Planes, Trains, Automobiles (Boats and Buses too!)

Note to self: If you take two 21 year olds on vacation with you...it's not going to be a vacation--it's going to be a workout! Landon and Jessica walked us for miles and miles as we all explored parts of Europe during their spring break last week. They had boundless energy that we had a hard time duplicating! But, we did our best to keep up with them, and they packed in as much as they possibly could see in the 12 days we were gone.

First, we flew to Copenhagen, where we went on a canal tour and saw The Little Mermaid. We stayed near Tivoli Gardens, and also visited the Royal Library. We went to the 17th century Frederiksborg Castle (home of the original works of Carl Bloch), as well as Kronborg Castle (known as the castle from Shakespeare's Hamlet), and then drove past the "Danish Riviera" to see Fredensborg Palace, the Danish Royal family's summer/vacation residence.

We took the train out to visit the Copenhagen Denmark Temple, and toured the Danish Resistance Museum. The famous Danish sculptor, Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), has a museum in Copenhagen that was wonderful to visit--he is the sculptor that created the Christus---the reproduction of which is found in the visitor center at the SL temple. We also visited the Glyptotek museum, and witnessed the changing of the guard and Royal Band at the Royal Family Residence, Amalienborg Palace.

We took another train out to Roskilde to visit the Viking Museum, which has a collection of five Viking ships that were removed from the bottom of the harbor there and pieced back together for display.

A brief flight brought us to Paris, where we wasted no time in making the 165 foot hike to the top of Arc de Triomphe for a beautiful night time view of the city and the Champs-Élysées.











The next day, we went to the Musée d'Orsay as well as the Rodin Museum, a beautiful indoor and garden display of the sculptor's works. We visited the Hôtel des Invalides and saw Napolean's Tomb.





We took a lovely Seine River cruise, followed by a visit to the Eiffel Tower at dusk.

The Basilique du Sacré-Cœur is one of our favorites Paris sites to visit, and it was followed by a stroll through the streets of Montmartre, shopping, eating crepes, and having Vlad, a local artist, sketch Scott and I.

We visited Notre Dame, and Landon and Jess had the energy to climb yet another huge flight of stairs to go commune with the gargoyles in the bell towers. Scott and I kindly offered to stay behind and take pictures. We made a stop at Sainte-Chapelle, a beautiful 13th century chapel erected by King Louis IX, which had the most beautiful display of stained glass windows I've ever seen. That evening was late night at the Louvre, so we spent several hours exploring there. We went to areas we had not seen on previous trips...perhaps my favorite was the lavish apartments of Napoleon.

We took a high speed (approx 185 mph) train from Paris to Brussels, where we visited the Musical Instrument Museum and had lunch at it's garden rooftop cafe (thanks to Rick Steves for all the great suggestions).









We visited the Royal Palace, Grand Square, and the infamous Manneken Pis (we also found his "sister" in another part of town). We went to the Chocolate museum and saw some candy making demonstrations. And...there was definitely some chocolate sampling and purchasing involved.

Another train ride brought us to Amsterdam, where we began our visit again by taking a Canal Cruise through some of the beautiful waterways of the city.

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We visited the Van Gogh Museum, which had over 200 pieces of his work on display, and took a tour out to Keukenhof Gardens, past windmills and tulip fields, and spent a few hours strolling through the beautiful gardens and greenhouses there.


















We went to Rembrandt's house and saw the studios where he created his works, several of his copper etchings, and a display of many of his prints as well as those he collected. We walked across Skinny Bridge, went to the flower market, saw Oude Kerk (Old Church), walked through a few blocks of the Red Light District, and poked our heads into a "coffee" shop. We strolled through artists and vendors booths at Rembrandt Square, visited the Dutch Resistance Museum, and toured Anne Frank's House.

By the time this "vacation" was complete, we felt had packed as much into our days as was possible. It was great to have Jessica (who was our historian and researched and read information about each place we visited) and Landon (who was our map reader/navigator/subway route expert) accompany us on this great adventure!