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.