Paris Day 1

Today was BUSY!  We did a lot and it was fun, but slightly exhausting.  That's OK though.  It was all good.  We had a quick continental breakfast in the hotel so we could get a jump on our day.  We took the Metro to Notre Dame (even though our hotel is a little outside of the center of Paris it's very convenient to the heart of Paris via the Metro; we don't even have to change lines) and walked around it for a bit.  It's an amazing structure and a remarkable monument to the faithful dedication of those who built it.  

After that we walked just up the street to Sainte-Chapelle. The stained glass is stunning!  We are also excited to learn that there would be a concert in the chapel that night.... Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" which is one of our favorites.  So, of course we bought tickets.  

We walked along the Seine down to the Louvre where we spent a couple of hours, mostly spending time looking at the paintings. Then we had a traditional French lunch at Cafe le Nemours.  I ordered a Croque Monsier and Jay got the Croque Madame.  

We kept walking north up toward the L'Opera, then down through the Place Vendome, then through the beautiful Jardins des Tuileries.  We sat next to the fountain to rest for a while and relax before going in to the Musee de L'Orangerie to view Monet's "Waterlilies" and many other Impressionist works.  

Then we headed west toward the Eiffel Tower, enjoying the scenes along the way.  We also stopped at the Musee L'Armee and Napoleon's Tomb.  It's pretty impressive..... a massive shrine to a little man. The guy was pretty full of himself.  

The weather was lovely so we enjoyed lying on the grass in the park next to the Eiffel Tower.  And yes, we did a little smooching.  It's Paris!  

We took the Metro back to where we started so we could catch the concert at Sainte-Chapelle.  It was excellent!  They chamber orchestra was excellent, and the setting was so unique and interesting. Very memorable!

After the concert we walked though the Latin quarter, picked a bistro at random (there is one on every corner) and had a late dinner.  Then we took the Metro back to our hotel.  Whew!  What a day!    

Paris via the Chunnell

This morning we said goodbye to London and travelled by train to Paris via the "Chunnell" under the English Channel.  It was not quite like the scene from "Mission Impossible".... our ears were popping and we had no WiFi.... but it was pretty cool.  And it's a great way to travel rather than flying.... you don't have to go all the way out to the airport (leave from the center of the city instead), you can carry aboard all the liquids you want, you don't have to wear a seatbelt, and you can walk around anytime and leave your tray table down the whole time if you want.

We checked in to our hotel which is outside the center of Paris in the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, but very accessible by Metro.  It's a quiet neighborhood with a lovely park right across the street.  We enjoyed walking up and down the main boulevard looking in shops and sat in the park for a while people watching.  There were lots of families with children out enjoying the lovely spring day.  It was delightful, and we could almost pretend we were French, though I only know a few phrases, and Jay knows even less.  We stopped at a patisserie for paninis and pastries.  Oh my.

People watching in the park. 

Our cute and quiet hotel. 

I think Jay is tired of having his photo taken.

It's been a nice relaxing day... very welcome after the whirl-wind days spent in London.  Though we are looking forward to more of that as we explore Paris tomorrow.

Last day in London

This morning we joined the Saturday crowds at Portobello Road Market. We had fun looking around and found some great treasures. And the song was stuck in my head for hours.

Then we were off to the Tower of London. We didn't stay very long because it was packed, which was a bit disappointing. Oh well. 

Next we visited St. Paul's Cathedral which is even more spectacular than you can imagine. (Rick Steve's audio tour was great.). We walked the hundreds of steps all the way to the top.  I'm gonna be sore tomorrow!  But it was amazing!

Then we headed to Westminster Abbey but we missed that last entry by 2 minutes. Why they won't let anyone in after 3:30 is beyond me!  Bummer. I was almost in tears. I lied. I WAS in tears.

Instead we took a lovely walk through St James Park to Buckingham Palace, which was really fun. And I already starting planning our next trip to London. Now I just have to convince Jay....

Then we headed to the theatre district and randomly picked an Indian restaurant for dinner. It was not fabulous but it was pretty good. Then we went to the Palace Theatre to see "Singing in the Rain!"  So amazing!  It rains on stage!  Twice!  What a fun show!  I highly recommend it. 

It was another long and busy day, but super fun!  We are off to Paris tomorrow!

London

Our first full day in London started out kind of chilly and drizzly but it cleared up and was quite nice later on.  We started the day by taking the Hop-on/Hop-off bus your around the city to get our bearings. We also took the Thames river boat cruise which was fun. The guide was very funny.

We visited the National Gallery which has many lovely paintings. The building itself is gorgeous as well. We did a lot of walking, just exploring. We had lunch at the Sherlock Holmes pub. 

This afternoon we went out to the suburbs to the Dr. Who Shop and museum. It has a lot of props sand costumes from the show, including a Tardis. We took lots of photos for our kids since they are such huge Dr. Who fans!

Then we grabbed a quick dinner on our way to the theatre. We saw "As You Like It" at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.  The production was excellent and we really enjoyed it. 

We are beat but it was a fun day!

A Travel Day

Today was mostly spent traveling. We left beautiful Bornholm this morning, taking the ferry back to Ystad, Sweden and then the train to the airport in Copenhagen. We had a couple hours just hanging out in the airport before we flew to London. We arrived in the evening and took the Tube to our hotel, which is amazing!  It's the Marriott County Hall, a gorgeous historic building right on the Thames river next to the London Eye, looking out at parliament and Big Ben!  It got suddenly chilly and was drizzling but we went out anyway, walking along the river. We stopped in to a little restaurant and had a delicious late dinner. We are excited to get going tomorrow morning and start seeing the sites!

Last day together

Today we spent our last together as a family on this trip. Jay and I will be traveling alone for the next week.  Some of the others are traveling on their own too before going home.

This morning we visited one of the famous round churches (Ostlars, the largest). Then we drove to the cute seaside town of Guhdjem where we walked around and looked in shops. We got a couple of small souvenirs. Then it was on to Hammershus, ancient ruins which were fascinating and more extensive than I expected. The views we amazing too. 

Then we split up for a while.  We were in a car with my brother Peter and his wife and we drove around to find the other 3 round churches, to a hardware store to find a Danish flag, and found a wonderful "Antik & Retro" shop in Nylars where we bought a few wonderful treasures. 

When we got back to the hotel we had some time before dinner so we rented bicycles and rode through the nearby forested areas and a local neighborhood. It's so beautiful!  It was a lot of fun. Something I've always wanted to do. 

We all had dinner together at Poul P, a small restaurant in Ronne owned by a local artist who has a gallery next door. The food was excellent and we had a private room upstairs so we were able to talk and laugh freely. 

Back at the hotel we all sat in the common room and Stephen, my brother (and the best photographer among us!) plugged in his laptop to the TV and we watched a slide show of our trip. Then since we all head our separate ways in the morning, and some are leaving very early, we said our goodbyes. For now. I am SO grateful to my parents for providing us with this wonderful opportunity!  It's been a fantastic trip and we have had the royal treatment!  

We could have easily spent a week in Copenhagen and another on Bornholm!  We saw just enough if Denmark to make us want to come back!  I hope we can someday. 

Family Heritage

The view of the Baltic Sea from our hotel room

A fantastic day on the island of Bornholm. We are staying in Ronne, the main city. The island is small with lots of quaint little towns and many farms. The view from our hotel room overlooking the Baltic Sea is stunning!

This morning we drove from our hotel on Ronne to Bodilsker (a small village) and visited the church (Bodils Kirke) where my 3rd great grandfather, Peter Nielson (1824-1894), was christened. It's a medieval church built in the 1100's and is still in use today. The bell tower was constructed later in 1610 and we got to go up in it. The caretaker gave us a little tour and explained how he rings the bell manually (so it won't crack) twice a day. There was a second bell installed in 1841 but it is only rung on special occasions, when 2 bells are needed.

The church is small but lovely. We all sat in the pews and read aloud excerpts from Peter's diary. He immigrated to the US in 1861 with his wife and son, but up until then he had lived in Denmark (Bornholm and Copenhagen). It was fun to be where he lived.


Then we split up into small groups in cars and drove around the island exploring for a while. It's truly lovely! I can certainly see why it's a popular vacation spot. We found a little town called Svanete (a cute fishing town) where we walked around and checked out the shops. We found a glass shop where they were demonstrating their handblown and fired glass techniques. It was so cool! We watched for a while and bought of a couple of small glass bowls as souvenirs. There were lots of other cool shops too but the glass shop as by far the most fascinating.

Then we headed down south to the beach. The sand is very white and extremely fine and soft. We walked along the beach and even got our feet wet. The Baltic Sea is VERY cold, but it was fun.

Then we drove back to our hotel and took a short rest before heading to Hasle and Vang Havn for dinner at Le Port, an amazing restaurant looking over the water.

The food was exceptional! There were two kinds of dense bread (one flavored with anise which was different but very good) along with 2 spreads....one like a mayo flavored with white garlic that is sweet and incredibly delicious, and the other was like a whipped butter with herbs and musli in it. Very good! Then we had smoked salmon, which I liked more than I expected I would. Then an absolutely divine soup with a lobster cake in it. I don't know what all was in it but it was unbelievably delicious!

 Then we had veal with mushrooms, potatoes, parsnips, and whipped parsley root (?) which was also excellent, and then finished with a dessert of a white chocolate dessert with a rhubarb sherbet that was unexpectedly delicious. The service was fantastic and the owner, Gabriela, was so sweet and friendly and gracious. We watched the sunset during our dinner (which is very long and slow this time of year.... it stays light very late!), which was beautiful. We spent a perfect evening enjoying fabulous food and excellent company in a fantastic setting.

 

Boats

This morning a group of us took the canal boat tour from Gammel Strand. The weather was glorious and the tour was very interesting.  I loved seeing the beautiful buildings and palaces, etc. It made me wish we had a whole week in Copenhagen!  It's a fascinating city full of history and interesting sites. 

After that a few of us walked down Stroget, the walking street (no cars, lots of shops!), and the Nyhavn.  Such cool, fun places!  We got a set of salt and peppers shakers to add to our collection. 

Then Jay and I walked up to the Trinitatis church and Roundetaarn (Round Tower). 

My great great great grandfather, Peter Nielson, was married in that church. The round tower attached to the church is fascinating. Built by the king with a ramp wide enough to ride up on a carriage so he could look out over the city and address his people. Great views!

Then we had to race back to the hotel to grab our bags and head to the train station.  

The train ride to Ystad

We took the train to Ystad, Sweden and then from there we took the ferry to the island of Bornholm, where Peter lived. It is beautiful here. So quaint and quiet. Our hotel is tiny and old but unique and interesting. Much different than the Marriott in Copenhagen, but cool with amazing views of the Baltic Sea out our window!  

Playing cards on the ferry ride

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was very good and we had fun visiting and laughing, as we always do. I love my family!