The main places we visited were of course Brussels, Belgium where Logan's sister, brother-in-law and niece and nephew live right now, then Madrid, Spain; Paris, France and Normandy, and then we drove through the Netherlands to Aachen, Germany.
We got picked up from the airport by Erin that morning and already we could feel like we were somewhere new! Especially when we walked out to the parking garage and it was well, tiny!
It was good seeing the Glover Family again because it had been several months since we last saw them. Kherington is so big now and we got to meet Kevin for the first time since he was born!
It was still early in the morning so we took a short brisk walk to the Evere Outdoor Market. There we got to try our first Belgium waffles and I found the perfect pair of boots for me!! Before we left it was one of my goals to find some cute boots but I never thought that I would on the first morning! Score!
Below are some of the awesome things we could see from the top of the arch. The picture on the far right is of the Antonium in the far distance. We went there later in our trip so stay tuned!
Day 2 - November 3, 2011
After getting some much needed sleep we started our trip early the next morning by going to London!! We drove through France to get on the Channel Tunnel Train! We drove our car onto the train and then you just chill for about a half hour and - poof you are in the UK!! So we drove off the train in Folkestone, England and got to see the White Horse (pic from Google caz I couldn't get my camera out fast enough) below to welcome us!
We went in the National Gallery for free. I couldn't believe that I was walking through my humanities text book! Here is a Michelangelo, now we are passing a de Vinci, you know, no big deal... not! I was super excited to see some by Joseph Mallord William Turner. He is one of my favorite artists. Just beautiful!
Then back to our walking tour! We walked through the Square and towards the parliament building. One our way we passed some Horse Guards and stopped to take a picture like a ton of other people were doing. I went and stood over by the guard and the horse leaned over and nudged my shoulder! It was so funny - I guess I was too close to his bubble! Also on our walk, we passed my first red telephone booth! Another great picture opportunity!
On our way to Buckingham Palace we passed Westminster Abby. This is where they had the Royal wedding just this last year that was all over the news!
We sat outside Buckingham Palace on the steps to take a break. You can't take tours when the Queen is home so we just got some pictures of the front. After that, we hopped on a big red double-decker bus and took it to Hamleys Toy Store. It is one of the biggest and oldest Toy stores in the world! I think I had as much fun as Kherington and Kevin there.
Day 3 - November 4, 2011
The next morning we drove to Windsor that is upstream on the Thames. This is where Windsor Castle is at and you can never believe how big it is! You can see the layout of the big complex on the Mosaic Logan is looking at below. We walked around part of the castle because we got there before it even opened! At one gate there is a road that is super straight and looks like it goes on forever! It is called The Long Walk (how perfect!) On google.maps it looks to be about 2 miles long. We saw several people jogging down it while we were there.
Walking back into town we passed this beautiful small church that I stopped to take some pictures of. There was a truck of workers at the side and as we passed by they cat-called out to me so I ran back to Logan hand grabbed his hand! Creepy English guys!
We found out that while we were there we could see the Changing of the Guard so before that happened we wasted a little time by shopped around a little bit and then got to watch it. We walked back to the car and saw this cute little place called Fish n' Chips on the Thames so we got some to make sure we had that experience too.
After that, we made a quick trip to Costco so Erin could stock up on a few things. Then we got to walk around the beautiful London Temple before Heading back to Belgium.
Day 4 - November 5, 2011
Saturday we headed to Brugge. This ended up being one of my favorite places we visited! This little town is closer to the coast so it gets a lot of tourists - just like us! It was awesome to see how they had really put a lot into making it very clean and inviting!
Brugge is known as the "Venice of the North" because it has several canals going through it. When I heard that, I thought it might be smelly, like I hear Venice is, Italy is, but it wasn't at all! We walked to the main square and even got free samples of chocolate!
My favorite thing I saw here was in the Church of our Lady (seen below in the top right picture) where I got to see the sculpture of the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo. It was just amazing. I felt very reverent when I got to see it. We also went into another church and saw a white clothing garment that supposedly had Christ's blood stain on it.
Walking around the old town was so much fun with the musicians and little shops and cafes' I don't think I have ever seen a place that was so picaresque. I also loved the ornate architecture. I took a ton of pictures as you can see below to give you a feel of what it was like to walk through Brugge.
Also, when we were walking around, a couple of youth walked up to Erin started talking to her in french. When she told them she only spoke English, they switched and asked if they could take pictures with us because we had red hair. Then they took turns taking pictures with Erin, Kevin and me! That's when I realized, we were all redheads except Logan, really, but he had red hair as a kid! I don't think that many redheads walk around together that often so I guess we were a pretty unique group!
Day 5 - November 6, 2011
Sunday we went to Ryan and Erin's ward in Brussels. It is half in English and Half in French. It was pretty interesting to see how the church is the same everywhere and people make it work - even in two languages! We wore translator headphones in sacrament, Sunday School had a french class and then a separate English class and then Relief Society the teacher either translated as they went or one sister would speak a few thoughts and then it was translated by another sister. So many linguistically talented people!
After church we did a quick drive by the Atonium. This is a ginormous structure built for the world fair in 1958.
Day 6 - November 7, 2011
Monday we toured downtown Brussels. We went to the Belgium Plaza Mayor (bottom right in picture) and right before walking into the square we passed a little bread shop with some of the prettiest bread I have ever seen!
Down one of the streets that leads to the Plaza is the Manneken Pis Fountain. I learned about this is my humanities class too. They dress this "Little Peeing Boy" up for all the holidays. It was also funny because they have a small statue of him at my old office.
The last place we saw downtown was the Palace. It was a beautiful building but the guards march funny swinging their arms as they walk.
After that we went to the Neuhaus Chocolate Outlet. OH MY it was amazing. They have chocolate boxes of everything they sell open for taste testing and I thought I 'm going to try everything! but after just a few you had to slow down. They are so rich! We bought three boxes to take home and it was probably one of our best buys! PS the ones shaped like the Euro are the best.
That same afternoon we got on a flight for Madrid, Spain! This is where Logan served his mission and since Jr. High I have wanted to visit, so we made sure to spend some time there when we were on that side of the Atlantic.
It was pretty cloudy but as we got closer the clouds parted just perfectly for me to see the Valle de los Caídos - a Catholic basilica and a memorial for those who gave their lives in the Spanish Civil war. It is recognized by its giant Cross that was clearly visible from the plane window. Logan has been there and we were not planning on seeing it this trip, but it still got see it anyway!
The first thing we did when we landed, was take a Metro to the Madrid, Spain Temple because we still had some time before we wanted to go back to our hotel. We got a grounds tour by one of the missionaries and took some pictures!
This was an area Logan knew pretty well, so we went to a grocery store he used to go to every time he went to the temple on his mission and picked up a Spanish tortilla for dinner and breakfast for the next day. Then we headed back to check into our hotel.
We walked the streets before going to bed! Spain seems to be awake at all hours of the day. I liked the guys that painted themselves up all gold or blue and then stood like statues.
Most of all I loved that there were so many places to shop for fun things!
Day 7 - November 8, 2011
Tuesday was another early morning so we could catch a bus to Segovia - a old town north of Madrid. From the bus station we walked into town. It was a very cold fall morning but made the Roman Aqueduct look even cooler. It was built around 50 AD. They are amazingly preserved.
Our next place we toured was the Cathedral of Segovia. It is stunning from the outside and inside. The original Cathedral was destroyed in 1521 AD in a war so in 1525 AD they redesigned and rebuilt the Cathedral in the Gothic Style. We couldn't take any pictures inside unfortunately, except for the Cloister (enclosed outdoor area).
Before we could go into the Cathedral because it had not opened yet, we got some breakfast (baguette from a pasteleria). With what was left over we fed a bunch of cute little birds. I also took several pictures of unique and beautiful architecture while we were in Segovia.
After another walk, we got to Alcazar Castle. It is on a peninsula surrounded by a river and up on the hill it just looks majestic! This is also one of the castles that the Disney Castle is inspired by! We toured the inside and then took all 152 steps up a super spiral staircase. Each step was almost as tall as my knee. I almost didn't make it to the top but the views were so worth it once we did!
Then we walked down and around to the front for one more photo shoot of the Castle. We even saw some peacocks on the side of the hill down by the river but they were a little too far away to get any good pictures of them.
One last thing I learned in Segovia. Don't wear your cute new boots in cities that have cobbled sidewalks and stone streets. Your feet will kill you after! Tennis shoes from here on out! But how can you complain about your feet when the paths you are walking down look like the last picture below?!
We took our Bus back to Madrid and then found some lunch before going to Aranjuez - The Prince's Palace just south of Madrid. We left the train and I guess went the wrong way, but we just hopped though a fence and were back on track. We walked down the Calle Coroneles to the front of the palace. What we really loved here were the gardens. The first one called Jardín del Parterre, was right behind the palace and all the fountains were still on (most of the fountains were off for the winter in the other cities we visited). I also thought that the compass made out of bushes was neat!
Then to get to the other garden, we crossed a bridge over to what is called the Island Garden because it is surrounded by water! There are shallow falls on either side with lots of ducks. From the sculpted bushes to the little private sitting areas, this was like our own secret garden. We only ever saw one other person while we wondered the grounds who kindly took our picture! There was even a huge bird cage with lots of little birds inside!
We got some nepolitanas (a pastry treat) and then caught the next train back to Madrid. On our way home, we stopped at the Atocha Train Station because Logan promised I could see some turtles there! The train station was huge but after searching for sometime we finally found them! One part of the station has a large atrium where they have tropical plants and a pond.
We splurged that night for dinner and had a traditional Spanish Paella from La Pealla De La Reina. It was SO good. One of the best meals I have ever tried. It had Clams, Cuttlefish, Prawn, Mussels, Chicken, and Calamari all in buttery, saffron rice... I loved all of it!
Day 8 - November 8, 2011
For breakfast we walked over to a Cafe that sold churros and took them with us to Retiro Park. The park had a lake in the middle where people were rowing, lots of joggers and musicians. Logan and me sat on a bench and enjoyed our churros with chocolate sauce. Yum!
We had a little time to kill so Logan let me shop around before heading back to the airport. There was some kind of festival going on and so there were people everywhere! Some pictures below are of our hotel front, the Plaza del Sol, Plaza Mayor with all the people and religious leaders, us getting lunch looking at our map and me enjoying gelato before getting on the metro for the airport. I love Spain!
Day 9 - November 10, 2011
The next morning after we got back from Spain, we wasted no time and set off for Paris. This time Ryan got to go with us! We got a two day museum pass and our first stop was the Louve! I was expecting it to be awesome but I was not expecting how huge that place is! Logan and me, may or may not, have gotten turned around a few times. I could have taken probably two days exploring the whole museum.
After that we walked over a bridge to the Ile de la Cité - one of the islands in Paris - to see the Notre Dame Cathedral. We got some lunch and I enjoyed a nutella crepe. Inside was just beautiful (but hard to get pictures of when I couldn't use a flash). We thought it would be fun to go to the top too but when we found the line it went all the way around the building. Even in the "off" season this was a popular place. We still had a lot to see and do so we kept going!
Erin and Ryan had heard that Saint Chapelle was a great place to see because of its stain glass. To get inside we had to go through metal detectors and everything (I guess we did that for the Louvre and Versailles too). Once we were inside we were not disappointed. The windows told the story from Adam and Eve all the way to the Second Coming.
After a short Metro ride, we got off to see the Arc du Triumph - Logan was very excited to see this site. When we got there, we found they they were setting up for a big parade for the next day (Armistic Day).
We debated going up to the top but there were so many stairs and with the kids it would be hard. We decided to go anyway. As we entered the stairs a women noticed we had children so she sent us over to the elevator! That was a huge blessing and the views from the top were amazing.
Our last site of the day was the Eiffel tower up close! Perfect ending to a perfect day! Erin did a great job getting us some nice pictures too!
We took the metro back to the hotel - and we must have picked the wrong time because it was so crammed! Even with no space at all, people still just pushed their way in! I really can't describe how packed in we were. Crazy coming home traffic! That night we got pizza from a place nearby and then hit the sack!
Day 10 - November 11, 2011
Friday morning we got up early and went to a bakery where we got some of my most favorite bread EVER! I now understand why the French love bread so much - its because they have the best kind!
Our first stop for the day was the Chateau de Versailles. This was one of the things on my wish list. That morning as we waited for it to open up, it was the coldest day we had on the entire trip so we were happy to get inside. The interior was quite impressive. You could tell in its prime with all of the people and furniture it would have looked quite excessive!
After we toured the interior with our audio tour, we went to the gardens. I wish it had been nicer day outside because none of the fountains were on and it was a bit gloomy. We also didn't go very far because the gardens are almost 2000 acres! I guess we will just have to go back when it is warmer next time!
Back in the car we headed to Normandy to see the landing sites during WWII. We got to one of the sites just in time to see a 360 Video of what it would have been like to be there on D-Day June 6, 1944. It was pretty cool to see historical footage mixed with what it looks like today.
After that we went to the American Cemetery but it was getting late so we had a quick look (we were coming back the next day anyway) and headed to Mont Saint Michel where we had our hotel.
Once we were there, we thought it would be fun to see what Mont Saint Michel looks like at night. The closer we got, all we saw were cars leaving, so we hopped out, took some quick shots from far away and then went back to our hotel. Later the next day, we learned that the tide comes in and the parking lots get completely covered with water so everyone has to leave or get flooded!
Day 11 - November 12, 2011
Mont Saint Michel was a fascinating place! It is an island with an Abby at the top and has spiraling sidewalks that go all the way up. We enjoyed walking up and around all the little nooks and crannys of the place. We also got an Asian guy to take a picture of all of us. I think this is the only one that is of our entire group!
Our next stop was at the parachute museum at Dead Man's Corner but it was only a little house so we didn't really spend much time there. Then, we drove up the coast to the different American Landing spots. We stopped in Arromanches and got some lunch by the beach.
After that we went to the American Memorial at Utah Beach. It had a pretty fun flight simulator. I did just fine until I needed to land. Logan crashed too but I'm hoping that has no correlation with his future occupation!
After touring the museum, we walked down to the beach and this was the first time that I realized that we were at the BEACH! It was a pretty nice day and if I had had my swimsuit I would have gone swimming in the English Channel. Instead, we picked up some shells and sand and took turns taking pictures touching the waves.
Another site we visited was Pointe du Hoc. I learned that this was a German stronghold that we had to take out so that the US forces could land on Omaha and Utah beach. To do this, they bombed the area from our Naval forces but it was not until we sent our Rangers up the cliff side - something the Germans thought was impossible - that they were able to take the area. All the pits still remain, scarring the land.
Here is another picture to show what the landscape really looks like.
The last site we saw was the American Cemetery again by Omaha Beach. This time we got to tour the museum and learn more about what happened there. We walked all the way to the back of the cemetery. Sadly that takes a while because of the size of the cemetery - but at the very end, there are two statues, one represents the USA and the other France.
Day 12 - November 13, 2011
After church, Logan and me went to Breendonk Concentration Camp in Belgium. It was a very sobering experience. This was not a death camp but people suffered and died here. After seeing the Normandy sites and here, it made me very proud to be and American and to be married to a man that helps secure our freedoms by serving in the military.
Day 13 - November 14, 2011
On our last day in Europe we drove to Aachen, Germany. On our way there we went through the Netherlands. They have some beautiful landscapes there.
As we walked into the shopping district we passed a fountain that had metal puppets that you could really move the arms and legs of! We got some yummy bread and then shopped around. We also walked around to a Cathedral and toured the inside. They have the most amazing Christmas decoration stores here! My favorite store out of all of them, though, was a toy and souvenir shop. I wanted everything inside. They had the most beautiful hand carved wood animals too.
That night, back in Brussels we took a bus into the Plaza again to see it lit up at night and to bid it farewell to beautiful Europe.
Day 14 - November 15, 2011
It was sad to go but we finally had to fly home. I think we probably couldn't take much more of the crazy schedule we were keeping anyway and I think poor Ryan and Erin needed a break from an overload of family (they had others come just before us). They were so great to let us come, driving us everywhere and planning our big city trips! Thanks so much!
The flight back was long, just like the first but the plane was half empty so it was not too bad.
Stepping off the plane we both felt like zombies. I don't think the jet-lag was as bad this time though. I did feel bad because everyone wanted all the details of our trip and I just didn't have enough brain power to organize my thoughts and tell them everything.
A few days later, I finished making a Power Point with all our adventures and pictures. My Mom and Sister helped me make some Spanish Paella (not quite as good as ours in Madrid) and I think my family had fun eating while they got entertained by our latest adventures! I also got out some of their souvenirs I brought back for everyone and finished it all up with the fantastic Neuhaus Belgian chocolates!
We found out that while we were there we could see the Changing of the Guard so before that happened we wasted a little time by shopped around a little bit and then got to watch it. We walked back to the car and saw this cute little place called Fish n' Chips on the Thames so we got some to make sure we had that experience too.
Being the Geographers that we are, Erin was so nice and also drove us to Greenwich. This is home to the Royal Observatory which has an enormous park and is where the Prime Meridian line goes through the UK. For those who may want to know what that means, it is where the zero longitude line connects to the north and south poles; is the beginning of the time zones; where we get Greenwich Mean Time and it also separates Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Cool Stuff. Below is a picture taken from the observatory.
Day 4 - November 5, 2011
Saturday we headed to Brugge. This ended up being one of my favorite places we visited! This little town is closer to the coast so it gets a lot of tourists - just like us! It was awesome to see how they had really put a lot into making it very clean and inviting!
Brugge is known as the "Venice of the North" because it has several canals going through it. When I heard that, I thought it might be smelly, like I hear Venice is, Italy is, but it wasn't at all! We walked to the main square and even got free samples of chocolate!
My favorite thing I saw here was in the Church of our Lady (seen below in the top right picture) where I got to see the sculpture of the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo. It was just amazing. I felt very reverent when I got to see it. We also went into another church and saw a white clothing garment that supposedly had Christ's blood stain on it.
Day 5 - November 6, 2011
Sunday we went to Ryan and Erin's ward in Brussels. It is half in English and Half in French. It was pretty interesting to see how the church is the same everywhere and people make it work - even in two languages! We wore translator headphones in sacrament, Sunday School had a french class and then a separate English class and then Relief Society the teacher either translated as they went or one sister would speak a few thoughts and then it was translated by another sister. So many linguistically talented people!
After church we did a quick drive by the Atonium. This is a ginormous structure built for the world fair in 1958.
Day 6 - November 7, 2011
Monday we toured downtown Brussels. We went to the Belgium Plaza Mayor (bottom right in picture) and right before walking into the square we passed a little bread shop with some of the prettiest bread I have ever seen!
Down one of the streets that leads to the Plaza is the Manneken Pis Fountain. I learned about this is my humanities class too. They dress this "Little Peeing Boy" up for all the holidays. It was also funny because they have a small statue of him at my old office.
The last place we saw downtown was the Palace. It was a beautiful building but the guards march funny swinging their arms as they walk.
That same afternoon we got on a flight for Madrid, Spain! This is where Logan served his mission and since Jr. High I have wanted to visit, so we made sure to spend some time there when we were on that side of the Atlantic.
It was pretty cloudy but as we got closer the clouds parted just perfectly for me to see the Valle de los Caídos - a Catholic basilica and a memorial for those who gave their lives in the Spanish Civil war. It is recognized by its giant Cross that was clearly visible from the plane window. Logan has been there and we were not planning on seeing it this trip, but it still got see it anyway!
The first thing we did when we landed, was take a Metro to the Madrid, Spain Temple because we still had some time before we wanted to go back to our hotel. We got a grounds tour by one of the missionaries and took some pictures!
Most of all I loved that there were so many places to shop for fun things!
Day 7 - November 8, 2011
Tuesday was another early morning so we could catch a bus to Segovia - a old town north of Madrid. From the bus station we walked into town. It was a very cold fall morning but made the Roman Aqueduct look even cooler. It was built around 50 AD. They are amazingly preserved.
We splurged that night for dinner and had a traditional Spanish Paella from La Pealla De La Reina. It was SO good. One of the best meals I have ever tried. It had Clams, Cuttlefish, Prawn, Mussels, Chicken, and Calamari all in buttery, saffron rice... I loved all of it!
Day 8 - November 8, 2011
For breakfast we walked over to a Cafe that sold churros and took them with us to Retiro Park. The park had a lake in the middle where people were rowing, lots of joggers and musicians. Logan and me sat on a bench and enjoyed our churros with chocolate sauce. Yum!
Day 9 - November 10, 2011
The next morning after we got back from Spain, we wasted no time and set off for Paris. This time Ryan got to go with us! We got a two day museum pass and our first stop was the Louve! I was expecting it to be awesome but I was not expecting how huge that place is! Logan and me, may or may not, have gotten turned around a few times. I could have taken probably two days exploring the whole museum.
Day 10 - November 11, 2011
Friday morning we got up early and went to a bakery where we got some of my most favorite bread EVER! I now understand why the French love bread so much - its because they have the best kind!
Our first stop for the day was the Chateau de Versailles. This was one of the things on my wish list. That morning as we waited for it to open up, it was the coldest day we had on the entire trip so we were happy to get inside. The interior was quite impressive. You could tell in its prime with all of the people and furniture it would have looked quite excessive!
After that we went to the American Cemetery but it was getting late so we had a quick look (we were coming back the next day anyway) and headed to Mont Saint Michel where we had our hotel.
Once we were there, we thought it would be fun to see what Mont Saint Michel looks like at night. The closer we got, all we saw were cars leaving, so we hopped out, took some quick shots from far away and then went back to our hotel. Later the next day, we learned that the tide comes in and the parking lots get completely covered with water so everyone has to leave or get flooded!
Day 11 - November 12, 2011
Mont Saint Michel was a fascinating place! It is an island with an Abby at the top and has spiraling sidewalks that go all the way up. We enjoyed walking up and around all the little nooks and crannys of the place. We also got an Asian guy to take a picture of all of us. I think this is the only one that is of our entire group!
Day 12 - November 13, 2011
After church, Logan and me went to Breendonk Concentration Camp in Belgium. It was a very sobering experience. This was not a death camp but people suffered and died here. After seeing the Normandy sites and here, it made me very proud to be and American and to be married to a man that helps secure our freedoms by serving in the military.
Day 13 - November 14, 2011
On our last day in Europe we drove to Aachen, Germany. On our way there we went through the Netherlands. They have some beautiful landscapes there.
As we walked into the shopping district we passed a fountain that had metal puppets that you could really move the arms and legs of! We got some yummy bread and then shopped around. We also walked around to a Cathedral and toured the inside. They have the most amazing Christmas decoration stores here! My favorite store out of all of them, though, was a toy and souvenir shop. I wanted everything inside. They had the most beautiful hand carved wood animals too.
Day 14 - November 15, 2011
It was sad to go but we finally had to fly home. I think we probably couldn't take much more of the crazy schedule we were keeping anyway and I think poor Ryan and Erin needed a break from an overload of family (they had others come just before us). They were so great to let us come, driving us everywhere and planning our big city trips! Thanks so much!
The flight back was long, just like the first but the plane was half empty so it was not too bad.
Stepping off the plane we both felt like zombies. I don't think the jet-lag was as bad this time though. I did feel bad because everyone wanted all the details of our trip and I just didn't have enough brain power to organize my thoughts and tell them everything.
A few days later, I finished making a Power Point with all our adventures and pictures. My Mom and Sister helped me make some Spanish Paella (not quite as good as ours in Madrid) and I think my family had fun eating while they got entertained by our latest adventures! I also got out some of their souvenirs I brought back for everyone and finished it all up with the fantastic Neuhaus Belgian chocolates!
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