European Adventure – Luxembourg #3

Luxembourg
Country #3
Leif celebrated 21 years of service in the US Coast Guard today by visiting the Luxembourg American Memorial. It was a beautiful tribute to all those Americans who died overseas here in Europe.

Image may contain: people standing, sky, grass, cloud, tree, outdoor and nature

Spending time with Kate & Graham and Baby Emma in Luxembourg! We rode the Pfaffenthal Glass lift up to the city and wandered around, ate ice cream to cool down in the heat and let the kids burn off some energy in the Pirate Ship Playground. Fun day out and about.

Image may contain: 1 person, outdoor

Image may contain: one or more people, shoes and outdoor

Image may contain: 5 people, including Laura Oksendahl and Leif Oksendahl, people smiling, people standing, sky and outdoor

Image may contain: sky, cloud, tree, outdoor and nature

Our last day in Luxembourg was spent at a Medieval Festival at Vianden Castle. We got to shoot crossbows, hold a falcon and most importantly eat waffles & Nutella. Earlier we cooled off in the local water playground and had a picnic lunch!! A pretty relaxed day with friends!

Image may contain: 5 people, including Leif Oksendahl and Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, outdoor

Image may contain: Laura Oksendahl, smiling, standing and outdoor

Image may contain: Leif Oksendahl, smiling

Image may contain: one or more people and outdoor

Image may contain: Laura Oksendahl, smiling, sitting and food

European Adventure – Belgium #2

BELGIUM
Country #2
We left Paris, and France, and stopped off in Bouillon Belgium for a few hours to stretch our legs and experience a different country! The kids swam in the Semois River to cool off as it was close to 100 degrees. The backdrop was probably the coolest swimming holes they’ve ever swam in, the medieval Bouillon Castle high above the river.

Image may contain: sky, cloud, tree, mountain, grass, outdoor, nature and water

Image may contain: sky, cloud, tree, outdoor, nature and water

Image may contain: sky, cloud, outdoor and nature

We strolled around the quaint little town, ate ice creams and had delicious baguettes from a boucherie, their last two, and they were the crunchiest, softest baguettes we ever ate!! A short and sweet visit to Belgium

Image may contain: one or more people, people standing and outdoor

Image may contain: sky, cloud, bridge, mountain, outdoor, water and nature

Image may contain: one or more people, people eating, food and indoor

Belgium Chocolates in Belgium are a must

European Adventure – France #1

Say Yes To Adventure ✈️ This is our planned European Roadtrip 2,400 miles through 9 countries in 24 days.

Image may contain: text

Image may contain: 2 people, including Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, people sitting

We are on our way to Europe for the wedding of the year. So excited to visit 8 countries along the way, visit with friends and family, eat delicious food, see amazing sights and have the most fun road trippin’ around Europe. Giving the kids the world, one country at a time.

Our first stop in Paris was to Musée D’Orsay, it is inside an old railway station along the Seine River. It has huge clocks on the roof line overlooking the city. We wandered around there for 2 hours.

Image may contain: 5 people, including Laura Oksendahl and Leif Oksendahl, people smiling, closeup and outdoor

No photo description available.

When you visit the Musée D’Orsay you have to take a clock pic!! It’d be rude not to! Through the clock you can see the Louvre Museum and the Seine River below. How crazy is that!? Paris is full of little gems like this.

Image may contain: one or more people

Next up was a bite to eat in Cocorico’s, we bought an overpriced lock to attach to Lover’s Lock Bridge but the city has taken away all the panels of locks because they are too heavy for the bridge’s supports!! So we attached it to a light pole and called it good!

Image may contain: one or more people, outdoor and water

We wandered over to Sainte-Chapelle on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine. The most beautiful stained glass church you will ever see. Simply stunning.

Image may contain: indoor

Image may contain: Leif Oksendahl and Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, people standing, indoor and outdoor

Our final installment for our 1st day was Gelato & Notre-Dame!! We had the most delicious Gelato at Amarino’s, presented like a flower with a macaroon in the center…… so fancy and pretty I didn’t want to destroy it. But we did!!

Image may contain: one or more people and food

We toured around Notre Dame church and lit some candles for those no longer with us. We climbed the 387 steps to the Bell Tower and were lucky enough to be up there when the bells rang out…… as you can imagine they were super loud but what a cool experience! When climbed to the roof of the south tower and had spectacular views of the city. The kids loved picking out their favorite gargoyles!

Image may contain: one or more people, people standing, sky and outdoor

Image may contain: cloud, sky and outdoor

Image may contain: 5 people, including Leif Oksendahl and Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, indoor

We survived driving around the city and safely made it back to Valerie & Phillips for a late dinner.

Day two in Paris involved checking out the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro and Ella’s dream came true….. brought a tear to my eye, not going to lie!!!

Image may contain: 5 people, including Leif Oksendahl, people smiling, people standing, sky and outdoor

Image may contain: 1 person, standing, sky and outdoor

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, sky and outdoor

We spent the afternoon sailing up the Seine River checking all the sites out from the water. A little pit stop for lunch and it was Nutella Crepes for all!!

Image may contain: 1 person, sitting and outdoor

Then we did the Amazing Race equivalent of the fastest run through the craziness that is the Louvre Museum to find the main attraction – the Mona Lisa! We fought our way to the front to see her and took the obligatory pics as documentation of our visit!!! In and out in less than an hour because……. kids!!!!!

Image may contain: 5 people, including Leif Oksendahl and Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, people standing, cloud, sky and outdoor

Image may contain: 1 person, hat

Image may contain: 4 people, including Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, hat

We continued our sightseeing with a hop on hop off top deck bus tour around the city, super informative and all the kids listened to the tour guide pointing out nuggets of information!
We finish off the evening by dropping the kids home to Valerie and Leif and I headed out for the evening………….

Our 15th Wedding Anniversary gift from Valerie & Phil was a sunset cruise dinner with Bateaux Mouches on the Seine while she babysat. Can you say romantic. It was an amazing evening with delicious food & wine, wonderful music, fabulous sights and the Eiffel came alive and sparkled for us as we sailed past. It was truly spectacular. Spoiled kids!!

Image may contain: 2 people, including Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, people sitting, outdoor and water

Image may contain: sky, cloud, outdoor, water and nature

No photo description available.

Day 3 in Paris brought us to new heights!! We went to the 59th floor of Montparnasse Tower’s roof top to check out the 360 degree views of the city. The interactive screens informed us of all the sights in front of us.

Image may contain: 1 person, skyscraper, sky and outdoor

Image may contain: one or more people, people sitting, sky and outdoor

We then went to Choco-Story Museum of Chocolate!! This was hands down the kids’ most favorite museum in Paris!! It described the history of chocolate and had a demonstration but most amazingly it had ALL YOU CAN EAT CHOCOLATE!!! I didn’t think it was possible that they could eat too much chocolate but they did!!!

Image may contain: one or more people, people sitting, indoor and food

Image may contain: 1 person

Image may contain: 1 person, standing

We then ventured to Moulin Rouge and caught the Tram up the cobblestone road to Montmartre and explored the little markets and stores along the streets.

Image may contain: outdoor

Image may contain: sky, house and outdoor

Image may contain: Laura Oksendahl, smiling, standing, food and indoor

We visited Sacre Coeur Basilica and left a prayer request on the alter of the beautiful church high above the city.

No photo description available.

We came home and enjoyed birthday celebrations with Paella, champagne and some red wine picked out for us by a wine connoisseur in Montmartre!

Image may contain: one or more people, people sitting, drink and indoor

A 4th Day of playing tourist  was spent at Auvers-sur-Oise where Vincent Van Gogh lived and died and retraced his steps finding the inspiration for some of his paintings. It was a quiet little town where somethings have remained unchanged in 100+ years

Image may contain: plant and outdoorImage may contain: cloud, sky, house and outdoor

No photo description available.

Image may contain: sky, cloud and outdoor

Image may contain: 3 people, including Leif Oksendahl and Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, people standing and outdoorImage may contain: 3 people, including Leif Oksendahl and Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, people standing and outdoorImage may contain: 3 people, including Leif Oksendahl and Laura Oksendahl, people smiling, people standing and outdoor

We are saying goodbye and closing out the trip of a lifetime. Lots of memories made with friends and family, experiences had, delicious food & drink consumed. Europe you have been amazing, we will be back.