Europe Trip: Days 1 and 2

So our Europe trip actually began a week before we actually left for Europe. We left Saturday March 17th for Iowa. It wasn't a bad drive, though there were a few times when Jimmer just wasn't having it. The kid used to love being in his car seat but not when he's there for 14 straight hours. We had a really fun week in CB visiting with family and friends and showing off our little Jimmer. He really loved my parents' dog, Rusty. We have a few videos of Jimmer with Rusty but he would just laugh and laugh at Rusty running everywhere. Being in CB also meant eating lots of Papa Murphy's, which we did. Kayla bought tickets for the midnight showing of Hunger Games for Emmy and her. On the drive to Iowa Emmy read like two-thirds of the book to me and then I finished it after a few days in Iowa so I went and saw it, too. I really liked the movie. I liked it so much that I read the second book the day after, only to be disappointed. I just had Emmy tell me what happens in the third book because I already knew I wouldn't like it. Emmy struggled the week leading up to leaving because we would be leaving Jimmer. Probably the longest Emmy had been away from him the past year was like 3 hours. It was really hard for her. It was hard for me, too, but I was also pretty excited about going to Europe. We felt good about the trip, and I gave her a Priesthood blessing which helped a lot.

So this all leads us to Saturday March 24th. Our flight left at 11 am. It was a rough morning of trying to do last minute things of making sure everything was good with Jimmer and making sure we were packed. We forgot a few things like a watch but nothing too big...we were pretty prepared for the trip. I'm kind of OCD when it comes to certain things and this trip definitely brought that out. I was so prepared with the trip planning. I had tons of things to do and see, I bought several Groupons for places to eat at, I looked up some French and German words that I know would help out, I knew where the cheapest gas stations were, I had twice been over our driving routes street by street. I printed out the wikipedia histories of everything we would see and visit from the Atlantik wall to the Battle of Verdun. I don't like to miss things so I did a lot of research to make sure we caught everything along the way. My kids are really going to hate traveling with me someday. Anyway, so we had everything packed, we had jackets and umbrellas for rainy weather as well as a bike lock for when we would rent bikes. My backpack was full of the Europe histories, maps, important addresses, and schedule for the two weeks. I had kind of hid everything from Emmy leading up to this but sitting in the airport I showed her the HUGE stack of papers I brought and she just laughed. The airport--so it was a rough drive to the airport. Me and Emmy both sat in the back with Jimmer and video taped and took pictures of him to watch when we were in Europe. In the airport I lost it and so did Emmy. It was really hard on both of us. It was tough for Emmy because that was the only thing she thought of in the weeks leading up to the trip, it didn't hit me how hard it would be to leave Jimmer until the few hours before our flight. In the airport after we said goodbye to Jimmer we both had to just walk to a corner, pretend to look at a picture and just cry. I don't think I want to ever go through that again. It's pretty rough just writing about it. So we flew to Chicago, walked around the airport playing a game of walking up to a gate, and one of us would guess where the people there were flying to. Emmy got pretty good at the game.

We landed in Brussels at 10 am on Sunday March 25th. I had a really hard time sleeping on the plane which was weird cause I'm usually pretty good at that. It was really exciting being in the airport and just realizing we're in Europe. We made sure to go to the bathroom knowing full well it could be one of the last free bathrooms we come across. We got our backpacks and hopped on a train to the Brussels centrum/center area. It was Emmy's first time on a real train (I don't think the Heber Creepe counts). She though it was was pretty fast and she loved hearing the conductor's Flemish. So this next part I'm borrowing from Emmy's journal...she really likes exclamation points:





The Brussels Centrum was really pretty! It was voted the prettiest plaza/market in Europe in 2010. I can totally see it! I loved it. We were both feeling pretty good at this point! I slept pretty solidly on the airplane, so I was feeling pretty good. We then went to the little Maneke Pis statue. Haha, oh man, there is just something so weird about this one. There are a LOT of stories about how the little dude came to be, but the one that they tell tourists the most is how a Father lost his son, and if he was found, he would create a statue of the boy doing exactly what he was doing when he was found. I guess the statue now has like 200 outfits, so he was dressed up when we saw him. Lots of people weere taking pictures of him. Then we took the train back to the airport, got our little Opel car, and then drove to Antwerpen.
Kasey comments: So I did the math and it was cheaper for us to rent a car for two weeks instead of doing the public transportation route. In the end it probably was like $100 more but we were able to do so much more because we had a car. I wanted to make sure Emmy would experience Europe and my mission the way I did so we did plenty of trains, busses, and trams still. It was fun driving a stick again. The biggest thing that I didn't plan for was how lousy Europe is at telling you the street and highway names which pretty much made the directions I made out obsolete. We were able to do fine, though, only a few times did we get "kind of lost," but really it wasn't bad at all.



Emmy- We ended up getting lost for a little bit, but we eventually found parking. We saw Het Steen, which was the first fortress in Antwerpen. Right next to it was the meat house museum, and the cathedral. We then went to the market /plaza, and then found a hidden Medieval street. It was cool because nobody was in there, but it was a really small, thin, and long pretty street. We went to the Central Station which is a really cool, old station. It was so cool to go in. Very grand looking. Everything is so majestic and detailed. They had some disturbing display of Mummies in there, though! We then went to the diamond district. It is HUGE!!! SO many diamonds. I don’t know how they can possibly do well when there are so many!







We then walked back to the car and then got stuck in a traffic jam on our way to see Harry in Maarheeze. Once we got there, oh man! BEAUTIFUL! I feel like this was my first taste of what Holland was really like. Everything is maticulate and manicured. I loved that everyone seems to take such good care of things. All the brick homes with that Dutch style was just so adorable! I LOVED it!!! We saw Harry and he is so wonderful! Kasey and he had a good time talking Dutch and he fed us some raisin bread with sugar in it and some drink that tastes like Kool-aid only it came out like syrup. I found out there that bathrooms are TINY over there! As we were saying goodbye someone else that served a mission in Holland came over. Harry is definitely a popular guy with the missionaries! We then drove to Eindhoven and met up with the Van Gils, a family Kasey taught. They are just the warmest people ever! I loved talking with them! They were so gracious and kind and fed as reaaaallly well.: Mushroom soup, spaghetti, fruit, yogurt, and fried little bread balls. We really enjoyed talking with them and then as we were leaving Sis. Van Gils gave me a necklace. It was beautiful and extremely thoughtful. We finally drove to Bro. Stewart’s home. Kasey and I were able to meet his wife. They were very fun to talk with. He was from Ireland so it’s always fun to hear the Irish accent! He is a musician so he played us some of his music. After visiting for a bit, they let us crash upstairs. The showers there are also crazy. It’s just a spout and then the floor. So water gets all over the floor. Very strange! By far that was the best night sleep we ever got. We were exhausted!!!
Kasey comments: Emmy really loves manicured, man-made beauty. This is why I knew she would love the Netherlands. It is WAY different than the rest of Europe. Some parts of Germany remind me of the Netherlands but for the most part it's so different in terms of neatness and organization. I really wanted to take her in the Spring because the flowers are in so bloom. We were not disappointed, there were a ton of flowers all over the place.