The St. Walburga Church is a 17th-century Roman-Catholic church in Bruges built by the Jesuits in a Baroque style. It is now a parish church and contains many valuable art objects. In 1596 the Jesuits first built a chapel. Soon after they started building a church with a college, a convent, a chapel and garden. […]
Often Bruges and Amsterdam and Bamberg and Colmar are referred to as the Venice of the North. In fact I think that any city in Europe that has canals can and tries to make this claim. Bruges I think is the cleanest and the nicest of them all. There are a lot of shops and […]
Bruges is a relatively small city of about 120 thousand people, double that if you include the metropolitan area. It is very beautiful and pristine. It’s a vibrant and alive and obsessively clean and not as busy and commercial as Brussels, a perfect place to get a good taste of Belgium. Very few traces of human […]
This is not an ordinary church. In fact a lot of churches in Belgium it seems, as well as The Netherlands are used for things other than praying. St. Magdalen’s is turned into an art exhibit entitled An Experiment on Space, Man and Religion. The graves of the future dead were quite interesting.
Belgium is humid. When in Bruges it is easy to channel Monika Geller, which is what Anna is demonstrating here!
Cape Fagnet is the highest point of the Alabaster Coast, it offers a breathtaking panorama of the sea, the cliffs, the harbor and the town of Fecamp. It peaks at 105 m and was once called the “Slam Fécamp.” It is currently occupied by a navy radar installation. Cape Fagnet was part of the German Atlantic […]
About 20 min drive from Etretat is the fishing town of Fecamp. During WWII Fecamp was part of Atlantic Wall fortification project run by Nazis. It was the third best fortified city in Normandy in WWII which was held by the Germans until 1944. Fecamp is an ancient fishing village and it shows signs of habitation dating […]
First thing this morning we made online dinner reservations at a very nice little bistro in Rouen. Made in Normandy Bistro is in the old town and we were quite happy to be able to get a table there. In a typical French style we are celebrating our 17th Wedding Anniversary today with foie gras […]
Rouen is a very cool city, well worth a good visit or two. We loved Metz, but Rouen I think is going to be a bit more special to us. This is a wonderful city with a lot of great places to visit and explore. The city has a great atmosphere, it has great shops […]
Another one of predominant landmarks in Rouen are the timber houses. The entire old town it seems is dotted with them. Some in better shape than others, some looking like they were just built and some so skewed they look like they are falling over. All of them however, absolutely charming and beautiful. Most of these […]
In the park behind the Church of St. Ouen church is where all the action is. Great church, beautiful park, a fountain, a pond, a tennis table, a playground for kids, bachelorette party meeting place and an exercise park. Since this trip is all about collection experiences, we thought we would give it a try. We entered the […]
The Church of St. Ouen is a large Gothic Roman Catholic church in Rouen, northern France, famous for both its architecture and its large, unaltered Cavaillé-Coll organ, which Charles-Marie Widor described as “a Michelangelo of an organ”. Built on a similar scale to nearby Rouen Cathedral, it is, along with church of Saint Maclou, one […]
The Gros-Horloge or Great Clock cannot be dissociated from the surrounding buildings, since their history is so intimately linked. Since its construction in the late 14th century, the Gothic belfry has housed the town’s bells and clock, the latter being a simple mechanism meant to sound the bells on the hour, half-hour and quarter-hour. In […]
I have no idea what this is called – but triple bombastic custard, liqueur and caramel bomb would be a very good approximation. There are eight pieces of sponge like pasty each the size of a cream puff. Each is filled with custard and soaked in liqueur, then immediately covered with some caramel to keep […]
Omonville is literally in the middle of nowhere in Normandy, yet it is close to everything. It is just the way we like it, quiet and serene and peaceful – this is one of the roads we take out of the cottage.
Mont Saint-Michel is an island commune in Normandy. It is located approximately one kilometre off the country’s northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. 100 hectares (247 acres) in size, the island has a population of 44. The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times, and since the eighth century […]
The Saint-Jacques Church was built between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Saint-Jacques church bears evidence to various epochs. The 1st church was constructed on the remains of the small chapel of Sainte-Catherine, which itself was destroyed in 1195. The church that we see today, dedicated to Saint-Jacques was built around 1283. The church on the sea route […]
The Saint Rémy Church: the first Saint-Rémy church, of which only the tower remains today, was built in the 13th century. It was built at the foot of the hill on which today stands Château-musée. The church gradually fell to ruins and the new Saint Rémy church was built in the heart of the town. It […]
We have arrived at our little cottage where we are going to be spending the next week. It is better than we expected. We were under the impression that this cottage is part of a resort, but it is not. It is just a stand alone cottage that has been renovated and refurbished 2 years ago. […]
We were out in Amsterdam for about 11 hours plus the drive there and back. This has been a long day but I think we are all quite happy with what we saw. In a city of this size you need to spent at least 5 to 7 days to get a good feel for […]
Everyone I think knows the story of Anne Frank. Part of our plan for Amsterdam was to see the Anne Frank Museum. While we all wanted to see it, no one really was keen on standing in line for 2.5 hours to get in. Lines here stretch to 4 hours at times so 2.5 hours […]
Since we only have one day in Amsterdam we thought it would be prudent to maximized the exploration time by minimizing the walking. We bought a hop on, hop off boat tour, which allows us to take all three cruise lines, all day long around the entire old city. We usually try to take a boat […]
There are a lot of interesting things to see in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is perhaps not the city best know for its landmarks like Paris or London but Amsterdam has its own jewels and charm. Amsterdam is the capital city of the most populous city within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the Dutch capital […]
We got off to an early start. By 10:10 am we were already in Amsterdam, parked and looking for something to do. First thing on the agenda was to orient ourselves, find a good boat to get to places fast and to find a place to have a breakfast. We are quite impressed because the forecast […]
We are staying just outside Amsterdam. We had a choice of staying in a nicer hotel and driving to Amsterdam or staying in a worse hotel and not driving. We decided to stay in a nicer hotel that is quiet and close to the city rather than staying in Amsterdam. I think this will be […]
The drive down to The Netherlands was not bad. The drive through Denmark was easy, and uneventful. The drive in the initial part of Germany was good too. The drive on the west side of Germany was excruciatingly painful. We got stuck in a 5km traffic which by the time we cleared it grew to […]
Today we said our goodbyes to our dear friends Mozejkos, whom we had a pleasure of seeing 4 times on this trip. Twice we were guests at their home and twice they came to visit us in Nuremberg. We always have a great time with Mozejkos and we are already missing them. Thank you again […]
After the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace we decided to walk towards the Little Mermaid. We decided to walk along the wharf to see the display of tall ships which were anchored there. The wind had picked up at this point and it looked like the weather might be taking a turn for the worse. Undaunted, we […]
After visiting Ørestad we drove to Fields, which is a massive shopping mall, to park the car and take the metro to the old town. The driverless metro decided to have some issues today so we were running late, and risked missing the show at the Royal Palace. We rushed from the metro station to […]
A place like Ørestad could not possibly have an ordinary playground. Located in the grassy field across the canal is a massive park. In the park, there is a massive ship which is about 80m long with steps, benches and a playhouse and a bunch of rocks to climb on. Not far from the ship is a […]
Our second part of the day was filled with a trip to the old town Odense. Even though we just had lunch we made a quick stop for a Danish hot dog and of course more Danish soft serve ice cream. We wondered around for the afternoon and got home just in time to make […]
This is our third visit to the Viking Museum in Ladby, and every time we come here we have a new experience and there is always something different to see. Today was no different. Because this is our last visit here for a while, we spent a lot of time in the gift shop […]
Today we are taking a day off to relax. In a typical Danish style, when we visit here, it’s raining. Great day to relax, catch up and do nothing. After dinner we decided to check out a different ice cream place to see how it compares. There is a 7 scoop special on the go […]
After a light dinner, we set off to Kerteminde, which is a sea town about 12 min drive from Odense. Kerteminde has about six thousand inhabitants and one very famous ice cream shop. It also has a newly renovated seawall where people come to hang out if they don’t feel like walking to the beach which […]
The morning drive, for the most part in Germany, was quite foggy. The roads were not too busy so the drive was nice. The afternoon was very sunny which made the latter part of Germany and Denmark a pleasant driver as well.
We have arrived! It was a nice drive and relatively uneventful one as well. 900 km, 18 construction zones, 3 accidents, luckily on the other side of the road, 3 stalled vehicles and one road side fire, also on the other side of the road and one OMG slam the brakes emergency stop.
Gas, bathroom, coffee, tea and delicious ice cream. Our car is so overloaded we have to drive relatively slowly which is fine as we are doing great.
Right then, we are setting off on our last holiday on this trip so we will make it a proper one this time around. This is the only holiday which we actually planned months ago, booked hotels months ago and got it all planned out – all months ago. We are all looking forward to it. […]
We don’t get to see Volker and Kasia very often. Kasia is always either in Vienna or Warsaw and we are almost never here on the weekends. Today we finally got to sit down with both of them for a nice meal on the balcony. The kids, all 3 of them, were not interested in hanging […]
So the plane was 9 minutes late. This does not seems like a huge amount of time but at an airport like Frankfurt that makes a lot of difference. At the same time arriving at Gate E were four other planes, two from Russia and one from Middle East plus one more. All four of these planes […]
Lauren, the last of the guests, is coming today. Not knowing what the drive will be like we left early to get here early. Now all we have to do is simply wait, everyone is anxious, especially Boris and Evelina.
Our city is playing host to World Music Festival. The entire old town is filled with stages, musicians, buskers, visitors, people and in true German fashion a lot of beer and sausage stands. There appears to be more people here than there was for the Christmas market. It is warm, the atmosphere is great and […]
Cochem is a small town of 5000 people which dates back to early Celtic and Roman times. In 886, it had its first documentary mention as Villa Cuchema. Cochem is famous for its wines and vineyards as well as its history. It was ruled by bishops, and dukes and princess, it was under Roman and French […]
This morning at 8:00 am sharp Lotta, Astrid and me set off for a lazy walk to the next village to pick up the cars we left at the Loe Fuchs Winery last night. The sun was out the river almost sill, truly a beautiful morning.
After a long day out, a well deserved dinner. We sat down for a dinner at the Castle Hotel Petry where we are staying to have a nice and relaxing dinner. Good food, good company – good time.
This morning after breakfast we met up with Astrid and Klaus and their friends Lotta and Daniella. On the agenda for todday was a walk though the vineyards from Eller to Bremm which are nested along the Mosel River. These two small villages are separated by about 2.3km from where we parked to where we sat […]
We are setting off on a little road trip north west of Nuremberg for a little trip through the German countryside. We are going to meet up with a couple we met in Italy at Agriturismo Villanova. They invited us here to show us one of their favourite spots in Europe.
Our family is departing today. This is the fourth time we see Anna’s cousin on this trip. Because we were always tricked into speaking Polish with them, we decided to give them all an English names and just spoke English to them this time around, for the most part anyway. Today they are setting off to […]
The Residenz Ansbach has a massive garden and an Orangery which today serve as a backdrop for concerts and music festivals. A garden was first mentioned in the 16th century in the herbal accounts of Leonhart Fuchs. Between 1723 and 1750, it was designed as a Baroque garden. Severely damaged during World War II, it […]
The church St. Johannis (St. John) in Ansbach in Middle Franconia is a Lutheran parish church and a concert venue of the Bachwoche Ansbach. The parish was first mentioned in documents in 1139. It was given by the Bishop of Würzburg to St. Gumbertus. Construction began in the second decade of the 15th century. The church […]
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