Europe 2023 - Day 6 - Travel to Amsterdam

Our train was scheduled to leave at 9:52a and we wanted to have breakfast at the train station so we were out the door by 7:30a. We attempted to check out but the front desk wasn't opened and the window had a security screen over it. Not sure I would want to stay here if this was my first view. We had briefly thought about a cab but we hadn't even seen a car on our street and with no one at the front desk there wasn't really an easy way to understand how we would do it. The weather was nice and our bag wheels held up well. Not sure what I would do if I had to lug the 55lb big suitcase with a broken wheel. 

We got to the station and had a quick breakfast and were ready to check in 90 minutes before our departure time like good travelers. Turns out we were really just in the way. Our train departure and assigned platform weren't even on the board yet so we didn't know where to go. We asked security and they just pointed 'go that way'. We waited for 20 minutes to figure out what platform and then tried to decipher whether we needed to go to 4A or 4B. We then started up an escalator expecting to hit security. Turns out there is no security in Brussels and we could have showed up two minutes before departure. 

Figuring out our train was a bit confusing because there were actually two trains stuck together running on the same route. We had to make sure to get on the right carriage of the right train. There were signs on the door that were easy to decipher. Once we were on the train they didn't even check our tickets until about an hour in. To be honest, taking the train this way was no more complicated than catching the bus. As long as you know which platform to go to and the time, you are good to go. We learned we had to check our tickets to get out at Amsterdam though so we know there are turnstiles for our next trip. No x-ray though.

We walked to our hotel again. It was a bit longer at 3.0 km but the sidewalk was a lot smoother and easier on the luggage wheels. Our hotel room has a loft again. I think both buildings were warehouses with 12 foot ceilings so to maximize space they have a lower area with a shorter ceiling and then a loft area with additional sleeping. This one was better than the last one because the stairs were less steep witha lot more headroom. There are 5 beds plus a couch bed so you could sleep 7. It's not quite downtown Amsterdam but it's been an easy walk to everything we want to see. 
 

After we checked in to our hotel we went for groceries. The front desk said the red store was cheaper than the blue store so we went to the red store. Prices in London were expensive plus the Pound exchange was not very favorable. The Euro however is a better exchange rate and the prices so far have been good. We've also only found smaller grocery stores which is nice. I liked that their dairy area was enclosed (At least for the one we went to) I'm really not sure why we still allow stores to have open freezers and fridges. Not very energy efficient. 

We had booked tickets for the Van Gogh museum for the afternoon. There was a minor hiccup in that kids are free so we didn't have to pay, however we were still supposed to have booked the free tickets. The ticket agent was nice and let us all in anyways. There are a few of his good paintings but Starry Night is in New York. The thing that struck me was I had no idea how many paintings he had done. I guess in his last year he was doing a painting a day and since he wasn't famous yet most of it was still with his family. I'm not really an art buff but I think my favorite of the old artists is Van Gogh. 

We walked back toward our hotel and managed to not get hit by a bike. Bikes are everywhere. In the streets, on the sidewalks, in front of doors, in the canal, on the balconies and I'm sure if I could see them, on the roofs too. Most of the streets appear to have been designed for bikes, then people, then if there is room, cars. They are also a menace. I will have nightmares about the free wheel of a bike spinning and bike bells. I think part of the issue is that many of them are single speed so people don't want to lose their momentum. Look both ways, twice, and then again. 

We ended the day with dinner on the street. It was a nice Italian place. Don't get up from your seat too quickly because you might get hit by a bike driving by. Many of the places here don't automatically include water with your meal and when you ask for water they ask if you want 'still' water. I prefer to call that just water and water with bubbles is spicy water. The water came in a very nice bottle that said 'Still' so I guess they know what they are talking about. 

Europe 2023 - Day 5 - Second Day In Brussels

Our hotel offered us a coupon to the breakfast place down the street if we opted out of housekeeping. We're only staying two nights so we took them up on their offer. The restaurant specializes in Belgian waffles which I'm learning there are two main types. There is a desert version that has a high sugar content and a breakfast one that still has lots of sugar but is big and fluffy like what you would expect from a Belgian waffle. The family had various versions of Nutella, strawberries and bananas. Freshly made and very tasty.

Brussels has a very different approach to trash compared to London. In London there are very few garbage cans and no garbage to be seen. I think you're expected to swallow it. In Brussels, there are still very few garbage cans but over the course of the day trash ends up everywhere. Early in the morning a cleaning crew comes by with one guy sweeping out the corners into the street and another in a machine vacuuming everything up. There doesn't appear to be much of a recycling program because he was even sweeping glass bottles into the street to be cleaned up.

Another unique item we found was the one way street protectors. The column in the middle of the street stays up until you drive up to it from the proper direction, at which point it disappears into the street and you can drive through. This way people can't go down the street the wrong way. It's not easy to see the thing when you do drive up to it though, so you either have to stay back or be very confident in the lights that indicate it's moved down. I'm pretty sure at some point I would drive right into one.

We had already explored the area around our hotel so we headed up town into an area that included some office space and some more churches. We found what turns out to be the head quarters of the European Union. The architecture changes very quickly from old world buildings to modern office buildings. Nothing too special about the building itself however we did notice quite a bit of security in the area. I don't think anything big was happening but we have noticed a lot of support at construction sites for Ukraine. Blue and yellow is the theme for all construction fences.

We found another old church. I wonder if any of the religions build like this anymore. This one was flying a German flag and unlike some of the others we've seen appeared to be more active. Some of the churches looked like they were mainly tourist sites where this one clearly had everything it needed to have regular services. There were numerous rooms off the main hall for prayers and confessions and they had several paintings on display. Unlike in London, entry to these churches is free to enter.

We eventually made our way to the National Art History Museum which had a small charge of $10 Euros for adults and free for kids. The museum itself was just as well done as the British Museum with the major difference being that there was almost no one there. It was a bit of a hike to get there and it wasn't free but if you want to see well presented artifacts throughout history it has plenty to look at. The spookiest item was the graves containing skeletons as they were found. Six feet under and visible through glass. 

Carter knocked off the second McDonalds on his list. He's trying to go to one in every country we visit. McDonald's are pretty standard everywhere you go. Ordering was the same and they didn't get mad at you if you said you wanted take out and ate in instead. I had the McChicken which was essentially the same except they shaped the patty as if it was a real piece of chicken and it had a Miracle Whip like mayonnaise that I did not like. The fries tasted the same.

We had noticed the number of waffle houses when we came in but with our latest wandering we discovered just how many chocolate shops there were. I think there were at least 50 that were either full on chocolate or had a substantial chocolate offering. The chocolate is also much better that what we end up having at places like Purdy's in Canada. It's smoother and they have a lot of options with a smooth truffle like interior which is my favorite. Our only problem was that it was too warm in our hotel room to store it. Hopefully what we bought makes it.

Carter had an interesting experience on our way back to our hotel room. Just as he and I were walking away to get him some food, a rather loud possibly homeless French speaking woman was having an argument with her companion. We're not sure if she physically spit or was just saying French words in a spitting fashion since as Carter states, "French is a very spitty language." We cleaned him up as best we could and then went back to the hotel to shower. He may have then been peed on by a pigeon. Either way he showered immediately and texted his friends about his Europe experience.

 

Europe 2023 - Day 4 - Travel to Brussels

Our tourism time in London was done and it was time to head to the train station. We hadn't taken a London cab yet so we decided it was the slightly easier way to get there though we technically could have taken the Underground and it would have been faster. London cabs are awesome. They have a low floor and seating for up to six and everyone plus your luggage piles into the same area. They are even handicap friendly as you can fit a wheel chair in through the door. Our cab driver was Malcom and there was a clear screen between him and us so unnecessary chit chat. Paying was easy too. Just say yes to the $2 tip and tap your card and you are done.

We had given ourselves the full 90 minutes to get checked in for the train but we could have probably pushed it to about 45 minutes. Our station was St. Pancreas and our cab dropped us off just down the street from the entrance. As soon as we got inside we were able get through security. The only thing that went wrong was that it would have been easier if each of us had our own ticket on our own phone. You scan your phone as you go through the turnstiles so we had to have Kerry hand her phone back to us as we went through. Security was similar to airport security but not quite as picky. You can take on liquids in a sealed container and even though I had the big bag with dozens of lotions and potions in it, it got a quick second look and then they let me through. Once we were through security we went to a holding area where we waited for them to tell us which platform we were leaving from. It opened up for us about 20 minutes before our departure time and our plane left at 8:16, perfectly on time.

Once we were on the train, we put the big bag in a holding area at the front of our car and went to our seats. There was room above and under our seats for our bags and suitcases and we had seats that faced each other with a table in between. No USB but there was WIFI, though it was a bit spotty. The train itself was clean and very smooth. It got up to 225 KM an hour and at one point 75 meters below the English channel. It's  a shame Canada hasn't figured out high speed rail. We could get to Prince George in about 4 hours at those speeds. We arrived right on time in Brussels.

We knew we didn't have a real plan on getting from the train station to our hotel room but we also knew it wasn't that far. About a 20 minute walk which was only mildly complicated by rough cobble streets and the heat of the day. We've been contemplating how to get back there for our trip to Amsterdam and we've decided it's easiest to just walk again. I'm not even sure how close a cab could get to our hotel. Hopefully the wheels on the big suitcase survive the trip back. I have to lug the 50lb bag around.

We checked into our hotel right away and were lucky that our room was ready. The hotel is in the heart of old Brussels and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site but was still quite modern inside. The check in person insisted on having someone carry our big bag to the third floor and he didn't even stick around long enough to get a tip. Just dropped our bag and left. The room has a spacious lower layer and a loft area with two more beds. Carter and I got the loft while the girls got the lower area. No air conditioning but they've got three stand up fans for us to use. Our window looks out into a central square with lots of activity.

It was lunch time so our first stop was for some Belgium fries. They are quite crispy but I think it's the sauces that our their specialty. We had something that had the appearance of mayo-chup but with a bit of spice. We also learned the local rules on getting takeout. The prices for sit down are different so when we briefly sat to get our bearings they quickly ushered us a way. We then had desert at a waffle place that had the sugary waffles covered in toppings like caramel, chocolate, whipped cream and more. Very tasty.

We wandered around and accidentally came across the famous peeing baby statue. I think I was expecting it to be bigger but it was pretty much life sized. Callie and I had watched a video by John green that highlighted European artists and whether they had ever actually seen a baby. I'm not convinced the artist here had seen a baby. A little too muscular and really just looked like a tiny adult. It was peeing though, which is all that really matters.

We went back to our hotel in the afternoon and then did a bit more exploring around our hotel. We found a big church, a mural with the Smurfs which were apparently created by a Belgian and an open square with a stage set up. I'm assuming it was for summer concerts or something though it would have been nice to see the square without the stage in the way. The buildings near this square have gold covered accents and lovely statues. It would take weeks to check out all the details on all of the buildings.

We had dinner around 8:00p which was technically 7:00 from where we were yesterday. The pizza was quite delicious. We also stopped in at a local market where they had a machine that made you fresh squeezed orange juice. I think the whole orange went through it but it had a good filter so no pulp. We went back to our hotel and got all the fans going. It is about 27 degrees here so our room gets hot during the day. 

Europe 2023 - Day 3 - The London 10k

We started the day by attempting to go the Carter's Cafe near our hotel but it was Sunday and it was closed again. We were headed to the Buckingham Palace area so we figured we would grab food when we got there. That would turn out to be a big mistake but more on that later. Buckingham Palace was farther then our trip yesterday so we took the Underground instead. We had a bit of trouble buying a ticket and just assumed we were dumb tourists but turned out the machine was broken. Switched machines and all was well. Even early on a Sunday there was a train almost immediately.

When we got off the train we came out beside Westminster Abby. It was at this point that I realized what felt different about London. My experience has always been at the 30 foot level with cameras pointed down on festivities like weddings, funerals and coronations. Now that we're here we're seeing everything from street level. At first I thought there might be something royal related as there was security everywhere but it turns out that the London 10k was taking place. This was going to have an impact on us finding breakfast.

As we got closer to Buckingham Palace there was more and more race related things going on. It looks like a great place to have a run. They are able to close off the streets entirely and the streets themselves are very wide. We attempted to go to a café that Kerry had found online but it and everything in the area was closed. It was Sunday so perhaps this was normal but we think the race had an impact on thing. We passed by Duck Island Cottage which is the head quarters of the London Historic parks. Looks like a great place to retire.

Buckingham Palace turned out to be a bit of a let down. There would be no changing of guard ceremony today and the palace itself is quite simple in comparison to some of the churches we had already seen. There were some rather impressively sized statues of Queen Victoria and people riding lions in front and the overall scale of everything was enormous. We did get to see some horses out for their morning stroll. Nothing formal. Looked like the stable people getting them out for a walk.

Next up was Big Ben. I'm glad they had finished with the refurbishing and that the scaffolding was all cleared out. The clock goes off every 15 m minutes plus extra bells on the hour. The Thames appears to be quite high where we are right now. The water comes up to the walls of parliament and there doesn't look to be much room for it to come up any higher. The water is also quite brown but the local tourist website insists "the Thames is one of the cleanest rivers through a major city in the world".

It was at this point that we finally found food near the London Eye. All those royal servants must have either cafeteria's or catering because there were no shops in the area. There weren't even any cars so I'm not sure where they all park. We stopped in at a cafe and a bakery and checked out the gift shop of the Shrek Adventure which is a interactive walk000 through show of Far Far Away. We didn't go in. Pounds are expensive as is all of London. Kerry and Melissa did stop for morning margaritas.

We wandered around the area for a bit more which was made difficult due to the run. It was not easy to get across it in most places. In some ways this wasn't a bad thing because we probably got to see more detail than we would have if we could have just walked right through. We walked by what I'm assuming was an academy for younger cadets and saw them practicing with their big hats and army fatigues what looked like the changing of the guard. We also got over 35,000 steps and walked 23 km. We should have got a run medal.

Once we got away from the run we started getting into a very high end shopping area that included Lock & Company. Melissa informed us that it's the oldest hat company in the world and has made hats for many famous people. It's also where they filmed parts of "The Kingsmen" which is a spy movie. Melissa's son Josh was planning on coming back here tomorrow to have a hat made as his high school graduation gift. They will use some sort of medieval sizing tool to measure his head.

Yesterday we had stopped at Waterstones book store for Callie which turned out to be coffee shopped sized compared the one we happened upon today. It's the largest bookstore in Europe and was 5 floors of books and 8 miles of shelving. The rest of the family took a nap on the 4th floor while Callie and I explored the books. They had a couple of cafes and what appeared to be a lounge that you can probably rent out for special events. Callie found one of her favorite books and likes buying ones with different covers than we get in Canada.

It was mid afternoon and we had missed lunch so we took the opportunity to stop in a local pub. We found the White Horse Pub which explains why there were photos of white horses everywhere. There was a stand up pub on the first floor and a restaurant on the second with a dumb waiter to the kitchen above. We ended up being the only ones there so the waitress ended up talking to us about how when it gets quiet she can overhead some interesting conversations. We added my story about a long lost uncle in Amsterdam to her catalogue.

We finished off our day with a trip back to the Underground on a double decker bus. I got confused on the direction we had to go and ended up at a different line than we intended but it still went back to the stop near our hotel. We had purchased a day pass in the morning which made it easy to get on since they've got to an electronic card like we have in the lower mainland. You've got to be very careful walking up stairs on a double decker bus. No time to wait until you get seated. London was a fun trip!

 

Europe 2023 - Day 2 - Our Second Day in London

The family had a few different techniques for addressing jet lag. Most of the family was in bed by 8:00p and I stayed up until about 10:00p. Most of us started waking up around 2:00a and drifted in and out of sleep. I tried to get back on track by spending some time outside in the garden as soon as the sun was up. It worked for a little while but there were several points during our first full day where I fell incredibly tired and not just ready for a nap tired. Hopefully the rule of thumb of 1 day for every hour difference doesn't hold up.

We had purposely not scheduled too many items for our trip and planned to wander around and take in sites from the outside instead. Our first scheduled event in London was the Royal British Museum. It was about a 45 minute walk from our hotel. We had hoped the walk would be interesting but much of it was through business districts without too much activity. Luckily Callie has a number of books that she reads that are set in London so we checked things out like Black Friars bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral on the way there.

We had reserved a 10:00a entrance time but when we got there we were a bit confused. The lineup went for four city blocks and we didn't see a difference between people who had just showed up and those with reserved times. The lines did diverge as we got into the gates but they were pretty much just letting everyone in. When we left we saw that the lineup of people just showing up had finally stopped and they were limiting people from entering. Lesson learned is that you can just show up early and get in right away.

Once we got in we were greeted by a very dramatic inner court yard. The museum is close to 300 years old and has obviously evolved via many new buildings. I'm assuming it originally had an open court yard and at some point they decided to cover it. The various entrances have tall doors and large columns and there are a few items in the covered areas including some Haida totem toles but it's mainly the gift shop, washrooms and cafeteria. The museum is free but they make up for it with the costs in the gift shop. 

The first exhibit hall we went into had the Rosetta Stone. I've only been a little bit interested in history like Mesopotamia, Egypt etc. but I remember being very intrigued by the idea of the Rosetta stone when I was younger. The idea that there happened to be a single artifact that allowed for the translation between three ancient languages is fun to think about. Egyptian hieroglyphs went out of style several thousand years ago and were lost and the Rosetta Stone allowed them to determine they were a mixture of pictures and sounds. 

Although I think they frown upon touching the artifacts, they only policed it in a few places and in the Egypt area the exhibits were almost impossible not to touch. There was a lot of people in a limited space and you could see where some exhibits have probably been touched millions of times over the centuries. It's a neat feeling to be able to actually touch a stone sarcophagus. 

We spent several hours at the museum and I think we got to most areas though you would need a week to do it justice. We saw pretty much every chapter of my grade 4 to 7 Social Studies books including Egypt, China, Japan, Africa, and the Americas. In my Facebook posts for this day I joke that we were there to see stolen artifacts. The British refer to it as collecting and there were several examples where they had the permission of the government in charge at the time but there were a few sketchy comments about getting them from 'local vendors' AKA tomb robbers. There remains a lot of controversy over who owns some of the artifacts.

After the museum we wandered over to an area near Leichesire Square though it may have had another name. When you walk through London you can be in an area where there is no activity and then suddenly it opens up into a tourist haven with thousands of people walking and shopping. There was a Lego store, an M&M store and many other stores. We ate at Gordon Ramsey's Street Burger because Carter wanted to make sure we ate at one of Gordon's restaurants. The burger options were 'unique' and it wasn't cheap. $160 Canadian for four burgers and two cokes wasn't really worth it.

We finished off the day by walking back to our hotel past Cleopatra's Needle. The story on how they got this one was that it was 'prone in the desert' and that the local government said it was okay to take. It also sank on the way to the UK and had to be retrieved. I translate this as "the Egyptians weren't using it anyways and it was really hard to get here so it was okay for us to take it". The other interesting thing at this spot was that the water was over top the steps leading down to the river. London isn't very high above high tide. 
 

Dinner at street burger

Trafalgar square

Cleopatra's needle (Thames very high)

Europe 2023 - Day 1 - First Day in London

This year the Schwab family is headed to Europe. Callie graduated from high school this year and is looking to get a part time job soon so there is no guarantee she'll be able to travel with us all the time. That meant possibly our 'last' full family vacation. (Though I'm sure she's going to try to find ways to join us on future vacations.) Our trip started with a direct flight from Vancouver to London. It was supposed to take us 9 hours 30 minutes but due to favorable winds and a medical emergency, it only took 8 hours 55 minutes. The medical emergency made it to London. They asked if there was a doctor on board twice but I'm not sure what happened.

We had a lot of things planned for this trip thanks to Kerry but admittedly we didn't have everything planned. For instance we had no idea how we were going to get from the airport to our hotel. We figured it was either going to be the train or a taxi and the train was the first sign we saw. We got a bit confused on which train to get on but eventually found someone that explained what we needed to do. The biggest tip was that for the trip we were taking, it made sense to just get a day pass. We learned that 'Mind the gap' means you better watch your step or you can find yourself stuck between the platform and the train. 

It took two trains to get to our stop and then a 5 minute walk to our hotel. We're staying at the Apex City of London. I was expecting it to be smaller, with older style rooms but our room is quite spacious. It's got a king sized bed and a pull out couch that could sleep up to three. We had brought a power converter for London and the rest of Europe but technically we could have almost got away without one. Each of the outlets has a USB connector for our phones. We still need one for the laptop and hair dryer though. 

We got to our hotel around 3:00p so we had time to wander around and do a bit of sightseeing. We are near the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London so we headed there for dinner. Carter and I had 'Traditional Fish and Chips'. It wasn't bad but I have had better. For some reason they didn't have tarter sauce and only had mayonnaise. Carter and I are planning on trying again. For today we just saw the outside of sights though we may try to go inside the Tower of London. Apparently lots of famous people have been housed and killed there. 

So far London has been one of the nicest cities I've been to. Lots of old world architecture and very clean.  We walked blocks before we even saw a piece of trash. I noticed one of their 1-800-GOT-JUNK style trucks and it was fully caged meaning much less likely for garbage to get blown out. The greenery is also very lush. It was 30 degrees for our first day but it's going to cool off later in the week with rain. There were a few homeless people but nowhere near what I see when I'm in Vancouver or in a US city. Tomorrow we go visit the King at Buckingham Palace.