Paris 2010

Paris 2010
Garden at Versailles

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Random trip memories

Here are some memories of our European vacation that I don't think I've mentioned (excuse me if I have!)

Hotels generally don't look as good in person as they do on their websites.  Although our hotel in London came close.  It's called The Park City Hotel and is located in the royal Kensington and Chelsea district of London.  Here's their website:
http://www.theparkcity.com/

Our hotel in Paris was recommended in Rick Steves' guidebook but it failed to impress.  The room was so small it barely contained a bed and little table.  But the good thing about it was that we could see the top half of the Eiffel Tower from the bathroom!  The elevator was really tiny too.  It was only big enough for the two of us and after riding in it once, I opted to take the stairs.  They did have a laptop in the lobby that was free.

Our hotel in Bruges was good.  It's called The Walwyck Hotel Brugge.  They had a huge bell you could ring at the front desk (one of those bells a teacher has on her desk).  We forgot to take a picture of it but they gave us a postcard of the bell.  The innkeepers were very friendly and gave us good restaurant recommendations.  They had a flat screen TV in the room that we watched Enemy of the State on and enjoyed the commercials.  The floors were quite squeaky though. 

We stayed at a nice B&B in Amsterdam called Tulips.  The owners, Karen and Paul, were very nice.  I had told them it was our 30th anniversary so they had a small bottle of champagne in a silver bucket and a napkin with champagne glasses on it.  They included a note that said Many Congratulations! From Paul and Karen.  They also had a bottle of cherry liqueur on the table with 2 little glasses and they put chocolates on our pillows at night.  We had great bagels at a place called Bagels and Beans.

Here is a photo of me outside the B&B -



The museums were great in every city but the ones in London were excellent and free except for special shows like the Grace Kelly one I wrote about earlier.  The Louvre was beautiful but it was extremely overcrowded, hot and noisy.  It was hard to see the Mona Lisa with the huge crowd in the room and the painting is behind glass.

Lots of people ride motorcycles in Paris.  Nobody wore helmets while riding their bikes in Amsterdam.  The tram system is great in Amsterdam.  We saw some guys break dancing in Amsterdam which drew a big crowd.

Well, I have to stop for now.  I'll write more memories later.  Oh, while I'm thinking of it, actor Jeremy Irons does the narration on the headphones for the Westminster Abbey tour and he says, "God bless you," at the end in that deep wonderful voice of his!

Doors to the Westminster Abbey

5 comments:

  1. So many wonderful memories! And, Jeremy Irons as a bonus. It's always a pleasure to get to a hotel or B&B and find a nice room. We did two weeks around Ireland and were only disappointed with our place in Dublin, but it fit our budget in a very expensive city.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you recommend going to Ireland? Where is your favorite European destination?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ireland was beautiful, the food was good and the people were friendly. We traveled one week, and stayed in a cottage in Donegal for a week. I would love to visit Iceland again, maybe this time in the summer. It is a fascinating place. I would also like to see Scotland and more of England, especially some of the "Jane Austen" places.

    Norway was beautiful, too. Water and mountains, but we didn't see the bigger cities. You should go to Germany sometime, too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You'd enjoy going to Bath - a Jane Austen place.

    I have been to Germany twice. Once in 1977 with my high school German class and the other time Jackson and I went together in 2001. We went in Nov. so the plane wasn't full at all so close to 9-11. I especially liked Munich.

    We took the train to Salzberg for a day - Sound of Music place! We had delicious Hungarian goulash on the train!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm dying to go to Iceland! I can't believe you've been there Jeannette! That's so cool.

    Joy, how lovely that the B and B in Amersterdam was so welcoming.

    ReplyDelete

Garden

Garden
Versailles

The Louvre

The Louvre
Paris

Paris

Paris
The Seine

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe
Paris

Paris in May

Paris in May
Paris

The Louvre

The Louvre
Paris

Chihuly glass sculpture

Chihuly glass sculpture
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Monet's Water Lilies

Monet's Water Lilies
Orangerie Museum, Paris

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey
London

Bruges

Bruges
View from our hotel window

Amsterdam

Amsterdam
canal

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe
Paris

Lilacs in London

Lilacs in London
St. Paul's Cathedral

The Royal Guard

The Royal Guard
London

Music man

Music man
Bruges

Joy at the Palace

Joy at the Palace
London

Guard

Guard
Tower of London

Jackson in Bruges

Jackson in Bruges
Belgium

Canal bridge

Canal bridge
Amsterdam

Houseboat

Houseboat
Amsterdam

British police

British police
London

Oscar Wilde's Grave

Oscar Wilde's Grave
Paris

Rhododendrons in the park

Rhododendrons in the park
Amsterdam

Versailles

Versailles
Joy in the palace

Winter scene

Winter scene
wow!

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year
dragon

Sweet peas

Sweet peas
love 'em

Pretty bouquet

Pretty bouquet

Princess Diana Fountain

Princess Diana Fountain
Hyde Park

Gardens

Gardens
Versailles

End of summer daisies

End of summer daisies
Our yard

Cool art

Cool art
Tate Modern, London

Penguin party

Penguin party
penguins

Pretty kitty

Pretty kitty
My sister's cat

Jon Hamm

Jon Hamm
Is he a great looking guy or what?

Mad about Don

Mad about Don
Mad Men

Love Monk!!

Love Monk!!
Love To Tony

January and Jon

January and Jon
Beautiful people

Jon and January

Jon and January
Mad Men actors

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa
The Louvre

Royal Crescent

Royal Crescent
Bath

British phone booth

British phone booth
London

Harrod's Department Store

Harrod's Department Store
London

Versailles

Versailles
bedroom

Trafalger Square

Trafalger Square
London

Tower of London

Tower of London
London

Seattle Public Library

Seattle Public Library
Seattle

Lavender

Lavender

Lighthouse

Lighthouse

Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas
beautiful

Coffee love

Coffee love
yummy