European Vacation?

Did you ever see that movie? I don’t think I did; perhaps it’s time. If it’s anything like the original Vacation, it must be hilarious and a bit out-of-the-ordinary. Fortunately for Andre and I, there was no dog.

Andre and I flew to Copenhagen and spent the first day with the kids at Tivoli, an ancient yet continuously updated amusement park. After a day of jetlag rehabilitation with David and Christina, we hit the road for the first leg of eight to Barcelona. We ended up at Andre’s cousin’s home, just outside of Frankfurt. Marco and Caroline had a great time meeting Raquel, her husband and her kids for the first time. I tried to find Robin, but got completely lost and didn’t make it.

The second leg ended in jail in Luzerne Switzerland. On the way, we stopped for dinner at the Blind Cow. The restaurant is in pure darkness. You order in the lobby and are walked in via hand-shoulder chain by a blind person. They bring your food and help along the way – assuming you speak French, German or Italian… Andre speaks a little French and Italian, so aside from not seeing our food to cut it, put it in our mouths, pour wine into a glass, etc., we were in good shape. After dinner, we voluntarily slept in a jail cell converted to a hotel from the real thing in 1998. Accommodations were minimal, but how many times can you say you slept in a jail?

Third and fourth legs were spent driving through Switzerland and France to Spain. Lots of driving can make kids go crazy, but I think I was lucky. Either these kids were great at amusing themselves, or my language barrier prevented me from hearing, “Are we there yet?” Overall, my only complaint is that we spent too much time looking for spaghetti with meat sauce. You’d think that Europe would have it everywhere, but NO! And, as all kids are, they only like certain things. This was not a gourmet dining extravaganza.

Finally to our destination, we spent 4 days in Barcelona with Andre’s Uncle and three cousins. What a bunch of really great people! They welcomed me with open arms, and I could finally understand some of the conversations. Although my Mexican is limited, it translated fairly well to Spanish – at least a whole lot better than it had for Danish! Best of all, they all spoke enough English to help me out. While the family did tourist things with me, we broke one day so that I could have a solid Barcelona Tour while they did the beach. Been there, done that… I enjoyed Barcelona’s Roman and Gothic past much better than I’d have appreciated the beach. Fun for everyone is always a good recipe.

Driving back to Copenhagen took us through the 6:00-12:00 path up France to Paris, Brussels and back to Frankfurt. Paris wouldn’t be Paris without Disneyland! OK, that was for the kids, but we also went to the Eiffel Tower for the kids too. Believe it or not, they wanted to go! We had dinner on the Seine, and I actually had CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES! No spaghetti with meat sauce for me. They ate hot dogs…

In Brussels, we had to visit Napoleon at Waterloo for a moment before heading back to Frankfurt to share trip photos and stories with Raquel and her family. This time I managed to find Robin! We had dinner at NYC. I had to order the Sunset Strip purely for the irony of it. J

Our last day was spent in Copenhagen with Marco’s and Caroline’s grandparents and Uncle Kenneth. I think they’d been practicing their English, because we talked and talked just like Donkey in Shrek. OK, maybe it was the wine…

That’s it. Andre’s goals were for the kids to have a great time, to make it out alive, and to have me still talking to him on our way home. I’m sitting on the plan next to him, and we’re talking, so the trip was a success!