Well, I am catching up on the blog - three posts today and some major renovations to the "Where in the world is..." list.
Things are really starting to pick up on the travel front over here after a well deserved respite. I do not have all of the dates confirmed yet, but I have listed all of my trips through November. It is starting to look like a musical world tour. Should I get shirts printed? Will scalpers sell them in the airports as I walk through? What picture should be on the front? The most creative suggestions will be published on the comments!
Friday, July 20, 2007
London
So, it wasn't a "Foggy Day in London Town", but the second day was a rainy day! More on that later. We arrived at wonderful Heathrow around 9:00 local time. Heathrow is just horrible. Terminal 2 just seems like it is about to fall apart all on it's own! We eventually gathered luggage, checked into the hotel and hopped on the Tube into downtown.
We did a very touristy thing and ate at the original Hard Rock Cafe. We then walked through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. We found the original Lost Boy Statue. This one is much easier to find as there are signs everywhere and it is in much better shape.
Next thing we did was walk down Oxford St. to Oxford Circus and then Regent St. to Picadilly Circus. While on Regent St., we stopped in Hamley's, a 7 story toy store. It was just amazing the number of people that were out and about. The whole city felt like a pack of sardines.
On Sunday we decided to take one of the open top tour buses for a hop on hop off tour of London. I have always felt the tour thing was a little cheesy and overpriced, which sometimes the commentary is and the prices are, however, with a 5 year old, it is one of the best ways to see all of the landmarks of a city in a very short period of time. It did rain every now and then, but that is what Starbuck's was invented for!
Overall, London was a neat town to see. I would like to go back and spend a little more time at some of the museum's, but with the aforementioned 5 year old, that is not much of an option. I wouldn't mind if the crowds decided to stay home though...
Brussels
Yes... I am very slowly catching up on this. Sorry about that, I had said I would catch up when I did Warsaw... Oops.
So, most of you have probably read London up above, that was the second weekend excursion we went on in just as many weeks. During the first weekend of July we decided to pack up and go to Brussels. We left Bonn at around 7:00, well closer to 8 as we decided to treat ourselves for a Starbucks for the ride. It is only a 2 hour drive to Brussels so we pulled into the hotel just as the sun went down.
Saturday we spent the day meandering through the city. We started at Autoworld, a museum about the history of the automobile. It was a little different in that it was basically a big open place, like an airplane hangar, but still very nice. They had hundreds of cars dating back from the late 1800's to today. And of course, they had a Harley Davidson! It was donated to the King of Belgium for his motorcade. Every King needs a Hog to keep him safe!
We then made our way into the main square. Just like every other town in Europe, the architecture is absolutely breathtaking. The main square was hands down the best. There was a wedding going on and they had stilt walkers outside. My favorite is a photo my wife captured of them resting against the wall. Bonus points if you spot the funniest bit of the photo!
One of the highlights of the day was finding the elusive Lost Boy Statue. This is located in Egmont Gardens, behind the Hilton Hotel. This statue is unique because it is one of only 7 in the world. There is a special attraction for us as a good friend brought our attention to the statue because one of the seven is in Camden, NJ. Why Camden, not a clue... What makes this statue elusive is that there is only one website on all of the web that even hints as to where it is. In a city full of statues, this is truly a lost one, not even residents of Brussels know about it!
So, most of you have probably read London up above, that was the second weekend excursion we went on in just as many weeks. During the first weekend of July we decided to pack up and go to Brussels. We left Bonn at around 7:00, well closer to 8 as we decided to treat ourselves for a Starbucks for the ride. It is only a 2 hour drive to Brussels so we pulled into the hotel just as the sun went down.
Saturday we spent the day meandering through the city. We started at Autoworld, a museum about the history of the automobile. It was a little different in that it was basically a big open place, like an airplane hangar, but still very nice. They had hundreds of cars dating back from the late 1800's to today. And of course, they had a Harley Davidson! It was donated to the King of Belgium for his motorcade. Every King needs a Hog to keep him safe!
We then made our way into the main square. Just like every other town in Europe, the architecture is absolutely breathtaking. The main square was hands down the best. There was a wedding going on and they had stilt walkers outside. My favorite is a photo my wife captured of them resting against the wall. Bonus points if you spot the funniest bit of the photo!
One of the highlights of the day was finding the elusive Lost Boy Statue. This is located in Egmont Gardens, behind the Hilton Hotel. This statue is unique because it is one of only 7 in the world. There is a special attraction for us as a good friend brought our attention to the statue because one of the seven is in Camden, NJ. Why Camden, not a clue... What makes this statue elusive is that there is only one website on all of the web that even hints as to where it is. In a city full of statues, this is truly a lost one, not even residents of Brussels know about it!
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