Family Travel in Europe
I like winter (in measured doses)
I know you’ll understand if posting is pretty light during this Christmas week, but I will toss up a few photos from the family archives so you’ll know I’m still alive.
Here is one from a dog-sledding session near Lillehammer, Norway - left to right is my son, my daughter (the girl who just this month got her driver’s license. Yow!) Sainted Husband and me.
I’m still digging around to find a good holiday pic to put …
Date: December 24th, 2008 |
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Photo of the Week: Colmar, France
This photo was taken in Colmar, a lovely town in the gastronomically-delightful Alsace-Lorraine region in France, near the German border.
This was the section of France that Hitler grabbed just before World War Two, arguing that it was really German, not French, and that the Treaty of Versailles had unfairly given it to France as a war reparation.
Yes, my daughter could not have been more disinterested in hearing an impromptu history lesson as we walked around, but …
Date: August 27th, 2008 |
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Springtime at Keukenhof Gardens
For those of us above the Equator, spring has sprung and the flowers are a’blooming.
One of the most lovely places in the world to admire the colors of spring is the expansive Keukenhof Gardens, where 4.5 million tulips (100 varieties) are only a part of the natural wonders on display.
It is located in Lisse, just outside Amsterdam in the Netherlands …
Date: April 8th, 2008 |
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‘Tis the season for Christmas markets
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I can’t think of a more sure-fire holiday winner with kids than Christmas markets. They’re a seasonal mainstay in Europe, and now we’re starting to see more of the tradition here in the U.S.
A Christmas market (or christkindlmarkt or weihnachtfest) is normally held outdoors at night, and includes little open huts selling toys, ornaments and gifts, seasonal food and drinks and entertainment like musicians or …
Date: December 4th, 2007 |
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Today in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell
If your kids aren’t old enough to remember, or think that the area around Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate has “always” been open and bustling like it is today, here’s a YouTube video for them on the media issues blog Chaos Scenario:
The Thirst for Freedom Cannot Be Quenched
Now talk to them about Burma, about North Korea, about other places in the world where people live under the control of a government they did not choose.
Travel, communication and the free exchange of ideas knits us together as a planet, so grab that …
Date: November 9th, 2007 |
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Travel to teach your kids: what my daughter learned in Belgium’s Flanders Fields
There is much more to Belgium than eating great chocolate, swilling down handcrafted beer and buying lace tablecloths.
As a history enthusiast, I’ve always been interested in a little-known story from World War One that partly occurred in Ieper, in far western Belgium (the main town has one name spelled two ways - the French “Ypres” or the preferred “Ieper,” in deference to that area’s Flemish heritage.)
There is no lack of charm to Ieper; many wealthy medieval cloth guilds spent fabric and …
Date: October 7th, 2008 |
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High above Paris: a meal in the Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower; an instantly recognizable symbol of Paris.
My young son doesn’t remember much of France, but he sure knows the “Eyfee Towee.”
Want to make your visit to the monument more memorable?
Have lunch or dinner inside the Tower (which is particularly spectacular at night.)
On our last trip to Paris, we had …
Date: May 19th, 2008 |
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Ahoy, it’s Rotterdam!
Most people think of Rotterdam as some sort of industrial seaport town without much to recommend it for family travel, but the city’s spectacular architecture and maritime heritage make it well worth a trip, even with kids.
I like to show my children interesting buildings; I don’t have a background in design or architecture but I really like to …
Date: February 29th, 2008 |
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Visit bountiful Brussels
Are you looking for a beautiful, easily accessible European city that’s not on the London-Paris-Rome standard tourist circuit?
I recommend Brussels (or Bruxelles in French; the Belgians are arguing a lot lately about their nation’s heritage split.)
Located in the northern, historically Flemish part of Belgium (along with medieval …
Date: November 27th, 2007 |
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Get rubbed the right way in London
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A fun London activity for kids is deep inside the crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square — the London Brass Rubbing Centre.
Rubbings are a way of putting an image on paper without damaging the item underneath. The ones used at the Centre are brass replicas of artworks depicting typically English people like medieval ladies, knights and St. George.
You put the paper …
Date: November 7th, 2007 |
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