• France

    Brittany

    March 31, 2016 - By 

    “You have to make it to Brittany,” a friend told me. Even my relatives in Lille highly recommended it. So I did a little reading and off we went to the Atlantic coast! And to our convenience, the highlights of Brittany happened to be not far from Lower Normandy. We toured a cluster of beautiful towns within the same area: the fortified town of Saint Malo, the fishing village of Cancale, and the medieval town of Dinan. Little did we know that we would end up being completely enamored by this northwestern region of France. Of the three, we spent…

  • France

    Normandy

    March 26, 2016 - By 

    I remember watching Saving Private Ryan when I was a 13-year-old kid, unaware of the significance and meaning of D-Day, June 6, 1944, on the German-occupied French shores. I also never imagined that I would ever visit that same cemetery in the opening scene of the film. More than double my lifetime later, I found myself sauntering along the once blood-stained beaches and gazing over the largest American cemetery in Europe with a better understanding of why thousands of young American 20-somethings sacrificed their lives for freedom. Last month when we traveled around Germany, we visited the Tower of Terror in…

  • France

    Paris, The Overrated City

    March 25, 2016 - By 

    I don’t know, maybe everyone hyped it up too much for me. Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe spending time in Prague, Munich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and London in the past 1.5 months prior to arriving to Paris spoiled the splendor of European cities for me. Whatever the case, I know I’ve already upset plenty of people by saying it, but I’ll say it again: Paris is an overrated city. Everyone raves about Paris, presenting it as a unique city incomparable to any other city in the world. However, it is comparable to other major cities such as Copenhagen or London,…

  • France

    Lille

    March 25, 2016 - By 

    With the city of Lille’s proximity to the Belgian border, I wouldn’t be surprised if the locals of Lille had a closer connection to Belgium than France. Either way, the stereotypical scenes of charming France awaited us for our first day to the country: numerous aromatic patisseries and boulangeres lined the cobblestone streets, boutique chocolate and macaron shops continuously beckoned us to its storefronts, and the lack of English speaking patrons and shopkeepers left me dependent on Chris’ smidgen of the French language. Lille’s lovely town square: Adorable shops with plenty of French delicacies proudly displayed in windows: The best…

  • England

    Bath

    March 22, 2016 - By 

    Why is there a popular little city in southwest England called Bath?  Because of the natural hot baths the Romans built in A.D. 60!  Ancient Roman baths have been built all throughout Europe during the Roman empire, but the baths in Bath, England are the most preserved Roman baths in the world.  At first we were a bit hesitant to each pay the admission fee of £15, but not long after we entered we quickly learned that what we entered was more than just Roman baths.  It was a museum built upon the original foundation of the baths, explaining its…

  • England

    Stonehenge and Avebury

    March 21, 2016 - By 

    It wasn’t until we decided to visit England when I looked up information about Stonehenge. We’re talking about 7 days before arrival. -___- First, I learned that advanced ticket purchase was required, specifically during the high season. Fortunately the chilly air and biting wind of early March meant it was still the low season, and there were plenty of tickets available. However upon further research I quickly discovered that ticket holders could not actually walk up to the stones; viewers could only spectate from behind a roped barrier during a thirty-minute time slot.  I was advised to book the earliest ticket…

  • England

    London

    March 19, 2016 - By 

    “There’s no way we’re going to the UK. Not enough time, and not enough money.” Well, we said those exact words in 2015 for the Galapagos and we ended up on a last minute cruise through those islands. It ended up being the same for England. With the burning desire to see Stonehenge, and with ferry tickets being surprisingly affordable, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to visit England as long as we limited our stay to keep our budget on track. We also had run out of propane at this point because no one outside of Germany would fill our…

  • Belgium

    Ghent

    March 16, 2016 - By 

    We had never heard of Ghent until a native Belgian whom we met in Copenhagen told us that we had to visit Ghent during our stopover in Belgium. Then when we hung out at a tourist information center in Brussels, we told another local Belgian that Ghent was our next destination, and he confirmed that it was indeed an excellent choice. Overshadowed by Brussels and Bruges, Ghent sees few tourists despite having beautiful neighborhoods and historic architecture with plenty of activities. Now after having come and gone through the lovely city, I can understand why Ghent is truly a gem…

  • Belgium

    Brussels

    March 11, 2016 - By 

    What’s there not to like about the land of waffles, fries, chocolates, and beer? Sure, perhaps the variety of waffle shops only fills the streets of Brussels to cater to tourists, but we sure didn’t mind. With the costs of transportation and food quite high and not a whole lot to do for a major city, we limited our visit to just one day. Not only did we stuff our faces with irresistible Belgian snacks and delights, we fell in love with all the upbeat music thumping softly from every shop we visited. Favorable food and music made all the difference.…

  • The Netherlands

    Kinderdijk

    March 9, 2016 - By 

    Replicas of Dutch windmills are strewn about the U.S., painting a clear picture of what Dutch windmills should look like.  Of course, while traveling throughout Europe, we knew that a trip in The Netherlands would be incomplete without a leisurely stroll through a windmill-filled Danish countryside.  Fortunately for us tourists, The Netherlands packs quite a bit into its compact country, and the popular windmill park of Kinderdijk does not require a long journey from Rotterdam nor Amsterdam.  As the town boasts the largest concentration of old windmills in The Netherlands (19 windmills to be exact), it is definitely worth seeing. To my surprise,…