(We found plenty of beer and chocolate, though!)
After Luxembourg, we headed into Belgium, another country we were visiting for the first time. We stayed three nights in Brussels, and despite the rainy and overcast weather at times, we enjoyed exploring the city.
After Strasbourg, France, we spent a couple of nights in Luxembourg. It was one of three countries we visited for the first time on this trip, and we were curious to see what it was like.
Luxembourg City is modern and beautiful, with plenty of reminders of its past. It has some nice parks and scenic viewpoints. Here’s a photo from the Luxembourg Gardens.
After visiting Freiburg, Germany, we spent three days in Strasbourg, France.
Strasbourg is located in the northeast corner of France, in the Alsace region. It sits on the Rhine River, across from Germany. It’s home to the European Parliament, making it one of several de facto capitals of the European Union. It’s complicated. It is also the seat of several other European institutions. Strasbourg’s Wikipedia page attempts to explain the EU’s structure and gives a lot of interesting background on the city.
While it’s rich with history, today Strasbourg is an attractive, vibrant city. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
After Kassel, we traveled south to Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany’s southernmost and warmest city. It’s located on the southwestern edge of the Black Forest, which is the main reason we decided to visit. It’s a vibrant city that’s a charming mix of the old and the new.
Here are a few photos from around town.
Three of the five countries on this adventure are countries we’ll visit for the first time: Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Our first stop in Germany was Kassel. Jeff wanted to visit Kassel because his paternal grandmother is from there. She died decades ago and he has no connection with relatives there; he just wanted to go. Kassel’s main claim to fame is that it was the home of the Brothers Grimm.
We’re glad we went! We loved Kassel. It had some interesting things to see and an upbeat, modern vibe.
But first, we need to talk about the apartment where we stayed. It was amazing! As is common in European cities, it was located in a building with a business on the ground floor and a nondescript entrance with a plain elevator and stairwell. But as soon as we opened the door to the apartment on the fourth floor, we were blown away!
While we were in the Netherlands, we visited Giethoorn (pronounced “he-torn”), a small town with fewer than 3,000 residents. It’s nicknamed “The Venice of the Netherlands,” which is saying something in a nation famous for its canalled cities, including Amsterdam. Cars are prohibited in much of Giethoorn, and residents get around by boat, foot, or bicycle.
The city gained notoriety in 1958, when the Dutch filmmaker Bert Haanstra made his famous comedy Fanfare there. It has grown into a tourist destination in the years since.
The town is thoroughly charming. We took a one-hour boat tour.
After five days in Amsterdam, we set out to discover more of the Netherlands. We traveled east by train 100 km to Arnhem, a city of approximately 160,000 people near the German border.
Arnhem is a middle-class community that’s pleasant and safe but not particularly remarkable. Our apartment was located in a residential neighborhood of brown brick row houses, probably built in the first half of the 20th century. Most of the houses appeared to be duplexes, including ours. The interior had been updated and was sufficiently nice and well-appointed.
So why did we choose to visit Arnhem? It certainly wasn’t for its restaurant scene. No place within walking distance appealed to us, and the few restaurants downtown seemed overpriced. So on both nights, we bought our dinners at the local Albert Heijn grocery store (a popular chain in the Netherlands) and ate at home.
We chose to visit Arnhem to see the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum (Open Air Museum) and the Kröller-Müller Museum, located within the massive De Hoge Veluwe National Park. (more…)
We began our month-long tour of northwest Europe with five days in Amsterdam. Photos from our day trip to Zaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam, and Marken are in this post. Here are photos from the rest of our time in Amsterdam.
We were fortunate to find a rental apartment just a couple of blocks from Museumplein (Museum Square, although it’s actually a rectangle). Several of Amsterdam’s most popular attractions are at Museumplein – the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum, and Concertgebouw.
We began our second European adventure in Amsterdam. While we usually create our own itinerary and explore places independently, on this day we took a Viator group tour to the villages of Zaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam, and Marken, all located a short distance north of Amsterdam.
Zaanse Schans features a collection of historic windmills and wooden houses relocated from the wider region north of Amsterdam for preservation between 1961 and 1974. It’s a tourist destination to be sure, but it was still interesting to see actual windmills up close.
In August, 2025, we visited our dear friends Sam and Brian in Portland, Oregon, before heading up to Vancouver, British Columbia, to celebrate our 20th Canadian Anniversary. We’ll post pictures from Vancouver in a separate post.
During our stay in Portland, we visited the famous Portland Rose Test Garden and the Grotto.
