Central and Western Europe April 2017

We took 1st class trains from Paris to Basel, Basel to Munich, Munich to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam to Brussels. These trains were far more spacious, half the amount of seats in each coach and we served a twix bar every other hour or so. They also served us drinks and food if we bought something and the paper to read if we wanted it. The seats were cushiony and comfortable. We had no choice with the first leg, we were told we had to book first class. It had decent internet on this first leg of the trip. We took 2nd class trains from Brussels to London and London to Glasgow. These trains were more tightly packed and we were served nothing but could walk to the food cart if we wanted something. Newspapers costs money if we want to read one. The internet did not really work or we couldn't connect to these trains wifi which was a bit disappointing. Favorite Cities: Alex and Danielle had the same small and large city favorites- Small city favorite was Basel, Switzerland and large cit...

We slept very well, Danielle said these were her favorite pillows she has ever slept on (from IKEA). We got up at 4:30PM. We woke up earlier than we wanted but our Europe body clocks would not let us sleep any longer. So we just got up, had our last bite of oatmeal and were off to the airport. We walked back which took about 15 min this time since we knew where we were going and to our terminal which was a ways away. Boarded quickly and the first flight to EWR was only 50 min. Then we had to go through security again in EWR which a very dirty airport, and on to the last flight which was an 1 hr and 30 min to SAV. Alex's Mom and Pop picked us up with lunch in a cooler for us which we were grateful for because we were starving (turkey sandwiches, potato chips, a panera cookie, and a banana). Yum American food--hahaha, not really! Then we arrived back on Hilton Head and Danielle had to go right into work (even though she was let go that Friday-shitty).

We got up at 7:15AM (because we went to bed so early, we woke up pretty early) and went down to the free breakfast. They have a 4 person crew making and running breakfast. Even though there were so many people staying here, breakfast was fully loaded with food and ran so smoothly. There was toast, white or wheat, 6 kinds of cereal, all kinds of jam flavors, bananas, apples, plum looking things (rather tasteless), meats and cheeses, milk, coffee, water with oranges, cucumbers, or lemons in it. Danielle made a pb and j with a banana and come cereal and Alex had a meat and cheese sandwich and cereal too with his coffee. We both grabbed with pastry looking thing and after one bite, Danielle knew it was meat and that was the end of that. Eww. The cafeteria was packed with people of all ages (we had a young male rugby team they were maybe 10 (20 of them all under 12, but very well behaved) or so and then adults too) but there was a table open so we sat down and ate and even made sandwiches t...

It was a rough sleep-because Alex was warm we had the window and shade open and there was a large electric billboard that flashed lights the whole evening and morning. Also there must be a bird gathering next door because we had birds start their calling like 3 or 4 AM and they were loud and obnoxious. It was hard to get back asleep once we were woken up. Our alarms pretty soon after that, around 5:30AM went off and we were up and our of the hostel. We took a train by 6AM, to a bus at 6:15AM, to the airport by 6:35AM-their public transport and signs to follow were excellent. It was very easy to find the train, bus, and we made it early to the airport. The check-in was not even open when we arrived so we had to wait for about 15 min or so. We checked in online, but Ryanair makes you get a date stamp on your ticket before you can go up to security. So we got that and headed toward security. Right before the entry, we sat down and ate our protein bread things which were actually really d...

We got up at 7:30AM, had oatmeal (again--we ate a lot of oatmeal and Alex was very sick of it, but that is what we knew would travel the best and give us some fullness). Then off to the train which was about a 20 min walk. Every train we have walked into has been very warm until it leaves and then a little A/C will come on. This one not being an exception, it was really warm this train. However, the A/C was much more powerful then all the others so it actually cooled down nicely (that is first train thus far that has actually cooled down quickly, the rest have been fairly toasty). We took our layers off as we entered and got comfortable, this would be the last train ride (5 hours and 20 min). All the trains have left on time except Munich which were all about 5-10 min late coming and going. This train ride was pretty long, but we napped, talked, and played hangman. We knew we were in Scotland, because of all the green pastures, sheep, lambs, and goats, open fields, rolling green hills...

Throughout the night, Alex had to check on the laundry because apparently the washer/dryer was only a washer and all the clothing was wet. He was such an amazing husband and didn't wake Danielle but hung up all the clothing in the spare bedroom and put a fan on to dry them. Even by 7AM the clothing was still very wet, but we made it work. Alex didn't get a whole lot of sleep then! Danielle still was not feeling great, so she slept more but not very well either. We woke up once together and decided we needed more sleep so we slept until after 8 today. We had some oatmeal with toast and hazelnut spread which we snatched from our hotel in Amsterdam. One of the other girls who was staying in this Airbnb must have had a not so good night because when we both used the bathroom, there was some throw-up by the shower--ewwww!! Come on ladies. It was disgusting. Another not so good thing about our place is that we could not connect to the internet at all, no signal nothing (we ended up g...

We both woke up around 1:15AM to a loud car outside out window who got trapped outside in the little outside walkway.  We didn't know how she got there, but she meowed for like 45 minutes. Our room was very stuffy (couldn't control the temperature so we opened the window but that made the cat louder and Danielle all stuffed up. But then when we closed the window, Alex was terribly warm. We finally fell back asleep and got up at 6:35AM. We got dressed, went to breakfast (supplied by the hotel) and then off the other train. The breakfast had a lot of choices-bread for sandwiches with 3 meat options (salami, ham, and pepperoni), cereals, milk (4 kinds- strawberry milk, chocolate milk, white milk, and one that was orangish), tea/coffee, hazelnut spread which Danielle made a sandwich with, jams, hard boiled eggs, cheese, cucumbers. We both had our fill! The train station was about 3 min away, just over the river so it was a super easy walk. Got on the train and were off to Brussels,...

We got up around 730AM, had some more museli, coffee, and tea  (make Danielle feel better) and then were off to the train. We had a connection but this one we had 30 min to make the next one so it was very easy. The train station like our last European trip are like malls, so many stores and shops. We bought a sandwich is one of the train stations to have later on and had our granola bars and read. These were the longest trains- taking about 8 hours to get to Amsterdam. We finished our first books by these trains since we had a good distance to go. We both felt very safe in Paris/Basel/Munich but Amsterdam was a little shady. The weather was not bad, about 52 and partially sunny (colder than Munich but felt about 10 degree warmer, very comfortable temperature to be walking around in). Once we arrived we went to their library (10 min walk from train) which was wonderful. We followed all the way up to the top floor and could go outside and look over Amsterdam which was beautiful-ca...

We let ourselves sleep in today since we were exhausted so we slept until 8AM. We had museli (its a mix of oats, dried fruit, nuts, its made with hotwater, and provided by the owner in our kitchen).Then it was right out to the town. It was definitely much chiller here, about 58 and cloudy. The city was very easy to navigate. We saw the famous Viktoulis Market (which means open market)-lots of prepared food vendors, flowers, and meat unprepared for taking home. Then we went on to Marienplatz-open square where we saw St. Peters Church, Town Hall, Glockspiel (a little show with chimes/bell tower/revolving wood figures at the top of the church's bell tower). There were a lot of stores to shop from in this main area--big name stores (Rolex), sport stores, department stores (C&A), Apple store, TKMaxx (which Danielle thought was funny). Most stores were 3-7 floors high-men and women's clothing was always split and then you had accessories on a floor and shoes on another and linger...

We got up at 630AM, had some oatmeal (which we packed), and were off to the train. It was an easy 10 min walk, the train was perfectly on time. We had to make a connection but that was pretty easy too. It took about 3 hours and 20 min to get there and it 61 and sunny in Basel when we arrived. We walked to the town, right down to the Rhine River--it was a little chilly at the water. We saw lots of school children all by themselves---it was obviously a very safe city. They would be walking, playing at the park, just hanging out and no parents or adults anywhere which was unusual for us to see. We went to their grocery store called Migros and it was packed, everyone was buying lunch it looked like--I guess this was the spot for lunch! There are a lot of bikers, lots of plant shops too. We continued to explore and saw the University, City Gate, a cool fountain which had different sprinklers going off and moving, Munsterplatz (a famous square-old city is what they call it), and churches (go...

We made it to Paris by 11AM, got off the plane and then trained (10 €) to the city (so fast to get through customs and easy to get a train ticket). Everything was easy to find! We got to the city in about a half hour and then started to explore. The weather was 65 and sunny! We walked all day-started with the Luxenbourg Gardens, Pantheon, Notre Dame Cathedral, we walked along the ricer and ate at a little cafe (we had a chicken sandwich with egg/lettuce/tomato-delicious and also nutella crepes). The city was busy but did not feel crowded. Such a beautiful city. Then it was on to the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Opera House, and then find our Airbnb. It was a quaint little place with a family of 5 (mom, dad, 2 little girls, and the grandmother). The neighborhood was close to the train stations and was full of Indians (from India). The mother gave us directions to get our keys in the mailbox and then we went up. The room was nice and we could see the Eiffel Tower from ...

Got up at 7AM and got ready for breakfast. (We got to do some laundry so for Europe all of our clothing was clean!) We went to Fitzgeralds and had a great, delicious breakfast. Then we went to the famous Wawa. Wawa is a first class truck stop with lots of freshly made breakfast/lunch/dinner options and they also have gas--its illegal to pump your own gas in NJ so they are only full service pumps! Aunt Laurie and Alex got coffee and then it was off to the Cape May/Lewis Ferry. This ferry takes us from NJ to DE! It was a little windy but we could sit outside or inside (Aunt Laurie gets motion sickness so we had to keep going inside to outside-but it wasn't that bad outside on certain sides of the boat). The weather was lovely- 63 and sunny! The boat even had an arcade, gift shop, food -we got fries and a banana to keep hunger away). We went back to Wawa getting off the ferry for lunch-Alex's request. He got his favorite sandwich, Danielle got a chicken &rice bowl and a warm ...

We got up at 7AM (slept ok). It was still wet and of course cold outside. Keturah (owner) had left us a banana, cootie oranges, and nutrigrain bars for us. Alex really wanted a bagel sandwich so we found Brueggers Bagels not far from us so we had breakfast there on the way to Bennington, VT. There was even a survey to fill out which we did of course and we got 6 free bagels to take with us on our drive. Then it was off to VT! There was a medium amount of snow falling and then starting to really stick! It was 36 degrees as a high and rain sooned turned to snow as we went into VT and NH. But it was beautiful, the mountains covered in snow and the lookouts were breath-taking. We ended up eating a couple bagels for lunch in the car to keep us moving forward. Both VT and NH kept getting more and more snow, now piling up everywhere, so we had to slow down a bit, but Alex did a great job driving!! We made it to ME and now the snow was getting slushy. We jumped out every state line to take a...