Day Dates

This Spring Jesse's had to travel a lot but luckily I had a chance to meet him in Paris for the day in February.  We met at Gare du Nord and taxied over to Le Picotin for a bistro lunch.  We walked along the Seine back to his hotel and as he did a little work I walked over to the Ile-St-Louis and climbed the towers at Notre Dame for the first time.  We met again before dinner and walked up to a little wine bar called Le Baron Rouge for charcuterie and several tasting glasses.  We had time to stop in Monoprix and waste away the last few hours with more aperitifs outside the Gare du Lyon watching life pass by.

Next, Jesse played hooky and we drove up to Amsterdam to visit the Dutch masters at the Rijksmuseum.  We spent a few hours listening to the audio-guides and taking a coffee break inside the impressive building.  Then as he took a conference call, I got to wander along the canals and pop in and out of little boutiques before our yummy dinner at Pancakes! and driving back home again.

The Balkans

Franziska Economy came to stay with us in Brussels for the rest of our time here so luckily I had a lot of help for our Balkan adventure.  We took off for Zadar, Croatia from Charleroi Airport on Tuesday, April 14.  The Enterprise agent talked us into switching out the minivan for a low-riding, tinted window Mazda 6 and we set off for Split on the empty highway.

Our first full day we met our rental boat captain by the Riva (waterfront) and climbed aboard a toy-sized boat to see the islands.  It went fast and we were well windblown by the time we reached Milna, then Hvar Town and finally an overpriced but delicious lunch on Palmizana island in a little cove we nearly had to ourselves.

We returned to the mainland by 4:30 and walked through the enchanting Diocletian's Palace, a Roman palace built in 300 AD for Emperor Diocletian.  Instead of just another Roman ruin, this was different because it was a living city within the ramparts. 

We stayed in a communist-style cement apartment building which worried us at first but then we realized the apartment itself was quite nice, large and cozy for our two nights and breakfasts and dinners.

We left Split Thursday morning and drove on the nearly-empty coastal road south, stopping in Brela at Punta Rata Beach and Greda where we saw only construction workers preparing for the tourist season which is supposed to begin mid-May.

We then realized Dubrovnik is a land and sea-locked city surrounded by Bosnia & Herzegovinia and Montenegro as we crossed out of Croatia, into BiH, out of BiH and back into Croatia in very out-dated, critical customs procedures.  We have lots of new stamps in our passports and I am now very grateful for the Schengen Agreement!

Dubrovnik really is something different.  As you drive in along the Old City walls you see the red roofs and the blue sea with the green islands just beyond.  We were lucky to stay at the beautifully situated Hotel Excelsior for three nights with views of the Old City from the balconies.

Our first evening after we checked in we headed straight for the cable car to the top of Mont Srd for a bird's eye view of the city.  It was really an amazing sight and the most perfect weather day.

Early Friday morning we climbed the Old City walls and circumvented the city.  It was windy and the clouds moved in a bit but still an amazing experience.  The kids kept up with a few piggyback rides and spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the indoor pool complex at the hotel.

Saturday morning we decided to drive south to the Bay of Kotor in neighboring Montenegro.  Our destination was the Our Lady of the Rocks Church near Perast.  Legend says the church was built on an island formed by sailors dropping individual rocks as they past by the spot in a prayer for safety.  There were men by the small harbor running small ferry boats to the island and clearly we were the last to hear about this beautiful sight.  Afterwards we had a simple and very inexpensive lunch by the waterfront before returning through the customs maze to Dubrovnik.

Sunday we left Dubrovnik and took the inland highway north towards to Zadar, stopping at Krka National Park to see the waterfalls.  We took a ferry from Skradin to the park entrance and luckily the big falls were close to the entrance and easy to see.

We made it to Zadar by early evening and were welcomed by the owner's Croatia mother with bright red hair and a toast of beer and orange juice.  We had time to walk around the Roman Forum ruins just outside our apartment and the kids rode some rides at the small kids' carnival by the sea.  We heard the sea organ and then tucked into a quaint little restaurant for dinner by the apartment.

We left early Monday morning and although we got to the airport two hours early, people checked in until about thirty minutes before take-off and the Enterprise agent was greatly inconvenienced by having to check the car and close my rental contract.  He wished me a nice life!  Aah, Croatia!

Green Bay Visitors for Spring Break

Jesse's parents travel to Brussels with their friends Wayne and Sandy Bradley for Easter Break.  Our first road trip was to Holland along the Blooming Route to see the tulip fields by way of Delft.  Unfortunately we were probably a week or so too early to see the tulips but the daffodils and hyacinths were truly lovely.  We spent the night in Leiden in order to visit Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse first thing Easter Morning.

It was a sunny but chilly day and I do not really think the Gardens were worth all the hype but it was still a nice day.  We had a quick lunch in Haarlem and a snack in Gouda before returning to Brussels.

That Tuesday we took the Thalys to Paris - first stop the Eiffel Tower.  While Jesse climbed the tower with our guests, I played with the kids around the base and spent some time just watching the river traffic.  Afterwards everyone boarded the Batboys for a Seine cruise to the Jardin Botanique and back to the Place de la Concorde.  A little taxi mix-up by the Tuilleries and a fake dinner reservation later, we had dinner at a nice bistro along the Rue de Rivoli before taking the train back home.

Our guests took the train to London, then flew to Dublin for the next three days so I spent some time in Brussels with the kids and the day at the beach in Nieuwpoort, Belgium that Friday before celebrating Aksel Hannestad's birthday at their new house.

Saturday we took the guests to see the local sites in Brussels and on to Bruges.  Sunday we drove to Cologne and Monschau, Germany to round out their European Adventure.

Carnaval Week in Normandy

I drove the kids through Normandy again this time to see Mont Saint Michel near the small town of Saint Malo, France.  It is six hours away so we stopped in the old city of Honfleur, at the mouth of the Sine.  The city is known for its beautiful sunlight which inspired the impressionist painters.  Its old harbor is line with tall, skinny houses, built at a time when taxes were assessed by width of your property.

We arrived at our rental cottage just before sunset and quickly went over to see the Mont.  The kids scooted the whole way as we saw low water levels and many construction vehicles clearing sediment from the surrounding bay area.  That night the cottage owner prepared a lovely dinner buffet with hot rice pudding to fend of the winter chill.

We returned to the Mont the next morning to climb to the top, take in the views and see the tiny place up close.  The church is nearly empty as construction is taking place throughout.  After some promised ice cream, we returned to the car park and started our drive back home.

Polar Night Half-Marathon

My parents stayed in Brussels with the kids as Jesse and I joined our friends Kate and Craig Annis and flew above the Arctic Circle to Tromso, Norway for the Polar Night Half-Marathon in the dark on the ice and snow.  It was a little crazy but exactly what I needed to start the New Year.  Norway was truly beautiful and only freezing cold during the hours of our race.  But we finished together!

Christmas Break

There wasn't a lot of snow in Nendaz so the kids' ski school was moved to Sion, around the mountain.  It was pretty disorganized for the little kids but Cole had one teacher for two boys and ended the week coming down the mountain on his own.  Jesse covered all the trails and the rest of us enjoyed wonderful accommodations at the Hotel Nendaz, including the outdoor heated pool with a view of the mountains.  We had raclette for Christmas Eve dinner and Santa found the kids in Switzerland.

When the week ended, we set off to the East in a blinding snowstorm that persisted for the rest of the trip.  Brave Jesse drove up, over, down and even through (on a train) the mountains.  Dad helped him to put on and take off the snow chains multiple times.

We spent one night on the hillside of Lake Thun but it was so snowy we could not see the lake, let alone the mountains across the way.  The next night we slid into southern Germany and visited Neuschwanstein Castle in the snow, walking up the entire hill because they did not have the buses running in those conditions.

We continued slowly through the worst of the storm around Munich to Salzburg.  The entrance road to the hotel was not even plowed so the snow chains went on again.  We hired a turgid for a private Sound of Music tour and still need to write Rick Steves about how bad she was.  But Salzburg is so beautiful that we still enjoyed it a lot.  A warm and cozy dinner on the hill above the cathedral on a streetlamp-lit, snowy evening was a fitting farewell.

As we headed home, the snow finally cleared around Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  We stopped in this little Christmas town and had a traditional meal in a beer hall for an early New Year's Eve dinner.  Many hours later, we returned to Brussels and rang in the new year fast asleep.