Europe

It’s been a busy summer. We had a month at the Lake and three weeks in Europe. Now we are home and I am relishing the fact that we won’t have to leave it till Thanksgiving.
Our trip to Europe was very nice; Hannah was a good sport through it all.
Our first stop on our grand tour was London, and it’s a place I won’t be seeing again for a long time. I’ve vowed never to set foot in that city with anyone under the age of 21. I don’t particularly care for English food and it turns out the kids care for it even less.
There is the added problem that children are not allowed to eat in pubs, eliminating most of the eating options. We became regular patrons of the local Pakistani Pizza joint. Not to mention the fact that London is one of the most expensive cities in the world (the taxi from the airport was $160). That being said it is a wonderful city and I look forward to going there in the future.

After London we went to Brussels. Getting to Brussels was quite an adventure. The Eurostar was beyond our budget ($900) so we decided to take the ferry. This turned out to be a bigger deal that we had anticipated. Traveling with four large suitcases, we took a train from London to Dover, a bus from Dover train Station to the ferry terminal, another bus from the ferry terminal to the ferry. Unfortunately we had to get off this bus twice, once to check passports and a second time to have our luggage inspected. Took the ferry, landed in Calais, took another bus to the ferry terminal were we could catch the bus into town to catch the train to Lille. There, we walked from the train station that handled trains from Calais to the one where the train to Brussels stopped. Took a train to Brussels (which had originated in London an hour and a half before). To avoid taking two cabs from the station in Brussels, Chandran walked to the hotel with Nick and got lost. But we did save $600.
Brussels was worth it. The old town is small and beautiful. The food is wonderful, even for kids, and the waffles and chocolate are to die for.






From Brussels we had an easy trip to Paris. Our stay there was very pleasant. We stayed at a very nice hotel, Kamala’s suggestion. Our rooms had a lovely view of the Seine and the Louvre. The food was good and the wine was better.
From there we went to Geneva. There we stayed at my dad’s apartment. It was small but I think everyone was relieved to be out of Hotels and restaurants for a few days. My father met us in Geneva and together we traveled to Zurich, another lovely town.










From Zurich we were supposed to take a train to Salzburg. This plan was abandoned when we discovered that there is no train connection between Zurich and Salzburg (you have to get off the train at the Swiss-Austria border and take a bus for a few hours), and my dad hired a car. It was a lovely trip through the Alps; our driver took us through Liechtenstein and some back roads in the Austrian Alps. I hope the next person who joins us likes hiking, because we may go back and stay in some of the places we passed in the Tirol.
Salzburg was great as always. The Opera was lots of fun, the concerts very good.
Amsterdam was nice; I think we were all too tired and eager to get home to appreciate it.
Yesterday was spent unpacking, cleaning and doing loads of laundry (the trip + Laura had a spectacular stomach bug, she has recovered). It is good to be home.