LamberMontMartre
The depressed clouds had been crying off and on all morning – their tears flooding our patio then drying just as quickly. Like a confused husband, we shrugged and decided to move forward with our plans. It was a once-a-month outdoor event (only occurring during the summer months, at that) and promises had been made to our daughter. We skipped the tram and drove into the city – to the free parking lot just a few blocks from the impressive but lonely museum. We’d seen the museum the week before – after a visit to Antwerp’s newest and (in my
Planckendael
The crush of cars choke the roadway. The children – shoulder-to-shoulder in their carseats in the backseat compete for dominance and attention. I press my head into my hand and stare out the passenger window. My husband grips the steering wheel and leans forward, willing the vehicles to move beyond the bottleneck traffic light. The green light allows us and one other car forward before teasing the others and flashing red. We take and left and are free! Only to gaze in horror at the packed parking lots, the cars jumping curbs and grinding to a halt in the weeds
Te Boelaerpark
Gravel crunches under my feet. Naked trees loom above me, their skinny limbs reaching into the grey cold sky. I push faster – dodging patches of ice and slow Belgians. I must be the coldest and fastest person in this country right now. The red thermometer flashed outside the Chinese restaurant around the corner: 3 degrees. Celsius to Fahrenheit mental conversion is just something I have little will to master, but I do know this. Three degrees is cold. I chase the puff of frozen air ahead of me while jamming to my American rap and pop music buzzing in
Antwerp Zoo
“The Antwerp Zoo is stunning, it’s really a botanical garden with animals,” a fellow expat friend told me last fall. “Have you been?” she asked. Despite the numerous times we’d visited Antwerp while living in the Netherlands, we never had taken the kids. Passed it plenty – it’s just steps from the Antwerp Centraal Train Station, but with daily prices at a rate of 19 Euros/child and 24 Euros/adult – 86 Euros just seemed like a lot to shell out in one go. Upon moving to Antwerp we quickly discovered the beauty of the zoo membership. For 189 Euros, the
St. Anna’s Tunnel
The wind whips through our hair as I gaze at the fearless below. A lone girl lounges back on her hands, one leg outstretched – a black boot dangling over the edge of the wall – undeterred by the fifty-foot drop to the glistening water below. A respectable distance away from the quiet one, a boy and girl laugh. Their legs tucked and arms wrapped around their knees and they rock back and forth on the stone pier. They sip from red cans of Jupiler beer between gazes at the water. The sunset casts glaring reflections on the muddy water.
Boekenberg Park
Every real Texan knows about Barton Springs – the natural pool in Austin filled entirely from a natural spring – and the truest of Texans have dipped their body into the chilly, but refreshing waters on a scorching hot summer day. It’s a rite of passage for natives, like floating the Guadalupe, sipping a Big O at Georges, or riding the Texas Giant at Six Flags. Natural pools are few and far between – no matter what country you reside in, so imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon Belgium’s version of Barton Springs in a nearby neighborhood of Antwerp.
Kouter Flower Market
A concrete slab. Construction lining the concrete slab. An ornate pavilion overlooking the concrete slab. That’s what I knew of the Kouter Square. We’d been to Gent a handful of times when we lived in the Netherlands, and had always parked in the garage below. We took the elevator with the stroller and wandered into the city from this central location. We lived in Gent for a month before settling in Antwerp. We packed up the kids one Sunday morning and headed into town via tram to explore the many markets the Gent guidebooks and websites listed. We stepped off
Choco-Story
Bruges is a city that never disappoints – it’s beautiful and quaint. It’s full of chocolate shops, museums, and cute pubs to grab a Belgian beer. Or two. It is touristy, but with three kids, sometimes it’s nice to play the American tourist card (as opposed to the local-who’s-supposed-to-know-what-they’re-doing card. Just sayin’) Plus, the city has a french fry AND chocolate museum. In short, it’s perfect for the whole fam. We ventured off to Bruges just a few weeks after landing in Belgium. We’d visited the city many times before, during our previous expat experience when living in the Netherlands,
ChocAlicious
The rickety tram dings a tiny bell, and pedestrians scurry from its path. Sunlight gleams between buildings and dances off windows. People of all ages climb the ancient stairs of this number four tram, cast glimmers of smiles at each other as they pass. The sun seems to have energized the entire city, despite frozen kisses the wind pecks on our cheeks. I glance between the beauty of Antwerp, with its art deco and art nouveau architecture fanning both sides of the tram tracks, and my WhatsApp messages on my phone. I have a group of old girlfriends in the
Citadelpark
My footfalls beat on the gravely asphalt. I’ve escaped my three children for a bit, leaving them in our temporary apartment with my husband. Running was a habit I picked back up after moving to Texas. In Leiden, I exhausted myself daily just biking or walking my kids around town. Once I moved back to Texas, I was determined to continue biking my kids to school. (Despite the rolling-down-of-windows-wave “Hey? Do you need a ride?” questions from other well-meaning Moms in mini-vans.) I eventually gave up once the temperatures headed into the 90s. We still played outside or went to
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