Lucky for us, Kade had a two week break from school!! We knew ahead of time and were able to map out an amazing two week trip for as cheap as we possibly could, while being able to see a few different major cities. The flight prices over here are great if you get to them in advance. We first started in Madrid, Spain. I was SOO excited for Kade to meet the family that I nannied for last year! When we arrived, they had a sign ready and also decorated the sidewalk with chalk to welcome us!
My host Mom, Milagros, took us to the city of Segovia with the kids while we were there so we could see the cathedral and the Roman aqueduct.
We were also able to do a session in the Madrid temple. We as members are so blessed to be able to go church or the temple anywhere in the world, and have the feeling and the spirit be exactly the same no matter where we are... and no matter what language is spoken. It was a neat experience!
We are grateful to the Elwell's for letting us stay in their home! We had a great time catching up... and of course I loved hearing how much they approved of Kade. "A very clever and handsome chap." Suits him perfect!
Next stop... Paris!
We stayed in a hostel not too far away from the Notre Dame and walked all over the city. We enjoyed many crepes and baguettes!
We walked up all the stairs to get to the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower. (It was cheaper this way!) We didn't go up to the top, but the view from the 2nd platform was amazing!
Next stop... London!
Quick Story: We were supposed to fly from Paris and arrive in Glasgow at 1 am. We were then going to kick it in the airport and leave on a flight at 6 am to London. The flights were cheaper if we did it this way. As some of you may know, there have been lots of strikes going on in Paris at the moment. They so kindly decided to cancel our first flight... which caused us to miss the second as well! We were lucky our hostel wasn't all booked for the night! We tried to get on an overnight bus to London but they were booked for over 4 days, and the next available flight was cancelled for over a week. There were A LOT of people that had the same problem as us. It seemed like everyone was trying to get out of there as soon as possible! We ended up taking a train up to a little city called Calais, on the coast of France. We were able to see a little of the French countryside from the windows and it was beautiful! We then took a ferry across to Dover on the coast of England. The Dover cliffs were really neat.. and then we headed on another train to London. The English countryside was really beautiful.
Hyde Park had gorgeous leaves!! We didn't miss fall after all!!
We had lots of hot chocolate to keep us warm. London was cold!
London Bridge!
We stayed in my friend Georgie's flat in the middle of London. We are so grateful to her for letting us stay and I was glad she was able to meet Kade!
Next stop....Amsterdam!
They had their Christmas lights up and it got Kade excited for Christmas music. We haven't listened to anything else in our little home since we have been back. We are ready for the season!
We loved the little canals and now understand why they call it Venice of the North. We also went into the Anne Frank house/museum. I want to go and read the book again after actually being there! It was really interesting.
Last stop..... Prague, Czech Republic!
Isn't he cute? I told him I was setting the camera on timer, and he was showing me where I was going to stand when I took the picture. haha!
Besides London and the fact that people speak English there... I think Prague was our favorite city to look at. We took over 400 pictures there. Not one building looks the same as another so walking around all day was really interesting!
We feel very grateful to be experiencing all that we are out here. By the end of our trip we were pretty sick of dormitory style hostels and sharing showers with strangers... but it was worth it. Back to school, homework, English lessons, and nannying!
