Lucky (by Warren) Today we braved the Belgian traffic (and especially the endless lines of long haul trucks) to visit the WWI battlefields at Ieper (or Ypres). We learned about the incredible sacrifice of so many in Flanders' fields with our tour focused particularly on the deeds of New Zealanders who fought and died at Messinnes, Paschendale, and Polygon Wood amongst other sites. Our guide's stories brought the battles to life and left us sobered by the tragedy...

Chocolate is my birth right (By Claudia mostly - with the help of everyone) Today we played tourist in Brussels. We went to the Grande Place where we ate our way through some authentic Belgian chocolate and battled our way through huge cream waffles. We then went to Waterloo - yes we sang the ABBA song over and over again! We had gone there to see friends who were celebrating two of their sons birthdays with a bowling party. We found out that none of us are par...

The familiar (and not so...) by Tracy We first came to live in Brussels 16 years ago and spent three years here. This is where both Claudia and Riley were born. There were a lot of emotions here as we adjusted to life as expats, and started our little family. The past two days we have been struck by how much we remember - the smells, the sounds, places we knew well, tastes, brands, traffic and the general flow of life. We've also realised that some things hav...

Destination chocolate (By Claudia) Today we said our goodbyes to Paris as we embarked on our journey to Belgium. We arrived in Brussels wide eyed and excited to see where Riley and I were born and ready to recreate some memories from over 12 years ago! The narrow streets and new car did make for a little bit of stress on our way out of the train station but as soon as we saw the snacks in reception and our apartment that took up an entire floor, most of that stre...