Arriving in London, first stop: Granary Square in King’s Cross
For Christmas, we gave Dook and Els a 3 day trip to London in February. I really love London and have been lucky enough to go quite often over the years, so I volunteered to create the itinerary. Not everyone had been in London before, so I created a 3 day introduction to London planning!
Christina and Rafaël at the Christmas Market
I’m so happy my best friend is married to someone from the Netherlands. That means every once a while she’ll be closeby and we can see each other! Antwerp/New York City is a long distance, but when we’re together it’s like no time has passed!
Opening my gift at the table
Two years in a row now I’ve celebrated Christmas dinner at Lux Restaurant in ‘t Eilandje. Delicious food and a great atmosphere!
In snowy Stockholm!
I was in Stockholm for a few days – the city is so beautiful and the food is so delicious!! I stayed mostly in Östermalm and Gamla Stan (Old Town – which dates back to 1252!). Stockholm is very big, so I definitely need to go back for a longer period to explore!
Grayson and me with the hand of Antwerp
My brother was in Europe traveling through a few countries for work and was able to plan in one day to visit me in Antwerp! We visited De Koninck Brewery and finished the evening at one of my favorite pizza places – Otomat. From their site:
Otomat is the first completely Belgian pizza concept. Typically Belgian is the “beer'” character, with more than 20 Belgian beers and the pizza dough is made with Duvel beer yeast – heavenly pizza with the Duvel inside.
Dinner at Hof Van Cleve!
Koen and I decided we really wanted to try eating at the best restaurants in Belgium, so of course Hof Van Cleve was at the top of our list – Number 50 Best Restaurant in the World 2017 and it has 3 Michelin stars.
Mom and Dad in front of Orso Pizzeria
For my parents’ last night in Belgium we headed to one of our favorite places, Orso Pizzeria. Orso is located in Berchem, a small city in the province of Antwerp – but only 15 minutes away by tram, so not too far! It’s a small place where you definitely need to reserve ahead of time for a table. The pizza is super delicious and they serve their own naturally fermented wines!
Brunch with Mom
To celebrate my mom’s birthday early, we headed to London for the day! London may seem far away from Antwerp, but by train it’s actually only a 2 hour ride! This was my mom’s first time in London, so we did a full day of sight-seeing, ending on a high note with afternoon tea at Claridge’s.
Entrance to De Koninck
My parents are in town! I really love the De Koninck Brewery, so I thought this would be a fun family outing for both my parents and my in-laws to do together!
Jet d’Eau
Geneva is so beautiful in the sunshine! I was only here for one day, but I tried to fit in as much as possible – visiting Lake Geneva & the Vieille Ville (Old Town), all the while trying to eat as much cheese as possible!
An American in Antwerp 