Geo: 41.975, -88.0072On this trip, I will be visiting three countries, Poland, The Netherlands and Belgium. All are part of the European Union, however Poland uses it's own currency, the zloty, and will be the farthest east I have traveled in Europe. I picked each of these countries for one specific reason initially: Poland to visit Auschwitz, The Netherlands to visit the Anne Frank Museum and Belgium to visit the city of Bruges. I am also looking forward to exploring more of what each place has to offer!Here's what's happening when:May 31 - Depart O'Hare, layover in Zurich, Switzerland for a few hours and arrive in Krakow, Poland on June 1 via Swiss AirlinesJune 1-4 - Lodging at the Redbrick Apartments in KrakowJune 4 - Depart Krakow for Amsterdam, The Netherlands via KLM airlinesJune 4-8 - ... read more

Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097First, if you want to view all of my photos from my trip, here's the link:https://paris112011272014.shutterfly.com/Paris is an amazing city full of history, culture and beautiful scenery. We saw a ton of stuff in 5 short days. If you don't want to do as much walking as we did, you would need more days or would need to see less. I am surprised at what we did manage to fit in and that I did not give up earlier each day. I certainly could travel to Paris on my own, but I would not have pushed myself as hard and would have missed out on many sites and sounds.The Museum Pass is a must if you are planning to see all the big sites. Their website is : http://en.parismuseumpass.com/. We got the 6 day ... read more

Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097This morning was all about Matthew. He wanted to see Roland Garros stadium, which is where the French Open is held each year. I discovered there was a museum and stadium tour, so we had reserved spots on the 11 am tour and headed out to be there when the museum opened at 10. First we had to stop for breakfast of Nutella covered gaufres, or waffles as we call them. They were a chocolate mess and a great start to the morning! Roland Garros is very easy to find. We took the metro from near the Eiffel Tower, had to change trains once and then a short walk to the stadium. Matthew went into the museum while Renee and I waited outside (we are not that excited about tennis!) and enjoyed the quiet. ... read more

Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097The Louvre is a big place! If you want to see some of it without huge crowds, try to get there early. That was our goal today, to arrive when the museum opened at 9. We started walking a little after 8 and, according to Google Maps, it is a 2.2 mile walk (so Mom, maybe my pedometer is not so incorrect after all). It was a cloudy and cool morning and the walk along the river was nicer than the evening before when we were already tired from a long day. We arrived at the intersection with the Champs Elysees, which is the location of the famous Obelisk. This was a gift from Egypt and is also the area where the guillotine was located during the French Revolution. Thousands of people, including Marie-Antoinette ... read more

Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097Today was a day of walking. I had found out about a free greeter program where you sign up and are assigned a greeter based on your interests. We thought this would be a great way to get an introduction to Paris and it's free so that's even better. Our tour guide was Jean-Patrick and he was to take us on a tour of Issy les Moulineaux which is in the 15th arrondissement. We left the hotel about 8:15 and stopped at a cafe for breakfast. Pain du chocolat for all and fresh squeezed orange juice for me. It was delicious! The metro was necessary to get to our greeter appointment so we learned how to buy tickets and navigate and it was very simple. I bought a book of 10 tickets, except I ... read more