Category: Europe 2018

Today we took the train from Berlin to Warsaw.

We had traditional Polish food for dinner at Dawne Smaki Restaurant. Herring, sour rye soup, ribs and pork loin. It was wonderful.

There was live music too.

Duke and I each have ancestors that came from Germany and Holland. For me it’s the Bantas from Holland and the Menolds from Germany. For Duke it is the Norenbergs from Germany and the Vermazens from Holland. I like to think that some of our ancestors might have seen the same things we are seeing.

Today in Berlin we went to the German History Museum. Part of the building was designed by the architect Loeh Minh Pei. The exhibits provided a really well done overview of German history.

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We spent about four hours at the museum then walked down to the Brandenburg Gate.

And from there to the Reichstag. We would have gone in but it turns out you need to book in advance. Maybe next time. There was a protest going on about Turkey murdering Kurds when we walked past.

Tomorrow we take the train to Warsaw. This last part of our trip is a whirlwind sample of several countries.

We started out this morning with pancakes in Amsterdam.

Then we took the train to Berlin where we are tonight.

Today in Amsterdam we visited the Van Gogh Museum and the Ann Frank House

On our way to the Van Gogh Museum we stopped for pastry and coffee.

We walked to the Ann Frank house and got there a bit early so had coffee and herring at a herring stand.

When I ready the Diary of Ann Frank back in seventh grade it made a profound impression on me. So seeing where she and her family hid was very moving.

Our walk back to the hotel was through a beautiful neighborhood.

We stopped for beer at a very old corner bar with a friendly owner who suggested what we should try and let us taste a couple of beers before we ordered.

We had a late lunch at a Greek restaurant.

And then tonight went to a jazz club for some live music.

It was a great day!

Today in Amsterdam we toured the Rijksmuseum and walked around exploring the streets and canals.

The Rijksmuseum has a wonderful collection of old masters. They also have an excellent free app that includes an audio guide. The app located where we were in the museum on a map and showed us where the next described painting was. We spent about three hours and didn’t see everything.

They also have a lovely library.

We had pizza and beer for lunch.

In the afternoon we used a Rick Steves audio tour in his app to do our own Amsterdam walking tour.

We saw frites stands and a herring stand.

We walked by the tulip market.

And we admired the canals, houses and shops.