Quiet November

After all the planes of the previous few months, we were happy to spend November on the ground in Belgium, plus a short weekend in Amsterdam. Our two days in Amsterdam were quiet and relaxing. We visited the amazing van Gogh museum, the sobering Anne Frank House, and strolled about the canals stopping in a café now and then for a drink, a coffee, or a bite to eat. It was a great weekend. Our favorite café in Amsterdam is Café 't Smalle. We discovered it last year when we were touring the city with a longtime friend from Colorado who lived in Amsterdam for several years. It sits directly on a canal in the beautiful Jordaan neighborhood, and is the perfect place to lose a few hours in the quiet of the afternoon. Here are a few pictures of Café 't Smalle.

    

The weather was cool and cloudy, but we still had some good light for pictures on the canals.

   

Later in the month, we went to our first concert since moving to Belgium. DCFC (Death Cab for Cutie) scheduled a show at Les Halles de Schaerbeek in central Brussels. A really cool venue, the building is almost 150 years old, and was formerly a covered market. We arrived about 45 minutes before the doors opened and surprisingly found ourselves nearly first in line. We scored spots in the front row for what turned out to be a great show. Take a look . . .

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Being home in November means we also got to see our first Belgian snowfall.