Ghent and the Hague Temple

 

Back in September we traveled to Belgium and the Netherlands, but we ran short on time and didn't make it to Ghent.  So last weekend we took a day and drove to Ghent.

 

 I didn't really plan to the extent that I usually do for this quick overnight trip, so we weren't always sure what we were looking at, but the internet helps me learn about it after the fact.  This is St. Nicholas' Church or Sint-Niklaaskerk. Built between the 13th and 15th Centuries, it's a pretty cool Gothic church.  We peeked inside but Good Friday mass was going on and we didn't want to disturb that, so we left pretty quickly.

 

Next we grabbed some lunch.  Rob waited in line for these Gourmet Frites.  Belgian fries with Shakshuka on one and parmesan, tomato, and basil mayo on the other which we enjoyed.  They were awesome!  While he was waiting for those I took the kiddos to McDonald's because it makes them happy and is easy and affordable.  (Those two orders of frites cost 15 Euros.)

 

We next walked past the 91 meter tall belfry (tallest in Belgium) and poked in some chocolate shops to buy some dessert for later that night.

 

Ghent is really pretty, but was super crowded on this Good Friday.

 

The reason I personally wanted to come to Ghent was to see St. Bavo's Cathedral and the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb altarpiece there.  The cathedral was started in 1274 on the site of an earlier wooden church dating back to 942.  We've seen a lot of European cathedrals, and this one was pretty cool and fairly unique. 

 

You have to pay a few euros to see the Van Eyck altarpiece, and they don't allow any photos, so I pulled this one off the internet. Completed before 1432, it is considered a world art treasure. I love the history of this piece: it is all original except for the lower left-most panel which is a replica despite having some of the panels stolen in WWI and then returned, and the whole thing locked in storage in France during WWII (it had been en route to the Vatican when war was declared,) stolen by the Nazis in 1942 and stored in a salt mine, and different panels were stolen, sold, or damaged by fire throughout the nearly 600 years since they were painted. Despite ALL of that, all but one of the panels have survived and been beautifully restored. It is amazing.

 

Back outside in front of the Cathedral, we think these kiddos are pretty amazing too. And if you're noticing that red smudge on the corner of many of these photos, I think my new phone case is blocking the camera angle a little bit.  I'll have to see about fixing that.

 

Before heading to our hotel for the night, we took a few more minutes to stroll the streets of Ghent.  I'm glad we made the effort to get back here.

 

When we got back to our car we ouldn't believe how tightly we had been parked in.  Rob had to climb in through the trunk of the minivan to get to the driver's seat!  These were the tightest parking spaces we have ever seen! We stayed at a Holiday Inn outside the city center, right next to IKEA, and walked to IKEA for dinner that night. The next morning we had a massive buffet breakfast at the hotel where they gave the children full-size chocolate bunnies for Easter! And then we drove the 2 hours to The Hague Temple.

 

We had never been to The Hague Temple before and were blown away by the gorgeous tulips! Obviously The Netherlands is known for tulips, so this shouldn't have been a surprise, but the gardener told us this was the peak week to see them.

 

Family selfies at the temple always make me happy. 

And here are a bunch more pictures of tulips...

 

 

 

Charlotte and Rob attended a 'baptisms for the dead' session with the youth from our ward.

 

Meanwhile I took the three littles to explore the nearby town.  We had a great time walking through the park, browsing a thrift shop, picking up some snacks for the drive home in a grocery store (stroopwafels, cookie butter, cheese,) and enjoying the temple grounds.

 

 

We even got an ice cream cone at a shop where Elsa and Anna made an appearance!  Amelie was surprisingly shy and would only take a photo with them if I was in it too. After Rob and Charlotte were done at the temple, we drove home with a short stop at the cheese farm we visited back in September to re-stock on real Gouda cheese.  I brought a cooler along just for this!  We finally got home at about 10 pm and everyone went right to sleep so the Easter Bunny could come.  It was a fun mini-trip, and the last time we'll leave Germany before our move to the US!

Tenerife Spring Break: Part 4 Whale Watching

 

One thing that Tenerife is known for is being a great place to go whale watching.  I wasn't sure if we were going to do it or not on this trip, but we decided on our last day to check it out.  We went down to the port area with a total price in mind that we wouldn't go over (having looked at costs online ahead of time) and the first boat we came to offered us a great "family discount" and we were thrilled.

 

We climbed aboard for our 2 hour tour.

 

We've had a few issues with motion sickness before, so we weren't sure how this would go, but the kiddos actually had very little problem with the motion, and loved the boat ride.

 

Rob and I liked it too.

 

We were actually able to see a lot of sea life, though we learned it is difficult to capture with a cellphone camera.  We saw a sea turtle.

 

And we saw many pilot whales, including a mother with baby. We also saw a few dolphins and a bunch of Portuguese Man o' War jellyfish, which I didn't photograph well at all.

 

It was much easier to take photos of the island from a distance.

 

 

The ship also took us up close to this cave near a cliff and the water color was just unbelievable.

 

 

I loved seeing the kids so engaged with looking for sea creatures.

 

 

 

 

The rocking motion of the ship was more relaxing for some of us than for others, but we all really enjoyed the experience and sharing this memory.  That's why we travel after all. After the cruise was done we grabbed lunch and went back to the beach for our last afternoon.

 

When all was said and done we had dinner at a British and Lebanese restaurant that made everyone happy. Rob and I got all of the yummy Lebanese food we wanted.

 

And the little ones enjoyed steaks, and bangers and mash. It was the perfect farewell dinner to Tenerife. We're so glad we made this our last BIG trip before leaving Germany, but we still have a few last fun adventures to squeeze in.

Tenerife Spring Break: Part 3 Siam Park, and more Sun and Sand!

 

Our next day in Tenerife we decided to go to Siam Park.  On Tripadvisor, this waterpark is listed as the #1 waterpark in the world for the past 5 years! I'm not a big fan of waterparks, but it seemed we would regret being this close to the best one in the world and not going, right?

 

This was the "splashpad" and our first stop in the morning.  We had the whole place to ourselves. Rob and I took turns taking kids from here on the lazy river ride. It was the longest lazy river I have ever been on, taking about 30 minutes, and had a waterslide at the end which was NOT lazy! The kids who went with Rob first chose not to mention this fact to Amelie and I, but I knew we were in trouble when the lifeguard told me to remove my glasses.

 

 The wave pool was our next stop.  The periodic waves are up to 3 meters high (nearly 10 feet.) One thing that I really did love about this place though was that there were lifeguards absolutely everywhere, and it was so, so clean! There was a person walking the perimeter of this "beach" just sweeping the sand off the pathways and back into the sand area. So crazy tidy.

 

The food wasn't bad either. The prices weren't as steep as somewhere like Disney, and while they had all the kid staples- hot dogs, pizza, juice boxes...

 

They also had a few varieties of Thai curry, fresh fruit, pulled pork, and other yummy things for grown-ups.  And the flatware was wooden instead of plastic, yay!

 

The lush garden vibe was also really impressive.  There were beautiful flowers along all of the paths and between that and all of the sun umbrellas, it wasn't hard to find a shady spot to get out of the sun.

 

We didn't go on some of the most extreme water-slides! But Rob and the kids did go on quite a lot of them that I wouldn't dare attempt.  Amelie and I rode the lazy river 3 times, but even she went on some of the big inter-tube (4 seater) rides with Rob and the big kids that she was just barely tall enough for, and she loved it.

 

I loved soaking up the sun and watching the kiddos play.

(This is the smaller kiddie wave pool.)

 

This was a pricey day out for sure, but a fun one that the kids will remember.  We stayed from open to close, and they never stopped loving it.

 

On our way out, I even bought the souvenir photo!

Thanks for the memories Siam Park.

 

We went back to the apartment and cleaned up and changed and then went out for a late dinner at a nice Italian restaurant nearby.  Spanish people tend to eat dinner LATE, like 9-10 pm is not unusual, but it is unusual for us especially after a very full long day.  Toby ate this entire pizza.

 

And Rob and Jacob split a risotto dish for two (this is Jake's half) with sausage and mushrooms.  Jacob ate all of that, plus some of Amelie's pizza.

 

And Charlotte decided on this trip, that whenever possible she is a steak and fries kind of girl.  She was very happy with her meal as well.  After dinner we all went right to bed!

 

The next day we went back to our favorite black sand beach.

 

We rented a couple of chairs and an umbrella this day (though we did still have our beach blanket with us) so that we could have a little bit of shade. We also bought a half watermelon from a beach vendor, and that was a great beach day snack.

 

We were definitely loving this beach holiday, but it wasn't over yet!