Highlights of Our Western European Tour

We flew from London to Bilbao on March 2nd and travelled throughout our tour by train finishing in Amsterdam on May 14th. We spent seventy four days in Europe and travelled 4316 miles. Our trip has taken us to:Spain:Bilbao, San Sebastián, Madrid, Segovia, Avila, Aranjuez, El Escorial, Cordoba, Seville, Jerez De La Frontera, Cadiz, Granada,Continue reading “Highlights of Our Western European Tour”

Touring Western Europe -Holland-Amsterdam -The Verzetsmuseum, Wartime Choices?

This museum tells the story of the Netherlands and its people from May 1940 to May 1945, when Nazi forces occupied the country. Having put four pieces of the jigsaw in place before arriving at this museum I had already begun to question, what would I have done if I was one of those people caught upContinue reading “Touring Western Europe -Holland-Amsterdam -The Verzetsmuseum, Wartime Choices?”

Touring Western Europe -Holland-Keukenhof -Beauty, Imagination and Inspiration

Just amazing! I cannot believe how excited I am about flowers! Just to bring you up to speed we departed Antwerp last Wednesday and took the train via Breda to The Hague or Den Haag. Visiting the Keukenof Flower Garden was high on my agenda for this whole Western Europe adventure and where we spentContinue reading “Touring Western Europe -Holland-Keukenhof -Beauty, Imagination and Inspiration”

Antwerp Headlines Immigration

On our adventures in Antwerp we visited a fantastic museum The Red Star Line Museum.You enter through the door expecting to learn about The Red Star Line which was a group of ships that transported migrants to North America but you leave with so much more knowledge, understanding and empathy for migrants as a whole.AsContinue reading “Antwerp Headlines Immigration”

Touring Western Europe -Belgium-Scratching The Surface of Antwerp

Leaving Brussels behind we travel, by train, further north and arrive forty five minutes later in Antwerp on Saturday Afternoon.Our accommodation looks directly out onto Theaterplein which is the home of not only the city’s main theatre but also a Saturday market which is in full swing when we arrive. Our Air BnB host, whoContinue reading “Touring Western Europe -Belgium-Scratching The Surface of Antwerp”

Touring Western Europe -Brussels -Discovering the Facts About The European Union

We left my new friend Lille (see previous post) last Saturday and travelled north east to Brussels. The capital of Belgium since the country became independent in 1830, with a population just over 2 million, one tenth of the size of Greater London and since 1958 the seat of the European Economic Community, the precursorContinue reading “Touring Western Europe -Brussels -Discovering the Facts About The European Union”

Touring Western Europe -France – This Is The Climax of Prejudice

Last week in Paris, as part of our current adventure, we visited the Memorial de la Shoah – The Holocaust Memorial. For us it was the amalgamation of three adventures that began back in December 2016 in Berlin, moved through September 2019 in Krakow and ended here. Coincidentally this weekend an article was printed byContinue reading “Touring Western Europe -France – This Is The Climax of Prejudice”

Touring Western Europe -France -My New Friend Lille

Having left Paris on Friday we took the train an hour north to the city of Lille. Sitting just 10 miles from the Belgium border, it is the tenth largest city in France with approx a million citizens and was the original capital of Flanders. We had been drawn here, en route to Belgium, byContinue reading “Touring Western Europe -France -My New Friend Lille”

Guide to Versailles and Chantilly: A Tale of Two Châteaux

Whilst in Paris we have visited both Versailles and Chantilly. What a totally different experience! This is certainly a tail of two chateaux!The aim of this post is to hopefully enable you to decide which property you would prefer to visit assuming you have a choice. Versailles is of course a Palace and not aContinue reading “Guide to Versailles and Chantilly: A Tale of Two Châteaux”

Touring Western Europe -France-Old Man Notre Dame

We arrived in Paris on Tuesday after a 7 hr train journey from Barcelona. Having booked our tickets before we even left the UK, we had secured first class tickets for a minimal increase on the second class price. On arrival on the train we discovered that there was very little difference between the two typesContinue reading “Touring Western Europe -France-Old Man Notre Dame”