Birthdate in Brussels

Life is different now. This is true for everyone of course, because… well, because of 2020. But specifically I mean living overseas is different—so different—with kids. When we lived in Asia we liked to GO ALL THE PLACES! DO ALL THE STUFF! SEE ALL THE THINGS! (Write all the blogposts! 😄) Now, especially because of coronavirus, my goal is less “GO DO SEE” and more… “experience the ambience of Europe.” And please let me say, we nailed that recently.

Chris and I have birthdays that bookended a weekend this year. Since Plan A (birthday à Paris) n’est pas possible, we acquired good feelings of European-ness in other ways.

Suits of armor, for example, feel very European. On Chris’ birthday with the kids IN SCHOOL, he and I headed to the castle-y looking Porte de Halle, the only remaining gate of Brussels original medieval wall. Its ancient arches, sweeping city views and romantic spiral staircase provide a lovely backdrop to the Bruegel experience and historic exhibits inside, which illuminate life in Brussels hundreds of years ago.

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We followed that with some Lime rides around the city streets, some antique shops, and a très European lunch at Falstaff, which left us dueling over the tasty sauce left on my plate.

Then I headed to the metro to get to the kids’ bus stop in time, and Chris wandered through the Grand Place for extra birthday ambiance en route to a bookstore where he could collect a workbook for his French class.

Chris and I realized with surprise recently that, since Eloise was born, the 10 months we’ve been in Belgium is easily—by far—the longest amount of time we’ve gone without moving or deployment. As in, almost double. And while it has been a horrible year of great upheaval and chaos worldwide, for us personally, it has been an unexpected time of calm. That peace settled lightly across our birthdays this year, and it was the best present I could have asked for. Happy Birthday, Chris! Here’s to another year of experiencing the ambience of Europe in peace and calm.