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We drove into The Netherlands from Belgium, and after seeing beautiful countryside and many windmills, we arrived at our hotel, a couple of minutes outside of Amsterdam. It was to late to adventure into the city, but we went to a nearby restaurant and very much enjoyed our first taste of this new country's food. The next morning we left to take a train into the city centre, and one of the first things we noticed was the abundance of bicycles. There are bicycles everywhere and also separate roads for the bikes. Very efficient, but this makes driving vehicles a bit more challenging. We walked from the train station to the meeting point for a walking tour of Amsterdam. Our young guide knew a lot about the founding and development of the city, of historical figures, ... read more

We didn't want to miss the opportunity to experience more history on our trip. We stayed in a scenic village near the city of Gent, where our B&B hosts started things off on a high note by offering everyone local beverages, Dad indulged himself in some local brew. Everyone enjoyed this introduction to the new country. After our introductions we had a nice dinner in the city of Gent but wanted to get a good nights sleep after the long day of travel. After waking up and enjoying a nice breakfast and garden tour, we made our way to the Flanders Fields Museum in the historic town of Ypres. The museum was a wealth of information not only about the battle of Ypres but the whole of World War I. On top of this, you were ... read more

The drive from Alice Bel Colle was as beautiful as the trip there through the Alps. We arrived at our next apartment in Geneva. In the evening, we met a student living in the apartments that was working on his doctorate at CERN. Pretty cool. The next morning, we awoke, packed and headed over to the exhibits at CERN (CERN is an international gathering of scientists and the largest particle accelerator in the world where they discovered the particle responsible for gravity!). Dad was quite excited by the whole thing, comparable to a child on Christmas morning. The exhibit was interesting too. There were live experiments, explanations, pieces of the historical accelerators as well as parts of the actual accelerators and detectors on display. The visual experience in the globe exhibition area explained about what they ... read more

This was a big day of driving, almost clear across France. The only highlight being a small side trip for mom and dad, to visit the Moncontour winery in Vouvray where one of their favourite wines comes from. After a full twelve hour day of driving with a few stops along the way, we arrived in the second largest city in all of France, Lyon.... read more

Tired after our busy day before, we woke up too late for breakfast! Thankfully, the kind English inkeeper offered us some bacon sandwiches. Mmmmm. After eating, we headed out to the village where the bubonic plague was stopped, Eyam. We toured the museum and learned much about the plague, its origins, how it spread, and some amusing "cures", such as putting a shaved pigeon on infected areas. We then departed for Finmere, a small, quaint village, seeming to include merely a few houses, a pub and a school. Upon our arrival at the McFord House, we were warmly greeted by one of our friends, and then got right back into action. At this point the men took to a bike ride of over 40 km, while the ladies went to a nearby antique store, both parties ... read more