Coming Home 🇺🇸

As we spend our last night in England we reflect on all the incredible experiences we’ve had and all the lovely people we’ve meet. This trip has been a non-stop adventure and so grateful we got to do it but we are also looking forward to spending time with our families and getting settled back into our home.

We’ve spent the past seven weeks driving 5,765 miles across fourteen different countries in Europe. Here are a few of our favourites in no particular order!

Favourite cities:

• Prague, Czech Republic 
• Sighisoara, Romania 
• Budapest, Hungary
• Dubrovnik, Croatia 
• Interlaken, Switzerland 

Favourite activities:

• Idar-Oberstein amethyst mine and dig, Germany 
• Drace wine diving, Croatia 
• Oktoberfest, Germany 
• Transfăgărășan drive, Romania 
• Pottery fair in Sibiu, Romania 

Kid’s favourites:

• Seeing olms in Postojna, Slovenia
• Medieval dinner and blacklight show in Prague, Czech Republic
• Games and rides at Oktoberfest, Germany 
• Seeing wild bears in Transylvania, Romania 
• Playground and Baths in Budapest, Hungary
• And ALL the theme parks 

Countries Visited:

• England
• France
• Belgium
• Luxembourg
• Germany
• Czech Republic
• Slovakia
• Austria
• Hungary
• Romania
• Croatia
• Slovenia
• Leichenstein
• Switzerland

Legoland 🇬🇧

We squeezed one last theme park in our finals days in the UK completing our European theme park/fun fair tour. The kids had a blast creating their own custom made lego people and plenty of fun rides (with hardly any lines). Ben enjoyed the fast rollercoasters, while Emma’s favourite was the Lego City Deep Sea Adventure, a submarine that takes you through an aquarium.  We probably could have spent the entire day at the Deep Sea Adventure watching the fish swim around (we did do the ride three times...)!  At the end of the ride were several aquariums with glass bubbles the kids could poke their heads into to feel like they were in the aquarium.  

Harry Potter

We spent the morning laying in bed watching Harry Potter before visiting the Harry Potter studios.  On our way to the studios we decided to have one last afternoon tea at the Kitchen Croxley, so yummy!!  We had two towers of cakes and scones, so much that we had takeaway boxes for a midnight snack.

We enjoyed getting to see the props, costumes, and special effects they used in the movies.  The kids loved the interactive brooms and Doby as well as a mug of butter beer.

  

London 🇬🇧

We boarded the chunnel train back to England for our last couple of days on our European adventure to explore bits of London and shore up final errands before setting back to the States.  We’ve been fortunate to visit London during our last five years overseas but still hadn’t been up Tower Bridge or visited the Natural History Museum.  We also got to see the new and shiny Big Ben without its scaffolding which has been up the past five years.  

Tower Bridge construction began in 1886 in order to improve access to London’s East End after significant commercial expansion.  Located next to London Bridge and Tower of London it crosses 800 feet across the River Thames.  About 40,000 people cross the drawbridge everyday and in 1952 a bus, not minding the gap, ended up jumping across the bridge.  The bridge attendant actually forgot to use the alarm before opening the bridge, however the bus made it across with all 20 passengers onboard. It was interesting to hear about the building process and get some amazing views as well as braving the glass walkway!  

At the Natural History Museum we got to see Dippy the Diplodocus.  Reaching a length of 85ft, this little guy has been touring around UK museums since 2018 so lucky for us we got to see it.  The cast was made from the bones of a diplodocus discovered in 1878 in Wyoming.  Some other highlights were the mastodon, blue whale, and dodo bird.  Unfortunately we didn’t have time to explore it all.

Disneyland Paris 🇫🇷

After a quick trip in Burgundy we made our way to Disneyland Paris for a fun filled couple days.  Ben loved the Finding Nemo’s Crush Rollercoaster and Emma’s favourite was the interactive Spiderman ride. However the most memorable was the Stitch Live show, which we all found hilarious along with Grumpy Bruce from Texas.  

Burgundy: Syrup and Wine 🇫🇷

After driving through the Swiss and French Alps we headed to the Burgundy region of France. We had a short stay in the beautiful region and took advantage of our time tasting wine, black currant liquors, and following an owl through Dijon. Our first stop was in the town of Beaune where we visited Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune; a hospice built in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin and his wife Guigone de Salins. It was built as a refuge for the poor following an outbreak of plague. It was used as a hospital seeing patients for over 4 centuries with its last patients being seen in 1984. Afterwards it was converted to a museum.

 

We stayed in the village of Fixin next to the Domaine Joliet vineyard. The vineyard was established in 1142 when the monks built Manoir de la Perrière to age their wine. It transferred through several families until the Joliets acquired the vineyard in 1853.  Since then it’s been passed down through generations producing the same high quality wine. The vineyard consists of 5 hectares, mostly Premier Cru fields. The Burgundy region ratings are tied to the fields based on their location and soil quality with Grand Cru being the best followed by Preimere Cru and then everything else. They produce two Pinot Noir wines (one Villages and one Premier Cru rating) and one white Premier Cru Chardonnay. Burgundy is mainly known for their Pinot Noirs, but towards the southern region there are more Chardonnay fields.

A lesser known specialty of the region is Crème de cassis, a black currant liqueur. We visited the Le Cassissium an interactive museum dedicated to the production of black currant. We didn’t do the tour but went straight to the bar for the tasting. While we enjoyed the blackcurrant liqueurs the kids went straight to the syrup bar, which we payed for later. The wall was decorated with all sorts of cocktails to mix blackcurrant liqueurs with including white wine and beer! The kids picked out the bubblegum and blackcurrant syrups and we got a bottle of blackcurrant to go with with our vending machine pizza. Yes, France has pizza vending machines and we thought Germany was special with their sausage vending machines.

Our last stop in the region was the town of Dijon (pass the grey poupon).  Despite its mustard being an international commodity the owl has become the symbol of the city. There is a magic owl carved in the side of the Church of Notre-Dame. It was added to the church in the 16th century but nobody knows exactly why or who added it. It is said that if you touch the owl with your left hand and make a wish it’ll come true. The city has several golden owl triangles that guide visitors around the city on the Owl Trail. The kids loved searching for the owls as we ventured around the city. We grabbed a yummy lunch before heading out of beef bourguignon and pork poutine with old fashioned mustard sauce.  

Interlaken, Switzerland 🇨🇭

We head into the foggy Swiss Alps to the town of Interlaken, land ‘between the lakes.’  In between the cloud cover snowcapped mountains reach above the green pastures dotted with cattle resonating the gentle low ringing of bells.  We’re lucky to stay in this fairy tale land for 4 nights.

Our first day was spent exploring downtown and watching the para gliders soar in the sky at Höhematte. We even found two little crazy cows in the pasture.  In the afternoon we ventured out to the charming village of Iseltwald with decorative wooden chalets lining the teal waters of Breinzsee.  A quiet little town that was made famous as a filming location in the Korean drama ‘Crash Landing on You,’ an adorable tv show my sister shared with me that you absolutely should check out.

We lucked out as we managed to find the Fest Der Feste (Festival of Festivals) going on the next day.  It gathers fifteen local festivals for a collective display of traditional Swiss Autumn culture held at the Ballenberg Open Air Museum.  We arrived to find the unique one day event of ‘Combat de Reines’ where Eringer cows choose their queen of the herd through elimination battles.  We also saw pottery making, Swiss Alphorn players, and LOTS of cowbells (queue Christopher Walken and the Blue Oyster Cult).  

We even found a Tschäggätta wondering the woods. These terrifying creatures are based on folklore of isolated villages in the Swiss Alps. While their origins remain shrouded in mystery some believe they were pagan practices used to chase away the darkness at winter’s end.  The weather was a bit on the cold and rainy side most of the day so we decided to get chocolate wasted with some Swiss hot chocolate on the way back to our tiny cabin. 

Our last day here the clouds lifted and the sun came out, it’s been a while since we’ve seen blue sky!! We spent the morning around the beautifully stunning scenery of Lauterbrunnen and in the afternoon rode the funicular to the top of Harder Klum for spectacular views of the dual lakes of Interlaken. The funicular, over 100 years old, climbs the mountainside at a steep 64 degrees to reach the top at 4337 feet above sea level.

Liechtenstein 🇱🇮

We’re on our way to Interlaken after a fun time at Oktoberfest but we decided to make a last minute detour to Liechtenstein and check off an extra country.  Unfortunately it was a quick trip as we raced against the clock to meet our check in deadline which ultimately didn’t matter.  While it is a tiny country we wish we had more than five minutes to explore Liechtenstein.  

Oktoberfest: Ein Prosit! 🇩🇪

We made it to the largest beer festival in the world: Oktoberfest! The festival originated on October 12, 1810, in celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. Say that after a few liters of beer or a million, which is what they sold during just the opening day!

Dressed in our Lederhosen and Dirndl we set off exploring the massive beer tents. We visited the Löwenbräu, Augustiner, and a few other festival tents. With beer poured by the litre, bands playing music, and people packed dancing on the tables we ended at the calmer Kufflers Weinzelt festival hall with the kids. We had a litre of Paulaner, pretezels, and a Kuffler Zuckerreigen: a Datschi plum cake, apple fritter, Bavarian flat doughnut amazing goodness while singing along to the German drinking songs.

The festival had numerous rides and games for the kids. Emma found her love for fun houses especially ones with spinning tubes and Ben tried his hand at darts and pellet gun to win a few prizes. We even found a fun house with 3D glasses with a rainbow spinning tube that got the better of us! Ben even dragged Jenny on to the Kong ride, a claw that spins and twist as it swings high over the festival grounds. They had a similar ride called the Eagle Claw at Lightwater Valley in England that I rode and vowed never to ride again!

Upon translating the Oktoberfest map we came across a particular interesting ride, the Teufelsrad (Devil's wheel). It has been around for 114 years and as its name implies is a spinning wheel where participants attempt to stay on as it goes progressively faster. If you stay on long enough they send in a hanging ball and ropes in an attempt to drag you off the wheel. It was entertaining to watch as people spin off the spinning platter. Enjoy this bit of schadenfreude - pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.

Salzburg: Amadeus 🇦🇹

When we told the kids we were heading to Salzburg to visit Mozart's Residence and Geburtshaus (birth house) and the kid's responded: "Is that where the chocolate Mozart balls are made?" We knew we had a parenting fail. On a previous trip to Austria we discovered Mozartkugel (Mozart balls), a yummy chocolate treat filled with nougat and a pistachio marizpan center. They were created in honor of Mozart about 100 years after his death by Paul Fust who unfortunately did not apply for a patent, leading to multiple legal disputes with other bakery shops as the treats increased in popularity. They are quite popular with us and we will withhold the number of bags of Mozart Balls we've consumed!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in Salzburg, was a musical prodigy who composed more than 800 works in his short lifetime. If his sheets of music were laid out it would be almost 5 miles long. Mozart was taught music at an early age by his father (also a musician) and came to compose his first piece at the age of 5. He traveled during his early years playing for European royalty. During his travels in Rome, he was said to have transcribed an unauthorised copy of Allegri's Miserere, a highly guarded piece of the Vatican, just by ear.

Mozart was described to have a crude sense of humor and despite his prolific and popular works his eccentric and extravagant lifestyle often found him in debt. However he began to turn his life around in 1791 and composed some of his most famous pieces including The Magic Flute and his unfinished Requiem. Unfortunately he became unwell and died at the age of 35. While there is much speculation over the cause of his death, it remains unknown to date. Based on his symptoms some believe it could have been acute rheumatic fever, influenza, mercury poisoning, or liver/kidney ailment. Interestingly, his lifelong rival, Antonio Salieri claimed to have poisoned Mozart, but this was never verified and thought to have been false.

Hallstatt: Let it go, Let it go!! 🇦🇹

We arrived in Hallstatt, the city Frozen's Arendelle was based on.  Luckily everything was thawed out but there was plenty of water in the form of rain which seems to have followed us from Slovenia.  However, it's provided some nice downtime to catch up on travel chores. We stayed across the lake in the Obertraun Resort on the Hallstätter See, which was an amazing spacious three bedroom duplex.  

There are so many things to explore in Hallstat including the Dachstein Giant Ice Cave and the Salzwelten (salt-mine); however, we decided to take a more relaxed approach to Hallstatt strolling around the board walk, sipping hot chocolate with apple strudel during the downpours, and watching the Emma sized swans!  

Hallstatt is a beautiful city, but it has become victim to over tourism.  In south east Asia instagram post naming Hallstatt "the most Instagrammable town in the world" went viral. Frozen made Hallstatt so popular in Asia that a rich tycoon built a replica of the city in the Guangdong province.  In 2017 bouncers had to be used to prevent tourist from disrupting services at the church.  Luckily in 2020, the city started limiting daily tour buses to 54; about half that had been previous making the journey to Hallstatt.  While the city was busy with tourist, it didn't feel overly crowed, but we were getting closer to the shoulder season and the rain probably kept some away as well.  

We could have stayed in Obertraun a few more days enjoying the resort, but we're off towards Oktoberfest with a short stop in Salzburg on the way!

Eisriesenwelt: World of the Ice Giants🇦🇹

We’re leaving Bled and on our way to the glistening walls of Eisreisenwelt, the world’s largest ice cave. We had to do a bit of work to reach the cave entrance; a 40 minute walk up the mountain separated by a steep ascent via cable car.  A blast of chilly air hit us as the guide opened the entrance doors and we continued into the cave.  Lit only by hand held open flame lanterns and brightly burning magnesium stick we continue our way up 700 steps to the deepest part of the cave. 

The cave was formed by the Salzach River which has eroded passages through the mountain. Every Spring the snow thaws on the mountain and drips into the crevasses of the cave. The icy wind sculpts the water into frozen waterfalls, stalactites and stalagmites, and even an elephant.

The cave was initially discovered by Anton Posselt in 1879, however, he only managed to explore the beginnings of the cave system due to steep walls of ice. Prior to his discovery the cave was only know to locals who believed it was the entrance to Hell and refused to enter. In 1912, Alexander von Mörk led several expeditions further into the cave. Unfortunately he was killed in WWI and his last wish was to be interned in the cave.

Triglav National Park 🇸🇮

We set off from Bled for a day trip around Triglav National Park.  There is a Slovene folklore of a legendary white goat called Goldhorn that lived in the heights of Mount Triglav.  The horns of the goat are said to be the key to a treasure hidden in the mountains.  The story goes that a hunter fell in love with a girl and won her heart with beautiful flowers; however, a rich merchant from Venice stole her away.  To win her back the hunter tracked and shot the legendary Goldhorn.  As the goat was dying it dragged itself onto a narrow, rocky ledge where it ate the magic Triglav flowers that grew from its blood.  This gave Goldhorn tremendous life power and ran towards the hunter knocking him off the mountain.

The Vršič Pass is the highest pass in Slovenia, reaching 1,611 meters consisting of numerous cobblestones switchbacks (50 in total). The road is commonly known as the Russian Road due to the ten thousand Russian prisoners of war used as labourers in the 1915 construction. There is a Russian Orthodox chapel built by the Russian POWs to commemorate their comrades that died during the construction. The Vršič Pass made the Transfăgărășan highway in Romania looks like a 6 lane freeway especially as we passed tour buses on the narrow lanes.

Our next stop was the Soča river, a 138-kilometre frosted blue water river flowing through western Slovenia.  The kids enjoyed getting out of the car to explore the river and crawl around the rocks.

Our last stop on our circle route around Triglav NP was the Tolmin Gorge.  We spent a few hours hiking around the gorge while the kids looked for fish in the river.  There was even a water tap dispensing fresh spring water that was the kids highlight of the hike!  At the end of the gorge is the Bear's head, a boulder wedged between two cliffs.

Bled 🇸🇮

Bled is know for Lake Bled, Bled Castle, and a vanilla and cream pastry, kremna rezina. After a month on the road and rainy english weather we headed straight for the cream filled pastry and photographed the lake and castle on the way.

The pastry was brought to the local Hotel Park in 1953 by Ištvan Lukačević. As of October 2009, 10 million cream cakes had been baked at the hotel and we were more than happy to add to the count. The highlight for the kids was the robotic cat that brought the food out to the tables.

Lake Bled dates back to the Ice Age after the recession of the Bohinj glacier. At the middle of the lake is an island with the Church of the Assumption. There are numerous local traditions associated with the church such as ringing the bell in the church will fulfill one of your wishes and if a husband can carry his newly married bride up the 99 stairs from the dock into the church they will be ensured a happy marriage.

Velika Planina 🇸🇮

After exploring the Postojna Cave and their resident olms, we headed to Velika Planina (The Big Pasture Plateau). The Plateau is reached by cable car and double chair ski lift taking us up to the peak of Mount Gradišče (1,666 m). The peak overlooks the Slovenia Julian Alps and the largest herdsman’s village in Europe.

It was late in the season (and late in the day), so there wasn’t much activity in the herdsman village. Nonetheless it was a beautiful village with traditional wooden huts that are used by the herdsman’s in the summer months to tend to their herds. Had we made it to the village earlier in the day we might have been invited into one of the huts to experience the homemade dairy delicacies. However, we got to try a cheese dumpling desert thing (kobariški štruklji?) which was very tasty!

We ventured around the village to the chapel of Snow Mary where some curious cows checked us out.

We wish we had more time to explore the beautiful scenery of the plateau and spend a night in one of the huts, but we had to hurry along to catch the lifts down the mountain side.  We're off to Bled to explore the Triglav National Park.

Postojna 🇸🇮

We arrived in Postojna just in time to make the last entry into the Predjama Castle, the largest cave castle in the world. Nestled into a 123 meter cliff the fortress has endured for more than 800 years in various forms. One of its most legendary residents was the rebellious knight Erazem who has been likened to the Slovenian Robin Hood.

Slovenia was in the cross fire for conquest by the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick III and the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus. Ezeram was son to the captain of the Emperor's bodyguard, however, during a heated argument over a deceased friend's honor, Erazem killed a relative of the Emperor. He fled back to his castle, swore allegiance to King Matthias Corvinus and barricaded himself in his impenetrable cave fortress. When the Emperor's men arrived at Predjama they were unable to capture Erazem and decided to starve him out. However, Erazem survived by smuggling food though secret passage ways in the cave system beneath the castle. Stories say Erazem and his men even taunted their enemies by pelting them with cherries.

Unfortunately Erazem was killed during the siege. Legends say one of his servants was bribed by the Emperor's men, told them of a weak spot, and agreed to light a candle in a window as a signal to attack. The weak spot was supposedly the toilet and while historians believe it was actually his bedroom the story is thought to have been spread by the Emperor's men in order to destroy Erazem's admirable reputation and leave him as the knight who died perilously on the loo.

Next day we visited Postojna Caves and boarded the subterranean train to explore the cave system that is home to the most curious aquatic cave salamanders, the olm, which has adapted to life in complete darkness. While essentially blind its other senses are highly developed and it can survive up to 10 years without food. They were first documented in 1689 and during heavy rains olms would wash up to the surface leading to local folklore of baby dragons growing beneath the Earth's crust. The kids were very excited to see the olms in the tank at the end of the cave tour as they look very similar to another creature found in one of their favourite video games, an axolotl.

Zadar: Sea Organ 🇭🇷

We headed to Zadar for the night as a pit stop between Krka NP and Slovenia once we found out about the Sea Organ in the harbour.  Consisting of 35 pipes underneath marble slabs, the organ works with the waves to create a musical melody.  It was built in 2005 by Nikola Bašić as a part of the waterfront redesign to hide the unsightly concrete wall built during the construction after the Second World War. 

It is accompanied by the Monument to the Sun light display.  The light display consists of 300 multi layer glass panels including a 22-meter diameter circle.  The solar panels gather energy during the day that power the show at night.  

The Old Town was small enough to explore on foot.  We strolled around the Roman Forum, St. Donat's and St. Mary's churches grabbing a bite to eat and souvenir shopping.

Let there be light: Nikola Tesla 🇭🇷

How could we resist a highway sign pointing the way to the birthplace of Nikola Tesla?  Not to be confused with the Tesla car company, Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor most famous for his work on developing alternating-current (AC) electricity supply systems (i.e. the power in household wall sockets).  He was born in the present day Croatian town of Smiljan; previously part of the Austrian Empire.  Tesla’s life has been a roller coaster that brought him to work at Edison's company, Machine Works, only to be screwed out of bonuses that caused him to leave after 6 months.  Afterwards he started his company Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing; however, this ended poorly when his business partners left him penniless and digging ditches for $2 per day. 

Eventually Tesla developed an induction motor that ran on AC power that made him financially independent allowing him to pursue his own interests including the Tesla Coil.  Tesla Coils make high voltage, low current, high-frequency AC electricity and we got to experience one producing 1-million Volts.  The kids got to hold a fluorescent bulb in the  electric field and experience them light up as electrons flow through the air.   

The kids (and Jason) couldn't resist the playground fun!