20, 21, 22, 23

I recently traveled on a 10-day European cruise with my Mom, step-Dad and Aunt. It was great to see some family again, after being away for 6 months. Plus, I racked my country-count up to 23. In a word: fabulous!

Awww...

Dover & Canterbury: Before the cruise left, we spent one day in each of these English cities. I'd never been to Dover, and had wanted to visit the castle and the famous "white cliffs" since I got here, so it was nice to check that off my list. Learning all about Operation Dynamo, when thousands of Allied troops were rescued from the nearby French shores during WWII was also really interesting - another example of history becoming so much more interesting when I'm actually in the place where it happened. I'd been to Canterbury before, so I wasn't really expecting much from it (other than it being amazing again!) but it turned out I had missed several sections of the grounds on my first visit! So that was great too.

I pretty much did this with every statue

Amsterdam: Overall, Amsterdam was my favourite city. The Anne Frank house (something I've always wanted to see), was simply something else. Walking through the house, being able to picture the Frank family living and hiding there was... almost indescribable. All I can tell you is that I felt a physical heaviness in my heart as I walked through the bedrooms and saw the height chart for Anne and Margot, and Anne's posters stuck to the wall. This isn't just any other museum. This is a space in the world that has been preserved, where a tragic moment in history actually took place. I've always been fascinated by the holocaust, so being able to visit this place was something I've wanted to do for some time.

The other aspects of Amsterdam were equally as touching for me. I found the city so vibrant and dynamic. So many different facets of the city are present in such close proximity to each other. Of course, there were literally thousands of bicycles around, and beautiful canals to walk along. We went through the red light district, which was... well... unlike anything I've ever seen before, that's for sure! But just strolling along the squares and waterways was quite fun for me - four hours was just NOT enough time to explore! Wish I had a week there!

The Brandenburg Gate -
marking the neutral ground between East & West Berlin

Berlin: While Mom and Alan explored Hamburg, my Auntie Carol and I took a bus into Berlin. The city itself was... we'll say... not one I'd visit again in a hurry. The architecture seemed quite sterile and cold. Very straight lines and not a lot of character. But the historical sights we visited (the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, and the remaining bit of the Berlin Wall) made the visit worth it (and worth the 4-hour each way bus drive!)
 



Copenhagen: Copenhagen was beautiful. We couldn't walk five steps without finding something (be it a building, an alley or a monument) that was picture-worthy (and being with my very camera-happy Mom made this even more apparent! Just how many "money shots" with "foliage" did we get, Mom?) We saw the big attractions, of course, (the Little Mermaid, the Stroget, the Amalienbourg Palace, Hans Christian Anderson's house and statue, the Nyhaven, etc.) along our meandering stroll through the city.






The nice thing about Copenhagen was that we had enough time to really get a sense of the city, and to see everything we wanted to without having to rush. Oh, and my favourite thing is that everything is decorated with cute little hearts - including their money and the little huts that their guards stand in! Not very menacing, I have to say...





Kristiansand: Our next scheduled stop was Oslo... but we were literally en route there when the Norway massacre happened! It was quite unnerving to find out about it while we were planning our day there... to think that if it had happened just 24 hours later we would have been there was more than a little scary.

Apparently I had an amused audience for this one!

So they diverted us to Kristiansand instead, another little town in Norway. Had it not been for the rain and cold (and for the fact that yours truly managed to slip on the gangway while walking off the ship and had soaking wet pants all day long), we would have enjoyed our day here quite a bit. It was a cute town with lovely architecture and a nice little train that took us all around. NOT cheap, though... we're talking £9 for a pint!! Yikes!!

Inverness: Having just visited Loch Ness at Easter, I wasn't really interested in the ship's tours there; plus, Carol and Mom have been there before too, and it's really just a lake, after all (apologies to the Nessie fans out there...). So we just caught a bus (mind you, a very long and very packed bus - wouldn't you say, Alan??) into Inverness. We really just wandered around and checked out the castle and its surrounding streets. We also stumbled upon an old graveyard that was quite cool.

 

Rouen: We split up again when we got to France; while Mom and Alan had their own little romantic get-away in Paris (which is really as romantic as I let them get, without playing the "daughter card"), Carol and I visited the quaint little town of Rouen. It is most famous for being the site of Joan of Arc's burning at the stake, as well as Le Gros-Horloge, a large clock showing the current hour, day and phase of the moon - and it ran for 5,000,000 hours without "skipping a beat" as it were! Pretty impressive for something built in the 16th century! We both loved this little town that was just so wonderfully French! As a bonus, I managed to find both a crepe and a raspberry tartlette - my two favourite foods from my previous visit to France!


London: After the cruise, I entertained Mom and Alan for a few days while A.Carol went on her own adventure visiting some other family. We did the "must-sees" in London, of course, but mostly it was nice to show them "my" London - the places I go and my house and that sort of thing. Plus, they were great visitors; they wanted to sleep in every day (no complaints here!) and then when we got out and about, they were keen to see as much as possible! Excellent!


All-in-all, a lovely vacation, and so so SO great to have my family with me here in Europe! I'm so glad we got it together to have them come and visit before I leave!

Our dinner waiters, who brought us way too many desserts,
made us fun things out of napkins and
spoke with fabulous Indian accents  ("whoop, whoop, whoop, very fast")

Our "wee" Scottish family