Joan of Arc 1412 1431 nicknamed “The Maid of Orléans” is considered a heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. She was born to a peasant family at Domrémy in north-east France. Joan said she received visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine instructing her to support Charles VII and recover […]
Le Treport is a small fishing port situated in the Pays de Caux, some 34 km northeast of Dieppe. The mouth of the Bresle river meets the English Channel here, in between the high 110 metres chalk cliffs and the pebbly beach. Le Tréport is also a sea-side resort with a free funicular that takes you […]
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 […]
The first church on this site dates back to 4th century, The 6th century it was enlarged and elevated to cathedral status. The cathedral was struck and portions of it destroyed by lighting no less than 5 times It was burned and bombed and damaged by hurricanes. One of the fires was so intense it melted […]
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.
You have to admire the architects and civil engineers here. Someone apparently decided to take a whimsical approach to road works and built these two bridges to look like the road is a part of a roller coaster ride. One is twisted and the other steep like a mountain. I am sure there is a reason […]
This morning we are setting off on a 3 hour drive to the other end of France it seems. Mont St. Michel is perhaps as well know in France as is the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre. This will officially be as far west as we have travelled by car from Nuremberg which is almost 1200km. […]
Our last visit for the day is Chateau de Miromensil. The only way to see the chateau inside is either by booking a night or by booking a guided tour. We booked a guided tour of the chateau, the gardens and the chapel. The tour was in French but we were given information in […]
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 […]
The Dieppe Canadian War Memorial is dedicated to the Canadian and British soldiers who were killed during the Dieppe Raid in 1942. 944 members of the Allied Armed Forces are interred at Dieppe, of which 707 are Canadian. Other dead from the raid are buried in Rouen, where the Germans took captured raiders, some of whom died […]
Today we set off for Dieppe. A small costal city of 32,000 people about 20km from where we are staying. First recorded as a small fishing settlement in 1030, Dieppe was an important prize fought over during the Hundred Years’ War. Dieppe housed the most advanced French school of cartography in the 16th century. Two of […]
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 […]
This is a one shot deal – you either parallel park like a boss in the Red Light District as everyone is looking on, or you go swimming! Well done.
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 […]
The adventure continues. Today we are saying good bye to our great hosts the Mozejkos and setting off for The Netherlands.
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 […]
The weather forecast has changed from sunny with a chance of showers to pouring rain with a chance of deluge. It was essentially raining sideways for most of the afternoon. Despite our rain gear, by the time we walked from the Little Mermaid to the shops, we were absolutely soaked to the bone. The only saving grace was […]
Well, it started to rain, so instead of going to see the Little Mermaid statue we decided to take an early lunch. Henrik suggested a great place that serves traditional open face Danish sandwiches, with just about anything you can imagine on them. There is 40 thousand types of herring, from pickled to curried, eel, meatballs, chicken […]
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 […]
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 […]
Ørestad is an ultra modern and ultra sleek part of Copenhagen – think of it as Architectural Digest award-winning designs built all in one place. Ørestad is a developing city area in Copenhagen, on the island of Amager. It is expected that 20,000 people will live in Ørestad, 20,000 will study, and 80,000 people will be employed […]
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 […]
This post should really come with its Health Warning – this treat, which is about the size of a small polar bear, is a lot easier to order than it is to finish. Vaffelhuset is the famous ice cream shop in Kerteminde. During summer it is open until 11 pm. Day or night, rain or […]
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. […]
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.
Eltz Castle is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier. It is still owned by a branch of the same family that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. The Rübenach and Rodendorf families’ homes in the castle are open to the public, while the […]
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 […]
For some breakfast is the first meal of the day, that does not mean that immediately after it you can’t have some delicious gelato to really kick start the day – properly.
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.
We sat down with the owner and the wine maker of Leo Fuchs for a bit of a chat and a bit of fine wine. All wines we sampled today were white. There was one Chardonnay, one Sauvignon Blanc and the rest of them were a bewildering variety of Rieslings. These are not the Rieslings we remember drinking back […]
Between the two wineries we had a quick stop in Cochem a small town along the Mosel to get some gelato. One of the most interesting flavours being served here was basil lemon gelato. It was so good and refreshing! We might need to stop by here and have it again.
The drive here was simply put – hell. Traffic, construction, delays, rain, you name it we had it. It took us well over an hour longer than it was supposed to take. However, when we got off the highway we were rewarded with sunshine, beautiful vistas and an amazing road. This then made the effort […]
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 […]
The church St. Gumbertus is one of the central city churches of Ansbach, together with the neighboring St. Johannis. Located in the old town of Ansbach, St. Gumbertus, now a Lutheran church, was originally the church of a monastery that was founded by St. Gumbert around 750. Today it serves as a venue for concerts and […]
Today we set off to Ansbach which is about 40km from Nuremberg. Ansbach is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia with about 45,000 people living in the city. The city started off in the 8th century as a Benedictine monastery, it later became the seat of the Hohenzollern family in 1331. Later […]
We bought our car last year July 19th. It has now been a year since we owned it. We don’t drive the car in the city, sometimes we don’t drive it for a week, sometimes we drive it once a week just to the store. Most of the travel we do is when we take […]
Truth be told we did not have a lot of time to celebrate Germany’s win of the FIFA World Cup. We finished watching the game, we grabbed out suitcases and went downstairs to catch the cab to the airport. The city has gone absolutely mad. I am glad we were going to the airport and […]
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