Paris

Since our parents were only going to be here for 2 weeks, and we had a very busy schedule for them, we decided a day trip to Paris would be best.  We got up very early to make it to St. Pancras train station, where we got on the Eurostar.  We arrived in Paris in just over 2 hours.

We first arrived and were hungry to lunch so we stopped at this cute little restaurant where we all had a variety of French food from an omelette to a quiche to a Nicoise salad.  Delicious!  I must add however my “large” Coca-Cola Light was 8 Euro = $10!

 Next we thought the best way to see the city would be to get on a tour bus.  I love them and I take them in all cities!  They take you to all the highlights and you can get off and get on the next one.  Plus, you wear headphones and listen to information as you go!

We get on one and my dad and myself went to the upper deck for better views, but colder weather, whilst my mom and Kelsey stayed downstairs.  We just hang out on here for a while and decide to get off at the Louvre.

We didn’t go into the museum because we were limited on time but we got some great pictures of the Palais du Louvre.

Then we got back onto the bus, as they come around every 10 minutes or so, and made our way to the avenue des Champs Elysees.  This is a very busy street full of shops and entertainment.  Some refer to it as, “the most beautiful avenue in the world.”

At the end of the avenue we came to the Arc de Triomphe.  It’s a huge structure that was built as a memorial for French soldiers.  The information on the bus stated that some crazy pilots have even tried to fly sideways through the archway!

The skies were getting darker as we were making our way to the Eiffel Tower, which was not good for our “open roofed” tour bus.  Let’s just say my dad and I got very wet as we thought, “we’d just stick it out.”  But by the time we “stuck” it out, it was too full downstairs in the dry warm bus!

Needless to say we got off at the Eiffel Tower, because well, it’s the Eiffel Tower.  We got some really good pictures and the rain even let up!  We didn’t go to the top, as the queue was crazy long.

Notre Dame

We decided to take a river cruise on the Seine to get a different perspective of Paris.  The cruise lasted an hour and it took us from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame.  The cruise also had a live tour guide that gave us facts about Paris in French and English.

After the cruise, we got last minute pictures of the Tower and it lit up for us as well.  We then made our way back to the train station, but not before getting some last minute food for the train.  Kelsey got Subway!  M & D got crepes and “French” fries and I got a French baguette.  We also stocked up on breakfast for the next day from a cute little bakery: croissants, brioche, and pain au chocolat.

 

In just about two hours we arrived back in London and made our way back to our place.  We took it easy as the next day we had to leave bright and early for Italy! 

Overall, Paris is a magical city that I wanted to show our parents in the short time they were here and I think we hit the major spots.  It was a long day but well worth the trip!

London for New Years Eve

When my parents came to visit us, Courtney and I mapped out the two weeks precisely. We took everyone’s interests in mind when choosing Germany (for my Dad), London (for me), Paris (for my Mom), and Italy (for Courtney). Germany quickly came and gone, and next was the beautiful city of London. We had two days to cover the basics so we woke up early and bought a two-day pass for the hop-on, hop-off bus tour. Within the three routes, this tour covered everything so it was perfect for my parents to do.

After riding the bus for a few hours, we grabbed lunch at Pret and decided to walk briefly around Leicester Square. My dad spotted the M&M store, so we bopped in and bought a few souvenirs. We got back on the bus that took us to Westminster where we decided to go on a boat cruise down the Thames. This gave my parents a better perspective of where things were along the river.

M&M store

From the first time I visited London, we had a tour guide take us to the Tower of London. I knew that I had to take my sister and parents there. It’s full of royal history. My favorite part of the tour is viewing the royal jewels. I seriously get goose bumps every time. Courtney and I joke that perhaps we were royals before this life because we are drawn to those beautiful jewels!

Listening to the history

Once we were done with the Tower of London tour, Courtney and I made reservations at the Dickens Inn restaurant. This was that typical English meal that my parents were looking for. They both had fish and chips, I ordered bangers and mash, and Courtney ordered the meat sampler. 

After dinner, we decided to head towards the London Eye for the firework show at midnight. I knew there would be a lot of people there to watch the big show, but I had no idea they would be queuing before 7:00! I somehow convinced my parents that it would be a good idea to queue at this time in order to get a good spot, so we waited… for 5 hours. I was having flashbacks of queuing for the Breaking Dawn premiere during this time. It was cold, people were pushy, and of course it started to rain. Luckily, we had umbrellas, and we made friends with the people next to us. In order to stay awake and motivated to stay in the crowd, we drank 5-Hours that my parents brought over for us. Time went by surprisingly fast as each hour dwindled down. London was smart by playing great tunes while we waited.

Long night of waiting

Over 200,000

At midnight, we heard Big Ben ring and the Eye flashed fireworks right when it was ringing. Perfect! The firework show was to a great mix of popular songs which lasted about 15 minutes. I remember smiling the entire time. We were dead center of the Eye and I just couldn’t believe what was going on. The entire show was brilliant, it had nothing on even Apple Valley's grand finale.

Once midnight came and gone, we had to find transportation back to our house. The amount of people in the capital was unreal. The police closed off all major roads, so people were walking freely around. It was so weird not to hear or see any cars or buses.  If any of you are aware of London, we walked from Embankment to Victoria to hopefully catch a non-busy train because it was further away. Of course, we weren’t the only ones thinking of that plan. Tons of people were heading south as well, so we ended up not getting on the train home until around 2:30.

The video I wanted to show is taking forever to load, so to give you a better picture of what happened that night click here. 


Showing London to my parents was a lot of fun. They could finally get a visual to all the things we have been talking about these past few months.  Also, the NYE firework show was the perfect ending. Maybe not next year, but sometime in my future, I really want to see Sydney’s NYE show. While waiting, our friends told us that that was just as great of a show. Any takers?

Next leg of the Mulhern European Tour is off to Paris the next day. Courtney will write that entry. xx

Germany

Our parents flew out of Minnesota on Christmas Day on the red eye and made it to London Heathrow on Monday.  Kelsey and I picked them up from the airport and brought them back to our place.  We took it easy that night as we had plans to fly to Germany early the next day.

The taxi arrived around 3:30 AM to take us to London Victoria Coach Station.  From there we hop on our coach to take us to London Stansted Airport in just over an hour.  We get to the airport and fly RyanAir to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, Germany!

We arrive in Frankfurt in about an hour and we go pick up our rental car.  From there we didn’t really have a whole lot planned so we just hit the open road!  Our hotel was in Heidelberg so we slowly made our way there.

Luxembourg

Our first stop was in Luxembourg.  We stopped for a few pictures and drove around the downtown area.  It was a very beautiful city, but we kept it moving!

We next made our way to Ramstein Air Base.  I’ve heard they had a big shopping center so we wanted to check it out.  It was so great to see Americans and American products!  We stocked up on a few things that we haven’t had in a while.  Taco Bell was necessary to have on the way out!

On the road again, we finally make it to Heidelberg.  We drive around for a while and only can imagine how pretty this city will be in the daylight.  We check into our hotel and walk around to find a Christmas market.

Bratwurst

 

For dinner we find a nice restaurant close to our hotel.  Of course we all needed to have a beer in Germany so we all tried different local beers, and Kelsey opted for a local Riesling.  Food was excellent and the beer was awesome.  Aces!

Onion Soup

Beets, Schnitzel Balls, Beef

Meat and Cheese Platter

The BEST potato pancake I've ever had!

Cheers!

The next day we wake up for a full day of driving.  We had heard great things about the Black Forest and decided that would be our route down to southern Germany.  It sure did not disappoint.  Our pictures don’t do justice and we encountered a lot of fog, but it was a very pretty drive.

The Black Forest

 

We made a stop in Zurich, Switzerland for a few pictures.  I would definitely like to come back here and explore more.  We also drove through Valdez, Liechtenstein, the 6^th smallest country in the world covering 62 square miles!

 

Finally after just about the most gorgeous drive I’ve ever been on in my life, we make it to our destination, know to many as the Disney Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle.

The castle was under construction so they had lots of scaffolding up.  It was also dark by the time we arrived and the castle wasn’t lit up so our pictures didn’t turn out well.  Dad, Kelsey and I made the hike up to the top and got a better view up close.  The castle and views were breath taking.  This one had the “wow” factor.

This is what we would have seen, had it been light out and they wasn't scaffolding all over!

The next day, Mom, Dad, and I wanted to tour the Heidelberg Castle, while Kelsey wanted to shop.  We took this tram type thing up the hill and explored the castle.  We had great views of the city.  The castle was really neat and I’m sure it would’ve been in its heyday.

Heidelberg Castle in the background.

It was then time to leave Heidelberg and make our way to Lohr, Germany.  My dad had a work friend there and he invited us to go out to eat with his family.  Where?  A castle!

View from our hotel in Lohr.

We check into our hotel get ready for the night.  The reason I liked this area so much is because this is what I pictured Germany to be.  Quaint, simple, and friendly.  We were definitely out of the tourist areas and in small town Germany.

Günther invited us into his home where his wife and two 20-something daughters greeted us.  There was a bit of a language barrier so we just had to smile and go with it!  We had a quick drink before dinner at their neighbor’s outdoor enclosed gazebo type hut.  It was awesome and very cozy to have outside in their backyard.

So imagine this: Günther, his wife and two daughters, his brother-in-law and his wife, who none of them really speak English, the four Americans, and his Chinese business partner and fiancée who don’t speak a whole lot of English!  It adds up to an uncomfortable dinner in a castle!

No, it wasn’t that bad, it was just funny basically.  I think a lot was lost in translation but everyone was so nice and everyone was laughing.  It turned out to be really great!

After dinner, Kelsey and I decided to go out on the town!  It was necessary to take a shot of Jägermeister to start.  We met some local German guys who were really nice.  To stereotype, they were big buff, beer drinking, athletic looking dudes.  They were really friendly to us but we only understood about every third word!

Friday was our last day in Germany and we left Lohr back to the airport.  On our way we drove through the heart of Frankfurt.

We had one final stop to make and that was Burg Eltz Castle.  Again with the scaffolding?!  It still was gorgeous nonetheless.

Back to the airport, we make the flight to London and crash.  We had an awesome experience in Germany.  Everyone was so friendly to us and very accommodating.  I would love to explore more of Germany in the future and recommend a trip to all!

Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland!