The Broughtby's European Adventures

  (Dec 25, 2024 - Jan 5, 2025)  For the holiday break we headed to Portugal again. We visited Lisbon and Algarve and included Sam this time.  Portugal was a huge improvement over Amsterdam this time of year for sun and warmth. 🌞 More Lisbon and Algarve photos here:    https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZY7MkqnYN8KMzUrb9 Lisbon As usual we did a food tour in Lisbon.  Here is a photo of a "competition" the tour guide did on who could fill the glasses the fullest without spilling. Ryan will claim he won but gave the victory to his opponent.  Castelo de Sao Jorge (St. George's Castle) is a good place to visit for views. Sintra is a popular town to visit outside of Lisbon. I will say up front that I have not figured out the best way to do a day trip and this was no exception. I opted not to do a big group tour due to prior challenges (see Madrid blog entry). We took the train which was the easy part. Then we took a local bus to see some of the sights including...

(Oct 26 - Nov 1)  I had intended something more elaborate for Sam's fall break such as Greece or Cyprus but that was not to be.  Limited vacation time and late planning required us to keep it simple.  Sam and I headed to Madrid. More Madrid photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/gxZGVJaVyrE48uCz7 Our activities included a food and wine tour, a tour of the Royal Palace of Madrid, a day trip to Avila and Segovia,  Temple of Debod,   a Flamenco show and the Prado Art Museum. Food tour: Royal Palace of Madrid: Avila (this medieval town has almost 100% of it's original city wall still intact): Castle in Segovia: We did a big bus excursion for the Avila and Segovia day trip (note to self to not do this again).  It was a long day of travel and guided tours so I rewarded Sam with Minecraft time on the bus from Avila to Segovia. I have since realized that Minecraft is a very chaotic game so a car-sick prone kid + Minecraft = vomit on the bus.  That ...

(Oct 18 - 21)  Cologne, Germany was added to the travel list since I wanted to see a band that was playing there.  This will be our first trip outside of the Netherlands for just a weekend.   More Cologne photos here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/d1ucCkH3R7MMx2cHA First, I will say that I have now vowed never to take a train in Germany again. This will be our 2nd time taking a train from Amsterdam to Germany (first time to Dusseldorf before we moved here). Both times were fraught with issues. I went by myself ahead of Ryan and Sam and almost seconds within entering Germany when there was an announcement stating that the train would not be going further (same thing happened coming back from Dusseldorf). You might be wondering how I know this given the German trains only make announcements in German. Luckily I encountered some friendly Germans that translated for me. Once I got on to a new train (using my evolving train navigating skills!), there was another announc...

Italy is certainly not new for us but we planned to hit a few cities that we hadn't been to before including Venice, Verona and Bologna. Then to Marche and Umbria to visit Jim and Gretchen and Ryan's parents, similar to last year. Venice (August 23 - 26) :   I went in with low expectations of Venice due to over-tourism and overall bad reputation it seems to have. I was pleasantly surprised! The canals are truly unique (per my Belgium post, I do love all canals!) and it has all the Italy things like good food, wine and culture.  Given the time of year I think we hit it when it wasn't as crowded as it normally is but that meant we found ourselves roasting in the heat again.  We did the standard gondola ride and toured the Doges Palace and St. Marks Basilica. More Venice photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/V9JkNQP9rens9An78 Sam's photography skills are sometimes pretty good: And sometimes not the best: Verona (August 26 - 28) :  This is probably my ...