Europe

September 26, 2022

Europe

On Sunday August 21st our family set out on an EPIC adventure to travel to 6 European countries and traveling abroad for almost a month. We started off by driving our car to New Buffalo. We took the Amtrak bus into Millennium station. Then we took public transportation to O'hare airport. Our flight left at 5:00 and we arrived in Barcelona at 9:00am.

Chicago airport

Spain

We all agree we need to give Barcelona another try. We were so tired when we got off the plane and we only had one day. So we went to the beach. We all swam in the Mediterranean sea and enjoyed the sun. But we had a hard time finding the luggage drop so we walked around way too much of the city carrying bags. We did enjoy the Sagrada Familia but we were pretty tired hot and hungry by the time we got there. It is a beautiful work of art.

Sagrada Familia

Playing in the Mediterranean

Barcelona Beach

France

We got up early the next morning and had a lovely breakfast at our hotel. We went to the train station and took the train into France. On the way we saw French Flamingos. I had no clue that France had flamingos! The train was really fun and comfortable. When we arrived in Carcassonne we walked to our Airbnb. It was just a short walk but we stopped at the town square to grab some fruit at the market and Westin enjoyed playing with bubbles with the other children. We dropped off our luggage at our airBnB that was Harry Potter themed.

French Flamingos!

The train from Spain to France

Carcassonne

Walking from the train through the market in the town square

Harry Potter themed AirBnB

One of the best AirBnBs EVER and was an easy walk to the castle

After we dropped off all our items at our AirBnB we walked to the Castle of Carcassonne. We had to cross a bridge what was built in 1320 to get to the castle. Once we entered the castle we got lunch at Le Creneau. One thing I didn't understand was that it is free to enter the area where all the shops and restaurants are. The tickets are for the actual castle. The actual castle is cool. You can walk on the ramparts and there is a small museum in the castle too. Carcassonne is the cutest little southern France town. It feels very magical. It was defiantly a favorite stop for our family.

On Le Pont Vieux (the old bridge) with the castle in the background

Lunch at Le Creneau

We bought the kids weapons and they enjoyed reenacting epic knight battles

Catapult balls in the museum

Looking out of the castle

The next day we woke up and drove 3 hours to Bordeaux. I had booked us a wine tour. The chateau we went to was a little run down, but it was family run and our tour guide was wonderful. She showed us around the winery and showed the kids how they harvest grapes. She was engaging and everyone had fun. They even had grape juice for the kids to sample. It was a fun family activity. I wish we could have had more time in this area but alas there was so much to see.

Enjoying our picnic lunch at Chateau Bardins

Grape juice and wine tasting

Learning how grapes are harvested

Wineries are so beautiful

After our stop at Bordeaux we drove 6 more hours to our AirBnB in Normandy. It was a long drive! We didn't arrive until almost 10:30pm. But we had a slow morning and well enjoyed hearing the sound of the ocean waves at night and in the morning. Grandcamp- Maisy was the perfect Normandy town to use as a basecamp.

Our view from our AirBnB

One our first full day in Normandy we slept in and just relaxed until lunch time. Caiden did go for a run but it was a very chill morning. We went to a cute restaurant that was within walking distance so it was over looking the water. We all tried oysters. It was a lunch to remember. We then drove to Bayeux. It was less than 30 minutes from our rental. We of corse wanted to see the Bayeux tapestry. We enjoyed it very much. The audioguide was very engaging and it felt like we were watching a movie as we worked through the tapestry. We then walked to the church and got crepes from street vendors and saw the largest rat just walking through the streets. Bayeux is a beautiful town and we enjoyed seeing all the shops and waterways. We decided to stop at Omaha beach (D-day beach) on the way home. It was neat to see the World War 2 memorial.