Are we happy our holiday housesit took us to Brussels? Yes. After Prague, it is the best European city we had ever spent Christmas in and there was so much to explore and see. Also, while Brussels doesn’t have the obvious charm of Bruges or Antwerp, it’s still a highly walkable city with a lot going for it. Famous icons…
A simple fact about our relationship is that Greg had about a 10-year jump start in the international travel department, so Mandy is always seeking the opportunity to scoot a bit closer to her competitive conspirator. But, once she knocked one off for Belgium, she realized that was not sufficient. Thus, along came a six-hour, flu-inducing solo ride to one…
From Brussels, we hopped a 1.5 hour eastbound train to the Dutch border city of Antwerp and were elated to find that the railways were offering 50% off on all round trip tickets in Belgium so it was 17€ for both of us! Whoohoo! The name Antwerp literally means “at the wharf.” It is home to one of the most immaculate…
Brews, Bruges & A New Family Greg and beer go together like wine and cheese, peanut butter and jam or strawberries and cream. But not just any ‘ol beer. As a former home brewer with a full-scale* operation in our basement, and full-time beer aficionado from the Beervana Capital of the US (Portland), beer for him is an absolute experience…a…
The first time in this city, Mandy was sick. The second time she got her first case of bed bugs. We could only hope that the third time in Romania's capital would be a charm. And it was! But, perhaps that was just uh...Christmas? When we went to Bucharest in December 2022, we had spent Christmases in the States, Sri…
From Verona, we hopped in a BlaBla car with three other people for 14€ total to head 1.5 hours to a town most known for its Milan-based airport…Bergamo. It would have cost 20 by bus so this was the best deal, plus ride sharing is always way more interesting. (Side note: We have yet to figure out why this oh-so-obvious…
Somehow we landed in Italia. To be honest, it’s not somewhere either of us had been rushing to return to after our initial separate forays in our 20’s. Neither one of us had extraordinary experiences back then. To be honest, they were both a bit sour, but granted, we had only waded into the most touristed places possible…Rome, Venice and…
Chugging along from Spain, we took a pricy bus ($36/each) three hours northwest to the little principality of Andorra, a country which has remarkably been around for 1000 years and has never been involved in a war. Also yes, that counts as a new country for both of us. Andorra, swallowed by France on one side and Spain on the…
