A Birthday Trip without a Birthday - 2/16: Conclusion and Bonus Birthday Tea

[mom3sonstt]

Oh we have trains here and an Amtrak station in town. I was referring to the high speed rail in Europe or even their local Regional trains. You could travel all of Germany without need of a car. We have nothing of that here in the mid-west.

Ahhhh...I get it

 

[brookelizabeth]

Magdalene - I am here! I have been reading, and I thought I have posted, but the DIS takes me back to page 9! I am a bit behind, but not THAT behind!

Well, I found out I was CORRECT! I had posted just back on page 27 and only have missed your Coburg update - which I highly enjoyed! What a beautiful town. And how very cool about the tie in with Victoria & Alberts!

You mentioned previously, I believe on my TR perhaps, that you thought Americans made a much bigger deal out of the "hassle" of traveling abroad than what it is. (you worded it more nicely I believe though! ) That really spoke to me. You are right! I spoke to Joe about 2 weeks ago that we should stop saying "someday" and just set a time frame. If we have to move it, we have to move it.

2012 - DCL, booked
2013 - Disneyland
2014 - PARIS! Henry will be 7 (or almost 7), plenty old enough to enjoy it and understand it a bit, and not unbearable (I hope!) on a plane. This trip might turn into a bit more than just Paris as well - as long as we are in Europe...

So there you have it. Thank you for your inspiration and encouragement!

 

[Flossbolna]

WOW 4 hours to Munich from Berlin that is fantastic it would make travel so much easier. When DH and I were planning our Germany trip we made a rule about train travel no more that 4-5 hours to a new destination by train. We didn't want to waste a whole day on a train. We even loved traveling by train! Something we don't have here in the midwest. And I hope Katharina will post pictures from her trip to Northern France! That would be lovely too...

Train journeys of more than 5 hours are getting tedious, so I think that was a good decision!

Katharina will be back soon and I am sure that she will have some lovely pictures for you!

Magdalene - I am here! I have been reading, and I thought I have posted, but the DIS takes me back to page 9! I am a bit behind, but not THAT behind!

Well, I found out I was CORRECT! I had posted just back on page 27 and only have missed your Coburg update - which I highly enjoyed! What a beautiful town. And how very cool about the tie in with Victoria & Alberts!

You mentioned previously, I believe on my TR perhaps, that you thought Americans made a much bigger deal out of the "hassle" of traveling abroad than what it is. (you worded it more nicely I believe though! ) That really spoke to me. You are right! I spoke to Joe about 2 weeks ago that we should stop saying "someday" and just set a time frame. If we have to move it, we have to move it.

2012 - DCL, booked
2013 - Disneyland
2014 - PARIS! Henry will be 7 (or almost 7), plenty old enough to enjoy it and understand it a bit, and not unbearable (I hope!) on a plane. This trip might turn into a bit more than just Paris as well - as long as we are in Europe...

So there you have it. Thank you for your inspiration and encouragement!

Brook, that is fantastic news!! I think every Disney fan ought to see the original park, I am sure that you will just love Disneyland! Are you planning on seeing other sights in Southern California as well? My absolutely favourite thing there (besides DL) was the Warner Brothers studio tour.

And 2014 Paris is a great plan! I think 7 is the age when my parents started to take Katharina and me for city breaks and we had always fun on these holidays. So I am sure that Henry will be fine. I think that kids actually do much better on these long flights than adults: they have more space in those airplane seats and they tend to just sleep.

And it will give you plenty of time to research - you could even sign up for a French language class or get some computer language course to pick up a few phrases. Being able to speak a few simple sentences is something which makes travelling abroad so much easier! I really need to get started to learn some basic Japanese...

And perhaps we can even have a DISmeet somewhere in Europe! If I don't make it tó NYC before then...

 

[marvali]

Hi everyone!! Sorry for the long absence, but I am back now with an important announcement: Look at our ticker - only 3 months from today and we will arrive at the Boardwalk!

Katharina is off on vacation at the moment in Northern France, but I have some new pictures to post - and hope to get into more of a mood of updating this in the next weeks!

Congrats on 3 months!!!

Oh sure, sneak in that Coburg update while I'm away with scouts at camp! Once again a splendid update and beautiful pictures! I always love seeing all the architecture and hearing about your homeland! What a great story about Victoria and Albert! Maybe one day.......

Oh, and I read Katharina's update about the soap box derby when she posted it, but I never got to comment! That is so cool. I heard about the soap box derby when I was younger and always thought it would be so much fun to participate.

 

[nodnol]

Hello everyone, I'm back from Brittany! We had a wonderful vacation, with a short stop in Paris as well. I'll post some pictures over the weekend, I hope...

 

[tiggrbaby]

Hello everyone, I'm back from Brittany! We had a wonderful vacation, with a short stop in Paris as well. I'll post some pictures over the weekend, I hope...

Welcome back! Can't wait to see your pics!

 

[kid-at-heart]

Welcome back! I hope you had a great trip. Looking forward to seeing the photos.

 

[jenjolt]

Welcome Home!! I really can't wait to see your pictures!!!!

 

[marvali]

Hello everyone, I'm back from Brittany! We had a wonderful vacation, with a short stop in Paris as well. I'll post some pictures over the weekend, I hope...

Welcome Home Katharina!!! I'm sure you had a wonderful time! Can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[nodnol]

Welcome back! Can't wait to see your pics!

Welcome back! I hope you had a great trip. Looking forward to seeing the photos.

Welcome Home!! I really can't wait to see your pictures!!!!

Welcome Home Katharina!!! I'm sure you had a wonderful time! Can't wait to see the pictures.

Pictures are coming up, I had to transfer them from my DHs PC to mine, as he took all the pictures this time.

The trip was really wonderful, but the pictures are mostly from the first few days, then it started raining quite a bit. But we were walking everyday and were well equipped so we never got really really wet. And of course we had luggage transport, so we knew that at the and of the day, we would have a warm place with a shower and dry clothes. And of course great food. We had lots of fresh seafood. The area is famous for oysters and scallops. We somehow didn't manage to try the oysters, but had scallops several times and also crawfish - but sorry, no food pictures....

 

[nodnol]

We travelled by train and spent one evening and night in Paris. We spent our honeymoon in Paris, so it is always nice to be back

We arrived after about 9 hours on the train, checked in at the hotel and put on some summer clothes (I have to wear winter clothes in German highspeed trains because of the air conditioning) and started walking:

Original metre

Montparnasse tower from the ground

View from the top

Gare Montparnasse, from where we left the next morning to Brittany

 

[nodnol]

We started walking the next morning in bright sunshine, we walked along the coast and estuaries in Finistere:

public convenience in Pont Aven (Gaugin lived here, in the town, not the restroom)

Brittany is the county of hydrangeas, they were everywhere, not only in gardens, and in many different colors. These were on the edge of a small forest

Blind arms of the estuaries are used a ship cemetaries

The dictionary has four English words for this, I hope I picked the right one: old burial mound. The Latin word is tumulus.

One night we stayed at the harbour hotel in tiny Port du Pouldu, this was the view from one window, out to the sea.

View from the other window onto the harbour

An old king's way from the 18th century

We will be definitely back, this time with a car to explore more of the region, and maybe make a stop at DLP on the way, DH finally agreed that maybe, he should check out a Disneypark!

 

[tiggrbaby]

Lovely pics! So you traveled by foot from hotel to hotel and they moved you luggage? What a great idea!

 

[kid-at-heart]

Beautiful photos. It looks like you had a relaxing style of vacation, my favorite kind.

 

[glennbo123]

Beautiful pictures Katharina. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Poolrat]

It is always lovely to see Europe even if it only in pictures.


Sounds like you had a lovely time. Thanks for sharing.

 

[lovealldisney]

Thank you Katharina for sharing your pictures! I loved them So I am assuming you walked from hotel to hotel and they transported your luggage for you? How wonderful!

 

[nodnol]

Lovely pics! So you traveled by foot from hotel to hotel and they moved you luggage? What a great idea!

Yes, carrying all your things with you all the time isn't really a lot of fun. And I'm too old and too lazy to do that

Beautiful photos. It looks like you had a relaxing style of vacation, my favorite kind.

Well, it depends, my colleague, who had booked a similar vacation in Italy did onyl three of their six walking tours, she said it was too exhausting, we had between 10 and 26 kilometers per day.

Beautiful pictures Katharina. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you!

It is always lovely to see Europe even if it only in pictures.


Sounds like you had a lovely time. Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome!

Thank you Katharina for sharing your pictures! I loved them So I am assuming you walked from hotel to hotel and they transported your luggage for you? How wonderful!

The first few days I was a little nervous and afraid, they might forget about our luggage, but most of the time it was already in our room, when we arrived.

 

[marvali]

Wow Katharina, that looks like a very fun and enjoyable trip! And some really great pictures!

 

[lovealldisney]

So how many miles did you walk in a day? Were you able to stop and visit things on the way to your next location? This sounds really fun and something I think I would enjoy.