European Adventure October 2012

 I wanted to get all of my thoughts about our trip down while it’s still somewhat fresh in my mind. We did three countries over a span of two weeks, and had an amazing vacation! Caution: this may be the longest blog post in the history of the universe.

England

View from Darlington Hyde Park

In some ways, since England was our first stop it seems like it was months ago, yet in others it seems like it was yesterday.  When we arrived in England our driver was waiting for us at London Heathrow Airport and we made the somewhat long journey (30 minutes or so) to the hotel near Hyde Park.  He was an extremely nice man and gave us tips on things to do and places close to our hotel.  Since check-in wasn’t until 2:00pm, and we arrived around 11:30am, we decided to check our bags in the lobby and hit the streets of London to begin exploring the neighborhood.  We stayed in Sussex Gardens about 4 blocks from Paddington Station.  The first thing I noticed was the flowers.  How do their flowers look so amazing there in October?!  The rain?  Killing time until we could freshen up in our rooms, we found a place only a two block walk from our hotel called The Monkey Puzzle.  The only way I can describe it is...British!  It’s a quintessential English Pub with a fantastic feel!  The weather was a bit nippy, so we sat outside and they turned on the heaters for us (something that ALL European pubs have, I discovered).  We sat outside and enjoyed some brews....because unlike America, it’s completely socially acceptable to drink anytime in the U.K. or Europe.  Ahhh, I’ve found my people :)  We ended up staying close to the hotel that day and eating some traditional Fish 'n Chips for dinner.  

Day two introduced us to a traditional English Breakfast, as well as realizing we were at that time, the only Americans in our hotel.  We encountered so many other nationalities including Germans, French, Australians...but no Americans!  This day was a big one.  We ventured to The Tower of London which was nothing short of amazing.  It’s the oldest thing I’d ever seen.  Parts of it dated back to 1066.  Amazing.  It houses the Crown Jewels and an amazing but very bloody history.  You could spend all day looking around, but we left after several hours.  We had a very funny guide who made the history that much more entertaining.  Right outside of the Tower of London is the famous, Tower Bridge.  It was beautiful and we got some amazing pictures on a sunny day.  After that we headed down towards Whitehall and Downing Street. Where we got a first hand account of Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. 

Tower of London

Me and me Mum at Tower Bridge

Inside Tower of London

These guys were awesome.  So fun!

We dined in lots of traditional English Pubs and had a very nice Italian Meal at a spot I’d recommend to anyone called Cristini’s.  Amazing!  The Jack-the-Ripper tour was absolutely entertaining and showed us a completely different side of the city, the traditionally poorer East End.  We walked all around WhiteChapel for over two hours hearing the gory history of the Jack-the-Ripper murders.  The guide was knowledgeable, entertaining, witty, and clearly an expert on all things Jack!  He made it feel like we were on the hunt for Jack himself. At the price of 29 Euro’s a person, WELL worth the money!  Being that it was a very intense day of walking for us lazy Americans, Michael got us KFC afterwards for a taste of home!  Surprise, you can’t get mashed potatoes and gravy in London. Only gravy. Uh, what?  Just the gravy?  

Next up was a walk through the beautiful and enormous Hyde Park.  What a day we picked for that.  A warm sunny day with little clouds.  The park was just showing signs of Autumn and everyone had their dogs out playing.  It amazed us how most dogs in England were fine with being off-leash entirely!  People walk out of their homes and their dogs obediently follow them...to all kinds of places!  At the market they’ll just sit and wait at the door until their owners come out.  How are they doing this?!  We also noticed an extremely high number of Pit Bulls and Pit mixes.  This was great that they don’t have the same negative stigma they do here in the states.   After a morning long stroll through Hyde Park enjoying the weather, we passed Buckingham Palace on the way to the London Aquarium which is right at the base of the London Eye.  I’m pretty critical as I’ve been to the Shedd Aquarium, New Orleans, Nashville and other great ones, so this wasn’t anything spectacular.  Although beautiful, I’d skip this for something else if you’re limited on time.  I will say there is a great little pub right outside of the aquarium called County Hall Arms, and it was spectacular! 

Hyde Park

Michael "Photogging" in Hyde Park

"Hey kids, look!  Big Ben, Parliament!"

London Eye and Aquarium

The last day in England went out with a bang.  We covered lots of ground.  The day started bright and early as we headed to Windsor.  Wow.  Just.....wow.  Can I live here?  This beautiful, quaint city is about 20 miles outside of London to the West.  We got to walk through the train station and part of the town on the way up to Windsor Castle.  Words can’t describe the extravagance and sheer beauty of this place.  This is a do not miss. We were disappointed we didn’t allow for more time here, maybe even spending a full night in the city.   Next we headed two hours West to the city of Bath.  This city is rich in history and was originally a hot springs bath/spa of the Romans.  Hence, Bath. The whole town is at the bottom of a river valley and was built with the yellow limestone from the surrounding hills, beautiful waterfall, steep hills, etc. One of their bath houses still exists inside the museum in the center of town and we got to spend several hours here taking in the town.  Keith Richards was spotted by members of our group, as he has a home here.  We missed him...but cool knowing we were in the same place at the same time as Keith Richards!!!  We encountered a slight mishap on the way to Stonehenge, last destination of the day.  A pretty serious head-on collision happened on a very narrow country road and we were stuck.  The only good news is that we got to take in much of the English Countryside, despite the delay.   We arrived at Stonehenge shortly before they closed, so had little time there which was fine.  I was surprised how very small it was to be so famous.  Maybe I’m missing the enormous complexity of what they had to do to get those rocks there but I was ready to go after about 15 minutes.  It’s some rocks in the middle of nowhere. Overall, England is beautiful.  London driving scares the bejesus out of me, the British people are very nice and hospitable, I would definitely love to return in the years to come!  Great first England experience.  Cheers!

Walking up to Windsor Castle

They did not permit pictures inside the castle.  :(

Windsor Castle

Amazing city of Bath

Bath

Bath

Just chillin' by myself at Stonehenge

France

First glimpse of her in person!

Au Revoir England and onto France!  I had never taken a passenger train for travel before, and from now on think this is the way to go.  You just sit back, relax, have a meal and bam you’re there.  It was rainy when we arrived in Gare du Nord station, but despite the rain the drive through the city immediately showed the beauty of Paris.  On the trip to our hotel, we drove right by The Louvre, over the bridge you see in every movie set in Paris, the Arc de Triomphe from a distance, the top of Notre Dame’s gold cathedral, and finally as we neared our hotel, The Eiffel Tower.  The first day in Paris was rainy but it in no way stopped us from hitting those gorgeous streets.  It was just as I’ve always pictured it.  Flower boxes from windows, cobblestone streets, timeless architecture, and cheese, cheese, cheese.  That evening we sat at a cafe in the rain with a view of the Eiffel Tower and drank wine.  It was so beautiful. 


The next day was just the opposite without a cloud in the sky!   Good thing, because we were pre scheduled to go up in the Eiffel Tower at 1:30pm.  This was part of our “Paris Pass” that allowed us to skip the lines at both the Eiffel Tower and The Louvre.  Highly recommend this...it also includes tickets on the Metro and city buses.  I can’t even describe the view from the Eiffel Tower, I don’t have the words.  You can see everything!!!  I took a video but it clearly doesn’t even do the view justice.  I’ll have that ingrained in my mind for the rest of my life. You’d think it might be a quick thing, but there are three different levels to the tower, and you stop at each one.  It was truly an event that took most of the day.  We opted for champagne on the top floor to celebrate the ascent!  Later that day we happened upon a restaurant called Cafe Constant.  It had to be fate because this was the best meal I’ve ever had in my entire life.  I ordered the Beef Stew, so did Mom, and Michael got the shrimp.  We were all in heaven, absolute food coma heaven.  So much in fact, we went there two more times.  That evening we returned to the same lovely cafe from the night before, had more wine (well....when in Rome...) and watched that gorgeous Eiffel Tower sparkle some more that evening.  A bit of a language barrier screwed up my dinner order from a “vegetable plate, assorted” to simply a huge plate of green beans.  Oh well, at least they were good.  On the walk back to the hotel I bought three paintings, and I can’t wait to hang them at home!  They’re nothing extravagant, just a local street artist, but made for amazing souvenirs.   

View from 2nd floor balcony

Sacre-Coeur from the top!

Bier et Vin

Monday we headed north of the Seine to spend a day at The Louvre.  It was rainy again, so made for a good day to spend indoors.  Again, there are no words.  No matter how large you think the Louvre is, it’s bigger.  They said it would take 4 ½ straight months to see things in their entirety.  We covered the Sully and Denon wings, and that was enough to be exhausted.  Naturally, you have to see The Mona Lisa.  It’s much smaller than you would expect, and I know DaVinci was a genius in many ways, but I am not sure what the hype is about.  Yeah, she’s enigmatic, but the rest of the stuff in the room impressed me way more than she did!  The ceilings alone in The Louvre are among some of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Just breathtaking. I was looking up about 80% of the time!

DaVinci's "Virgin of the Rocks"

Our last full day we took a river cruise of the Seine.  It was a fantastic way to see the entire city!  We sat on the back of the boat and got a panoramic view of Paris.  They played Parisian music to set the mood and gave commentary about the different landmarks we passed.  I would highly recommend doing this if you want to see the entire city on limited time!  There are tons of different companies and price points to go through from a five star, four course meal, to a simple hour trip with no frills.   Can’t go wrong either way.  

I loved France, but was a bit underwhelmed at how the grounds were kept up for the Eiffel Tower. No flowers, no great landscaping, it was just plain. I was a bit disappointed in that.  Also, the stereotype is true that everyone smokes.  Everyone.  Everywhere.  Is.  Smoking.  That was something that we weren’t exactly nuts about.  And the people weren’t that nice. (Except at our hotel, they were fantastic) The customer service isn’t one of their priorities, that’s for sure.  We had some waiters that were great, but others that were just flat out assholes.  It was very case by case, unlike England where everyone was nice.  Overall, I loved Paris. It has it’s own feel that is truly unique.  It lived up to most expectations and then some.  

Belgium


Bonjour Belgium!  Our third and final country of the trip did not disappoint!  A major switch from Paris.  Most notably, the language barrier.  Most people in Belgium speak either French and/or Dutch... not much English.  That didn’t stop them from being extremely polite, courteous and welcoming.  Our hotel here was more of a bed and breakfast style, and our room was huge!  Our room was two stories with a living room, and Mom’s had her own walk out balcony!  It was in a Victorian style house complete with grand piano, fireplace, and a gorgeous staircase.  Only bummer here, no lift!  Hauling a suitcase packed with two weeks of stuff up four flights wasn’t easy.  We were served breakfast on the first floor each morning, complete with fresh squeezed orange juice, Rod Stewart playing in the background (not kidding you, they played Rod every morning) and the view of a beautiful wall sized stained glass window.  

Grand Place

With Expert Commentary

Since we’d really spent the first two destinations on the go, we decided our objective in Belgium was to drink beer.   The city of Brussels isn’t that large, so walking everywhere is pretty doable, if you’re located centrally.  It wasn’t nearly as touristy here as the other two places, which really made us feel we were getting an experience.  We encountered NO other Americans.  I loved it.  The weather was sunny every day but a bit cool in the evenings.  We spent quite a lot of time at the beautiful Grand Place.  Or, Grote Markt in Dutch.  This city-square has some of the most intricate and amazing architecture I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing and you could spend days alone taking it all in.  People here looked at us like we were exotic, which was a change.  I think we stuck out like sore thumbs with our clothes, hair, and demeanor.  That didn’t make anyone less polite, just got some stares.  We fell in love with a pub close to our hotel called Au Vieux Port Taverne.  They had cheap delicious food and beer.  The owner didn’t speak any English, so communicating by pointing and smiling got us through just fine.  Oh, and thank goodness for Google's Translate app so we could tell him how much we loved the food and service!  Technology, bringing people together.  

Happy camper...

At Au Vieux Port

I'm sorry what?  Beer is cheaper than water?  

Random statues like this were all over!  Loved them.

Manneken Pis

You can’t go to Belgium without seeing the famous Manneken Pis statue.  This little statue I remember from my Art History class in college.  It’s quite funny what they do to him!  Every day they change his clothes, and the Musee de Ville located in Grand Place has an entire floor dedicated to his outfits dating all the way back to the early 1900’s!  He just had on a blindfold the first day we saw him, but the next he was decked out in a janitor costume.  Too funny.  We did lots of shopping, looking at the beautiful flowers, and stopping in various pubs.  We did treat ourselves to a wonderful lobster dinner our last night in Brussels, and made an evening of it.  We really enjoyed the laid back Belgian culture.  It was a great experience and a place that I’d love to return to.  

In closing, America can learn a lot from Europe in the way they live their lives.  Don’t live to work, but work to live.  Eat good food, take long walks, and don’t be so uptight.  That being said, Europe can learn a lot from America regarding the cleanliness and overall standards of public bathrooms...yikes.

I would also love to give a shout out to Kayla Zeigler of Destination Europe for helping us plan a flawless vacation. For a first timer, she took the stress out of planning this trip and made it absolutely unforgettable. I would recommend her agency to anyone looking to book a European vacation. Class act all the way!