More pictures from the Turpen's visit...

Canal cruise

Picture taken in the cistern under the castle in Gent

view from castle

Lauren and B sharing a waffle

The castle in Gent

Alex in the castle

Splash of color in an otherwise drizzly grey day.

Night out on the town...

Our good family friends, Ron & Lauren Turpen came for 4 nights after finishing up their river cruise in Czech/Germany. It was an awesome visit (more pictures to come later) and they gave us the best gift you can give any parent, a night out while THEY watched the kids!

As we were walking into town for dinner we noticed a buzz in the city and a lot of Belgian flags flying. Come to find out, Belgium was playing Turkey for the Euro Cup qualifier in Belgium (Brussels). Being that there is a huge Turkish population in Gent it was quite the rivalry. The Kouter (the square where the flower market is held) was set up with a huge TV screen and beer trucks. It was packed shoulder to shoulder and filled with singing and chanting. It was electric!

We decided to go to dinner first and end with the game so we went to a little cafe that we've walked by a million times and said "one day without the kids..." The waiter was super friendly and asked if we wanted to try “something different”. He brought out something that looked like head cheese and tasted like corned beef and asked if we wanted to know what it was now or after we ate it, we opted for the latter. It turned out to be...drum roll...calf head! Not sure what exactly that means but the French lady sitting next to us described it as essentially the "whole" head. I'm guessing sans bones but who knows. Well, when in Rome...

We ended the night with a glass of wine in the shadow of the castle and a stop off at the Irish pub on our walk home. GOOD TIMES!

Calf head with lots-o-mustard

My entree, shrimp salad was delicious!

Potato croquets with a hint of nutmeg, yummmm.

Steve's entree was also very tasty, Tong fish.

The game after dinner when it started to get a bit rowdy.

View from our cafe table

Tons of people drinking wine and champagne along the canal that night (it was 80+ degrees), so fun!

Oh yeah, it was a tie game 1:1 because Belgium missed a penalty kick, disappointing!!

Sunday flower market & walk about town...

Alex chill'n under the coffee kiosk



Mini Marilyn stole the show.  She had quite an audience laughing:)



Emelio & Bronwen sharing pannenkoeken (crêpes)

Sushi Night

There is a Belgian woman who you can hire to come to your home or business and teach sushi rolling techniques. She brings everything and then cleans it all up at the end, awesome! We had a great time Friday night with a few of our friends and the "Sushi girl."

My camera was doing funny things so there are only a few pictures but Rob is a great photographer and took some really great shots of the night. I will post his pictures when I get ahold of them.





Chocolates from Switzerland

More Italy pictures...

Vernazza...

B made a little friend...again.

 Portofino...

view from our boat ride in

Auntie Gita & B

Cinque Terre, Italy

Gita & I swimming in front of our apartment.

Sunset walk



Vernazza



Playing at the beach in Vernazza

Eating our way through Italy...

"Seafood salad"

B's first gelato, she ate the whole thing!

Seafood pasta at our neighborhood restaurant

home cooked Italian dinner (lasagna & gnocci)

another home cooked pasta dinner (gorgonzola alfredo with linguini by Gita-yummmm!)

Mario, the incredibly friendly owner of our neighborhood restaurant, Mare Blu.