It was fun reminiscing about our great 2016 European adventure last week. (You can find our whole 2-week detailed itinerary HERE.) Since I shared my favorite rural photos from France, I also wanted to share nature shots from Belgium! I. Loved. Belgium. There was just something about it. Of course, the landscape wasn't that different from France's, especially where we were -- with our road-tripping, we were often straddling the line between France and Belgium anyway...but there … [Read more...]
My Favorite Rural + Nature Shots From Our Time In France
Friends, I'm really excited about today's post! I've been reminiscing about our big European adventure lately -- what a whirlwind trip! We loved our time abroad last summer and there are so many parts of it that I don't want to forget! When people think of traveling abroad, or traveling to Europe, they tend to envision the hustle and bustle of crazy big cities. They think of the sheer numbers of people milling about, or the constant noise or excitement that often wraps itself around … [Read more...]
Chateau de Pierrefonds: a French Castle
There has been a bit of an impromptu break from our Europe posts lately, but I'm jumping back in today with one of our favorite excursions towards the end of the trip...visiting a castle!! RELATED: OUR 2 WEEK EUROPE TRIP ITINERARY We left the charming town of Albert in the early morning and drove south for an hour towards the area around Compiegne, France (not all that far from Paris, where we would later be flying home from). I had first come across Chateau de Pierrefonds while … [Read more...]
Our Seine River Cruise in Paris
Like I mentioned in this post, one of the things that really helped us on our Europe trip was to purchase tickets ahead of time when we could. When I visited Paris as part of a Europe trip in high school, we went on a nighttime cruise on the Seine River and it was absolutely amazing! The Eiffel Tower wow-ed us as we drifted by its twinkly, sparkly glory. That was a summer night I won't soon forget! Of course, with memories like that, I wanted to experience a river cruise on the Seine … [Read more...]
How We Simplified The Planning For Our Europe Trip
It has been so much fun writing up all these posts from our recent 2-week trip to Europe! They've functioned as a really great journal for me as well. I'm not even finished with all the Europe posts (eek!) but we're getting there! And it's been nice to reflect back on the experience. RELATED: Our 2-Week Europe Trip Itinerary Europe 2016 was quite the adventure! Whether it was staying in Airbnbs, visiting memorials, touring churches, or experiencing ceremonies, we really packed it all … [Read more...]
A Relaxing Day in Albert, France
We loved our couple days in Albert, France! The guys got to explore historic sites and museums in The Somme area, and on our full day in Albert, my sis-in-law Signe and I decided to spend the day just exploring the town of Albert ourselves. ^^ The front door of our cute Airbnb! ^^ ^^ the view outside into the square-type area ^^ Signe and I slept in till 9 and by 10 am, we left our cute Airbnb and began to wander. Actually, our first stop of the day was the nearby Boulagerie … [Read more...]
Memorials and Museums near Ypres, Belgium
We packed our days in Europe with all the museums, memorials, and other special stops we could! It was not a leisurely, get-up-at-1o-am type of vacation (made evident by our itinerary) - but you know what? That's a good thing! After all, we only had a limited amount of time in Europe and I think we would have regretted sleeping in and not trying to squeeze everything we could out of the trip! After our afternoon in Ypres, Belgium, we stopped at an outdoor museum area at the back of a … [Read more...]
The Battle of Waterloo in Belgium + The Hougoumont Farm
We left off in our Europe post series with our day at Verdun, France, exploring memorials and forts. That evening, we drove to our next Airbnb (told you we love them!) which was near Waterloo, Belgium. Let me take a moment to say that I loved every second we were in Belgium!! The culture is so neat and it was fun spending time in rural AND in urban parts of Belgium! We only got a couple days in Belgium but it was a blast. :) ^^ our Airbnb near Waterloo. We had our own little apartment on … [Read more...]