We were going to visit family after our trip so instead of flying back to Chicago, we took the direct flight from London to Phoenix. It meant we had some extra time to fully experience first class. We were seated in seats 4E and 4F in the middle of the cabin. These were probably the […]
Category: Western Europe Trip
Elemis Spa and Cathay Pacific First Lounge Heathrow
We took the train to the airport and arrived a little over 90 minutes before departure. We had some issues at check-in for unspecified reasons with a lot of running between computers and frantically looking at watches. Eventually the issue was resolved and we headed through security. We stopped in the British Airways lounge in […]
Amsterdam – Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank House
Today was our last day in Amsterdam and thus sadly, the last day of our trip. We grabbed a breakfast consisting of muffins at a pastry shop around corner from hotel. Then we hopped on the tram to the Museumplein to visit the Rijksmuseum. The museum was very well laid out with good transition through […]
Amsterdam – Canal Tour and Van Gogh Museum
Today was Valentine’s Day and we had a full day of touring planned. Unlike our previous hotels, breakfast was not included with our rate in Amsterdam. This was no issue as there are plenty of places to grab breakfast close to the hotel. We decided to eat at Pancakes Amsterdam which gave us a discount […]
Amsterdam – Arrival and Heineken Experience
After having our last breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and hopped on the metro and then RER over to Gare du Nord. There was the normal difficulty of navigating the steps in the stations with luggage. In addition, there was a delay on one of the lines so we had to hurry over […]
Kimpton DeWitt Amsterdam
After our train to Amsterdam, we walked the short two blocks to the hotel. The hotel was recently converted from a Crowne Plaza to a Kimpton and completely renovated. The location of the hotel cannot be beat with hundreds of restaurants, snack shops, and other shopping just outside the door. There were two tram stops […]
Paris – Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomph
Our big plan for today was to visit the Eiffel Tower. The snow earlier in the week forced the tower to close for 3 days. This is had never happened before and today was the second day since it had reopened and the nicest day weather-wise in a long time. As a result, we figured […]
Paris – Musee D’Orsay, Notre Dame, and More
After breakfast, we walked over to Musee D’Orsay which was not too far from our hotel. We arrived shortly after opening and were in quickly with our Paris Museum passes. This museum was much more manageable than the Louvre both in size and flow. It houses a lot of great paintings by the impressionists including […]
Paris – Day Trip to Versailles
We had breakfast at the hotel and then hopped on the metro and RER to Versailles. Buying tickets was simple, but they were running a reduced schedule due to flooding along the tracks. It was a short 10 minute walk from the station to the entrance to the palace. We had purchased the Paris Museum […]
Paris – Arrival and Louvre Museum
To get to Paris, we took advantage of a program called Eurostar Snap. You sign up for either morning or evening on a specific date and they assign a train to you. We were hoping for a mid-morning train but of course we got stuck with the first train of the day at 5:40. That […]