Day 4 in Gent

We made it!!! We had a very uneventful flight (the kind I like) and the kids did great. Neither one slept until the last hour but both were very well behaved and self-entertaining. Steve and I actually were able to watch a couple of movies which made the time go pretty quickly. Regardless, it was a long day of travel and all of us are still suffering. We've been wide awake between 1 & 3 am. Last night we were all up so the kids and I watched a video on the computer while Steve worked.


I absolutely love this city! It’s like a mini Paris. Everyone is so friendly and helpful which makes adjusting that much easier.

"We" (not me) locked our keys in the apartment and after a long day of shopping came home to discover this. Of course it started raining and Alex had a "blowout" so we were stuck in the car with two tired and hungry kids, one of which now naked, when thankfully our neighbor below came out and invited us in to wait for the locksmith. She was so kind and playful with Brownen and it turns out she is a recent graduate of one of the two major Universities here and is now a secondary (high school) religion teacher-hmmmm, babysitter???

Grocery shopping has been so much fun-everything is new and so fresh. I love it and I can't read any of the labels-I can only imagine how great it would be to shop if I knew what I was buying. Steve and I rely on label pictures-that's the only way that I knew that "Pate de cacahuetes pindakaas" was peanut butter. The biggest difference so far is that the eggs aren't refrigerated. I was already a little freaked out about that but then it got worse, Steve opened a container to check the eggs and they were covered in feathers...oh well, our omelet this morning was delicious!

Yesterday we went to Ikea, by car! Unless there is an emergency I will not drive here during our stay. Steve did quite well and I wasn’t too nervous (for the most part). There were a few "Oh my gosh, oh jeez..." Steve's comment was "don't worry, it works." There are bicyclists and pedestrians everywhere and not only do you have to worry about cars you have a tram lane and a bicycle lane to watch for too-yikes! I'll stick to walking which probably isn't much safer.

Here is a picture of Bronwen and I at Citadel Park today.