Sorry for the delay in the update. February was a busy month. Our container arrived so Pam was in full move in gear. If you follow us on Facebook you know that I did a lot of watching ;).
We continue to spend the weekends exploring Europe. The best trip of the month was to Koln and the Carnival. I never really understood the world of Carnivals around here. If you don't you can read about it here: The Carnival of Koln.
It was quite the event. Pictures this month are from that day. It was great. I took Monday off of work and we took the train from Brussels to Koln. It's a 2 hour trip and the station dropped us dead center in Carnival action. This was 'Rose Monday' and the parade was the big event. The route is nearly 6.5 K long and the parade runs for almost 3.5 hours. They throw buckets of candy. I'm not talking about Root Beer Barrels - I'm talking about full size chocolate bars. They don't just toss it either. The fire it into the crowd. I took a direct shot in the left hand and I believe it broke my little finger - Pam got one square in the nose. It was really cold and rainy but- the party goes on. The city is a zoo. Everyone is in costume and the drinking starts before the sun comes up.... Yea - I think we will go back next year.
The kids had a week off of school so they spent some time in and around Brussels. We tried to pull off the customary "ski trip" but could not get it sorted in time. We are planning to go to Austria in April and everyone is looking forward to that. Tomorrow we are going to visit Bastogne and I am really looking forward to that. We expect to spend some time in the South of France, Barcelona, Normandy and The Netherlands soon. For those that remember Jackie and Franz... Jackie and the kids are here in and around Amsterdam. We've made contact and hope to be able to see them soon...That's a small world indeed.
We also spent some time in and around Brussels. We visited St Michael Cathedral in Brussels.. That's a site. There is a web site you can look at HERE. We also went to visit the local icon MANIKIN PIS. You can (and should) learn a bit more about him at this link: MANIKIN PIS. Strange but funny.
Our car arrived in Antwerp so we begin the saga of getting it imported. Pam's going to get dipped in the slowness of local government. :)
But it will be nice to have our own car here. The rental Jetta is getting old.
Everyone is doing fine and we really, really like it here. The weather sucks - bad - but there is so much to see and do.... no one seems to mind much. We continue to get to know our little town and like it more and more as we do. The folks around here really like Dogs - so the dumb dumbs are a hit. They get lots of love when we take them out and about. We have found our favorite Pizza / Italian restaurant in our town CICCIO BELLO. They don't have a web site or I would forward the link, but the food is good and the staff are nice.
Well - That's it for now... More in a month or so. Thanks for keeping up with the posts. Feel free to comment and or ask questions...
Rick, Pam, Alex and Austin
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