Bruges, Belgium and Amsterdam, The Netherlands

We arrived in Bruges, Belgium in the late afternoon.  Our quiet hotel, situated near a park and about ten minutes walk from the center of Bruges was a welcome respite after three days in Paris.

 After we checked in, Kellan enjoyed a romp in the beautiful front garden.

The hydrangeas were incredible!

 We walked into town for dinner.  Even though the hotel wasn't close to the large central square, the journey there was lovely.

 It was past Kellan's dinnertime, so we stopped by a stand that sold hot Belgian waffles.  They were everything we hoped they would be.

 Kellan discovered the rings that are around many of the trees here and decided that it was the perfect pathway to follow again and again and again...

 Horses with carriages trotted through the narrow streets and the old buildings were great eye candy.

 The main square in Bruges...

 We found a restaurant that looked out upon this square and Matt and I enjoyed some local beer, while Mom had a martini, Dad had the world's smallest coffee, and Kellan got high on straight apple juice (usually, it's diluted half and half, so this was quite a treat).

 This was pre-apple juice.  I don't have any after pics because I don't want to embarrass him.

 Matt and I shared fresh mussels in a white wine sauce.  They.  Were.  Amazing.

 A very old church...

 Mom, Dad and Kellan strolling down a quaint, narrow street.

 We took a horse and carriage back to our hotel, which included a tour.  It was pricey, but very fun.  We slept with our windows open and enjoyed the cool evening air outside of Hotel Egmond.

The next morning, we set out to find a canal cruise.  We found a nice short one (for Kellan's sake).  It was perfect.

 Papa and Kellan never stopped playing...

This second day in Bruges was pretty warm and crowded.  While we enjoyed the rest of our visit and had fun doing some shopping, we were happy to settle into our air-conditioned car and head to Amsterdam.

We checked into the lovely Mövenpick Hotel on the waterfront in Amsterdam about two hours later.  Everyone was pretty tired, but Matt, Kellan and I ate a delicious dinner on the hotel restaurant's cool, breezy and quiet terrace and watched boats, barges and ships - huge and tiny - cruise through the canal.

Matt returned to Cologne the next morning for a FedEx trip.  Since Kellan had been hanging tough on a pretty adult-paced trip for the last few days, we decided to hang back the next day.  Mom and Dad went to visit the incredible Hermitage Museum while K and I slept in, ordered room service and then visited the Amsterdam Zoo.  It was nice and relaxing - that is, as relaxing as doing anything with a two-year-old can be :-).  We had a picnic lunch at the zoo.

 They had a room with baby chicks hatching and then young chicks running around that Kellan just loved.

We ate at the hotel restaurant again that night and had another delicious meal.  The next day we went to The Hague so that Dad could visit a museum all about one of his favorite artists: M.C. Escher.  I herded Kellan throughout the museum while Dad snapped photos of nearly everything there.  Another magical experience.  We drove back to Cologne after hitting the museum.  Upon our arrival, Matt served us a yummy dinner of stuffed bell peppers that he slaved over all day!  Not a bad a way to end a great trip.