Photos and Stories from Strasbourg, France

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. 

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First time in Germany: No hassle in Kassel!

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!

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Giethoorn: The Venice of the Netherlands

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.

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Photos and Stories from Arnhem, Netherlands

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…)

Photos and Stories from Amsterdam

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. 

The Rijksmuseum

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Windmills and Seafood and Cheese … Oh My!

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

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.

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Portland, Oregon

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.

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Vacation Rentals: A Learning Experience

For our first extended-travel trip, we visited Portugal and Spain for four weeks, which was longer than any trip we had taken previously. Most of our previous vacations have been seven- to twelve-day cruises, typically accompanied by two or three nights in a hotel before and/or after, or a week at an all-inclusive resort. In 2022 and 2023, we took 12-night land tours in France and Portugal, respectively, where we stayed in local hotels that included breakfast buffets.

This time, we stayed in rental apartments for several reasons. (We’re choosing not to call them B&Bs, since none of them offered breakfast.)

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Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

For our last leg of the trip, we visited Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands. We stayed in downtown Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital.

We enjoyed our visit. We both agree that this was our favorite stop on the trip. We stayed three days, and could have stayed a day or two more. Santa Cruz was modern, safe, and inviting, with plenty of culture. It had a good vibe. It seemed very livable to us.

Royal Poinciana trees were everywhere!

In this post, we’ll share some photos from the Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts), Museo de las Ilusiones (Museum of illusions), and Parque Garcia Sanabria, a beautiful city park with sculptures and colorful plants. We’ll also share a few photos from Piramides de Güímar, a short drive south of Santa Cruz.

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