Branch

Roman Fountains

Mannekin Pis

For whatever reason, the city of Brussels is obsessed by this tiny little statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain pool. The tourists of Brussels are obsessed with chocolate. And these obsessions intersect.




And the real thing (yeah, we couldn't help ourselves here...):


Apparently, Mannekin Pis gets dressed up on a regular basis. Check him out on wikipedia, dressed up as an organ-builder-colleague of my father. (Though for the record, as far as I know, my father has no such hat).

Zach's big cylinders

Ever since hanging out recently with Craig, Zach has been obsessed with cylinders. The square, rectangular and triangle blocks all remain in the bin while the cylinders get paraded around the house and beyond in the dump truck, carried to day care in his little suitcase, etc.

Rome offered an exciting array of giant cylinders that were unfortunately just a bit too heavy to take home for his collection. E.g.:

Pine Cone

This was Zach's object of affection for much of an afternoon in ancient Rome, and the source of at least 1 fight with Ryan. It was, indeed, a spectacular specimen. For posterity and before parting, I took its picture.

Colosseum

What I failed to fully appreciate till seeing it was just how big of a building this thing was, is.

Below, Zach and Ryan pose, before the start of Zach's pretzel strike (don't ask).

Testing Dad's tie

For the love of waffles

The waffles diners all across America call "Belgian" really bear no resemblance to the sheer perfection of a genuine Belgian waffle. Chewy and carmel-ly on the outside, served with the most magical of whipped cream... And conveniently available just about anywhere, with the help of several mobile assistance units. I could have skipped the chocolate, but Zach insisted.

Dusseldorf, Cologne

Onward from Rome via $20 easyjet flights to Dusseldorf, where Lowensenf's mustard store featured a bottle as big as Zach.



And Cologne, where we found more stairs...both outside and inside the cathedral.

Sidenote: do not attempt to climb the tower with a toddler. I repeat, do not attempt to climb the tower with a toddler. There are 509 of steps (Josh counted), not a lot of wiggle room for passers in the other direction, and the toddler will get very heavy after about 40 of said steps.



Here we briefly attempted reverence of the largest church in Germany:



And our fantastic hosts/tour guides, my uncle/aunt, Hans and Ute, over beer/coffee (with Justin).

Zach and Ryan do Rome

What do toddlers do when in Rome?

Check out the sites, sample the cappuccino (hold the espresso, please), same silly toddler games they'd play at home, plus trying on sunglasses, and practicing climbing stairs.