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| In Bruges |
Day two took us off on a day trip to Bruges.
This little renaissance town filled with
canals and charm was a great adventure.
We walked through the Markt Square and wandered through town to a canal boat
tour.
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| Center of the Square |
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| Markt Square |
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| Train Station |
As she does everywhere she goes,
Siena found a friend.
As we waited in
line Siena wandered up to a little girl from the Netherlands who spoke little to
no English and struck up a conversation.
I don’t think either one knew what the other was saying but they were
giggling together in no time.
Alyssa was
there with her dad and little sister and being good parents we all connected
behind the friendship our little girls created.
We shared the boat ride with them and then parted ways to tour more of
the town.
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| Canals |
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| Strike a Pose |
For Lisa and I it was fun to meet someone from another place
and to share stories of who we are and where we live (go figure, the guy had
relatives in Manteca CA). For Siena, who
still doesn’t know what a stranger is, it was a playmate and though they didn’t
speak the same language, the language of smiles, dancing and holding hands is
the same everywhere. It’s these type of
special moments that teach me so much.
While seeing different parts of the world is a gift for the entire
family, for Siena, seeing the world is special.
She doesn’t see people as anything other than people and can appreciate
them all at face value. She reminds me
all the time that smiling and saying hello is never really the wrong things to
do.
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| Siena and Rhoadie |
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| Loving my vacation |
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| Friends |
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| Siena and Alyssa from Holland |
The afternoon brought us to the Chocolate factory.
A truly touristy attraction, the small little
museum was just right for Siena.
The
tour concluded with a demonstration of how they make chocolate and comes with
the requisite sample.
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| Rhoadie at the Chocolate Factory |
As we left the
rain was falling and Siena was in high gear for splashing in puddles.
We saw plenty of rain on this trip, but it
never slowed us down.
Being in the midst
of a drought, we found the rain to be a nice change of pace.
Siena just saw it as a chance to experience
something new, catching raindrops on her tongue.
After touring the town we headed outside of the city to see
the windmills.
For Siena and I it was
our first real windmill sighting and as we wandered along the canal we passed
by 4 of them.
Siena insisted on trying
to climb one and had to run up the hills to visit them all.
After another nice dinner overlooking the
canal we headed back to Brussels.
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| Be the Windmill |
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| She had to Climb One |
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| Windmills |
Our trip was off to a nice start and by day
three our collection of travel vehicles was building, Rhoadie had travel by
car, plane, train and boat in just two days.
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| Pretty in the Park |
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| On the Train To Bruges |
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| Siena the Photographer |