I love Europe. It feels enough
like home to be comfortable and is different enough that it's always interesting, exciting or just fun. Even though there
are many different languages spoken throughout Europe, they mostly use the alphabet I'm familiar with, so I can sort
of sound things out or at least write down names of places and find them on a map.
The other wonderful thing about Europe is the history that is evident everywhere. Around just about every
corner you can find a building that is at least 200 years old and likely older than that. What is it about things that date
so far back, that is fascinating? Maybe the feeling of connection I get when standing in a place that I know someone stood
500 or 1000 years ago. If it's possible for you to feel a bit of that connection by looking at my pictures, then I'm
happy to share them with you.
My
first trip to Europe was in 1965, when I went as a teenager with my whole family. We went over on the Statendam of the Holland
America line. We took our car and lots of luggage with us and stayed for a year. I do have some digital photos from
that year, but I think they would mainly be of interest just to my family, so no pages here.
The pages linked below only go back a few years--to about 2003--when I started
doing this. I'm arranging them here geographically. Follow the links to see
the photos and descriptions, but retun here using your browser's 'back' button. I haven't had a chance to
update the links on all the pages.
The Netherlands.
We lived in Holland from September
through December, 1988. Everyone knows that Holland is famous for it's beautiful flowers and especially the bulbs, but
during those months there's not much to see above ground in the bulb fields. We returned to Holland many times after that,
but it wasn't until 2004 that I finally got to go in the Spring.
Then in 2006, my brother and his family lived in Utrecht and I was lucky enough
to be able to visit them twice during their stay. The first time was in the fall and my sister, Kathy was there at the same
time. The second time was in the spring and that time my sister, Beth's family was there, as well as my mother.
Utrecht including Amersfoort, Spakenburg, Gouda, Arnhem Openluchtmuseum
(September 2006)
The United Kingdom and Ireland
We also lived in London for a year in 1983/84. The photos here are from more
recent and shorter visits. We loved living in and visiting The British Isles.
Eastern Europe
In June of 2004 we made a trip with friends to visit three countries in Eastern Europe.
In October 2005 we went to Poland.
Russia and Finland
On the same trip that we visited the bulb gardens in Holland we also visited St. Petersburg and then Helsinki
and Turku in Finland.
Southern Europe
2004 was
a big travel year for us and we thought why not finish off the year with a skiing vacation in Austria with our sons. So we
rented an apartment in the Alps.
And
on the last strectch of our around-the-world tour we stopped in Italy.
We spent 2 1/2 days in Venice
October 29-31, 2008
Venice
In May 2009, we spent a week in Rome.
Rome
France
