Our explorations of Belgium were not over.

We struck out to discover Ghent. Clay and I had never been there either. Apparently the train station is a good 2km from the center of town. Luckily we had good attitudes :)



And in the end we found it!





These are our castle faces.



We were very excited to see a real castle.









We ended the day with a boat ride through the canal followed by frits and ice cream. A Belgian day through and through.



Ghent was a fun surprise and may need further exploration by us Sandozes. Very cool city.



Side-note: I wore a scarf to church on Sunday. Yes. Late July, the piping hot center of the year, and my neck was chilly. I am not going to question it.



The Royal Palace in Brussels.



I was really excited. I love visiting famous places, especially homes of enchanting people like Queen Paola. Look at this picture of her with Queen Fabiola from the '60s. Seriously gorgeous.



And here's the dork ready to tour her castle.



The girls had waiting long enough for true blue Belgian waffles.



They weren't disappointed.



We took in the light show in the Grand Place and then headed to bed.



One last cup of Starbucks at the airport and off our little friends went. We are so glad you came Sidney and Caroline! We miss you already.

Just a couple of high school grads taking Huy by storm.

Train ponderings.



Austin invades Belgium.




Antwerp.

Lately

Time with sweet friends.



4th of July with more sweet friends.




To the zoo to see my baby elephant who has grown so much this past year.



Saw a caged cardinal. Who ever heard of that?



Watched The World Cup among the Dutch. Awesome.



Had some really yummy fallafel.



Found this in Antwerp. Incredible.



Had some visitors from Austin!





Their blurry-eyed exit.



Quickly followed by another ray of Austin sunshine :)



And watched skies like this...



... turn into skies like this.



Summer.