Christmas in Belgium

Well - We had our first Christmas in Europe and I think the entire family enjoyed it. Not much to say really - we stayed home, did not do much and I think that is exactly what we needed.

Right after Christmas Kathey and Keith came to visit. They were here through New Years and for Alex's Birthday. (More about that in a second). New Years was really fun. We went to our favorite local restaurant Cicco Bello! who were holding a New Years bash. It was a good meal and quite somber - right up until the point that the clock struck midnight. Then it was crazy. Being one group of a few who spoke English we had a good time watching the locals run around, drink heavily and dance. All in all it was good fun - Thanks goes to Pam for setting up a great evening for all of us. Kathey is keeping an entire log of what they did while they were here - and if I can get them into the 20th Century we will get them to add some comments to this blog post. :)

For Alex's 15th B-Day the entire gang took a side trip to Italy. Man was that fun.

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We did not drive though. We flew to Pisa and then took a train to Florence. Buddy is the resident expert on Florence so we followed his lead most of the way. He did great too. He and Pam picked out a great little hotel. The Hotel Donatello . Check it out. It was very nice. The weather in Florence was so so. Rained a bit - it was cold - but warmer than Brussels - however that did not really get in our way too much. We hit a ton of the local - must see- sites in Florence. Below is a link to a few of the best spots.

The Duomo - The big climb.
Santa Croce
Ponte Vecchio 
Uffizi Musem
San Lorenso Market Images - Its best to just look at images  :)
da Vinci Museum
Galleria dell'Accademia   - Academy Gallery

We had some great food too!  Italy is a great place to visit. The people are friendly, the sites are great and the food is out of this world. We hope to return soon.