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Belgium, part 2

To continue about our adventure in Belgium ...

Since we were late to the Atlantic Wall Museum the day before, we made sure to get there on time the following day.  Chris and Andrei watched a documentary on Atlantic Wall before we went so they kind of knew what to expect.  I had no idea but it was a really good open air museum.  The Atlantic Wall was a German defensive installation with lots of trenches and artillery.  You can look out onto the sea through some windows, boys listened to the audio guide; it was a little harder for me and Chris as we tried to chase Anton around.  He is a really fast little runner and he can get into places that bigger people can't!  We brought a stroller with us (my idea) but ended up leaving it at mid-point because once we got there it became clear that trenches and strollers don't go well together.

After the day of exploring, none of us were really hungry so we decided to have waffles for dinner so we headed back to Grand Place.  The boys sat on a little stoop right in front of the Mannikin Pis and ate their waffles.  As we were finishing our "dinner" I noticed an escargot food cart and we collectively decided to try it.  In the past we bought escargot once or twice and baked it which produced pretty good results.  This food cart, however, had boiled escargot which honestly wasn't that delicious but our little foodie Ilya loved it.  While we all (including Anton) took a bite, Ilya ate the whole bowl and asked for more. 

One of our other stops in Brussels was the Royal Museum of Armed Forces and Military History.  It was within 5 minutes of walking distance of my old apartment (10 years ago). We even went to the supermarket I used to go to since we needed to pick some more snacks.  The museum actually has free admission for the most part and has a very nice display of World War II weapons, uniforms, medals, airplanes from last century, etc. Andrei specifically is pretty interested in all things related to World War II and a bit about other wars as well so this Belgian trip definitely had an angle to it.

Before we headed out of Brussels, we stopped by one of the biggest markets that we have seen in Europe so far - Gare Midi.  It was again one of those hidden Belgian gems that you need to search for.  On our drive home, we decided to drive through Luxemburg and it was rainy and kind of cold so we ended up just enjoying a quick lunch and a bit of the fair where all 3 boys got to jump on a trampoline.  We definitely need to go back because it looks beautiful and we picked up some informational brochures, but were too wet and tired to go exploring.


Brothers

WWII trenches







Just a cute picture :)


Luxemburg







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