Author: mikestivers

 

To be honest, we hemmed and hawed about visiting Berlin. It’s pretty far north and unfortunately, we’ve had to make some tough decisions and skip plenty of cities. But after a few people recommended it and we were unable to visit another friend in Austria, we made a last minute decision to go. What a great decision that was. And for Mike it was apparent the second we got off the train. The reality of how special and historically important this city is really hit home. From the Berlin’s Hopbahnhof train station, we took the S-Bahn tram to the Olympia stop – site of the 1936 Olympics. Seeing the sign for “Jesse Owens St” and the stadium where he won 4 gold medals in front of Hitler was emotional to say the least. And this was only the beginning.

From there, we had a short walk through a park and neighborhood to our host’s house. Norcan (Noour-cha), raised in Berlin but of Turkish descent, was waiting for us with homemade pumpkin soup and fresh local bread. So perfect! We had a wonderful evening getting to know her and her beautiful daughters, Semia (4) and Liah (3 mos). She made us feel completely at home and offered us literally anything we needed. Norcan also spent time making notes on our map for the various sights to check out in the city.

 

We awoke to a massive breakfast spread with meats, cheeses, cereals, fresh bread and marmalade, yogurt, etc. Amazing. The next day we met our new friend and host from Munich, Kathrin at a local street market. Kathrin is originally from Berlin and was in town to visit her mother. She took us to her favorite Arabian restaurant for falafel and shawarmas. Oh, man – so delicious. Afterwards we did a little exploring then went home for a delicious dinner of Schnitzel and potatoes. Kathrin joined us as well so it was a lovely evening with our new friends. The kids watched Frozen in German with English subtitles. Funny to hear the songs sung in German by a different actress.

Next day we visited the Berlin Wall’s East Side Gallery. Upon the fall of the wall in 1989, a small portion of the wall was left standing and 101 artists painted murals on it’s East side (the side formerly controlled by the Communist GDR) to celebrate the newfound freedom. It’s such a powerful thing to stand in front of that wall and think about what it represented and the fear people lived in, unable to leave their own city. And at the same time, we remember watching with the rest of the world as the wall was torn down and how happy we felt for the people of Berlin.

That evening Norcan made homemade Turkish pizza that were SO amazingly good. They’re thin crusted with a topping of ground beef, tomatoes, mushrooms and spices. Once baked, you top with salad, fold in half and devour. Serious wow. Norcan is an ENT (ear, nose, throat doctor) and Robert is a large animal veterinarian working on Elephants, Rhino’s, Hippos etc. So he visits zoos all over the world on a regular basis. So our post dinner conversations were lively and entertaining. Good memories for sure.

We then went to the Brandenburg Gate – one of Berlin’s best known landmarks. Built in 1791 as a symbol of peace, it has seen some crazy history over the years including Napoleon taking the Quadriga (the Chariot and horses that sits on top) to Paris at one point. But it was later returned to Berlin. It witnessed Nazi power, survived WWII, was enclosed by the Berlin Wall and was the sight of celebrations following the fall of the wall. Wild to walk the streets and comprehend all that has occurred.

From there we went to the nearby Holocaust Memorial – a tribute to the Jewish people who were murdered. It’s impossible to truly describe – however, it’s basically a field of 100s of rectangular cement columns. From a distance they all appear to be about the same height. However, as you begin to walk among them, the cobblestone paths in-between them dip down, making some of the columns 20 feet high. The paths go up and down and you can meander through this maze. The sensations you feel range from being lost, to not knowing what’s next and even a lack of balance. The concept is so thought provoking and experiential. For us, it was the most incredible memorial of this type we have ever witnessed.

    

We spent our last day exploring the city by foot. Found a mini-Oktoberfest with Carousel. Visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church – damaged in WWII and preserved to show the devastation. We walked along the Spree river, saw the giant TV Tower, Museum Island containing several museums, the Berliner Dom cathedral and the relaxing Lust “Pleasure” Garden. We saw some funky street performers including a young girl rapping and singing to techno music. And we also saw some gypsy’s playing funk with a violin and a bucket. There’s also so much amazing art, design and graffiti everywhere you turn. It’s exciting for Mike as a creative professional to see the the imaginative explosion of the next generation.

Lastly, Jett got a new hand-me-down pair of skinny jeans so he fits in perfect in Europe. And he braved baby Liah tugging on his hair for a cute pic. We feel privileged to visit a city with front-row seats to some of the most powerful moments in world history. Danke Berlin. And thank you so much to Norcan, Robert, Semia and sweet baby Liah for making us feel like family. We look forward to meeting again!

 

Munich, Germany – Bavaria’s crown jewel. And best known for the world’s biggest party, Oktoberfest. And attendance is pretty much required if you visit the city. More on that later. The real highlight of our Munich trip was our hosts – Kathrin, Roger and their youngest daughter Marlene. Their older children were in Berlin for school camp so we unfortunately missed them. But this was our first experience with Servas and they definitely set the bar high. They welcomed us into their home and truly opened their lives to us. Kathrin made amazing homemade soup for us the first night and we ate delicious local bread. We shared meals and played games in the evenings and had great conversations about our cultural differences and similarities. Such great people!

Our first day out exploring, we walked through the English Garden – a huge greenscape with trees, open space, lakes, streams and loads of hiking paths. It’s larger than Central Park in New York City. The kids got a chance to run and play hide and seek, and it was a nice break from the hustle of the city. We found a playground near the Chinese Tower so they could do some climbing and swinging. Good stuff.

Eventually, we made our way down to (cue Beethoven’s 5th) Oktoberfest. THEE Oktoberfest! The real one, not our local version back home with a couple hundred neighborhood folks eating brats. This one lasts for more than two weeks, attracts over 5 million visitors each year who consume over a million gallons of beer. Say what?? It’s as if a giant carnival and a giant keg party had oktuplets (get it…). Anyway, it is so massive. Fourteen giant beer tents (football field sized) and a couple dozen smaller ones plus hundreds of carnival rides, candy, pretzels, schnitzels and whatever else you can consume. The majority of the people wear traditional Bavarian Lederhosen and Dirndl dresses. It’s awesome. Our only regret is that we didn’t find some Lederhosen for Jett.

But it was a lot of fun. We did the beer tent first, promising the kids we’d come back the next day to go on some rides. We spent maybe an hour in there each downing a giant mug of beer (10 euro each – which is currently about $10). The kids shared a pretzel that was as big as their heads. And everyone sings and laughs with the occasional person standing on the table top, pounding his beer while thousands of people cheer him on. It’s a really family friendly place. 🙂 The next day we did go back and do some rides and eat some junk food so all those boxes got checked.

That night we ate at a local Bavarian restaurant with friends Silke and Peter. We originally met them in the tiny village of Mae Hong Son, Thailand more than a dozen years ago. Each night we’d all gather for home cooked Burmese food, sing songs and laugh. Peter had his guitar so together we all wrote “The Mae Hong Song” to the tune of Hotel California. It was so much fun. We’ve kept in touch via email all these years and finally were reunited with them in their home town. Life is so good.

Out in town, we found a local Kebab place run by the nicest Iraqi couple. The Donor durums and sandwiches were SO delicious we broke our own rule of going to new places and went there two days in a row. (More of a guideline than a rule). Mike got a haircut for 9 euro from a Turkish guy that didn’t speak English. We explored the city center as well, seeing the Hofgarten, some local bocce ball and the historic town center.

 

The next day, Kathrin took us on a bike ride to the Olympic Park where the 1972 Summer Games were held. We first stopped at Father Timothy’s East-West Peace Church. He was a Russian pastor that came to Munich to spread peace and built a tiny church as a refuge and place to connect those from East and West. It’s now a tiny museum and tribute to the life of service he and his wife gave.

We continued through the Olympic Park, seeing the stadium, the tower and the pool where Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals – amazing. Also, it was a special experience for Mike because his wrestling idol, Dan Gable won gold here without giving up a single point throughout the entire games. A story that inspired him as a young wrestler. The park is exceptionally beautiful with a pond, rolling hills and bike paths weaving throughout acres of green space. Locals come here for exercise, relaxation and inspiration. We hiked to the high point to enjoy a spectacular view of the city. What an awesome day it was! The highlight was, before riding our bikes down the steep cobblestone path, we gave the kids a safety talk about NOT squeezing your front breaks because you could go flying over the handle bars. And of course, 12 seconds later, Mike got distracted by Jett and did exactly that – sommersaulting through mid-air, over the bars and somehow landing on his rear, bike on top with neither he nor the bike damaged. It left the group in hysterics and unfortunately no photos or video to share.

We truly, truly enjoyed our week in the very diverse city of München. And are forever grateful to our hosts and new friends for their generosity. Looking forward to keeping in touch and meeting again one of these days. Maybe in Carlsbad for a surf lesson! Danke schoen from the Stivers Tribe.

 

Welcome to Brussels, the capital of Belgium. We were fortunate to be hosted for about a week and a half with our old neighbors from Carlsbad. Michel, Laurence and their son Noah lived a few doors down from us but had to move home to Belgium about 5 years ago. Having kept in touch over the years, we reached out to them once we planned this trip. It was so great catching up with old friends and comparing our culture to theirs. They toured us around Brussels, took us to Bruges and really went out of their way to make us feel at home. We are SO grateful to them and hope to return the favor one of these days.

Our first day there happened to be Brynn’s 12th Birthday. So our friends surprised her with a custom made Belgian Chocolate cake – delicious! And they made dinner reservations at a local Indian restaurant (her favorite). It was a great start to this destination. The next day we visited the spectacular Atomium, a 335 ft tall building shaped like an atom. Designed as a temporary display for the 1958 Worlds Faire, it was originally constructed of aluminum, hence the name Atomium. But they decided to be keep it as the symbol of Brussels and was rebuilt out of stainless steel. Its a beautiful piece of art. We took the lift up to the top and enjoyed a amazing view of the city. From there you can take various escalators and stairs to each of the giant balls which contain interesting information and exhibits.

Unfortunately that night, Brynn and Taryn both ended up getting sick. Our first stomach bug of the trip. 😦 Luckily it was just a 24 hr thing and the next day they were fine. But then Jett and Mike got it the following night… bummer. It hit them a little harder and took them out for a couple days. This put a bit of a damper on the trip. But eventually we all recovered and got to visit more of the city.

Like many places in Europe, Belgium is influenced by the countries surrounding it. People in the north speak Dutch and people in the south speak French. Brussels is fairly central so most of the signage is in both languages – there isn’t a language called ‘Belgian’. Some other highlights here are the Grand Place (Grahn Plahs) – the massive central town square. As with most European squares, it is bordered by cafes filled with locals and tourists alike, sipping espresso, beer and wine. There is a giant tower atop the Town Hall building and across from that is the Museum of Brussels. It’s particularly stunning at night when lit up. And there’s the enormous Basilica – one of the largest Cathedrals in the world. And we certainly won’t forget Manneken Pis and Jeanneke Pis (The statues of the little boy and little girl peeing). Often decorated, the little boy was covered by a funky costume the day we visited. However, there are plenty of replicas around town to pose with.

 

When living in Carlsbad, Mike and Michel had bonded over cooking. So Michel prepared several delicious meals including a traditional Belgian stew made with Speculoos (an addictive Christmas cookie common in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany). Needless to say, we ate incredibly well. We also surprised them with a traditional San Diego meal of Fish Tacos. Finding the ingredients was a bit of a challenge but we managed. And it was a nice taste of home for us. We ended the week with a stroll through central Brussels and the outdoor street market, visiting the many (and I mean MANY) chocolate and bier shops. We finished the night with an awesome dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

That weekend we all drove to Bruges. This ancient and quaint city on the water was all we had anticipated with it’s many shops, narrow streets, canals and bridges. We did a bit of shopping (Desigual anyone?) and had some waffles and chocolate of course. We also took a boat tour in the afternoon. Some of the bridges were so low we came only inches from scrapping our faces. 🙂 But it is really a spectacular place to see. We also recommend the film ‘In Bruges’ with an amazing cast of talented actors featuring Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes. Funny, clever and a little disturbing, all in the backdrop of Bruges.

On Sunday we went back to The Atomium to make our World School video and they were having a massive outdoor festival! There were tons of booths with food, beer, waffles and live music on a giant main stage. Thousands of people sprawled across the lawn sipping beer and wine. And there was a crazy long zipline attached midway up the Atomium. No Merci.

Belgium is such an interesting country with a deep appreciation for the good life. I mean, Chocolate, Waffles and Bier? ‘Nuff said. Merci beaucoup to our good friends for their generosity! We look forward to the next time we meet. Indonesia??? (hint hint) Onward to Munich.

Sint Nicolaashoeve is a small scale farm in Nieuwveen built in 1858. They have twenty or so cows that are milked daily. The farm also grows wheat, sugar beats, corn and potatoes. Farmer Gerard and his wife Eveline greeted us upon our arrival. After a brief tour and a quick trip to the market we discovered that a new baby calf had just been born only a few hours earlier. It was so amazing, wobbly legs and all.

That night we watched Gerard milk all the cows and let us have some fresh, warm milk to drink. It was so delicious and creamy. Of course, Mike made yogurt and butter with it that night (you can take the guy away from the fermentation but you can’t take the fermentation out of the guy – or something like that). Anyway, we enjoyed our homemade yogurt and raw, grass-fed milk all week long with coffee, on cereal, fruit, you name it. It was pretty special.

Several years ago they completely renovated the barn and house to contain 6 small apartments. Ours had 3 rooms, a kitchen, living room bath and shower. And although we had a flat screen, dishwasher and wifi, we felt like we had gone back in time as well. The outside of the buildings are still the same from 160 years ago. And Gerard pitches hay for the cows, and milks them twice a day. He does use a milking machine but has to attach it by hand to each cow. The entire process takes him a couple hours each time.

One thing we haven’t mentioned much in our posts is that we’ve had rain more often than not. Literally, in every city we’ve been dumped on. And Nieuwveen didn’t want to break the streak. So we hung around our place a bit – playing a Dutch shuffelboard game called ‘sjoelbak’ and yes, doing homework. On our first dry day we biked for about an hour, exploring the local country and neighborhoods – they had some bikes for us to borrow on the farm including one perfect for Jett – still no helmets. 🙂

 

They next day Gerard took the kids on a tractor ride in the fields. Then later all of us got to milk the cows by hand. That was really fun – another experience that Mike had as a kid and still remembers to this day. Later in the week we had a nice hot sunny day and decided to do a long bike ride to another town. It’s amazing how the bike paths pass through farms, neighborhoods and villages… on and on to the next city often. This country is so bike friendly, it’s amazing. You can literally get anywhere by bike. So we road stopped for ice cream and relaxed a bit before coming home. Kudos to the kids for really pushing it on a long, hot day.

   

For the most part it was another kick back destination for us. We cooked all our meals, which is nice when you’re on a budget. Although shopping in Nieuwveen was a little more of a challenge. This market was the first where nobody spoke any English. It’s not that big a deal except when dealing with meat. 🙂 But we managed and ate well. When it rained, we journaled, Mike worked and when the sun came out, we rode bikes around the farm and threw the ball for Jackie the farm dog. Easy livin.

After our mellow stay in Muiderberg and a chill week on the farm, it’s time to hit the city again. We leave here with some amazing memories and look forward to Brussels, Belgium.

 

 

Muiderberg (pronounced Mau-der-berg – sort of, the Dutch language was a bit of a challenge for us) is a small suburb east of Amsterdam. It it very lush and green and sits against a lake. We stumbled across it by accident when our hotel prices in Amsterdam doubled for the weekend and we started searching AirBnb for cheaper options. And Voila (as the French say) we found a nice little apartment in this quiet town of 2500. There was a hotel, a market, a butcher, a baker, and a couple restaurants.

Our place was across the street from a hip, modern gastropub called De Echo. We through on a movie for the kids and decided to make a date out of it. W00t, W00t! Mike had the Steak TarTar and Myla drank all the wine. 🙂 Kidding – but the food was delicious and it was nice for us to have to have some alone time (the kids too!)

We lucked out in that the weekend we were there was Muiderberg’s annual ‘Swing op de Brink’ a local music festival with food and drink. We enjoyed some local sausages, coffee from a converted car, dancing, wine and great music. We also made some new friends, Nora and Yannes and their two young sons. They invited us over for dinner which was really nice. The kids (who speak different languages) bonded over video games. It was a great evening with great people.

We also spent some time down at the lake watching dozens of kite surfers one windy day. And took a stroll through the woods and visited to the Echo Wall. An ancient wall in which if you stand at one end and whisper, the person on the other end can hear you. People used to think it was the forest talking to them. (insert twilight zone music)

It was actually nice to get out of a big city for awhile. After London, Paris and Amsterdam, we were all a little run down and needing a break. So we spent time journaling, play games and watching movies. Thanks Muiderberg.

And now we’re off to visit some cows in Nieuwveen. Moooo…

 

 

Getting to Amsterdam was our first opportunity to use our Eurail passes – train tix to travel anywhere in Europe. We traveled from Paris through Antwerp, Belgium and up to the Netherlands. It was about a 3 hour journey with a couple train changes and different stations. But we passed the time with card games, snacks and enjoying the sights.

 

Amsterdam, or as Jett calls it, Hamsterdam. Or as Mike calls it, Funkytown. Our friend Pat referred to it as ‘the city of the future in a Blade Runner sort of way’. Very true, it’s such an eclectic mix of partiers, tourists, artists, families and history.

 

BIKES
The first thing you notice when you get off the train are the bikes. Thousands, maybe millions – it’s wild. Every public place will have literally hundreds of bikes locked up, often they are double stacked. Many bike-friendly cities have a bike lane on the road shared with cars. Amsterdam cyclists have their OWN lane. Meaning there is the street for cars, the sidewalk and in between is a special path for bikes with their own signals. It’s a little strange at first because it feels like a sidewalk. We learned that in the first minute here as we stepped into the bike lane only to hear the ‘ding, ding’ of a bell and suddenly 5 bikes shoot past us at breakneck speed. “Tourists…” (you could read their minds). We joked about how strong our necks would be after this because you have to look both ways before crossing the bike path, then again crossing the road, then again crossing the bike path on the other side! And you won’t see a single bike helmet anywhere in the city. We even saw a dad with a toddler in the seat behind him and a baby in the Bjorn on his chest. No helmets, just cruising along. And many bikes have a cart in the front for kids or supplies – it’s like a trunk or roof rack. Brilliant.

FUNKYTOWN
We stayed near Leidseplein, a popular square with cafes, shopping etc. Its a short Tram ride to Centraal Train Station, the Red Light District and most of the crazy touristy stuff you hear about Amsterdam. Our neighborhood was bustling with local business owners, bike commuters and families out for strolls. The people were incredibly polite and helpful – as in every place we’ve been. And yes, now our kids know what marijuana smells like. 🙂

We spent one afternoon at Albert Cuypmarkt – Holland’s largest street market with over 260 booths. Finding the local street markets is one of the first things we do when arriving in a new city. It’s a great way to experience the local food, culture and art. The energy is always amazing and it’s a chance to teach the kids one of their most important life lessons – bartering. We sampled some waffles and fries – don’t call them French Fries, here they’re called Frites. Always served with mayo, but you can ask for ketchup with is a bit more sour and fermented tasting then our high-fructose corn syrup version. We also took a boat tour through the many canals that interweave throughout the city. The houses are narrow, tall and sandwiched together. Many lean slightly forward with heavy hooks at the top so that it was easier to hoist furniture and goods up to the top floor.

Another highlight was Dam Square. Home to multiple street performers like: Darth Vader, Freddy Kruger, the Grim Reaper, Hippies making bubbles, a girl with a flaming hula hoop. But none of them compare to drummer Dario Rossi. He sits on the cobblestone ground playing drums on pots, pans, pipes, and random pieces of junk. For 10 or 15 minutes he jams, scooting around, crashing metal – always keeping his beat. A massive crowd forms and it’s one of those moments where you realize that human beings are capable of amazing and beautiful things and they don’t need anything except their own will and imagination.

 

HISTORY
Mike’s great, great, great (x 6 or 8 or something) grandfather – Johan Stuyverse left Amsterdam in the early 1800s and came to New York City. It was a little surreal for him to walk the streets here knowing that Johan had possibly taken the same paths and seen the same views. The courage and sense of adventure he must have had to leave his home and come to America over 200 years ago is amazing. It’s emotional to consider the similar journey that we’re on and the parallel feeling of the unexpected.

 

The other big historical presence in this town is Anne Frank House. Our kids hadn’t read the book yet so we rented the original 1959 black and white film the night before. Photography isn’t allowed inside the house for sensitivity reasons. Walking through, there were 2 moments where I got goosebumps. First was looking down the long, dark narrow stairs leading to the front door where the Gestapo entered the building. And second, was up in the attic when I took a step and the floor creaked – just like it had for them when the thief was below. That damn creaky floor I thought. It’s a very heavy and emotional experience to say the least. And has lead to difficult, but important, conversations with our children about the Holocaust.

NEXT
From Amsterdam to Muiderberg for some quite time.

 

 

Bon jour mon ami! It had been almost exactly 11 years since we were last in Paris. Brynn was 11 mos old and stayed in Colorado with Mike’s brother and family. Myla was 7 mos pregnant with Taryn. So Taryn has always said she can’t wait to go back to Paris. Well here you go!

The city still has all the charm and history that we remember. The beautiful architecture and impressive attention to detail on the doors, porches… lamp posts. Even the cobblestone streets have attractive curved patterns rather than a more practical (and boring) grid we’d see back home. And contrary to the city’s reputation, the people are warm, welcoming and friendly.

Upon coming up from the underground Metro, the first thing we saw in the distance was the Eiffel Tower. Only the top was visible above the trees and the kids went crazy. Their enthusiasm was hilarious – it was as if Taylor Swift was standing before us. We headed over to the Champs Elysees to grab fresh made crepes and sightsee before meeting friends at Eiffel. Not all tourist attractions are worth seeing, let alone waiting in line for. But this is one that lives up to the hype. When we saw it last time I remember being blown away at how massive it feels when standing underneath. That feeling hasn’t changed and it was great to see our children experience the same thing. And of course the view from the top is breathtaking.

We had an amazing dinner at a French restaurant, tucked away from the touristy hub-bub. The highlight being that everyone tried Escargot (snails). Mike remembers trying them when he was the kid’s age and having a sense of pride growing up for being so adventurous. Hopefully our kids will feel the same. We were joined by our Carlsbad friends, the Greenes, who we also met up with in London. So cool, hanging with good friends on another continent.

The next big attraction was the Louvre museum – one of the largest in the world, it holds 35,000 pieces of art. Although the Mona Lisa gets all the attention, other famous pieces include Venus de Milo, The Raft of Medusa, Winged Victory at Samosthrace and Vue d’intérieur . This visit also included amazing exhibits on Islamic and Egyptian art – including a mummy preserved for over 2000 years. We spent a good 4 hours there and the kids took it all in.

 

The remainder of the week was a mixture of sites including the massive Notre Dame cathedral, walks along the scenic Seine river and exploring the narrow but hopping streets (rues) and squares. We became very familiar with Paris’ Metro system – that’s Metro as in subway, not Metric – which is still a challenge. 🙂 Similar to London’s Tube, the maps are easy to navigate with bold colors, numeric routes and plenty of stops – graphic design at it’s finest. After London and Paris, the kids were definitely pros at traveling via underground train. In fact, there is no doubt the girls could’ve found there way back to our apartment from pretty much anywhere – it was impressive.

After much discussion about where to head next we nixed a plan to hit the French countryside and decided to take a train up to Amsterdam.

Au revoir Paris, merci beaucoup!

We had a wonderful second half of our London trip. We spent an afternoon at the amazingly massive Greenwich Park – acres of open space and really cool wooden play structures. We also visited the National Gallery – kids got a kick out of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Monet’s Lily Pond (the girls painted this in an art class a few years ago). Then hit the Natural History Museum to see some dinosaurs.

We had an awesome Pakistani dinner in the Indian/Bengali district of Brick Lane (although a touch spicy for the kids). We also met our hometown Carlsbad friends, the Greenes, on a Harry Potter Tour around the city – very interesting mixture of London history and seeing various locations from the filming of the movies. Then we stopped at one of the oldest pubs in London followed by ice cream. Always ice cream with these kids! (but we figure all the walking – and we walk a TON – balances it out).

And of course we had some funkiness as well. Like the night we stayed out late with the Greenes and went to catch the Tube home only to find out they close at Midnight. Doh! So… after several buses, some meandering and eventually a taxi – we arrived at our appt around 2am. Of course we had to get up at 6, walk in torrential downpour to the bus stop (Taryn almost got hit by a car), bus to Tube (missing our stop and backtracking) then a mad scramble to the airport to barely catch our flight to Paris. And since I forgot to check in the day before we all had separate middle seats. Huge kudos to the kids for sitting next to strangers (nice strangers) and actually not dying! It was a good test. And in the end, we made it to Paris. I guess it’s this chaos that makes this all more memorable… right??

So we say goodbye and cheers to London – an amazing city. We will miss it’s energy, it’s diversity, it’s culture and it’s welcoming spirit mate! And on to France´.

 

Cheers mate.

Well we made it across the pond unscathed. And it’s been a bit of an adventure as expected – including wrong trains, flat tires and plenty of other minor mishaps. But we are having the time of our lives. London is full of energy – an incredibly diverse global hub of all that is great in the world. As tourists we have had to ask for help on several occasions and each time have been welcomed as the guest that we are. Additionally, our two AirBnB hosts have taken us in and become new friends that we will certainly remain in contact with.

Memorable sites have been: Big Ben (which is actually the bells inside the tower rather than the clock itself), Buckingham Palace, a boat tour up the Thames river, the Tate Modern and an amazing dinner at Gordon’s Wine Bar (est 1890). We have enjoyed our fair share of coffee, wine, cheese, pancetta, and of course wine. We walk a lot and, like the locals, take the bus and tube everywhere. Stumbling across a local Starbucks is always a bonus for Myla. (I’m sure I’ll be visiting it at the wee hours…) Also, the Greenwich Street Market was crazy and fun.

The food and drink have been incredible as well. London has everything you could imagine. We tend to keep it simple during the day – breakfast: yogurt with fruit and a croissant or bagel with jam. Lunch: we typically grab a baguette, some pancetta and cheese and make sandwiches. Dinner is worth splurging a bit: we’ve enjoyed Lebanese, British pub food of course, French, Italian and Spanish Tapas. And this weekend we’re meeting friends for the holy grail of british cuisine, Indian.

Yet as cool as the history and food are here, the real highlights have been the people we have met. We feel very fortunate to have had amazing hosts through AirBnB – Shazia and Zoya from Pakistan and Carolina and John (Columbia and Australia). This is really what this trip is about for us – connecting with people. Jett has been having fun with his new “friend” Nicole…

In the coming days we plan to round out London visiting Stonehenge, touring the Harry Potter movie set and hitting a few more pubs of course. Until then… cheerio!

We are the Stivers Family and will be spending the next year traveling the world. In the coming weeks and months we will begin documenting our journey. Follow us to receive an email each time we make a post.

THE LOOSE PLAN
Aug 2015: Depart for London, England
Aug-Dec: Travel throughout Europe
Jan 2016: India/Bangladesh
Feb: Australia/New Zealand
March-May: S/E Asia
June/July: China/Korea/Japan
Aug 2016: Return