We Made It Home!
After 99 days in Europe, we made it back home. It’s hard to believe that we went to 9 countries since the last time we were here. In September the only countries I had been to were the USA, Canada, Italy, and Portugal. I added England, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Spain on this trip.
We spent the least amount of time in Germany, spending only 1 night in Ulm. Even though we weren’t in the country for much more than 24 hours, I still enjoyed it. My favorite thing we did was go to a beer garden in Munich. I wrote about it in one of my earlier blogs, and I still think it was one of the best meals we had. I had currywurst and a giant pretzel, which is very stereotypical German.
We spent 2 nights in 3 other countries; Belgium, Netherlands, and Switzerland. Belgium was the first EU country we went to on this trip. We spent all our time there in Brussels, the capital. My favorite thing in Belgium was the Atomium. I wrote about the Atomium in one of my earlier blogs too. It’s a model of an atom that was made for the Brussels World Fair in 1958. The structure of the Atomium is the edges and vertices of a 3 dimensional cube made out of shining metal. It looked cool from the outside, but the inside was better. We took an elevator to the top and got a nice view over Brussels. There was also a different path up some stairs that taught us about the history of this landmark.
We were in Amsterdam, Netherlands for the next 2 nights. It feels like we were there so long ago, so my best memory was the rain. It pretty much rained nonstop while we were in the Netherlands, but I still enjoyed our time. I really enjoyed the canal tour we took. Amsterdam is known for its canals, so we had to do this. We rode through most of the main canals while we listened to narration about all the places we were seeing. It was pretty much a tour bus, but since the roads were too small they had to do it on the water instead.
The last country we spent 2 nights in was Switzerland. We chose to go to Basel because it borders France and Germany, so we wouldn’t have to be on a train too long to get there. Switzerland was actually the first place I tried currywurst. That wasn’t my favorite part though. My favorite part was climbing Basel Minster, the big cathedral in Basel. My dad and I did it, and we got some nice views of the city from the top. This was my first of a bunch of climbs, and one of the better ones.
Austria was the first place we stayed for more than 2 nights, and in more than 1 place. We stayed 2 nights in Salzburg and 1 night in Innsbruck to make 3 nights in Austria. My favorite thing in both places involved a funicular. A funicular is a cable railroad usually on a mountainside, and I had never heard of them before this trip. In Salzburg we took a short funicular to go up into a castle that overlooked the city. The castle was a big museum about the history of Salzburg, but the views were the best part. In Innsbruck we took another funicular up one of the mountains. We didn’t go all the way up, but it was still a much longer ride than in Salzburg. This funicular was kind of like a subway. People who lived on the mountain would take the funicular to get up and down. Even though we got off only halfway up the mountain, the views were still great. Since Innsbruck is in the middle of the Alps, we were surrounded by mountains. The other mountains were a great backdrop for the city.
We started and ended our trip in England, but we only spent 7 days there. 7 days may sound like a lot, but considering we spent a month in other countries, it’s shorter than it seems. We spent all of our time in London, and it felt like we were really living how someone who lives in London would live. We took the Tube, the London subway, to get into the city almost every day because we stayed outside of the center. It was cool to see all the landmarks like Big Ben and to go to a few museums, but I really liked some of the food we had. We had to get fish and chips, since it’s what England is known for, but my favorite meal was actually Indian food. We went to a restaurant called Dishoom, and had really good food. When we first arrived at the restaurant I couldn’t really taste anything because I had a cold, but the spices cleared everything up instantly. My dad and I got 2 chicken dishes to share, and they were both delicious. If I ever got the chance, I would most likely go back.
We stayed in the most different places in France, even though we were only there for 11 nights. We stayed in Paris for 3 nights, which was the longest stay in one place in France, and Lyon and Montpellier for 1 night each. The other 6 nights were divided evenly through Strasbourg, Toulouse, and Bordeaux. All of these places were very different, and I liked them all. I think Paris was probably my favorite though. I liked seeing all the landmarks I had seen pictures of, but never actually seen in person. We were also there during the week, so it wasn’t busy, which made me like it more. We also had some good food in Paris. The best meal we had was probably at an Italian restaurant, but the French dinner we had on our last night was good too.
Spain was the last new country we went to, but we spent a lot of time there. 34 nights to be exact. Most of that was in Valencia, where we stayed 28 nights, but we also stayed 2 nights in Madrid, and 4 in Barcelona. All these places made Spain probably my favorite country we went to. It’s not an experience, but I really liked how I was able to wear shorts in November in Barcelona and Valencia. I really liked Valencia as a whole city and I would definitely go back there. I liked how it was relatively small, so we were able to walk easily to everything. The center was made up of lots of old buildings, and had some really nice plazas. I also really liked the big park because it was a nice outdoor space. The park is where the river used to be, but they rerouted it to make the park. We rode bikes through the park to get down to the beach one day. The beach was another nice part of Valencia, but we only went once because it was a 1+ hour walk, and we only rented bikes once. After that one day we went to the beach, I can say I’ve stuck my feet in the Mediterranean on 2 different sides.
The country we spent the most time in was Italy. We spent most of our time in Florence because we stayed there for 28 nights also. The other places we stayed were Venice for 3 nights, Ravenna for 2 nights, and Turin for 2 nights. We also took a lot of day trips from Florence. We ended up going to Lucca, Arezzo, Pisa, and Siena on those trips. My favorite thing we did in Italy was when my dad and I climbed up the Duomo in Florence. The Duomo stands out over the entire city, so we got some nice views. Since we went to climb at 8 in the morning we also got to explore some of the city while it was pretty empty. Usually the main areas of Florence are full of tourists, but we were some of the only people around. I also liked our day trip to Siena. I wrote a blog about that right after we did it, and I mentioned all the neighborhoods. The neighborhoods all have their own flags and they compete in a horse race twice a year, which I thought was really cool.
I think that we had a great time in Europe. We went to so many places and saw so many things. I will probably never be on a trip like this again, but I’m happy I got to experience it.
