Griswold European Vacation

Well, now that we've been home for over 3 weeks, maybe it's time I told you a little bit about our trip to Europe.

First stop was Amsterdam. Rain, cold weather, green everywhere - we were in love at first sight! Paige had no clue what rain was and kept spitting it out when it would hit her face. The laidback vibe is what we enjoyed most. The standard mode of transportation is bicycle and it would have been so easy had we rented a bike with a spot for the kids. Reijksmusuem, Van Gogh Museum, Vondelpark, Anne Frank House, Dam Square (just to name a few) were some of the sights we enjoyed.

Then we took the train to Brussels. However, you must say Brussels with two thumbs up over your shoulder, according to Maggie. And that is how she is posing in a majority of her pics in Brussels. Wierdo. Grand Place in Brussels is just beautiful. I was actually able to sit down at a cafe BY MYSELF in Grand Place and enjoy a nice Belgium beer, light snack and just stare in awe at the beauty of it. We also went to St. Michael's Cathedral, which was Maggie's favorite and enjoyed many nutella banana waffles and several helping of frites (fries - our choice was covered in curry ketchup, mayo and grilled onions...delish!). Here we came upon "THE RED MAN." He was a street performer painted entirely in red and he scared the living daylights out of Paige. Good ammo for us still. One mention o seeing THE RED MAN and she will quit her naughty ways. We even show her pictures of him.....parenting at its finest, folks!

Next, was the train to Paris. Literally five minutes off the train and a couple of qypsies tried to pull one over on me. Good thing I knew what was going on. So, I politely shoo'd them away which caused her to yell at me and give me the stinkeye. It's probably a good thing I didn't understand what she was saying as I am sure it wasn't meant for small ears. Paris was beautiful and oh, so, so difficult with the girls. We were in a tiny apartment on the 4th floor with no elevator. The winding staircase was extremely narrow and dark and we had to lug our mammoth stroller up it each and every time as well. At least we got a good workout in. From Notre Dame, Seine river cruise, Eiffel Tower, Luxembourg Gardins, The Louvre, etc to two days at Disneyland, we saw plenty and had an exhausting, wonderful time. Trying to get to Cannes was a whole different story....

The girls at Euro Disney

So, the French people basically don't like to work and they LOVE to strike (in my opinion but I believe that represents many opinions) and public transportation decided to strike on the day we were to leave for Cannes. Our train was cancelled with no guarantees of when we would be able to get another one (or if we even could). So after sitting around in the train station all day, we decided to rent a car to Cannes. Driving in Paris was not difficult at all for us. Driving in Bahrain prepares you for it. So we Saudi swooped our way out of Paris and drove all night to Cannes, sleeping in a truckstop parking lot along the way. Driving in Europe is ridiculously expensive (gas and tolls), btw.

We made it to Cannes and enjoyed 5 days of beauty and wonderful weather on the French Riviera. I can't say enough great things about Cannes. Our favorite part was taking the ferry to the island of St. Marguerite and exploring the fort, beaches and woods. Just breathtaking.

Now it's back to the grindstone in Bahrain. 95 degrees on a daily basis and it's almost November. People say the cooler temps are coming but I am starting to think they are liars.