Dixon Parents' Visit (part1)

Our whirlwind last half of the year continues. My parents came to town...dad for a week and mom for almost three! We try to pack in lots of places when visitors come to town and we definitely did not disappoint :).

The day they got in town, since it is best to keep them awake until a normal bedtime, we hit up my favorite kebab place in Aachen then headed over to Maastricht (so in just 1 day they had already been to 3 countries). A couple interesting things in Maastricht: (1) There was a group of school girls in the main square standing over the vent from the parking garage below and making their rain coats fly up in the air from the heat being released, (2) I saw my first 're purposed' church...it is now a bookstore.

My dad served a mission in Belgium for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about 35 years ago. This is the first time he's been back so we tried to find some spots that he remembered. We found the apartment he lived in when he was in Zaventem (it is very close to where we live). We visited church buildings in both Leuven and Kortrijk that had been built since he served. He said so much has change...everything has been developed...so it made it hard to actually find locations he remember, but we still had a fun time trying.

We went up to The Hague, Netherlands and wandered around downtown. Of course we found a couple playgrounds that Kherington got to stop and play on. We also stopped by the Temple and found a yummy pizza kebab in the town behind the temple.

We did the Rick Steves walking tour in Brugge. Dad tried some stoovles (fries with a yummy meat sauce) from the fry stand below the bell town that he climbed. While he climbed, mom and I tried out some Chocolates from a family owned shop just off the main square. I got a mix of just milk chocolates and would have to say they are the best chocolates I've had in Belgium thus far. We stopped for ice cream and the shop workers gave Kevin a little cone which he LOVED (a little young for ice cream but what can you do). I also wasn't thinking and ended getting Kherington a double scoop while the rest of us got single scoop. It was a lot of ice cream for a little girl.

We didn't go into any museums outlined in the walking tour, but instead just enjoyed the different architectures and sites. Kherington found a cupid statue that she enjoyed talking to, then later decided she needed to give hugs to the dragons on the back side of the benches...I think all the ice cream got her a little hyper (yeah...even more than her normal self).

Later we hit up the Gaasbeek Castle (and chocolate outlet). I had gone with Michelle, but we missed the last tour time so this time we went ahead and took the tour. All I can remember is that some crazy lady (like medically crazy) re-created the castle based on how she dreamed a castle to be. The grounds are awesome for strolling, but I wouldn't recommend the tour.

Now for our long trip with dad. We went out to Normandy which is about 5h away. On the drive out we stopped by some WWI sites. Then the second day we went to some WWII sites and drove home.

WWI Sites
Newfoundland - This was a very enlightening experience. Canadian students come and do a study abroad and offer free tours of the grounds. We walked through a trench used in battle, walked through the dead zone (area between our front line trenches and German front line trenches)learned how little planning occurred prior to the attack taking place. I just kept thinking (and still think), there is no way I could do what those soldiers did.

Somme Museum - This museum is in a tunnel used during war time. We arrived during the lunch hour (so museum was closed) so grabbed some sandwiches and had a picnic next to the fountains. The museum exit takes you right to a park that Kherington and Kevin enjoyed...until Kherington ended up with a bleeding fat lip.

Hotel: We stayed at the Premiere Class in Bayuex which was clean and cheap. The bathrooms were as small if not smaller than our cruise ship bathroom and all made of one piece...they were so small you could probably shower, wash your hands and go to the bathroom at the same time.

Restaurant: We decided on trying out a traditional french restaurant recommended by Rick Steves. Traditional it was. It was SLOW. Kids and adults were tired so it probably wasn't the best option, but once you start there's no going back. There were two upside to it (1) Ryan's dessert came with the best cinnamon ice cream any of us had ever eaten (2) It was right outside the main Cathedral in Bayeux which looks awesome lite up at night.

WWII Sites (Normandy)
We decided to stick to Rick Steves recommendations (mostly) and started our day out at...
Arromanches: We climbed a hill so we could look out over the ocean. We watched the 360 Movie. You stand in the middle of a room with screens on each wall. The movie took different locations and showed how they were during the war, then the exact same location now. From here, Mom and Dad went to the Musee du Debarquement (British) while Ryan and I wandered with the kids. Before heading to our next site, we stopped at the town bakery and got one of the tastiest baguettes we've tried during our European adventures.

American Cemetary: This is a definite must see. The museum was the most well done museum we saw on our trip. After the museum part, my dad and I took the stairs down to the beach (not as bad a hike back up as I was expecting).

Pointe du Hoc: Also an amazing location. You can wander all over the ground where the bombs hit and climb down into the lookout barracks.

Omaha Beach: We stopped at the beach on the way out. When we got there, there was a British ROTC on the beach near the water. All of the sudden they started running toward the parking lot, but one by one they kept dropping in the sand. Some barely made it a couple feet from where they started. We figured out that they were doing a re-enactment exercise.

This is definitely a trip that I want my kids to be able to go on someday (when they are old enough to actually understand). I have never been very interested in history, but when you stand in the same places as those who fought and see what they did for us, it make me feel so thankful for them. You can't learn that by just reading the pages of a history book.

Home sweet home. After sleeping in a little in the morning, we headed down to the market for a waffle, then Ryan took my parents out to the Breendonk Concentration Camp that is just 25 minutes away (I went a couple weeks ago with Michelle, so I stayed and watched kids). On Sunday, we drove around Vilvoorde to see if we could find locations that had to do with William Tyndale. There a park named after him but we couldn't find any other monuments (we did drive on roads mentioned online).

Dad had to head back to real life. We had a whirlwind blast with him and can't wait to see him in November when I'm back in the states!

...more to come on the rest of mom's visit :)