Belgium: Brussels

We had such a lovely time in Belgium and therefore I won't be able to squeeze everything in to just one post...so let the tour of Belgium begin!

A major reason we wanted to go to Brussels last weekend was to see the Flower Carpet. The Flower Carpet is displayed in the Grand Place (main town square) every other year. Not long after getting checked-in we marched over to the Grand Place and enjoyed the beauty of the Flower Carpet:

My favorite part was that they used gorgeous dahlias for some of the details:

The Flower Carpet definitely draws a crowd and in turn the Grand Place was a bustling square of activity. Restaurants (more on the amazing food later!) and stately looking buildings line the square:



Pretty during the day, but even more striking at night, we just couldn't stay away from the popular Grand Place. A highlight of the trip included sitting at an outdoor café at night sipping delicious cherry beer and soaking up the lively atmosphere.



Another fun part of Brussels was their Fine Arts Museum. After a little trouble navigating our way there, we finally made it and even found time for a photo op:



We weren't allowed to take photos in the Museum, but we were both impressed with their collection. I even got to see one of my favorite artworks of all time, The Death of Marat, a little morbid, yes, but powerful and so interesting.

We loved walking around Brussels (when it wasn't raining) and taking in all of the new sights!

Up next: Bruges

Horseplay Leads to Sick Bay

That's a popular expression around US Naval ships as a warning to sailors about horsing around on the boat. And as it turns out, there is some truth to that statement as I learned last night. Although a more fitting expression for me would be "Dogplay leads to the Sindelfingen Hospital".

Last night we were just hanging out when I decided to play a game I like to call Dog Catcher with Toby (it's actually not so much of a game as it is me just picking him up in this funny position that he seems to enjoy because he doesn't fight it...but I digress). I quickly bent over (to pick him up) and smacked my brow bone/upper eye area on the corner of our desk chair and then the next thing I knew I was on all fours clutching at my eye. Brian was at my side in an instant confirming that I was indeed bleeding. Needless to say I was a little shaken up at smacking my head so hard and so out of the blue. After applying some pressure to the cut the bleeding slowed and Brian was able to figure out which ER we needed to go to.

My cute paramedic (Brian) quickly drove me over to the Sindelfingen Hospital in our ambulance (Mercedes station wagon). I do have to say the people of Sindelfingen did a wonderful job at hiding their hospital down a dark street in the middle of a residential area. We sure did miss the hard-to-miss, lit-up-like-Christmas typical American hospital last night. Once we got to the hospital and found the ER Brian had to ring a buzzer to actually get someone out front to the ER desk...weird, right? That's when it dawned on us that the ER, and really the entire hospital, was eerily quiet. We got registered and then waited in my examine room for about 40 minutes before my little German doctor came in to check me out. Here I am waiting patiently:

After an approximately three minute once-over he decided I needed two stitches and a tetnus shot. Having wagered with Brian earlier that I would NOT need stitches I was a little disappointed to hear that. Although I think my disappointment stemmed from the whole getting a shot of local anesthesia in my eye socket idea as opposed to the whole fixing my cut idea. Immediately after my diagnosis I walked across the hall in to the procedure room and the fun started! The shot of anesthesia was the worst part and luckily that was done and out of the way first. The two little stitches didn't really hurt and five minutes later I was all sewn up and heading home with instructions to get my stitches removed in 10 days at the Patch Barracks Clinic.

We got home, got ready for bed and then immortalized my wounds with a photo:

Overall the German hospital experience was a positive one. We were physically in the hospital for about an hour and 10 minutes. This morning my eye is a little swollen and bruising slightly, but not too bad. All in all, considering how hard I hit my head, I was pretty lucky to walk away with just two stitches and a new appreciation for that old Naval expression.

**Belgium posts to follow**

Tschüss!

Photo Credit

We're off on a family vacation to the land of waffles, a Flower Carpet, and tasty beer.
See you later!

PS - Tschüss (pronounced like juice - j + ch "chuice") means bye/see ya/ciao in German.

Toby Thursday

I can't believe it's Toby Thursday already! Where did this past week go?
Without further ado, here are some fun facts about our pesky puppy:

-His paw is now the size of my palm.

-He loves to play with his Chuck-It (thanks again, CC!).

-He's a great listener if you ever need someone to talk to. Trust me, he's all ears!

Stuttgart Sommerfest

One thing we've learned about the German people is that they love a good festival, particularly in during the summer months. Starting in July and going through September, there is at least one or two festivals taking place somewhere in the greater Stuttgart area. Lucky for us, we were around this weekend to take part in:

Sommerfest is a festival comprised of international food, drink and music and takes place in downtown Stuttgart along the Schlossplatz (Palace Square). Here we are with the new Schloss in the background:



We met up with our friends, Jeff and Marissa, on Saturday afternoon to take in some of the local fun. Here's a view of a portion of Sommerfest:



There was delectable food booth after delectable food booth. We didn't know where to start so after some perusing we went with the following:

An Argentinian empanada, a flammkuchen, and spicy seafood pasta



After we fueled up, we explored more of the booths until we found a suitable beer booth for some cool refreshments. The ladies:



Then there was some more walking around, some ice cream, and perhaps one or two more drinks before we hopped on the train back to Sindelfingen. We had a great time at Sommerfest enjoying the warm weather and festive mood. Strangest thing we saw at Sommerfest, Tree Lady:



Gotta love Germany and their unique festivals!

Toby Thursday

I realize "Toby Tuesday" would probably sound better, but I can't wait until Tuesday to post about our little bugger. Here's the latest about Cleatus, I mean Toby:

-He had his very first vet appointment on base and it went swimmingly. The best part was when the vet tech told me that little bump on his outer lower jaw was most likely a puppy pimple. Ha! Poor guy.

-At just over 12 weeks he weighs 30 lbs. Good lord!

-He still has trouble chewing full size milk bones.

-He loves to eat leaves and rocks.

-He snores...a lot.

-His toes are ticklish.

-He's starting to point with his paw.



We love our little dude!

Rothenburg Revisited

Ever since our quick stop in Rothenburg with Nick and Elli, we've always wanted to go back. We also saw this as a great warm-up trip for Toby. So Saturday morning we loaded the pup and our stuff into the car and pointed the wagon (yes, we actually have a Mercedes station wagon right now...and we seriously LOVE it!) towards Rothenburg. 1.5 hours later we had arrived in sunny Rothenburg and we were ready for some lunch. Prost!

A main reason to revisit Rothenburg was to see the Kriminalmuseum (great recommendation, Peggy!).



Right after lunch we walked our full bellies over for a visit. The Kriminalmuseum was extremely fascinating and slightly disturbing.

Here we have a view of one floor of the Museum and some serious handcuffs. Good luck breaking out of those!



Next up (from left to right) is one of many Shame Masks which would be worn by people found guilty of either gossiping, being overtly sexual, etc. In the center is a real, honest-to-goodness Chastity Belt (there were three displayed, this was the prettiest). YIKES. Finally, and most creepy, is the Executioners Mask worn by executioners to protect themselves from the Evil Eye of the executed.



After about an hour at the Kriminalmuseum we made our way back to the hotel to check on the pup and take a little snooze. Back on the streets a few hours later, I fell in the love with the quaint signs that most businesses and hotels have attached to their building. Here's one from our hotel and a restaurant we ate at:



Speaking of love, all over Rothenburg bakery windows are full of rows and rows of schneeballen, a local delightful dessert:



Last time we didn't try these little balls of joy, but this time we were in love after our first bite! We opted to try the smaller schneeballen:



For the Polish contingency out there, they reminded me a lot of Angel Wings, except in ball form and covered in chocolate (or powdered sugar or cinnamon and sugar). We tried the milk chocolate with nuts and the dark chocolate. Both were fantastic and we found that the smaller schneeballen was the perfect size for one person.

Post-schneeballen we walked the pup around town to tire him out, fed him dinner and then tucked him in for an evening nap. We headed back out to meet up for the famous Nightwatchman Tour. This guy is the attraction in town. People flock to him and his tour. Check out the crowd we toured with:



And here's our entertaining Nightwatchman:



His speech pattern was very unique and added a fun touch to the whole experience. The tour lasted one hour and we felt like we learned a good amount about Rothenburg, most notably, the army that first conquered Rothenburg only did so because they needed a place to rest from all of the rain ALSO the US Secretary of State during WWII saved Rothenburg from being bombed and destroyed because his mother had visited the town when she was younger and he had heard all of her fond stories.

After our fun tour with the Nightwatchman we grabbed a cute outdoor table at a restaurant on the Town Square:



And watched the setting sun color Rothenburg in blues and golds:

Rothenburg proved to be a darling Medieval town and great warm-up trip for the pup;
he did an awesome job!