The Low Countries

Here's the deal with traveling through Europe with kids: you have lots of I-want-to-rip-my-hair-out-moments, but you also have extremely beautiful moments, like introducing your child to the work of Michelangelo. There are many times when you ask yourself, "Is this stress worth it???" But when we look back on our trips, I think the answer is yes.

We took a 5 day tour of "The Low Countries" and to reiterate my above point, our trip began like this: About 5 miles outside of our first destination (Brugge) we noticed that we had an extremely flat tire. We checked into our rooms, Andrew dropped me and the kids off, and then he went to get our tire fixed. It was a gorgeous day and I hated to waste it indoors, so I decided to brave the city with the 4 kids in tow. After a false start (where we left, but had to turn back so I could feed Clara) we ventured out again. I had Clara settled in her stroller, and then I convinced Afton to join her. I felt in complete control, but as I pushed open the door to our inn I somehow fell down the 3 front stairs pulling the stroller down with me. The best part is that mid-fall I yelled, "Daaaammmnnnniiitttt!!!!", which attracted the attention of everyone within a 2 block radius.

Fortunately, things went much smoother after that.

Anyway. After looking up what comprises the Low Countries, I can say that we visited them all. Our tour included parts of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, The Netherlands, and then Western Germany. It was beautiful country and I'm glad we were able to experience it- stress and all.

Brugge, Belgium

I was told that Brugge is an extremely romantic city, which made me nervous to bring our brood. However, since it was Easter weekend the place was packed with obnoxious tourists and we blended right in.

We took a boat tour of the canals which was my favorite part. Well that, or eating the Belgium waffles and chocolate.

We saw lots of windmills, including those at Kinderdijk. This is the largest concentration of windmills in the Netherlands.

After going to church on Easter Sunday we stopped off at Keukenhof which is the largest flower garden in the world. Tulips are my favorite, so I may or may not have screamed in excitement when I saw them all. The brightly colored fields were amazing. We were also amazed by all of the canals we saw. People literally use them as fences for their properties.

Our last two days were spent in Haarlem & Amsterdam. For me the best part of the trip was seeing the Anne Frank House. I reread Anne's diary before we visited, and I'm so glad that I did. It is extremely detailed and allows you to see what an amazing young woman she was. She was full of so much personality and life, and it breaks your heart to know the end of her story. The annex itself was much bigger than I imagined, but reading the diary gives you a sense of what it was really like living there- dealing with conflicting personalities, tensions, and anxieties. Seeing the actual diary and Anne's other notes was also very surreal. I took the boys with me, and while most of it was lost on Luke, I think Sam was really touched. I can't wait for him to learn about it in school.