Christmas markets
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Buda, Pest, and some familiar faces
We did a lot of sightseeing in Budapest. On one of those days, we did more than 16,000 steps doing two self-guided walks, one in Pest and one in Buda. One thing you quickly realize is that many of Budapest’s most known sights were built in 1896. Why? That was the millennial anniversary of the…
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Christmas Day, Prague Castle and a super train experience
While Czech people do gift exchanges on Christmas Eve, we three Americans kept up our tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas Day. We each bought gifts from the Christmas markets for one person in our group. For stockings, we bought ourselves wool socks from the Christmas market. We found a greenery stand that had mini…
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Prague – Christmas markets with an Eastern Europe flair
The Christmas theme continued in Prague, as we visited three Christmas markets in one day on Christmas Eve. The first one was a small gathering of stalls on a square called Náměstí Miru near our AirBnB. Nezzie’s cold had gotten worse, so she slept in. This was Christmas Eve morning. While many markets in Prague…
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Prague — A little night music, a lot of new friends
When planning this trip, we really wanted a guided tour of Prague, its musical history, and a Christmas concert. We reserved such a tour in advance. That the package included a traditional Czech Christmas Eve dinner was a bonus. After shopping the markets on Christmas Eve, we met our tour guide, Martin, in front of…
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Dresden day 2 – Cultural exchange and reconciliation for the future
Our second day in Dresden, we all slept in. We needed the rest! Nezzie had started with a cold, and the days before were quite active for all of us. I had planned Dresden as a more relaxing visit, and that was a good idea. After emerging from our building, we were walking in the…
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Dresden, Day One
Dresden made it on our itinerary for its Christmas markets, and we did greatly enjoy those. We also met one of the Dresden Sister City hosts for a visit to a Christmas market and dinner. We felt inspired by the history and current spirit of the Frauenkirche, Dresden’s landmark church. Entering the Dresden train station…
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Festive vibes, emotional exhibits – Amsterdam
After Paris, we made a short visit to Amsterdam just shy of two full days. We all really liked this city. The people are so welcoming, and the holiday vibe is so festive. Plus, two of our three museum visits were highly emotional experiences. As I write this, we are on a train to Dresden…
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Plan well, then ditch the plan
When planning to visit a place like Paris for the first time, everyone has their “must see” wish list. One of those was Le Musee de Louvre. We reserved our time well in advance for 9:30 a.m. on our preferred day, which was today. It was inspiring and a bit spine-tingling to see in person…
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First tastes of Paris
We arrived this morning and our very first thing after we dropped off our bags was to have a French breakfast of croissant, café and fresh pressed orange juice. Sooo good. Then we stopped at a patisserie for macarons. The best I’ve ever had. The melt in your mouth goodness, a perfect blend of sweet…
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