Porto was my favorite city in Portugal. The city is packed with things to see and do but had a relaxed atmosphere. We were able to walk everywhere and public transportation was easy to navigate when needed. We had the strangest hotel of the trip in Porto: Pao de Acucar Hotel. The hotel is actually located …
The first stop on our Portugal driving tour was Evora. This old walled city came highly recommended for its old world charm. It’s one of the “most beautifully preserved medieval towns” according to Lonely Planet (and just about every other guide book). It certainly did not disappoint and was a great way to kick off …
Wednesdays are half days for schools in the Netherlands. With the sun out we try to take advantage of these half days to explore places closer to home. After I picked the kids up from school we loaded into the car and headed to a Goat Farm near Zoetermeer, 20 minutes from our house. Boerdeij ‘t …
Brussels is an easy drive from our house, so it’s a wonder it has taken us so long for a proper visit. We opted to drive down, which is actually a less expensive option than taking the train. Since we were in the car we stopped at Cook & Book for lunch before checking into the …
This was the type of day that makes your trip. I scoured the Internet high and low for a cooking class that would accommodate our group which included cooks of varying levels and our kids – two four-year-olds and two two-year-olds. The few classes that took kids were pizza making classes. We had a pizza oven …
Fairytale Wonderland (Sprookjeswonderland) is a lovely little amusement park just north of Amsterdam. The park is reminiscent of The Efteling, but smaller and geared toward children under 10. It was perfect for our 2 and 4 year olds. Each winter Fairytale Wonderland opens for three weeks fully decorated for Christmas. We decided to make the 1.5 hour …
Just 25 minutes from Delft by car, Leiden is a university town full of amazing museums. We spent a day at the natural history museum Naturalis last year. Since then, we have had Leiden on our short list for a lazy weekend day. Today was the day! With Elizabeth in Paris for a girls weekend, it was …
There are so many amazing Christmas Markets to choose from in Europe. Last year we launched a grand tour hitting markets in Nuremburg, Heidelburg and Trier. This year we decided to stay closer to home and do a two-nighter down to the Cologne Christmas Markets. We traveled with our friends Larissa and Simon and their kids. …
We’re guilty of it, you’re guilty of it and so are popular travel guidebooks. We all need to stop overlooking Luxembourg. This small landlocked country is home to just 500,000 people but is an amazing find for a weekend or a week. It’s less than four hours from our home and easily reachable from all …
Eating delicious cheese is one of the true joys of living in the Netherlands. Our middle little, O, is particularly fond of all things cheese. When we found a cheese farm outside of Utrecht with lots to offer we added it to our itinerary. Although we’ve been to the cheese museums in Gouda and Alkmaar …