San Gimignano

San Gimignano was our fourth stop on our tour of Italy (1st - Pisa, 2nd - Cinque Terre, 3rd - Florence). It is a beautiful Tuscan hill town with 14 of its original 70 towers still standing. We enjoyed walking through the winding cobblestoned streets, eating gelato at the town well, picnicking outside the city walls, and popping in and out of the little shops.The views of the Tuscan countryside are breathtaking from the town and we couldn't stop taking pictures.At the top of the town there is a nice park with olive trees, roses, and a few grapes vines. We took a break from site seeing to enjoy a tasting of the local Vernaccia wines.We even got to enjoy the a beautiful sunset from the park at the top of the hill town.

More photos from the beautiful town can be found here.

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve went over to a friend from Frisbee's house for dinner. We got to enjoy a traditional Romanian dish of stuffed cabbage leaves and learn how to make our own warm Christmas wine.

Matt intently playing "Even Flow" on a home-rigged Guitar Hero.Laura not quite getting it.

After dinner we played Kolonisten - my new favorite game (stroop wafels to the first person that can find the English version for me). It was an interesting combination of Monopoly, Risk, and a lot of strategy. I really enjoy playing board games, but have a hard time controlling my competitiveness - and of course, I won.

Christmas Time

There is no standing in line at 4am the day after Thanksgiving for the best bargain of the season. There is no jolly ole St. Nick to listen to your list of wishes. There is no frantic fury of gift buying on the eve of Christmas. There are no parking attendants in Santa suits directing scores of SUVs, driven by harried shoppers, into over crowded mall parking garages.

But it's Christmas time here just the same. The subtle hints of the season popping up everywhere from market squares to the grocery stores. My favorite signs of the season are:

• With the coming of holiday meals, the grocery store has an entire line of "Feest Dagen" foods. Extra dark chocolate spread for crepes and toast, special kaas stengels, rich soups, candied breads, flavored brie, and Christmas tree shaped chicken nuggets are just a few of the treasures that have shown up in the gorcery store over the past few weeks. The Christmas meal must be a fancy affair over here, because there are also wonderful prepared horderves, amuses, stuffed/spiced/marinated meats, and even fancy cauliflower! The best time to buy all this food is the morning of Christmas Eve, when almost all of it is going 35% off (because the grocery stores actually closes from Christmas Day 1 & 2).
• Almost every town square is transformed into an outdoor ice skating rink! Hopefully, weather permitting, this is where we will be on Christmas day - skating in the park with warm Christmas wine. Don't worry mom, the rink aren't schedule to close until after you visit!
  
• The streets of town are lit up with Christmas lights. In Delft there is a party in the town square called Lichtjesavond, where they light the Christmas tree for the first time. It was a lovely evening with music from the Delft symphony, dancers, torch bearers, and a small Christmas market.

I am sure next year I will be in line again at 4am the day after Thanksgiving, but it has been nice to have a low key holiday this year.

What could be more appropriate when shut inside an apartment in the Netherlands with the wind howling outside and winter weather approaching, than sipping a glass of La Tulipe merlot day dreaming of spring and tulips?

Brussels Christmas Market

Lights on buildings, Christmas trees, warm Kriek beer, ice skating in the square, Ferris wheels, Merry-Go-Rounds, carolers singing, mulled Christmas wine, crafts, snow...

It's time for Christmas Markets!

We planned our trip to Brussels to coincide with the Christmas Markets and it was definitely the highlight of my trip!












Warm Kriek Beer & the view from the top of the Ferris Wheel.













Ice Skating in the square.