The Garden Route is the name of the road that runs along the southern coast of South Africa. It is the southern most shores on the African continent.

Most of the road is undeveloped with miles of both flat terrains and mountains with very few sign of human life anywhere.

It is connected by small towns with plenty to do and see. Many of the attractions are related to wildlife: ostrich farms, elephant sanctuaries, cheetah & leopard breeding, crocodile farms, etc. There is also lots of outdoor activities and high adrenaline options.

We started our trip down the Garden Route from Cape Town. The first stop we made was a rather odd one. Ronnie’s Sex Shop has become a well known landmark on this route. You drive for miles with nothing around and suddenly come to this shack. The story behind this place is that it was originally called “Ronnie’s Shop”. In an effort to get more people to stop, his friends thought it would be funny to paint the word “sex” on the sign. It seemed to work because more and more people started stopping here out of curiosity. It is really just a place to stop to grab a cold drink or light snacks on the way. It is decorated with tons of bras and underwear people have left behind.

We continued our way to Oudtshoorn where we opted to use some Marriott points to stay in a bamboo hut at Protea Hotel by Marriott Oudtshoorn Riempie Estate. Definitely the most exotic Marriott I have ever stayed in before.

Oudtshoorn has a zoo called Cango Wildlife Ranch which features many hands-on exhibits. You can opt to get in a cage with crocodiles, hang out with the lemurs, and hold a huge snake.

I chose to pet some of the cheetahs they have raised since they were babies. Some of them were feeling rambunctious so we had to switch which cheetahs we were meeting three times before finding some that were relaxed enough.

Oudtshoorn also has a well-known ostrich farm nearby. Ostrich is a common source of protein on the menus as a burger, steak, or eggs. We opted for the ostrich jersey.

This was definitely an unusual animal for us to see on a menu. In South Africa it is very common though and farmed the same way we would farm chickens or cows. Ostrich is a lean meat that tastes like a filet steak, but is much healthier than beef.

We headed further toward the coast and made some stops along the way. We found a beautiful cove to park and eat lunch while looking out at the ocean.

It is amazing how many secluded beaches you can find driving around South Africa. You can see some footprints on sand, but we didn’t see a soul on the beach the entire time we were here.

Our next overnight stop was in Plettenberg Bay. There is tons to do in this area so we stayed a few nights. We stayed at African Array Backpackers Lodge which was on a mountain in the middle of the forest.

It was a little rough around the edges but had a personal charm to the place. They had a campfire every night which was a great way to meet people staying here. They had to put up a fence to keep the baboons and monkeys out of the property. They trained their dogs to guard the area and even had 24/7 security roaming in the surrounding forest to protect the place from people and animals breaking in.

Plettenberg Bay has some really great beaches, hiking trails, and plenty of cute restaurants. We went out on the popular Robberg hiking trail which has three different lengths: 1 km, 3 km, or 11 km.

We chose the 11 km (7 mile) hike all the way to the point of the peninsula and back. The trek was pretty challenging. We packed lunch and lots of water which we were really happy about.

We were able to watch a whale and dolphin playing in the water. There were tons of seals sunbathing on the rocks. Some of the seals were playing in the massive waves near the beach. Apparently when the water is clear, you can even spot great white sharks in the water.

There were tons of different terrains on this hike. It went from a dirt trail in the jungle, to a huge pile of rocks where you had to really look for the trail markers, to an enormous beautiful beach.

After spending a full day hiking, we rewarded ourselves with fish bites at a small beach cafe.

We took our time traveling to our last destination. The mountains we drove through were beautiful. There are very few cars or people around making it feel like we had them all to ourselves.

Our final stop was Port Elizabeth. This is a bigger city used as the end point for the Garden Route. We didn’t explore much here, but mainly ended here to be able to fly out to Johannesburg the next day to begin our 18 day safari!

WARNING** Before reading this know that you are agreeing to not share with anyone else how great this place is… Just kidding. But seriously, I’m skeptical to write about Cape Town. After a few days of being here I was shocked that it isn’t packed with tourists from the Western countries. Think of Hawaii but cut the cost in a quarter. This place is seriously a secret gem.

The center of the city sits an enormous mountain. The mountain is surrounded by beautiful, white sandy beaches. African wine country is a short hop away. And Cape Town is rated one of the most friendly places in the world- and it’s very easy to see why. What more could you want?

From everywhere in the area you can see Table Top Mountain in the background. This beautiful mountain gets its name from its flat top that looks like a table.

You can take one of many paths to hike to the top, or you can take the cable car both up and down to get the same amazing views. We opted to hike the Platteklip Gorge Trail which is the most popular.

It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes with plenty of stops for pictures. The views on top of this 1,090 meter high mountain were amazing!

The mountain is called Table Top because it is flat like a table. When the clouds sit on top it looks like a table cloth has been placed on the table.

There was also some great wildlife to see along the way. We were able to see some of the mountain goats that settled here in the 1930’s after a few of them escaped from the zoo.

There are many beach options in Cape Town. Camps Bay is rated one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

The enormous waves made it dangerous to swim, but the soft sand with paragliders soaring overhead from the nearby mountains kept us plenty distracted.

The water front has a beautiful walk/run/bike path. There are wide open parks with dogs and children playing. Cute beach restaurants and bars. Food truck stands with picnic tables to take a break.

And this amazing pool we happened to come across on our walk!

This boardwalk also is the perfect spot to see some amazing sunsets over the ocean.

I would recommend renting a car for part of your stay in Cape Town. There are plenty of things to see only an hour or so away from the city. There are tours available- but we found it very easy and cost effective to simply drive ourselves.

We took a day trip to Cape Point which is a peninsula with small towns and beaches along the way.

Our first stop on the way was Boulder Beach. This beach is named after the rocks that line the water, but is mostly known for the penguins!

These animals have naturally made a home here. There were hundreds of them all over the park. We loved watching them swim and fish for the crying penguin babies.

Seal Island is another well known attraction on this route. We did not make it out to the island, but the name enough reminded us of all the great white sharks nearby.

Although you could not see them from the road, there are many shipwrecks marked in the area. Many ships have wrecked nearby on this peninsula due to rocks or shallow waters.

We continued our drive through many small towns on our way to Cape Point. This is the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. There are two lighthouses situated on the end of the peninsula.

It was extremely windy when we went, likely caused by the aggressive meeting of the oceans.

We had a lot of fun keeping an eye out for wildlife while we were driving. Baboons live all over this peninsula. Apparently they can be pretty aggressive if they think you have food.

While leaving the point, we drove on the opposite side of the peninsula. We stopped at Scarborough Beach, mainly for its name, but were amazed to find a reasonably isolated, beautiful, huge beach!

There were surfers, dogs, and a few people around. But other than that this place was very quiet and relaxing. We really wished we had brought a picnic or at least our bathing suits. Next time…

We paid a few extra dollars to drive on the coast and follow the road to Chapman’s Peak– and it was definitely worth it! The drive got the adrenaline going with the massive cliffs nearby.

But the views were absolutely priceless.

 

Along the way we got to see the Twelve Apostles which are several large mountains in a row.

Another reason to get a car is to explore all the wineries! Definitely make sure someone is fine with driving though, because the “tasting pours” are very hefty.

We stopped at Klein’s Zalze and did a 5 sample tasting that cost only $1.66. Each sample was AT LEAST a half glass of wine. Needless to say we knew we weren’t going to make it to all the wineries we had planned on.

One of the most popular wineries in South Africa is Waterford Estates.

There was a chocolate and wine pairing offered here. My favorite was the salted milk chocolate paired with the Cabernet Sauvignon. Of course we decided we needed a bottle of this wine and bar of chocolate to go.

The Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens were another attraction right outside the city. We took an Uber here which was an incredibly cheap $6 for a 35 minutes ride.

There was an elevated walkway that gives you a great view of Table Top mountain.

We stayed right near V&A Waterfront which is an old harbor used by the English since the 1800’s. It appears to be newly redone with an large mall, a ferris wheel, and plenty of restaurants geared towards tourists.

This area felt perfectly safe to walk around. It is also the port where you leave to visit Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner for 18 of his 27 year sentence. This is before he went on to become the President of South Africa.

If you’ve made it to the end then you know all the secrets about how amazing this place is. Now that you know, you should move it to the top of your travel list before everyone else finds out!

Spending 5 months traveling through 20 different countries in Europe opened our eyes to many differences from what we are used to in North America. We learned about some of these through mistakes we made and others simply from traveling around for a long time. There are some tips that helped us quite a bit included in some cases as well. If you are planning a trip to Europe anytime soon hopefully you find some of this helpful!

1. Big rolling suitcases are a nightmare. Cobblestone streets are the norm in most countries in Europe. There are also tons of small streets where cars don’t fit, old buildings with no elevators, and roads with no sidewalks.

Carrying large suitcases around can get old very quickly! Do yourself a favor and pack light. You can easily do laundry if you need to.

2. Dryers aren’t as common. It is not uncommon to see clothes hanging out of windows or on balconies to dry.

3. Prices are shown with tax included. This is something I wish everywhere would do. The prices you see on the price tag is the price you pay.

4. Water costs money in restaurants. You need to specify tap water if you order water in a restaurant. Sometimes they will still charge you or tell you they don’t serve tap water.

* Tip: Carry a water bottle with you. Everywhere we went it was safe to drink water from the tap. We would ask to have our water filled at the bar or in the bathroom to avoid paying for water everywhere.

5. In fact, almost everything extra costs money. Those nuts or bread they set on your table. If you eat them, there is a good chance you will have an extra line item on your receipt.

Need some ketchup or an extra sauce packet at McDonalds? That will cost you. How about a refill on your soft drink or coffee? That price you paid is only for one.

6. Coffee. North America is used to spending most of their morning sipping on a diluted coffee. Many people bring their coffee to go and refill as needed. In Europe coffee is much stronger and mostly enjoyed from the cafe instead of being taken to go. The common espresso is a quick caffeine fix that is of course much stronger, but even the “Americano” coffee as the Europeans like to call it is much stronger and smaller. Iced coffee is also nonexistent most places.

7. Alcohol. Most European countries allow drinking everywhere. It makes it seem silly that North America makes such a big deal out of it. Drinking at the park or on a beach is extremely common. Want to grab a beer or bottle of wine and sit on a bench to people watch? No problem.

Drinking is also acceptable at all different times of day. It is not uncommon in many countries to see people having a beer with breakfast.

8. Drink temperature. While we are on drinks, it is normal in Europe to have drinks served much warmer than we are used to. If they suspect you are from North America, they will ask if you want ice. Otherwise your pop, tea, or water will likely be served at room temperature.

Even beer is served much warmer. In fact, sometimes the draft beer will have a separate tap called “extra cold” which would just be the same as our normal cold beer.

9. Dinner time can vary widely from country to country. Many of the countries in the north eat dinner at a similiar time to what we do in North America. Generally between 5pm-7pm. In many of the southern countries dinner time is much later, normally between 8pm-10pm. In Spain we found many restaurants didn’t even open for dinner until 9pm.

10. Tipping. Restaurant workers in Europe generally earn a better wage than North American workers and rely much less on tips. Many countries it is not necessary to leave any tip, but a good rule of thumb is 5%-10%. A tip of 10% is considered a big tip in Europe.

* Tip: Make sure to check your receipt before leaving a tip. Sometimes restaurants will already include a service charge on the bill.

11. While Adkins & Caveman diets have made North America avoid bread, Europe will eat an entire meal of only bread. This can be true for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hungry for a snack? Stop at a local bakery and grab a baguette to snack on.

12. Dogs are allowed everywhere. There are many more bars, restaurants, & shops that will allow you to bring your furry friend with you. I absolutely loved this rule!

13. There aren’t as many rules in general. You find yourself in many situations wondering how safe something is. Cliff jumping, rock climbing, hikes with narrow ledges & steep cliffs.

In North America there are so many rules and regulations everywhere. Everyone is so worried about being sued. It is very free feeling to travel in Europe and realize that you are much more accountable for your actions.

14. Nearly everyone speaks English. We had our translator downloaded and ready to go. To our surprise, we rarely needed it. In the big cities it is very easy to communicate since most people speak English. You will still find many people who don’t speak English in the smaller towns.

*Tip: Download “Google Translate” app and download the language of whatever country you are in so you can use it offline. It allows you to take a picture of a menu or sign in another language and translate it for you. We found this very helpful in restaurants with no English menus and grocery shopping.

15. Europeans still think smoking is cool. We were reminded how grateful we are for the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars in North America. If you sit on an outdoor patio to enjoy some coffee or wine, there is a good chance you will have smoke blown on you by a nearby table.

16. You might have to pay to use the bathroom. There are not as many free public toilets availble in Europe. You could always stop at a local restaurant and buy something to use their toilet. If you are at a pubic park or train station, bring some extra change with you though.

17. Everyone takes public transportation. In smaller cities in North America we seem to look down on the idea of taking public transportation and most people simply drive their own car. This is certainly not the case in Europe, big and small cities alike use public trains and buses as their primary source of transportation.

18. Tons of countries don’t use the Euro. We knew that the UK used the pound and Switzerland (not being in the EU) uses the Swiss franc. We had no idea so many other countries in the European Union did not use the Euro though.

Croatia uses the kuna, Czech Republic uses the koruna , Denmark uses the krone, Hungary uses the forint, Poland uses the zloty, and Sweden uses the krona to name a few.

19. Super easy to travel between countries. Border security is non-existent between some countries. This is of course not true for all, but it is not uncommon to travel between countries like you would travel between states in North America.

20. Train passes don’t seem worth it. This is of course a personal call, but before going to Europe we assumed we would simply buy monthly train passes since we would be doing so much traveling. When we started looking into it, we realized that the train passes don’t include some countries and you would still need to pay extra for the high-speed trains.

After pricing it out and looking into other options like buses and planes, we opted to buy one off train tickets as needed. For us, we save alot of time and money doing it this way.

21. Flights can be a steal. Flights are the most time effective way to cover a lot of ground. They also can sometimes be the cheapest way to travel. Buses are another cost effective way to get around Europe that we used often.

22. Try to avoid traveling to the most touristy places while Europe is on summer break. Europes summer break is from July-August. During this time most Europeans flock to the south for some relaxing beach time. Some decide to visit the big cities like London, Paris, or Rome. Prices go up, streets are croweded, and the attractions have long lines.

*Tip: If you decide to travel to the south or big cities during this time, I would highly recommend booking your accomodations and tickets well in advance.

*Tip: Try looking outside the most well-known locations. We spent July and August in the eastern and northern European countries like Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, & Scotland, which do not have the same rush of people some other places have.

23. Staying outside the city let’s you save money and experience a more local area. This is one we had to learn the hard way. We stayed in many hostels and airbnb’s that had a great location! We paid a little more for the location thinking we needed to be in the middle of everything. When nighttime rolled around we would find ourselves wide awake with parties on the streets until 3am, garbage trucks, cars honking, people screaming, etc. Many of these locations also didn’t have fans or AC which meant the windows needed to be left open all night.

We started looking outside the cities and began finding places that were not only cheaper and much nicer, but that were in local neighborhoods letting us have a whole new experience to the country we were in.

24. Europe doesn’t use screens in windows or doors. Speaking of needing to leave the windows open due to lack of AC in many places, there are no screens in the windows. This isn’t a huge deal since there aren’t as many bugs outside as we are used to in North America. It did take some getting used to though.

25. Hotel points saved us tons of money in the big cities. If you are someone doing alot of traveling it definitely pays off to pick a hotel chain and stick to it to earn points. We choose Marriott several years ago and even opted to get the Marriott credit card to earn more. We found using our points in the big, expensive cities was really worth it. Paris, London, & Rome were all places we saved lots of money by doing this.

*Tip: Make sure to book the hotel with points early as they only offer so many rooms with points. If you decide to cancel later on there is no penalty and it is super easy to do.

26. Don’t feel like you need to see every tourist attraction. Trying to run around and see everything simply to check it off the list is no fun. Sometimes meeting the people and enjoying the simple things are much better.

We took some days to go to the grocery store and cook at home, go for a run in the park, or sit at a local cafe working on photos. We learned just as much about the culture and country by doing these more local things as we did from visiting busy tourist attractions.

27. Traveling is a lot of work. Need to plan a vacation from your vacation. This was a wonderful piece of advice we received right before we left. It sounded funny at the time, but it was some of the best advice we got. Traveling takes a ton of planning constantly. Getting between places can be exhausting. Sometimes you just need a break.

We planned a few “vacations” during our trip such as a Mediterranean cruise, Disneyland Paris, and extra beach days in southern France.

28. Find the free city tours. Most European cities have free tours of the city! All you need to do is google to find the company and meeting point. The tour guides work soley for tips, so bring $5-$10 person. We found these tours even better than the ones we paid for given if the tour guides did a bad job, people would leave the tour or not tip.

We also found that it was worth it to spend the extra money for a tour guide in some of the museums or attractions. Otherwise you can feel like you are walking around what could be an amazing site, but not have any idea what you are looking at.

29. Floor 1 in North America is floor 0 in Europe. Another one we had to learn the hard way.

30. Top sheets are nonexistent. Duvet covers have taken over.

31. Pack water shoes if you are going to the beach. Most European beaches are made up of small pebbles. Getting in and out of the water can be a painful, embarrasing experience if your feet aren’t used to walking on rocks. Learn from our mistake and bring some shoes you can wear in the water.

32. Make sure you have a raincoat. This was another great tip we received right before leaving. You are going to want to go out sometimes to see things even when its raining. This is especially true for places like Scotland where it seems to rain quite often.

33. Download offline google maps while you are connect to the internet. This is such a helpful way to be able to look for things while you are out exploring. Downloading the map will allow you to search for things in a specific area while you are not connected to wifi. If you are using cell data while you are traveling you can skip this one.

34. There is no better classroom than traveling. Thinking back to history class as a child, I remember memorizing facts without really understanding what they meant. While traveling we found ourselves learning SO much about history such as WWII, the Cold War, the Yukoslav War, world leaders, heroes, secret ways to communicate, and the Berlin wall.

We also got to understand much more about world events taking place today. Why southern Spain wants to seperate from northern Spain. How Croatia is dealing with different cultures living together post civil war. How the UK is handling Brexit.

We met many people traveling with children for long periods of time. Their thought is that their kids are learning so much more about the world traveling than they would sitting in a classroom.

35. Figure out what the local food is and try as much of it as you can! If you’ve been following along on our blog then you know I often end discussing the local foods we got to try. This has been one of the most interesting and fun parts of traveling.

Every culture has its own great flavors and unique ways of cooking things. I think I may just need to write a blog post dedicated to food at some point in the future.

After spending a few crazy days at Oktoberfest, we were excited to get out of Munich and explore some other parts of Bavaria. We looked up the best way to do that and discovered there is a 261 mile long road called The Romantic Road. I was sold just based on the name before I even knew anything about this road. A windy country road surrounded by cute villages and castles.

The Romantic Road was developed by Germany after World War II to try and rebuild tourism. It stretches across the Franconian wine region to the German Alps. It is Germany’s most popular tourist route and visited by millions of people every year. Despite the mass tourism it receives, it still fully maintains its ‘old world charm’ and has beautiful, open scenery.

The road itself is not very romantic. Much of it looks like a standard highway, with cars going WAY to fast I will add. What is romantic though are the picturesque towns that connect this road.

There are several stops along the Romantic Road to see. To be honest, not all of them are worth it. Instead of stopping at every place, we cherry-picked some faborites which ended up being the perfect way to check out this part of the country. Let me tell you about some of our favorites.

The beginning of the Romantic Road technically starts at the Neuschwanstein Castle. We had decided to do a day trip while in Munich to visit this castle (which is amazing and we would totally recommend it). Instead, this allowed us to start our journey going northeast from Munich.

Our first stop was in Augsburg which was a short 1 hour drive from Munich. Augsburg is known for being the oldest city in Bavaria tracing back to when it was a Roman town. It historically was one of the most important trading and cultural centers in the world.

Today there is a much slower pace to this once booming city. It is more industrial now and there was an eerie quietness to the streets while we there.

Our next stop was Nördlingen which is another quiet town. This town is one of the only remaining with the medieval wall still fully surrounding the city.

The wall is nearly 2 miles in length and takes around 1 hour to walk the whole thing.

The town is almost a perfect circle due to the fact the village sits where a meteorite crashed into the earth over 15 million years ago. As a result of the asteroid, many buildings in Nördlingen are embedded with millions of microscopic diamonds.

Not far from Nördlingen is Schloss Baldern. Schloss in German means castle. We had lots of fun looking for “schlosses” and making sure to use that word as much as possible during our drives. We showed up too late to do a tour of the castle but were able to walk around the outside of it.

This schloss was built in the 1700’s and still acts as a residence today for the prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein.

Our final stop for the day was Rothenburg ob der Tober. We stayed the night here and could have definitely stayed longer. This enchanting fairytale town is exactly what you would picture on the Romantic Road.

This is probably the most popular stop on this scenic tour. The town was originally built in the 1200’s but much of it was destroyed when it was bombed during WWII. Donations around the world helped to rebuild the town to its former style.

The best thing to do here is simply walk through the cobblestone streets and admire the beautiful buildings. Rothenburg is thought to be the place that inspired the Disney story of Pinocchio.

The Plonlein Square is the most photographed spot in Rothenburg. We were sent an identical picture from family back home of a Christmas themed beer assortment from the exact spot we took this picture.

At night the town transforms when all the coach buses leave and a magical feeling takes over. There are small local restaurants open for dinner, a man dressed in historic clothing giving a ghost tour, the city clock chiming and putting on a small show. Everything seems to slow down and make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time.

We found a small, traditional German restaurant for dinner that made us feel like we were sitting in someones home. The potato pancakes with applesauce and potato dumplings (called Kartoffelklöβe) with beef and red cabbage were amazing!

We stayed at a bed and breakfast that is an old medival house right in the middle of town called Hotel-Gasthof Goldener Greifen. If you come here I would highly recommend checking it out.

The next day we back-tracked a bit to the town of Dinkelsbuhl. This old medival town is believed to have been developed in the 8th century.

Just like Rothenburg, Dinkelsbuhl has tons of colorful buildings making you feel like you are walking through a fairytale. We also still have traces of Oktoberfest following us here with Beth finding her token from bumper cars she swears Tyler had taken from her.

There is an enormous church in the middle of town as a reminder of Dinkelsbuhl’s glorius era in the 15th in 16th century.

Our final stop for day two on the Romantic Road is Wurzburg. This is a much bigger city than any of the other places we’ve visited so far. We had a good amount of time to explore this place but could have definitely stayed here longer!

We watched the sunset from a bridge over the river with some relaxing live music and local drinks. This is a moment I wish I could go back to!

The city itself in the middle of beautiful hills, smack dab in the middle of one of Germany’s biggest wine-producing areas.

There is a beautiful “schloss” called Wurzburg Residence that was the home to the prince bishop of Wurzburg. The residence was completed in 1780 and named a UNESCO site for attaining a mix of French, Viennese, and Italian architecture.

We decided not to do a tour of the building but spent some time walking around the gardens and enjoying the building from the outside.

In the center of the city is the Wurzburg Cathedral. This impressive church was finished in 1075 and is the 4th largest Romanesque basilica in Germany.

This was the perfect German city to walk through the streets, check out the local markets, and enjoy some coffee and strudel at an outdoor cafe.

Our final stop to end our time in Germany was Frankfurt. To be honest, we only came here because it is a big city and we were able to get flights from here. The city surprised us all with its beautiful riverfront walking paths and lively atmosphere. We finished our adventure with drinks at a rooftop German bar overlooking a beautiful sunset.

Before starting our yearlong trip, Chad and I would both agree that going to Munich for Oktoberfest was our favorite. Being nearly halfway through our trip, it still ranks near the top. If you are someone who likes beer, day drinking, and socializing, do yourself a favor and make sure you make it to this two week festival sometime in your life.

Oktoberfest is just as crazy as you’ve heard. So much so that I would highly recommend avoiding the weekends. During the week is hard enough to find a seat in the evening. During the weekend the tents often close their doors due to being at capacity in the early afternoon.

It is possible to make reservations in the tents for dinner and then you can stay as long as you like listening to the live music and drinking beer. We’ve always gone to the open seating area which is a massive party!

Even though you have a seat, no one actually sits down when you get to a certain hour. Everyone is standing on the tables, dancing, singing, socializing, and having an absolute blast!

There are just rows and rows of picnic style tables covering the massive floorspace. All you need to do is find some space big enough for your group and join the party!

There are 14 tents to choose from, each with its own impressive color scheme and theme.

The most well-known is the Hobrau Festzelt. It is known for being the largest with a seating capacity of 10,000 people.

Another very popular tent is the Lowenbrau-Festhalle. This tent is known for its 4.5 meter tall lion that is propped high up near the entrance.

The Fischer Vroni tent is known as the “fish tent”. They have massive grills outside roasting fish on a stick. There is a large stage for the band in the shape of a boat on one end of this tent.

The Marstall tent has become a personal favorite. It is right at the entrance for the Oktoberfest and features a merry-go-round as the stage for the band.

The Hacker-Festhalle tent is best known for the clouds and stars on the ceiling. Their philosophy is with a beer in hand, you will feel like you are in Bavarian heaven.

One of my favorite things is to get to Oktoberfest early when the tents have tons of room and walk through a few of them before they get crowded.

If you have a good tolerance you could try to have a beer at each of them as you go. One liter is too much for me to have at all the tents if I want to make it to the evening time!

And when you get tired of drinking beer all day- don’t worry! There are plenty of rides to go on to really test your limits. Rollercoaster, swings, haunted houses, rides to spin you every which way.

If the massive amounts of beer don’t make you puke, these will sure put in a good effort.

We have a secret to tell you all. Chad and I didn’t figure this out the first time we came to Oktoberfest. It took our smart parents to find this out… there is a “side area” that you can pay a measly €3 to go to a more local part of the festival.

There are still plenty of beer tents, music, and games, but it is all much more low key than the open seating in the large tents. We were able to spend the day exploring the city and still find seats to drink beers at the festival.

Speaking of, there are plenty of great sites to see in Munich outside of the festival. There are the main brewery restaurants that operate year round. We visited the Hofbrauhaus Muchen located in the old part of the city for dinner the first night we were here.

The place was crowded even despite the fact the Oktoberfest fesival was happening down the road. My mom got a taste of their dunkel beer, which is the dark brew, and was sold!

This is also where my parents learned how big the beers are. They had a great time seeing how big they were compared to silverware and seeing how many they could hold. By the way, it was actually super impressive my dad could hold 4 liters in one hand. I challenge you to try this sometime…

We also visited the Augustiner-Keller restaurant outside of the festival for dinner with Beth and Tyler. This place would be a perfect place to visit whether the fesitval was going on or not.

One thing many tourists question is where to buy the lederhosen and dirndls. Just to clarify, the lederhosen is the leather suspender outfit the men wear and the dirndl is the beautiful apron dress the women wear.

We searched long and hard for these outfits at a reasonable price. Short answer- they are ALL expensive. The cheapest place to buy them is the train station. You can find more options in the stores around town but they are either really cheaply made or much more expensive. I was spoiled with a department store dirndl that I CANNOT wait to wear at Oktoberfest back home!

There are some other big purchases worth checking out in Munich: cuckoo clocks and beer steins. To get good quality you will spend a few bucks. We found an amazing store in downtown Munich called Max Krug.

They have a huge variety of high quality clocks and steins. If you ship it back home, they are able to remove the tax in store and send directly to your home. Most of the time the price evens out with shipping costs versus tax savings.

St. Peters Church is a good spot to get a great view of the city. For only €3 you can climb the 14 story building to see a panoramic view of Munich.

Another fun attraction is the cuckoo clock in the main square right in the heart of the city. This clock is referred to as Rathaus-Glokenspeil and chimes every day at 11am and 12pm. It re-enats two stories from the 16th century with 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures.

One is a happy story of a marriage and a joust. The other is based on a myth from 1517 when the plague hit Munich. The coopers would dance through the streets to bring hope which became a symbol of perseverance and loyalty to authority in difficult times.

There are a few tours you can do from Munich to see some of the surrounding sites. We decided to do a day trip to see some fairy tale castles in Bavaria. We visited two castles built by Germany’s 19th century King Ludwig II. Our first stop was Linderhof castle.

This was Ludwig’s hunting lodge and last home. It was actually the only palace he lived to see completed. It was clear from touring this home that Ludwig got much of his inspiration from the French ruler, King Louis XIV, who built the palace of Versailles.

There was also a beautiful garden out back which was referred to as the Moorish Pavilion. I should also mention that we were all a little hungover from Oktoberfest the night before in this picture.

The Neuschwanstein castle was the real reason for booking this trip. This is the castle that Disney used to model Sleeping Beauty’s castle. It is easy to see why Disney chose this for his inspiration.

Ludwig II paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than pay with Bavarian public funds. The castle was intended to be his home but he died before the project was complete.

This castle is built in the Hohenschwangau village. This is a beautiful area to walk through with some amazing views of the countryside.

You can walk around the castle to a bridge to get a really great picture of the castle. I will warn you now though- this bridge is HIGHLY unregulated. There are massive amounts of people on this incredibly high bridge to the point you can feel it moving. I only made it 30 seconds for a quick picture.

To end off, there is tons of German influence in food all over Europe. But lets talk about the REAL German food. First off, Schnitzel seems to be one of the most popular things to order. This is a thin slice of veal, chicken, or pork, breaded and fried. It is most often served with some type of potato as a side and cranberries.

Another one we all know and love, the Soft Pretzel! They are normally served with mustard. Sorry, no cheese sauce here.

There are some really great Cheese & Meat Plates you can order. These are full of soft cheese spreads, sausages, bread, & some interesting vegetables we weren’t used to.

Dumplings were only something we recently discovered in Germany. They were AMAZING! They are generally made with potato as the base and can be mixed with different vegetables and meat. I will definitely be learning to make these when we get home.

Another food we are certainly used to in the US & Canada: Bratwurts and Hotdogs. Chad was in heaven!

The Currywurst is very popular in many German restaurants. This is a bratwurst with a tomato-based curry sauce on top.

The list seems to go on! Spatzle & Goulash is the final food I will leave you with. This is an egg noodle with a thick beefstew.

On that note, I’m feeling pretty hungry. Or maybe in the mood for a liter of Hefeweisen!

Many people choose to make a day trip to Salzburg from Munich since it is a smaller city. We decided to go and stay the weekend for exactly that reason- for a slower pace part of our trip.

As it turns out, there is actually a ton to do in Salzburg. One of the main things it is known for outside of Austria is the Sound of Music! It was surprising how few of the local Austrians have seen the movie. Many of them actually acted put off by the idea that their city was known for this Hollywood sensation.

We fully embraced that we were in the city where this glorious movie was filmed! We surprised my mom, who is a huge fan of this movie, by staying in the actual von Trapp family’s house which is called Hotel Villa Trapp. She was super excited as you can see in the video below.

This 22-room home has been turned into a bed and breakfast with pictures of the von Trapp family decorating the hallways and memorabilia around every corner.

We stayed in the Edelweiss Trapp Family Suite. The room was huge with beautiful views of the backyard.

The home is located a few miles outside the city perfectly situated next to the mountains and river. The property the home sits on is huge and offers plenty of privacy with enormous trees.

Just to clarify, this is the home the real von Trapp family lived in. This is not the home that was used during filming in the movie.

The family left the home in 1938 shortly after Hitler took over Austria. They left their home behind and took a train through the Austrian Alps, crossing the border into Italy and on through Switzerland, then France to London, and finally a boat to America. They arrived in New York on September 1938 and toured the country performing as “The Trapp Family Singers”.

In 1939, the Nazi’s took over the family estate. Heinrich Himmler, Head of the SS and one of the major slaughterers of the holocaust, used the property as his summer home. You can still see an underground barrack that was built by the Nazi’s in the backyard today.

We took a Sound of Music bus tour to see many of the sites that were used for the filming of the movie.

Our first stop was what the filmmakers used as the backyard of the home. Remember the scene where the kids are in the boat with Maria and the boat tips over after they become excited by seeing their dad on land?

Probably one of the most memorable scenes from the movie was at this gazebo. “I am 16 going on 17…”

We also got to drive through the mountains to the church that was used to film the Captain and Maria’s wedding.

The church is called St. Michael’s and is in the beautiful lake-side town of Mondsee. The town itself was full of colorful buildings and small cafes.

The final place we visited on our tour was the fountain and stairs where the children run around learning to sing. We had too much fun skipping on the fountains edge and jumping on the stairs singing. “Doe, a deer, a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden sun…”

We really loved the tour not only for the Sound of Music sites, but also for the beautiful scenery we got to see between the different locations. Driving through the mountains in Austria was an amazing experience in itself.

We decided to climb the hill in the middle of Salzburg to visit Hohensalzburg Fortress, which you can see from almost anywhere in the city. The fortress began construction in 1077. It was originally built under Archbishop Helfenstein who wanted to protect himself from Henry VI after he sided with Pope Gregory VII over the king.

The fortress was used for many different purposes throughout history. Today it is one of the largest medival castles in Europe. There are also some spectacular views from the top.

On the way up the hill we made a stop at Nonnberg Abbey, which you can see with the red roof.

This is the abbey where the real Maria von Trapp resided, and is also used in the movie.

Salzburg was a great place to just wander around. The river running straight through the middle of the city opened up the landscape and offered a great path into town.

There are some beautiful parks along the way.

As is true to much of Europe, there are many beautiful churches that are open to walk around and check out the artwork.

In the city there are old, winding streets lined with shops. We stumbled upon the birthplace of Mozart while walking down one of these streets.

And of course, there are many cafes and restaurants.

Austrian food is very similiar to German food. Most notably, you can find Schnitzel on just about every menu. We did learn that schnitzel is not served with noodles though as the song from Sound of Music would make you believe. We also got some Apple Strudel which is a common dessert here.

 

In case you forgot: “Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudel. Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.” You’re welcome for that wonderful song being stuck your head for the rest of the day 🙂

As we’ve learned about much of Europe, they love their bread! My mom couldn’t believe how big the prezel donuts were here. Chad and my dad were pretty excited about their hotdog wrapped in dough.

What a dream come true! I have wanted to visit this fairytale city since I was a young girl. The cafes serving beautiful baked goods, the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, wine at whatever time of day you please, fashionable stores and people everywhere, it all seemed too good to be true.

I always get a little nervous coming to places I’ve dreamed of for so long. Sky high expectations are often a set up for disappointment. I am happy to say all my expectations were met and I will still dream of future trips to this city!

We had nearly a week in Paris. Like any big city, you could stay for months and still not see everything.

We were SO excited my parents were able to join us here! It had been 4 months since we were able to give them a big hug. We waited impatiently in our hotel lobby for them to arrive, drinking too much coffee only making the anticipation worse.

After some time of word vomit from the coffee, trying to tell them EVERYTHING we wanted to say all at once, we went for brunch.

We chose a nearby crepe spot- which was a wonderful decision. My mom had her first crepe hours after landing in Paris.

We were even given free shots at the end of breakfast. This sweet liquor was a perfect end to our first meal together in this enchanting city.

I love to find running paths when we visit a new place. There is an enormous park on the west side of the city called Bois de Boulogne. It has a horse race track, tennis center, golf club, hidden gardens, and so much more.

I stumbled across a botanical garden called Park de Bagatelle during my run through the park.

There were stone statues, small lakes with bridges, and royal looking buildings. The sun was getting close to setting so I saw as much of the gardens as I could in my short time here.

Since it was starting to get dark, I decided to take a main road to leave the park, still buried between 2-3 miles inside. What I found myself in the middle of was one of the most bizarre situations I have ever been in. Turns out there is a full road lined with prostitutes for over a mile long! These scantily dressed women with see through tops and knee high leather boots were everywhere in woods. I was not expecting to see 30 prostitutes in Paris and only 1 in Amsterdam.

There are many parks and paths making the city very pedestrian friendly to explore. Paris is HUGE though. This is a great city to see via bikes. We did the Fat Tire Bike Tour and would highly recommend it.

The guide was full of interesting information, explaining major sites we would have gone right past without looking twice.

One of the most interesting is the Pont Alexander III of Russia bridge. It is covered with gold statues and provided great views of the city. It is widely regarded as the most extravagant bridge in the city.

We learned that the olympics being held here in the summer of 2024 would use the riverside roads for the marathon.

We stopped at the armory/military school called Ecole Militaire. This gold covered building is where Napoleon attended military school in 1784.

Biking through the city, we noticed how organized and symmetric the buildings and roads were. This is largely due to most of old Paris being destroyed, allowing for the rebuild of beautifully designed city.

Paris truly has SO MUCH to see. We stayed in a really great Airbnb right in the middle of the city, near the Louvre. We were on the top floor of this 5 story building with no elevator. My mom had some fun hiding in the closet on the middle floor to jump out and scare Chad to the point he fell on the stairs. This happened more than once 🙂

Our location was great to be able to walk out our front door and wander around.

There was even a high-intensity techno parade that was happening one afternoon. My dad jumped right into the dance party.

The Louvre is an absolutely amazing place to visit. It is the worlds largest art museum and a historic monument.

It is recommended to buy your ticket BEFORE visiting the museum. The line to purchase a ticket can be anywhere from 30 minutes – 2 hours. There are 38,000 monuments in the Louvre. You could spend literally all day in this museum and not see everything.

We spent 4-5 hours in the Louvre. We used the audio guides to pick the most famous exhibits and built our tour around those. We went pretty quickly through the museum and still missed many areas.

It was originally built in the 12th century as the Louvre Castle. This palace was built to be a fortress under Philip II.

Due to the city expanding around the Louvre, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function and turned into the primary residence of Francis I in 1546.

In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles as his primary residence, leaving the Louvre open to display royal collections.

The Champs-Elysees is the most iconic street in Paris. It is filled with high-end shopping and has the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the road.

It was a little less high-end than we originally thought it would be. It reminded us more of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, and less like Rodeo Drive in LA.

The Arc de Triomphe at the end of our walk was well worth it!

The arc is a monument that honors those who fought and died for France. The names of the victories and generals are inscribed on the walls. We just so happened to find “Aubry” on the wall!

The views from the top of were unbelievable. We decided to go on top of the Arc de Triomphe instead of the Eiffel Tower. We decided we would prefer to see the Eiffel Tower from up high rather than be on top of it.

Right near this area is a great place called Bar Restaurant Sir Winston. We stopped for some drinks and a charcuterie board to reward ourselves for all the walking.

My favorite thing we did while in Paris was watch the Eiffel Tower light up at night! I’m sure you’ve seen it on tv or in pictures, but sitting on the lawn, sipping on wine, and watching the structure glitter was magical.

The Eiffel Tower starts the light show at 9pm and then on the top of every hour until midnight. I could have sat there all night watching every show.

Don’t forget- you are allowed to drink in public in Paris (and most of Europe). There are vendors selling champagne, wine, and beer if you don’t have time to stop before. Make sure to bargain with them! Our bargaining went something like this… “€30 for a bottle of wine”… “I only have €5” (walk away)… “Ok, €5 is fine”.

We met a group from Indiana who drove a hard bargain. They got 3 bottles of wine and 2 beers for €10.

The Notre Dame Church is another top attraction in Paris. The church is free to get in. Don’t be intimidated by the massive line that is out front! It moves very quickly.

The outside of the church was just as cool as the inside. There are tons of beautiful statues decorating the entire church.

One of the most interesting scenes on the front of the church is of St. Peter dividing the recently passed souls. To his right are the souls going to heaven. To his left are the souls heading to hell, escorted by devils with chains… Yikes!

The Palace of Versailles is an attraction we would highly recommend booking a tour to see. We got there with our tour right as the palace was opening and there was already a huge line.

This extravagant residence was built by King Louis XIV. He wanted all the attention for himself and lived a very choreographed life inside these walls. And yes, he is wearing heels in the picture on the right.

He would allow an audience of court members to watch him wake up in the morning and go to bed at night. If you were lucky, you could be picked to put on or take off an article of the kings clothing. Here is bedroom with a full viewing area viewing area behind us.

The Hall of Mirrors is probably the most famous room in the palace. Mirrors were incredibly expensive to make, so most people only had mirrors big enough to see their face. For most people, this was the first time they were seeing their full body reflection!

The hall is lined with full length mirrors, dozens of crystal chandeliers, solid gold decorations, and huge stone statues. Needless to say, this was an extremely expensive decorated room.

The entire palace was decorated with extravagant detail. Masterpieces painted on the ceilings, solid gold decor, priceless statues and furniture in every room. In fact, it is estimated that if this palace were to be rebuilt today it would cost $21 TRILLION!! I guess it makes sense why the French people beheaded their royalty.

As if the palace itself wasn’t enough, there is an enormous, well- manicured garden in the back. If you have a shorter period of time we would recommend getting a golf cart. We had an hour and that still wasn’t enough time to see everything with a golf cart.

The gardens have many fountains, statues, maze looking bushes, and beautiful scenery. There were many people using the area for an afternoon run or picnic.

The last night we were in Paris we went to Montmartre. This neighborhood is situated on a hill with tons of small restaurants and shops.

We decided to restaurant hop and get some appetizers and drinks in a few different places. Since we were in Paris, we figured we needed a meat & cheese plate at one of the artsy restaurants. We also got some prosciutto wrapped melon.

There was a small crepe restaurant with notes and pictures from customers covering the walls. Crepes and wine go great together in case you were wondering.

All the restaurants are small, locally owned places known be retro and edgy. The people in all these restaurants were incredibly welcoming and made our time here really great.

The feel to this area is much different than the rest of Paris. It was a former artists’ villiage once inhabited by Picasso. It offers beautiful views of the city from the top of the hill where the Sacre-Coeur Basilica sits.

This neighborhood houses the famous Moulin Rouge show! We booked our tickets weeks ahead of time and many of the show times were already sold out. Get there early if you book a ticket! They pack a huge crowd into the theater.

The tickets were around €100, so definitely not cheap. Also, make sure to order your alcohol when you purchase the tickets. They don’t wait on tables during the show.

The mix of burlesque with Cirque du Soleil was very entertaining. They even had a pool lift up on stage at one point and a topless woman swam with several boa constrictors. What’s more entertaining than that?!

We clearly enjoyed our time in this romatic city and hope to be back soon. Au revoir!

France is truly an amazing country. There are so many different worlds to be seen inside this one small country. North, south, east, west, middle: all completely different places to visit and experiences to be had.

France is of course known worldwide for its wine and champagne. The eastern side of France is where all the champagne in the entire world comes from.

In fact, if it is not made in this region of France, it must be referred to as “sparkling wine” instead of “champagne”.

If you have more time then you could travel from vineyard to vineyard, sampling all different Champagnes and seeing where all the magic happens. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Most vineyards do require reservations ahead of time so it would take some planning.

We didn’t have a ton of time, so we opted instead to head to the city of Epernay which is the capital of Champagne.

There is a street called Avenue de Champagne in town. It is said to be the most expensive avenue in the world, more so than the Champs-Elysees in Paris, because of the millions of bottles of champagne stored in the cellars.

It is lined with enormous, beautiful champagne houses to be able to sample all different vineyards champagne in a shorter period of time.

There was the house for Moët & Chandon which produces the high end Dom Perignon.

There were tons of other producers as well including George Cartier, A Bergere, Perrier-Jouet, Champagne Mercier, and so many more.

We really enjoyed our tasting at the Paul-Etinnes Saint Germain.

The owners were extremely knowledgeable. They actually lived upstairs in the Champagne house.

Right on the outskirts of town are miles and miles of rolling hills covered with vines. Such a beautiful area to be able to visit.

There are some Airbnb homes available in this avenue to be rented by large groups. Future trip idea? I think so.

From there we headed towards The Route des Vins. This lovely road is situated right near the border with Germany.

There are many small towns to stop in along the way and hundreds of wineries to visit! This part of the country is referred to as the Alsace.

We loved staying at Airbnb’s here and really submersing ourselves with the locals. In the small towns it is not as common for everyone to speak English. We stayed at an amazing Airbnb in the small town of Scherwiller: Scherwiller Airbnb

There was a beautiful family living here that we got to know. We had some wine with them in their back porch when we arrived and had a great conversation even though not everyone spoke English.

Every morning we had a fully homemade breakfast. On Sundays it is tradition to eat Kugelhopf for breakfast. This is similar to an American bundt cake with raisins and almonds. We had plenty of homemade jams to choose from as well.

Apparently there are fruits here that we don’t have in America. There was a jam made with mirabelles which is a small plum meant for baking.

The next day we were served cinnamon strudel and cheesecake for breakfast. I think I like these traditions…

This part of France is surrounded by mountains. There are castles hidden within these mountains that have been around for hundreds of years.

We took a few hours hiking up to Chateau de Ramstein and Chateau de l’Ortenbourg. There were some cool structures along the way.

Chateau de Ramstein was too destroyed to go inside.

Chateau de l’Ortenbourg still had full walls and windows standing to walk in.

It was pretty incredible to imagine who lived here and what could have happened inside these walls.

There is also a perfect view into town from the castle.

You can see the acres and acres of vineyards in every direction.

There are tons of small towns to visit all around here. We decided to stay in Colmar which is larger than many of the towns nearby. These towns are also known for their Christmas markets. Coming here in December is definitely on my bucket list.

These small towns are what Disney based Beauty and the Beast on. You can easily see why just by looking at the pictures.

Chad loved all the singing the entire time we were here. “Tale as old as time…”

This town got busy during the day when tour buses came through, but was much quieter at night. It was great place to stay.

We spent some time in Ribeauville which is a smaller town with picturesque buildings everywhere.

Every direction you turned had a better view than the one before. We took at least 100 pictures walking down the road of this small town.

Many shops with breads, “bretzel”, and cheese.

A cute winery called Louis Sipp is on the edge of town.

We tried some local food while we were here. Of course it was great, we are in France after all. We decided to try the Tarte Flambée which is a thin crust pizza with a white spreadable cheese, bacon, and onions.

We also got the Backeoffe which is a casserole made with layers of sliced potatoes and leeks with two or three types of meats (beef, pork, lamb), cooked in a white wine sauce. The dish is sealed with a strip of bread dough.

We also made some homemade French food while in Colmar. We made some breakfast crepes and had a picnic with wine and cheese for dinner one night.

The last main stop we made in eastern France was Disneyland Paris! Chad REALLY loves amusement parks and would love to visit the different Disney parks all over the world.

Disneyland Paris has two parks: Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney Studios. It is also the cheapest of all the Disney parks around the world. It was not crowded at all while we were here and we could get on all the rides with only a very short wait.

Magic Kingdom is where the castle is located in the park. Each Disney park around the world has a different princess’ castle. Paris has the castle for Sleeping Beauty. There is a dragon in the basement which will wake up and look around every once in awhile.

Many of the rides are the same as what we have in America.

One of the unique rides they have in Paris is the Ratatouille ride where you feel like you are a mouse running through the kitchen being chased by a chef.

When you walk out of the ride there is a French restaurant with giant silverware and plates decorating the restaurant, making you feel like you are still a mouse while you dine.

The fireworks in front of the castle at the end of the night were amazing. It’s unbelievable how the 3D lighting and videos bring everything to life. It is definitely worth bracing the crowds to see this show.

There isn’t much else in this area besides Disneyland. We found it made the most sense to stay at one of the hotels at the park.  We chose B&B Hotel a Disneyland Paris. They provide transportation to and from the park, fee breakfast, & free parking.

Eastern France was an amazing part of our trip. We definitely hope to be back someday to explore even more.

It is nearly impossible to go through any country in Europe and not see or hear how it was impacted during WWII. Northern France is clearly no exception. Without the invasion of Normandy, which lead to the defeat of the Nazis, the world would be a different place.

We stayed in Bayeaux which is a small town near the Normandy beaches. It was surprising how different Northern France is from the rest of the country. Everything from the people, food, drink, and atmosphere felt as though we were much further from Paris than we were.

The reason we came here was to visit the beaches where our countries gave up so much to ensure our future. On June 6, 1944, D-Day, the beaches of Normandy were stormed by the Allied troops trying to gain land access and push German troops out.

Nearly 160,000 troops landed on the 5 beaches along the coast that were heavily guarded by German soldiers. The United States was tasked with Omaha and Utah Beach. England went for Gold and Sword Beach. And Canada attacked at Juno Beach.

The first round of soldiers came by airplane, attempting to bomb the German soldiers on land. In most cases the bombs missed their targets.

The soldiers coming via boat were easy for the Germans to shoot at since the beach sat much lower than the ground the Nazi’s were perched behind. It was surreal to be standing on the elevated ground, looking out at the beaches that would have had thousands of men being shot at.

There were some bunkers the Germans had built to hide in while shooting. Some of these bunkers are still there today.

We visited Omaha, Gold, & Juno Beaches. There were tons of US, Canada, & British flags flying everywhere.

Omaha Beach was the most deadly battle that took place this day by far. It was much more deadly than all the other beaches combined. It is now referred to as “Bloody Omaha” after 2,000 American men were killed on this beach the morning of the attack. It was more heavily guarded than any of the other beaches.

On June 8th the troops started to bury the dead, creating a temporary grave site on top of a hill. After the war, France granted the US use of that land and additional land nearby free of charge and tax. This is today know as the Normandy American Cemetery. There are 9,387 American men buried across 172 acres.

It was incredibly sad to walk through the crosses. Reading the names and where each man was from really made you realize just how many people lost their lives for us to be free today.

Among the soldiers buried here is Theodore Roosevelt Jr., son of President Roosevelt. There are 33 pair of brothers buried here, including Preston and Robert Niland, two brothers whose story the film Saving Private Ryan is based on.

A monument in the Garden of the Missing features the names of 1,557 American soldiers who lost their lives during the invasion but could not be found or identified.

To think about how young these men were and what they were willing to give up. It definitely put into perspective what is important. It gave us a lot of pride to be American and Canadian which I think is something (particularly in the US) we seem to easily forget.

We visited Musee Memorial D’Omaha Beach. There were life-size reenactment scenes of what happened on D-Day.

Gold Beach, where the English troops landed, is 6km (nearly 4 miles) long. The goal for these troops was to make it to Bayeaux, which they nearly did on D-Day.

The Canadians landed on Juno Beach. This was the second deadliest beach with 349 men losing their lives.

The Canadian army succeeded in putting more than 14,000 soldiers on France soil on June 6 and went the furthest into enemy territory. The liberation of Europe began on this bloody day.

We visited the museum at Juno Beach which was incredibly well done. There is a room where you are completely surrounded from floor to ceiling by video screens. You are made to feel like you are on one of the small boats being rowed to shore on D-Day. There were tons of exhibits focusing on Canada’s history and involvement in the war.

Canada attempted to storm Dunkirk beach further east much earlier in the war but was unsuccessful. Much of the planning that went into making D-Day a success for the Allies was learned from the mistakes made during the Dunkirk invasion.

There is a church called Eglise Saint-Come-et-Saint-Damien d’Angoville-au-Plain near the most north of the D-Day beaches, Utah Beach. There were two American paramedics who used this church as a hospital for the wounded. The hospital crew took in every soldier, regardless of which side they were on. There is still blood stains on some of the pews from that day.

Another completely separate attraction in this area is Mont Saint Michel. Many travel books say to plan a whole day here. We found a few hours was more than enough time.

This town is situated on a small island that is built with the Abbey and monastery at the top, the stores and housing below it, and the homes for farmers and fishermen on the bottom, outside the walls.

The island is settled 1 kilometer (.6 miles) from land. During low tide it is possible to walk on the land to the island. The high, fast moving tide can act as a defense weapon, making it harder to reach the island if it was under attack. It was later used as a prison by Louis XI for these reasons.

The streets are very narrow and the small island gets extremely busy during the day. The main road has many restaurants and shops you can pop in.

We were looking to avoid the crowds so took some turns off the main road. It almost felt like a maze trying to figure out these roads. We came across some pretty great views on the way.

There is a long bridge built to access the island. The island is much too small to park near so the parking lot is very far away. There is a free bus you could take. We preferred walking though since the views walking up were the best part of the whole trip.

Northern France is known for four C’s when it relates to food & drink: Cidre, Calvados, Cream, & Camembert. There was a small shop on the road driving into Mont Saint Michel that offered free Cidre & Calvados tasting. Of course we stopped.

There are lots of apple farms in Northern France which has resulted in this region being known for cidre. The stronger version is Calvados which is an apple brady that can only be produced in this part of the world.

The area is known for cream because of all the cows roaming in the hills all around. The cream they proudly produce here is raw milk cream, meaning it is not pasteurized. The more fat the better. It is referred to as lait cru in the grocery store and can taste a bit like sour cream. The camembert cheese is produced from this cream giving it a unique flavor.

I was also pretty excited when we found WINE ON TAP in a local restaurant. They must drink a lot of wine here to have it on tap like that! There was also a local D-Day beer that we tried.

Bruges is an enchanting small city. It has all the benefits that the county of Belgium offers, including chocolate, great beer, waffles, & fries (see the Brussels blog post). But offers these things in a town built in the 1300’s with beautiful old buildings and winding canals.

The town becomes very busy during the day with many tour buses making day trips. If you stay here for a few nights, you get the pleasure of having the town to yourself after all the buses leave.

I think part of the reason Bruges has become so popular is all the movies that have been filmed here. In Bruges is the most obvious, but The Monuments Men, The Nuns Story, & PK are a few other.

We stayed at a hostel called Hostel Lybeer. As far as hostels goes, this was a decent one with a wonderful atmosphere. The large building used to be a very wealthy persons home.

There is an incredibly homey feel to the shared space with candle light, a decorated piano, and wooden bar with many Belgian beer options.

There are more than 85 chocolate shops in this small town.

There is also a chocolate museum called Choco-Story.

There is one of the coolest breweries right in the middle of town. De Halve Maan Brewery had a beer pipe that runs for 3,200 meters (2 miles) underground, similar to a water pipe. If you happen to live on top of where the pipe runs, you have the option of tapping into the pipe to have continuous beer on tap.

The most popular beer at this brewery is called Bruges Zot, which means Bruges fool.

There are several beer tasting spots to try a plethora of Belgian beer. We visited The Beer Wall which is a beer tasting stop with a beautiful terrace on the water to sample many different Belgian beers.

And just as the name would suggest, there is a huge wall full of different types of beer. There is a store to do some shopping as well with tons of unique beers.

Our favorite bar we visited was called De Garre. This is a very local bar and would not have been one we found without some local insight. The house beer is brewed and exclusively sold here. It is a 14% beer though so one or two is plenty! It also comes with some pearl onions and cheese.

There were plenty of unique style beers with creative advertising everywhere.

We did the Legends Free Walking Tour and learned a ton about Bruges. This city was under French rule prior to 1301. The French government imposed heavy taxes, tortured people, and forced them to speak French instead of their native Flemish language.

The people revolted and went door to door killing French people living in the city. When the King got wind of what was happening, he sent an army of strong soldier.

When the soldiers arrived they saw a pathetic looking army waiting for them and thought it would be an easy win. The Bruges soldiers lifted a gate holding back water and drowned 8,000 French soldier.

This battle took place on July 11, 1302 and was called Battle of Golden Spurst.

The medieval bell tower that sits in the middle of the town began to be built in the 1200’s. It took 300 years for the entire structure to be complete. You can climb the 366 stairs to the top and get a view of the entire area.

One thing you will notice is the streets are much wider than most medieval cities. This is because Bruges was a major trade center.

Bruges has one of the oldest standing hospitals built 750 years ago. In the 1200’s, if women became widows they were kicked out on the streets since all the property and possessions were in the mans name. These women came together and began taking care of people for donations to form a hospital.

They later used these donations to form a community called Biggens. There were 350 women and children living in this community. You were required to be single and catholic to live here. Today catholic nuns live in the community.

One of my favorite stories we were told on our tour was about this community. Men are still not allowed to stay here overnight. There was a man who came to paint the beautiful landscape within the nuns walls. He had a few too many drinks and passed out under a tree. A nun woke him up with a kick and told him he had to go. He woke up with an apology and left.

The next day a local came to the nun who kick the man out. He told her she needed to be careful who she was kicking out of their facilities. It was Winston Churchill who she had kicked out who had taken up painting in his retired years.

A popular place to check out is the Lovers Bridge. If you walk over the bridge with your partner you will forever be in love. This folklore belief was sparked by the legend of lovers who couldn’t be together, Mina and Stromberg.

Mina was forced by her father to marry another man while her warrior love was off at battle. She ran in the woods and eventually died of exhaustion. When Stromberg returned, he built a dam and buried her under the bridge. He then let the water flow over her grave in the area that is today called the Lake of Love.

On the outskirts of this small community you will find an area with windmills. There is a beautiful running path and some mom & pop style restaurants nearby.

As far as food goes, you can find fries everywhere here. It seems Bruges has their own spin on the Canadian poutine.

And of course, you should eat plenty of waffles while you are here. We did our research and found Fred’s has the best waffles (with ice cream!) around.

Fred’s is very close to the main square. We got our waffles (and ice cream) and went to the square to see the tower lit up at night and listen to the enchanting music it was playing. A great end to our trip in Bruges!

Brussels is a quirky city with a hipster feel to it. It is know for a few wonderful things as the title suggests: chocolate, beer, fries, waffles, & a peeing boy (and dog).

Brussels is full of CHOCOLATE shops everywhere!

We learned that many impostors have come from other countries attempting to pose as true Belgian chocolate.

Luckily, there is a way to know! if the chocolate shop as this symbol on the outside of its door, you know you are getting the real thing. this symbol is called the Quality of Labor mark to let you know the chocolate is made in Belgium.

Another thing that all of Belgium is known for is its BEER! There are 800 different beers made in this country. All of the beer is AT LEAST 5% alcohol.

There is even a beer with 28% alcohol called Black Dalmatian Beer. We didn’t try that one, but we did try a beer that was 14% which was plenty strong for us.

To our surprise, it was Belgian Beer Weekend.

There were hundreds of Belgian beers available.

The tents for the event were set up in the middle of the city and was decorated with real hops plants.

If you are a fan of Belgian beer and miss this weekend, no worries! There are plenty of amazing bars all throughout the city.

We stumbled upon this hidden gem called Au Bon Vieux Temps. This bar is down a dark alley off the square and you would never find it if you weren’t looking for it. It is an old looking church that is from the 1600’s. It is a perfect medieval style pub serving a handful of rare Belgian beers.

It is right next door to the popular L’Imaige Nostre-Dame bar. Another pub from the 1600’s serving a few more Belgian beers.

We also found a wonderful local pub called Au Soleil. We sat at the bar drinking some wonderfully strong beers recommended by the entertaining bartenders.

A third wonderful thing Brussels is know for is FRIES. The best place to get them is called Fritland and is located right in the middle of the city.

By best, I mean it had the longest line which means it must be good, right? There were at least 12 different sauces you could choose from. We went for the curry ketchup & garlic mayo. Yum!

Clearly Belgium is not the place to go if you are trying to lose weight. We can’t forget to tell you about the Belgian WAFFLES.

These stands were scattered all throughout the city. You could get tons of different types of toppings: chocolate, jam, peanut butter, Nutella, butter, sugar, syrup, strawberries, banana, kiwi… you get the idea.

The last thing I mentioned Brussels is know for has probably made you a bit confused if you haven’t been here. Yes, a PEEING BOY is the fourth big thing this city is known for.

There are many different stories as to how this became the statue that Brussels is best know for. Whatever the reason is, you find these figures everywhere!

There is also a popular statue of a dog peeing with some yellow paint for effect.

After Brussels we decided to head not to far to another well-known, but much smaller city in Belgium: Bruges!

Amsterdam has been one of the biggest surprises of our trip. What I expected to find was a city filled with drugs, prostitution, smelly canals, and run down buildings. What I found instead was a beautiful city with clean canals, picturesque buildings, tons of bikes, and pancakes!

Amsterdam was completely underwater 800 years ago. The city actually sits 1 meter below sea level. That is one main reason there are so many canals throughout the entire city.

It is actually very expensive to live in the homes on the canals. They are all very well taken care of and centrally located. We did notice many of them are starting to tilt though due to the soft land they sit on with all the water nearby.

We did a free walking tour with Strawberry Tours while we were here. No other English speaking guests showed up so we ended up getting a private tour of the city.

Side Note: I can’t recommend these free walking tours enough! Look them up in any city you go to. It’s a great way to really see an area and get lots of information in a short time period.

We learned that in the early 1600’s the Netherlands was controlled by Spain who also had very close ties with Italy. As Amsterdam started to become more and more Protestant and less Catholic, Spain sent soldiers to burn and kill the Protestants, wanting to maintain a Catholic country.

The 80 year war that was fought between these two religions resulted in the Netherlands being sold to England for $1 after they lost a battle.

During the 80 year war there were two brothers who were arms dealers. Needless to say, they did very well for themselves during the war. They built themselves one of the biggest homes right in the middle of Amsterdam.

They had a driver who was a bit jealous and made a comment that if he could only have a home as wide as their front door he would be happy. So they built him exactly that- a home as wide as their from door right across from their massive home. That is how the smallest home in Amsterdam was created. Check out the small white home below.

There is a lot of influence in New York, USA from Amsterdam. In fact, in the 1600’s, New York was called New Amsterdam.

Another major attraction with lots of historical significance is Anne Frank’s House. This is the warehouse where her family and four other Jewish people hid from the Nazi’s.

The upstairs space they lived was very small and hard to imagine eight grown people living in. The door was hidden very well by a bookcase.

The tour was one of the saddest places to visit, even after reading the diary Anne wrote. To see videos of her father- who was the only survivor of the eight people- talk about their time in hiding and his family is one of the most heartbreaking images.

If you are going to Amsterdam, make sure to book this tour immediately after booking your flight tickets. The tour gets sold out months in advanced and is something you will definitely want to see.

After reading the diary and picturing Anne’s views from looking out her window, it was surreal to be looking at the same view she was describing.

A very well known part of Amsterdam with a lot of history is the Red Light District. In the 1960’s the district was much bigger than it is today. Window shopping for prostitutes started because the government made a law that prostitution could not be solicited on the streets. So the women began standing behind windows.

In the 1990’s the Red Light District became very corrupt with pimps and human trafficking. To help fix the issues, the government bought all the buildings in the district and now the girls rent windows directly from the government.

A shocking misconception about Amsterdam is that marijuana is outright legal. The law is actually much more complicated than that. Weed is not legal, but it is also not illegal. Basically, as long as you aren’t causing any problems you are fine. But the law enforcement can get you in trouble if they want.

Coffee shops are the only ones allowed to sell weed. You can grow up to five plants, but heat lamps to help it grow are illegal. So my belief that there are no rules in Amsterdam was very wrong.

Amsterdam is known worldwide for something I’m sure we’ve all heard of- HEINEKEN!

There is a really unique, interactive tour you can take of their facilities. They have a theater that makes you feel as though you are a bottle of Heineken being made and shipped. There is whole sports floor where you can ride stationary bikes and karaoke or play digital soccer.

They also have a large bar at the end of the tour to have a pouring competition.

A boat cruise through the canals is something you should definitely do while in Amsterdam. We booked ours with our Heineken tour and got a great deal.

The boat cruise took us all the way across the city to a lookout point to oversee the downtown area.

Amsterdam is a city full of greenery and parks. We stayed right near Vondelpark which couldn’t have been a more perfect location. There are beautiful trails for walking, running, and biking.

One of the best parts about this trip was the food. Amsterdam is known for PANCAKES!

They aren’t the kind of pancakes we think of in North America. Instead they are more like crepes. You can get savory or sweet ones- meaning you can eat a pancake for your meal and dessert! Which we absolutely did a few times.

Our two favorite places to go were De Vier Pilaren and The Pancake Bakery.

Chad loved this part of Amsterdam!

They also have mini pancakes called Poffertjes which have butter and powdered sugar on them.

Another food Amsterdam is known for is the Stroopwafel. These consist of two thin wafers stuck together with caramel. They are so good and addicting!

We were also served a surprise with our bagel for breakfast- chocolate sprinkles!

I’ve heard some mixed reviews about London before going here. Many people love it so much they move here. Many others have no desire to go back.

I think London can be hit or miss depending on the time you go. We found it incredibly enjoyable. If you are planning a trip here I would suggest making sure it isn’t one of the busier weeks for the city. It is easy to see how this city could be very overwhelming if you came at the wrong time.

London consists of high rise buildings downtown, but all very low structures outside of downtown. It made the entire city feel much more cozy and small town, even though you are in one of the biggest cities in the world.

There are tons of parks locates all over the city. We stayed on the east side of Hyde Park which was a perfect location. The park has many well-manicured walking paths and ponds.

On the west side of the park is Kensington Palace where William, Kate, and Harry all live.

The gardens are beautiful to walk through!

We visited many street markets while we were here. There are different markets open on different days of the week. Portobello Road is the market to visit on Saturday. The street is known for its colorful buildings.

Camden Market and Brick Lane are where to go on Sunday.

We had the chance to visit Friar Covert which is the oldest surviving palace. This was where Henry VIII reigned as King. If you remember, he was the king obsessed with having a male heir. He went through 6 wives: beheaded two, divorced two (legally changed one to become his sister), one died during childbirth, and one outlived him.

The Buckingham Palace has been the primary royal palace since 1840. The changing of the guards is a popular event to see. It was a bit rainy while we were here.

Most of the activities here were reasonably expensive, so we really had to pick and choose what we wanted to do. The London Eye was a tempting choice.

We ultimately decided on the Winston Churchill War Rooms.

These were the actual bunkers that Winston Churchill and his advisors used during WWII to protect them from the bombings.

You were able to see the meeting rooms, communication areas, and even the bedrooms. It’s hard to imagine living down here in these small, dark chambers.

You got to learn a lot about Winston Churchill’s personality and life. In addition to being a great leader, he was also an artist and loved to paint. He is definitely a unique character as evident from some of his famous quotes. One of my favorites: “Trying to maintain good relations with a communist is like wooing a crocodile. You do not know whether to tickle it under the chin or to beat it over the head.”

The world is truly lucky to have had a leader like Churchill. After spending many weeks traveling through Eastern Europe and learning about the horrific events of WWII, it was refreshing to see what successful plans were happening to fight the corruption.

There are many pubs named after Winston Churchill all around the world, but The Churchill Arms has the be one of the best. The entire corner pub is COVERED in colorful flowers.

And not only is this an English Pub, but there is an amazing Thai restaurant in the back! If you come here I would highly recommend trying this Fruit Loop beer.

There were many other unique pubs scattered all over England. We really enjoyed the Canadian themed bar called Maple Leaf.

Right down the road was a Sherlock Holmes themed pub.

And one of my favorites, The Old Bank of England pub and restaurant.

London is a huge, very spread out city. There are many walkable areas, but the underground trains make it very easy to get to the different parts of the city.

We took the train downtown to walk along the river and see the bridges. Here is something that may surprise you- this is NOT London Bridge.

This is actually called Tower Bridge.

This is London Bridge which sits just a short walk down the river.

There were a few other fun things we did while in London that could be worth checking out. One of them is the famous Platform 9 3/4th’s from Harry Potter.

Another neat place to visit is the House of MinaLima. This is a shop with a free exhibit filled with original artwork and props from Harry Potter.

A neighborhood that can be worth a stop, especially if you’re hungry, is Chinatown. The blocks are lined with wonderful smelling restaurants around every corner.

And if you are looking for some evening entertainment, there are tons of plays to choose from. We got a recommendation to see A Comedy About A Bank Robbery.

We liked it so much we went the next night to see another play written by the same people: The Play That Goes Wrong. They were both extremely entertaining and very funny.

As far as food in England goes, check out my previous post about Woodhall Spa. One addition is the British Meat Pies. We got the steak pie which was amazing!

Cheerio, until next time!

There is nothing better than getting local insight while traveling from people who live in an area. And it is even better when it is family!

After sleeping in Airbnb’s, hostels, and hotels for months. Trying to find inexpensive restaurants or spending 2 hours in the grocery store attempting to translate every product written in a different language or packaged differently than we are used to. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve stood at the refrigerator section for 10 minutes trying figure out if the carton we’re holding has milk, cream, or yogurt in it.

We were warmly welcomed into a HOME and it felt so good! Home-cooked meals, sitting in the dining room chatting until wee hours in the morning over glasses of wine, playing games in the backyard, and enjoying such amazing company that made us feel like we were home.

We had the pleasure of staying with Charlotte, Paul, and their two incredible sons, Ryan and Ben.

They live in a small town called Woodhall Spa, England that surprisingly had tons to see all around. One of the most unique things we learned about this area is the annual Woodhall Spa 1940’s Festival. 40,000 people come from all over to see this festival. They dress in 1940’s clothing, old cars are driving around on the road, and the whole town transforms to feel like you have walked back into the 1940’s.

A big part of the festival is held at the Petwood Hotel.

This hotel has become a famous landmark and has many famous guests throughout the years.

There was historically a spa in the park that has since been closed. Nearby is a movie theater hidden in the park that was built in 1922 as one of the first cinemas in Britain and has maintained its old charm.

There are chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the theaters and is decorated with all old themed movies.

We were also able to tour Lincoln Castle while we were here.

The castle was built in the 11th century and used mainly by William the Conqueror. It was in great condition considering how old this building is.

And as you can see in all the pictures, there was an large wall surrounding the perimeter you could walk around.

A prison was built in the 1700’s and used throughout the 1800’s. There were many hangings and beheadings that took place here. Today it is a museum and used for filming shows such as Downton Abbey.

The castle also houses an amazing piece of history- the Magna Carta! It is one of four remaining original copies from 1215.

The town of Lincoln has an amazing cathedral you can see from everywhere. It is as beautiful and massive on the inside as it is on the outside.

The town itself was filled with tons of cute shops and restaurants. We almost didn’t make it up to the castle with all our stops along the way.

Our favorite thing we did while visiting Lincoln was visit The Abbey!

This pub is owned by some of Chad’s family who live upstairs on top of the restaurant. Chris and Emma run this amazing place while their sons, Connor and Max, get to enjoy all the benefits of living on top of a pub.

Connor is now a Gin expert after being able to sample the impressive collection The Abbey has acquired. I was able to sample my fair share and sure felt the effects the next day.

I can’t tell you how fun it was to sit around the table with friends and family.

It was great to be able to go behind the bar and pour your own beer. Emma taught me the ropes behind the bar including how to correctly pour a Scottish Ale.

As for food, we had the real local insight here. We learned all about pasties, which are similar to a meat and vegetable pie.

Of course we had to try the fish and chips with smooshed peas at The Abbey. It was AMAZING! The best we’ve ever had. You’ll have to go try it yourself.

And for dessert we got the spotted dick. We got a good laugh out of the name. It was a dessert pudding with fruit and custard.

Until next time!

Scotland wasn’t somewhere I was super excited to visit. This was on the top of places Chad was looking forward to, but I wondered how great a place could be that was known to rain almost everyday.

Well I’m here to tell you, it was AMAZING! This place felt magical from the moment we stepped off the train. I don’t know if it was the castle perched high on the hill, the layer of fog that covered the city at night, or the endless streets of colorful pubs each with a unique story of their own.

This place has officially been put on our list of places we want to visit during the month of December when it is all decorated for Christmas.

We heard from some locals that December is their favorite time of the year in Edinburgh and I can’t imagine how perfect this place would be.

The first thing to point out about Edinburgh- there are a TON of pubs! I have a theory that this is because it rains all the time. What’s more perfect than a pint in a friendly pub while waiting for the rain to pass?

The pubs each have their own unique name and story. Check out the names of these places. If you go inside, you will learn all about why the bar has the name it does.

Greyfriars Bobby Bar was my favorite.

“The Greyfriars Bobby Bar is named after the scruffy Edinburgh Skye Terrier Bobby who is said to have stayed at the graveyard where his master was buried, until his own death, 14 years later.”

There is actually a cemetery that is named after this dog called Greyfriars Kirkyard. We found ourselves in this cemetery more than once during our visit.

The first time was for a Free Ghost Tour which is put on by Eventbrite. Even though this is free, you still need to register. I would HIGHLY recommend doing this tour at night. Even though I am terrified of ghosts and spooky things, this was one of my favorite things we did.

The tour is filled with history of the city but with a scarier twist. The tour ends at the most haunted tomb in Europe. This is the tomb of Mackenzie Poltergeist.

The story goes like this… In the 17th century, King Charles II of England appointed Sir George Mackenzie to lead the charge against persecuting the Protestants in Scotland. Thousands of Protestants were put in a concentration camp right here in this cemetery where they almost all died and were buried.

Ironically, when George Mackenzie died he wanted to be buried in the same cemetery as his nearly 18,000 victims. For 300 years both victims and tormentor lay buried only feet away from each other. Then came 1998 when a homeless man used Sir George’s tomb for cover from a storm. He wound up falling through the floor and ended up on a pile of remains from victims who were buried unceremoniously in large holes.

A short time later a woman was found lying unconsciousness outside the tomb with her neck covered in bruises. Since then there have been 500 reported attacks. They have locked the tomb doors so no one can go inside anymore.

We also did the Harry Potter tour with the same company. There is such a feel of Harry Potter all over the whole city. This is mainly due to the fact that JK Rowling wrote most of the Harry Potter books in Edinburgh.

We ended up in the same cemetery only to realize Thomas Riddles tombstone is here as well.

There were also a few other characters from Harry Potter whose names were very similar to some names on the tombstones. Apparently JK Rowling’s would walk through this cemetery and even bring a chair here to write.

The school that is believed to provide inspiration for Hogwarts is George Heriot’s School, which is located near the cemetery. Like Hogwarts, the school is grand with towers. The students wear uniforms and are sorted into houses. Unlike Hogwarts, the names of the houses are Lauriston, Greyfriars, Raeburn, and Castle.

As I mentioned before, Edinburgh feels almost magical. I think this is in part due to the set up of the city. There is a large hill in the middle with an enormous castle on top. The city surrounds the castle with streets filled with shops, restaurants, homes, and pubs on all sides.

You will most definitely be drawn to explore the castle while you are here. The Edinburgh Castle was built in the 12th century and was a royal residence until 1633. There are tons of museum rooms full of history to check out. The view from the top of the hill is amazing in all directions.

There is also an area where you can see where prisoners of war were held in many different wars, including the American War of Independence. They have the carvings of an American flag on a wooden door by one of the prisoners being held here.

Probably my favorite thing we did in Edinburgh was hike up the nearby hill to Arthur’s Seat. It is a moderate walk with the path getting steeper at some points but it is well worth it!

The first day I went was very foggy. I had no idea what I was getting into.

It was pretty slippery on the trail made of of mainly smoothed rocks. This was especially hard coming down. I did find some cute animals on the way though.

By the time I got to the top there was no view at all with the fog.

Chad and I decided to go back the next day and give it another shot. It was MUCH better this time around!

The views from the top are amazing when it is clear! Moral of the story, this might only be worth doing on a clear day, which can sometimes be few and far between.

We happened to be in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival. This is a 25 day festival with 3,400 shows ranging from comedy, plays, music, magic, and anything else you can imagine. They are free or inexpensive shows going on all day and evening with endless amounts of entertainment.

We met some great actresses, actors, and directors from England who put on an amazing show called “Kidding”. If they ever make it big you should see their show.

The city was decorated everywhere for Fringe. They had a beautiful garden area decorated with flowers and greenery with picnic tables and chairs to hang out.

The area was surrounded by food trucks- some of them pretty unique.

The last thing to mention is, of course, what to eat and drink while in Edinburgh!

First and foremost, Chad ate as much Fish and Chips as he possibly could while we were here. It is a UK thing to serve mushy peas as the side.

They also have many Salmon dishes.

There are many variations of the Scotch Pie or Mutton Pie. This is a meat pie that can have vegetables as well. Some more popular are the steak & kidney or steak & tattie (potato).

The main food that is everywhere that is very different from what we’re used to in America is Haggis. This meat is sheep’s liver, lungs, & heart minced with onion, oatmeal, & spices. This is served as an appetizer, a full dinner, or even with breakfast.

Of course, Scotland is known for their pubs, so having a few pints is a must. Guinness is of course borrowed from their neighbor to the west, but can be found at almost every pub on tap. Innis & Gunn is a Scottish lager that is a great option as well.

And one too many of these pints can lead to goofy photo shoots.

Edinburgh is one of our favorite places we’ve been so far. This will definitely be a place that we revisit someday.

Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, is a string of 14 islands connected by 57 bridges. The city is one-third water, one-third parks, and one-third city buildings. It is also the most populated city in the Nordic region.

This beautifully clean city has TONS to do. Countless museums, tours, neighborhoods, and islands.

Sweden is also considered one of the most expensive countries in Europe, meaning we really had to pick and choose our favorite things to try to even remotely stay within our budget. The taxes are extremely high here including a 25% sales tax on most goods and up to 40% tax on alcohol.

While traveling here is expensive, the Swedish people receive many benefits unheard of in the States. They get 18 months childcare leave at 80% pay. Most men and women split this time equally which is helping with the gender pay gap. There were tons of men everywhere in the middle of the day taking care of the children while Mom was at work.

The first thing we did when we got to Stockholm was a free walking tour of Old Town. We went through Free Stockholm Tour Company. They have both Old Town and New City tours that cover different parts of the city.

Stockholm began as a small town founded in 1252. The region is famous for its Viking history. Not being involved in either World War also has helped to preserve the city.

Although, just because Sweden wasn’t involved in the recent wars doesn’t mean they don’t have a rough, bloody history. This square is where the Stockholm Bloodbath took place in 1520.

This was a result of a battle between the Swedish and Danish. After years of battle, the two parties agreed on a peace treaty. To celebrate the end of battle, King Christian of Denmark and Norway planned a celebration inviting the Danish soldiers to a party with the Swedish noblemen.

After 3 days of partying, the Danish soldiers captured many of the Swedish noblemen and beheaded or hanged them in the square. The white blocks on the red building in the square represent the 80 Swedish people executed.

Like many European countries, there is still a royal family in Sweden. There is a ghost legend about a Lady in White who is bad luck for the royalty. The first time she was spotted was in the 1400’s.

She was most recently seen in 1920 by a soldier. The story goes- a soldier went to the roof to adjust the flag. After he didn’t come back for a considerable amount of time, another soldier went to check on him. The first soldier was found crouched in a corner shaking from seeing the Lady in White. Princess Margaret died 3 days later. You can tour the Royal Palace as well.

One of the islands is referred to as Museum Island, or Djurgården, and is where most of the museums are housed. There are many different museums to pick from. We ended up choosing the Vasa Museum and loved it!

This museum holds a ship from 1628. This is the oldest known wartime ship that is still preserved today.

The story of this boat is actually pretty crazy. The ship was specially built to be the largest and most expensive ship by the royalty. It was meant to show off the wealth in Sweden. It was originally painted in bright colors that a small model illustrated versus what it looks like today.

It could hold 300 soldiers and 150 crew. It took off on its first voyage, with tons of spectators on land waving goodbye as the boat set sail.

After less than 1 mile and 20 minutes of sailing, the boat sank. 30 people on board died, but most were able to swim to shore since it was still so close to land.

The ship laid on the bottom of the sea for 333 years. It is pretty unbelievable to see how well preserved the ship is after being underwater for so long.

The reason the ship stayed so well preserved is because there is less salt in the Baltic Sea and the water was so polluted that it prevented much oxygen in from being in the water.

We also happen to run into none other than Bryan Cranston in this museum! We were both super excited to meet him being big fans of Breaking Bad and his Walter White character.

A few of the other popular museums worth considering are the ABBA Museum, which is a museum dedicated to the band.

There is also an open-air museum and zoo called Skansen that is very popular. There are 150 homes and buildings in this large space that is meant to depict the way of life for Swedish people in the 16th century, before the industrial revolution.

There is the Nordic Museum which is a cultural Swedish history museum.

In addition, Stockholm has a Viking Museum, Natural History Museum, Medieval Museum, and Swedish Army Museum to name a few of the bigger ones.

Another popular attraction that Stockholm is known for is the Nobel Prize. The annual award ceremony is held each year here. There is also a museum you can tour to learn all about the history.

Scandinavians love their amusement parks. Every city in Scandinavia that we’ve been to has an amusement park either in or very close to the city center. Stockholm was no exception. Gröna Lund is their amusement park that sits right next to all the museums.

Sweden is also famous for starting a brand well-loved by many: IKEA. Hence the Swedish Meatballs they serve in the cafeterias.

I told you there was a TON to do here!

In terms of trying to stay on our budget, we did lots of walking around since that’s always free. Stockholm is surrounded by water everywhere so there are tons of harbors with beautiful boats.

The harbors also had some really inviting bars and lounges. We weren’t willing to shell out $18 for a drink so we just enjoyed the view.

We stayed in an awesome hostel called City Backpackers. If you are on a budget and comfortable sharing a room I would definitely recommend this place. They had bikes for rent, a sauna, great atmosphere, and an awesome restaurant/bar next door with great deals for staying at the hostel.

The restaurant is called Nomad and I would highly recommend it whether you are staying next door or not.

They had traditional Swedish food and the best smells coming from the kitchen of anywhere I’ve ever been. They cook with lots of dill and I can tell you- this will be one of my first international meals I attempt to cook when we get home. SWEDISH MEATBALLS!

They were so good we got them twice for dinner while we were here.

Another popular food you must try if you are here is Kanelbulle, or Swedish cinnamon rolls. You can find them in just about every cafe and they make a great breakfast or afternoon snack.

A concept that is popular all over Scandinavia is an open-faced sandwich. Basically a sandwich without another piece of bread on top. Toast Skagen is specially popular in Sweden. This is a mix of shrimp, mayonnaise, lemon, and of course, dill.

If you noticed in the picture of Swedish Meatballs there were red berries on the plate. Lingonberries are a very common ingredient not only to serve as a side, but also to make jams, cakes, and pies.

This is as much for me to remember the name of the beer as anything else, but this is a great Swedish beer we had during our stay.

We had a wonderful tour through Scandinavia! We are sad it’s over, but excited to make our way to the UK!

Helsinki was a quick stop for us during our Scandinavia tour. This city is mostly known for being a port town with massive cruise ships stopping here everyday.

There is a wonderful market right at the waterfront.

It is full of Finnish goods.

And plenty of Finnish food. We fell in love with the salmon dishes!

The salmon soup, called Lohikeitto, was amazing. This is definitely something I will make when we get home.

Some of the food was a bit out of our comfort zone. I mean how many of you would have eaten a Moose Meat Pie?

Finland as a country has often been overshadowed by their powerful neighbors, Russia and Sweden.

They have persevered wonderfully though and the country is full of people with a good sense of humor and serious LOVE of saunas.

Just to share how much Finns love saunas- there are 5 million people living in Finland and 3 million saunas. That is more than one sauna per household! The Finns view saunas as a necessity as opposed to a luxury.

There are many public saunas that are in resort spas with pools, bars, and restaurants.

Helsinki doesn’t have an old town with cobblestone roads like many other European cities. Instead the architecture is much more modern- and by modern I mean from the 1800-1900’s.

In the center of the city is the Helsinki Cathedral. This Greek looking church was originally built as a tribute to Nicholas I in the mid 1800’s who was the Emperor of Russia and Grand Duke of Finland.

After Finland’s independence in 1917 it became an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral which it remains today.

Another massive building you will notice a few blocks away from city center is the Uspenski Cathedral.

This gothic style church was built to commemorate Russia Emperor Alexander II.

The last part of this post that I highly recommend to anyone coming to Helsinki is go to Suomenlinna, which in English means Castle of Finland.

This fortress is located on an island which is only a short boat ride from Helsinki. It was originally built in 1748 by the Swedish in 1748 to protect against Russian expansionism.

The Swedish surrendered to the Russians here in 1808 during the Finnish War.

The Russians built extensively on the island and during WWI the island became a fortification designed to protect St Petersburg, Russia.

There were tons of man-made caves you could climb through that were completely pitch black, even in the middle of the day.

The fortress became part of an independent Finland in 1917. It also served as a prisoner of war camp during the Finnish Civil War in 1918.

The island has a cute town with coffee shops, hostels, and restaurants.

They also have a WWII submarine you can tour.

Helsinki is a smaller city with lots of waterfront areas. There are tons of harbors filled with beautiful boats everywhere.

There are also many small islands in the distance. Many of which are only big enough for one house or building.

I was lucky enough to witness an amazing sailboat race during a run on the waterfront.

There were hundreds of these colorful sailboats covering the bay. People were stationed all along the water with picnics to spend the afternoon watching the race.

Our trip to Finland was short, but full of surprises. Onto our next stop: Stockholm, Sweden!

We made it to Scandinavia! I have been looking forward to this part of our trip for a LONG time. You always read about how this part of the world is ranked the most happy and we wanted to experience it for ourselves.

I will say it was refreshing to be in a country that did not have as much bad memories from the recent wars. Not that Denmark wasn’t affected by the war, but it definitely was not impacted as badly as many of the other countries we’ve recently been to.

One of the first things we noticed being in Copenhagen is there are bikes EVERYWHERE!

And nobody locks their bikes! Everyone leaves their bikes leaning on buildings, set on a bike rack, out in front of their house and no one steals them. I don’t know about where you’re from but in Chicago you can use two locks and your bike could still get stolen.

We quickly learned why everyone bikes everywhere. SALES TAX ON CARS IS 150%!!! That means if you buy a $50,000 car it will actually cost you $125,000!

So even in the cold of winter people will still bike everywhere. People use box bikes as their family cars to haul everything around, including people and pets.

Copenhagen is a beautiful, clean, and very safe city. One of the most recognizable areas is Nyhavn with all the colorful buildings right on the water.

Nyhavn means “new harbor” and used to be the red light district since the sailors would dock in the harbor.

The city decided to clean it up in 1960- however they didn’t take into account that prostitutes aren’t scared of brightly colored buildings. So it took a little longer until this became a tourist spot.

Hans Christian Anderson is one of the most famous Danish people. I have to admit I didn’t know who he was when we began hearing about him. As a child he was an opera singer and lived in this building until his voice broke at the age of 14 from puberty.

His director saw how good of a story teller he was and encouraged him to write stories. He is the writer of… wait for it… The Little Mermaid! There is a statue of Ariel on the water you can check out as well.

Hans also wrote many other stories that have turned into ballets, movies, and shows. Some of his most notable stories are The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, and Nightingale. He also wrote The Snow Queen which the movie Frozen was originally based on.

There is a ride at the amusement park in Copenhagen (more on that below!) based exclusively on fairytales written by Hans Christian Anderson.

If you go to Copenhagen it is impossible to miss Tivoli Gardens. This amusement park is located in the middle of downtown. It was opened in 1843 making it the second oldest amusement park in the world.

People claim that Walt Disney took many ideas from Tivoli to create Disneyland after he visited the park.

We definitely noticed the uniqueness of this amusement park and it’s similarities to Disney.

When walking around the park you feel as if you are entering different lands. There is a whole area that feels like Chinatown.

A building that resembles the Taj Mahal.

A restaurant on a ship that serves Caribbean style cuisine.

And beautifully decorated beer gardens.

In downtown Copenhagen they have a beautiful park called Kings Garden which is worth a walk through.

There is a garden and summer palace in the park that was built during in the 1600’s.

There were tons of picnics and yard games happening everywhere in this park.

Copenhagen is definitely a place you want to walk as much as possible within the city. Not only is it very safe but you will stumble upon so many great areas.

Walking around the river is beautiful. You will find impressive yachts, party boats, tourist cruises, and plenty of activity.

The middle of downtown has plenty of outdoor shopping with pedestrian only streets.

We also happened to come across more colorful buildings which are my favorite!

A well kept secret when visiting Copenhagen is The Tower. You can head up to the top of this building for free!

The city is beautiful from up here.

There are tons of museums in Copenhagen. We were told the best one to learn about the country we were in is the National Museum of Denmark. They had a Viking exhibit and many other Denmark themed areas.

The last major thing we did in Copenhagen is head to the Carlsberg Brewery.

This building holds the Guinness World Record for the largest bottled beer collection.

There are over 16,000 bottles of beer in this enormous collection!

The brewery has its own horse stable and carriage to take you around the property.

You can tour the brewery and learn about the beer making process.

We would highly recommend doing the tasting as well. We got to try several of the craft beers only being sold in Denmark.

We also made some friends from Norway during our tasting 🙂

I didn’t expect to see beaches while we were in Denmark. But we had this beautiful beach only a mile down the road from where we were staying. A perfect spot for a night swim or run.

Overall, we LOVED our first stop in Scandinavia. We have some high expectations for the rest of this area.

Berlin was unlike any other place we’ve been on our trip so far.

The best way I can think to describe it is a hipster city before the money comes. Graffiti is everywhere, run down buildings, people sleeping in parks and tents along the river, small artsy cafes, people drinking tall boys at 8am on the street, and overall very eclectic people everywhere.

Berlin has one of the toughest histories of any city we’ve ever been to. Not only was the city greatly impacted during WWII, but the city was divided immediately following the war which lead to more conflict and eventually a wall that was put up until as recent as 1989.

During the 1930’s there were many anti-Jewish campaigns taking place in Germany. One of the most notable was the Humboldt University book burning by the Nazi student organization in the Bebelplatz Square.

The students burned 20,000 books that were written by Jewish authors.

There is a plaque in the square today which reads “That was only the prelude; where they burn books, they will also in the end burn people.” Which of course a few years later turns out to be true.

Today there is a glass floor square in the ground with a view into the basement of a building filled with empty shelves. This memorial is referred to as the Ghost Library and these shelves house enough space for the 20,000 books that were burned.

Berlin was the capital of Nazi Germany during WWII.

The Topography of Terror is an indoor/outdoor museum that was built where the Nazi SS Headquarters used to be before it was destroyed. Today you can spend hours walking through a timeline of WWII on the inside with some pretty heavy information. Outside is a 200 meter section of the Berlin Wall that was never taken down.

Nearby is The Memorial to the Murdered Jews which is a massive nearly 5 acres area with over 2,700 of these concrete slabs. In the basement there are 3 million names of Jewish people who were killed by the Nazi’s.

Also close by is the supposed site where Hitler and his wife committed suicide. Rightfully so, you would walk right past this area and not even realize anything had happened in this spot. It is simply some apartments and a parking lot today.

Berlin was subject to 363 air raids between 1940-1945. Britain alone dropped 45,000 tons of bombs on the city and America dropped 23,000 tons. With all the of bombings and fires this city has seen, it is very rare to find old buildings. Somehow though, St. Mary’s Church has survived since the 12th century.

After WWII, Berlin was divided into four zones in the east and the west. The four zones were occupied by the major allies during the war with US, United Kingdom, and France splitting the West side and the Soviet Union controlling the East side.

The difference in government between the East and the West became very apparent and within two years there were major government disagreements. These disagreements turned into the beginning stages of the Cold War.

By 1961, the Communist-controlled East side of Berlin was losing massive amounts of people fleeing to the West. Without warning, the Communist government built a wall overnight to prevent more people from leaving.

Families were separated as long as the wall was up. It was possible only for people to travel past the wall through strictly controlled checkpoints. For most of those living in East Berlin, travel to West Berlin was no longer possible. Checkpoint Charlie is a famous spot for the tank standoff and a main spot to cross the wall.

East Berlin built a massive and totally unnecessary TV tower. There was only 1 channel available. The Soviet Union built it to try and show the people in the West how technologically advanced they were.

There were around 5,000 successful escapes from West Berlin from 1961-1989. There were 136 deaths of people trying to escape.

Today you will see remnants of the wall scattered throughout the city. There are two bricks side by side that illustrate where the wall used to stand.

If you go to the East Side Gallery you can find murals painted on the wall.

These murals go on for 1300 meters.

Berlin appears to be an incredibly artsy city no matter where to go.

My morning run felt a little different here.

Heading towards the river there was so much graffiti covering every building, rock, alleyway, window, etc.

I mean seriously everywhere!

There were so many times we turned the corner and had to stop to take everything in.

This is definitely a city where you see a lot of unique sites.

It also seemed to us the city is still recovering from its rough history.

Many of the people walking around on the streets seemed numb and as if they didn’t care for the city like many other major cities do.

And I guess it’s kind of hard to blame them after everything they’ve been through.

While Berlin wasn’t our favorite place we’ve been, it is easy to see why many people love this city. It is without a doubt incredibly unique.

I should be fair to the city of Berlin though and point out it was EXTREMELY hot outside while we were here. We are talking 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 Celsius)! It was hard to enjoy everything as much as we could have had it not been so hot.

If you find yourself in a similar situation I HIGHLY recommend checking out Badeschiff!

This was a clean pool right on the river. It was such a great place to hang out for an afternoon to cool down and relax. We also met some really fun new friends! They were so much fun we kept the party going through dinner 🙂

It is amazing how meeting people rather than feeling the need to see every site changes as you travel. Meeting great people like this is definitely turning into the highlight of the places we go rather than seeing another church or touring a different palace.

Funny how things change.

You may be as surprised as I was to hear this, but Czech Republic is the #1 country for beer consumption in the world on a per person basis. The average consumption per person (including children and babies) is 143 liter per year. Given most children and babies aren’t drinking- that means other people are drinking quite a bit more.

In fact, one piece of advice we received from a local was if beer costs more than water at a restaurant, it is a tourist trap and not to go. (If you don’t know, you have to pay for water almost everywhere in Europe.) Check the end of this post to see some of the unique bars we found.

Czech Republic has a very volatile current history. The country was referred to as Czechoslovakia until 1993. It was during this year that Czech Republic and Slovakia split to become two separate countries.

Up until 1989 it was under Communist rule. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, student protestors took to the streets to protest. A few days later there were 300,000 protestors in the streets and the Communist powers resigned.

The Communist party ruled the country from 1948-1989. During that time there were government spy’s everywhere and peoples houses were bugged.

You know how in some cultures after you cheers you tap your glass on the counter before taking a drink? Well they would do that here during this time- and if someone did not tap their glass on the counter it was a sign that they knew a spy was in their presence. If that was the case everyone would make a point not to discus politics or religion.

Outside of waiting hours to buy something as simple as a loaf of bread, peoples lives were turned upside down. The rich became poor after their nice houses were given away and they were forced to live in the countryside. Tradesmen became heads of companies and educated people were forced to do work like cleaning the streets or picking up trash. This is a small dose of what life was like under Communist rule. Needless to say, things are much better here today.

There was the largest statue of Joseph Stalin outside of Russia built in Prague on top of a hill. It was blown up and a 75 foot metronome was built in its place. It continually ticks back and forth to represent time continuing after Communism.

If you hike up the hill and continue walking, you will come to Letná Park.

There are tons of skateboarders, runners, picnickers, and bikers all around. We stopped at this incredible beer garden looking over a beautiful view of the city.

I mean look at this view!

Another top attraction on the river is the John Lennon wall. Students began drawing lyrics and graffiti inspired by the Beatles on the wall in 1980. They would use the wall as an outlet for their grievances.

This of course angered the Communist party and there was a clash on Charles Bridge. The original picture of John Lennon is covered under layers of spray paint. The wall is supposed to stand for love and peace.

Speaking of Charles Bridge, you should definitely make sure to walk across this if you go to Prague. The bridge is lined with beautiful statues up high and tons of vendors and street performers along the way.

The bridge was built in the 1400’s and there is a ton of history about this bridge. In 1621 there was a revolt which resulted in 27 people being executed. Some of their heads were hung on the bridge for the next 10 years to remind people the danger of the resistance.

There are some great views of the city. You can see the river is full of paddle boats where you can buy a few beers and head out on the water for the day.

Like most of the cities we’ve visited, Prague has a historic Old Town Square.

At one end is the Astronomical Clock Tower which was built in 1410.

You can head up to the top floor to get some amazing views of the city.

We also visited Prague’s Castle which is right across the river from the main city center. We bought a pass to go in several of the attractions in this castle village. The castle itself wasn’t as impressive as some others we’ve seen.

The furniture was all removed and the building was actually pretty plain. They did have some neat rooms that showed some family crests on the ceiling.

They also had a pretty impressive church right next to the palace.

It has some of the most beautiful stain glass windows inside.

My favorite part of the whole experience was a small area called Golden Lane. You walk down a street that was originally built in the 16th century and get an idea of how people lived back them. They have rooms set up that you can walk in and see the setup of bedrooms, shops, doctors offices, and theaters.

Like many of these posts, I want to end with the best: food and drinks! So given we wanted to fit in with the locals, we spent a lot of time going out and drinking beer 🙂 Here were some of our favorite spot.

U Pivrnce is an incredibly colorful place with inappropriate cartoons everywhere and the walls are covered from people drawing on the walls.

We attempted writing our last name on the wall if you can make it out.

Pizza & Pasta Break looks like a regular Italian restaurant from the outside.

If you go downstairs though you are suddenly in a dungeon with animal fur on the wooden benches and candlelight.

Restaurant Konvikt was a traditional Czech style bar that reminded me of a place you would see on Germany.

The bar was old with large picnic tables everywhere. This was a great place to have the traditional beer of Czech Republic: Pilsner Urquell.

A big shout out to our amazing tour guide, Ben, with White Umbrella Company! We would have never found many of these amazing places without him. If you find yourself in Prague I would highly recommend checking out their tours.

Anonymous Bar was definitely a new experience for both of us. The bartenders wear masks and perform bar tricks.

If you ask for the “key shot” you will be given a shot and a mini light. When you use the mini light on your menu, new secret drinks are visible. You can order drinks that come in a bird cage or a soccer ball.

Restaurace U Dvou Panu was a spot we were super happy to stumble upon.

This place is outside the main city area, closer to the Lennon Wall. They had home cooked traditional dishes and of course, cheap beer!

Of course we had to get the Wiener Schnitzel.

And lastly, you have to try Trdelnik while you are here! These mini cakes are cooked on a rotating medal rod and can be filled with all sorts of things. You will see the stands everywhere selling them.

To end off, I need to give a shoutout to my cousin, Hannah. Without all her great advice we would have missed several great highlights!

Krakow is a city that we unexpectedly fell in love with! We wanted to visit this place mainly to see and learn about a city that went through so much during WW2. We were pleasantly surprised to find that not only is this city full of history, but it is also very safe, walkable, extremely affordable, has many beautiful landmarks, and to our surprise, some of the most AMAZING food we’ve had so far on our trip!

We stayed in the Jewish Quarter which I would HIGHLY recommend.

Here is the link to our studio Airbnb which was absolutely perfect: Krakow Airbnb. There was an area right across from us full of food trucks. We loved the convenience and the food was awesome!

If you are looking for a nicer sit down place here were tons of great restaurants scattered all over the Jewish Quarter.

One that we had the best meal we’ve had so far on our trip was a short block away from our Airbnb. If you are in Krakow you have to visit Zalewajka!

We got the soup that was named after the restaurant, stuffed cabbage leaves, and potatoes pancakes with wild boar. Everything was amazing! Especially the potato pancakes. We are still craving them. We also got drinks and our bill came to only $30. Like I said, we fell in love with this city.

The Jewish Quarters were covered with art to acknowledge and remind us what this area stands for.

Many of the buildings paint a clear picture of what the city has been through with their rough edges.

Krakow is a unique city in this part of Europe, especially in Poland. The city itself made it basically untouched through WW2 while most of the Polish cities nearby were virtually crumbled to the ground.

It was taken over early in the war by the Nazi’s and surrendered without a fight.

It became a main headquarter for Germany during the war. They changed the plays and performances in the theater to German.

They took over the public areas and buildings. Jewish people were not allowed in the parks. Polish people could go into the parks but were not allowed to sit on benches.

There were a small group of Jewish men who stormed into this cafe and killed 13 German officers.

Eventually the ghetto was built enclosing all Jewish people to one run-down, crowded area. Then they were sent off to Auschwitz where most of them were killed. Check out our blog post from Auschwitz if you missed it: Auschwitz Concentration Camps

One movie we watched before visiting Krakow was Schindler’s List. I think that is a movie everyone should watch. It took place in Krakow and while it is of course Hollywood’s take, Oscar Schindler saved 1,600 Jews.

There is a museum where you can visit his factory while you are in Krakow. We did a guided tour, but if we did it again we would walk through on our own. They had some interesting historical artifacts like Schindler’s desk.

The city center in Krakow is called Stare Miasto. The horse drawn carriages and old colorful buildings gave the area a historic feel.

The city square dates back to the 13th century. Beautiful churches, outdoor restaurants, and shops line the street.

St. Mary’s Basilica is impossible to miss in this area. The church was built in 1397, with the towers being added a few years later. The towers are noticeably different heights. According to legend, two brothers built each tower and were competing with each other to build theirs better. One brother grew jealous and killed the other brother.

Another structure that you will notice immediately from just about anywhere in Krakow is the Wawel Royal Castle.

The castle is situated up on a hill right near the river. The combination of many different designs caused our tour guide to call the building “an architects worst nightmare.” I like all the colors and shapes though.

This was where the rulers of Poland lived since the 1500’s. The Germans took over the castle during WW2. A Nazi officer and his wife acted as though they were to be the new King and Queen of Poland.

We felt a bit like we were playing life size Mario walking under the gates.

Another spot that was very interesting to learn about is the oldest university in Poland which was discovered in 1364: Jagiellonian University.

There have been some incredibly important people to study here. Mathematician and astronomer, Nicholaus Copernicus, was a student here. He is credited in discovering the earth rotates the sun, rather than the other way around

Another well-known student was here was Pope John Paul II. He was a student at the university during the beginning of WW2 when the university was secretly being run underground against Nazi orders. After WW2, John Paul II was asked to become archbishop of Krakow by the Communist leaders at a young age.

They chose him believing he would be easy to control. They were very wrong and he caused them lots of trouble. In 1978 he became the first non-Italian to become pope since the 1500’s. When he visited Communist-run Krakow as Pope, 2 million people came to see him. They realized the amount of people supporting him meant they were all unhappy living in a Communist run country. His visit is credited with the beginning of Poland’s rise against Communism.

It wasn’t until 1989 that Poland was rid of Communism and had their first democratic election in recent history.

One of my favorite ways to discover new cities is going on runs.

I find areas I never would have seen by just finding a path and throwing some tennis shoes on.

There were miles and miles of beautiful paths along the river in Krakow.

I absolutely loved running around this beautiful city.

There were tons of restaurant boats lining the river as well. A great place to go for dinner, drinks, or to sit nearby and hang out on the river.

I have two final recommendation while in Krakow. Yes- they are food related. First, visit Pub Wrega while in Krakow. Amazing traditional Polish food situated in a cute beer garden. The homemade Perogi’s were wonderful!

Second, make sure you eat a Paczki!! Yes, I know it’s not Fat Tuesday, but these were the most amazingly fresh Paczki’s I have ever had! If you don’t know what this is, it is similar to a fruit/cream/flavor filled glazed donut. We tried caramel and pear which were both incredible!

We are continuing our way north- thank you for all the notes with recommendations you’ve been sending! Let us know if you have any recommendations in Sweden, Finland, Scotland, and London.