Where have we been?

The schools here have longer vacation times with fewer long weekends, so we have 6 weeks of vacation in 1 or 2-week blocks during the school year. This works well with taking trips. Some of our "big" trips have been to Interlachen, Switzerland with a stop through Luxembourg (1st summer); Mallorca, Spain (October 2007, Kevin and I); back to Oregon for Christmas '07; London and Bath, England (visited the Lautzes, fun to see them and their area); Paris (Kevin and I) Provence, France (I got to go with a friend and her family); Koln and Heidelberg, Germany (summer 2008 with another stop in Luxemberg); Ardennes (in southern, French-speaking region of Belgium). Next up: A week in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt for Christmas! 

Locally we've been to a lot of the small and not so small cities within an hour's drive around this area. Brugge is a favorite, as well as Lille, France. Lille is home to the closest large book store with English books. Sometimes we just need some fresh English reading material. Ieper has a lot of charm with a lot of history, tragic history. The coast along the Nord Zee is a favorite - my boys love a beach anywhere. We've been over the boarder to Holland while at the coast and want to explore further along the dutch coastal area more next summer. Gent is a larger city with lots to see. We've been there a number of times, including the Gentsefeest - a large, city-wide celebration with performances all over in the city squares and streets and parks. There are multiple things going on all the time for the week or two that the Gentsefeest runs. They build a stage over the canal in the main area with big musical acts. We will definitely go back next summer. We've been to Brussels a few times (more to the airport) but haven't spent enough time there. So many towns have things to see and do. We keep finding new place to check out. We get around partly when we head to other towns for basketball games or events.

We've loved all the places we've been to so far. It's great how close the countries are and how much each holds onto it's uniqueness. Even within Belgium the different areas can have a distinctly different feel.

I'll fill in some details about the places in another post. All part of catching the last 18 months.