Our Little Saint

    Since yesterday was the Solemnity of All Saints in the Roman Catholic church, (or All Saints Day, as most would say) it seemed a fitting time to introduce everyone to our little saint.
    In September, after months of discerning and praying about starting a family, I started to get frustrated with myself about the decision. On the one hand, I can't wait to be a mother, I know it's something I was made to do and nothing gives me more joy than thinking about raising children with such an amazing man at my side. On the other hand (the anxiety-ridden hand) I am downright terrified! It seemed like an impossible decision, and always felt like one I wasn't equipped to make. After even more prayer, it started to become more evident to Jason and I that this decision seemed impossible to us because... its not supposed to be our decision. After months spent in turmoil, it's truly amazing the sense of peace and calm I felt after this realization. Truth: Placing huge life decisions in God's hands is not fun. I'm a planner, I like being in control. But it was time to hand it all over to God and let Him decide. This is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but I knew in my heart it was right.
    Turns out God is a lot quicker with his decisions than we are, because at the end of September, we found out we were expecting. It was a moment that can only be described as nothing short of perfection. To look into the eyes of the man you love and see your pure joy reflected back was just... man... I can't even explain it, only to say it certainly rivaled the joy of our wedding day.

    I wish I could say that this is a picture of our beautiful little baby, but it's not. Just an image I found on google to give you an idea of what a 7 week old fetus would look like. This was just about the age our little one was when we had an ultrasound and saw that it's little heart had stopped beating. We were having a miscarriage. The doctor assured us it was nothing we did wrong, nor was there anything we could have done to prevent it. It just...happens.
    To say this was devastating to Jason and I is probably the understatement of the century. And while all of our friends spent Halloween weekend attending parties, having fun, and going about life as usual, Jason and I spent it sharing the news of our miscarriage with our families. You know what I'd like to add to the long list of things that aren't fair? A woman should not have to watch the two most important men in her life, her father and her husband, cry from sadness in the same week. That's just not ok.
    (Alright, if you're reaching for the tissues, here's your comic relief) To add icing on the cake of the worst day of our lives, my doctor informed me that my blood type is O Negative (what the WHAT!?) so I had to have a shot (in my ass, mind you) to protect our future pregnancies.  (I don't want to take the time to explain that now, if you don't know what I'm talking about, google "mothers with negative Rh" and read all about it). Anyone who knows how I am with shots is WELL aware that I didn't take this news very well. Jason had already had to watch me squirm (and nearly pass out) from getting my blood taken the week before, but now he would have to witness his wife transform into a writhing, sobbing, toddler-esque-tantrum-having nightmare. It was not my finest moment. However, he stood by my side like the amazing man that he is, and just held me and kissed me and prayed and didn't even wince as I instinctively bit his hand when the nurse finally stabbed me. I bit my husband. Yup. That happened.
   The nurse was nice enough, but one of her brilliant wisdoms she chose to share with me that day was "You know, having a baby hurts much more than a shot...." I could have punched her. First of all, my severe psychological phobia of shots has very little to do with them "hurting." Secondly, now I obviously can't say this for sure, but I'm guessing the pains of childbirth are a little more psychologically manageable when you know that the end result is your beautiful healthy baby in your arms. Just a week before the only way I was able to get through them taking my blood was because I told myself I was doing it for our baby. On this day, I had just been told our baby had died. Didn't leave me feeling very courageous.
    So now here we are. While I've still had to teach my 19 classes a week and be cheery Miss Jennifer, I feel like I'm dying on the inside. I cycle through all of the different emotions daily. I've gotten angry and thrown things, I've cried in the shower for hours, and I lay in bed on the mornings I don't work refusing to meet the day and willing myself to go back to sleep so I can forget, at least for a few more hours, that this is my life. I throw myself a darn good pity-party, eh?
    It's been a week since we found out the news, and it's getting a little easier each day. My emotions have mellowed out (mostly because the hormones are also mellowing out), and now I just feel drained. Empty. Through all of this, Jason has been beyond amazing. Even though our time in marriage has been so short, he has this keen sense of exactly when to give me my space, and also when to come sit next to me on the couch and just hold me for hours. I've also noticed a very strange phenomena start to happen: The few times Jason has broken down in the past few weeks, something switches inside of me. Instead of my heart breaking for my own loss and my own sorrow, I'm pulled out of my downward spiral and my heart begins to break for the man I love and his loss. He was so excited to be a daddy, I had never seen him more full of joy, and so quickly it was all taken away. So we take turns being each other's silent comfort, knowing that true comfort will only come from God's grace and just...time. It is beautiful to see that, even in the midst of tragedy, God is still working his graces in us by deepening Jason and I's love for each other and strengthening our marriage. I am truly blessed to have this life we have with a man so perfect for me in every way. The vows say "I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad." So that's exactly what we do.
    You may be wondering why we decided to share this with all of you, and that's a very good question. For one, everyone LOVES to ask newlyweds about their baby plans, so I'm really saving all of you from that awkward moment where you cheerily ask us about it... aaaand then I cry in your face. In public. You're welcome.
    Secondly, I don't think people talk about it enough. I bet most of you didn't know that 20% of known pregnancies (yes "known," as in, the number is probably much higher but some women don't even know they're pregnant in the first place) result in a miscarriage? That's 1 in 5 pregnancies! THAT'S A LOT. Now, I'm not a naive girl by any means. From the moment we found out we were pregnant, the possibility of miscarriage was always in the back of my mind. We didn't even share our news with our parents. I couldn't stand the thought of seeing them so joyful only to break their hearts. That being said, I had the same "but it won't happen to us" mentality that we humans so often adapt. Mostly because I had no idea how common it was. You see hundreds of baby announcements on facebook, but for some reason, people choose to keep their miscarriages quiet. I'm sure nothing could have made the news less devastating to us, but maybe if we had known how many couples this actually has happened to, it would have been a little less of a shock.
    So that's why we chose to write this blog. I feel it's so important that it be known how common miscarriages are so that other couples can be aware that if this happens to them, they're not alone. Or if there's another devastated woman out there that likes to throw things and not get out of bed... I want her to know I'm someone she can talk to. A good friend of ours shared this beautiful quote with us, and it's something we'll be holding in our hearts for the rest of our lives:

"As a parent, it is your obligation to raise your child to know Jesus and to get your child to heaven. In your womb, your baby knows Jesus and your baby is perfect. Your baby is now in heaven-- and while this wasn't the way you expected it to be, this is the parent God called you to be for this baby and you did it perfectly. You have a baby in heaven with God -- a true Saint."

So now Jason and I move toward the future together with sadness for our loss, but such strong hope and faith in our hearts. We take comfort in our belief that this was all a part of God's plan for our lives, and that beauty and joy await us in the future. I am a mother to a beautiful little saint in heaven, and I will be a mother again.

In God's love,

The Newlyweds

A Belgian Thanksgiving

Hello dear readers, newlyweds here! Sorry for the lack of posts this month, but it's been a busy one! Mom came to visit a few weeks ago, we got to spend a wonderful weekend in Paris, and then we came home to the rather unpleasant surprise that we'd been robbed. It's been a difficult few weeks trying to get everything back in order, but things are just things and they can be replaced. All new security has been added to the building, so we're safe and sound... just a few laptops, ipods, cellular devices, etc short of normal.

However! That is NOT what I want this post to be about! THANKSGIVING is TOMORROW! And with my immense love for the Holiday season combined with the stress of the robbery, I have thrown my whole self into planning a fabulous first Thanksgiving with my husband (and our guest, Brigitte!) This entailed three separate trips to the market and five different stores, but a feast has officially been planned and I am currently staring with glee at all of the supplies scattered across the kitchen counter!

So what does one Martha Stewart-wannabe do for Thanksgiving when she's on another continent and there isn't a sweet potato in sight? She just gets a little creative. I didn't really plan it like this, but the menu for tomorrow is a nice mix of classic family favorites and new Belgian dishes. I know you're all just itching to know if the great Belgian-Bird-Drama of '11 has reached it's conclusion, and you'll be happy to know that it has. And because I know my mom will want to know, here's what's on the menu:

Starter: Pumpkin mozzarella soup with French bread
Sides: Cheddar and Gouda Mashed potatoes, and Aunt's Nancy's famous Broccoli Casserole :)
Main Dish: Bacon-wrapped garlic and herb Poussin! We'll each be having our very own Poussin, which is a "spring chicken," or young chicken. It feels slightly like a cop-out to have chicken for Thanksgiving, but it's really much more tender and juicier than normal (older?) chicken, and Poussin is a traditional European Holiday meal... aaaaand they fit in our tiny oven soooo...win win win!
Dessert: Mini Caramel Apple Spice tarts and Apple Pumpkin muffins
And our drink of choice will be Wassail! A delicious hot spiced cranberry cider recipe we had every year at the Wisconsin Singers holiday parties, and I usually find some excuse to make it every year since then because it's just so yummy!

Let's be honest, I'm cooking enough food for a family of twelve. You don't mind leftovers for a week, do you, honey? I'm just glad we were able to tie-in some old traditions with some new ones. This Thanksgiving will be a little different, this is obvious. We're on a completely different continent than our family and friends, without all the same traditions and foods that we're used to, but that's part of what will make this one so special. We're our own family now and it's time to start making our own traditions and our own memories.

This Thanksgiving, we're so thankful to God for this opportunity to be in Brussels. Even with all the ups and downs that it's brought, we would do it all again in a heartbeat. We're thankful we're able to spend it together and with Brigitte (!!!), and we're thankful for all of the love and support we can feel from our family even though we can't be together. Those, and a million other blessings, will make this a very thankful Belgian Thanksgiving. :)

On a less sappy note, check out our newest facebook album of our weekend in Paris!

We'd like to wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving! We miss you all so much, we'll be home soon!

Love,
The Newlyweds

The Newlyweds go to Italy!

This is another attempt at getting caught up with blogging before we go on anymore trips and I end up even farther behind! 

I really don't know where to possibly begin with our Italian honeymoon... I'd been dreaming of it since we got engaged (Ok...truth: I've been dreaming about an Italian honeymoon since I was old enough to know what a honeymoon was...) and it so far exceeded anything I could have imagined! I suppose the only place to start is the beginning, so here we go!

Early Saturday morning, the 17th of September (ha, all of the sudden this sounds ominous, ignore that), we started our slightly complicated trek to Cinque Terre. This began with taking a train to the South station of Brussels where we got on a coach bus for the 45 min trip to the Charleroi airport. From there, we flew into the city of Genova in northern Italy. At the airport we had to pick up another coach bus to take us to the train station so we could take another train to Manarola. PHEW! But the train to Manarola followed the coast line of the Ligurian Sea, so we were provided with a gorgeous view for the entire 90 minutes. The last leg of the train ride, we were joined by some feisty older Italians coming home from a day at the beach. They didn’t speak much English, but gathered from our ridiculous amount of luggage (they had a good laugh about that) that we were on our honeymoon. Suddenly, they would NOT rest until we kissed. But it took them all joining in a chorus of kissing noises for us to understand what they wanted from us. Once deciphered, we were more than happy to oblige, since PDA is the Gantzer-way. The result, of course, was the entire train car (the whole car was packed with them) erupting in cheers. Finally we reached the stop for Manarola, and I even got a kiss on the cheek from one of the extra-feisty older Italian men in the aisle. This was even more well-received by the crowd than the first kiss. Overall, a fantastic introduction to true Italian culture!

As soon as we stepped off the train we were bombarded with an incredible eye-full of the coast of Manarola. Suddenly, the circus that was the slew of transportation methods it took to get us there, seemed more than worth it! We easily found our little hotel and the owner came up from the harbor where he was swimming just to greet us and let us in (still in his swim trunks, mind you). He also didn’t speak very much English, but enough to tell us the best places to go and things to do during our stay. He was very sweet, and spoke so passionately about the different villages of Cinque Terre, we could feel ourselves falling in love with the place already.

We spent the next four days hiking between all five of the villages of Cinque Terre; each one so unique and beautiful in their own simple way. Here is where I'll refer you to our our Facebook album of Cinque Terre, because there's nothing you can really say about the landscape we got to hike through, you just have to see it.

What we fell in love with the most (besides beauty surrounding us at every second) was the simple and humble way of life in these villages. Each morning we would wake up to the sound of the village clock tower striking 7, and head to one of only two breakfast cafes, where we would usually see the same waitresses working every day, our hotel owner (still in his swim trunks), and other kind, familiar faces. We'd end every evening in the only bar in the village, where we saw the same musicians having an improv jam session every night, sometimes wearing the exact same thing as the night before, so we'd wonder if they ever left. All day long we'd see women hanging laundry off of their balcony. Sunday was particularly windy, and we seemed to be the only people who were concerned by the various articles of clothing flying by at dinner... It's just a completely different way of life there. There's an immense kindness towards everyone they meet, and a humble, honest, and quiet way of living that was a welcome change from life in downtown Brussels!

On our last night in Manarola, we decided to have a sunset picnic on this little spot on the cliff side that had the most perfect view. We didn't want to miss a second of it, so we literally ran down the hill to the deli to buy all of our supplies and ran up the trail to our picnic spot. After all the rushing, it was such a peaceful evening that I know will be one of the memories that sticks with us the most. The next morning we were up bright and early to catch a sunrise walk on the Via dell'Amore so we could "lock our love" to the bridge, making this our second love lock in Europe! Hopefully, someday, we'll get to come back and look for them!
From there, we packed everything up, took one last look at the beautiful Ligurian seacoast, and hopped on a train to Rome! *This signals the allowance of a water/bathroom break for you readers before I delve into our Roman adventures* hehe

Rome! Alright, in all honesty, getting off the train at Rome's central station was a bit of a shock. After four relaxing days in Cinque Terre, we weren't quite ready for the hustle and bustle of Rome and a bajillion tourists! Put that all together with the slight sleep-deprivation from the morning's sunrise walk, and our first day in Rome was a little rough! But once we got into the "tourist" swing of things again, (and bought a map, best 3 euros we ever spent) it was smooth sailing. We spent most of Wednesday walking around the Trastevere region and checking out all of the beautiful churches in that area. Later in the evening, it was hard to pick a place to eat since there were so many choices (in Manarola, there were 4) but as soon as I saw this tiny little restaurant called "Nana's" it made the decision pretty easy (Esposito shout-out). The Trevi fountain was absolutely gorgeous at night, but still packed with people even at 10 in the evening! It was a weird feeling standing in front of this beautiful fountain, that we've seen in countless movies, and really grasp the fact that we were, in fact, here! In Rome! I know it sounds weird, but it was a very surreal moment, especially for someone like me who had never been out of the US until June!

Thursday was another beautiful, sunny day (a pleasant change from Belgium's consta-autumnal climate), so we spent the day seeing a few more churches (of course), and touring the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. Had another one of those surreal moments standing in front of the Colosseum. The line to get in was just about around the entire block, but my husband, being the incredibly intelligent and wise man that he is (ok, so I may be biased) had gotten our tickets online, so we got right in! It's such a massive structure that holds so much history and it really made me wish I has taken some kind of Roman History 101 in college... Then we made our way up Palatine Hill and through the Roman Forum. Looking back, I wish we'd had some kind of tour guide because I don't think I knew enough to truly appreciate what was in front of me. But we did have Wikipedia (yes, I know all of you in academia are fainting right now, but it was all we had) to at least give us the gist of what we were looking at. Later in the afternoon we made our trek to the Piazza del Poppolo, stopping on the way to check out the Pantheon and, of course, grab some gelato. Jason had carefully researched all of the best places to get gelato in Rome (surprise surprise). We're not messing around with this travel stuff, people, we know where it's at.

I had never heard of the Spanish steps, but they were absolutely gorgeous! It also helped that the sun was setting by the time we got there, and you got an amazing view of the city from the top of the steps PLUS a beautiful sunset. As you can imagine, we were pretty exhausted after our jam-packed day, but we knew tomorrow would be more of the same. No rest for the dedicated tourist!

What to say about spending a day in The Vatican... beyond incredible. On all of our travels here in Europe, we like to take time in each place for prayer and meditation, and to give thanks to God for giving us this amazing opportunity. Well, Friday was like that except spending the entire day doing it! I think we just walked around all day, mouths agape, in awe of God's glory and goodness. St. Peter's Basilica was so astonishing, we barely knew where to look, and felt like we couldn't possibly see it all. We were fortunate enough to get to celebrate Holy Mass in one of the side-altars of the basilica, all in Italian of course, but incredibly beautiful, nonetheless. My awesome husband, being that smart guy that he is again, printed off the daily readings in English, so we'd at least be able to understand those!
When St. Peter's started to get crowded, we decided to head to the Vatican Museum, and we spent a large portion of the afternoon there. We made our way through halls upon halls of history (which, again, made us wish we knew more about Roman history) and eventually made our way into the Sistine Chapel. And whoa. Man. Talk about so much to look at. Even if we were allowed to take pictures (which, of course, we weren't) I wouldn't have known what to capture, because every inch of the place is just covered in amazing artistry. So we sat in the chapel, mouths still agape, for a good half hour just taking it all in.
Once it got to be late afternoon, we figured St. Peter's would be less busy, so we headed back to the basilica to look around some more. It was still pretty packed, but much more peaceful at that time of day than in the morning. When we finally left St. Peter's there was a beautiful sunset that cast a lovely glow onto the entire piazza in front of the basilica and it was the perfect end to an amazing day.

Saturday morning we had just enough time for one last visit to the Trevi Fountain (to throw our coin in!) before heading to Rome's insane airport (and I thought Chicago was bad...) After all the craziness, we eventually made it back to Brussels, just in time to order some take-out and crash on the couch for the rest of the evening. Overall, it was a more perfect honeymoon than we could have ever imagined, and we still feel so blessed that God was able to make one of our much-anticipated dreams come true.

As always, keep an eye on our Facebook pages for photo albums of our adventures. Check out our  Rome and Cinque Terre albums if you haven't yet (the blog makes a lot more sense if you do), and stay tuned for new photo albums and blog posts about Ireland, Bratislava, and Vienna!

Love,
The Newlyweds

The Besty in Belgium

Alright, alright, here is my first attempt at catching up on some of the blogging I’ve missed in the past month!

Ashley was here during the last week and weekend in August, and her visit was so welcome and wonderful! It was great having someone to explore the city with during the day while Jason was at work, but mostly, it was just great to see my best friend again :) 

While she was here we visited Brugge, a large city north of Brussels, Lille, a small town in northern France, and Amsterdam again, because it was somewhere she’s always wanted to go.  It was quite a packed week of traveling and exploring. The pictures tell most of the story, so be sure to check out our facebook albums of Brugge, Lille, Amsterdam, and Brussels!

First things first: Brugge! I’ve actually been there twice since I last posted; once with Ashley and once with Jason a few weeks later. It’s such a beautiful town with gorgeous buildings, more horse and buggies than cars, and lace shops everywhere! As soon as we realized there was a Belfry we knew we had to climb it (good exercise, great view!), and I ended up climbing it on both visits to the city! Both times we got the pleasant surprise of the bells striking on the hour when we were about a foot away from them! Only a slight shock…

Probably the most amazing part of Brugge was the Basilica of the Holy Blood. A church that houses what is said to be the Holy Blood of Jesus Christ on a cloth and preserved in a jeweled phial. They have this beautiful altar built and a Priest that stands by the phial the entire day while visitors may approach the altar and place their hands on it. I really have no words for how amazing it was to approach the Blood of our Lord with my husband and place our hands upon it together. One of those moments I won’t soon forget.

Onward to our weekend we spent in Lille, France while Ashley was here. We didn’t know a whole lot about the city before we went, but we thought a small French town would be a nice switch from the more touristy destinations we’d visited so far. As funny as it sounds, one of my favorite parts of the city was our hotel room! It was the cheapest hotel we’ve stayed at, but with the most personality! This was also the first time Jason and I experienced a French mass! The Eglise Saint-Etienne was a wonderful little church and the Priest greeted us so warmly when we came in. He also sang parts of his homily, so even though we didn’t understand much, we were still pretty captivated. Later that evening, en route to Lille’s Citadel, we happened upon a bright and booming carnival. Seemed very similar to the carnivals that come and go in America, only with Crepe stands everywhere instead of funnel cakes!  We had dinner at a funky restaurant “L’Omnia,” which, apparently, used to be a 19^th century brothel? The décor was so classy and traditional with chandeliers everywhere, but also super modern, so the place had great atmosphere, which is usually what we look for the most in a restaurant while we’re travelling! For dinner, Jason and Ashley got stuck with some ferociously stinky cheese as an appetizer (wimps, I thought it was good, you just had to plug your nose…), but the rest of the dinner was fantastic and reasonably priced! But as we were walking out, all you could smell was that cheese everywhere, ha! Ahhh, the French…

Sunday was kind of a funny day, because, like most European cities we’ve been to, almost everything closes on Sundays. So we spent some time at a few of the Sunday morning markets (one of them so big it would put the Madison Farmer’s Market to shame!) and spent some time in the huge Lille Cathedral. As soon as we left the church, however, it started to downpour! So we quickly ducked into the nearest (open) café, Morel et Fils, had some delicious gourmet hot chocolate and played cards for the rest of the afternoon until we caught our train back home!

Overall, it was so wonderful to see a friendly face, and it has us even more excited for all of the potential visitors we have coming in the next few months! I can’t believe our four month anniversary just passed this week, the wedding still seems like it was just yesterday! And our flight back home to the states is still scheduled for December 11^th, so in just two short months from now we’ll already be back home! Crazy! But we can’t wait to see all of you again :)

In love,

The Newlyweds

(Stay tuned for another post coming soon about Italy, I am DETERMINED to get caught up!)  

Busy, busy, busy!

Hello family and friends!! I have to apologize for my lack of blogging in the month of September! It was certainly a crazy month filled with so much blogging material it came to be overwhelming! When we got here, I could barely fill the hours in the day with enough things to do, now I'm right back to not having enough of them!

To start, after Ashley left at the end of August I registered through an au pair website. It was recommended to me by a friend who is currently working as a live-in au pair in Brussels, so I knew it was legit! I made a profile on the site and within 24-hours I was already being contacted by families in the area! I was amazed! The message that caught my eye was from another American expat family living in Brussels who needed  a part time nanny for their 2 toddlers. That Saturday, Jason and I went to meet them for an interview and I started work on Monday! The kids are Jiles, 3yrs, and Aia, 1.5yrs. Jiles is the most energetic 3y/o I've ever met (and that's saying something) who loves to dance and sing to the Wiggles, so it's easy to steer all of his energy in the right direction! Aia is a spitfire who has hair so fine that is sticks straight up (adorable), and wants nothing more than to do everything her big brother does. So I've been working about 4-5 hours a day since the beginning of September, which isn't a lot, but it's been a big change since I stopped working in June!

Some other new developments are that * drum roll please* Debbie Fast has discovered her courageous spirit (better late than never!) and is flying over to visit us in the middle of November. We can't wait to show her around this exciting city as well as spend a long weekend in Paris!

Also, Jason and I have been busy trying to get everything in order for when we come home in just a few short months. Mainly, making sure we have a place to live! We've been apartment hunting since March, so it's just been a waiting game to see what would come available when we needed it! Right now we're leaning towards two different apartments, one in St. Francis and the other in Wauwatosa. We've got some good options, now we just need to think and pray about what's right for us!

We're also expecting a visitor this weekend! The younger sister of a certain wedding coordinator extraordinaire (cough Maggie Melchior cough), is studying in Paris this semester and wants to explore Brussels a bit! We're really excited to to have Katie stay with us and to show her what we've discovered in Brussels so far!

So THAT, friends and family, is my terrible excuse for lack of blogging! Since I've blogged last we've been to, Brugge (twice), Amsterdam, Lille, Cinque Terre, and Rome! So I have a lot more blogging to do, I suppose! Our four-month anniversary is fast approaching which also means only two more months left for us in Brussels! We can't believe how fast the time is going, but we also can't wait to be back with our friends and family! And just in time for the Holidays :) It's amazing to see the ways God is shaping our lives and our marriage by blessing us with this time here. And this is only the beginning!

Be sure to check facebook for ALL of our albums, especially the most recent of Cinque Terre and Rome! The pictures really tell a better story than I ever could, so they'll suffice until I can find more time to blog.

Until then, and with so much love,
The Newlyweds

3 Days in Cologne

This is going to be a rather difficult post, because there's no way I could convey three days of amazingness without making this the longest blog post in existence and, thus, boring the masses! So even though Cologne was beyond incredible, I'll try to just touch on the high points.

Cologne is an incredibly beautiful city. Right when you exit the train station you come face-to-face with with Kolner Dom (or, The Cathedral of Cologne). And it is quite the sight. It practically takes up an entire city block and is the beacon of the entire city. We spent an hour or so exploring the the Dom and the surrounding city center before checking into our hotel which was, conveniently, only about a block or two away from the Dom and the train station. Funny story: We definitely booked a "double" room, but apparently here that means "two rooms joined by a bathroom, each with a single bed" yea.... so... that was fun! We'll be double checking our hotels for the rest of our trips, ha! But that was really the only snag the whole weekend, so my vote? Success.

We spent the rest of Day 1 (Saturday, August 13th) exploring a few random sights all over the city including the ruins of St. Kolumba, a church that was bombed during WWII. It's significant because amidst all of the destruction, a statue of Mary holding baby Jesus (called "The Madonna") was found completely intact, and they built a new church around the statue.

On a lighter note, we then headed to the 4711 House, the home of the Eau de Cologne! Where they actually had a font-like thing (Kinda like a holy water font kind of thing... hah) that you could put your hand under and it smelled pretty nice! Perfect timing really because, you know, after walking around for a whole day... yea, some perfume was welcome :) Then, after some more time spent strolling around the city we decided it was time for a fantastic German dinner. And, man, was it EVER!

 Beer, Bratwurst, and fried potatoes! (yea, the gym membership was a good idea) It doesn't get much more German than that! We had heard good things about the Fruh Hofbrauhaus (the restaurant), and it didn't disappoint! We ended our evening with a walk along the Rhein River (one of the longest rivers in Europe, but we didn't walk that far...) The weather was perfect, and even though I didn't think it was possible, the city is even more beautiful at night!

Our second day (Sunday) in Koln began quite epic-ly with Mass at the Dom! It was an excellent test of both our knowledge of the Mass and of my German language abilities. It was completely in German with some of the music in Latin, so most of the homily was lost on us. But I was actually able to pick out bits and pieces which gave me at least a general idea (which I relayed to Jason after the mass, haha!). I can't even begin to describe what it felt like to attend Mass in such an incredible place. So, even though we didn't understand much, some things just transcend language.

The rest of the day included stumbling upon a great little festival happening along the Rhein, a visit to the Schokoladen Museum (Chocolate Museum) where I found the perfect birthday present for Mom, and then our "Blind Date" at the "Unsicht-bar" (unsichtbar = invisible in German, so it's a play on words. Silly Germans) Everyone said it was something we had to try if we went to Cologne, and we were glad we did! I have to admit, it was a little unsettling at first. We picked our food in the lobby, but even the food choices were kind of like riddles, so you didn't know exactly what you'd be eating. We only knew if it would be Chicken, Lamb, Fish, or Vegetable. (I went with the Lamb menu and Jason had the Chicken) Then we met our waiter, Felice, who was very nice and very used to my slight apprehension. He was visually impaired, as are all the waiters at the restaurant, so it's actually easier for them to navigate the dark restaurant than it would be for us. Then he took us into a small room, turned down the lights, and lead us into the restaurant! The funniest part to me was that it just sounded like a normal restaurant! I guess I was expecting people to be quiet, or something, but it was just as hopping as any other place would be, filled with people who had already grown accustomed to their lack of vision! The food was delicious, but the hardest part of eating was knowing how much you had left on your plate so, I can admit, I used my hands for the majority of our 4-course meal! It really was quite the experience, and I'm really glad we did it!

Day 3 (Monday, Feast of the Assumption) began beautifully with a rosary in the church of St. Maria Himmelfahrt (St. Mary of the Assumption) which was practically right outside of our hotel. That was the best part about Cologne, everything we wanted to see and do was within walking distance, and from our (little) travel experience, it makes a big difference stress-wise! The outside of the church pales in comparison to the structure of the Dom, but the inside was just as gorgeous as I have come to expect from European churches. They'd had Eucharistic adoration that morning, so the entire church smelled of incense and gave the altar a beautiful kind of glow as the early morning sun shone in through the stained glass. And, strange though it may seem, it was probably one of the most memorable parts of the trip for us. It was just so peaceful and beautiful, and it's always amazing getting the chance for some intense prayer time with my husband :) Basically, perfect way to start our last day in Cologne!

Then we crossed the Hohenzollern bridge and headed for a little stroll through the gorgeous Rheinpark. It had sprinkled on and off the previous two days we were there, but today was all sunshine! The park was filled with lush gardens, a sandy beach area on the shore of the Rhein, and plenty of play areas for children. Sunshine, flowers, and childrens' laughter? Yes, please. We eventually reached the Kölner Seilbahn, a suspended cable car that takes it's passengers across the Rhein River. It's actually the only cable car in Germany that crosses a river. I was slightly apprehensive about this at first, but the promise of the most expansive city view quickly won me over. And it was great! We only took the one-way trip, and I was surprised that it only took about 5 minutes to get us across the river. And, yes, the view was definitely worth it.

And then, because we're crazy, we decided to walk back to the city center and climb the south tower of the Dom. All 533 steps of the tower. Phew! It was quite the jaunt, but there were a few well-placed pit stops along the way that kept our hamstrings from completely seizing. It was pretty crowded with people when we went, which made it a little more difficult, seeing as how the whole staircase was about 2 feet wide! The view from the top was, of course, gorgeous. As was the breeze! The staircase was so tiny and winding that it was almost harder going down than up because I started to get a bit dizzy! It was also a lot less crowed on the way down which made the whole jaunt down a lot more pleasant in general. 

Finally, we decided the last thing we should do in Cologne was to head back to the Hohenzoller Bridge and put a Love Lock of our own on the bridge and throw away the key (into the Rhein!) So we did! We found a little shop that sold these cute red locks, asked them if we could borrow a permanent marker, and wrote our names and wedding date on it. We ended up finding a great place to lock it, and tried to take plenty of pictures of the location just in case we (or our children, or their children) ever want to go back and find it some day! The bridge was pretty crowded with everyone admiring the different ways people chose to "lock" their love. But in that moment, especially after we through our key off the bridge and into the Rhein, it definitely felt like we were the only two people on the bridge. Yes, we really are that romantic and cheesy. Jason also insists I tell this part of the story: During this wonderfully romantic moment we were having on the bridge, Jason leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek. Simultaneously, a pigeon flew out from under the bridge and directly toward my head. Having the fantastic reflexes that I do (sarcasm), I jerked my head out of the way and, subsequently, ended up colliding with Jason's nose. Lessons: Romance can leave you with a sore nose, and pigeons are not fans of PDA. 

Overall, Cologne beyond exceeded our expectations and has become my favorite place in Europe! (That list is a short one, mind you) It wasn't just a sight-seeing trip, but really an experience for us newlyweds. We could feel our love and our relationship growing, and we're so thankful to God for giving us all of these beautiful opportunities! We have a few smaller trips coming up, but our next big blog will probably be about our week-long trip to Italy at the end of September. Currently, we're entertaining our wonderful guest, Miss Ashley Sprangers, who arrived yesterday amidst the only thunderstorm we've seen since we've been here! (Apparently they're pretty rare here) I'm sure I'll have a post or two about our crazy adventures together around Belgium and the surrounding countries, so keep checking back!


As always, check out our facebook album of Cologne for more pictures from this amazing trip!


So much love to you all!
-The Newlyweds

“Wait… so there’s no coffee at the Coffeeshop??”

Well, we’re headed to Germany this weekend so that only means ONE thing… time to write about our trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands last Saturday!  It was a rather eventful day that started out with a flat tire, included some eccentrically dressed locals, and ended with a full-on SPRINT to the train on the way home. Nothing is ever quite dull in the life of newlyweds, is it? Or maybe it’s just so for the Gantzers ;)

Jason’s coworker, Geoffroy, offered to drive us to Amsterdam since he was headed there for the weekend. When we had stopped for gas Jason offered to pitch-in for gas, but Geoff refused on the basis that “I don’t pay for my gas, so why should you?” Apparently, the JCI in Belgium not only gives each of their higher-up employees an outstanding company car (Audis, BMWs, Mercedes, etc) they also pay for their gas. Belgian economy for the win. But I digress….

While stopped at the gas station, we noticed a rather loud hiss coming from one of his front tires and realized he had a nasty piece of glass wedged in his tire and it was losing air pretty fast. An hour later, after waiting for the service man to come and getting to watch the fascinating process of plugging up a hole in a tire, we were back on our way. Let me just say, I love Belgians, I really do, but the driving here… let’s just say… they drive like people in Connecticut… only worse… (no offense, Esposito family, but you know you all drive like maniacs!) I think it has a lot to do with the fact that almost everyone drives manual instead of automatic, AND no one drives anywhere near the speed limit. Therefore you constantly feel like a passenger in the Daytona 500. Jason, of course, loved every second of it in the front seat, whereas I thought I just might lose my breakfast in the backseat.

The trip took about 2 hours, so we spent most of the time asking Geoff about things we should do/see while we were there. He recommended we visit one of the local “Coffeeshops, just for the experience.” I was a little confused by this at first, wondering how a coffee shop in Amsterdam could really be THAT different than one anywhere else. Well, he went on to explain that these “Coffeeshops” aren’t really coffee shops at all. It’s actually a place where you can buy and smoke weed… in a café-like setting…  hmmm “Yes, hi, I’ll have a venti joint, please…” Hard to picture. Apparently it’s not legal, but the police don’t do anything about it. Interesting. We saw these Coffeeshops everywhere but, no worries friends, we didn’t attend. The story was enough to satisfy my interest.

When we arrived, the city center was absolutely PACKED with people for the annual Pride Parade that travels down one of Amsterdam’s many canals. It was QUITE the sight to see, but we actually couldn’t see that well because the sides of the canal were so packed with people.  But what we did see was out of this world.

The rest of the city was, thankfully, not as crowded. So we spent some time in a lovely park just outside of the city center and then headed to the Vincent Van Gogh museum which was beautiful and very educational! (Read: we loved it, but almost fell asleep standing up)

Then, what became the highlight of the day, the Heineken Brewery Tour! Also known as “The Heineken Experience” (dramatic?) But it really was the most fun I’ve had on a brewery tour (and being in Jason’s life for over 2 ½ years, you can imagine I’ve been on a few…) It was very interactive and there was even a ride. Yes, folks, a ride. It was, I suppose, an “experience!” And the free beer at the end didn’t hurt, either. (Although I think I was more excited about the idea of sitting down way more than the beer)

The tour was longer than we expected, so we ended up having to book-it to get to the tram that would take us to the train station to get us back to Brussels. Nothing like a good sprint through the streets of Amsterdam to make a good end to the day :) We didn’t have very much time in the city, but it’s a city Ashley has always wanted to visit, so she and I will be heading back up when she comes to visit. So, many more shenanigans to come!

We’ve officially been here for 4 weeks, and just celebrated our 2 month anniversary yesterday! Time is just FLYING and it feels like we’ll be back in the states before we know it, so we’re trying to soak up every moment we have. Yesterday Jason brought home some beautiful flowers (glad I bought that vase at Ikea!) and took me to the restaurant “Belga Queen” which is an old bank they made into a restaurant. Gorgeous! It was a fabulous evening, and now we’re getting geared up for our trip to Cologne, Germany! ( or “Köln” auf Deutsch). We’re spending Saturday-Monday there since, in Belgium (and most of Europe), the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a National Holiday so Jason has off from work. Again, Belgium for the win! Love that Mary gets the attention she deserves :) 


Check out facebook for more pictures of Amsterdam, and stay-tuned for a post next week about our time in Germany!


Love,
The Newlyweds