Day to Day with the Dea's: A Walk in the Park

On our last day in Brussels we did a "tour" the parks in town since we owed the kids a slow day. Right behind our hotel was the Park du Palais d'Egmont. We had been just passing through it the past few days, so today we took a closer look. We found the Peter Pan statue which is a replica of the one in Hyde Park in London.

We did a little souvenir shopping and found this little gem of a place making the real Belgium waffels. The site of these babies gave us cravings to get one of our own for lunch.

Kevin picked up some sandwiches for us at a little place and met up with the kids and I near some park benches. As I was sitting waiting for Kevin, there was this guy across the way just laying on a bench and he appeared to be sleeping when I first sat down our on our side. Once Kevin got to us he started staring at us. I was a little creeped out when he wouldn't stop, but the big clincher was when he stood up, turned away from us and started to urinate out in the open. Kevin and I immediately started packing up our picnic. Addison wasn't too happy that we were taking away her French fries and strawberry covered waffle. I had to explain very quickly that sometimes mommy and daddy get scared like when she gets scared of things and that when mommy and daddy get scared in a different place away from home that she needs to be a super good girl and listen to us. Crazy thing happened after that....the little park we moved to had a mom who just whipped down her little boys pants and let him wee right their in the middle of it all. Kevin and I were beginning to wonder if public urination was legal in Belgium....

After eating we headed out for a big long walk to Parc de Bruxelles (Brussels Park) where we got the kids to fall asleep for an afternoon nap. The park was really big and the big thing we noticed was how dirty it seemed to be. There was litter everywhere and it just seemed very untidy. This fountain looked pretty from afar but the water was so gross.

We kept on walking a mile or so down from the park to the site of the European Parliament. Brussels is home to the "capitol" of Europe and over 1/3 of Brussels' residents work for the EU parliament. There are 160 embassies in Brussels and the city is home to over 2500+ diplomats from all over Europe.

We carried on a bit more and we found the honeypot of places in Brussels - Parc du Cinquantenaire. It was a huge, beautiful park with this amazing triumph arch at the far end. Once the kids woke up we just hung out on the green and played. It was my most favorite part of our trip.

Addison and Harrison were both feeling good and smiling and playing with each other. I got Addison to race me back and forth on the green and taught her how to get down in a starting block position and to say "Ready, Steady, Go."

Addie is such a curious cat and intrigued by Kevin's and my glasses. She wanted to play with my glasses so we put the on her. She looks so studious. Poor thing is probably going to end up with glasses some day...at least we know she'll be an intellectual looking cutie.