Weekend Road Trip to France and Belgium

The fact that I can have that as a title is pretty cool, and one of the main reasons we wanted to move to London.  Because we can, in fact, decide on a Wednesday that we want to take advantage of the 3 day weekend ahead and drive to France and Belgium.  And that is just what we did.  

We knew the Paris Temple Open House was happening, but after our marathon of visitors and travel to Spain we were feeling quite tired.  Additionally, we already had plans to travel to Paris at the end of May when Matt's family was visiting.  So we decided we would not attend the open house and just visit the temple sometime when we were in Paris.

But then on a Wednesday night after the kids were in bed,  Matt said, "Maybe we should just go this weekend after all since it's a 3 day weekend."  We spent a couple hours researching and booking lodging and trains, and Saturday morning we were on our way! Road trip!

We drove 1 1/2 hours to Folkestone to board the Eurotunnel train.  Everything about it was easy and smooth from the passport control to driving onto the train (yes, you read that correctly - driving onto the train like a ferry in Seattle) to exiting on the other end.  It was much less exhausting and stressful than our trip to Barcelona via Gatwick Airport.  We left our house at about 10 AM and were at our Airbnb in Versailles by 4 PM (including the hour time change).    

Saturday evening we attended the open house for the beautiful Paris Temple and had a delicious dinner out.  Sunday we attended church in the morning and spent the afternoon exploring the fountains and gardens at Chateu de Versailles.  In the evening we drove to Bruges, Belgium where we stayed overnight.  Monday we explored the picturesque town and ate to our hearts content.  We left in the mid-afternoon and arrived home by bedtime.  

The trip was certainly not without its challenges, but for such a spontaneous trip it went remarkably well.  It's also become apparent that most of the trials of traveling with 4 kids would exist no matter where we are - even on a road trip in the PNW.  Overall the getaway was a huge success, and we are looking forward to more road tripping around Western Europe.  

"I love to see the temple . . ."  This was our children's first time getting to go inside of a temple.
The stained glass and architecture were beautiful and it was a special moment looking together
into mirrors that represent eternity and thinking about how we can be an eternal family.  The grounds
outside the temple with all their colorful blooms, fountains, and the statue of Christ, were equally
peaceful and beautiful.  

Matt took an early train ride into Paris to meet up with a friend for a run.  His sunrise view on the
train ride from Versailles to downtown Paris was beautiful. 

At Jardin Versailles Danny and Kaylee really loved all the citrus trees in L'orangerie.  
They were sorely disappointed I would not let them actually pick any oranges and eat them. 

Fountains!  There were so many different types of fountains and even some shows set
 to music.  The amazing thing is that the fountains remain mostly unchanged from when they
were originally put into place during the reign of Louis XIV.  

This panorama didn't quite turn out as hoped, but I was hoping to capture this particular
vantage point from which you could spin 360 degrees and see over 12 different
fountains.  Beautiful!   

As we were leaving Versailles I insisted Matt take this photo.  We had been at Versailles on
our babymoon almost exactly one year before.  I was 6 months pregnant with James on our
first visit to Versailles in 2016.  During our 2017 visit James was 9 months old.  I think it's a much
cuter shot when he's on the outside. 

Exploring Bruges, Belgium.  Beautiful canals, fountains, windmills, blossoms, and architecture.

Apparently if you order french fries with ketchup, but eat them with dainty little forks,
then they are pom frittes.  Delicious!  

Belgians don't mess around with their chocolate.  We got a sampler that we ate our
way through.  And the waffles exceeded expectations.  I would move to Belgium just to eat
those waffles on a daily basis.  SO YUMMY! 

Want to Remember:

• ·      Coolness of driving the car onto a train to go into the tunnel
• ·      Ease of immigration when using Eurotunnel
• ·      Getting on a much earlier train
• ·      Car picnic – ham and cheese wraps – in a train while traveling under the English Channel
• ·      Driving through French countryside -  fields with bright yellow rapeseed/canola and white cows
• ·      Unexpectedly running into our London North Ward friends, the Hagens, at the temple.
• ·      Standing in temple sealing room as a whole family looking into eternity
• ·      Danny and Kaylee taking photos on the temple grounds and AJ posing for Matt
• ·      Chinese buffet in Versailles
• ·      Overflowing chapel and church building – SO many people. 
• ·      Sacrament passing taking over 20 minutes because of the number of people.
• ·      The hymns Be thou Humble and Because I Have Been Given Much in French.
• ·      Many languages and cultures.
• ·      Unexpected sunshine as we got to Versailles
• ·      Letting the kids pick which hidden gardens to go to.
• ·      Frisbee and flower picking in the Star Grove
• ·      Kids running through mazelike paths
• ·      Picnicking at Versailles
• ·      Finally finding a fountain with water – Mirror Pool 
• ·      Sunshine right as the fountain show was starting in the Ballroom Garden
• ·      Crazy fountain statue poses
• ·      Abby racing between the fountains.  “Ready, set, go.  I’m the winner.”
• ·      Singing children their lullabies in the hotel until they fell asleep late at night in Belgium.
• ·      Picturesque Bruges
• ·      Family boat ride through Bruges canals
• ·      Best food ever in Belgium – pom frittes, chocolate, and waffles.  YUM.
• ·      Successfully checking off Matt’s 4 “Must dos” in Belgium
• ·      Everyone singing Sweet Baby James when he got fussy from too much time in his car seat.
• ·      Danny and Kaylee playing with Jamesy – chugga chugga choo choo, ring clipping on and off, peekaboo
• ·      Singing Down by the Bay as we drove into Paris – seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time off in the distance
• ·      Deciding on stickers for Ringo – his first big road trip
• ·      Walking crazy fast around Bruges with AJ and James to see the windmills
• ·      Matt having 2 snuggly Sunday naps with James
• ·      First time driving in Belgium and France – hooray for googlemaps.  And a smart driver (Matt) who remembers which side of the road to drive on.
• ·      Playing "I Spy" while eating pom frittes

Want to forget (but will include for posterity and to laugh about later)

• ·      Late night arrival in Belgium
• ·      Overpriced hotel with extra charges for each kid
• ·      Stressful McDonald’s ordering on supposedly faster self-serve kiosks.
• ·      No quick mart at the gas station
• ·      James waking up all night.  And Abby being afraid.  And Kaylee’s hurt leg.  Basically no good sleep. Any night.
• ·      Waiting 30 minutes for a fountain at Versaille with no water.  And finding out the other fountains didn’t start until 5:30
• ·      Abby meltdown about no straws for her hot chocolate at breakfast.  And how the milk and pears and croissants tasted different.
• ·      Arguing at the reception desk with language barriers about what paper was needed to pay the bill. 
• ·      Cold, windy morning so nobody wanted to see the North Sea.