Hear This...

The girls suggested Jimmy take this photo in a mirror at the Fine Art Museum in Antwerp so I could do an entry on how much we like taking audio tours at museums. I figured Veronica would like them, but I was skeptical when Ashlynn took her first audio tour over the summer at the Mauritshuis in Den Haag. I figured she'd get bored listening to the explanations of paintings, but I was wrong. Turns out it's the perfect way to keep her engaged and we now do audio tours whenever they're available. In this photo the girls also have digital cameras around their necks, which we've now banned from art museums since they want to take photos of almost everything.

Romantic Dining with Kids?

We were determined not to spend hours searching Antwerp for the perfect restaurant for dinner as we've done so many times in other cities. Our first night we lucked out when we happened upon a cellar restaurant in the hidden 16th century alley that we'd read about in our guide book. We loved the setting, atmosphere and the fact that not only was the lamb and salmon cooked over an open wood fire, but also the baked potato, bread, and apple for dessert. We also loved that we could sit at a separate table from the girls. (One of the big payoffs of being a mean mom is that the girls have good manners and are very independent. Of course, everything has its price -- in this case, extra slices of apple pie.) We liked it so much, we decided not to risk having a mediocre dinner the next night and climbed the stairs back down to the cellar for a second round.

Why Did the Tourists Cross the River?...

...In this case it wasn't to get to the other side, but rather to experience how to get to the other side. We couldn't resist crossing below the Scheldt River in a 1/3 mile long pedestrian tunnel built in 1933. The tunnel can be accessed from a large elevator or wooden escalators that descend 100 feet. On the other side, there was a view of historic Antwerp and a maritime playground which the girls really enjoyed.

Sightseeing in Antwerp...

There were plenty of interesting sites to see in Antwerp. We enjoyed visiting Rubenshuis, a beautiful villa where it's estimated that Rubens produced an incredible 2,500 paintings from 1610 to 1640 with the use of his team of artists. Having just finished reading an epic about cathedral building, it was very interesting to go into the gothic Cathedral of Our Lady which took from 1352 to 1521 to complete. The maritime museum was housed in the gatehouse of the Steen, a fortress built in 1225 and the oldest building remaining in Antwerp. Our biggest disappointment was that the girls weren't old enough to go on the underground tour, although we were happy to be allowed to have a sneak peek as shown above. Apparently when the city expanded beyond the old city walls, the moat was built over rather than filled in. It was discovered centuries later, cleaned out and is now a popular tourist attraction.

A Weekend in Antwerp...

After several months of wet, windy dreariness, we were so thrilled to see the sun that we decided to celebrate with a weekend away. Inspired by seeing a fantastic exhibit of Peter Paul Rubens in Den Haag, we chose to explore his hometown of Antwerp, Belgium, a 2-hour train ride away. Traveling spontaneously with a family of 4 means having to be willing to stay in an overpriced 2-star hotel, but luckily it was clean and close to the historic center of this city of 460,000 people. According to folklore, the city got its name from a legend involving a giant that charged a toll to cross the river. If you refused to pay, the giant severed one of your hands and tossed it into the river. Eventually, the giant was slain by a hero named Brabo, who cut off the giant's hand and threw it into the river as depicted in the above statue in front of the town hall built in 1564. Hence the Dutch name Antwerpen means hand-throwing.

Groceries on Wheels...

It took us a few times of hearing the bell rung to get up the nerve to explore what was in the strange big truck which visits our street twice a week. We were very surprised to find a complete grocery store on wheels selling a surprisingly large selection of breads, cookies, fruit, veggies, beer, milk and cheese. The grocer doesn't speak a word of English, but always offers the girls a smile and a sweet. The prices are higher than the traditional grocery store, but it sure has come in handy on some horribly rainy days. You might be surprised to hear that last week when I gave the girls money to buy some fruit, they came back with Brussels sprouts.

Yippee! Veronica Got Her "B"...

After just a few more lessons, Veronica got to take her test for her 2nd swimming diploma as part of a large group in mid-January. It was fun seeing what a big deal these tests are. She was thrilled that there was another big girl there; the other 34 kids were mostly 6- and 7-year-olds. As you can see, this exam started with her dressed in long pants and long-sleeved shirt. The test is basically an extended version of the last one, again stressing survival skills. There were scuba divers in the water taking photos of the 6-meter underwater swim through a hoop, but they missed getting one of her. Ashlynn continues to make progress, but it'll be awhile before she'll be ready for her first diploma test.