House Hunters

A few weeks ago our episode of House Hunters International finally aired in the States.  Ironically, I met a lady at the American Women's club shortly after who had just moved to Brussels, and was considering being on the show as well.  If you are thinking, "isn't it too late for her and her family who have already moved abroad?" that's a GREAT question, but no, in fact it's not too late- but one of the reasons I cautioned her to think carefully about doing this crazy show!
We filmed here in late September, two weeks after we'd moved into our new place (House #1!)  We had taken a trip to Belgium earlier in the summer where we had our "real" house hunting experience- which, let's just say, consisted of more than viewing just three apartments- and no cameras!  Day 1 of filming was  actually the last part of the show where we were in our new place, furniture and all.  Day 2, if you can believe it, movers came at 8am to move all of our stuff out which in Belgium, by law, means a truck with a lift taking EVERYTHING out through the second story window.  Once our place was empty, we toured through with our "real estate agent".  She is an actual real estate agent in Brussels, and very nice, but in reality this was the first time we'd met her, ha!  The rest of the weekend was full days of filming, you wouldn't believe how long it took to get through each room of each apartment that we saw.
The camera crew was a really great group, and it was funny to film down by the Grand Place- people kept taking our pictures- looking confused like "who ARE these people?"  Anyways, seeing the final product was worth it in the end- it was a really fun experience and we had a good laugh at ourselves on TV.

The site of the big decision and bike scenes

A few things to clarify, that people have been asking:
Q: "Do all the stairs really bother you that much?"
A: No! I'm guessing in order to keep the suspense alive, they made it seem like the stairs were a deal-breaker for the apartment.  In fact our beloved old apartment in Hoboken had many more stairs, including a spiral staircase which we managed just fine on.

Q: "Are you happy with the apartment that you chose?"
A:  Yes, we are happy with #1, but of course there other two weren't actually in the running when we picked it.  #3 was also nice, and the kitchen not as bad as I made it seem, but c'est la vie!

Q: "Why did you guys keep saying the same things over and over?"
A:  We have NO idea!  There must have been 40 hours of film used to create this 23 minute show, so repeating clips three times over was totally crazy.

Better late than never

Well, it's been seven months since we moved to Brussels and despite promising to keep friends and family up to date with our movements, this is the first (of many!) blog posts.  Chris and I were discussing how our poor Brussel Sprout (now just 7 weeks until his/her due date!) will have been to so many places, both as a fetus and infant, and most likely will remember nothing.  We were laughing about a future conversation with Sprout where they ask to visit Madrid, Rome or Paris- when we remind them that they've already been there, sorry!  So, if nothing else, Sprout can read all about its early adventures here one day.  I'll try to recap some main events

Pictured here is the Sprout at around one or two weeks old (in fact we didn't know even know it existed!) at the gardens down by the Grand Place in Brussels. First Belgian lesson: it's important to bring many items with you on a day out including multiple layers of clothing, umbrella, sunglasses, sunscreen- weather can change dramatically and quickly!
One of the first big adventures for the three of us was our trip to Sorrento, Naples and Capri.  We went at the end of October and were thrilled that this time of year was warm, sunny and crowd free!  We stayed in a hotel built literally into a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean sea.

Chris standing outside (on top of) our hotel

Most delicious pizza, and sun!

The baths at Pompeii

We also spent a day exploring the miles of ancient ruins of Pompeii which was preserved when Mount Vesuvius erupted and blanketed the city, freezing it in time.  You could walk inside what were the houses, marketplaces, baths and temples- totally amazing!  We just loved our short trip to Italy, the Sprout was very well behaved (around 11 weeks) and allowed me enjoy pizza, pasta and of course GELATO without too many of its first trimester antics.

Picasso's Guernica

Chris taking us for a ride in Retiro Park

 November in Brussels was very chilly and rainy so we headed south again, this time to Madrid.  This was a work trip for Chris, so the Sprout and I did a little exploring of our own- just loved the Reina Sophia art museum and the architecture in general of the city.  On the weekend we checked out the Royal Palace, Retiro Park and the Prado museum- stopping for tapas everywhere we could! Lots of jambon was consumed!