Mar. 9-11: Brugge, Belgium

This past weekend team Counts, minus Dexter, went to Brugge Belgium. This was to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. Each year we take a trip, in lieu of presents. We rented a car and drove in Europe for the first time, which was an adventure in itself. We had some drama getting there - no map, stuck in Brussels traffic for an hour, neglected to take a pit stop - so by the time we actually got to Brugge, we were pretty tired and cranky. We scrapped the idea of going straight to the hotel b/c it was 7pm already and we were hungry and in desperate need of a bathroom. We stopped at the first restaurant we saw, and ended up paying 20 Euro each for a Chinese buffet. It would have been great to sit and enjoy for awhile since their food was excellent and the choices extensive (even sushi), but as it was getting late, Zach was getting less and less patient. THEN, we didn't have directions to the actual hotel, so more drama. But, we were settled in the room (who had no record of our reservation until the next day when they checked their email!) by 9:30pm or so. Saturday started wonderfully and we forgot all about the drama of Friday night. The weather was gorgeous! The breakfast that was included w/ the price was actually impressive - not the 'continental breakfast' we were expecting, but eggs, bacon, bread, cheese, yogurt, cereal, etc. Each place we went in Brugge had the same kinderstool (high chair), that at first we thought was pretty neat (it attached to the chair itself, and was very cute), until we caught Zach almost pushing the entire chair over. Saturday was busy. We went on a boat tour through the canals of the city first. The tour was in Dutch, French, then English. We saw lots of the architecture and learned a lot of the history of the city. Art's second most memorable moment however was when the tour guide was talking about Jan van Eyck, and said "he was a collegue of Joan", then Art leaned over and whispered to me "WHO??", the the tour guide said "of Ark". Very funny. Art's first most memorable moment was when he was speaking to the tour guide in Dutch and the guide was impressed then shocked that he was not a native Dutch speaker - that he is American. That made Art feel pretty good! Then off to lunch at an Itallian place (pizza of course for me, pasta for Art). Zach got told NO at the restaurant and took that poorly. He looked at me w/ a big frown, trembling chin, and I made the mistake of laughing at him, and then he of course started screaming. So that ended lunch. :) Then off to the chocolate museum. We both really enjoyed it. It was very informative in a fun way. We had no idea how involved the history of chocolate was! Of course the tasting at the end was good. Then we headed over to a brewery for a tour. It was miserable for me, b/c I had Zach in the snugglie (b/c of the 254 steps in the tour), who was supposed to take a nap but refusing to and being exceedingly whiny. I had to stay at the back of the tour so as not to disturb others. He never did fall asleep and when we sat down for our free drink after the tour, he was happy as a clam, drinking his AJ w/ grins and giggles. Sigh. Art enjoyed it though, and I did like the room that had beer cans from all over the world. By that time, it was time for a quick rest at the hotel before dinner. We got take-out at a pita place and had dinner at the hotel. Zach crashed around 7pm for a nap, and awoke around 8pm when we were outside looking at the town all lit up and pretty. We were all in bed by 9pm, Art and I enjoying some cheesy American tv! Sunday we walked around the city a bit more and saw the windmills at the outer canal/moat around the city. We had lunch in town before heading back to Dusseldorf. No Brussels traffic this time, but we did get turned around a few times, and caught in parade traffic at the gas station where we stopped. Made it back in time for dinner. We all went to bed early, exhausted from the great trip!