If we can do this...... PART II

So if you were brave and patient enough to make it through PART I, then PART II will knock your socks off.  If you didn't read PART I, here is the summary:  Arrival, Switzerland, and Germany's castles.

Day Nine:  When scheduling the trip, we knew there was a chance that Mike and Danielle would be departing for a cruise to Iceland during our trip, but due to Mike's schedule and my schedule, we went ahead with what we had.   Once their cruise was confirmed, we decided to open the map and expand our European vacation.  After a good night's rest,  we woke up to a nice big breakfast and bid our farewells.   We headed north from Eltville and cut the corner of Holland (which we are NOT counting as visiting as we didn't even stop to picnic) on our way to Ghent, Belgium.  We arrived at the hotel and immediately drove the extra 40 minutes to Bruges, Belgium.  It came highly recommended from a few people and we were not disappointed.  We parked downtown and walked though the quaint neighborhood to the main square to orient ourselves, and then made our way to the Church of our Lady to see Michelangelo's Madonna and Child (one of the pieces mentioned in name in the movie The Monuments Men). 

We admired the piece for a bit and set off to explore.  Mike and Danielle insisted that we take the carriage ride though the old town and we took their advise.  Our driver was a gruff and salty thirty-something woman.  She was not shy about telling people to move, and didn't seem that kind to her horse.  She offered to provide commentary in English, but it sounded more like Flemgermfrenchglish to me.  It was a fun experience and the kids loved it.

Finally on foot, we opted to do what you do in Belgium:  look for waffles and chocolate.  We found both.  A great big waffle with ice cream on top, and some chocolate (Candace insisted that we make purchases from at least two different places so we could compare).  And we found out that if we let the kids take picture with their iTouches (used for travel entertainment) that they were actually very interested in all the places we went.  The below picture shows our kids enjoying Belgium.  It also started many "right now we're walking -- you can take pictures when we get there" conversations.  Bruges was a blast.

Day Ten:  We had a good night's rest thanks to connecting rooms (separating us from the kids, and everybody in their own bed) at the Holiday Inn Express in Ghent, Belgium.  We got up in the morning and went to St. Bavo Cathedral to see another historical art piece from The Monument's Men, the Ghent altarpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.  Two panels had been removed for restoration, but we were able to enjoy the great majority of it.  It was interesting to listen to the audio guide -- or at least the few minutes I listened before I chased (and chastened) kids.  So Candace learned more about it than I did.  The cathedral was impressive as was our short walk along the charming streets.  We, however, had places to go and things to see.

We departed Ghent, cut the corner of Holland (not included as one of the 6 countries of our trip since we didn't even have a potty break there) and drove straight to Bayeux, France.  I was struck by the amount of tolls in France.  OK, maybe not so much that there were tolls, but the exorbitant cost of each toll.  It probably cost us 40 euros to get from the border into Normandy.  After recalculating our trip budget (just kidding) and getting checked in to our little hotel rooms, we took off for the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.  This is one place I have always wanted to visit.  While I'm not a huge history buff, I've always been fascinated by WWII, and the beaches of Normandy are so iconic that during a massive road trip in Europe I needed to see them.  In short, this was what I wanted to do on our Europe trip.  The cemetery has a great visitor's center, is easily accessible and overlooks Omaha Beach.  Trying to imagine the scene in 1944 while watching people hanging out during low tide was difficult.  Storming those beaches was truly an amazing feat.

A short drive from the cemetery is the access to Omaha Beach and the Les Braves war memorial in St. Laurent-sur-Mer.  We took off our shoes and played in the sand (and collected a small baggie).  Even though we tell our kids to pull up their pant legs and/or dresses, they inevitably get soaked, and this place was no different.  While Candace and I were discussing the merits of letting the kids get soaked (Candace - yes, Dave - no), some dude about 50 meters from us dropped his drawers to change into his swimming suit.  Full moon was out early -- and welcome to France.  I didn't get a picture.

Day Eleven:  We wanted to make sure we had enough time to see the WWII sites, but couldn't resist the one hour drive south to Mont Saint-Michel.  We had a blast exploring the abbey.  It was old and had great views.  We waited for the English guide, but after 30 mins we realized that his particular tour was going to be about 3 hours.  And he had already scolded the only kids (ours) in the tour group for being loud with a snobby "s'il vous plait".  We knew where we were not wanted and where we didn't want to be so we continued on the tour by ourselves.  It was a wonderful place to visit.

Since we elected NOT to do the Gilligan 3-hour tour at Mont Saint-Michel, we took advantage to go see some more WWII sites, starting with Ponte du Hoc where U.S. Army Rangers stormed the 100 foot cliffs and won the strategic overlook.  The kids had a blast (and so did Dad) exploring the abandoned batteries and imagining the scene.

We then took the short drive a little further up the coast to Utah Beach.  The kids were pooped so this was a shorter visit, still completed with a small baggie of sand.  Then back to the hotel, dinner at the same restaurant as the night before conveniently located next door to the hotel -- which gave us a 15% discount.  And in Europe, you need all the discounts you can get!

Day Twelve:  Sunday morning.  As there were no wards in Bayeux, we found a church in Caen which was perfect as it was on the way to Paris.  We listened with the audio headsets and had an enjoyable time.  Off to Paris.  This was Candace's pre-trip preferred destination and I don't think it disappointed her.  After getting settled in a very nice Courtyard Marriott, we elected to take advantage of the afternoon and head to the Eiffel Tower, knowing it would be a lot of walking and waiting and we wanted to knock it out.  We jumped on the metro (easy as pie) and got there.  Lines were long as expected so we convinced the kids to take the stairs up the first two levels.  There was very little complaining and seeing the numbers printed every 10 stairs gave the kids something to work towards.  Sam often complains about walking and this made it fun for him.  At the 2nd level (it was like 750 steps or something), we reminded Sam that now that he knew he could walk up that many stairs, he would probably have to do it again.

I had been to the Eiffel Tower 20 years earlier while a junior in High School and it was pretty much just as I remembered.  The kids had learned about the Tower in school last year and were very excited to see it from afar, and then to go to the very top.

We certainly didn't plan this, but the Tour de France was finishing up the day we arrived in Paris.  We were so glad that it didn't mess up our traffic plans.  But little did we know that from the Eiffel Tower we would get to the see a peloton cruise along the Seine River.  Then we looked out towards the Arc de Triomphe and saw it was all block off for the finish line.  Just then three jets flew over head with red, white, and blue smoke.  You will never hear me say I went to Paris to watch the final 1000 meters of the Tour de France, but I did.

We didn't take the stairs down.  At the bottom, we navigated the vendors and the vendors to the Trocadero for the traditional "best view" picture.  It was a great day, and we took the metro back to our hotel, planning to stop at a small Carrefour to get some breakfast food for the morning.  We planned our departure from downtown specifically to catch the Carrefour before it closed.  However, they elected to close an hour earlier than the posted time (and there was no reasoning with the guy) so we got hosed.

Day Thirteen:  Now working and living overseas has lots of benefits.  One of those benefits is that you have friends that have lived and worked in several places around the world.  As it turns out, some of our friends from when we lived in Buenos Aires (who now live in Virginia) happened to be vacationing in France while we were there, and our full day in Paris was the last day of their two-week French adventure.  So we spent the morning at the Louvre finding the items highlighted on the guide map (including the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, and the Coronation of Napoleon).  We caught up with them in front of the Louvre (after we dragged the kids ALL OVER to see the highlights).  Now don't get me wrong, I like the Louvre, but I am neither an art lover nor a tourist willing to spend one full precious day of vacation in one museum.

We met up with the Lewis family in front of the Louvre and strolled the Tuileries Gardens, had a nice lunch in an outdoor cafe and walked over to Notre Dame.  After a short debate as to whether we would wait in yet another long line to go in, we opted to do it.  The highlight of the day was that just as we were about to get it, some folks cut the line right in front of us.  Not one to not say anything, I commented--in English--to no avail.  Fortunately, there were line police at the front and they came up to me and asked if the folks in front of us had waited in line.  When we said 'no', the security dudes pulled the folks out of line.  We enjoyed that part of the day very much.  After visiting the cathedral, we got some ice cream and said goodbye to our friends.

They continued one direction and we headed to the Arc de Triomphe.  Once we figured out where the underground tunnel was to get to it (no way to cross the massive roundabout), we wandered over and promptly opted not to shell out another 30 euros for our family to go to the top--what could we see from there we didn't see from the top of the Eiffel Tower?  It was a long day before we jumped back on the metro and headed home for a good night's sleep.

Day Fourteen:  As much as it hurt the pocketbook, we again shelled out the money for the expensive (but expansive) buffet breakfast at the Courtyard Marriott where we were staying.  We zigzagged our way through town to get one more look of the city in all its glory.  We again paid our way across France and went to visit some other friends from our time in Argentina who are currently stationed with the U.S. Military in Kaiserslautern, Germany.  It was great to see them for dinner and to catch up.  Then back to my brother's house in Eltville to do laundry and regroup for the final leg of our marathon trip.

Stay tuned for PART III.... coming soon.

If we can do this..... PART I

So yeah... I changed the name to Los Colombianos Mouritsen.  Let me just clear this up at the beginning that I have no plans to provide a comprehensive summary covering the time period since the last post (January 2012).  Here it is in a nutshell, we moved from Argentina to Colombia in the summer of 2013.  That's right -- I didn't post at all the last 18 months we lived in Argentina, nor the first year we have lived in Colombia.

We just returned from a 22-day vacation to Europe and I thought that this would be a suitable "I'm baaaack" post.  We have been planning this vacation for a few years and have just been able to make it happen.

Day One:  Having looked forward to this for a long time, the kids were energized and ready to go.  After living in Argentina, the kids are used to long haul airplane rides and are more interested in what they get to do during the flight than they are about the destination.  We got their backpacks packed and made our way to the airport for a late afternoon departure, direct from Bogotá to Frankfurt on Lufthansa.

Day Two:  We made it, and the flight was uneventful.  Upon arrival, we weaved our way through the airport and were surprised at the small number of people from our flight who were terminating their travels in Frankfurt as the great majority continued to the transit area.  We got to the luggage belt and waited and waited and waited.  The luggage came and went.  The people came and went.  Soon there were no more people and no more luggage.  Then the belt stopped.  Uh-oh.  Fearing the worst, we were pleased when the Lufthansa baggage person (or bag lady) informed us that our bags were indeed in Frankfurt, but they were accidentally put onto the wrong baggage cart.  15 minutes later, we had our bags and car seats and were off in search of the rental car.  Surprise, surprise, Uncle Mike was waiting for us.  We made our way to get the rental car and were off Uncle Mike's house in Eltville am Rhein.

We got settled and the cousins got to play for a little while before we set off on foot to explore.  The first stop in Europe:  A gelato stand on the way to historic Eltville along the Rhein River.  We walked along the river and explored the grounds of the Kurfürstliche Burg Eltville.  It was closed, and we were tired and beat after the 10 1/2 hour flight.

Day Three:  The next morning, Candace and I said goodbye to the kids and drove down to Switzerland, paying for the right to use their freeway system at the border (a common theme).  We passed through Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen Valley, and parked at the Stechelberg tram station.  The scenery was amazing as the tram station is that the bottom of a rock-walled valley with snow-capped peaks.  We trammed up to Mürren and checked into the Hotel Jungfrau Mürren on the side of the mountain.  Candace was smoked from the jet lag even after laying in the backseat for most of the drive down from Eltville to Stechelberg.  We took Uncle Mike's advice and immediately found the North Face Trail.  Initially wanting to take the funicular up the steep mountain to Allmendhubel, we opted to be tough and we walked up the hill and found the trailhead.  The trail took us along some amazing scenery, passing cows with their bells dinging, and constantly staring face-to-face with several thousand foot rock faces.  We were so glad to get out and knock out an amazing hike despite the horrible way we felt.

Day Four:  Knowing we had limited time in Switzerland, this day was going to be our marathon day no matter how poorly we felt.  We woke up, enjoyed the hotel breakfast and made our way to the Schilthornbahn to take us to the top of the Schilthorn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schilthorn).  We initially thought about hiking up the mountain and taking the tram down, but having heard that there was still snow on the trail we decided to take the tram up, check out the trail, and hike down if suitable.  The trail looked good and so after pumping ourselves up by watching clips of James Bond's On Her Majesty's Secret Service at the top (where part of the movie was filmed  -- and there is a heavy Bond influence), we started down.  The trail was manageable and the views were absolutely spectacular.  Around every bend, it was incredible.  Down, down, down we went past the Roter Herd, considering a stop at the Rotstockhütte (we didn't stop) and down to Spielbodenalp.  At this point, we were trying to follow the signs back to Mürren, but opted to head down to Gimmelwald on our way back -- in order to NOT have to go back after getting to the room and sitting down -- knowing we wouldn't want to get up again.  On the way to Gimmelwald, we saw the sign for the Gimmelwald Sprutz (waterfall), so we took that detour.  Down, down, down we went.  The waterfall was fun, and by the time we made our way back up the hill and to Mürren, we were pooped.  6 1/2 hours and 12 miles later we were at the hotel, washing our feet and reconsidering our decision.

The previous day, we noticed a Rick Steves recommended restaurant (La Grotte at the Blumental Hotel in Mürren) and we had been day dreaming about the food we saw on the menu the last 2 hours of the hike.  That is where we ate dinner, and it was delicious.

Day Five:  After a great night's sleep, we slowly packed up and headed down the tram, enjoying the last minutes of the amazing views.  It was raining in the morning and the mountains were partly hidden from view and we celebrated our luck of having two clear sunny days to experience the Alps. On the way back to Germany, we stopped to walk around Lucerne, Switzerland for a little while and admire the historic Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) -- built in 1333.  We met up with our kids and the cousins at the Heidelberg Castle for a rainy picnic to end the day.

Day Six:  We slept in a little bit to recover and were still super sore from our jaunt down the Schilthorn, but we gutted it out and got up to go visit a few of the sites around Eltville.  The first stop was Burg Eltz.  We left Mike's house with the trusty GPS which promptly took us to a ferry crossing to cross the Rhein.  Um, no thanks.  So after re-adjusting the settings to NOT include ferry crossings, we made our way to Burg Eltz, nestled in a beautiful bowl surrounded by lush foliage.  We toured the castle and hiked back up to the car.  In trying a new strategy to get the kids interested in this long trip, we let them take their iTouches to take pictures, and boy did they.  We were amazed that the kids took to photography.  Instead of dragging them from place, we let them explore with their cameras and they LOVED it.  On the way back to Eltville, we stopped at the Rheinfels ruins to explore.  We had a great day taking hundreds (probably over 1,000) of photos -- of which only a few will be including in the post-trip scrapbook pages.

Day Seven:  Now before proceeding, you have to understand that my brother Mike is a professional traveler.  He has no time to waste sleeping, eating or using the restroom.  When he vacations, he gives 110%.  So we only agreed to his Bavaria plan knowing that it would not disappoint.  Unfortunately this included a 04:30 wakeup to get on the road by 05:00.  We were in the car by 05:11 (not too shabby) and the kids were cozy.  We drove a few hours to Hohenschwangau and got some DELICIOUS pastries for breakfast, and made our way up to Neuschwanstein Castle, the most visited place in Germany, and for good reason.  The castle, the setting, and the tour was fantastic.  Thanks to Uncle Mike for watching Sam and Caroline while Candace, Claire, cousin Zach, and I took the tour.  After the tour, we hiked up to the bridge on the mountain behind the castle for some amazing photos of the castle.

As if Neuschwanstein wasn't amazing enough, we proceeded back towards Eltville, stopping in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a well-preserved medieval old town, and what you think of when you think of old school German towns.  We explored the walled city, purchased some Christmas ornaments at an awesome Christmas shop, and were introduced to schneeballs (yummy).  We got some great photos and just had a great time experiencing old Bavaria.

Lastly, and a stop that Aunt Danielle didn't think we would be up for after such an early start, was Würzburg.  We ate traditional German fare at the Alte Mainmühle Restaurant on the river.  After dinner, we strolled across the river while the kids chased moths.  It was a happening place.  We got home late and went right to bed.

Day Eight:  We breakfasted on some delicious pastries from Mike's neighborhood bakery and then took advantage of the U.S. Military presence in Germany for the commissary for groceries.  After a quick vehicle tour through Wiesbaden, we made our way to Rüdesheim, a fun little town on the Rhein river.  We got some ice cream and wound our way through the narrow streets.  Oh yeah, and lots of laundry.