The Broughtby's European Adventures

April 19:  Keane came to Amsterdam (AFAS Live) for the 20th anniversary of their Hopes and Fears album.  This was a very pivotal album for my 30 year old self.  Excellent and nostalgic show.  The venue was easy to get to and from by public transport which is different from the chaos of Chicago concert venues!   Somewhere Only We Know  video

April 12 - 15:  My friend Megan invited me for a weekend getaway and we chose Dublin due to inexpensive flights. I had been to Dublin once 10 years ago when I was pregnant so I was excited to have a non-pregnant experience.  We had a lovely kid/husband-free weekend including a walking tour, Irish Famine Exhibition, EPIC Immigration Museum, National Gallery and good restaurants that didn't even have kid's menus!  More Dublin photos here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/785CA8VM9Zch9Vvf7   

April 10:  Sam and I went to  Keukenhof  during the 2nd week of his spring break to see the famous Dutch spring tulips.   A little exhausting to get to/from and fighting crowds but it thinned out the later it got and the flowers are insane! More Keukenhof photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/7bW1MEihewJwaRUj6

After skiing in Zermatt, we made our way by train to Lausanne, Switzerland to explore areas around Lake Geneva. More Lake Geneva photos here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/u9p9JTcSTcshayTs7 April 3:  Upon arrival in Lausanne, we went to the lakefront area called Port d'Ouchy.  It was rainy so it was a good time to visit the Olympic Museum. Lausanne is home to the International Olympic Committee headquarters.  The museum was interesting, although not the best audio tour (lengthy and unclear directions).  I did enjoy all the various artifacts, descriptions and videos from past Olympics getting us excited for the upcoming Paris Olympics.  Here is the basketball signed by the Dream Team : April 4: The plan today was to hit some towns along the coast of Lake Geneva by train (and foot). First to see the Chillon Castle which is situated on the lake. We toured the inside which was fun for Sam and the kid's version of the map was manageable (for both me ...

Sam's spring break is a full two weeks at the beginning of April.  We decided to take this time for our first European ski trip.  Given it is late in the ski season, I googled "best late season skiing in Europe" and Zermatt, Switzerland kept coming up.  With that intense and sophisticated research, we decided to go to Zermatt, which is in the Swiss Alps. It also gave us an opportunity to visit a country we haven't been to.  We spent 3 days skiing and then went to Lausanne to explore another area by Lake Geneva (separate blog for Lake Geneva). More Zermatt photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q6wfH4FzvEeyp7pW7 March 29:  We had discussed trying the Nightjet train and that is what we booked for this trip. That means departing Amsterdam and around 8:30 pm and then arriving in Switzerland at around 6:30 am for a connection to another train (and more trains after that).  This is a super risky adventure given the  likelihood  of limite...