I wake up at a quarter to eight, that’s perfect. We crawled in a bit later yesterday, as I infected mom with the Words of Wonders virus and we spent the whole evening playing on my phone. Getting quite far in the butterfly tournament! Breakfast is leftover bread with olive oil, grapes and cherry tomatoes.… Continue reading Fine arts
Tag: city
Shop & Eat
Up at seven again, it’s just impossible to get used to Spanish time unless you really make an effort, but then afterward you’ll have to make a similar effort to get back on Belgium time. Both are in the same time zone, but the Spanish do have a different rythm. Fruit salad and goat yoghurt… Continue reading Shop & Eat
Guggenheim
I wake up around seven, I can tell mom is awake as well by the light of her phone coming through the frosted glass door, so we confer briefly and decide to get up. We have some crackers and dark Belgian chocolate for breakfast and spend the early morning looking up plant info for the… Continue reading Guggenheim
A day by the sea
Up at eight. Eight! It’s just that there’s nothing to do early in the morning, plus restaurants start serving lunch only at two or so, so we’re shifting our whole day out of whack. First job is to get the DHL shipment ready, so after a quick run to the bakery and a breakfast of… Continue reading A day by the sea
Logistics
After a quiet flight of about 90 minutes the plane lands in Bilbao, Spain. It looks a bit rainy, or foggy, hard to say. Since I’m in a seat way at the front, I can exit the plane pretty efficiently and, admiring the design of the building, make my way to the luggage carrousels and… Continue reading Logistics
To Bilbao! Bilboa!
I’m taking off today on a city trip to Bilboa (Spain), internationally known as Bilbao. Not to be confused with Balboa, as in Rocky Balboa. I’ll meet my mom, who left for Bilboa from Belgium about 4 weeks and 2000 km ago. 2000 km! I took a local train this morning at 7:13, switched to… Continue reading To Bilbao! Bilboa!
Tours city
Today is a day off, we haven't even set an alarm. The bikes are locked in the secure hotel garage, the contents of the bags are strewn all over the hotel room and the first batch of hand wash is already drying on hangers. We roll out of bed around seven thirty and by the… Continue reading Tours city
The big city experience
We fell asleep around nine yesterday and wake up before seven. We have a museum planned this morning, this opens only at ten, so we decide to head out to town for an extensive breakfast. We google in bed and decide on The Union Kitchen, because it gets good reviews and the pictures look nice.… Continue reading The big city experience
Sun and smiles
Yesterday evening we fell asleep by nine. I suppose mom has a good excuse, having cycled about 1800 km in the last weeks, for me it's just the stressful summer catching up with me. We don't have an alarm set, but wake up with the light before seven. We're planning to have breakfast out in… Continue reading Sun and smiles
a last walk around Rome
Today is our last day in Rome.. Up at six thirty, packed/checked out and walking before eight. We don't have a particular goal in mind, but the weather is beautiful so we'll probably spend most of the morning outside. The only time constraint is our shuttle to the airport at two pm. We walk past… Continue reading a last walk around Rome
Popolo, Barberini & Rinascenze
Oops, forgot to put an alarm. Even so, we're up at half past seven and out just after eight. We take a general aim east and start walking, keeping an eye out for a good spot for breakfast. It's cloudy, but not actually raining, though most people have rain jackets on or carry umbrella's. It's… Continue reading Popolo, Barberini & Rinascenze
old & new
For the first time this holiday we've actually put a wake up alarm and since we managed to stay up until nine pm yesterday, we're ready to roll around seven am. The usual breakfast and a shuttle pick-up at eight thirty to get to the Colosseum, where we meet Lucy, an architect turned guide, who… Continue reading old & new
shops & Diocletian Baths
We have only one goal today: visit some fashion stores and look at Italian fashion and shoes. We set off around eight towards the center of town and have a vague plan to have breakfast on the way. It looks like there is some kind of running competition going on somewhere, parts of the road… Continue reading shops & Diocletian Baths
Musei Vaticani
Only one task today: get through the giant Vatican museums. We have bought our ticket more than a month ago and are allowed ingress at 10.30, so plenty of time. We wake up early, not surprising since mom fell asleep around eight pm yesterday and I about an hour later. We have breakfast at seven… Continue reading Musei Vaticani
around Piazza Navona
I haven't quite figured out yet what the best blog format is for a city trip, I'm thinking that just a list of stuff we've visited might get boring, but on the other hand I want to be able to read in ten years time what we've done, so I guess there's no way around… Continue reading around Piazza Navona
to Rome
My mom and I are finally visiting Rome! My husband visited it in high school, so did one of my sisters, but for my mom and I it just didn't happen before. So now we've simply decided to make a city trip out of it to see the famous roman buildings, visit the Vatican city… Continue reading to Rome
Shopping in Düsseldorf
I love shopping for clothes in Düsseldorf, there's a great mix of designer stores and malls and plenty of room for pedestrians. Whereas in Paris I often have to buy the largest size, here I'm absolutely average and have no trouble finding items in my size. We take the car, there's plenty of highways to… Continue reading Shopping in Düsseldorf
from metropole to national park
The day starts with a visit to the hairdresser. Not a typical holiday activity, but I just had to get it short again, it was annoying the hell out of me. It is cold and the sky is overcast, but at least it's not raining. We almost get blown away by the wind on the… Continue reading from metropole to national park
Hot!
I have mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating: it's very hot out here. the newspapers tell us it's hot all over the world and Belgium has had the hottest Friday July 27th ever! I believe Frederikshavn and Göteborg actually might be relatively cool because they're right at the seaside and there is a refreshing… Continue reading Hot!
a day to rest
we dawdle until eight thirty and have a nice breakfast downstairs in the small hotel. we dawdle some more - today we have nothing but time - and then set off by bike to Beaune, about five kilometers away. it feels very strange to cycle without the packs, it goes so quickly and easy up… Continue reading a day to rest
no hiking today !
Today is our day off, so we are determined to get up late and not do too many steps. We leave for Passau around 10 am and follow the two-lane road down to the Donau. The temperatures must have been very low during the night, because the trees are thickly covered with hoarfrost and make… Continue reading no hiking today !