Touring Zeeland & Limburg with Visitors

Where have we been?

Well, my sister and a friend were visiting from Boston this week, so I tried not to blog excessively. To get you caught up, here's what we've been up to...

~Taking in Antwerp's stunning old city center (this past Saturday -- October 4th). Our visitors, Melissa and Mary, really enjoyed the city center, and Lukas was able to convince me (easily) to join him on a 40-minute horse-and-carriage ride of Antwerp's winding streets, lined with hundreds of historic monuments and national treasures.

~Wandering through the cobblestone streets of Maastricht (on Monday, October 6th). Maastricht is a beautiful old city with an ancient and very photo-worthy city wall and watch-tower. The city center is easily walkable, even with a baby and toddler, and we enjoyed all of the little surprises that await you (like an old mill, a tiny store specializing in olives, a fair on the Market square, etc).

~Visiting a Great Uncle's grave site at the American Cemetery in Margraaten (also on Monday, October 6th)

Being at my Great Uncle, Romeo's gravesite (and the cemetery as a whole) is an incredible feeling. Maybe it's...





~Knowing how much my (late) Grandfather would have loved to make it here...

~Thinking of how painful it must have been for his mother to lose one of her little boys...

~Or thinking of what it might have been like to meet Romeo...


Closer to "home", this week we also met friends for coffee at the "Groote Markt" in Middelburg (yesterday) and did some people watching at Jersey -- on the "Groote Markt" in Goes (yesterday afternoon).

We rounded up our week with visitors by walking on the pristine beach in Vrowenpolder this morning, before the girls headed off on their 1-week road trip of the Benelux region. Lukas always struggles when friends or family leave, and, today, he kept insisting that the girls come with us, rather than go. It's sweet, and yet it breaks my heart. Goodbyes are never easy.