If it's Tuesday, this must be Reykjavik? The first installment of a LONG five country report.
 

I am finally getting my act together after arriving home abut 2 1/2 weeks ago. It took almost a week just to get over the jet lag. Then it took another week to decipher my notes and figure out my micro cassette babbling. So here goes. We went to Reykjavik, London, Paris, Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, Delft, Den Haag, Alkmaar, and Amsterdam. In a nutshell, we had a perfect time. That is not to say that everything went perfectly, but the little ups and downs are what make it memorable. I am a middle aged mom traveling with my 17 year old son. We get along famously and this trip was no different. We made a pact at the beginning of the trip that we both stuck to. 1. No whining. 2. If you see something you want to go do, speak up. 3. If you don’t like what we are currently doing, tough it out. 4. Be a good sport and climb to the top of every bloody bell tower on the continent. (That one was aimed at me unfortunately.) 5. If you see a souvenir you want, and it’s affordable, buy it. You’ll never find it again. (That one was aimed at my son.)

We left San Francisco on a non-stop Icelandair flight to Reykjavik. We arrived at Reykjavik and waited around for our tour guide to show up to take us to the Blue Lagoon. Our flight was early, so we relaxed and I decided to take some pictures out the terminal window. I pulled my little Kodak digital camera out of my carry on bag and tried to turn it on. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had another set of rechargeable batteries in my bag. No luck. I had a set of regular batteries. No luck. I had just used the camera a few days prior and the batteries were all freshly charged or new. We messed with it for a half hour. I even put it under my clothes to try to warm it up. Needless to say, we were very depressed. Where are we going to find a camera in Reykjavik in the short amount of time we have here. All of a sudden, it turned on and worked fine. We happily took our pictures but should have realized that this forebode a constant problem and irritant during our entire trip.

We zipped up our rain jackets, pulled up our hoods and boarded the Iceland Excursions bus to the Blue Lagoon. It was a bit chilly and drizzly. Perfect weather for soaking in the hot thermal water. When we arrived we left our luggage on the bus and got in line to get towels. Then we went our separate ways to change and lock our clothes up in provided lockers. I am a bit neurotic so I had a waterproof waist belt that I put our passports, etc. in. It was quite funny because I couldn’t squeeze all the air out so it was floating around my chest and getting in the way the whole time. We paddled around and floated on our backs and had a wonderful time. Posters have advised not to get your hair wet, and they are right. Even after washing it, it felt like straw but that was a small price to pay for the fun. My son is not known for taking short showers. It was amazing that he was in and out of the dressing room in record time. He confided that all the naked men made him uncomfortable. Dang, I missed the naked men. All I saw was naked women!!

Our tour then dropped us right off at our Guesthouse. Very, very convenient. We stayed at the Litli ljoti Andarunginn Guesthouse. (The Ugly Duckling Guesthouse). We banged on the door and no one answered so went next door the restaurant and the guesthouse owner scurried over and opened the door for us. He gave us our key, showed us the bathroom down the hall, explained how the keys worked the front door and disappeared. That was the last we saw of him. We felt a bit abandoned. The room was OK, the bedding gave me the creeps. It wasn’t dirty, just very old and ratty. I will say that the location was tremendous and the price was reasonable at 7500 KR per night but it did not include breakfast.

We got settled in and realized that it was 10:45pm and still daylight outside. We were hungry so we went out to find Baejarins Bestu hot dog stand. We each ordered two and hunkered down at the picnic bench to enjoy our feast. Lets just say they are very interesting. We are glad we tried the lamb hotdogs, but once was enough.

Since it was still daylight and we were still on our first day travel high, we strolled along the harbor and took goofy pictures of each other at the Viking Ship statue. A nice ending to a fun day.

The next morning we had a lovely breakfast of fruit and granola bars in our room. My son was a bit quiet but I just leave him alone thinking he is tired. We were going on a Golden Circle Bus tour so we go outside in front of the guesthouse to wait for our ride. I notice that my son is now green around the gills. He says he has an upset stomach and proceeds to run back inside to use the facilities. I am thinking oh my gosh, he’s sick and we are going on a 9 hour bus tour. To top it off, the bus did not have a restroom on it. He did not want to miss the tour and insisted on coming along. Fortunately, he was better in a few hours and I have to applaud him for being a trooper.

The tour was terrific. We traveled in style in a Mercedes bus that was quite comfortable. We visited the Nesjavellir geothermal plant, Pingvellir National Park, Gullfoss Waterfall, Geysir hot spring area, and the volcanic crater Kerio. The Nesjavellir geothermal plant was just what you would expect it to be........ Pingvellir was beautiful and we hiked around and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Gullfoss Waterfall was the highlight of the tour. It was astounding. My son wanted to go out to the tip of land that was getting splashed to take pictures with the other crazy people. My first response, no I don’t want to get wet. He informed me I had to be a good sport. OK, OK, I made up the rules, I guess I have to follow them. Well, it was great and I am so glad I didn’t miss it. Yeah, we got soaking wet, but we dried off in a few hours.

The Geysir hot spring area was quite interesting. The main geysir spooked us because it does not give advance warning it is going off. The place was swarming with Navel military soldiers. We couldn’t figure out where they were from until our guide advised that there was a Russian ship in port and the soldiers were on leave.

The tour was happy to drop us off at the guesthouse but we decided to get off in the shopping district and look for a pair of Puma shoes for my son. Unfortunately, they did not have his size (12 1/2) in any of the stores we went into. We figured what the heck, we can look in London. Little did we know that we would be looking for size 12 1/2 Pumas our entire trip with no success.

Shopping was a bust, so we decided to go have a drink at the Ice Bar. I had seen this on the Amazing Race and decided I wanted to go. It was $22.00 per person but what the heck this is vacation. The bartender gave us warm coats and in we went. It was not what I expected. I thought there would be people in there having a great time. There was the bartender and the two of us. OK, we can have our own party. He told us what the beverage selection was and of course being underage my son ordered a Sprite. I wasn’t too interested in the selection so I had a Sprite also. He served us with a smile, then left. It was hilarious, we are alone in this bar and a bunch of tourists wave at us through the window! We tried to wave them in, but no luck. My son sits on a block of ice and the whole thing started to give way. We quickly made our exit back out to the warmth. The bartender took pity on us. He only charged us $8.00 since we just had Sprite. Now, that made it worth the money!

Dinner was at the Icelandic Fish Buffet which was next to our guesthouse and owned by the same people. I have never seen so many varieties of herring. It was pickled, sour creamed, horse radished and several other ways that I didn’t recognize. It was good. You can eat all you want , so we did.

The next morning we got up early to go walk around town before we had to leave for the airport. Reykjavik does not roll our until 9:00 am so nothing was open yet. We did some window shopping then we went back to the Hallgrimskirkja and bought tickets to go up to the top in the elevator. The view was spectacular.

Back at the guesthouse we needed to find the owner to check out, but as I mentioned, there was no one around. We went to the Icelandic Fish Buffet next door and explained our predicament. The waitress was happy to help us, so we paid, she gave us a guesthouse receipt, and off we went. We wandered down to City Hall to catch the Fly Bus. We had quite a bit of time so we checked out a little church and watched the children feed the birds. We still had quite a bit of time so we went inside the City Hall and found they had a café with free internet. We each had a soda and my son got to email his girlfriend. He was in 7th heaven.

The Fly Bus is very efficient, they picked us up in a small van then took us the bus terminal. We purchased our tickets and transferred to a large bus that zipped us to the airport. We both nodded off, we had already seen miles upon miles of volcanic rubble so we weren’t interested in the view. Our flight was uneventful which is a good thing. Next stop, London for seven days.

I am sorry if this is so long, my college professors used to tease me about being wordy!

Babs, great report, very interesting to those of us who have been thinking about going to Iceland. You and your son make a great team.

Waiting for the next installment.

Nina

Hello BabsB, although I have never been to Reykjavik I have am enthralled with your trip report!! I can hardly wait to hear about the rest of your trip.....travelling with a teen IMO is fantastic, the good and the bad. More please!!

I love and applaud your 'rules'...!

Great report! Absolutely love the "rules" and think we will use those next time. What a great idea!

If it’s Friday this must be London.

Just a few details to start with about our stay in London. We stayed at the Luna Simone Hotel on Belgrave Road near Victoria Station. We loved every thing about it. Great location, modern, extremely clean, great breakfast, and very helpful staff. Best hotel of our trip hands down! Next, I constantly worried every time we rode the Metro. On our last day, the second bomb threat occurred. Thankfully we were on an all day tour and were not actually in London. Last but not least, everything is expensive. I tried to prepare myself for it but I still underestimated. Finally, I gave up trying to keep track and we just went about our business of having fun. What else can you do?

My son runs long distance track at school, and for fun, so the first thing he did on our first day in London was run around St. James Park. He had previously corresponded with some runners from the Serpentine Running Club so he is going on a run with them tomorrow. While he ran, mom slept in!

Our first official outing together was the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off tour. We enjoyed the live commentary much more than the tape. After about 3 hours of touring around seeing all the sights the traffic got so bad we decided to abandon ship and head out on our own.

We headed over to Westminister Bridge and walked Rick Steves Westminister Walk. It was a good walk but I don’t like the maps in his books. We got confused (notice I did not say lost as map boy insisted we didn’t get lost) several times until we pulled out a real map. A little compass hanging on my bag didn’t hurt either. We saw the usual suspects, Big Ben, Parliament, Statue of Boadicea, Whitehall, Cenotaph, Downing Street, Horse Guards, Banqueting House and ended up at Trafalgar Square.

We stopped at a sidewalk café and I ordered fish & chips. I asked for malt vinegar and they brought salad dressing cruets of oil and vinegar. Don’t they serves malt vinegar in England? Next, over to Leiscester Square to the TKTS booth to pick up half price tickets for Chitty, Chitty Bang, Bang.

Then we headed over to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. Great museum and good audio guides. My son is a history buff and really enjoyed this.

We still were not done, next we went to the British Museum. We were a bit tired so we flagged down a Black Taxi and before we could haul ourselves over to it, another “gentleman” jumped in and off they went. Plan B was taking the bus. The British Museum was amazing, I especially enjoyed the Egyptian mummies and Assyrian Lions with Human Heads. My son thought the Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles were the best.

We walked over to Oxford Street to the Palladium Theater to see Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang. Surprise, the Theater was full of kids! We had several who thought it was great to wrestle around us. We decided to smile and bear it. The play was entertaining but I wouldn’t go see it again. I told my son I get to pick the next one. On our way out we grabbed take out Chinese food at a food cart. It was excellent...and cheap.

Oh my gosh...will you adopt me?!!!!!:D Your son is one lucky kid and he sounds like a terrific traveler, so I guess that makes YOU a luck mom. What a great trip.

anxious for new installment..is it ready yet????

If it’s Saturday, this must be London...still.

My son ran six miles with the London Serpentine Running Club this morning. One of the organizers gave him a mile by mile tour. They even went into some of the very lovely locked gardens as they had a key.

Next on our agenda was Greenwich. We got so lost trying to get there. Some of the lines were closed so we had to make quite a few detours. On top of that I think we were just tired and not paying close enough attention. Once there, we had a very nice lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern, I had fish and chips (excellent) and my son had pasta. He eats lots of pasta to carb load. We viewed the Cutty Sark and Gipsy Moth IV then headed over to the National Maritime Museum. I enjoyed this museum, especially the display of luxury cruise ships. When I was a kid I went on a cruise on the SS Oriana with my folks. They had a display for this ship that brought back lots of memories.

We did a quick walk through of the Old Royal Naval College and began our hike up to the Royal Observatory. It occurred to us halfway up this huge hill that we should probably taken the tram. Oh well, we can both use the exercise!! This place was packed but everyone was good natured and having a great time. We stood on the Prime Meridian and took pictures of each other. I set my watch to the official clock and we toured the museum. The view from up there was great and we had fun taking lots of pictures.

We decided to skip the metro to go home and took a river cruise back to Westminister. It was a relaxing way to view the river and multitude of condo’s/apartments that line the river. At the wharf we flagged down a Black Taxi and he took us to the Royal Drury Lane Theater as we had tickets to see The Producers. It was a very funny play and I enjoyed it a lot. My son was a bit less impressed. We decided to end our day by splurging for dinner. We stopped at the local Subway for deluxe sandwiches, delicious!!

I've been waiting for this!! So nice to hear your report, Babs! Keep it coming...

If you want proper fish and chips with malt vigegar, you have to go to a real chippy.
It will have steamed-up windows and a queue. Inside there will be a deep-fat fryer and you may have to wait a bit because you can see the fish and chips being fried in front of you.
In a really good chippy, there will be a machine for converting peeled potatoes into chips.
The version you get in pubs, does not compare.
BTW, in London you travel on the Underground, usually called the Tube.
It's not called the Metro and it certainly is not called the Subway.
I have taken pity on American tourists who have gone down an entrance called Subway and have searched in vain for the trains. A subway is just a way of crossing the road without getting squashed.

Hi oldie, wish I knew about the fish and chips before we went. And you are correct, it is called the tube, I was having a brain fade. I thought a Subway was a place to get sandwiches. :)

If its Sunday this must be the Tower of London

We slept in this morning as we are both a bit travel weary. We missed breakfast so we grabbed some pre-made sandwiches from a corner store. Big mistake, they were nasty and ended up in the garbage can. We made do with our OJ.

First stop was the Tower of London. We got in line early so it did not take long to get our tickets. We headed for the Crown jewels first. They are astonishing! We enjoyed the video of the Queens coronation then went on the Beefeater tour. This was very entertaining and informative. We looked at the Ravens, checked out the shops and decided we were tired and hungry. I had heard about the Wagamama restaurant next door to the Tower of London so we ate lunch there. We both enjoyed it a lot. I am now waiting for their cookbook to be available on the internet.

After lunch we decided to go to the Imperial War Museum but it seemed to be such an enormous task just to get there. At this point we were both breaking the rules. We were both whining about the tube and how tired we were. It made us both appreciate how easy we have it back home, we can jump in the car and go anywhere we want, when we want. So we did the next best thing, we caught a taxi.

We walked into the Imperial War Museum and the first thing my son said was “Oh WOW!”. This museum got his attention and kept it for several hours. We finally took a break in the museum café and had a little desert. I have noticed that desert makes my feet feel better.

I guess we finally got our second wind because we decided we needed to go shopping. There was a store called NEXT that my son wanted to check out. We bought him three shirts and then went down to ESPRIT and bought his girlfriend a top. We wandered up and down the shopping area and of course looked for Puma shoes for him. So far no luck. Eventually we discovered that they do not manufacture his size, so we were never going to succeed.

We went back to our hotel to drop off our loot and I asked the desk manager for a restaurant suggestion. He recommended Chimes which was just down the street. I had a curry turkey salad and my son had a beef and mushroom pie. It was all excellent. Another great day under our belts.

If its Monday this must be the British Library

We decided to do a bit of laundry this morning. Walked down the street to the local laundry and got the whole thing done in less than an hour. I will hand wash if need be but prefer the machine if possible.

We then headed for the British Library and the Treasurers room. I love it when all the good stuff is located in one central area. We saw the Magna Carta, original Bach and Beethoven music, the King James Bible and so much more. This is our kind of museum, in and out in an hour.

We wandered back to Leicester Square and bought discount tickets to The Woman in White, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. We then went shopping at Covent Garden and bought enough stuff to dramatically affect the weight of our luggage.

We had so much fun shopping that we got to St. Paul’s just as they were closing. Drat, we need to go back again. We double stepped over to the Museum of London and breezed through that at wharp speed.

Dinner was at an Italian Restaurant at Leicester Square. I have lost the name of the place but it was right around the corner from the Vue Cinema where the premier of Fantastic 4 was being held. We didn’t see any celebrities at the premier but the atmosphere was electric and we felt very cool being at the “IN” spot.

The Woman in White was spectacular. We both decided it was the best of the three plays we had seen. They projected the scenery on movable walls and it was fantastic. One scene had a train coming towards you, everyone in the audience was startled it was so real. Go see it, it was great.

If its Tuesday this must be Buckingham Palace

We must have been feeling refreshed because we bounced out of bed, ate breakfast and made our way to Buckingham Palace way too early. There was hardly anyone there so we tracked down a little café and had hot chocolate. When we returned it was starting to fill up. We claimed a pretty good spot at the Victoria Monument and settled in to wait. We watched all the pageantry and enjoyed talking with several other tourists. My son ran around with the camera trying to get really good shots, too bad the camera decided to act up again. Just as he had a great view of the Guards, it died. It had good batteries, it was just being a pain in the you know what. We messed with it for quite awhile and voila, it started to work again. I swore I was going to replace it.

We went over to Piccadilly Circus for some more shopping then proceeded to Westminister Abbey. Great church, lots of dead people. It’s an ironic touch that Queen Elizabeth I and Mary I share a tomb though they disliked each other in life. LOL

For lunch we went to Fortnum & Mason’s Patisserie and purchased four different, lovely pastries. They wrapped them up so beautifully it was almost a shame to eat them, but we forced ourselves. We found a spot near a fountain and dug in. We had sugar high the rest of the afternoon.

We had to work off some of those calories so we walked across Westminister Bridge and took a ride on the London Eye. My co-workers had purchased us London Eye vouchers so it was a nice, free treat for us. The line moved along pleasantly fast and the London Eye moved pleasantly slow. A very good combination. We purchased a View 360 guide and had a great time picking out all the locations of interest. We had a beautiful clear day and it was very enjoyable.

I thought we had done enough shopping but my son wanted to go to Harrod’s. We took the Tube over then wandered around rather starstruck at all the stuff. We did manage to show some restraint though and escaped without adding to the weight of our luggage.

We shopped until we dropped. Back to a little Bar-B-Que restaurant just down the street from our hotel. They brought us a huge platter with chicken, ribs, onion rings, fries, and battered vegetable. I could feel my arteries plugging up but it was so good. We got back to hotel about 9:00 and crashed. An early night for us.

If its Wednesday this must be Shakespear’s Globe

We started our day with a visit to the National Gallery. We followed Rick Steves’ Tour and spent our allotted 90 minutes and more. I decided that I love Vermeer and Rubens and Monet and Renoir and, and, and.....

We then headed back over to St. Paul’s to try that one again. We walked in and I got in line to purchase tickets. My son was astonished that it would cost 15 pounds to get in. He is not one to mince words, he said he would rather spend the money shopping that to see another church filled with dead people. I acquiesced and spent a few minutes straining my neck to try and see what I could and off we went. I figure it gives me a really good reason to go back to London.

We strolled across the Millennium Bridge and had fun taking pictures up and down the river. We went to Shakespear’s Globe and went on the tour. I asked my son if he wanted to see a play but he had already spent a week at the Shakespear Festival in Ashland Oregon earlier in the summer and was more interested in seeing other things while in London.

Lunch was at the Pizza Express just down the Bankside. It was good and I enjoyed the challenge of eating pizza with a knife and fork. My pizza darn near ended up on my lap.

We strolled down the Bankside and checked out the Clink Prison. The Clink was a bit cheesy but we had a great time taking goofy pictures of each other. My son especially liked Mom putting her head on the chopping block so he could wack at it with a foam ax.

We continued our walk down past the Golden Hinde and Southwark Cathedral catching the tube at London Bridge to go to the Tate Britain.

I enjoyed the Tate beginning with the paintings from the 1500's. As we moved chronologically and eventually hit the 1900's we were done. The modern stuff just doesn’t do it for either of us and we agreed we did not need to tough it out.

Our last event for the day was the Ceremony of the Keys. We headed back over to the Tower of London early because my son wanted to eat at Wagamama. Once again we enjoyed the meal.. The Ceremony was interesting and we liked watching ceremony that has gone on every night for the last 700 years. We did laugh that we got to exit the Tower of London through a small door located in the gates that were just ceremoniously locked up.

ttt

If its Thursday it must be Stonehenge, Windsor and Bath

We decided to let someone else plan our day today. We took a Golden Tours trip to Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge. What a day, it was terrific! It was nice not having to arrange anything or try to figure out how and where to go next. I wouldn’t want to go on a lot of tours but this was perfect for our last day in England.

We saw all the highlights of Windsor Castle including the Regimental Band, the State Apartments, and Queen Mary’s Doll House. We had previously watched a video of the terrible fire so it was fascinating to see how beautiful the repairs and renovations were.

Bath was a great little city. We visited the Roman Bath and wished the water was cleaner so we could jump in and enjoy it. We walked around several streets and enjoyed the street performers. A local college was holding their graduation ceremony at the little church on the main square. It was great fun watching the procession and all the happy and proud families with their grads. We enjoyed some delicious fudge and were on our way.

Stonehenge has to be the one of the most awesome places I have ever been. Just being there gave me goose bumps. To think that an ancient civilization built this stone monument is incredible. We walked around it and probably took 100 pictures of every stone and every angle. We were both very happy that there is one stone over by the shop that you are able to touch.

On our way back to London, our tour guide announced that there had been an “incident” in the London Tube. It did not take long to get more details that there had been another bomb threat. Since the Tube was essentially shut down, the tour bus took everyone direct to their hotel instead of back to the station where we would have to continue on the Tube back to our hotels. Everyone was very appreciative as anxiety was high.

Once we got to our hotel, I asked the desk manager to arrange a morning taxi to take us to Waterloo International to catch the Eurostar to Paris. Neither one of us wanted to go back on the Tube and we didn’t know to what extent it would be running in the morning. Better safe than sorry.

We ate dinner just down the street from the hotel at an Indian restaurant. Decent but not noteworthy. We packed up which required a bit of finagling since we had purchased quite a bit of stuff and then had a relaxing evening watching the breaking news on TV.

That was it for London. We ran our tails off and saw as much as we could but we still have lots to come back for. Next stop, next country, Paris , France.

yeahhhh! made my day to see the new entries, can't wait for more!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!! I've been to london a few times and didn't think I needed to go back,,,you've made me change my mind!!!

Thanks shortattentionspan, I thought this had dropped like a brick never to be seen again. Here is the next installment, we are now in our third country of our trip...Paris, France.

If it’s Friday this must be Paris

Early rising this morning and hurry, scurry as the taxi is already waiting for us. He’s early and we are late. He took us direct to Waterloo International with plenty of time to spare so we bought pastries and coffee. The check in lines for the Eurostar were a bit long but we discovered that since our tickets did not have the magnetic strip on them we got to go into another line that was shorter. The Eurostar was quite comfortable, even in 2nd class. The trip seemed to be over in a blink of an eye as we both snoozed. Once we wrestled our luggage off the train, we found an ATM to get Euro’s and a potty. My son found in interesting that both men and women had to pay to go through the turnstile then went separate ways. We purchased two carnets and found our way to the Metro. Having traveled to the Hotel St. Jacques on two previous trips, it was easy and uneventful.

We were in for a very pleasant surprise when we arrived at the hotel. The hotel had taken over the space downstairs previously occupied by a restaurant on the corner. They had totally renovated the first floor including the reception area, lounge area and breakfast room. It was very lovely and I’m glad we went back though it was a bit pricey for our current budget. Our room was spacious and decorated in blue and peach. We did have to unplug the fan to recharge the camera batteries and my son’s IPOD so it was lucky that the weather was cool and we didn’t need the fan. The bathroom was kind of crowded as is so typical of these older buildings, you could sit on the pot and brush your teeth at the same time, if you were so inclined. Bridgette and all the staff were very friendly and helpful and made our stay even better. Overall, we loved it and would definitely go back for a 4th visit.

We basically dropped our bags and made an about face out the door. My son was on a mission to go to Napoleon’s Tomb and Les Invalides. He loves the coat of arms and was looking forward to this museum. On our previous trip here, he took a bunch of pictures but somehow when we changed the roll of film, we got the old roll back in the camera and double exposed all the pictures we took of Invalides and Napoleon’s tomb. He wanted to replace those pictures that had so disappointed him 5 years earlier.

We were enjoying ourselves in the museum when we were approached by a security guard who informed us that it was necessary for us to remain where we were. Since our French is extremely limited, and his English more so, it took a minute to figure out that there had been a bomb scare and that the museum was locked down until they figured out what was going on. We were far enough away from the café, where the problem occurred, so they did not evacuate us. We waited, and waited, and waited and finally asked if we could exit the building and leave the premises. We wanted to go to Rue Cler instead of just sitting on the staircase. The guard lead us and several other people out a side door and showed us where the gate was to get off the property. Talk about out of the frying pan (London) and into the fire.

Rue Cler was an enjoyable walk. I especially enjoyed taking pictures of all of the store fronts and buying pastries that we enjoyed as we strolled. My son bought his girlfriend a gold Eiffel Tower charm at a little jewelry store. We hope it is at least gold plated and doesn’t turn her skin green.

We headed back towards Invalides and found that everything was open and calm again. We went in and finished our tour. I was very happy to see all the flags of the conquered armies were hanging in the Soldier’s Church. They were removed for renovation at my last visit.

Our day could not be complete but visiting at least one art museum so we walked to over Rodin’s. The actual museum has just closed but we were welcome to enjoy the gardens and grounds. We took our obligatory pictures of the Thinker and inspected the Gates of Hell and contemplated it’s motto “Abandon hope all ye who enter in”. Thank goodness the doors don’t open because my son would have thought it funny to push me through.

For dinner we went to an old favorite of mine, La Criee. It’s just down the street from the hotel and has excellent fish soup. I had the fish soup and a lovely filet of sole. My son had the fish soup also with a chicken curry dish. It lived up to my memory as it was delicious and reasonably priced at 44 Euro.

Back at our room, we settled in for the evening. There was a bit of road noise but that was understandable as it was Friday night. We were so tired, that it didn’t much more than a few minutes.

Thanks shortattentionspan, I thought this had dropped like a brick never to be seen again. Here is the next installment, we are now in our third country of our trip...Paris, France.

If it’s Friday this must be Paris

Early rising this morning and hurry, scurry as the taxi is already waiting for us. He’s early and we are late. He took us direct to Waterloo International with plenty of time to spare so we bought pastries and coffee. The check in lines for the Eurostar were a bit long but we discovered that since our tickets did not have the magnetic strip on them we got to go into another line that was shorter. The Eurostar was quite comfortable, even in 2nd class. The trip seemed to be over in a blink of an eye as we both snoozed. Once we wrestled our luggage off the train, we found an ATM to get Euro’s and a potty. My son found in interesting that both men and women had to pay to go through the turnstile then went separate ways. We purchased two carnets and found our way to the Metro. Having traveled to the Hotel St. Jacques on two previous trips, it was easy and uneventful.

We were in for a very pleasant surprise when we arrived at the hotel. The hotel had taken over the space downstairs previously occupied by a restaurant on the corner. They had totally renovated the first floor including the reception area, lounge area and breakfast room. It was very lovely and I’m glad we went back though it was a bit pricey for our current budget. Our room was spacious and decorated in blue and peach. We did have to unplug the fan to recharge the camera batteries and my son’s IPOD so it was lucky that the weather was cool and we didn’t need the fan. The bathroom was kind of crowded as is so typical of these older buildings, you could sit on the pot and brush your teeth at the same time, if you were so inclined. Bridgette and all the staff were very friendly and helpful and made our stay even better. Overall, we loved it and would definitely go back for a 4th visit.

We basically dropped our bags and made an about face out the door. My son was on a mission to go to Napoleon’s Tomb and Les Invalides. He loves the coat of arms and was looking forward to this museum. On our previous trip here, he took a bunch of pictures but somehow when we changed the roll of film, we got the old roll back in the camera and double exposed all the pictures we took of Invalides and Napoleon’s tomb. He wanted to replace those pictures that had so disappointed him 5 years earlier.

We were enjoying ourselves in the museum when we were approached by a security guard who informed us that it was necessary for us to remain where we were. Since our French is extremely limited, and his English more so, it took a minute to figure out that there had been a bomb scare and that the museum was locked down until they figured out what was going on. We were far enough away from the café, where the problem occurred, so they did not evacuate us. We waited, and waited, and waited and finally asked if we could exit the building and leave the premises. We wanted to go to Rue Cler instead of just sitting on the staircase. The guard lead us and several other people out a side door and showed us where the gate was to get off the property. Talk about out of the frying pan (London) and into the fire.

Rue Cler was an enjoyable walk. I especially enjoyed taking pictures of all of the store fronts and buying pastries that we enjoyed as we strolled. My son bought his girlfriend a gold Eiffel Tower charm at a little jewelry store. We hope it is at least gold plated and doesn’t turn her skin green.

We headed back towards Invalides and found that everything was open and calm again. We went in and finished our tour. I was very happy to see all the flags of the conquered armies were hanging in the Soldier’s Church. They were removed for renovation at my last visit.

Our day could not be complete but visiting at least one art museum so we walked to over Rodin’s. The actual museum has just closed but we were welcome to enjoy the gardens and grounds. We took our obligatory pictures of the Thinker and inspected the Gates of Hell and contemplated it’s motto “Abandon hope all ye who enter in”. Thank goodness the doors don’t open because my son would have thought it funny to push me through.

For dinner we went to an old favorite of mine, La Criee. It’s just down the street from the hotel and has excellent fish soup. I had the fish soup and a lovely filet of sole. My son had the fish soup also with a chicken curry dish. It lived up to my memory as it was delicious and reasonably priced at 44 Euro.

Back at our room, we settled in for the evening. There was a bit of road noise but that was understandable as it was Friday night. We were so tired, that it didn’t much more than a few minutes.

Thanks again, good info, I cannot believe I'm the only reading...the rest must be patient and quiet. TTT!

I just discovered this thread today. I am really enjoying it! I can't wait for Belgium and the Netherlands - where I'm headed next week!

BabsB - I am reading and enjoying!

Sorry I did not let you know earlier. I love trip reports and read almost all of them but usually do not post to them to say so. I really should, the author goes to so much work to produce them, it is only right that we thank them for their effort!

Thanks for tuning in HappyCheesehead, sportattentionspan, and sockboy, I appreciate it. sockboy, I will try to get Belgium and Netherlands done quickly so you can read before you go. I know you will have a great trip. Take a warm jacket and pants. We were surprised at the chilly, wet weather. BabsB

I also just found this post I have always wanted to see Iceland and London...please continue!

On a side note, my Mom took me to Scotland when I was 15 and it was life changing experience (at eighteen I went back and lived near Edinburgh for 3 months). Bravo for traveling with your teenager.

BabsB,

I'm tuning in, too. If you get this in time, you may wish to watch the Travel Channel tonight at 7 pm at Anthony Bourdain is in Iceland!

We will probably do England and France on our next Europe trip, so I am quite interested in your trip report.

Keep it coming!!!

Dee Dee, I missed the show, have to catch the rerun. sockboy, Belgium is coming up, I have it written, just need to finish Paris then type it up.

If it’s Saturday this must be the Eiffel Tower

We enjoyed a lovely breakfast in the new breakfast room at Hotel St. Jacques. It was a bit pricey but we enjoyed our cereal, omelet, baguette and coffee. I bought my son an internet card from the front desk and he disappeared for awhile to instant message his night owl friends.

Our plans for the day included lunch at Altitude 95 at the Eiffel Tower, a Hop On Hop Off Bus tour, a visit to the Marmottan Museum and a Fat Tire Bike Tour in the evening.

We took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower but it took longer than expected as the line we wanted was closed. I was a bit nervous that we wouldn’t get there in time for our reservation. I shouldn’t have worried as I had misread the reservation and we had a extra half hour longer than I thought. We checked in at the Welcome Desk and paid to go to the first floor. We were both checking out the huge lines at all four pillars and were extremely pleased when we were directed to a separate line for folks with restaurant reservations. That line had about 20 people in it and we were able to take the next elevator up. We had a lovely window table looking out over the Jardins Du Trocadero. We ordered the Chefs Plat Du Jour and kept our fingers crossed because our French is limited. It consisted of two appetizers, two main courses and two desserts so we ordered one of each. The appetizers were layered pate kinds of thing, I’m not exactly sure what, but they were good. My son’s main course was a lovely pork chop with gravy over potatoes. He loved it. My main course was a piece of fish on top of sauerkraut with cuttlefish sauce. I am a pretty gungho eater and I worked really hard at enjoying my dish, but the combination was just a bit unusual even for me. Dessert was lovely pastries and fruit.

We mailed postcards home from the Eiffel Tower Post Office (side not, it took exactly one month for them to arrive home in California) and had an ice cream while we enjoyed the view. My son thought it would be a good idea to walk up to the next level and then back down to the bottom, so we did. This combined with the bike ride later resulted in very sore leg muscles the next day.

At this point it was raining, so we rung out our jackets and limped over to the line to catch the Hop On Hop Off Tour. We didn’t have much time in Paris so we wanted an easy refresher course on things we had seen several years prior. We completed the red route which covered the highlights then hopped off at Trocodero. It was an OK ride, the audio was hard to understand and I enjoy live commentary better, but we got to see the city and that’s what we wanted to do.

This was my third trip to Paris and I was determined to see Monet’s Waterlilies. The Orangerie had been closed for years for renovations so I have not seen them. A knowledgeable Fodorite told me about the Marmottan Museum. Thank you! It was wonderful and we enjoyed it. We both love Impressionism!

We spent a few hours at our hotel getting some much needed rest then grabbed a few sandwiches from a street vendor and headed back to the Eiffel Tower to meet up with the Fat Tire Bike Tour. They provided us with great three speed bikes with wonderful cushy seats and bells. What a tour, we rode all over Paris including around the Louvre, a stop at Bertillon for ice cream, and down the Champs Elysees where workers were setting up for the Tour du France. Our guide was knowledgeable and very funny. We ended up at the river and locked up all the bikes with long chains.. We hid several bottles of wine in various backpacks and boarded the boat for a river cruise. It was a congenial group and we had a wonderful time at the stern drinking wine, telling stories and enjoying the view. When the boat turned around I was disappointed that the ride was half way over. Well it was not, the boat passed the dock and headed towards the Eiffel Tower that sparkled in all its glory. We went down far enough to see the Paris Statue of Liberty which was something I hadn’t seen before. It was so fun, I would recommend this tour to anyone. The folks were of all ages and abilities and everyone had fun. After the cruise, we made our way back to the locked bicycles and within a few minutes we were back at the shop. Easy directions to the closest Metro station and we were home in no time. Another great day.

Bravo! Great report... gives me hope for future travels with our little guys! (Now 6, 4 and 1.) Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for plugging away at it Babs! I don't go until next Wednesday - lots of time yet!

I really appreciate the detailed report, it sounds like you did a lot of research prior to the trip and fit a lot in. A trip to Paris and London was my first trip to Europe, and I hadn't discovered this board yet, we pretty much just showed up and made it up as we went along. We had a great time, but your report is showing me all that we missed. I'll just have to go back!

Hi sockboy, let me know what cities your are going to and I'll give you some heads up if we went there. BabsB

We are going to Bruges, Brussels, Amsterdam and Haarlem before we head to Germany. I am also considering a day trip from Bruges to Ypres, and a day trip from Amsterdam. So I am interested in a lot of your destinations!

Babs, I'm really enjoying your report - can't wait to hear the rest!

If it’s Sunday this must be the Tour du France

Today is a big day, we are going to go on Rick Steves’ Historic Walk, go to the Louvre and then end up on the Champs Elysees to watch the finish of the Tour du France.

We headed out early as we had a lot on our agenda. We started with the Historic Walk and went to Notre Dame, the riverside booksellers, by Sainte-Chapel, the Conciergerie prison, yada, yada, yada. There were no lines at Notre Dame so that was a quick walk through. The windows are beautiful! Down the street to the Conciergerie prison which had a great art exhibit. A painter painted scenes from all over the world about 100 years ago. Then a modern photographer went back to the same sites and tried to replicate the scenes with photos, Very interesting. They had a great book which I should have bought but I didn’t want to carry it for another two weeks. Wish I had purchased it.

The Sainte-Chapelle had a line down the street so we decided to try it later. Unfortunate, we never made it back. We wandered around a bit more than went to the Louvre. I had a museum pass but didn’t buy one for my son as he was generally free. The line was not too bad and we made it through security with little fuss. I have to confess we only spent about three hours there and we had seen enough. We saw the biggies, Venus de Milo, Parthenon Frieze, Winged Victory, Mona and painting after painting after painting. We had both been to the Louvre previously so we joked that this was a refresher course.

We ate at the Louve café and felt we were gypped. We each ordered a salad and beverage thinking it would be a fairly nice salad. Wrong, pre-packaged, slightly wilted and rather skimpy with a lovely plastic fork packaged on top. Came with 2 rolls, one barely edible and one not. A $22.00 rip-off.

We next checked out the Paris beach. It is quite fun with sand, lounges, food concessions etc. Too bad, it was raining and not too many folks were enjoying the facilities.

We trudged down the stairs to the Metro and headed to the stop at the Arc de Triomphe. We wanted to watch the Tour du France and decided that was as good a stop as any to get off at. It was pretty wet and there were tons of people. I bet they were 5 to 10 deep on the rail at some places. We purchased the obligatory souvenir hat and t-shirt then went shopping a bit as the action had not started up and we were trying to stay out of the rain. We meandered down the street and finally ended up near the finish line where we could watch the race on big screen TV’s. Meanwhile, a huge parade with all the sponsors was cruising up and down the Champs Elysees. Finally, the parade ended and you could hear the roar of the crowd as the leaders approached. We never even made it close to the rail so I couldn’t see anything except the TV. My son on the other hand is tall and had a pretty good view. He starting clicking pictures as the riders went by and we lucked out and got a picture of Lance Armstrong in his yellow shirt. Very cool. We had seen (or not seen as the case may be) enough so decided to head back to the hotel.

We were both tired, (notice that this is a common thread in this report) and we both nodded off on the Metro. We were gently awakened by the conductor advising that we were at the end of the line and where did we want to go. Talk about embarrassing. Not only did we fall asleep but we went the wrong way and were not even close to where we wanted to go. The conductor told us to hang out a bit and to take the same Metro back the way we came. Thank goodness no one decided to take advantage of the exhausted tourists.

We ate dinner at a little Italian restaurant called Pizza Roma just down the street from our hotel. We both had pasta and it was delicious. After dinner we both took a nap, a safe one this time. My son woke up first raring to go. He gently woke me up and talked me into going to Sacre-Coeur to watch the lights come on. I was hesitant because my bed felt so good but he is persistent and I decided to be a good sport again. Once I got up and moving I realized I felt much better. Sacre-Coeur is beautiful. On our first trip to Paris we missed it. On my second trip, the inside was being renovated so it was all covered up. Third time is a charm and it was worth it. We took the funicular up and walked down passing by a jazz club with live entertainment that was quite good. I found a red beret hat for my sister, her only souvenir request.

I asked my son if he wanted to see the Moulin Rouge and of course he did. A short walk through an interesting red light area and we were there. We met four young ladies from Santa Barbara, California who were on their senior graduation trip. We took pictures of each other and had a nice talk about home and colleges. The girls were having the time of their lives. My son wants to take a similar trip next summer when he graduates so this trip was a great trial run for him. We walked by a few more sex shops but didn’t go in. Going into a sex shop with Mom would have been the ultimate embarrassment to my son. I enjoyed giving him a hard him about it though.

Back at the hotel we watched the news and got confirmation that Lance did win. Yeah! Next time, we will go to a sports bar and watch.

If it’s Monday this must be......laundry day

Our last day in Paris and we took it a bit easy. We are only half way through our trip and are so tired we need to wind down and relax a bit, or Mom won’t make it.

My son wanted to go to the Picasso Museum in the morning. I am not a big Picasso fan, not really a modern or abstract art fan at all, but off we went. It took forever to get there since there were several transfers and a bit of a walk. The museum is actually smaller than I expected. It took us longer to get there than the amount of time we spent inside. As we were leaving he claimed he just didn’t “get it”. Join the crowd honey, you aren’t the only one. Give me a good Impressionist anyday.

I wanted to browse through the booksellers along the river and I found a Janis Joplin concert poster for my husband. He saw a Janis Joplin poster on our first trip to Paris, but did not buy it. Later in the day he decided he wanted it but we were unable to find it again. He was disappointed. I figured what the heck, lets look. And believe it or not, we found it. Of course, I immediately bought it, the seller had a huge stack so obviously it was a copy but I didn’t care. Later in the day we purchased a mailing tube and I carried that silly thing the rest of the trip but my “gift” shopping was now complete. (He loved it, and is getting it framed for his office.)

We enjoyed the Pantheon with its pendulum and the Clung Museum with the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. I love the tapestries, I can just sit in the dim light and soak them in.

Clean laundry was next on the agenda. There was a little laundry right around the corner from our hotel. We were in and out of there in an hour. We had dinner at Breakfast in America, just down the street from our hotel. Their hamburgers and french fries were terrific. Dessert wasn’t too bad either. Back to the hotel for packing, TV and relaxing. Tomorrow, Brussels.

If it’s Tuesday this must be Brussels

I set our alarm to get up at 6:00 am to catch a 7:25 train to Brussels. We didn’t hear the alarm. I woke up with a start at 6:20 and yelled at my son to get moving. I had pre-purchased the train tickets because they were on sale but I guess I was over ambitious about how early to go. Everything was pretty much packed up and we had already paid the bill so we hustled out the door and to the Metro. Thank goodness there were no closures or delays, we got there with a few minutes to spare. We had barely found a seat on a bench when the board flashed our train number and track. We hopped on for a smooth ride. The trip seemed to fly by and we were there much sooner than I expected. We got off at Brussels Midi then couldn’t figure out where to catch the train to Central. We talked to a nice gentleman at the ticket booth, he told us where to go, sold us the ticket then said hurry we only had a few minutes. We made it fine and that trip was very short, under 5 minutes.

That was enough challenges for the day, we flagged down a taxi to take us to the Welcome Hotel. The taxi driver was very nice and even gave us a little tour on our way. Vanessa at the Welcome Hotel is a doll. Our room was not ready as we were quite early in the day but she said to hold on and she would check it out. In fact, she said to go ahead and help ourselves to the breakfast buffet that was set up. My son saw the bowl of fresh fruit, the variety of yogurt and fruit juice and was in seventh heaven. I didn’t count but he went back for several helpings of the fruit. I didn’t realize that he felt so fresh fruit deprived. Our room was ready in about 20 minutes. We were in the Kenya room with a zebra skin on the back wall, mosquito net over the bed (need that more at home with West Nile Virus), voodoo masks, leopard carpeting and rattan furniture. Felt just like home, if you were on an African safari. Actually, it was great and the bathroom was great. No more brushing and flushing at the same time for us.

Relaxation and organization were in short supply. We only have one day in Brussels so the force march continues. We ran by the post office with intentions of shipping a bunch of stuff home. It was going to cost over $100.00 so my son said he would rather carry it and spend the money on fun stuff. OK, we schlepped it back to our room.

Our first stop was the Grand Place. What a great square, we enjoyed the artists displaying their work, chocolate at both Neuhaus and Godiva, and the people watching. We saw some folks walking along with Greek Gyro Sandwiches that looked excellent. I chased them down and asked where they got them. They directed us to Rue des Bouchers and there was an smorgasbord to pick from. We found one of many Greek Gyro Shops and ordered. We sat at a little table on the sidewalk and thoroughly enjoyed our lunch.

Next we went shopping down Galeries Royales St. Hubert but didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without. We tracked down a Dandoy Store and enjoyed speculoos. There is so much to eat here! The Church of St. Nicolas was closed so we continued on our walk to the Manneken-Pis. We were both surprised at small he was and how continuously he pees. He must be drinking a lot of Belgium beer on the sly! This was a great photo spot. You could pose in front of him so it looked like he was peeing on your head. (Only a teenager would come up with that one.)

There was another brass statue just down the road and we took turns rubbing him. Evidently Mayor Evrard ‘t Serclaes refused to surrender the keys of the city to invaders so they killed him. Touch, him and it’s good luck. Go figure.

Somewhere along here we went into a tapestry shop and I fell in love with a tapestry of the Lady and the Unicorn. Remember, I enjoyed the tapestries at the Cluny in Paris. Well now I enjoy it in my bedroom. This was my big splurge treat for the entire trip. I like to buy one really nice item each trip and this was it. Happy, happy, happy.

The Upper Town was our next destination. We were somewhat unimpressed with the Place Royal mainly because of all the tram/electric lines running crazy all over the place. We strolled by the Parc de Bruxelles but not in it. The Royal Palace (different from the Place Royal - so confusing) had lovely gardens in front. We did think it was funny that no one really wanted to be King of Belgium. A nobleman from Germany, Leopold I, finally agreed to do the job.

The Sculpture Garden was a nice place to take pictures and relax on a bench. A foot masseuse would have been mighty handy also. We dragged ourselves up and into the Notre-Dame du Sablon Church to admire the statue of Mary. Last stop was the Palace of Justice and the viewpoint from Place Poelaert. It was not a bright shiny day but the view was still worthwhile. Well, we made it to Upper Town, but we decided not to walk back. Catching a taxi is just so darn easy, why not.

Back at the hotel, we had a nap, read a book, took another nap, then about 7:30 went to dinner. We were both hungry for Mexican Food and we had located a Chi Chi’s across the street from the post office. Our waiter was the most flamboyant person I have ever met. He glided, swished and danced his way around the restaurant. He was hilarious. We had chicken nachos to start, then combo plates with tacos, enchiladas, burritos, beans and rice. Top it with a margarita for Mom and we are both happy.

It drizzled rain on and off all day. As we left the restaurant it was on so we decided to skip the Illuminations at the Grand Place. Next trip... Tomorrow a day trip to Ghent.

Have enjoyed the report immensely. Keep it coming and thanks!

woo! hoo! I've even starting taking notes for my next trip! Thanks!

Great!! I am taking careful notes!

Great report Babs! I am impressed at the amount of touring you were able to complete each day - WOW!