"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.."

I never experienced homesickness until I came home from my mission. It was the weirdest thing. When I got to Belgium, instead of missing home and being freaked out that everyone was speaking a weird language, it was as if I breathed a big sigh of relief because this is how things are supposed to be. It was so fantastic! I love nearly everything about Europe. (I could do without the ridiculous taxes, but everything else is gold!) I'll admit my last soujourn was not pretty--I was 8 weeks pregnant and was in a constant state of barfing, plus I couldn't eat the cheese (not pasteurized) and it was just no good. Pregnancy exhaustion is different from anything I'd ever experienced--literally, tired to the bone. Fortunately, the French take VERY good care of pregnant ladies--poor Scott! People were always yelling at him for not taking good enough care of me. "Why is she driving?? She shouldn't be driving! You (looking at me) go on upstairs and take a nap. Scott, go get the luggage!" Ahhhh..heaven. I tell you--France is the place to be pregnant. Maternity leave is like 3 years long and most businesses have in-house childcare facilities. It took me awhile to want to go back--it's taken 4 years, in fact, to see pictures of Paris without nausea (I'm not kidding when I tell you I've thrown up in nearly every major park in Paris--I was SOOO sick!) but I officially miss Europe. I miss Belgium where the people are like my family. I miss the beauty of France and the food! Holy crap do I miss the food. I think people think I'm kidding when I say that if I had half the chance, I would sell everything I own to move there. Even if it were just for a couple of years. Seriously, my heart aches to go back. All of this probably sounds so silly but to prove my point, let me SHOW you why I miss it so much. First, some reasons why I miss Belgium:

This is the Grand Place. Most large European cities have a town square and this is the one in Brussels. Absolutely a tourist trap but just magical. (I'm sure I'll use this word a lot--be prepared!) This is what it looks like at night:

I also miss seeing the Basilique. I think the English word for this is "Basilica?" I don't know. I just know it's beautiful. I used to be able to see it from my apartment and seeing it makes me think of "home." Does that make sense? It's just COMFORTING somehow. Anyway, this is it:

I miss the shopping. Rarely will you see a "sale" sign in a store because they have "soldes" (sales) twice a year where everything is really cheap. (Think "clearance prices") This is Rue Neuve in Brussels. It's a looong street lined with stores of all kinds. From the classic H&M to upscale stores. On our last trip, my "Belge maman" bought me a ridiculously expensive (and terribly impractical) red purse in one of these stores. I never use it (it's teeny tiny--no can do with a kidlet--I need room for waterbottles, snacks and playdough!) It's just so great to spend a few hours walking down Rue Neuve shopping--both window and otherwise.

Speaking of shopping, another thing I miss is the lace. I bought Belgian lace whenever I had the opportunity. I love this stuff. Of course, it's also impractical since you can't really wash it. One of my most prized possessions was a gift from one of my favorite families--the DeVos family. It's a glass plate with Belgian lace inside. Belgian lace is intricate and beautiful. The same family gave Scott and I a Belgian Lace christening gown for a wedding gift to use "someday." Jack was blessed in it and I'm not a bit sorry he was blessed in a "dress"--any other little dudes that join our family will have the same honor!

I miss the food. Ahhhh the food! While it's a little crazy that the Belge fry everything and put corn in salad (and you cannot find salad dressing there--they use mayo!) they do have some things that I might be persuaded to give a vital organ for. Namely, gaufres (waffles) and frites (fries). Did you know that "french fries" were actually invented in Belgium? They're amazing--they large batches and set them aside until you order them. When you order them, they fry them again (using a different kind of oil and higher temperatures so they're less greasy) and serve them in a paper cone with one of a zillion different kinds of sauces and a little plastic fork to eat them. This is what they look like:
Mmmmm...so earlier, I mentioned the Grand Place as a tourist trap. Here's another tourist trap that I miss dearly. Our little friend the Mannequin Pis. You might not know him by name, but does he look familiar? He might look familiar, but his less-famous (and really quite hidden) counterpart probably won't. Pardon the random dude in the picture. My copy is stuck in my scrapbook. Anyway, this is the Jannequin Pis. Like I said, she's hidden--you have to know exactly where she is to get to her and for the most part, there's a gate in front of her that is closed. She's so cute!
Yep, kids. That's a little girl squatting. Man those Euros have an interesting sense of humor. I LOVE it!

So there's a brief rundown of things I miss in Belgium. Of course, it's not ALL I miss, but I don't have all day and I doubt you do either. Let's move onto France, shall we? Of course I miss most of France, but I only lived in Strasbourg (on the border of Germany and France) so I'll stick to pictures of that. Again, kids are napping and I have floors to mop. Here are (more than) a few things I miss about Stras:

Let's start with the food. I promised Laurie I'd post pictures of two of my favorite pastries. I'll not disappoint. I can't tell you how nice it was, at the end of a long day, to get a patisserie (pastry) and go home. Anyway, this is pain au chocolat:
you might be thinking to yourself that it looks like a fat croissant with two pieces of poo in it. Maybe it does, but that's not poo kids--that's chocolate and it's delicious!! My second favorite pastry is the "religieuse." Directly translated, that means "nun" which is cute because that's kind of what they look like. Actually, they're two chocolate frosted cream puffs on top of each other with whipped cream to hold it all together...mmmm...
And OF COURSE I miss the cheese. In fact, our local grocery store had a little slice of heaven called "Six au Choix" (Six of choice) where they had like 30 bins of different kinds of mini-cheeses and you could get 6 of them for a few dollars. So cool because it was a great way to try the different kinds of cheese. Mmmm...cheese...

Okay, we can't talk about French cheese without talking about Raclette. Holy cow...raclette... here's the deal with raclette. There's a little machine that looks like this:
You can see a little mini-pan with cheese in it. Everyone gets their own little cheese-holder thing. You put it in the raclette appareil (I don't know what to call it--an "appliance?") to melt the cheese and put ham on the flat part on top. When the cheese is melted and the ham is grilled, you put it on top of a baked potato. I am not kidding you--my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Finally, in the food category, I miss tarte flambee. I make this at home, but it is NOT the same (mostly because it's missing the "flambee" part) It's like a pizza, only the sauce is actually creme fraiche (I use sour cream here in the States) and the toppings are only bacon, onions and mushrooms. No mozzerella cheese--grated emmenthal (or Swiss cheese in a pinch) and not as much cheese as a regular pizza. Let me know if you want the recipe!

mmmm...kill me now I miss this stuff. Lest you think the only thing to do in France is eat, let me show you some of my favorite sights:

This is a bateau mouche--a boat you can ride on a tour of Strasbourg to see the most notable sights and learn some interesting things:

Wow..that's a teeny picture. Here are some of the things you'd see on this tour. First, the Maison des Tanneurs, the most photographed building in Strasbourg and you can see why:
This is classic "Alsacean" (the region) architecture. Half-timbered buildings with gorgeous flower boxes that burst out of the windows:

Breath-taking! One of my favorite things about Strasbourg is the cathedral (I'll go ahead and ignore the fact that there is an Astrological clock inside, that doesn't really seem right..) This is it from a distance:

Wow--another tiny picture--here is a closeup:
Dang. Also small. Hmmm..you'll just have to go yourself and see it up close! Strasbourg is the Christmas capital of the world. Let me tell you, they go ALL OUT at Christmastime. One street is lined with Baccarat crystal chandeliers!

The rest of the streets are lit up like crazy, there's even a "street of lights." It's not this one, but this ain't shabby either!
There's a Christmas market that goes for miles--vendors in small wooden shacks selling things from all over the world. Christmas decorations, gifts, food--name it and you'll find it at the marche:

Oh, wait, I forgot about this: The midieval watchtowers! The canal that circles Strasbourg is a fascinating thing. There are these watchtowers, plus they have bridges that close the water off to protect the city. Pretty cool!

Finally, with gas at $4/gallon, I miss the public transportation. I'll admit that grocery shopping is not so convenient--I can't imagine having kids and having to use public transportation with a ton of groceries, but then again, they shop by the week, at most. Most things are purchased fresh from street markets. But I really miss being able to get anywhere on public transportation.

There are millions of other things that I can't post pictures of. I miss how genuine the people are. If they're your friend, they will die for you. If you're not, they don't pretend you are. I like that. I miss the culture, I miss the loyalty. I miss the feeling in the air. I miss the cobblestone roads. I miss the diversity. I miss how simple life is there--they work to live, they don't live to work. Vacations are never less than 3-4 weeks. America is a great place, don't get me wrong. The standard of living is much higher here for the most part. We live in bigger houses and drive bigger cars but over there, those things really don't matter to the majority of the people. I really am trying not to cry!!