Until next time

The good byes have begun. The many "this is the last time we'll..." instances. We find our selves nostalgic about things we never cared much about before, sometimes even the things that drove us nuts we feel a sadness at leaving behind.

One thing about living in an international community is that they are used to good byes. There are so many get togethers, BBQs and picnics to say good bye. Sometimes the goodbyes are in large groups and loud, and sometimes is getting away with a special friend for a quiet moment.

And its strange. Because for each party, there is a group that you won't see again but there is also a group who will be at the next party. So the good byes are mixed with "see you next week". The process is long but thorough.

The Five Lands

As our time in Europe wraps up we took advantage of one last long weekend to (finally) visit Cinque Terre. We have almost made it here several times but always decided against it because of high season tourist traffic. Well, that was the right decision. The towns that make up Cinque Terre are small, connected only by rail and hiking trail, and even in the shoulder season they quickly became overwhelmed with people.

That aside, the towns are picturesque little Italian towns with pastel coloured houses and small rocky beaches. We even took a day to explore outside the Cinque Terre park to visit a more local vacation town,  Camogli.

Mission: Mermaid

This easter break was a bit different. A back to back city break trip. When we planned it, it was simply by looking at the map and the flight options. But once we had it planned we realised it was connected by something more: Mermaids.

First off was to Copenhagen. Home of Hans Cristian Anderson and the Little Mermaid.

That aside, we found Copenhagen to be very eco friendly. It was evident to me from our experience how easy it is for businesses to make small changes that benefit greatly : encouraging less meat consumption by offering more veg options, creating less waste with buffet style eating and reusable items. 

Copenhagen is also home to the Vicotrian era amusement part, Tivoli Gardens. This was one whole day of fun for the kids. 

Of course the is more to the city than rides and cotton floss. Copenhagen is an interesting and diversely beautiful place - if cold. 

From there we took off the Warsaw, in Poland. What we didn't know when we made our plans is that the symbol of the city of Warsaw and its historic protector is a mermaid. 

A different breed of mermaid. 

Warsaw was a lesson in resilience. After world war 2, the Nazis destroyed almost 90% of the city. While the Praga side of the river was mostly saved, it became a haven for those returning to the city after the war and was mostly run by squatter's rights. Despite the years of soviet rule that followed, individuals raised private funds to rebuild the city. Today a reconstructed old town stands in it place - at times true to the old style, at times ( like the castle) built in multiple styles to reflect the history of the place. 

And of course, Poland isn't Poland without the food! The best we found was in the Soviet Era Milk Bars. These public cafeterias operate in polish only, and serve homemade traditional food. A challenge to order but so worth it! 

Biker gang

The first weekend of the (long) half term/Easter break for the kids brought us gorgeous sun! And as it is almost tulip time we headed off to the Netherlands.

(Confession time: biking through the tulips fields has been put off because it felt like something we could do anytime, and now months away from the end of this adventure, we still hadn't done it!)

We packed up the car and drove less than two hours to the middle of tulip country. We had found a place that rents kid sized bikes as well at the standard bikes, so we picked up our bikes and a map and were off!

First stop was lunch, at a great cafe on a lake by the fields. Then biking through fragrant fields of hyacinths, through forests with deer grazing and on to the dunes.

We rented a cute renovated gypsy trailer to stay in, on a lake outside Amsterdam. It was an old peat harvesting lake and currently a popular boating area. The kids were excited to "camp" and even convinced us to have a campfire.

The next day, we went into Amsterdam to see the Dutch Masters in the Rijks Museum. Wow! 2 hrs in an we saw half of one collection! So many famous works. 

And, as the weather held and was still amazingly gorgeous on the way home, we took a detour to the seaside at Schreivenegen just outside Den Haag. This is the Dutch beach playground, with restaurants and entertainment everywhere. The kids especially loved that the beach front restaurants had trampolines and bouncy castles. 

Yer a Wizard

This past weekend, we took the kids for the big gift they got at Christmas - a trip to Harry Potter Studio Tour in London. We had been once before when Calvin was at the height of his Potter-mania, but this time around all three kids were all in.

They saw their favourites...

Learned some secrets...

And flew!

It was a magical time. And on the way home, we took a detour to see real life magic; a site that has been on my list for a long time.

Caves, castles, and aircraft

This year for the February holidays we took off to the small southern French city of Carcassonne. Carcassonne is famous for being the largest and best preserved medieval city in Europe. It’s double walled structure and interior fortified castle still stand. It is the inspiration for the board game, Carcassonne, and filming location for Robin Hood. It’s also a great place to get lost in time. Emily and Sam loved galloping their imaginary horses through cobbled alleys.

Working back along the timeline of human history, we explored the Roman impact on the area. In the city of Nîmes, is the best preserved roman arena. Though not as large the colliseum in Rome, it is very well interpreted. We could have stayed longer but we had something even bigger to see. Pont de Gard is the largest Roman aqueduct still standing. We walked across it and marvelled at the engineering. 

And even further back in time, we drove towards the Pyrenees mountains, to Niaux. Here, there is one of the few prehistoric cave painting sites, still open to the public. The paintings are said to be comparable to the famous Lascaux caves. 14,000 years old and still telling their stories. 

Then we jumped back to the modern engineering of humans, with a visit to the AirBus 380 assembly plant in Toulouse. Seeing how these massive planes are conceptualised, tested, and built was pretty incredible.

Marvellous Marseille

It’s winter. And winter in Europe, pretty much everywhere, is cold, grey, and rainy. The solution? A girls weekend! 

The weather wasn’t much better, but the change of scenery and good company was a welcome change. 

Turkey for Christmas

For the holiday break we took a short trip to the edge of Europe - Istanbul. It was an incredible dive into history, religion, and culture. So many layers. 

Istanbul is a very modern city that embraces its history. A moderate city that is proud of the minarets that populate its skyline. Friendly to foreigners and yet devoutly Turkish. 

We found the Turks to be very friendly. Children especially are important in their culture. They speak to kids so that they feel heard, feel seen, and know they are important. 

And above all of it is the beauty and opulence that came from this city being the centre of multiple empires. The crown jewel. Centre of the world.