Nezzie
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Budapest Thermal Baths — Ahhhh
Our overnight train arrived in Budapest at 8:30 a.m., right on time. This was important, because I had scheduled our first Budapest activity at 9:30 a.m. – a four-hour spa session at Szechenyi Thermal Baths, Europe’s largest medicinal baths. I knew we would still have our luggage, since our AirBnB wasn’t available until 2:00. We…
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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 3 – Museum with odd rules and odder clothing
Our final day in Dresden was again rainy and cold. We checked out of our room and stored our luggage in the lobby with the friendly Dresden lady behind the desk. We decided that a good activity would be the indoor tour of the Saxon Royal Palace. The museum had an odd rule. The first…
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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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Inspiration of artists – Montmartre
Our last day in Paris, we took a guided tour of Montmartre, ending at the Basilique du Sacré Coeur. More about the tour in a minute. First, we had to get our luggage to the train station to store it before the tour. Our AirBnB checkout was 11:00, tour started at 10:30, and our train…
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Versailles, Paris by night and delicious touristy food
Our plan for day three in Paris was for a visit to Versailles and a night time bus tour. I had trouble staying asleep last night so I was really dragging during Versailles. Had to nap before our Paris Christmas lights tour on an open air bus. Big takeaways from Versailles – the sheer narcissistic…
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