Paris at Christmas...

One of the main reasons we stopped off overnight in Paris was to see the Christmas lights along the Champs-Elysees. Not surprisingly, it would have been more magical if it weren’t for all those blaring headlights. This year featured a small Christmas Market between the park and the shops. Rather than buying festive baubles, we bought Canadian fleece for cycling on those cold mornings to school. In a further re-enactment of two years earlier, we had dinner at Dragons Elysees, the overpriced Chinese restaurant with see-through floors covering a massive koi pond. The girls once again crawled under the table, but this time we didn’t photograph them.

“A Nameless Passerby”

About 10 years ago, we happened upon a CD store going out of business in Cary. CD’s were just $1 and we picked up a dozen. Out of that stack, only one really stood out and we’ve listened to it regularly ever since--Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam. When Jimmy saw a poster for the show while in Brussels for business and realized it was playing when we’d be in town, he became determined that we should see it. We rushed out of the Atomium and made our way across town. We missed the first 15 minutes, but managed to get tickets for excellent seats. While I found this slow paced compared to “La Nouba” we saw in Orlando in 2002, the music was excellent and the temporary set in a giant tent was very impressive.

Balls of Steel...

The first image I saw of the Atomium was on the back of the collectible Belgian two Euro coin. Of course, it’s much more impressive in person. This 334-foot tall collection of silver spheres represents the atoms of an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times. It was built for temporary use at the International Exhibition of Brussels in 1958, but is now a Brussels landmark. The escalators up to the top were quite steep and the girls were a little nervous. We didn’t have time to eat lunch at the top sphere, but we did get to enjoy the panoramic view. We actually were in quite a rush and will have to go back to fully enjoy.

Wild Animals in Brussels...

The girls were thrilled that the same carousel that they rode two years ago was once again at the Brussels’ Christmas market. In fact, much seemed the same as when we quickly visited the market in 2006, but it was definitely a lot more crowded this year. This time Ashlynn rode the ostrich with Zoe and Veronica rode the crane with Patrick. They still hadn’t added any animals big enough for adults, so we just got to watch. It was unseasonably warm, so they skipped ice skating.

Decked Out for Christmas...

We were shocked by the huge crowds in the Grand Place, Brussels’ giant main square (an UNESCO World Heritage site.) There was a light show playing all evening, combining the lights of the tree, tall light sticks placed around the square and lights projected onto the town hall (built in 1455.) Of course, we had to go by and see Manneken Pis and were happy to see that this time he was wearing one of his many costumes.

Jimmy’s Oasis in Brussels...

Unlike most of his colleagues, Jimmy doesn’t opt to stay in the Holiday Inn in an industrial park near the Brussels’ office when he visits several times a month. He prefers to head into downtown and stay at the affordable Mozart Hotel. It’s quite a colorful hotel that has featured posters of Barack Obama for the last year despite having no American connection, but then Mozart wasn’t Belgian either. As a semi-regular there, Jimmy couldn’t resist bringing us by to see this little courtyard where he relaxes when the weather’s nice.

Visiting our New Friends in Brussels...

After having a great time hosting Jane, Zoe, Patrick and Sophie, we decided to make a stop on our journey to the Chateau for Christmas and stay in Brussels with them for three nights. We actually only had one full day to explore with them, but we enjoyed getting to know Gene and seeing where they live. Our timing didn’t work out to make it to the beer museum, but we did get to see the aviation wing of the military museum and had some fantastic Turkish pizza and designer chocolates.