus terminal to catch the Hop On/Hop Off tour and bought tickets for 2 days. The bus runs every 10-30 minutes and it's great because you can get on or off anywhere around the city. It stops at all the major tourist sites so it makes it easy to see the city. We sat upstairs where it was all open and we took tons of pictures as we wound our way though the city. It really is such a beautiful city. Hannah was anxious to see the Eiffel Tower so after spending at least an hour and a half on the bus to get downtown through traffic we struggled to get from the top to the bottom and out the door. Unfortunately the driver didn't give us enough time and we ended up missing the stop. The next stop was quite a ways away so we had to walk back because we hadn't yet figured out the regular city bus routes. There was a marionette show in the park by the Tower which I wanted to take the kids to and we just made it back to the area in time. It was in a lovely little theatre designed just for children. Josiah enjoyed himself immensely, laughing and calling out along with the other children. He was having a great time until Hannah started shaking him until his teeth rattled to get him to shut up. I was sitting at the back of the theatre and had to run down to break them up before he started biting and whaling on her. When we got back to the Tower the line ups were incredibly long. We had to make the last bus before 6:00 pm to get back to the hotel so we had to promise Hannah we'd come back another day to actually go up the Tower. We were getting hungry again and that was proving to be such a nuisance. It was getting difficult for us to find places to eat that would satisfy everyone and that was within our budget. Art and I both get very cranky when we're hungry so it was a bit tense when we were looking for places to eat. After having dinner we got back to the hotel for an early bedtime. It was difficult getting them settled at night. This is the time you can usually stick them in the tub and let them mellow for a bit. But instead they would get themselves even more wound up by jumping back and forth across the room on the three beds.
Thursday was a really full day. We had breakfast at the hotel in the morning although we originally hadn't planned to. Art talked to the hotel manager about not charging us for Josiah because the only thing he was able to eat was yogurt. We made an early start to the Hop On/Hop Off bus tour as we wanted to get on a couple of the other lines around the city. The day before we had only done the one tour. We managed to get them all in throughout the day as we dedicated our time to just sightseeing. It was nice because we got to hear the history of Paris as well as just being able to see all the sights. Hannah really enjoyed it but it got boring for Josiah after the first 1/2 hour but he had his naps on the bus which worked out well. We visited Eglise de la Madeleine which was only interesting to me I think. I've had a fascination with Mary Magdalene as far back as I can remember and since the DaVinci Code I've thought about it a lot more. There are stories that after the crucifixion of Christ, Mary went to France to live out the rest of her life. The French are very proud of this history and believe it to be true so there are many places of worship throughout France that are dedicated to her memory. I love the idea that Mary and Jesus were most likely married, it completes what is missing from the history of Christianity which is the feminine aspect. Hannah and I toured through the cathedral and then bought small icons of Mary to take home. We got back on the the bus on another line and headed for the Latin Quarter for lunch. We were looking for a vegetarian restaurant that was mentioned in Lonely Planet but after searching until we were half starved we realized that it had closed down. We settled for a Chez Nicos, a creperie and broke our no wheat rule for Josiah. Lunch was amazing and a highly recommended place which can also be found in Lonely Planet. There is so much to do and see in this Quarter of the city and I wished I had so much more time but we needed to do something fun with the kids after the long bus ride. We visited the Pantheon and then walked to Jardin du Luxembourg and Menagerie du Jardin de Plantes, a beautiful park and a research zoo which focuses on rare and endangered species. The kids were able to run around for the rest of the afternoon and see all kinds of animals which we had never seen before. I don't usually like zoos and wasn't crazy about going to the Paris Zoo as I had read that it has very small spaces for the animals but this one felt more humane. The kids loved it and didn't want to leave, in fact by the time we had to go to make the last bus we still hadn't see all there was to see. We caught the bus and then made a quick change to another line and managed to see the last of the city that was actually on the tour. We were going back to the Eiffel Tower but just to have dinner and then board a boat tour along the Seine. We had a quick dinner and we actually fed Josiah french fries. We gave him tons of fruit throughout the day to make up for the horrible dinners we had to feed him. It's a relief at times like this that he's still nursing because I know his nutritional needs are still being met. It was dark by this time and the lights were just coming on in the Tower. It was so beautiful and the kids were oohing and aahing, as was I. We had wanted to do the boat tour at night so that we could see the city lit up and it was really beautiful although it sort of takes away from the whole thing that you're on a boat with hundreds of other tourists. Josiah was thrilled he was on a boat but got bored after a few minutes so he ended up playing peek-a-boo with anyone who would look at him including one of the tour guides on the boat. We got another commentary on the city and although it felt like such a touristy thing to do I felt that between the buses and the boat we had learned a lot about the city. Hannah hung onto every word and even got annoyed at her father when he took his headphones off and was missing what was being said. When we got back the Tower was fully lit and we stood just staring at it as the lights twinkled on the hour. We crossed the bridge and walked up to the nearest Metro station and caught the train back to our hotel. It was our first time on the Metro and I must say Art did a fine job of figuring out where in the hell we were going! It was almost midnight by the time I settled into bed and the kids were asleep in no time.
We slept in the next morning because we were beat. After breakfast we took the subway to La Place de la Madeleine. Art was taking Hannah back to the Eiffel Tower to make the climb to the top. I had decided to skip that as I knew that it would be more work than anything with Josiah. We walked from La Place de la Madeleine along Rue Royale to la Place de la Concorde where Hannah and Art got back on the Metro. Josiah and I walked out into la Place de la Concorde and I took some beautiful pictures. It was a beautiful day although a little hazy so I wanted to walk out and get a picture of the Eiffel Tower in the background behind the Obelisk. The Obelisk is 3300 years old which dates back to the dynasty of Ramses II and was a gift from Egypt to Paris in 1831. I decided to take a walk along the Champs Elysees and we stopped and had some lunch in another beautiful park. The plan was to meet back at the pyramid in front of the Louvre in three hours. Josiah and I walked for awhile until we got into the shopping district. I ducked into a mall to find a toilet only to find I could use it but it would cost me 3 euros. I changed my mind and went back out onto the street and started heading back the way I had come. I was going to go shopping at Forum des Halles, a shopping centre I had read was reasonable but realizing it would take me awhile to walk back I headed for the nearest Metro station. I managed to figure out where I was going but witnessed a scary scene on the train. A family had lost one of their daughters on the train and were frantically searching for her jumping on and off the train not knowing what to do. I realized we hadn't discussed any emergency procedures with Hannah in the event that we got separated. I was really shaken and I got a little lost in the station I was arriving at. It was a transfer station and therefore huge with corridors going to trains leading all over the city. I got stuck at an exit that I couldn't pass through with the stroller and got into a useless conversation with an intercom. A wonderful woman saw me struggling and stopped to help me carry the stroller up and down stairs and directed me to the exit. When I got upstairs I took a deep breath. I would think about that family a lot over the next couple of days and prayed that everything had worked out for them. I was only minutes from the shopping centre and before I even arrived Josiah fell asleep in the stroller. Golden! I strolled through the shops along the streets for the next hour and then made my way to the Louvre to meet Hannah and Art. I told them about the family I had seen on the Metro and we talked about our own safety measures. The kids wanted ice cream and we bought a few trinkets and t-shirts out on the street and then came back to the Louvre. It was late afternoon by this time and Josiah hadn't had much out of stroller time but we were feeling pressed for time so we went in. It all got a little hairy after that, a two year old in need of freedom in the Louvre. It was like a scene from The Da Vinci Code only it was Art chasing Josiah through the halls of the Louvre instead of Jacques Sauniere being pursued by Silas. So we did the compressed version. We rushed through, if that's even possible considering it spans 700 m along the Seine, seeing the highlights such as the Sphinx, the statue of Ramses II, the crown jewels of Louis XV and many others. The most famous piece of all we saved for last which was the Mona Lisa. I took some pictures of Hannah in front of it which you weren't actually allowed to do when I was there years before. By this time Josiah was close to being dangerous and I had visions of him knocking down some priceless piece of art that we were no where near able to pay for so we went looking for the way out. That in itself is a lengthy journey and I remember at one point peering out the window and seeing the pyramid in the courtyard from the other side and realizing we have to be way over there!!! I was so exhausted by the end of the day I can't even remember how we got back to the hotel or where we ate.
The next day was Saturday and our last day in Paris. Art and I were ready to go back to Belgium. We were sick to death of the food and Josiah needed a bath. We had a great time, well I can only speak for myself, but it was time to leave. We had our last breakfast and then headed out to a tacky giftshop to buy some souvenirs. Hannah had her eye on a little movie camera with all of her favourite images of Paris. I was sad to leave our area beacuse I would have loved to spend the day around the Sacre-Coeur again. We walked to the train station and stored our luggage and then we boarded the Metro and headed to Belleville an area not too far away. It was lunch time and we went looking for an Indian restaurant which we never found. Hungry and cranky we settled on Chinese which turned out to be a pretty good choice. We took the kids to Parc de la Villette and the City of Science and Industry after lunch. We never made it to the Science and Industry centre but spent the morning and part of the afternoon exploring this amazing park. There were lots of playspaces for the kids, plenty of places to climb and run around with all kinds of theme gardens. The French police were having some kind of convention and they were putting on displays all over the park so it was a very busy place. It was another warm sunny day and perfect end to our stay. We went back to the train station and picked up some supper to take with us on the train ride back to Namur. Heather, Callum and Fiona were waiting for us when we got off the train which was a nice surprise. The kids were so excited and Josiah wanted to know where Isla Rose was. Our walk back to Heather and Scott's was lively and exciting with the kids chattering away and getting caught up on all the news. Playtime was well underway minutes after walking through the door. Josiah couldn't even wait to take his shoes off to run and find Isla Rose. She is such a lovely and gentle child and like a breath of fresh air when she walks into a room. It was sweet to see that even Josiah was taken in by her. Unfortunately, he roughed her up a few times and we had to watch him but it was all out of love. He has not yet learned how to be gentle all the time.
Sunday was our last day in Belgium. We packed and did laundry in the morning and then went out to one of the many wonderful parks in Namur for the afternoon. It was another warm and sunny day and great for walking. I wish I walked this much when I was home. Heather cooked another fantastic dinner and we made our last preparations for the trip home. It was going to be a little more challenging making our way to the train station as we had to take all of our luggage this time. We had to be up at 5:00 am so we wanted to get the kids to bed early but it was hard to get them settled when all they wanted to do was play.
Monday morning was tough and Art reminded me of my father when we were kids getting ready to go on vacation. He kept at us constantly reminding us that we were going to be late. We were all tired and not moving as quickly as he would have liked. We had a tough time dragging the kids out of bed. Callum got up and came out to say good-bye to Hannah, they had such a fabulous time together. Scott helped us get our lugguage organized and out the door and we made our way to the train station for the last time. We were later than we wanted to be so we had to wait for the next train to Brussels. That wasn't what really threw us off though. When we got off the train at Brussels North we boarded the wrong train for the airport. We realized our mistake as soon as the train had left the station but we had to wait until the next stop to get off and go back and get on the right train. We were feeling a little stressed and kept checking the time. We had time to do it but it was going to be close. We made it to the airport on time but only to find out that our flight had been delayed because of fog. The second problem with that was they couldn't find us a connecting flight from Heathrow to Halifax. It was Thanksgiving and very busy and there weren't four seats on any flights going into Halifax. She suggested spending the night in Brussels or going to Munich and I cringed. I told her it would be nice if we could at least get to Canada. She explained that Canada was no problem it was just getting us into Halifax that was proving to be difficult. I asked her if she could at least get us to Toronto. The only problem with going to Toronto was that we would have to stay the night and then leave the following evening but we couldn't all go on the same flight to Halifax. One of us would have to take a later flight and we chose Art. When you're at the end of your trip you really just want to get home so we were annoyed but after 20 minutes of trying to sort this out we were ready to settle for almost anything. Our next flight was boarding soon so we got to our gate and boarded almost immediately. It's only a one hour flight from Brussels to London but they work their butts off for you making sure you get fed. I was actually quite hungry after our ordeal but I felt like they no sooner gave us our food then they were snatching it off the trays in order to get cleaned up and ready for landing. It is one of the shortest flights I've ever been on. We arrived at Heathrow only to find no stroller waiting for us at the gate. It turned out that in London they had different regulations about what could be left or picked up at the gate so they put it through cargo. This meant we had to go through customs to pick it up. Now we were getting really ticked off. Customs...at Heathrow, that's no five minute detour. Luckily in Europe they seemed to have a soft spot for families travelling with small children so we got bumped ahead which saved us a bit of time. After collecting the stroller we went to check to see if anything had changed with our flight. When we arrived at the counter to check in we were told that we had missed the flight. We hadn't actually but because it was such a long way to the gate we were classified as being late. So we explained what had been happening to us including the part about the stroller which didn't help matters much. She took us to another counter to an attendant who said she knew who we were and that she had been waiting for us. We didn't ask any questions, we just assumed someone had called her from Brussels. I have to say that BMI gave us excellent service and went out of their way to make things right for us. So after much checking she managed to get us another flight, still to Toronto and still separate flights out of Toronto the following evening. Once it was sorted out we went to have something to eat. We were flying overnight again so we had a long wait and we tried to make the best of it. Heathrow isn't exactly family-friendly, so there was absolutely nothing to do with the kids except walk around and try to keep them entertained at a toy store. It was a long day and we were happy to finally board and get underway. The trip home was pretty uneventlful besides the guy behind me who kept throwing himself over my seat and dangling his arms all over me while he slept. He scared the crap out of me everytime he did it and Art and I ended up having a little giggle fit because we were so sleep deprived. The kids slept on the flight so when we got to Toronto and got checked into a hotel they had us awake again at 5:00 am as they were well rested. We got up and went downtown to spend the day with friends and then took the subway back to catch our flight home. Miraculously we ended up getting on the same flight and all arrived home safely together.
Hannah came down with a cold as soon as we arrived so we ended up laying low for the first few days. The weather was cold and damp for the first 5 days and I was beginning to think I had packed the wrong clothes but then it cleared up and was pretty mild for the rest of our time. We spent those first few days exploring Namur. It is home to one of the largest forts in Europe which can trace its history back about 2000 years which is what I love about Europe. There is so much history in every town and city and the architecture is a feast for the eyes. I enjoyed just roaming the streets of each city we visited and looking at the architecture. On Friday we took the train into Brussels which the kids enjoyed. We visited the Grand Place, the Palace, the Chocolatiers and Manneken Pis which I think was the highlight for the kids. In case you don't know, Manneken Pis is the statue of a little boy taking a leak which has become a national symbol for the Belgians. The kids got a pretty big kick out of him and Hannah bought a postcard of him to send to Heather, our sitter. Our last stop was Musee des Instruments de Musique which is as it sounds is a museum of musical instruments. The fun thing about it is that you get a set of headphones and as you walk through the museum and stand in front of the instruments you can hear them play. It was fun and the kids really enjoyed it. Josiah was getting tired so we made that our last stop. It took Josiah the first week before he got used to falling asleep in the stroller. At first we would tell him to put his head down and go to sleep and he would vehemently refuse and then he got to the point where he couldn't fight it so he'd turn his head and promptly fall asleep. I guess just from sheer exhaustion he finally gave in to stroller napping.
On Saturday we woke up to the street market all over downtown Namur. Heather and Scott live right downtown in the shopping district of so we just had to walk out the door and the market began right there at their doorstep. There were vendors selling everything you can imagine from clothing to fruits and vegetables to live peacocks. We enjoyed walking through the streets and seeing the sights and hearing the sounds of the market. We had lunch outside at a cafe and just happened to be on a pony ride route so as we ate lunch children went by on horses about a dozen times. After lunch we took the children for horse rides which seemed to be the highlight. We went back to the apartment and dropped off the kids and the boys and then Heather and I went shopping. We picked up sticky waffles (yum) and went window shopping under our umbrellas like native Belgians! The stores were quite busy as shopping seems to be a favourite Belgian past time. Belgians are very well-dressed from the littlest members of the house right down to their dogs. I enjoyed the fact that in Europe people get dressed as if every day is the most important day of their lives. Even at the park on a Sunday afternoon, people were dressed in their finest. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look good. You know the old adage, If you look good - you feel good. I have to admit it is way better than seeing people at the grocery store in the pyjama pants which is one of my biggest pet peeves.
On Sunday Josiah wasn't feeling well as he had come down with the cold next. One of the joys of flying, you have to breathe everyone else's air. We decided to keep it low key and stayed in Namur. We took the kids to the top of the Citadel again only this time to a park. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day so we walked with Josiah and Isla Rose taking turns in the backpack carrier. We picked up sticky waffles on our way, Art had been dying for one and then we walked along the river and up to the park. It was a beautiful walk. The park turned out to be more like an amusement park with go-cart rides and trampolenes and lots of fun places for the kids to play. The kids played all afternoon and then we headed home for dinner. Dinners! OMG, have I even mentioned what an amazing cook Heather is. She cooked dinner for us every night and it was always so exciting to see what was coming next. Heather is the friend who told me about The China Study which I've mentioned in my blog before. And if you haven't looked into it yet-- you're just too afraid! After moving to Belgium they gave up eating virtually all animal products which is a major life change especially in a country of meat eaters. They made the decision based on health reasons which was influenced heavily by The China Study. Not a light decision especially considering they were meat eaters, in fact, Heather was the one who told me where I could find organic beef when we were living in Cold Lake. I have barely been a meat eater for the past 10 years and yet I still have difficulty making the complete leap to veganism although since reading The China Study (okay that's the last time I'll mention it) it has been getting easier. So, back to fantastic meals. I don't know if we thanked her enough so let this be a tribute to her excellent culinary talents. Which unfortunately made Paris that much more difficult for us, but we'll get to that.
Monday we got up and went to Antwerp on the train. We were getting the hang of this by now and needed to because we'd be on our own tomorrow heading for Paris. Antwerp is a beautiful city with a very rich history dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. As Lonely Planet states it has a prime spot on the Scheldt River with access from the English Channel and the North Sea making it an important port. By the second half of the nineteenth century it had become the world's third-largest port and even my father has fond memories of sailing into Antwerp in 1946 on the Merchant boats. It ended up raining and by the time we reached Antwerp it was actually pouring so walking around and seeing the sights wasn't going to happen. After we had lunch we went to Aquatopia which is an amazing aquarium like none other I have ever been to. There was a gigantic tank which seemed to be built into the centre of the building with glass sides all around and as you make your way through the aquarium you get different views of the fish from different angles. It was almost as if you were in the tank at times. It was still cold and drizzly so we decided to try a bus tour to get a better look at the city. We ended up missing the last bus so made a quick stop at a diamond cutting store, had some dinner and then headed for the train station. We had to catch an early train the next morning so we needed to get back to Namur and pack.
Tuesday morning we were up at 5:00 am and left the apartment at 6:45. It's an early start but it was the only daytime train leaving for Paris on the "fast train". We had to take the train from Namur to Brussels and then transfer to the Thalys train which goes straight to Paris stopping only three times. We were all pretty excited about Paris and the train. The train reaches speeds of up to 260 km/hr but it doesn't reach its maximum speed until after it has made theses three stops, which I didn't realize at the time. I kept asking Art, "So are we at top speed yet, how fast do you think we're going?" His response was, "I don't know but not fast enough to be killed instantly if we derail." Funny the things you think about because the same thought had gone through my mind. It doesn't actually seem like you're going that fast because the countryside is rural. If you see any cars on the roads or farm animals closer to the tracks you realize how fast the train is going as they whiz by. It's only a 3 hour ride so we reached Paris before noon. We were staying in the Montmartre quarter of the city and our hotel was only a 10 minute walk from the Gare Nord station. It was sunny and warm so walking was perfect. As we began our walk we spotted the Sacre-Coeur on the hill and I got goosebumps. It was too early to check in so we dropped our bags at the hotel and went looking for a place to eat lunch. Food would turn out to be the one thing that would nearly ruin the Paris experience for us.
When searching for a place to stay in Paris you have to consider many things. Which quarter do you want to stay in; do you want to be close to "touristy" things, museums, etc.; do you want to be close to particular restaurants or markets so you can make your own meals; are you on a budget? If you're on a budget then you need to look closely at what your hotel has to offer. Do you want to share a bathroom, is breakfast included, what other amenities are included, what do others have to say about the hotel? And then when you are travelling with children you have to look at even finer points. We wanted to spend four nights so that meant we were on a budget, the quarter was fairly important to me, breakfast if not included at least offered at the hotel was a bonus but all important to me was a bathtub. A bathtub is at the top of my list of 'needs' when travelling with a two year old. It is the best place to get them clean afterall, especially when they hate the shower, and it can soothe a tired or cranky toddler and it's a great place to put them just for entertainment purposes. I swear to god, I chose the hotel based on the fact that it had tubs but as it turned out you couldn't ask for a tub, it was like a lottery. So when we checked in it was the first thing I asked for but unfortunately only the double rooms had tubs, we were out of luck. We needed more beds than one double. I had checked all the reviews and didn't base my decision on them because they ranged from "don't ever stay here...ever. the staff was rude, it was noisy and the towels were brownish with age and threadbare!" to "we had a great time, the staff was wonderful, I will stay here again if I ever come back to Paris". What do you do with that? I rate the place a 6 out of 10, in fact I wrote a review and expedia.ca published it on their website. The rooms were small, which we expected but clean (no brownish towels), the place was clean and the staff was very friendly and helpful right from the start. It's an old hotel and is worn with age and in need of some updating but we weren't there to stay in the hotel, we were there to explore Paris. They did serve breakfast at a cost of 6 euro per person and it was only continental so that was an area that was lacking. But I would have to say the worst nightmare was the bathroom. It was clean, like I said, but...small and not only did it not have a tub the shower was a handheld jobbie with no stall and no curtain. You had to stand in a basin which was only about 2 inches deep and although big enough for two people standing it was right on the bathroom floor so when you showered you soaked the floor no matter which way you aimed the showerhead. Art was outraged and wanted to go and complain which I thought was funny. I couldn't wait to see him shower the next morning. That by the way ended up being quite hilarious as he stood trying to clean himself with the showerhead in one hand and the soap in the other and trying not to spray water all over the bathroom. Unfortunately it didn't end up being very funny when I had to stick Josiah in there. I thought that I could sit him down in the basin but he insisted on standing and it was just plain slippery and dangerous. Bathtime ended with lots of tears and plenty of screaming. He stayed pretty dirty for the rest of the week.
Montmartre is the bohemian and artist district, Picasso and van Gogh as well as Salvadore Dali all having lived here at one point in time. It is still a huge draw to artists today and you can see them in the Place du Tertre. There's also a bit of a red light district with lots of strip clubs and peep shows and lots of cabarets including the most famous one, the Moulin Rouge. Montmartre is also the site of the basilica, Sacre-Coeur. The area is built on a hill (mont meaning hill) and is the city's steepest quarter so anywhere you go you are climbing through narrow and winding cobblestone streets or steep stone staircases. At the very top of the hill is the beautiful basilica, Sacre-Coeur, with breathtaking views of all of Paris. I had fallen in love with the basilica the last time I was in Paris and the fact that I could walk there from my hotel and overlook all of Paris felt surreal.
After scanning the menus of a few restaurants we found a place where we could eat. The toughest part was Josiah's wheat allergy. In a city like Paris, where every second person has a loaf of bread under their arm it was not going to be easy. According to Lonely Planet there were no vegetarian restaurants in our neighborhood so we had to check the menus of a few places each time we stopped to eat. Our first meal was just breakfast, you can't go wrong with eggs, a little pricey but okay. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a playground so the kids could play for a bit. Hannah climbed to the top of a set of monkey bars, jumped from a height that was way too high for her and ended up kneeing herself in the face and got a nosebleed, a fat lip and knocked a tooth loose. There were a lot of tears and blood. We got her cleaned up and headed back to the hotel to officially check in. After checking in we boarded the lift (elevator) to go and see our room. If we each took a deep breath and squished ourselves against the back wall we could fit into the lift but there was no way the stroller was going with us and Josiah could only fit if he was standing not up in arms. We found a parking space for the stroller at the front desk and anytime that Josiah fell asleep and had to be carried up to the room everyone else would have to walk the 5 flights of stairs. We had a good chuckle about it everytime we were pressed together like sardines and Art scared the crap out of me on a couple of occasions as he pretended to have his backpack stuck and dropped to his knees as the lift began to rise. After dropping off our bags and becoming acquainted with our room we went back out and headed for Sacre-Coeur. It had become warm and as we made the climb up the hill and up the 100 or so stairs we began to peel our jackets off. The basilica was our destination but we found ourselves distracted by the crowds and many other sights along the way. As you wind your way through Montmartre's streets and up the hill you catch sight of the dome of the basilica from time to time. Your eye is so drawn to it because of its snow white stone architecture. It is one of the most striking and beautiful sites in Paris and you can see it from so many places in the city. We made a stop in the Place du Tertre which was teeming with artists and tourists and had cutouts done of the children and then we finally made it to Sacre-Coeur. It was busy and Josiah was not in top form so Art spent a lot of time running after him while Hannah and I got to tour through the cathedral. I had told Hannah you could actually go to the top of the dome so she convinced us all to go. We climbed the 234 steps up the spiral staircase to the top which I was fairly certain was going to do me in. It's pretty tight quarters in the stairwell as well as at the top but the view was incredible and we got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. Everyone was getting tired after all the walking so we had a quick bite to eat to hold us over and then walked back to the hotel. Josiah was exhausted and ended up going out for take-out asleep in the stroller.
On Wednesday after breakfast we walked to the bus terminal to catch the Hop On/Hop Off tour and bought tickets for 2 days. The bus runs every 10-30 minutes and it's great because you can get on or off anywhere around the city. It stops at all the major tourist sites so it makes it easy to see the city. We sat upstairs where it was all open and we took tons of pictures as we wound our way though the city. It really is such a beautiful city. Hannah was anxious to see the Eiffel Tower so after spending at least an hour and a half on the bus to get downtown through traffic we struggled to get from the top to the bottom and out the door. Unfortunately the driver didn't give us enough time and we ended up missing the stop. The next stop was quite a ways away so we had to walk back because we hadn't yet figured out the regular city bus routes. There was a marionette show in the park by the Tower which I wanted to take the kids to and we just made it back to the area in time. It was in a lovely little theatre designed just for children. Josiah enjoyed himself immensely, laughing and calling out along with the other children. He was having a great time until Hannah started shaking him until his teeth rattled to get him to shut up. I was sitting at the back of the theatre and had to run down to break them up before he started biting and whaling on her. When we got back to the Tower the line ups were incredibly long. We had to make the last bus before 6:00 pm to get back to the hotel so we had to promise Hannah we'd come back another day to actually go up the Tower. We were getting hungry again and that was proving to be such a nuisance. It was getting difficult for us to find places to eat that would satisfy everyone and that was within our budget. Art and I both get very cranky when we're hungry so it was a bit tense when we were looking for places to eat. After having dinner we got back to the hotel for an early bedtime. It was difficult getting them settled at night. This is the time you can usually stick them in the tub and let them mellow for a bit. But instead they would get themselves even more wound up by jumping back and forth across the room on the three beds.
Thursday was a really full day. We had breakfast at the hotel in the morning although we originally hadn't planned to. Art talked to the hotel manager about not charging us for Josiah because the only thing he was able to eat was yogurt. We made an early start to the Hop On/Hop Off bus tour as we wanted to get on a couple of the other lines around the city. The day before we had only done the one tour. We managed to get them all in throughout the day as we dedicated our time to just sightseeing. It was nice because we got to hear the history of Paris as well as just being able to see all the sights. Hannah really enjoyed it but it got boring for Josiah after the first 1/2 hour but he had his naps on the bus which worked out well. We visited Eglise de la Madeleine which was only interesting to me I think. I've had a fascination with Mary Magdalene as far back as I can remember and since the DaVinci Code I've thought about it a lot more. There are stories that after the crucifixion of Christ, Mary went to France to live out the rest of her life. The French are very proud of this history and believe it to be true so there are many places of worship throughout France that are dedicated to her memory. I love the idea that Mary and Jesus were most likely married, it completes what is missing from the history of Christianity which is the feminine aspect. Hannah and I toured through the cathedral and then bought small icons of Mary to take home. We got back on the the bus on another line and headed for the Latin Quarter for lunch. We were looking for a vegetarian restaurant that was mentioned in Lonely Planet but after searching until we were half starved we realized that it had closed down. We settled for a Chez Nicos, a creperie and broke our no wheat rule for Josiah. Lunch was amazing and a highly recommended place which can also be found in Lonely Planet. There is so much to do and see in this Quarter of the city and I wished I had so much more time but we needed to do something fun with the kids after the long bus ride. We visited the Pantheon and then walked to Jardin du Luxembourg and Menagerie du Jardin de Plantes, a beautiful park and a research zoo which focuses on rare and endangered species. The kids were able to run around for the rest of the afternoon and see all kinds of animals which we had never seen before. I don't usually like zoos and wasn't crazy about going to the Paris Zoo as I had read that it has very small spaces for the animals but this one felt more humane. The kids loved it and didn't want to leave, in fact by the time we had to go to make the last bus we still hadn't see all there was to see. We caught the bus and then made a quick change to another line and managed to see the last of the city that was actually on the tour. We were going back to the Eiffel Tower but just to have dinner and then board a boat tour along the Seine. We had a quick dinner and we actually fed Josiah french fries. We gave him tons of fruit throughout the day to make up for the horrible dinners we had to feed him. It's a relief at times like this that he's still nursing because I know his nutritional needs are still being met. It was dark by this time and the lights were just coming on in the Tower. It was so beautiful and the kids were oohing and aahing, as was I. We had wanted to do the boat tour at night so that we could see the city lit up and it was really beautiful although it sort of takes away from the whole thing that you're on a boat with hundreds of other tourists. Josiah was thrilled he was on a boat but got bored after a few minutes so he ended up playing peek-a-boo with anyone who would look at him including one of the tour guides on the boat. We got another commentary on the city and although it felt like such a touristy thing to do I felt that between the buses and the boat we had learned a lot about the city. Hannah hung onto every word and even got annoyed at her father when he took his headphones off and was missing what was being said. When we got back the Tower was fully lit and we stood just staring at it as the lights twinkled on the hour. We crossed the bridge and walked up to the nearest Metro station and caught the train back to our hotel. It was our first time on the Metro and I must say Art did a fine job of figuring out where in the hell we were going! It was almost midnight by the time I settled into bed and the kids were asleep in no time.
We slept in the next morning because we were beat. After breakfast we took the subway to La Place de la Madeleine. Art was taking Hannah back to the Eiffel Tower to make the climb to the top. I had decided to skip that as I knew that it would be more work than anything with Josiah. We walked from La Place de la Madeleine along Rue Royale to la Place de la Concorde where Hannah and Art got back on the Metro. Josiah and I walked out into la Place de la Concorde and I took some beautiful pictures. It was a beautiful day although a little hazy so I wanted to walk out and get a picture of the Eiffel Tower in the background behind the Obelisk. The Obelisk is 3300 years old which dates back to the dynasty of Ramses II and was a gift from Egypt to Paris in 1831. I decided to take a walk along the Champs Elysees and we stopped and had some lunch in another beautiful park. The plan was to meet back at the pyramid in front of the Louvre in three hours. Josiah and I walked for awhile until we got into the shopping district. I ducked into a mall to find a toilet only to find I could use it but it would cost me 3 euros. I changed my mind and went back out onto the street and started heading back the way I had come. I was going to go shopping at Forum des Halles, a shopping centre I had read was reasonable but realizing it would take me awhile to walk back I headed for the nearest Metro station. I managed to figure out where I was going but witnessed a scary scene on the train. A family had lost one of their daughters on the train and were frantically searching for her jumping on and off the train not knowing what to do. I realized we hadn't discussed any emergency procedures with Hannah in the event that we got separated. I was really shaken and I got a little lost in the station I was arriving at. It was a transfer station and therefore huge with corridors going to trains leading all over the city. I got stuck at an exit that I couldn't pass through with the stroller and got into a useless conversation with an intercom. A wonderful woman saw me struggling and stopped to help me carry the stroller up and down stairs and directed me to the exit. When I got upstairs I took a deep breath. I would think about that family a lot over the next couple of days and prayed that everything had worked out for them. I was only minutes from the shopping centre and before I even arrived Josiah fell asleep in the stroller. Golden! I strolled through the shops along the streets for the next hour and then made my way to the Louvre to meet Hannah and Art. I told them about the family I had seen on the Metro and we talked about our own safety measures. The kids wanted ice cream and we bought a few trinkets and t-shirts out on the street and then came back to the Louvre. It was late afternoon by this time and Josiah hadn't had much out of stroller time but we were feeling pressed for time so we went in. It all got a little hairy after that, a two year old in need of freedom in the Louvre. It was like a scene from The Da Vinci Code only it was Art chasing Josiah through the halls of the Louvre instead of Jacques Sauniere being pursued by Silas. So we did the compressed version. We rushed through, if that's even possible considering it spans 700 m along the Seine, seeing the highlights such as the Sphinx, the statue of Ramses II, the crown jewels of Louis XV and many others. The most famous piece of all we saved for last which was the Mona Lisa. I took some pictures of Hannah in front of it which you weren't actually allowed to do when I was there years before. By this time Josiah was close to being dangerous and I had visions of him knocking down some priceless piece of art that we were no where near able to pay for so we went looking for the way out. That in itself is a lengthy journey and I remember at one point peering out the window and seeing the pyramid in the courtyard from the other side and realizing we have to be way over there!!! I was so exhausted by the end of the day I can't even remember how we got back to the hotel or where we ate.
The next day was Saturday and our last day in Paris. Art and I were ready to go back to Belgium. We were sick to death of the food and Josiah needed a bath. We had a great time, well I can only speak for myself, but it was time to leave. We had our last breakfast and then headed out to a tacky giftshop to buy some souvenirs. Hannah had her eye on a little movie camera with all of her favourite images of Paris. I was sad to leave our area beacuse I would have loved to spend the day around the Sacre-Coeur again. We walked to the train station and stored our luggage and then we boarded the Metro and headed to Belleville an area not too far away. It was lunch time and we went looking for an Indian restaurant which we never found. Hungry and cranky we settled on Chinese which turned out to be a pretty good choice. We took the kids to Parc de la Villette and the City of Science and Industry after lunch. We never made it to the Science and Industry centre but spent the morning and part of the afternoon exploring this amazing park. There were lots of playspaces for the kids, plenty of places to climb and run around with all kinds of theme gardens. The French police were having some kind of convention and they were putting on displays all over the park so it was a very busy place. It was another warm sunny day and perfect end to our stay. We went back to the train station and picked up some supper to take with us on the train ride back to Namur. Heather, Callum and Fiona were waiting for us when we got off the train which was a nice surprise. The kids were so excited and Josiah wanted to know where Isla Rose was. Our walk back to Heather and Scott's was lively and exciting with the kids chattering away and getting caught up on all the news. Playtime was well underway minutes after walking through the door. Josiah couldn't even wait to take his shoes off to run and find Isla Rose. She is such a lovely and gentle child and like a breath of fresh air when she walks into a room. It was sweet to see that even Josiah was taken in by her. Unfortunately, he roughed her up a few times and we had to watch him but it was all out of love. He has not yet learned how to be gentle all the time.
Sunday was our last day in Belgium. We packed and did laundry in the morning and then went out to one of the many wonderful parks in Namur for the afternoon. It was another warm and sunny day and great for walking. I wish I walked this much when I was home. Heather cooked another fantastic dinner and we made our last preparations for the trip home. It was going to be a little more challenging making our way to the train station as we had to take all of our luggage this time. We had to be up at 5:00 am so we wanted to get the kids to bed early but it was hard to get them settled when all they wanted to do was play.
Monday morning was tough and Art reminded me of my father when we were kids getting ready to go on vacation. He kept at us constantly reminding us that we were going to be late. We were all tired and not moving as quickly as he would have liked. We had a tough time dragging the kids out of bed. Callum got up and came out to say good-bye to Hannah, they had such a fabulous time together. Scott helped us get our lugguage organized and out the door and we made our way to the train station for the last time. We were later than we wanted to be so we had to wait for the next train to Brussels. That wasn't what really threw us off though. When we got off the train at Brussels North we boarded the wrong train for the airport. We realized our mistake as soon as the train had left the station but we had to wait until the next stop to get off and go back and get on the right train. We were feeling a little stressed and kept checking the time. We had time to do it but it was going to be close. We made it to the airport on time but only to find out that our flight had been delayed because of fog. The second problem with that was they couldn't find us a connecting flight from Heathrow to Halifax. It was Thanksgiving and very busy and there weren't four seats on any flights going into Halifax. She suggested spending the night in Brussels or going to Munich and I cringed. I told her it would be nice if we could at least get to Canada. She explained that Canada was no problem it was just getting us into Halifax that was proving to be difficult. I asked her if she could at least get us to Toronto. The only problem with going to Toronto was that we would have to stay the night and then leave the following evening but we couldn't all go on the same flight to Halifax. One of us would have to take a later flight and we chose Art. When you're at the end of your trip you really just want to get home so we were annoyed but after 20 minutes of trying to sort this out we were ready to settle for almost anything. Our next flight was boarding soon so we got to our gate and boarded almost immediately. It's only a one hour flight from Brussels to London but they work their butts off for you making sure you get fed. I was actually quite hungry after our ordeal but I felt like they no sooner gave us our food then they were snatching it off the trays in order to get cleaned up and ready for landing. It is one of the shortest flights I've ever been on. We arrived at Heathrow only to find no stroller waiting for us at the gate. It turned out that in London they had different regulations about what could be left or picked up at the gate so they put it through cargo. This meant we had to go through customs to pick it up. Now we were getting really ticked off. Customs...at Heathrow, that's no five minute detour. Luckily in Europe they seemed to have a soft spot for families travelling with small children so we got bumped ahead which saved us a bit of time. After collecting the stroller we went to check to see if anything had changed with our flight. When we arrived at the counter to check in we were told that we had missed the flight. We hadn't actually but because it was such a long way to the gate we were classified as being late. So we explained what had been happening to us including the part about the stroller which didn't help matters much. She took us to another counter to an attendant who said she knew who we were and that she had been waiting for us. We didn't ask any questions, we just assumed someone had called her from Brussels. I have to say that BMI gave us excellent service and went out of their way to make things right for us. So after much checking she managed to get us another flight, still to Toronto and still separate flights out of Toronto the following evening. Once it was sorted out we went to have something to eat. We were flying overnight again so we had a long wait and we tried to make the best of it. Heathrow isn't exactly family-friendly, so there was absolutely nothing to do with the kids except walk around and try to keep them entertained at a toy store. It was a long day and we were happy to finally board and get underway. The trip home was pretty uneventlful besides the guy behind me who kept throwing himself over my seat and dangling his arms all over me while he slept. He scared the crap out of me everytime he did it and Art and I ended up having a little giggle fit because we were so sleep deprived. The kids slept on the flight so when we got to Toronto and got checked into a hotel they had us awake again at 5:00 am as they were well rested. We got up and went downtown to spend the day with friends and then took the subway back to catch our flight home. Miraculously we ended up getting on the same flight and all arrived home safely together.
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