A Long Weekend in Brussels, Belgium

As I mentioned earlier, the English school system is what Americans would call "year round" - they have a very short summer break, and then other long breaks sprinkled throughout the year. Each of the three terms has a week-long break halfway through, imaginatively called the "half term". Our first one, back in the fall, we'd spent in Amsterdam and had a lovely time. So, for the next one, we decided to go to Belgium for a long weekend. We expected it to be similarly lovely, and because it's so close to London, it would be an easy trip. 

At this point, it was February of 2020. Not only does that make it a cold and dark time for travel, but of course the pandemic was on its way. We had no way to know this would be our last trip before everything locked down. We all had been sick earlier in the week, and weren't feeling great when it was time to travel. So- in short - this trip was not as nice as the weekend in Amsterdam. It had some good moments, but not our best. 

Day 1: Travel

One of the coolest things about this trip was that we took the train to get there! It was so much nicer than fussing with the airports - we just tubed into the city, hopped on the train, and arrived in no time. I made Mission Impossible jokes the whole time as we traveled through the tunnel under the channel. When we arrived, we did a quick walk into the old part of the city to see a very nice lights display, and then decided to pick up easy dinner from the grocery store instead of braving the restaurants. 

on the train- heading for the chunnel

lights display downtown

Day 2: Waffles and Wandering

So the next morning, we set out to see the town. Brussels is known for its waffles, so that was our first stop. We went to the Galleries St-Hubert- a very cool indoor shopping area that has excellent waffle spots- beautiful, crispy waffles smothered in chocolate. Then, as if that wasn't enough sugar for everyone, we stopped by Neuhaus for some amazing Belgian chocolate truffles. 

beautiful waffles

chocolate-covered children

babies like sugar too!

more chocolate!

Now that we were all hyped up, it was time to walk around the city. We headed back to the Grand Place, the old city square, which is beautiful. We swung by the Mannekin Pis, a small water fountain of a little boy peeing. It is a huge attraction for some reason. Then up to the Royal Quarter where the Palais Royale and Palais de Justice are located - both beautiful, ornate buildings to see. I believe we stopped in the Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts to use the bathrooms, so that kind of counts. 

Grand Place

not smiling in the Grand Place

cranky babies in the Grand Place

infamous pissing boy

I am shocked. 

Palace Royal

Palace de Justice

At this point everyone was cold and tired and getting hungry for lunch. We skipped the palace grounds, which are supposed to be really nice, and instead headed to the MIM for lunch. The MIM, or Musee des Instruments de Music (Music Museum) is supposed to be pretty awesome. We had a great experience in Vienna's music museum, and thought it would also be a great option for kids and a way to warm up. Plus, we had read that the rooftop cafe had great food and amazing views of the city below.  Unfortunately, this turned out to be a huge flop. The elevator wasn't working, so we had to carry everything up like 10 flights of stairs to the top. Then, we got there and it was so crowded, we waited in line for over an hour (while holding a napping baby) to get in. The food turned out to be nothing spectacular and we didn't get a table with a view. We ended up skipping the actual museum and just headed back to the room. 

disappointed.

By the end, we were all just tired and cranky, so we went back to our room to rest up. It was raining and cold, so I just swung by the local shop to pick up some premade food before putting everyone in bed. It was a disappointment for sure- I had been really looking forward to the mussels and thought the fries would be an easy win for the boys - but it wasn't in the cards. 

Day 3: One last waffle and time to go! 

The next morning, we went out in search of the other kind of belgian waffle (because there are 2!), and were able to get a few right off of the Grand Place, to eat with a view one last time. Then it was time to pack up and head back to the train station and back home. 

 

This definitely wasn’t our best trip because of a few unfortunate factors. First, the weather was just bad. It was cold and rainy, and we couldn’t escape it. There were a number of nice outdoor gardens that would’ve been great with kids, but for the weather. And if it had just been us, we could’ve escaped into the museums or restaurants, but really couldn’t with the kids. Second, everyone was sick, so it made everything more difficult, less fun. I feel like we didn’t give Brussels a fair chance, and if I had a chance to go back, I would. 

One thing I find perplexing is why our trip to Amsterdam was so different. Both trips were with two small kids, in cold, rainy weather. Both were just city-trips, nothing super ambitious, with easy travel. Both are similar countries with similar food and culture. Yet somehow the Amsterdam trip was charming and Brussels just wasn’t.

A few lessons learned - definitely don’t travel with kids to cities in crummy winter weather. I think we had already learned the similar lesson for trying to travel around cities in the heat of the summer. We were successful at a few baby travel things - we made sure the Airbnb had a crib so we didn’t have to bring ours - and knew we didn’t need a car for any of it, so we didn’t need the car seats. All we had was the collapsible stroller. We put everything else in one huge roller suitcase - which turned out to be a disaster when we needed to get it up several flights of narrow stairs to our room - 2 medium bags would be better than 1 huge one. 

Anyway - overall - still nice to get away from home. Especially in hindsight - knowing that we were about to enter months of lockdown. More on that shortly. 

A Week in Malta with Family

After a nice, quiet Christmas at home by ourselves- we were very happy to head to the airport for one last trip to meet up with my brother and his family. All of the schools were closed, so we were all off for the holidays anyway and wanted to get out of town. We had traveled to see them earlier in the summer, but made the mistake of making it too quick of a trip, so this one needed to be long enough to really catch up. Vienna gets cold and snowy for the winter, so they wanted to go anywhere warm - and Malta just happened to have direct flights for both of us. It's a tiny island south of Sicily- quite close to Tunisia. I don't know that it was the top of anyone's must-see list - but it checked all the boxes, so we booked our flights, found an Airbnb that was big enough for all of us, and set off on our last and 5th trip for the year. 

Tiny Malta- about as far south as you can get in Europe

closeup of the sites of Malta

I'm usually very excited about the planning of a trip - but I totally phoned it in on this one. I didn't even buy the Lonely Planet travel book, which is usually my first step.  So we hardly knew anything about Malta before we arrived. It turns out to be a very interesting little island- it's changed hands a bunch of times; it has both Italian and North African influences. In fact, it was once part of the British Empire, so there were a number of weirdly British things there too. The landscape is very dry and rocky, so it was actually the film location in Game of Thrones for the dothraki stuff. It wasn't a whole lot warmer than London, but the sky was beautifully clear and blue- and that was a nice change. 

getting good at getting to the airport

chilling on the plane

Day 1: Valletta

So the first day, everyone wanted to head into the old city of Valletta, but the baby was not cooperating. So they all ended up going while I stayed home with him to let him have a good long nap. They had a nice afternoon exploring the area while I chilled with him - until the power went out - I momentarily panicked- and then everything was fine. First lesson- Malta's power supply isn't super reliable. 

discussing important things at dinner

Day 2:  The Aquarium

The next day we were planning to head to the aquarium, and again the baby wasn't cooperating. So this time I went with them and our big kid, and left Spouso with the baby in the hotel. We took a bus to the aquarium, grabbed lunch and hung out on a playground, and then they met up with us just a bit later. It wasn't huge- but had some really cool exhibits- like a huge walkway under the shark tank that was just amazing. Afterwards, we hung out in the cafe for a drink and snack break, hoping to let some bad weather pass over us - but instead we got hopelessly stuck in it. We went back outside to catch our bus just as it started raining- I think we waited out by the street for maybe 2 hours getting completely poured on while thunder started rolling in before a bus finally came by and we squished onto it. 2nd lesson: Malta's transport isn't super reliable. 

Day 3: Mdina

On the third day, we all took the bus to Mdina- a very old city in the middle of the island. We stopped quickly for the Maltese pastry - pastizzi- a pastry filled with cheese and mushy peas - and then explored the old, walled city. 

mmm mushy peas! 

coming to the walls of Mdina

warming up with some cocoa

a rare photo of all of us that wasn't a selfie!

Day 4: Back to Valletta

Now New Year's Day - we decided to go back to Valletta. I still hadn't seen it, and they wanted to go back and catch a few things they'd missed. It was pretty close to our Airbnb, so we thought it would be the easiest to navigate, considering that some transport options were closed for the holiday. It turned out that the boat that usually ferried people to the city wasn't operating, but we found a shuttle and were able to get there after not much trouble. The city was still all decorated for the holidays - and just beautiful. 

cousin time!

blue skies!

not a stroller-friendly city.

beautiful Valletta

Day 5: Back to Valletta Again

So for the last day- we wanted to go to the south side of the island to see some very old monoliths. My brother's crew was able to get moving faster than us, so they packed up and got moving in the morning, with the intention that we would meet up with them after the baby's nap. But, the nap sort of dragged on, and we got a late start. We ended up stopping by a playground on the way to Valletta, and then stopped by Valletta one last time in order to see them fire off the canons (something they do every day but we had somehow mussed until now). We ended up meeting up with them in time for a quick carousel ride before heading on to dinner. So we never made it to the ancient ruins - but they sounded pretty cool. 

Around the House

So mostly we tried to stay out of the house as much as possible during the day, but still ended up spending a good bit of time there. We generally hung out all morning so that the baby could get a good morning nap in his crib. There was a nice little balcony with a view right on the water that was warm enough during the day to sit out and enjoy a cup of coffee. He napped on the go in the afternoons. We did dinner in the apartment a few nights- taking turns on cooking. We also were there every night - hanging out after the kids were asleep. We took turns going out every night in pairs to the local pub. It was nice getting out to the pub - but also just really nice to hang out each night and catch up with each other without the kids. 

balcony view

Traveling with 2 Small Kids

So- generally, by this point we'd gotten pretty confident about traveling with our two kids. We'd kind of mastered getting to the airport - baby on me, bags in stroller, Spouso takes the big suitcase, we all take the bus to the train together. We knew the airbnb would have a crib, so thankfully we didn't have to bring it. We have our own portable high chair, and knew we wouldn't be driving anywhere so we didn't need the car seat. We brought very few toys or books knowing they'd have a cousin to entertain them. We brought just enough baby supplies for a day or two, and swung by the grocery store for extras. So that was all great. Sometimes we knew it would be not be stroller-friendly, and just kept the baby in the carrier. Other times, we brought it with us, and were able to trade off between the boys to give the big kid's legs a rest. At one point though, I realized I'd had the baby in the carrier on me for close to 8 hours when my back started spasming - at which point it was clear he had become too big for that. So, I think this may have been our last trip with a baby, officially transitioning out of that phase. 

our very useful portable high chair

Traveling with Family

So, to be fair, we haven't every really traveled with anyone, so I have nothing to compare this to - but we thought this trip worked great. Traveling with my brother's family was awesome. It was a way for us to each see and experience something new while having lots of time to spend with each other and catch up. In some ways it was much easier - we could divide up and leave the kids at home with 2 adults while the other 2 adults ran out to pick up groceries or run to the pub. 

One thing I had been worried about was the fact that they are much more ambitious travelers than we are, and I didn't want to hold them back.  The thing that turned out to be essential was learning to divide up and not try to do everything together. The kids were just on such different schedules there was no way to get everyone fed and moving at the same time - so some mornings we split up and left one of us at home with the baby while the rest went out, and sometimes all of us stayed home while they went out. A few times they went for dinner at a restaurant when we knew we just couldn't - so it was easier for us to cook something quick at home while they ran out. Generally - just being flexible was critical- and it helped that they're all so easygoing. 

Anyway - Malta turned out to be lovely. Spending a week with them was fantastic. The timing was really nice - being able to have a relaxed Christmas in our own home, and then traveling and getting out of town for the rest of the long break was great. I would love for this to be a new tradition - but unfortunately this was their last holiday season before moving back to the US. Sad for us. And with that - it was back to the airport and back home for the next school term.