Home Sweet Home!

Yep! We're back home in Elektrostal. We arrived in Moscow Thursday night at around 9:30, over an hour later than scheduled, but our taxi driver was there waiting to take us home. What a great trip we had! Let me catch you up on the last several days since I last wrote.

Our first 2 full days in Belgium were spent . . . in Holland. The 1st day, we took a day trip up to Enkhuizen, north of Amsterdam. After taking a ferry to get there, we wandered around the Zuiderzee, an open air museum where we got a little taste of what life in Holland was like a hundred or so years ago. We got to peek into people's homes, walk through the post office, the kids made rope and we all tasted genuine Dutch breakfast bread, which I learned the word for (ontbijtkoek). It was a fun day, but it was a bit far to drive for a day trip, so we were pretty exhausted when we finally arrived back in Waterloo.

The destination for our 2nd day trip into Holland was De Hoge Veluwe, a national park not far from Arnhem, a place World War II veterans might remember. This was the day the kids had been waiting for for so long. There, we rode bicycles at least 15 miles throughout the park. We pedaled past such diverse landscapes, from forest to grassland to desert. In the middle of the park, we put our feet back on the ground and entered the underground museum which wasn't quite what I envisioned when I read the description beforehand on the internet, but was still quite interesting. And hey, it was free.

On our 4th day in Belgium, we decided to actually stay in Belgium. This made for a much more relaxing day due to a much shorter drive. We almost stayed "home" because we were pretty tired from the previous 2 days, but decided to venture out to Brugge anyway. We were so glad we did because Brugge was wonderful. It is indeed, as they say, the Venice of northern Europe. We strolled around this medieval town with no particular agenda, did a lot of window shopping, bought a few gifts for friends in Russia and ended our adventure with a boat ride through the narrow canals and under the low bridges. It was a great day for our family!

At this point, we really began to slow ourselves down, mostly due to exhaustion, but also because we wanted to spend some time with our gracious hosts in Belgium. On Monday, our hosts took us to Villers Abbey, a 12th-century abbey now in ruins, but still quite beautiful in its lush, green surroundings. We were virtually the only visitors, so it was very peaceful ambling throughout the premises. The kids loved it too because they had plenty of room to run and umpteen walls to climb.

After resting awhile in the afternoon and a bite to eat in the early evening, we headed to the train station to go to the Grand Place, the most important tourist destination in Brussels. At night, the square was spectacular, especially the towering town hall, but the highlight was the chance to finally sample a real Belgian waffle along with several delectable local chocolates. It was a delicious day.

The next day, our last full day in Belgium, was even less strenuous. We spent 2 or 3 hours walking through a nearby forest and playing hide and seek in a Waterloo park and then visiting the workplace of our hosts, the offices of the Assemblies of God mission in Europe, before going out to a fondue restaurant together. Thanks, J & E, for such a great time in Belgium and for your words of wisdom and encouragement.

Our last full day in Europe started with a drive to Dusseldorf, Germany via Monschau, a quaint, German town not far over the border from Belgium. The surroundings were quite beautiful, but the town was a bit too much of a tourist trap for our taste. We strolled around maybe an hour and then continued on to Dusseldorf.

We had no idea what there was to do in Dusseldorf, but the receptionist at our hotel gave us a couple of ideas. So, after watching CNN's coverage of the unfolding events in Myanmar for awhile, we departed for Dusseldorf's Old Town for a bite to eat. After a leisurely search for just the right place, we settled on a nice little Italian restaurant. I hadn't had good Italian food for a long time, so it really hit the spot for me. After dinner, we walked to the Rheinturm, Dusseldorf's nearly 800-foot TV tower. Since we didn't get to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we decided to go to the observation deck of this tower over 550 feet above the ground. At night, the view was amazing. The windows are angled out like a funnel, so you can lean out over nothingness and see all the way down to the base, a bit unsettling if you're at all uncomfortable with heights.

That was the big finale of our trip because we returned to Russia the next day. When we got back to our apartment in Elektrostal, we found a summons for me to appear at the police station the next day. I went, but we had to reschedule for October 3. As far as I can tell, it's just to talk some more about my wallet being stolen. More about that later if it turns out to be anything worth mentioning.

That about sums up our trip. I hope you enjoyed following along in our travels and experiences. We all really enjoyed the time together as a family. I think it was just what we all needed. Thanks again for your prayers for our family during this time.

Patrick

Picture 1 - The Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen, Holland was a very hands-on experience.
Picture 2 - Our back sides were a little sore for a couple days after riding for miles at the De Hoge Veluwe National Park in Holland.
Picture 3 - Although it was somewhat crowded with tourists, Brugge, Belgium was a very enjoyable place to visit.
Picture 4 - The kids' waffles were topped with strawberries and cream, Christy's with powdered sugar and mine was checkered with dark chocolate. Yummy!
Picture 5 - Click on this one to see the observation deck more closely. It's the lower level of windows on the funnel-shaped part of the tower. Yikes!