blueSky: europe in a day

We live in the vicinity of the German Embassy and often joke about how nice it would be if our "neighbors" would finally invite us over for dinner sometime. They frequently have parties and they appear to be pretty awesome. Several times a year while the weather is nice they have lavish garden parties- parties that require almost a week to set up all the big white tents on their enormous estate. The grounds of the embassy really are spectacular and we finally had the opportunity to enter the gates last weekend!

Once a year the embassies in DC host an open-house weekend and welcome everyone in for a tour. We made a special effort this year to visit our German neighbors. It was like a mini-festival with a variety of booths, music, food, drink, and freebies.

Of course it happened to be one of the hottest, most humid days we've had so far and we were downing sparkling German water with double-fists. We sampled chilled cherry soup (yummy) and some German wines. They were also offering grilled brats and pretzels but we opted to forgo the very long line in return for more sight-seeing. We came away with so many little treasures from Germany: lapel pins, key chains, bracelets, stickers...oh and this little beauty - the diplomat's BMW(just dreaming).

While we were waiting in line to get into the German Embassy I was chatting with the woman behind me who said she had visited the Hungarian Embassy earlier in the day and really liked it. So...after Germany we hopped in the truck and drove on over to Hungary. It was nice but very small compared to the German Embassy and very crowded. They were out of the Hungarian goulash (rats!) but it was good for a bathroom break.

After leaving the Hungarian Embassy we randomly discovered the Embassy of Belgium and figured we might as well stop and say hello. So glad we did! We toured the embassy, saw the ambassador's office, and really enjoyed their party snacks. We tried these cookies called Jules Destrooper biscuterie and couldn't get enough! They looked like large, flattened waffle cones and tasted like crunchy, caramelized wafers. They were so good that I swallowed my pride and went back for 2 more...one for me and the one for the husband. They gladly complied. We also enjoyed incredible Belgium chocolates made by Galler, which according to the box is "The" Belgian chocolate. We sampled some delicious pear nectar juice and of course had Belgium beer. Come on, what's a trip to Belgium without some infamous Belgium beer?! Some of our favorite beers are from Belgium. We enjoyed a bit of Duvel, Stella Artois, and something else that I can't remember.

So what started as a trip to Germany turned into a spontaneous tour of Europe. We had a really great day exploring together!