What's Wrong With This Picture?

We spotted this in Berlin.  Laughed out loud.

Upon later research I discovered TJ Maxx calls itself TK Maxx in Europe to prevent confusion with TJ Hughes, a British department store.

I Spy the London Eye

As if a city with dungeons, pageantry, drawbridges, double-decker buses, and very large ravens wasn't enough fun for families with children, in 1999 London erected what was at that time the largest Ferris wheel in the world, right on the banks of the River Thames.  The London Eye, as it's known, is a must-do activity whether you're visiting the city with or without kids.

The passenger pods can each carry 25 people, and - believe it or not - they are air-conditioned.  (The Europeans are catching on!)  Passengers are free to walk around inside the oval-shaped, all-glass capsules, but there are benches to sit if you like.

View of a capsule from a capsule.

Seating inside the London Eye's passenger pods.

The most fabulous reason to take a ride on the London Eye is, of course, the 360° panorama of the city.  Views of the House of Parliament and its grand and noble Big Ben tower are a particular highlight from the top of the wheel.

The best way to see Big Ben.

Did you know that you can book your own private capsule package?  You can create your own theme party with food, dessert, or wine on board.  The London Eye also offers a chocolate and truffle tasting private experience, a wine tasting party, and a champagne tasting experience.  Of course, if you're just interested in a standard 30-minute ride, prices are £19.20 for those over 16, £12.30 from 4-15 years old, and free for children under 4.  A family of four ticket is £63.00.  Online ticket purchases offer a savings of up to 20%.

On a clear day, the views are endless.

Photo Friday: Everybody Loves a Parade

For the last 12 years or so I've hosted an annual 4th of July parade for the kids in our little neighborhood.  It's probably time I passed the torch to someone else, as my kids are both teenagers now and are no longer interested in decorating their bikes with streamers and circling the tract.

Running into a local parade while on vacation, however, is one of my favorite travel accidents.  The costumes, the culture, and the audience of townfolk are all so endearing.

Portuguese cavalry parade in Lisbon.

Lisbon

Parade in Brugge, Belgium

Grainau, Germany

Grainau, Germany

Appenzell, Switzerland

Near Buckingham Palace in London

London

This is my Photo Friday link-up post to DeliciousBaby.com.

Mother/Daughter Travel to the East Coast

I've been slacking on the blogging lately, but for good reason:  we were traveling!  First my 16 year old daughter and I spent three days alone together, and then my husband and son joined us on day 4.  We had just two days together before my daughter left us to join her high school group in New York City, and we remaining three finished off the week in NYC as well.

Since my husband demands a little more luxury than I do when traveling, I decided to take the opportunity of being alone with my daughter to show her how little it actually takes to travel frugally, comfortably, and safely.  Our first stop was Boston and we stayed in a hostel.  You may know from my previous posts that I am a big fan of hostelling in Europe, but I have never stayed in one in the U.S., so I was eager for the experience.  It did not disappoint.

The bright and spacious hostel lobby.

Our hostel in Boston was 40 Berkeley.  Located in the South End of town, the neighborhood is - most critically - safe and clean.  My daughter and I never felt nervous, not even when arriving by subway at night (Back Bay station is a block away).  The reception staff was fabulously welcoming:  they asked us not only what floor we wanted our room on, but also which way we wanted it facing and whether we preferred to be nearer or farther from the hallway restroom!  Fresh baked cookies were offered in the bright and spacious, multi-level main lobby, and there was a game room and a snack room with Starbucks coffee and vending machines.  A little later, when I asked a gentleman at the reception desk about subway tickets in Boston, he reached in his wallet and handed me a 7-day, unlimited ride, subway pass (value = $18).  When I thanked him profusely, he said, "Are you traveling alone?" to which I replied, "No, I'm with my daughter," and he promptly pulled out another card for her.  Astonishing hospitality!  And in a final warm gesture, on the morning we departed the hostel we had to leave before breakfast, but one of the cooks who'd noted that my daughter liked bacon, handed her a take-out box full of bacon.

The buffet breakfast, included in the $84/night twin-room rate, served eggs and omelettes, potatoes, bacon or sausage, pancakes or French toast, a variety of cereals, breads, and all beverages.  This hearty breakfast held us over until a late afternoon lunch (sometimes substituted by afternoon dessert instead)!

What were the 40 Berkeley rooms like?  Pretty similar to my old UCLA dorm room.  Two twin beds, a desk, a dresser, and a closet:

The shared bathroom was average too, but never crowded or out of hot water or supplies.

With our free unlimited subway rides, my daughter and I took advantage of Boston's extensive public transportation system.  We rode the trains sometimes even just one stop, rode the bus, and could have taken a ferry as well, but did not.  We were impressed how convenient it was to travel straight to all our college campus tours at Harvard, Tufts, MIT, and Northeastern University.

Will my daughter be attending college in Boston or on the East Coast?  I have no idea, and I don't think she does either.  Since we live on the West Coast it would be far from home, of course.  She's not used to cold weather, and we were both freezing on Wednesday last week when the temperature in Boston hovered around 37° F all day.  What's attractive to both of us about some of these college campuses is their beautiful European architecture.  My jaw dropped touring Yale in New Haven, CT.  Brown and Princeton University are also stunning.

A castle in the English countryside?  No, Yale's residence halls.

Beautiful Brown University campus.

A cathedral in France?  No, the campus chapel at Princeton University.

Since we suffer from limited train service out here on the West Coast, it was exciting for both my daughter and me to travel by Amtrak from Boston to Providence and then on to New Haven.  I learned another travel lesson though:  just like on European high-speed trains, Amtrak tickets are best purchased in advance because the price goes up over time, just like airfare.  We paid almost double what I expected for the ride from Providence to New Haven.

After my husband and son joined my daughter and me in Connecticut, we rented a car and drove to New York City, where we checked in to hostel number two:  Broadway Hotel and Hostel in uptown Manhattan.  The experience was a little bit different.  Will post about it next week.

See my review of Broadway Hotel and Hostel here.

The Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show

Look whom I saw in person last weekend!  As a travel blogger, does that mean I have arrived?  Well, maybe if he took me to lunch or something, but I was just one of hundreds of guests who heard Rick Steves speak last weekend at the LA Travel Show.

Jennifer Miner, co-creator of The Vacation Gals travel blog, was kind enough to provide me with a ticket to the show and I met her there.  She, Brett Snyder (a.k.a. The Cranky Flier), and Kim LaChance Shandrow, a Los Angeles-based tech and parenting journalist, hosted a focus group discussion on travel apps:  Best Travel Apps to Help You Plan Your Next Trip.  I particularly liked Postcard on the Run, an app that will send real postcards, with your vacation photo on it, by snail mail from your phone to anywhere in the world.  LaChance Shandrow recommended her favorite travel apps when traveling with children, one of them Ameba, a TV show and movie streaming service especially designed for children.

I listened to two key speakers, Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, and Rick Steves, both of them so inspiring and richly traveled.  Rick Steves captivated his audience for two complete hours with hardly a break and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with his European travel philosophies.  "Travel like a temporary local," he insists.  My favorite tip was that for the best food in any European city, look for the restaurant with a hand-written menu in only one language.  He's passionate about how to "be" in Europe, not just "go" there.

Rick Steves raved about Istanbul, naming it one of the four great cities in Europe (Paris, London, Rome, and Istanbul) and the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office had a very large exhibition booth promoting tourism at the show.  (Hmmm . . . possible future destination?)

Turkey had a large presence at the LA Travel Show.

I think if you're planning a trip for the first time, or are looking to comparison shop for different tour operators and such, going to a travel show is a useful and fun way to interact with destination experts.

I Am Thankful

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for the wonderful, diverse people we have met, learned from, or merely encountered on our travels in Europe:

Antonio, our gondola driver in Venice.

Anna from Finland who taught us to build an igloo in Switzerland.

The wooden shoe carver in Gouda.

The violin player in Budapest.

Beefeater in London.

Woman on her way to a wedding in Seville.

A lonely matador in Madrid.

A precious toddler in Bavaria, Germany.

Our waiter in Seville.

Beautiful little girl in Tarifa, Spain.

H A P P Y   T H A N K S G I V I N G ! !

Capture the Color Photo Contest

I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to respond to my nomination (by Lisa Goodmurphy at Gone With The Family) to participate in the Capture the Colour blog contest by Travel Supermarket.  In fact, I waited so long, the contest is over.  See the beautiful winning entries here.

Oh well.  I had fun looking through my old digital files.  The object of the game was to select a photo from one's archives that best captures each of the following colors:  Blue, Green, Yellow, White and Red.  Here are my picks:

Blue

Royal Blue Delft is the exquisite, hand-painted, trademark porcelain of the Netherlands, crafted exclusively in the small town of Delft for over three and a half centuries.  Traditional designs are pastoral Dutch scenes such as windmills, sailing ships, and tulips.  We toured the oldest Delftware factory in the summer of 2010 and were fascinated by the history and technique of this ceramic art.  In the photo above, one can see the before and after of a vase.  The artists use black paint containing cobalt oxide to paint their design, which then turns blue during firing.  By adding more or less water, the craftsmen determine the final color and shade of blue.


Green

My two kids, coincidentally both wearing green, at the Lautersee (Lauter Lake) in Mittenwald, Germany.  We came upon this lake by accident on a drive, and ended up staying all day.  We rented a motorboat and let the kids pilot it, hand-fed some goats, and ate Bratwurst at the Gasthaus on the lake shore.


Yellow

Gouda cheese is for sale (and sampling!) every Thursday morning at the cheese market in Gouda, the Netherlands!


White

This might perhaps be my favorite picture taken in Spain last summer.  It's just a nameless narrow alleyway in the precious white hill town of Vejer in Andalusia.


Red


The only thing missing here is a red double-decker bus!  London is one of the best places to take young childen in Europe - there's so much to see and do!

Photo Friday: Not the Diamond Jubilee

No, we weren't at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee last weekend.  These are just pictures from a random royal procession taking place on the streets of London when we were there a few years ago.  Seems like those Brits always have something to celebrate - and always do it with style!

Did you see any of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations on TV?  Most of it took place from June 2 - 5, and included a BBC concert at Buckingham Palace featuring Elton John, Annie Lennox, Paul McCartney, and others; a pageant on the Thames River with a flotilla of over 1,000 boats; a service at St. Paul's Cathedral; a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace; and finally, a balcony appearance.  Beautiful official photos are posted on the official website of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

This post is part of Photo Friday hosted by DeliciousBaby.com.

Happy Mother's Day

I'm participating in a Mother's Day photo carnival today hosted by Mara Gorman on her blog, The Mother of all Trips.  The idea is to link up with a favorite photo of you and your kids on the road.  Easy enough - I have lots of those:

Happy travels and happy Mother's Day!