The Miller Family Adventures: May 2011

We've had a pretty busy couple of weeks here around the Miller house. Mother's Day weekend saw the return of sickness in our house - this time I was the lucky one:( But by Sunday afternoon I had recovered enough to actually get out of the house and do something, so we headed to Planckendael, the local Brussels zoo. Planckendael is a pretty big zoo, actually, with quite a few animals, although, probably not as beautiful as the Antwerp zoo. We ended up just getting a family pass, as it's good for both there and the Antwerp zoo.

Will and Scott getting started climbing the giant rope ladder high up in the trees

Giving a goat a hug - Bo LOVED the goats!

A few days later, Scott's brother, Tim and his girlfriend, Emily arrived for their visit. They arrived on a Thursday and we had a trip planned for England on Friday morning through the weekend. We had a bit of an issue, as Bo proceeded to get sick that week, and I ended up in the E.R. with him the night before we were supposed to leave. Although he was much better by Friday, he was SO irritable throughout the weekend, we were afraid Tim and Emily were going to pack it up on us! By Monday though, he was back to his old self, and when Tim and Emily returned on Wednesday, they were amazed at the change in him!

As Scott and I, true to form, procrastinated a bit in buying our train tickets, by the time we finally got around to it they were so high we probably could have chartered our own boat to take us across the channel for less, we decided to take a different route and drive. It was actually a pretty good experience. We drove Friday morning to Calais, France, where the chunnel begins (the underground tunnel linking the continent to the U.K.), and drove our car directly onto a train. After 35 minutes, we were in England - pretty cool, and stress-free! Of course now, the Brits drive on the wrong, er, opposite side of the road, so that was kind of crazy, but Scott rose to the challenge, and, as we stayed on the south-eastern side of London, he didn't have to do much city driving. All in all, a very good experience - although it takes a little longer than just boarding a train directly from Brussels, once it's all said and down, it's probably pretty close - I think if we make it back to England again we'll go this route again, as it's great to have our own car, especially with the kids - not to mention much cheaper!

We met up with Tim and Emily by the tower - since we had already done a tower tour last fall, we weren't going to do another one - but they enjoyed it! We then did a little 'walking tour' - Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, followed up by a trip on the London Eye. By the end of the day, Tim and Emily were falling asleep on the train back to the hotel - as they were still dealing with the effects of jet lag!

Tower Bridge

Will showing off his newest addition to his 'suit of armor'

Tower Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral - dedicated to Paul the Apostle and the seat of the Bishop of London.

St. Paul's

Scott was feeling sentimental

Tim and Emily at Picadilly Circus

Tim and Will with a soldier of the Horse Guard

The London Eye

Tim and Emily in the London Eye

View from the top

This was as close as Scott would get to the window...

View of Big Ben

Parliament

The next day we woke up early to catch our tour bus. We signed up for a tour of the English countryside that included stops in Bath, Stonehenge and Salisbury. Overall, glad we did it - saw a lot in a very short amount of time - but if I had to do it all over again, probably wouldn't do three stops in one day - it was too much. Our first stop, Bath, was great. It included a tour of the Roman Baths, which was really neat. These baths were created around 2500 years ago, started by the Celts, then finished by the Romans, who built it up and maintained them until the 5th century. The baths were 'rediscovered' in the 19th century when the original spring was found, and have since been built up into the tourist attraction it is today - the original baths being four stories below street level. The city of Bath itself is beautiful, and if we had more time we would have loved to walk around it more. If we ever make another trip to England, I think I would devote more time to Bath, maybe even spend a night or two.

In the center you can see 'Gorgon's Head' - it was said that all who looked it in the eye upon entering the ancient baths would die.

Our next stop was Stonehenge, which I was most excited to see. It was pretty cool - at least I thought so - Scott was less impressed. But just the fact that all these stones were hauled there from hundreds of miles away 5000 years ago is amazing. When you look around and see nothing but farm land, it's incredible to think of the accomplishment this was. Of course, no one really knows the why as to Stonehenge's purpose - it is said it probably started as an ancient burial ground. It may have served as a type of calendar, as the stones line up perfectly indicating the solstices, etc. We had an audio guide for this as well, which was great.

We'd always heard that you couldn't get too close to the stones, but I was pretty surprised how close it felt we were on one side of it.

Thought it'd be neat to get a pic of the boys together in front of Stonehenge...

but Bo really wanted Will's audio guide...

and wouldn't give up...

until he got it.

Our last stop was Salisbury Cathedral. We were kind of beat by this time, and had decided not to take the tour, so we got some cool outside pics and hung out in the cafeteria instead...

All tuckered out on the way home.

The next day we got up early and headed over to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards. As we tried twice last fall to no avail, we thought the third time would be the charm. Although we made it in plenty of time there were SO MANY people there, so didn't end up getting a lot out of it anyway. I'm guessing a Sunday probably isn't the most ideal day of the week to attend! Oh well. We then walked down to around Parliament where Big Ben and Westminster Abbey are also located. Westminster was one thing we all agreed we wanted to tour, so we saved it until Sunday when we knew we'd have plenty of time. Big mistake. Apparently Sundays are saved for church services only:( Aaauughh! It was a huge bummer for all of us. But on the bright side, another good reason to go back to London:) So we just walked around, took in the sights and had a nice lunch.

Oddly enough, there was a pelican in the park along our walk...

and Will got a little too close...

Big Ben

As close as we got to Westminster:(

There were a lot of random characters on a walkway along the Thames - the boys had a great time.

Bo was SO happy.

Will was in heaven...too bad his Spider Man costume was in the car.

Another long day.

From there we said goodbye to Emily and Tim for a few days - as they were heading off to Paris. The four of us got back in the car and drove to Dover, where we were to board the train back across the channel. As we had plenty of time before our train left, we were able to do a little exploring of Dover. Unfortunately, the castle was closed, but we drove around the town for a bit and headed to the coast to see the famed 'white cliffs.' It was beautiful, although we didn't walk too far down the trail along the cliffs. Scott nearly went into heart failure the way it was, so I didn't want to push it! To be fair though, it was a little stressful with a two-year-old who just wanted to 'run fast' everywhere we went - and there's nothing but air between the edge of the cliffs and the ocean below!

You can see Dover castle waaaay in the background.

Bo wasn't too happy about being held - but as you can see, it was a little precarious!

Notice Scott's death grip on my arm...

Heading back to the car.

Tim and Emily returned Wednesday afternoon, and we had lots of fun showing them around Brussels for the remainder of their trip.

I took Tim and Emily to Brugge on Thursday - my friend watched Bo.

Gaasbeek castle near Brussels - a very beautiful 13th century castle.

A medieval kitchen

Will probably would've climbed right in if we weren't looking!

An 'adult's only' dinner Friday night - a friend came over to watch the boys...very nice!

The Manequin Pis dressed up in his Belgian 'football' gear - around the Grand Place

Scott and I took Tim and Emily for all they had in a four hour marathon game of Tripoley...they weren't laughing at the end...

The Atomium - built for the 1958 World's Fair - we've seen it many times, but hadn't yet made it up inside - pretty cool, but probably don't need to do it again.

View from the top

Bo loooved Emily

We really had a great time with Tim and Emily here, and were sad to see them go. As always, time went way too fast. The boys loved every minute of it - and I'm sure although they were a bit over-bearing sometimes, Tim and Emily were wonderful to them. I think the boys get sick of dear old mom and dad sometimes, and take advantage of having somebody to play with other than their parents! Bo, true to form, is now calling every adult male we encounter 'Tim'.

We had to say another sad goodbye last week to our good friends Andy and Mitzie, and their kids Andrew and Sara. Andy worked at PWC with Scott and I became pretty close to Mitzie here - she had a lot of advice on everything from groceries to dealing with the Belgian-French public school, as her kids attended one as well. Will and Bo made great friends in Andrew and Sara - Andrew was 5 1/2 and Sara just a couple of months younger than Will. They will be missed!