Category: Europe
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Windmills and Friends – Farewell Amsterdam
We decided to spend our last full day in Amsterdam visiting Zaanse Schanz, a historic town with all of the tourist things in one place. We started with a bike ride to the train station. We’re really getting the hang of it now. We thought the WiFi network on the train was hilariously named. It…
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Bikes, Boats, and Brave Fights
River and I got up before everyone else and walked to the store. It was a lovely short walk, and once again a fun adventure figuring out the food options. We had breakfast in the back garden, which was lovely. There were grapes and blackberries growing. Willow found a few moments for some top shelf…
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A Gouda First Day in Amsterdam
Instead of staying in Amsterdam proper, we rented a house in Haarlem on VRBO. Unlike our usual vacation rentals, this one is a primary home for a family that’s on vacation this week. They said it was a ten minute walk from the train station, but that’s super optimistic. At least it was lovely, through…
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Efteling: Magical Land of Fairytales
In my research for this trip, I came across a mention of “Dutch Disney,” a fairytale theme park that was said to be part of Walt’s inspiration for Disneyland. It was supposed to be magical, so we planned two days. I was a little worried that our kids would be too old for it, but…
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So Long, London. Hello, Chocolate!
Three and a half countries (UK, Belgium and Netherlands, plus a half for France which we went through without stopping) is a lot for one day! We left London first thing, taking a black cab to the train station. Our cab driver, Gary, was friendly and entertaining. We walked across the road to King’s Cross…
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Whiskers, West End, and Worn Out Feet… day two in London
We had a busy day in London, including a cat cafe, charity shops, lunch in a pub, a show in the west end, a food hall, about a million buses and trains, and over 17000 steps. We started the day with breakfast in our flat. The kids were really excited to eat the rainbow bagels…
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London: Darling, I Fancy You
We set two alarms to wake us at 4:30 am for our flight to London, but somehow neither of them went off. We woke up in a bit of a panic a little after six, and everyone worked together really well to get us out the door lightning fast. We lucked into flagging a taxi…
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Whirlwind Day in London
Willow and I had just one full day in London, so we only had time to get a little taste of the city. We had breakfast at our hotel. The food was fantastic, and the atmosphere was really nice. It was a lovely way to start the day. Our first tube ride of the day…
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To London
Bill left really early with the boys to fly back home, so Willow and I were on our own. After finishing packing, we had breakfast in our hotel. It was lovely to have such a sweet breakfast date… and I’m going to miss those croissants. We took the Eurostar from Paris to London. It was…
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Wandering around Paris
Today we had no plans, so we slept in a bit. After breakfast, we spent some time in our rooms going through all of our things to separate them, since Bill is leaving with the boys early in the morning, and Willow and I are heading to London. We set out on foot to Luxembourg…
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Versailles
We got up early today so we could be at Versailles in time for our tour. It was scheduled for 9, when the palace opens, to beat the crowds. It was a pretty train ride. We passed a building on the way with a fence that really makes it seem like they don’t want people…
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The City of Light
Today, we woke up in Paris, fulfilling a dream I’ve had for so many years. We only had one thing planned today, at 2 pm, so we had lots of time to wander. Our hotel includes breakfast, which was simple but delicious. We have croissants and Nutella at home, but they seemed so much more…
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Venice to Switzerland
We started our day with rubbish collection. Venice has no trucks, so garbage is collected every day by people walking around with handcarts. They knock on your door in the morning, and you take down whatever type of trash is being collected that day. Today was green waste and recycling. That little cart has to…
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Glass Island of Murano
This morning, we got a slow start before heading out to the island of Murano, which has been famous for handmade glass for centuries. Valentina, who was one of our rowing teachers, gave us these instructions to find her father’s shop on the island. The ride to Murano was really pretty. We went straight there…
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Row Venice and Doge’s Palace
This morning, we had a rowing lesson to learn to row the traditional Venetian batele. These used to be the most common work boats that everyone used, but now it’s mostly motorboats in the canals. We each got a turn in the front, paddling, and in the back, steering. The organization we worked with is…
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Arrivederci, Firenze. Ciao, Venezia!
This was our last morning in Florence. We packed up, stored our luggage, and set out on foot. We walked by a wine window. Apparently, these were very popular ways to get wine during the Black Death epidemics in the 1600’s, and were also used for pizza and gelato during the Covid 19 pandemic. We…
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Wandering around Florence
We made more progress toward my goal of trying all of the pastries in Italy today. But we got Maritozzi again because they’re amazing. We took the bus across the river and up the hill to the piazza Michaelangelo, where he grew up. We had a fantastic view of Florence, and could see a section…
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Pizza and Gelato Making Day
The kids have been getting along really well on this trip, and there has been some snuggling. We started the day with breakfast. I have a goal to try all of the exotic pastries that Italy has to offer. Today’s favorites are the pear and chocolate croissant, and the maritozzi. It’s bread with whipped cream…
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From Rome to Florence
After finishing packing in the morning, we left the apartment at 10, which was checkout time. Our train wasn’t until noon, so with the boys feeling better, we went back to the Trevi fountain and the Capuchin crypt so that Bill, Liam and River could see them. Walking through the tiny streets of Rome, we…
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Trevi Fountain and Capuchin Crypt
Yesterday, Liam was recovering from his stomach bug and River was down with it, so Bill stayed at the Airbnb while Willow and I went out exploring. We walked to the cat ruins (Torre Argentina) to catch a bus to the Trevi Fountain. This was originally designed to be a giant monument to Rome’s wealth.…
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Colosseum and Forum
Unfortunately, Liam was sick today and had to stay home. With him not feeling weak, we started the morning slowly. Willow, River and I went out to a bakery to get breakfast pastries. One really cool thing here is their extensive use of pistachios in cooking. They have something that’s kind of like Nutella, but…
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Pompeii with an archeologist
Today we went to Pompeii. The day started out with some excitement. We had booked a train in advance, but when we left our place to catch a bus to the train station, we found that the roads were closed all around our place for a parade (today is Italy’s Republic Day.). it started raining…
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Exploring our neighborhood in Rome
We had no plans today, because we assumed we would be tired from the long flight and the time change. We slept in super late (we definitely should have set an alarm) and then went out looking for food. After breakfast, we walked just around the corner to some ancient ruins that were just in…
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Our place in Rome
Our little Airbnb in Rome was so inexpensive, especially for its location in the middle of everything, that I expected it to be tiny or really shabby or both. We were pleasantly surprised by this adorable little apartment.
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Our European adventure commences!
We took off last night for our family’s first-ever trip to Europe. We’ll be gone almost three weeks, and we managed with just one checked bag and some carryon backpacks. We’ll have laundry in some of our lodgings. We had an overnight flight to Paris on Air France. The service was definitely better than on…