Belgium, Part Deux

We have now been in Belgium for five weeks, and have about that many more left. So far, we have loved almost every minute. Axel and I have a good routine down, have made some really great friends from the open daycare we visit regularly, and Johan has been loving the change of atmosphere, including regular social coffee breaks at work, as well as a hardcore lunchtime running group.

I have been really amazed at how kind people are here. I was kind of expecting the gruff, introvert most people think of when they imagine Euopeans in the winter. But people here usually approach me and Axel, start talking, are willing to help us get to know the town, and are so friendly.
 

Notre Dame



 For my birthday in February, I told Johan that all I wanted was to go to Paris. Like a good husband, he gave me my wish. His mom and dad drove down from Sweden to stay with us and took care of Axel while we took off for three days. We stayed in the Montparnasse area of Paris, on the Rue du Rennes, which is south of the Seine, close to the center....Louvre, Notre Dame, etc. however, Parisian blocks are ginormous, so even though you might be five blocks away, it could take you 20 minutes to walk them. So we bought metro passes. Our hotel had such tiny rooms, but they decorated them so smart and luxuriously that you couldn't, and didn't, care.

Atop Le Tour Eiffel, freezing les buns off

Eiffel Tower by night

We arrived on Friday and walked around the area close to our hotel. We walked around and found a restaurant on the Boulevard du Montparnasse. I had a gizzard salad (Dad would be proud), and Johan had salad with goat cheese on bread. I went to use the bathroom, which was the size of a telephone booth. When I came out to wash my hands, I put soap on my hands but then noticed the faucet was simply a metal pipe that came down vertically from the ceiling (space saver, smart). There was no faucet handle! What the heck? I noticed a sign that was on the wall to the left that said a bunch of stuff in French. The main words seemed to be "eau", "sol", and "droite". I knew that "eau" meant water, and in Spanish "sol" means sun, and I couldn't remember what "droite" meant. Was the water solar powered? A lot of times there is no faucet and you just have to wave your hands around underneath the faucet, so I waved my hands everywhere I could in the vicinity underneath the faucet. I already had slathered my hands with soap, so I felt helpless. I started to walk away when I stepped on a bump in the floor. Huh? I pushed on it with my foot and voila! Water! Oh, so "sol" means floor. Like "suelo" in Spanish. Wow, I must have looked dumb spending that much time trying to figure that out. After that, we had a mediocre dinner but good atmosphere.


 On Saturday we ran around town trying to cram in all the goodness you're expected to cram in while in Paris. It was absolutely freezing, 30 degrees Fahrenheit, and we were extremely unprepared clothing-wise. Johan really wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I am not much for touristy things, but I went along with it. We walked to the second floor, which is like walking to the 40th floor of a building. Then we waited in line to get to the top. The lines took so long, the entire trip up and down took about 2 1/2 hours. We were frozen solid, but we were going to make it to the top, darn it! When we got to the top, Johan mentioned that the view looked the same as it did from the second floor.


That night we watched Django Unchained in English at the movie theatre, and collapsed in bed, realizing that being a tourist is a lot of work.

The next day, the sun came out and it was warm!! We have recently realized why Northern Europeans always announce when the sun comes out...because it feels as if someone has let you out of a dark closet. You feel light, happy, and full of life. Amazing, how we forgot that feeling from our days living in Sweden.



That day, I was smart and bought a medicated patch for my back to get me through the walking we'd be doing all day. We saw the Louvre, walked Champs Élysées, and saw Silver Linings Playbook as a matinee. That evening, we met our friends Braedan and Amelia for dinner (they live there).



Just a chicken in Paris



That dinner was by far the best food experience we've had in Paris. We ate at cafe Constant just north of the Eiffel Tower. Fabulous food. After dinner we walked to the Eiffel Tower and watched the hourly lights show, which occurs every hour on the hour and lasts a couple of minutes. As we parted ways and walked towards the subway, we mentioned how nice it was to do something that made us feel like locals and not tourists.



The next day we went to sacre coeur church, saw a man dressed like a chicken, did some souvenir shopping, them went to catch our train back to Belgium.

One of the things we loved most about Paris is that almost anywhere you go, each building is incredibly beautiful. You are always in awe, and you never have a bad view.





Farmor is making semla! Da me!



Since we've been back to our temporary home in Belgium, we've been spending time with Johan's family. Axel has really warmed up to Farmor and Farfar Fransson, aunt Maria, and Uncle Simon. They are all so good to him, he just loves them. He has also really seemed to love all the attention and puts on quite a show for everyone. We have been very spoiled since Farmor and Farfar take Axel to the park almost every day, so I've been able to go shopping and relax during the weekdays, while Johan and I got to go to Antwerp and Roermond (holland) this weekend with Maria and Simon.







Still waiting...da me, da me!



It hasn't really struck me that I'm back on full time Mom duty tomorrow, since the Franssons are leaving back to Sweden. I'm trying to enjoy this "time off" feeling as long as I can.

One short stint on Axel....his favorite words are "da ma" ("give me" in Spanish), and "maaaaaaas", which is "mas" said really long and drawn out, which means mooooooooore, or more. The longer the mas, the more he wants to make sure that you understand he wants more. If you don't give him more, he starts to scream "da me, da me, da me!"




 

Mmmm, finally got his semla

Overall, these last five weeks have been such a blessing to us. We are so thankful for what we have and what we've been given in this opportunity to live and work abroad. This experience has definitely given us so much more than we expected. Thanks, Belgium, for loving us so much, thanks Johnson and Johnson for sending Johan here, thanks, Franssons for being so wonderful, and thank you God for being the master planner of it all.









 






Franssons having a semla moment