Beyond
Since we were going to be in Europe, Mom and I planned to spend some extra days with my sister, Stephanie, and her family (husband Scott and kids Ava and Brady) at their home in Wittlich, Germany. It was nice to kick back and relax for a few nights and to celebrate a huge milestone for my sister. Since I was flying out of Brussels and Mom was headed to Paris to continue on her tour of Europe, we organized a day trip to Bruges.
Germany
My sister and her husband are active duty Air Force officers and are currently stationed in Germany, so any chance to spend time with them is precious. Having them join us in Rome was really special. The highlight of our visit to Germany was getting to see my sister receive her promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. It's a prestigious accomplishment to achieve this rank in such a short amount of time. I had not been able to participate in her previous two promotions and the timing worked out so that they held her ceremony while we were in town.
To kick off the festivities, they arranged to have one of the officers sing 'The Star Spangled Banner' followed by speeches from the base commander and my sister's boss, Colonel Shekel. All of us participated in the actual pinning ceremony, followed by Stephanie being administered the oath in a swearing in ceremony. My sister has accomplished so much in her 12 years of service in the Air Force's Medical Services Corp and she delivered a touching and humorous speech (and completely ad-libbed...so impressed!) thanking all those who have contributed to her success in both her personal life and her professional military life.
The ceremony finished with a rousing rendition of the Air Force Song and a reception line to meet all of my sister's colleagues. They put together a great ceremony and a lovely reception. So proud of Steph. Congrats to my sister!
To kick off the festivities, they arranged to have one of the officers sing 'The Star Spangled Banner' followed by speeches from the base commander and my sister's boss, Colonel Shekel. All of us participated in the actual pinning ceremony, followed by Stephanie being administered the oath in a swearing in ceremony. My sister has accomplished so much in her 12 years of service in the Air Force's Medical Services Corp and she delivered a touching and humorous speech (and completely ad-libbed...so impressed!) thanking all those who have contributed to her success in both her personal life and her professional military life.
The ceremony finished with a rousing rendition of the Air Force Song and a reception line to meet all of my sister's colleagues. They put together a great ceremony and a lovely reception. So proud of Steph. Congrats to my sister!
Bruges
My last visit to Bruges was during my post-college backpacking trip through Europe. I had fond memories of the nights that I spent in this Belgian town. The canals. The frites. The moules. The beer. The chocolate. It wasn't a hard sell when Rick recommended that I visit Bruges over Brussels.
Compared to the warmth of Italy, Bruges was very chilly and crisp. The one thing it was not lacking was its charm. It still had a quaint feel to it and the architecture was all medieval. We only gave ourselves a day but we made the most of that time. We strolled along the canals and found shops that sold frites, sandwiches and waffles. We visited the Henri Maes Brewery and did the 440-step tour through the facility. The views from the brewery rooftop gave us a great view of the town. We finished off the tour with a pint of lager in their lounge. We made a special trip to find Dumon, the famed Belgian chocolatier, and loaded up on treats to satisfy our chocolate fix. I really wanted to buy some Belgian lace and we lucked out when we happened upon a shop that had some beautiful pieces. We were on the hunt for moules frites, a Belgian specialty, and we found a cozy restaurant right off the main plaza. I was impressed that we packed in quite a bit in such a short amount of time and after all these years, Bruges lived up to all the memories. What's In My Wallet?
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Eats & TreatsAmuse-Bouche |