Getting ready for the holidays...

Since the German Christmas markets, Jay and I have been getting ready for our big trip back to see our families.  We had one little glitch, somehow we both got food poisoning and had quite the battle with it.  It was bound to happen with all the new food that we've been eating!  A good, not feeling so hot activity is going to the movies!  What's great about Brussels is b/c so many people speak English, they had a lot of movies that were still in English with French subtitles.  We went to see Fair Game, which really good - I highly recommend it :)  What we noticed the most is that people actually were quiet in the theatre - no one was trying to talk, make noise, have cell phones going off, it was quite relaxing!

Last weekend we decided to stay put and get some more Christmas shopping done.  We had heard that the Brussels Christmas market was pretty cool so we decided to check that out too.  Turns out, it was amazing!  They did a really great job at organizing it and by the Grand Place, there was a light show and a beautiful opera singer singing next to the giant Christmas tree.  By far, the coolest experience I've had in Brussels - I think Jay would beg to differ, Delirium probably takes the cake for him ;)

And yes this week was also the celebration of my big birthday.  I now belong to the 30 club.  Jay made my birthday an amazing day to remember, he made me breakfast before work, took me out to a great lunch that day and then later that night cooked his famous lamb chops and had flowers, a bath running and a birthday cake to end the night.  Best birthday ever!  The next night we went out for an incredible dinner at Comme Chez Soi (on the places to hit before you die list), the food was excellent, service was amazing, I felt like the most special girl in the world!

Friday night was the Brussels Bain holiday party which was held at a castle just outside Brussels.  The party was amazing, they had a "movie awards theme" to honor the movie that everyone prepared just for the party.  It was a great time to celebrate with my Brussels colleagues.  And yes - I got my hair done, I have no idea how but the curls actually stayed in through the next day!

The next day we took off to Antwerp to spend the weekend and hit up the Winter Beer Festival in a nearby town.  Jay joined our friend Taylor and some of his guy friends for the beer festival, and I skipped out so I could get some more holiday shopping in the best shopping city in Belgium!  The hotel had an indoor pool and sauna/steamroom which was just the relaxation that I needed. 

I then joined the guys out at a famous beer bar in Antwerp that had "aged beers" called the Kulminator.  Sounds weird but beer ages just like wine does, we ended up trying a 1983 Chimay beer which was very very good!  From there we hit up a cool Tapas restaurant and had some paella and finished off the night at a very interesting bar by the Cathedral.   We spent the next day exploring Antwerp and then headed home on the train back to Brussels.

This week we'll be getting ready for our big trip home, packing up the gifts so we're ready to go for our flight Thursday morning.  I've never been so excited for Christmas to come, we can't wait to celebrate with everyone!