Europe For Real

After three years of planning and saving we took our semi- dream trip to Europe. Semi because we had three kids along. But it was alot of fun with them with just a few melt downs in 18 busy fun filled days.
The best part was visiting our exchange students families in Finland and Germany. We started off in Belgium and flew into Brussels. We didn't stay long and that evening after visiting Brussels we flew to Stockholm Sweden where we spent 3 days. We all loved Sweden and Finland , what beautiful countries and the people were very nice. The food was really good too. We loved the fresh fruit and Chocolate! After Stockholm we took a ship to Finland and were greeted by Anni and her parents. It was really good to see her again, It's hard to believe its been 4 years. Her family were wonderful hosts and we were able to see lots of Finland and just a few of thier 60,000 lakes!
Off to Paris on a plane, the airlines in Europe are great if you just want to fly within Europe. Paris was very crowded and busy but it was nice to see some of the things we have read about. It is true about the language there, use French they respond a lot quicker. Our favorite building was Nortra Dame, loved the gargoyles. Everyone had their fill of museums by time we left by train to Germany.
Mario met us at the train station (trains and planes are the way to go to move around in Europe) We met his family later in the day so whlie we waited we took a tour of Frankfurt and we up a tall building and had a great view of the area. Frankfurt kept only a few old buildings after WWII, mostly they rebuilt the city with new ones. Germany has many old palaces and castles to visit and it was fun to see many different kinds of each. We finished our trip by going up the Rhine River Valley to Koln, Germany then onto Brugge, Belgium. Brugge was very old with lots of canals and cobblestone streets.


The unhappy Queen!!!Waffles !! The best things on earth or at least in Belgium

Tired but happy to go back to our own beds we flew back home from Brussels for mom to plan a wedding!

Brent and Rachel got to go inside the cage with these guys and had so much fun in Stockholm. This brand of candy is the best ever. Smooth and Creamy.

Finland, Castles in Germany, markets in Frankfurt and Notra Dame in France.

Brent loving the food!