Destination: Amsterdam

Seeing the rows upon rows of tulips, of all different color varieties, in the The Netherlands has been on my travel bucket list for awhile. I've seen the pictures and I imagine seeing them in person would be spectacular.  Back in the fall, Geoff and I had briefly talked about visiting Holland this coming spring to see the sight. But sadly, when we found out in November that we were being moved back to the USA in early 2017, any thoughts of seeing those tulips were halted.

However, I still wanted to get over to Amsterdam because it was the last big place on our European travel bucket list that we had not yet visited. You'd think after living in London for 4 1/2 years that we would have made it there before given its short jaunt across the English Channel, but I guess we were busy. You know, visiting other countries around the world!  So with our one last free weekend in January, we hopped on a plane for the 45 minute flight over to Amsterdam.

Our visit there was short and sweet, arriving Friday evening and departing Sunday evening. On Saturday, we took a short journey via city bus outside of Amsterdam to De Zaanse Schans.  I'm not sure what you would call the area, maybe a little village. There were working and non-working windmills, a museum, cheese making shop, restaurants, cute little houses and a wooden clog shop. 

This windmill below was one of the mills working that day. Plus, it was open for visitors to go inside.  This particular one was a sawmill and we were were able to see how the power of the wind was used to saw the wood into boards. 

Going to De Zaanse Schans in early January is definitely not peak tourist season. It was so cold outside and there is a good reason they built windmills in that area. It was well, windy! Thankfully that meant few other tourists there along with us. I can't imagine how packed the place must get in the spring/summer/fall when the weather is better. 

The clog workshop was especially fun to visit. The girls loved seeing how a stump was wood was carved into the shape of the clog. There were all kinds of shapes, sizes and colors of the clogs.  It was also nice to take shelter somewhere warm for a few minutes to briefly unthaw.

On Sunday, we spent our day in seeing with city of Amsterdam. We took a short boat tour of the city around many of the city's canals. We walked across many bridges. We tried to stay out of the Red Light District and way from "coffee shops". We visited the Ann Frank House.  No photos were allowed inside but it was very fascinating.  I particularly loved Olivia's curiosity about the young girl and her house. She had so many questions! Some of them were difficult to answer (How do you really explain war and the Holocaust to a 6 year old??), but I love exposing her to these pieces of history.

And with that...the Streit family's European travel adventures (at least while being European residents!), reached its conclusion. So long, Europe!  Thanks for all the memories.  We'll be back!

Destination: Budapest, Hungary

In the four years we've lived in London, we have spent nearly every Christmas holiday apart from our families in the US. Our first Christmas in London back in 2012, most of my family came to visit us here. But since then, we have not traveled back to the US nor have we had any other family visitors be with us on Christmas. So instead, we've spent the last three years hitting various destinations in Europe.  

2013 - Germany, Austria and Czech Republic

2014 - Bruges, Belgium

2015 - Edinburgh, Scotland

Back in the late summer/early fall, Geoff and I started discussing possible places to visit around the holidays. Budapest is always at the top of the list of most beautiful European Christmas destinations. Couple that with my family's Hungarian heritage (my great-grandparents on my mom's side immigrated to the US from Hungary) and the appeal to return to my roots. So it was decided. 

One of the biggest highlight of visiting European cities at the holidays are the Christmas markets.  Stalls are set up around the city squares with various vendors selling their goods and foods. We spent Christmas Eve wandering the market stalls and streets of the city.

Drinking apple cider to stay warm!

This kid had the good life.  Being pushed around while comfortably warm in a sleeping bag. No wonder he's smiling!

The lovely Chain Bridge, connecting Buda to Pest over the Danube River.

By this photo we were frozen. The wind and extra damp air around the river made it absolutely bone chilling cold. 

For dinner on Christmas Eve, Geoff booked us a table at the restaurant in our hotel.  Not many restaurants were open on Christmas Eve around the city and this restaurant was offering a special 6 course Christmas menu, so it was an easy decision to dine there.  The result: the longest dinner ever. EVER! 

 Our reservation was at 7:00. We left the restaurant sometime around 10:15 and that was only after getting 4 out of the 6 courses!! The service was so unbelievable slow. The time between each course was anywhere between 30-45 minutes. They skipped bringing us our first course and the kids were falling asleep at the table by the end, so we asked to have our dessert sent to our room. At one point  during the meal, Geoff asked the wait staff if we could have our courses brought out a bit quicker seeing as we had THREE LITTLE KIDS at the table. However, the kitchen and staff were on their own schedule that night. Definitely not ours. We played lots and lots of rounds of I-Spy at the table that night. 

Despite being away from our home, we tried to make it feel special on Christmas day for the kids.  Our elf Andy magically followed us from London to Budapest. He brought with him a little Christmas tree (thanks to some helper elves at our hotel 😉), a few gifts and some special treats. 

Merry Christmas from Olivia, Ashton and Quinn!

The weather was cold and lightly sleeting on Christmas, Ashton wasn't feeling well and most of the major sights of interest were closed. It was tempting to just stay in the warm hotel room all day, but we forced ourselves out. No point in visiting a city if we stay in the hotel room, right???  We found a tram, which was semi-warm, that ran along the river so we hopped aboard for a ride.

Olivia looks so much like an urban, European girl to me in this photo! 

We got off the tram at the Hungarian parliament building for a more up close look.  Gorgeous!  

For Christmas evening dinner, we boarded a boat for a lovely dinner cruise up and down the Danube. We had traditional Hungarian food and heard traditional Hungarian music. The way the buildings light up at night along the river is really beautiful and gives the city a whole new feel.  

Loving the Hungarian dumplings!

Merry Christmas!

The day after Christmas, the weather warmed up considerably and the sun appeared, making it so much more enjoyable to see the city.

We rode the tram across the river for a hike to the top of the Gellert Hill. Reaching the top of the hill left us with gorgeous views of the surrounding city and river.  We also discovered a small playground of sorts along the way, which was definitely the girls' highlight of the trek.