Girls Euro Trip!
Meredith Taylor, Amy Frederickson, Kara Bensfield (who moved to Luxembourg just before the COVID shutdown, have been planning this trip for months!! Our husbands were originally supposed to go with us. We had bought plane tickets too. But when COVID-19 hit our trip was canceled. We couldn't fly out even if we wanted to. So we finally were able to make it happen but it was a girls' trip instead.
We texted back and forth with Kara discussing things we wanted to see and she came up with an itinerary.
This is a mostly what our itinerary looked like. We didn't do all of those things but we did most of them!
Our flight from Pasco to Denver was again delayed but this time only two hours and not three. The outlook of catching our connecting flight in Denver was not good. We literally got on the flight in Pasco praying we could catch our flight in Denver. When we landed Amy and I took off running to catch our flight. Denver airport is such a large airport and our small plane we took was in the furthest terminal to our International flight. While I was going through the airport Jaime texted me saying our flight was leaving 15 minutes later. Hallelujah! We made it to the gate and saw everyone was in line and boarding the plane. We made it! The flight was full. We didn't see one open seat! I think it being so full helped the boarding process go slower which made it possible for us to get on the plane.
The flight was not as bad as I feared! I was on the side of the plane so I was in an aisle seat and a young man sat beside me next to the window. I was happy to not be in the middle row and have to climb over multiple people to use the toilet. The dinner they served was good. I started watching a movie, was served dinner and I ate. Finished the movie. They came around and took everyone's dishes. I went to the bathroom to get ready for "bed" and wash up and remove my contacts. Not long after that they turned the lights off so everyone could sleep during the 9+ hour flight. I took a sleeping pill and fell asleep. I slept a few hours, then listened to my book. Then they served breakfast and then we were landing in Germany! I'm so grateful the flight felt faster than I thought it would.
April 23
Fresh off the plane
We made it to Luxembourg!
To get on to their time zone we didn't even go to Kara's house when she picked us up from the airport. We hit the ground running and went site seeing in Luxembourg City.
The Duke's house
guards at the Duke's house
Notre Dame Cathedral Luxembourg
Seminary students call this statue Angel Moroni's wife. It's a memorial for WWII victims.
We walked on the pedestrian bridge walk.
General Patton memorial trail marker. The trail called Liberty Trail is about 1100 kilometers.
We rode the funicular and glass lift rides.
This glass lift let us see all around Luxembourg.
It is such a beautiful country!
We also went to a German gummy candy store. Ate dinner at Seigfriends and ate Kneidlin (pasta with bacon. Kinda of like Alfredo sauce, and potato cake with applesauce. Yum.
April 24
We went to church in the Bitburg ward. It's an American military base in Germany. After church we had grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. I loved their tomato soup packets. Wish we could get them here. I bought some to bring home and share with the family. They all liked it too.
Kara took us to see where they get their milk. Fresh whole milk from a local farmer.
We went to Vianden Castle to watch an orchestra concert.
Vianden Castle
First we toured through the beautiful castle.
This was the arms hall.
Chain mail. Weighs 50 pounds
Amy and me
I liked the exterior of this wall.
The view from Vianden.
The chapel - the castle's jewel
Banquet room
Bed chamber (residential room)
This bedroom showed such a short bed. Then we were told their beds were short because they slept partly sitting up because you lay down when you're dead.
Kitchen
We went into a great ballroom type room for the Agora Music Festival Symphonic concert. The concert was great. A little long with multiple encores for us jet lagged people. We struggled to stay awake through some of it.
Between the castle and one exterior surrounding wall makes for a cool "alleyway."
April 25
We went to Brussels for a Chocolate making class. We made Belgium chocolates in Belgium!
It was so much fun.
We learned that Ganache means idiot. It was made by accident.
Our chocolate shells.
These are mendiants chocolates. Just dollops of chocolate then topped with nuts and dried fruit.
After the shells were cooled in the freezer we filled them with ganache, caramel, nuts, or fruit.
Making sure the fillings are level with the shell before putting on the last layer of chocolate
to close them up.
We got to eat some of he remaining chocolate in the warming pan. It was delicious.
The chocolate we used to melt.
Placing the chelates in boxes.
After hammering on the mold our chocolates came out of the mold.
So pretty and shiny!
Our instructor was a lot of fun. She did a great job.
Royal Palace - Koningsplein
Then we went to lunch at Den Apostreff, I had a ham and cheese sandwich with pineapple.
We went to see tulip gardens at another castle.
It's called Groot-Bijgaarden Castle
We thought these were real plants at first...they're not. 😂
The grounds and tulips were so beautiful!
We learned things at the Groot-Bijgaarden Tulip garden. I'll share some facts that I learned at the tulip garden. There's something like a flower stock exchange in Netherlands. It's every day.
Tulips are planted in "lasagna" layers so they bloom longer and to get fuller tulip gardens like this.
Tulips were a sign of royalty a long time ago.
The grass sculptures were pretty cool, even if they were fake.
These grass sculptures add fun character to the gardens.
Some of the tulips were so big!
There's over 3,000 tulip varieties in Europe.
To cross pollinate and create a new variety of tulip takes 25 years.
This property is huge and so beautiful. It felt so enchanting. Something out of a fairytale.
We climbed up the lookout, I was the only one to climb up this very end up that ladder.
My view from the tip top.
The other three went just to the rooftop.
After leaving the gardens we drove to Bruge and checked in to Inn Bruges Bed and Breakfast.
Mine and Amy's room
Meredith and Kara's
We went on a walking tour into the night through Bruge.
Belgium Howest Campus
The streets of Belgium.
The Market of Bruges is located in the heart of the city and covers an area about one hectare.
Ready for our tour with the tour guide through town.
Built in the 1700s. This is the first house with a toilet. That little outhouse looking thing hanging on the backside of the house. It would just fall through the floor. Lovely isn't it. lol
Built in the 15th century. Wealthy lived here sort of like a modern rotary. It was built for a place of fun activities.
Jan van Eyck was a famous painter of the city.
Built at the end of the 13th century. It's the oldest house and is built from wood.
Bruge
This is the birthplace of lace - built in 1474
Sint-Janshuismolen
Bruge Cathedral at night.
After the tour we had dinner at an outdoor cafe. They had delicious hot cocoa! We got margarita pizza, Flemish stew, and lasagna. They were all so good and had such different flavors than what we know.
April 26
We had breakfast at House of Waffles. It was sooo good!
I learned that Brussels waffles are pretty much what we have at home - you know, Belgium waffles. 😄 But what we don't have are Liege waffles. They're made with pearl sugar. Oh so good.
This drink was our drink of choice on this trip. You don't get water to drink for free at restaurants. So if you're goin to buy a drink may as well get a drink. lol Oh and no free refills on water or any other drink. Kind of a bummer right?
We all got different waffles then passed our plates around to try each one.
After breakfast we walked through the streets of Bruges looking at lace shops, bakeries, and chocolate stores.
We toured through the Church of our Holy Lady cathedral.
It's gothic style and the tallest building in town, third tallest brick tower in the world. It really is an awesome architectural beauty.
So many chocolates to see!
Lots of chocolate shops in Bruges! Belgium chocolate is so good!
They look amazing.
It was fun buying chocolates to take home and share. So many different kinds to choose from. Oh, and they were oh so good!
In our chocolate making class we learned that if we wanted real good chocolates we needed to look for this metal plate outside of the store. If they belonged to this chocolate gilde then they had good chocolates.
These chocolate bars were fun. I bought a box of different ones to cut up and share at home.
Seeing the pretty desserts in the shop windows was so fun. Felt so Paris-like.
The homes and buildings are just so cute. Seeing buildings that are older than our country is just a weird thought for some reason. Something so old is still in habitable.
We wandered the streets and just took in the scenery.
We got some more waffles as a snack from a waffle shop called Fred's. Liege waffle with cherry ice cream, strawberries, Nutella drizzle and crispy nuts. Sooo good! Waffles are just better in Belgium you guys. 😂
After having a sweet snack we drove to the North Sea.
It's a pretty beach. It was a little chilly but the water wasn't as cold as Oregon. This place gets packed during the warmer months.
We got back in the car and drove to Paris. On the way we stopped at a gas station and had fun looking at their food items. We bought hula hoop "chips" to try. They were really good.
We got to the hotel and checked in at Hotel Meininger. (The name of the doctor who delivered all four of my kids. lol) They have such teeny tiny rooms!
I slept on the top bunk. There was just this space then a small bathroom. They have a community kitchen where people can put their food and cook it themselves later. We put our ice packs in the freezer to keep our chocolates from melting the next day sitting in the car.
We went to dinner at a cafe and tried escargot.
Look at that not so little snail. 😅 It tasted like garlic. I'm grateful the texture wasn't chewy or slimy. It wasn't bad if you like a mouthful of garlic but I'm ok not having it. However, the garlic butter was great to dip a baguette in!
I had penne Al carbonara for dinner. It was really good. You mix up the yoke with the pasta and it makes the sauce really creamy. I would eat this again.
One thing I missed a lot on this trip was vegetables. They didn't have them on menus even. And if they did it was a small salad.
April 27
A busy day in Paris! This was our busiest day. We left the hotel at 8am and got back to our room at 11:30pm. We saw so many amazing things, so much art and history.
We rode the double decker bus, went to Sainte Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Love, Eiffel Tower - twice! Once in the day and once at night to see the lights.
So to start our day we picked up breakfast at a pastry shop.
I had an apple streusel type pastry and croissant.
After eating we went to see Sainte Chapelle cathedral and the beautiful stained glass.
This is the Justice building that goes around Sainte Chapelle.
Sainte Chapelle. Kara did a great job planning this trip. She got tickets for this ahead of time so we were able to go right passed the long ticket line to go on inside.
Look at these colors!
I was in awe.
And this was just on the main floor.
Then we went upstairs! It's gorgeous!!
The windows tell about the books in the Bible.
I was grateful for the information that was out for us to read and learn about this amazing place.
Such intricate work is just breathtaking.
Don't mind our photo bomber. 😂
Sainte Chapelle is complete with gargoyles!
Notre Dame
Notre Dame is still under construction as they're rebuilding after the fire that happened in 2019 so we didn't get to go inside. I'll still be happy to say I saw it in person though. I do love seeing these amazing cathedrals.
We stopped and grabbed a bite for lunch. I got a corcette crepe. It had chicken, peppers, onions, cheese and goat cheeses. It was good but after a bit I was done. The goat cheese had a pretty strong flavor so it was too much to each. I didn't finish it.
We got on the double decker bus, named the "Toot Bus" and known as the hop on, hop off bus. We were able to see lots around as we drove through the streets. The bus had audio talking about sites and history around Paris.
Love the river flowing through Paris and the river walks.
Luxor Obelisk
Fontaines de la Concorde
There are two of these monumental fountains located in the Place de la Concorde in the center of Paris. The south fountain commemorates the maritime commerce and industry of France and the north fountain commemorates navigation and commerce on the rivers of France.
Paris - the fashion capitol of the world. We saw Dior
and Louis Vuitton
Arc de Triomphe
One of the most famous monuments in Paris, France.
The Eiffel Tower! I can't believe Ive seen it and even went up it.
It's so cool.
I could see so much from up there. See Notre Dame cathedral?
Hôtel des Invalides
I had to screenshot my location. 😃
I had get macaroons in Paris on the Eiffel Tower! I mean, it is the pastry capital of the world. ;) And they were real good.
And back down on the ground again. What a sight.
After the tower we went to the Louve. I love that I was able to see so many famous landmarks and pieces of art.
Venus goddess of love
Athena
Louve museum is so huge we only saw a quarter of it. We spent hours there. You need to go more than once to see everything.
We saw lots of royal jewels.
I liked reading about the jewels and who had them.
Lisa and the Mona Lisa!
I was there folks. I've seen it....now is it real or a fake like seen on movies? Guess we will never know.
This enormous painting is of the Coronation of Napoleon and Empress Josephine.
Leonardo DaVinci painting
Another DaVinci painting. The description is the next pic below.
Mary, Jesus, and baby John the Baptist painting by Raphael
Description to the Raphael painting.
This giant painting of David and Goliath is double sided. So cool. What talent these artists had.
Joan of Ark
"the captive slave" by Michelangelo
I liked getting pictures of artwork by famous artists.
This sculpture is Apollo slaying the serpent python. It's also recently known to be the first selfie because it looks like that's what he's doing. 😂 So I took a selfie with it.
Back on the hop on, hop off bus headed to our next destination.
We did some walking around and shopping. Then went for some dinner at a cafe. I had chicken seasoned with curry, salad, and fries.
Panthéon
Then we got on the road metro back to the Eiffel Tower to see it light up. On the hour, every hour it lights up and sparkles for 5 minutes. It was quite a sight to see. I'm so glad we went back for it. 
Look how beautiful it is!
The lights are on all night but on the hour they turn on the small sparkly lights so it looks like the tower is glittering, It's incredible.
I took a video of it briefly and then FaceTimed Jaime so he could see it. Then I FaceTimed my parents and siblings all at once. The sparkly lighting just ended but they were able to see the tower still lit. It was fun to share the excitement with them.
April 28
Our first stop was to a grocery store to get some fresh squeezed orange juice. It's a machine that you start by pulling on the pour spout and you watch the oranges go into the machine and get pressed and then fill the juice into the juice bottle.
We walked through the farmers market and looked at things as we were on our way to catch the metro. When we got off we looked around for a good bakery. We found one and stocked up on pastries to share. Croissants, chocolate croissants, bread with chorizo and cheese, quiche, britinees (not sure I spelled that right but they were so good. ) they have apple and powder sugar all in a spiral flakey pastry. Can't forget we got some more macarons and a chocolate mouse.
We stopped here at Luxembourg Palace in Luxembourg Gardens to eat our pastries for breakfast. there were table and chairs all over for people to enjoy the 57 acre property. Kids were able to get sailboats to float on the large fountain waters.
Luxembourg Gardens.
We stopped to use the bathroom, another self cleaning toilet pod on the sidewalk. It took about 20 minutes fo run all to use it! It takes so long in between each use to clean itself before it opens back up for someone else to use. Very futuristic.
Kara wanted to do some shopping in Costco so she sent us with directions to get on to the metro to go to the Palace of Versailles. Of course our first venture alone and we got on the wrong train. Our ticket for the Palace was 2pm. We got there at 4pm. It took so long to turn around and catch the right train. But we made it!
We toured throughout the Palace with personal audio speakers to learn about every room. It took almost two hours for us to go through.
We made it to Palace of Versailles! It's huge and so beautiful.
The architecture and artwork is stunning.
One wing had a different color wallpaper in each room. From this view you can see the yellow, green, blue, and red walls.
Royal Chapel
Mercury room
Here is where they held the going to bed and getting up ceremony.
Hall of Mirrors
Hall of Mirrors
Gallery of Battles
Here in palace of Versailles was the treaty signed.
These bright golden gates were awesome.
We met back up with Kara then went for dinner at a cute street side cafe, Le Saint Claire, for pizza and salad. It was delicious. Then we went to another cafe to get crepes for dessert. I had Nutella with strawberries and bananas. It was ok, I've had better.
We went and walked around the Paris France temple. The visitors center ended up being closed early so we couldn't go in. We were able to go into the patron housing to use the bathroom. My phone automatically connected to the church wifi! So it was fun to briefly text Jaime and my family.
Action shot of Amy and Kara. :)
Tree of Life? :)
After the temple we headed back to Luxembourg. We had a good time talking and laughing trying to make sure we stayed awake so Kara could stay awake driving because it was a long drive. Almost 5 hours. Sounds like we didn't pack in as much on this day but we did and didn't get back to Kara's house till 1:30am.
April 29
We slept in after getting to bed so late. I stayed up till 3am talking to Jaime. Having such a large time difference made it hard to find a normal time to talk.
We watched Band of Brothers movie about the Battle of the Bulge. (Ardenne mountains is where it took place. So in Luxembourg it's called the Ardennes offensive.) Dave and Kara gave us a little history lesson on it. Then we headed to Bastogne to see the Bastogne war museum and WWII exhibits and sites. While driving we could see the Berscheid Castle.
Another marker
Their stage for this "play" was awesome. It was all digital, no real actors.
Woods at Bastogne where the Battle of the Bulge was fought.
City of Foy (Fwah) that the Germans had siege of while American forces were up in these fox holes protecting Bastogne. It was such a beautiful forest but knowing what happened here was heartbreaking.
We saw a few holes, then we'd walk around and see a few more. Then suddenly we realized there were dozens of them! After watching Band of Brothers then these woods it put some things in perspective. After the woods we went to see the cemetery where German soldiers were buried. It's a different feeling walking in there. But at the same time respect is given to the dead.
For dinner I tried cordon bleu with a mushroom sauce. The raw veggies were a few lettuce leaves. Hahaha! Dessert was a sugar pie. It was literally a pie of sugar. Very sweet but really not much flavor.
April 30
While driving we saw mistletoe toe trees, vineyards, and lots of mustard fields while driving through Germany.
The yellow fields were so pretty to drive by. You can see them from so far away because of how bright the yellow is.
We stopped in Bernkastel to walk through the city along the Mosselle River. Such beautiful houses and buildings.
Landshut castle in Bernkastel
This building is made into a Christmas advent calendar every year. Different decorations are placed on a window each day. How cute is that!
I love the Tudor look and cobblestone streets.
We drove to Bingen and got on the boat for the castle river cruise along the Rhein river. We saw so many castles! We ate lunch and snacks on the boat while we played a couple card games and just enjoyed the ride. It was nice and relaxing after all the walking we'd been doing the last few days.
The villages along the river were so storybook charming.
We got off the boat at St. Goat to walk the village and do some shopping. We bought some Birkenstocks then tried another bakery (so we could use their bathroom lol) then caught the train back to Bingen. We laughed at the realization that for this trip we've traveled on plane, car, bus, metro (subway), boat, and train. We have literally been all over the place.
We had so much fun!
When we got back to the car we went grocery shopping at Aldi. Used the European shopping carts. Kinda fun. We bought foods and chocolates we wanted to take home to family. My credit card broke the machine (head slap) even though Amy and Meredith's exact same Costco cards worked. The German checker was real upset. lol
On the drive home we ate dinner of salad and pasta and baguette that we bought at the grocery store. We got to drive on the autobahn on the way back! Well, Kara drove, the rest of us just rode. lol. The fastest speed Kara got up to was 120mph.
May 1
We attended church meetings. Great May Day. We even saw a May Pole on the way to church. Kara's family was then wondering why we say mayday when in trouble. Like how we've seen in movies when fighter jets are going down they call out mayday, mayday. So upon looking it up mayday comes from a French word meaning help me. I "journaled" this in my phone while at church...
So today, fast Sunday, is May 1st - May Day. What a great day to go to church and say to the Lord "help me." Help me feel the spirit, help me repent, help me love others, help me, help me. I need my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to help me be a better person so that I can be happy and one day live with them again. I'm so grateful I felt the spirit so strongly today. I feel spiritually fed and uplifted. Makes me even more eager to get home and be with my family. This makes me want to look to my savior more and gain that feeling that I have now, eager to return to my family. As I draw nearer to God through my daily life I know that when the time comes, I'll feel eager to return to my father and mother in heaven.
After church we went to the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. Such a humbling feeling walking through the cemetery seeing so many white marble crosses with most dated in such a short period of time. December 1944 through January 1945. Many men lost their lives due to Battle of the Bulge.
General Patton's resting place
After the cemetery we went to Echternach, the oldest town in Luxembourg. We went to the Echternach Basilica and saw the founder St. Willebrord's tomb in the basement of the basilica.
Echternach Basilica
Oldest town in Luxembourg. I love it. We walked around the streets seeing the cute village.
Afterwards we drove to see a German WWII bunker. We walked across the bridge of the Saur river where the 5th US infantry pushed back the Germans into German borders.
"In honor of the 5th US Infantry Division which crossed the Sauer River here on February 7 1945 under heavy enemy fire and adverse weather conditions. Their sacrifices helped to bring freedom again to our country. We shall remember."
On the other side of the river built inside the hillside is an unmarked German Bunker. We could see where the machine gun was. I used a flashlight to crawl through some of it. It's a pretty tight place but kind of long for a concrete bunker being built into a wall. We were talking how much work and time went in to building this bunker so they had to have built it before the war was in full force. We could even see a heavy metal door Fram where a door would seal the bunker. There were ventilation holes along the hill. It's all unmarked with no info so we have no idea when it was made.
The hole into a German bunker
If you look closely you can see three openings.
Gun platform
Looks to be where a meta door would shut and lock tight. Based off translating the writing it looks like it was built in 1937(or 9). Germans had this built before the war reached Luxembourg.
We went to see the Beaufort Castle behind Kara's house. One of the side walls to an outer building had recently crumbled. the castle hasn't been kept up by the owner. She died about 10 years ago and left it to the town so it has since been opened up for tours. However, it was Sunday that we went to see it so it was closed. Walking around the outside on a beautiful day was nice.
Our last picture together.
For dinner Kara introduced us to Raclette. Meat and veggies on bread topped with cheese and then placed under the hot plate to warm it and melt the cheese.
We had our own hand held "pan" that we put any food options we wanted.
Then placed it underneath to pretty much broil it. The veggies cook on top of it. It was a fun way to cook a meal. Easy prep, everyone makes their own food to their liking. :) Perfect for moms.
May 2
We went to the pharmacy first thing in the morning for our COVID tests. We tested negative, yay!, then went to the airport to catch our flight home. Turns out they didn't check for COVID tests at all. It was literally a waste of money.
The plane from Frankfurt back to the US was pretty empty so we got to spread out and lay down for the long flight. I was so nervous about such long flights because sometimes I get restless leg and struggle sitting but I did fine and loved this once in a life time trip. This trip was amazing and I'm so grateful I could go with such great friends. And Kara was an awesome trip planner!
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