The Peterson's Take Europe!: August 2013

Friday, August 23, 2013

Foire Médiévale de Franchimon (Medieval Festival at Franchimon Ruins)

Sean and I were super excited when we saw in the ACS (Army Community Service) gazette that there were a few Medieval festivals last weekend. We love a good renaissance fair (who doesn't? maybe some people but they are no fun!) and were super excited to take the kids since we had a really good time at one before Zerek was born. The ruins were close, about 45 minutes, into the Belgium country side. We parked in a huge field (which had some amazing views), loaded up on a bus and headed for the ruins. In this area english isn't a given, and I keep forgetting that most of Belgium speaks french, muddled through buying tickets and headed on it. Holy crap, the amount of people that were there was astonishing! There is something to be said to be a a medieval festival at the ruins of a castle dating back to 1000AD. They took much pride in making it super authentic to the time period! I would say about 80% of people were dressed up from kids to adults and it is totally the thing to do (dressing up at a renaissance festival in the states might be seen as a little nerdy) and they costumes were amazing. However, the amount of people really made it unpleasant to walk around. The base of the Castle had a loop around it but it was so hard to see anything with all the people stopping or coming form another direction. The ruins had little taverns at the base (rooms to walk into that had a beer tap and some tables) that I though would be cool to sit it but they were so loud and full that we walked right out. We finally made it out of the base area and walked up onto one of the hills. This was a little better but not much. Ended up eating lunch at a small cafe they had there which was a nice break from the crowds. When we left the cafe we looked at the draw bridge that went into the ruins and pretty much decided to call it a day. It was really cool, don't get me wrong, but really hard to enjoy with so many people. Poor Zerek couldn't get out of the backpack and was totally cranky by the end. I did manage to take a few pictures of our excursion. Overall, would have been really fun if there weren't so many people.

Ready to go!

On our way in.

Blacksmith demo...Sean wondered how he had so much chest hair left doing without a shirt on.

Looking up from the base of the ruins

Finally a break for lunch!

Looking down onto the drawbridge and decided we were not going to go in there!

Another view of the castle

Bella really wanted to watch the cannon fire, then it did, and she said "I don't want to do that again!"

View from the parking lot!

Another view!

Valkenburg Kasteelruine and Fluweelengrot

There is this beautiful little town only about 20 minutes from us called Valkenburg that I love to go too. Their city center is a great place to find a really good cafe, cute little souvenirs, people watch, and enjoy some awesome ijs (ice cream). We have gone 2 times but never made it to the ruins that site above the town or the caves that sit below it. I had a few days before school started for Bella so we decided to finally see them! This site gives you a little more information on the ruins and the cave: http://www.fluweelengrot.nl/kasteelruine_valkenburg.

We started with the Velvet Cave (http://www.fluweelengrot.nl/fluweelengrot), which in hind sight I would not have done by myself with both kids. I didn't realize that I could have walked a little around the corner and just done the ruins like I had planned. It was a nice tour, about 45 minutes, and the cave was really cool. The only problem (not really a problem) was the tour was in Dutch. They were nice enough to give me a sheet in English of all the markings to follow along but I totally missed the conversation which at times seem funny. All the drawings on the inside were done with charcoal and were AMAZING!

Bella at the start of the tour. She looks so grown up here!

This was so amazing to see in person. The red was so awesome.

One of the Royal families of Valkenburg.

This one was part made after the Liberation from Germany. It has US soldiers names. Many of the people in Valkenburg hid in the caves different times throughout WWII.

This is a drawing of the Castle back on the day when it wasn't in ruins. So detailed and very beautiful.

After the cave tour, we ended up at the ruins. It was a beautiful day to be outside and the kids really like walking around the ruins.

Almost a smile!

Sat himself in the corner!

Looking down onto the city center of Valkenburg

Bella copying Zerek's cheese face!

Weird smiles

Snack Break

Some of the remaining parts of the Castle

The town from the street view. Love it!

So glad we went! I wouldn't do the cave tour again, but its amazing to see just once! As for the ruin's and the town, I will be happy to return!!!

Monday, August 5, 2013

Mondo Verde

For Bella's actually birthday (today) decided to got to a local place called Mondo Verde http://www.wereldtuinenmondoverde.nl/. It's in a town called Langraaf which isn't to far from us (25 minutes) and it was a beautiful day to be outside! It is a huge park (maybe?) that has large gardens from different countries, animals, pretty architecture and an amusement area. It has great walking paths and was super clean. It was a little pricy but I think if you buy a season pass it will pay for itself in 2 visits or so. The only think I didn't like was that there was no maps around the park. I for some reason wasn't given one when I bought my tickets so I had no idea where I was most of the time. We did a solid 3 hours here, could have done more but Zerek had a little tumble that involved his face hitting the pathway. Needless to say, I was shocked when I picked him up and there was a small bruise on his forehead and some blood in his mouth from a little cut. I expected worse (which is sad). Anyways, here were some pictures from the day!

Bella with the Flamingo's

Little baby birds!!

This was an amazing greenhouse/tropical building with plants and birds flying everywhere!

The Italian Fountain, think its supposed to be Trevi Fountain

Cool waterfall I tried to get them both to smile in front of

Had a small section for dinosaurs (they like their dinosaurs our here)

A small moment of joy

They were obsessed with sticks

This was kind of odd but cool, there is a tunnel that goes underneath to another section

The area with greek statues

This garden was beautiful!

View from the other direction

Feeding the monkeys!

Bella turns 5!

I think back today, 5 years ago, and how our lives changed forever! I never thought parenthood could be so amazing, frustrating, tiring, enjoyable and rewarding all at the same time. I sat on the couch with Bella last night and wondered what happened to my baby! This little girl with long legs and big feet cannot be my baby cannot be my daughter! Had a small get together with two other families who have kids the same age. They played non stop for about 3 hours and enjoyed the new trampoline we got Bella. It was a great day!!