First off, I need to admit that this trip was pretty last minute and could not have been done without the help of my husband’s amazing friends scattered throughout Europe. I had just graduated with my Bachelor’s degree and was heading to a dietetic internship in the fall while my husband was preparing to start medical school that same fall. It was sometime in April that we decided we should visit his roommate from college who lives in Guernsey, one of the channel islands that are part of the UK. Before we knew it, that turned into a 3 week vacation that included London, Paris, Holland, and Belgium. We purchased flights, train tickets and had it mostly planned before we left at the end of May.

Our first stop was Guernsey, where we spent over a week. For those of you who have never heard of this place, it is a small, but beautiful and charming island in the English Channel. There are no large commercial airlines that service Guernsey, so we flew into London and purchased a separate flight later that day to the island. Most flights from the U.S. land at London Heathrow airport (as was the case with ours) and the flights to Guernsey leave from London Gatwick airport. There is an easy bus system to travel between the airports but having never done this before, we left plenty of time before our flight to Guernsey. We still laugh about the six hours we spent in the Gatwick airport unsuccessfully achieving our only goal of staying awake. Let’s just say jet lag is real.

Interesting fact, the tides around Guernsey are crazy, often changing 20-30 feet in one day. The beach in the picture above is only visible during low tide and disappears during high tide.

We had many fun experiences on Guernsey, including boating around the harbor and visiting the Little Chapel, believed to be the world’s smallest consecrated church. It is decorated with seashells, pebbles and broken china. We were also able to visit Herm, a smaller channel island, which is only a short ferry ride from Guernsey.

After a week on this low key island, we flew back to London to spend a few days in England’s capital city. We happened to be there a less than two months before the start of the London Olympics and right after the Queen’s diamond jubilee so the city was definitely buzzing.

Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and the British parliament were just a few of the sites we enjoyed. Even though we went in June, London can still be pretty rainy and chilly. My best advice, pack layers and bring a raincoat.

Most people (me included before I went to London) think of this as the London Bridge, but in reality it is Tower Bridge. London Bridge is much less impressive 🙂

After London, we were off to Paris, France via an early morning trip on the Eurostar, a high speed train that utilizes a tunnel underneath the English Channel.

Recognize these sights? Thanks to an amazing tour guide (one of my husband’s friends), we saw the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Arc de Triomphe and the Seine River. We used the Paris Metro system all day which is very convenient and gets you close to a lot of tourist sights. DO be aware of pickpockets on the subway, however.

I highly recommend a trip to the beautiful Palace of Versailles which is about 20 minutes outside of downtown Paris. It would take several days to see the expansive gardens, but is impressive none the less. The interior is simply stunning and fun to imagine the lives of the royal families who lived in the palace.

After a short train ride, we moved on to the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands. Home to some interesting architecture, the city had to be almost completely rebuilt after being destroyed by the Germans in World War II. These cube houses have actually become quite famous…

Outside of Rotterdam, the Kinderdijk Windmills are an example of impressive engineering that allow the Dutch to keep the soil of the area dry. Most were built during the 1700’s!!

Our day trip to Amsterdam was a rainy one, but we were still able to get a feel for the city famous for its canals. The Anne Frank House (pictured above) is an emotional journey of the last few years of Anne Frank’s life. It was an eye opening experiencing and one I wouldn’t miss if you find yourself in Amsterdam.

An often overlooked city in Holland, The Hague, happens to be home to the U.N’s International Court of Justice. It is a quiet and beautiful city on the Western coast and even has a gorgeous beach 🙂

Our last stop on this trip was to Brussels, Belgium. In an effort to share the dark side of traveling, I want to point out that I was the unfortunate victim of pick pocketing on our train journey between Rotterdam and Brussels. I don’t want to scare anyone, but instead make you aware that it really does happen. Although I had my passport, ID, credit cards and the rest of our cash stolen, I believe this happens with some regularity and the U.S. Embassy in Brussels is prepared to deal with the issue. Luckily, we were visiting another of my husband’s friend who was able to help us locate the embassy. They have your photo on file and were able to provide me with a temporary passport to fly back to the U.S.

On the bright side, we were able to spend an extra day in Brussels to enjoy the chocolate, waffles and beer that is widely available in the city.

 

Takeaways from this trip:

• Nothing beats having a local tour guide. In our case it happened to be friends who were showing us around their hometowns, but local guides have invaluable knowledge of the area and always seem to know the best restaurants 🙂
• Take the advice of having copies of your ID and credit cards in a separate place away from where you are actually carrying them.
• If you want to travel by train throughout Europe and would like to know the cost ahead of time, I suggest looking into the rail passes available through Rail Europe. They range from unlimited passes throughout Europe to passes for a specific country.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Being in a foreign country can be confusing sometimes, and we almost always found the locals to be willing to help with directions or even reading signs that weren’t in English.