Madeline in the City : Bruges, Beer and Frites

Davis and I have had a pretty amazing travel history as a couple- topping the list is our destination wedding in Costa Rica way back in 2006 and three weeks in Africa in 2010 before we decided to start our family. SO when the opportunity to live in London presented itself, the first thing we thought about was all of the traveling we'd add to our passports. We are going to try for supplemental pages.

Traveling with a little one in tow is well, different. You always have entirely too much crap no matter how little you think you pack. Each night we are in the hotel by 7:30 in fear of the epic meltdown since her nap involved the stroller and maybe 1 hour (usually 2-2.5 hours) of sleeping. Our dining choices are influenced by another stroller's presence or being close to empty since we are there so early. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change it for the world, but we will be planning a trip away just the two of us when family comes to visit this fall.

It is pretty awesome to see the world through M's eyes though. I found myself becoming better at pausing. Taking a few moments to truly appreciate the beauty around us. For her, its the little things. And it's the little things that I need to be reminded of, especially after this huge change in our lives.

Here's to our first weekend adventure!


In the taxi heading to the train station.


Looking for cows, horses, sheep in the countryside. And then some iPad time because it is pretty much the BEST tool for parents traveling. It keeps me sane too.

We stayed at a beautiful hotel called Hotel De Tuilerieen. The breakfast they served was seriously AMAZING!

Exploring Bruges- such a beautiful city!

When we travel we LOVE eating our way through the city. M survived on frites all weekend long. And I'm not kidding.

There are horse drawn carriages all over Bruges so we had to hitch a ride. We had to wait a bit for one early Sunday so M is (patiently) waiting for a carriage to whisk her away.

And then we met Merlin. This is where I told Davis that when we retire, I'd like a horse. I hope he knows, I'm not joking.