B is for Belgium

Every community has a celebration or festival, even the very small villages will have one day set aside during the summer to have a celeration. We were invited to go to the Bernkastel-Kues celebration. The Bernkastel-Kues celebration was really spectacular. The setting is the valley forged by a river with large hills surrounding it. Situated on top of one of the mountains was a castle overlooking looking the valley below. When we arrived the carnival atmosphere was in full force. They had games, rides, sugary sweets and every other item to make a kid go absolutely insane with excitement. For the adults, it is about the wine, since the setting is surrounded by vineyard. Now with that being said, even though there is a lot of alcohol it is not a drunken party. The people do very well to drink in moderation and not become annoying. We roamed the streets while the kids stayed behind. There were probably 15 families from our ward there with all of their children. So the adults ventured out while the kids stayed behind and played games, saving our spot. Since this was vineyard territory we decided to buy some non-alcoholic wine (grape juice). It was very good so we bought a couple of bottles of it. When we got back it was the kids turn to go and have some fun. After it turned dark they held a spectacular fireworks show that lasted quite a long time. They had fireworks that they shot from a barge in the river and they also had fireworks that they shot from the castle above the river. It was supposed to represent the fight they had here hundreds of years ago between the castle and the boats below. After the festivities were over we packed up and headed for Belgium. I was able to find a hotel, which in the loosest sense of the word, this place qualified. It was basically an inside cruise cabin set on land. But it served the purpose of providing a place to stay. Our first stop was Brussels, a very international city, which serves as the center for the European Union. We bought Belgian chocolates and Sharma bought a very pretty foot stool. We bought the normal fare of trinkets and such. Oh and we also had a Belgian waffle...I mean you have to since you are there, right? We went and saw a famous statue called Manakin Pis, if you are curious look it up. We took many pictures that day one of which found its way onto our Christmas card this year. Next we drove to a small town called Ghent to stay the night. I think for me this one was my favorite stop in Belgium. Funny how an after thought turns out to be your favorite place. Why did I like it so much? It was very quaint with several large churches and buildings that were very pretty and then it had this nice canal meandering through the middle of it...and they had Speculoos ice cream. For those of you who don't know what Speculoos is....heaven in the form of ice cream. We ate at pizza hut that evening...I know, I know. After spending the night in Ghent we made our way to Brugge. This was supposed to be the best part of the trip from the people that I talked with, you know...it just wasn't. But it was a nice city with a canal through the center of it and a nice town square. We bought some lace because you are supposed to do that in Belgium, not that we are into that sort of thing and I am not sure that it will ever see the light of day, but we did our duty. We were told to buy tapestries here as well, but just couldn't find one that we liked so we passed on it. After spending a day roaming around Brugge it was time to pack the family into the van and drive back to Germany. Our first full fledged family vacation in Europe, under our belt, and oh so many more to come.