Brussels!

Ahhh, Brussels.  The city I was called to on my mission.  The first city I visited in Europe. The city with the most AMAZING waffles, french fries (they originated in Belgium!), chocolate, lace, tapestries, beer (or so I've heard), and architecture. AND, as it turns out… begonias!

Since my mission I have heard about the "tapis de fleurs" or flower tapestry that the Belgians create every two years in the Grand Place.  They use around 750,000 fresh cut begonias (Belgium is the world's top producer!) and place them very closely together in a preplanned pattern… no soil involved.  The pattern is different every time and the display only lasts four days.  I wanted to see it as a missionary, but left the mission just a few weeks before the event. So, even though Brussels is a good six hour drive for us, and Ben couldn't exactly get work off, we decided to go for a very fast 48 hour weekend trip.  I'm so glad we did.  The pictures say it all:

I tried to get some cute pictures of James in the square, but he was always running away from me,  as usual. 

The girls were a little more cooperative:

But, as you can imagine, the square was packed with visitors… so after taking our pics, we made a beeline for the exit.  We decided to do the "hop on/hop off" bus tour, which I've never done before.  It's kind of pricey, but a nice relaxing way to see all the sites of a city without having to worry about how to get there!  And the kids loved being in the open air bus.  

Emily's seat companion looked like a cross between JFK and Robert Redford. 

We got off at the Atomium, a landmark I've seen in pictures but  never visited.  It was built for the 1958 world's fair… kind of like the Eiffel Tower was, but not quite so elegant :(  It's supposed to symbolize an iron crystal magnified 165 million times.  Ooookay.  Look closely, and you can see some tight rope walkers up there.

Next to the Atomium is a park called "Mini Europe" with all of the countries within the European Union represented. (Brussels is the headquarters for the EU). Now, this is THE WAY to tour Europe with kids.  So much cheaper and so much easier… and done in just two hours :)  We saw Hungary, the UK, Lithuania, Spain, Croatia, basically all the places we want to go to, but now that we've already seen them we can consider it done!  

Holland

Brussels

London

Budapest

On the way back to the hotel we walked through the Parque Cinquantenaire, not very far from where I lived as a missionary… used to go jogging there in the mornings!

And the wonderful site of a waffle truck… the street food is the best in Brussels.  Waffles and fries are where it's at!

EU headquarters, right across from our hotel

We attended church at a chapel I had been to many times as a missionary… so many memories came flooding back.  Elder Ballard had spoken to the whole mission in that chapel. Brussels is so diverse… every speaker was black, the last speaker had just returned from his mission in the Caribbean.  He gave a powerful testimony.  

And on the way out of town we had to stock up on waffles and fries.  We hadn't sampled much of either  and we couldn't leave without tasting the best of what Brussels has to offer!  I'm so glad we did.  Those fries were amazing!

And to keep James happy we played "Let it Go" about fifty times on the way home.  For some reason, that song is mesmerizing to him.  This was the exact expression he held for the duration of the movie.