Europe – Ullan Adventures

Helsinki, Finland

Kirsten / September 22, 2018

Chuck in the icy Baltic Sea as part of an authentic Finland sauna experience

Helsinki was our last stop on our 10 day Baltic blitz trip. We arrived via ferry from Tallinn early in the morning. When I say ferry, I should say small cruise ship as it was far more like a cruise ship than a typical ferry. The ferry had multiple restaurants, a bar, and sleeping cabins across multiple levels. I was a wreck on the ship as I had barely slept the night before, but managed to catch a quick nap after having some breakfast. The seas were a little rocky, but napping and ginger candies helped me not get too motion sick. The crossing only took about 2 hours so it was still pretty early when we arrived.

We took a taxi to our hotel, Hotel Fabian, and luckily they had our room available even though it was barely 10am. As much as I wanted to go out and explore, I desperately needed sleep so I took a couple of hour nap before we headed out for lunch.

Our first stop was to the Central Market along the waterfront. We were able to find some lunch at one of the food stalls – moose meatballs for Chuck and yummy salmon fish and chips for me. My legs were still shot so Chuck wandered down to the Uspenski Church while I rested. We then wandered around the market and bought each of the kids a stuffed animal, a reindeer and a moose.

We then swung by the Helsinki Cathedral before walking down the Esplanade. We also found some cool stores to do some shopping, mostly for Christmas ornaments.

I wanted to buy so many Christmas things at this store!

Then it was time for a traditional Finnish sauna experience! I found a place in Helsinki that has both the traditional smoke sauna and a wood-burning sauna. And it was open for men and women at the same time (many of them are open for women at one time and men at another).

This place was really cool. After getting changed in either the men’s or women’s locker room, you are supposed to shower naked before going outside and into one of the 2 saunas. It was cold and raining that day so it was quite unpleasant being outside in only a swimsuit. But the saunas warmed you up quickly.

We headed for the traditional smoke sauna and boy was it hot. I mean hotter than I think I’ve ever felt even in other saunas. And the smoke was heavy as well, but you could still breathe OK. After a bit in there, we headed back out to the cold, got a glass of water, then headed for the wood-burning sauna. After a bit in there, it was once again back into the cold for some water and back into the first sauna. Rinse and repeat. After a while, I was done so I sat around a wood burning fire and chilled – literally – while Chuck did more sauna time. Then I got dressed and left him to keep going back and forth.

He decided to go full traditional Finnish style and take a dip in the icy Baltic Sea in between sauna visits. I did put my feet into the water, but that was all I was going to do. Brrrr.

As he kept going to the saunas, I went into the restaurant and enjoyed a delicious bowl of salmon soup and a coffee while enjoying the great view outside.

After taxiing back to the hotel and getting cleaned up, it was time for dinner. Chuck found a steak restaurant nearby that sounded good, and when I looked it up, I realized it was owned by Stefan Richter whom I used to watch on Top Chef! I was really excited to get to eat his food!

I ordered a local Finnish steak and Chuck went for a reindeer steak. My steak was the best I’ve ever eaten. The meat is so much better than what we get in the US with this amazing flavor and texture. Chuck loved his reindeer as well.

On our way out, I saw Stefan at the bar and then he walked past me and left the restaurant. As we walked out, he was sitting outside and started chatting with us. He ended up talking to us for a good 10 minutes and we learned so much about his restaurants and what he’s up to. It was such a cool experience!!

The next morning we only had time for a quick walk back to the harbor, briefly checking out the Old Market Hall, and taking a few more pictures before it was time to head to the airport.

At the airport we had to get another meal of meatballs with lingonberries that we had when we arrived and once again they did not disappoint. Best airport food I think I’ve ever had.

And then we started our trip back to the US (via Reykjavik).

All in all our Baltic trip was amazing AND a complete whirlwind. We were barely in any place more than 48 hours and packed in 5 countries in 10 days with a stop in Iceland on each side. We’re used to packing in a ton, but this time I think we overdid it especially when I take in consideration the good month or two it took for my legs to stop hurting (no joke!). BUT I loved all we saw and did and experienced, so it’s hard to regret any of our choices. And I loved everywhere we went and feel so lucky that we got to experience that part of the world!

Fairy Tale Tallinn, Estonia

Kirsten / September 20, 2018

Picture Walt Disney building a medieval town and you get Tallinn . It’s straight out of a fairy tale! Cobble stone pedestrian only streets, check. Town walls you can walk on, check. A massive square, check. Neat restaurants with outdoor seating, check. It almost seems fake, but in a good way.

We arrived around 1pm after our 4 hour bus trip from Riga. The bus station is miles out of town so we had to taxi to the Old Town then walk into the town as its completely closed to traffic. We had time to eat, outside as the weather continued to be gorgeous our entire visit, before we met up with our Airbnb host. She took us to our rental and we promptly dropped our bags before heading out for a free walking tour of the old town.

Viru Gate – entrance to the old town. We ate lunch at the outdoor restaurant on the right.

The tour, while informative, wasn’t that great. Our guide talked way too much, however, he did take us all around the far side of the old town where we saw the Kiek in de Kok, the Maiden’s Tower, past the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and to viewing platforms that overlooked the city.

From there we walked down the town walls and into the lower old town before finishing in Town Hall Square.

If you’ve been reading about our entire trip, you know that this would be the perfect time to stop for drinks and dessert! We went to Troika (you can see it in one of the above pictures) and got a vodka sampler and crepe dessert. Some of the vodkas were delicious, some were not, but it was still fun to try. And combined with the atmosphere of the square and the perfect weather, it was a wonderful break from sightseeing!

Vodka sampler – cranberry, chokeberry, galangal, lemon, and I think pine nut

Then it was time to meander thru the rest of the old town. We walked and walked exploring the other side of old town and tons of little streets.

We headed back to Troika for dinner as I was craving more authentic Beef Stroganoff. When we got back to the square, they were projecting different movies on the side of the Town Hall to commemorate 100 years of the Republic of Estonia. One showed the history of Estonia going back to the beginning of the earth, while another showcased current Estonian culture. It was fantastic sitting outside eating and watching the show along with locals.

The next morning we took a taxi to Kadriorg Palace a few miles from the old town. This was single-handedly the place I was most excited to see. I’ve wanted to go to Russia my entire life to see the churches and palaces and here was a palace built by Peter the Great for his wife, Catherine.

The palace was very cool and disappointing at the same time. The outside and grounds were nice, but most of the rooms inside were very bland and there weren’t really any furnishings. The main hall was gorgeous though!

The palace now houses art and other artifacts, the most exciting being the Faberge eggs. Unfortunately our pictures of them came out blurry so I don’t have any to share.

Getting back to old town proved harder than we expected as we couldn’t find a taxi at all. We walked thru Kadriorg park to a busy intersection and still couldn’t find a single taxi. Luckily after a bit, I spotted a taxi dropping off other tourists and was able to flag him down. Phew.

Next up was visiting the KGB museum inside the Hotel Viru. I was really excited to see this as well, however I didn’t realize you could only go as part of a set tour and you had to book them in advance. So we showed up to find no open tours till much later and it just wasn’t going to work out. Oops. Although if this is the only thing I screwed up this trip, I don’t feel too bad.

So we decided to visit the Tallinn Town Wall which you can climb up and walk along. This was actually pretty cool and gave another great vantage point to see the town.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the background

Across the street is St. Catherine’s passage which is thought to have been built over 700 years ago. They also had some tombstones hanging on the wall dating as far back as 1388!

Tombstones dating as far back as 1388 on left wall

At this point both our legs were exhausted because we had walked for hours and hours every day. If I’m being honest, I was actually in pain and trying not to cry because my legs and knees hurt so badly. So what is the best cure for that?!? Sitting to enjoy a coffee and dessert!

We stumbled into this chocolaterie in a little courtyard that had delicious desserts and was such an adorable place to enjoy a rest. The cake was every bit as good as it looks.

After resting up, we decided to re-explore most of the old town again. Why did I do this when I was already miserable? I guess because I loved the town and wanted to see it as much as possible before we left. I’m not very smart sometimes. But it was cool to see the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral again, revisit the viewpoints, wander the cute little streets, and soak up the town as much as possible before stopping for dinner and a local beer and heading back to our rental.

We tried to get to bed early that night as we had an 7:30am ferry the next morning and needed to be at the ferry dock by 6:30am. Unfortunately I got about an hour of sleep as I was in agony all night and had one of my most miserable nights in recent memory. Chuck’s legs weren’t feeling that great either as we really overdid the walking on this trip. Luckily we were able to flag a taxi in the morning and were able to skip walking the couple of miles to the dock.

Despite this, I look back on Tallinn so fondly. It was adorable and quaint and everything you’d want a medieval old town to be!

Europe Latvia

Riga, Latvia

Kirsten / September 18, 2018

We took a bus from Vilnius to Riga (cheap, about 9 Euro!) that took 4 1/2 hours and arrived around 1:30pm.

Our first order of business was walking about 10 minutes from the bus station into the Old Town and getting into our Airbnb.

After lunch it was time to explore Old Town Riga. We first saw the Cat House which has 2 cats perched on its turrets. There is a funny story that the owner was refused entrance to the Guild across the street, so he put the cats with their butts facing the Guild. They were eventually turned to face outward, though.

From there we headed to the Swedish Gate, Riga Castle, then the Three Brothers. The Three Brothers are 3 houses that are the oldest houses in Riga. The oldest was built in the 15th century and the newest completed in the 17th century.

We then headed back into town to the famous House of Blackheads. The House of Blackheads was built in the 14th century for unmarried merchants when they came to Riga.

After doing some laundry at the apartment, we headed out to dinner. This time we found a Latvian restaurant with outdoor seating where we got to try some more new foods. We started by trying the local liqueur, Black Balzam,which was fairly nasty . We got an appetizer of black eyed peas with ham, Chuck got the pork knuckle, and I got a local casserole that was just ok.

The next morning we headed out of the Old Town past The Freedom Monument and to the Nativity of Christ Cathedral. Unfortunately there was a service going on, so we weren’t able to go inside.

From there, we made the mistake of walking to the Art Nouveau section of town. We didn’t have a map and were going on my memory and we ended up wandering forever until we found another tourist who gave us directions. We were pretty over it by that p0int so after a quick look around, we found a taxi dropping off other tourists and took it back to the Airbnb.

Art Nouveau buildings from the early 1900s

That afternoon, we headed to the Central Market, which is Europe’s largest market and is partly housed in old Zeppelin hangars.

Chuck even tried Kvass, which is a beer-like drink made from dark rye bread, yeast, sugar, raisins, and water. It’s only lightly alcoholic, less than 1% if I recall. Not really that tasty, though probably still better than Bud.

We then walked south of the market to the Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust museum. Unfortunately it was randomly closed that day so we weren’t able to tour the museum.

We stopped back by the market for some dessert before heading back to Old Town.

Dessert complete it was time to head out for a drink. The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we found an outdoor bar in one of the squares for a beer and a cider then we meandered thru the Old Town.

There were so many flowers all over the city. We were surprised as it was mid-September.

For dinner, we went to Folkklubs, which is an underground restaurant. It was packed, but we managed to snag 2 seats at the bar as someone was leaving. The place seemed filled with locals and later in the evening there were musicians playing while people did traditional dances.

Cielavina – meringue with nuts layered with chocolate ganache, forrest berry sauce, and whipped cream. Delicious!

The next morning it was time to head back to the bus station for our 4 hour ride to Tallinn, Estonia.

Europe Lithuania

2 Delicious Days in Vilnius, Lithuania

Kirsten / September 16, 2018

Wild mushroom soup in a bread bowl and Svyturio Baltijos beer (one of my favorite beers of all time!)

The more I researched what to do in Vilnius (and Riga and Tallinn), the more excited I got about the food. This is pretty unusual as I’m not a foodie and while I love trying local foods on my travels, it’s not one of the things I’m most excited about. I left Vilnius with it being one of my favorite food destinations in the entire world! Sure it was adorable and had many more things to love, but it’s the food that I’m still dreaming about.

We arrived around midnight from Copenhagen and promptly took a taxi to our hotel, the Grotthuss Hotel, and went to bed. After a lovely breakfast at our hotel the next morning, we headed out to explore the old town of Vilnius.

We wandered towards the Gates of Dawn and then down to the Hales Market where we explored the various food stalls and tried some of the local foods.

Cepelinai – potato dumpling filled with mince. We both hated it. Very disappointing.

Delicious! We got one stuffed with chicken and mushroom and just chicken.

After the market, we headed thru the old town to Cathedral Square. The old town is so cute and I instantly fell in love with it.

Around Cathedral Square, we saw the Palace of the Grand Dukes, the Vilnius Cathedral, and Gediminas Tower perched on a hill above the town. There were signs all over announcing that the Pope would be at Vilnius Cathedral a week after our visit and part of the sites were closed as they put up stands and prepared for his arrival.

Room off the main chapel that was jaw droppingly beautiful

One highlight at Cathedral Square is the Stebuklas Miracle Tile. In 1989, approximately 2 million people held hands from Tallinn, Estonia, thru Riga, Latvia, and ending at this spot in Vilnius to form the longest unbroken human chain in history as a protest to the Soviet government to restore their freedom. It was pretty cool seeing the tile and thinking of that day back in 1989.

At this point it was getting pretty late in the day, but we had an hour or two till the Palace closed so we decided to pop in to check it out. Overall it was pretty disappointing, but there were some neat artifacts such as books from (I think) the 1200s, a drinking vessel from Ivan the Terrible, and royal swords, thrones and other regalia. There were also great views of Vilnius from the top.

At this point we were starving, so we headed to this outdoor restaurant called Etno Dvaras on the main strip for a late lunch. This is where we discovered food heaven.

I ordered a wild mushroom soup in a bread bowl and some potato pancakes with bacon, while Chuck got fried bread covered in a cheese sauce and some potato and cheese casserole. I also ordered a local beer and it was hands down one of my favorite beers I’ve ever had in my life. Chuck hates beer and he even kept stealing sips. My food was delicious, but the fried bread with cheese was mind blowing. I wish a beer pub around here served this as it was one of the best bar foods ever.

Earlier, Chuck had noticed a street market off of Cathedral Square so we headed over to check it out. There were a ton of booths selling everything from local foods to soap to crafts. And of course dried fish. There is always a fish stand that reeks.

Gingerbread from a local stand – it reminded me of the gingerbread from Oktoberfest. Sadly it was not good.

Fish. Lots of stinky fish… Walk away from the fish stand…

It was starting to get dark as we headed back to our hotel and we wandered into a local festival with live music. As we got there, hot air balloons started drifting by which was pretty cool. We sat and had a drink outside while listening to the various bands before heading back to the hotel for a quick rest.

For dinner, we headed back to Etno Dvaras and I had the best Beef Stroganoff I’ve ever had.

The next morning we headed to Trakai castle about 30 minutes away from old town Vilnius. We elected to take a taxi as the public transportation logistics were kind of a nightmare, plus it didn’t cost that much more to go this route.

The castle was originally built in the 14th century and was one of the main centers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The castle soon fell into disrepair, and was rebuilt in the last 100 or so years. Even though it’s technically “new”, its still a neat place to visit and a beautiful location too.

After visiting the castle we stopped for lunch at a spot across the lake from the castle. We got these delicious pierogi type things in a cheese sauce, more kibinais, and some funky tumeric tea. Delicious.

Yummy lunch with a great view of the castle!

Everything was great until we decided to come back to Vilnius. We tried hailing a taxi, but there were none to be found. We found a tourist center and they said someone could be there in hours, and then that they couldn’t find anyone. This left one option – walking the couple of miles to the bus station then taking a bus back to Vilnius and then walking back from the bus station to our hotel. It sucked. A lot. BUT we made it back and once we were back to Vilnius, we decided to explore more of the town instead of resting at the hotel.

First stop was Užupis which is a neighborhood that declared itself it’s own Republic and has it’s own constitution, currency, flag, and even a president. Their ambassador is a cat. Yes, really. We only wandered around for about 5 minutes as there wasn’t much to see. Sadly, we didn’t get to see the cat.

From there, we walked to St. Anne’s Church which was opened in 1500. There is a stone out front commemorating the first public protest of the Soviet occupation as well.

From here we wandered thru the side streets of Old Town back to the main strip and sat down for some coffee and dessert and people watching.

On our way back to our hotel room, I wanted to make a 2nd stop to the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit we’d visited on our first day. I’ve never been so spiritually moved being in a church before and I wanted to go sit quietly and take it all in. It was so calming and I’m glad I went back to sit.

At this point our legs were killing us – I wish I’d taken my Garmin to see how far we walked – so we took a short rest at the hotel before trying to find a restaurant near our hotel. We found a restaurant serving Georgian food. Neither of us had a clue what Georgian food was, but it was busy and close so we gave it a shot. It was a revelation!

I got the Shkmeruli which is chicken in a garlic cream sauce served in a clay dish. And Chuck got chicken shashlik. We also got Georgian red wine and Imeruli which is a dough filled with Georgian cheese. It was all incredible. One of my favorite meals of my life actually! Of course we had to get dessert and got a delicious honey cake with fresh fruit.

Shkmeruli – chicken in a garlic cream sauce

The next morning we walked to the bus station and took a 4+ hour bus trip from Vilnius, Lithuania to Riga, Latvia with Lux Express. The bus was very modern and comfortable and it was a neat way to see the countryside and little towns.

Denmark Europe

24 Hours in Copenhagen, Denmark

Kirsten / September 14, 2018

Copenhagen was our first stop on our 10 day Baltic vacation. I had gone last year, but this was Chuck’s first time visiting the city.

We arrived on a Friday night after an exhausting day of flying to Reykjavik to Helsinki to Copenhagen.

Who knew airport food could be this good? Meatballs with lingonberries at Helsinki airport.

After dropping our bags at our hotel, the Copenhagen Marriott, we headed to Nyhavn (a harbor turned into a tourist area) for dinner. Even though it was quite cool, we sat outside under heat lamps and enjoyed some of the best fish and chips I’ve ever had. After a quick stroll, it was finally time for bed!

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel before going our separate ways. Since Copenhagen is a huge biking city, Chuck wanted to do a bike sightseeing tour. I unfortunately can’t bike as far as they were going, plus I’d seen all the sites he was headed to see, so I opted to do my own thing.

Chuck had a great time on his bike tour and loved biking in the city.

While he was off biking, I checked us out of the hotel then headed to the Glyptotek museum. They had a fantastic collection of Egyptian artifacts, Roman and Greek sculptures, Edgar Degas sculptures, and even a “Thinker” statue by Rodin. The museum was fantastic!

I then took a stroll thru Tivoli Gardens before meeting Chuck at the Tivoli food court for lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the Rosenborg Castle which was built in the early 1600s for Christian IV. The castle had quite a few interesting artifacts. One of the coolest parts was the Crown Jewels section.

We then walked the Stroget back to Tivoli Gardens so Chuck could see it. I loved Tivoli. It was so cute and so fun in a laid back way. I can totally see how it inspired Walt Disney to create his own version. I wish we had a small amusement park like this back home.

We had dinner outside at the Biergarten and enjoyed gigantic wienerschnitzel and of course a delicious beer.

We were lucky enough to be there while they were celebrating their 175th anniversary so I stuck around to watch the parade while Chuck went back to the hotel to grab our bags. The parade was so cute, but the part that got me was the float that Disney World made to commemorate their anniversary. It had the Small World on the front and a statue of Walt and Mickey on the back which made me all misty and made me miss home.

And just like that, our 24 hours in Copenhagen was up. Next stop, Vilnius, Lithuania!

England Europe

A Long Layover in London

Kirsten / July 8, 2017

On our way back from our 2018 Africa trip, we were able to do a long layover in London. Chuck and I have been to London, but it was the kids’ first time. We only had about 4 hours to spend in the city, so we took a Hop On/Hop Off bus that drove by all the major sites.

We took the tube from the airport to Piccadilly Circus and boarded a bus with the Original London Sightseeing Tour on their yellow bus route. We drove past Hyde Park then to Grosvenor Gardens before arriving to Buckingham Palace. We hopped off here and walked the couple of blocks to the main gates.

There was a changing of the guard scheduled that day about an hour later, but we didn’t have the time to stick around for it if we wanted to see anything else.

We hopped back on another bus and headed for Westminster Abbey. Next up was Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament. We didn’t get off the bus as it was moving slow enough for us to get a good look as we drove by.

After passing by, we headed across the Thames, past the London Eye, then back over the Thames to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Then we passed the Thames again and got a great view of Tower Bridge in the distance.

From there, we drove up to the bridge and drove over the bridge seeing the Tower of London on the left. We hopped off at this point so we could get a better view of the bridge and also because it was nearing lunch time.

We then found a pub for lunch that was exactly what we were looking for! Of course Chuck got fish and chips and I got one of the meat pies! And we split a draft hard cider as well. So good!

At this point, it was time to head back to the airport for our flight home.

All in all, it was a whirlwind few hours, but at least the kids got to see many of the major tourist sites (from the outside at least) and got to see some of London. And it sure beat spending hours and hours at Heathrow as well.

And with that, our 3+ week trip to Africa was in the books. What an amazing trip!

Europe Iceland

3 Fantastic Days in Iceland

Kirsten / January 31, 2017

View of Reykjavik from the top of the Hallgrímskirkja Church

I traveled to Reykjavik after 2 great days in Copenhagen on the free stopover deal on WOW Air. I arrived at my hotel, the CenterHotel Plaza, around 4pm quite hungry as I missed lunch again while traveling. After dropping my things, I walked about 5 minutes to the harbor to the Saegreifinn (Sea Baron) restaurant for their world famous lobster soup. I had just watched a Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern where they showed how it was made, so I had been looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I only give it a “meh”. It was good, but not great. I was still glad to try it though and enjoyed the experience as well.

After relaxing at the hotel, I went out for a proper dinner of fish and chips. I tried Ling which made for a pretty good fish and chips.

Then it was time to head out on my Northern Lights tour! I returned after midnight and had to immediately get to sleep as I had early morning the next day going on my Golden Circle tour.

I returned from the tour around 5:30pm and quickly headed out for a meal of Plokkfiskur which is a fish, potato, and cheese gratin.

Then it was time to explore downtown Reykjavik so I walked one of the main streets up to Hallgrímskirkja Church then walked back on Laugavegur, the main shopping street.

That night I didn’t have any plans so I went to a bar across the street from my hotel, Micro Bar, and had a local, Icelandic beer – very good – before getting some sleep.

The next morning I finally got to sleep in and have a casual breakfast at the hotel as my next excursion didn’t leave till noon. Unfortunately there was a bit of a snafu with getting picked up for my Blue Lagoon excursion. I stupidly waited inside (but looking out) as I had done for my 2 other tours because it was freezing rain outside. But these guys didn’t stop at my hotel and stopped down the street at a bus stop. When I checked in with the front desk, they told me about waiting at the bus stop and I was told to take the taxi to the bus terminal for the main bus to the Blue Lagoon. Luckily there was a taxi out front who raced me there in time, but then my credit cards wouldn’t work for some strange reason. He actually let me go without paying as I didn’t have any cash either, so I was able to make my bus in time. I almost cried when he told me to go – what a nice person! Phew!

The bus trip takes about 50 minutes to the Blue Lagoon and it’s great to see the topography along the way.

The Blue Lagoon is awesome! It’s definitely an experience. You have to shower naked before getting dressed and going down, but they do have private showers and they give you a towel so it wasn’t a big deal. They also have an indoor pool that goes outside so you don’t have to walk outside in the freezing cold to get in.

The water is so warm, it’s like crawling into a fantastically huge bath.

First stop was making my way to the face mask bar and slathering myself with the silica mud. It was awesome seeing everyone walking around with their faces covered in white goop! Of course I was the only person without their phone taking selfies, so I don’t have any pictures to share. Once you’ve let the mask set, you rinse off, then do the algae mask, which is a green/gray goop this time!

While that was working on my wrinkles, I swam all around the place then up to the swim up bar. My ticket included a drink so I opted for a glass of Prosecco which I enjoyed while sitting on a bench in the lagoon.

At this point, it was freezing rain on us and the wind was brutal on our faces so it was starting to get a bit unpleasant. I also was feeling really off that day since I’d been sick the entire trip, so I decided to leave the lagoon after only 45 minutes or so. Once dry and warm, I was able to get a snack before taking the bus back to my hotel.

Then it was time for an insanely late lunch of grilled scallops back at the Saegreifinn, before wandering around the downtown some more. Later I went out for a steak sandwich to The Laundromat Cafe, which is exactly as it sounds, a laundromat with an attached cafe. Even though I didn’t do laundry, the food was delicious so it was worth going.

The next morning it was raining out, but there was still one thing left I wanted to do – go up to the top of the Hallgrímskirkja Church. Even though it was about 10:30am and the sun had just risen, it was still so dark and gray because of the rain. It was still really cool to see Reykjavik in all directions!

The inside of the church is really cool too with this amazing pipe organ. An organist came in and was playing the organ so I sat and listened to him for a while before heading back.

Then it was time to pack up and head to the airport for my flight back to the US. I was sad to leave Iceland, but also looking forward to returning home as I’d missed Chuck and the kids so much.

All in all, I really enjoyed my time in Iceland. When I arrived, the land near the airport reminded me of the Big Island except covered in snow. Parts of it looked as expected and parts of it didn’t. It was also pretty chilly, but not nearly as bad as I worried, I guess because I was dressed for it. It was also wonderful to get out in nature and see pristine land, breathe the clean air, and drink the pure water. I definitely loved my time there and was glad I finally made it to this Bucket List destination.

Europe Iceland

The Beautiful Golden Circle Tour of Iceland

Kirsten / January 29, 2017

One of the most popular tours in Iceland is the Golden Circle tour. It combines waterfalls, landscape, geysers, and more on an all day trip around the eastern part of Iceland.

I was picked up at 8:30am despite it still being dark outside (the sun doesn’t rise this time of year till 10:15am), and we got on our way around 9am. We drove about 45 minutes to the town of Hveragerð which is built on a hot spring field. We stopped at a rest stop for about 15 minutes for a bathroom and coffee break before heading out. There was an earthquake in 2008 that split the floor at the rest stop. Instead of fixing it, they put plexiglass over it so you could see into the crack in the earth. Kind of cool.

From there, we headed east about an hour to Faxi waterfall. We stopped along the way to get pictures of the sunrise as it was too beautiful to miss.

Upon arriving at Faxi waterfalls, we were given crampons to use while walking on the icy ground. They were invaluable as we would’ve been slipping around like the other tourists. We only stayed maybe 20 minutes which was plenty of time to take in the falls.

From there it was another good hour or so to our next stop – Gullfoss waterfall! Here we were dropped off below and then walked up to get a view from a higher vantage point. It was beautiful, but quite cold, so after about 45 minutes I was grateful for the shop at the top to warm up!

Then it was time to head to Geysir for lunch and to see the geysers there. The English word geyser comes from the Great Geysir here. The Great Geysir no longer erupts, but the Strokkur geyser erupts every 4-7 minutes.

I was so hungry that I grabbed a quick lunch of delicious meatballs, before heading out to see the geyser.

There are also boiling mud pits steaming all along the landscape.

Once back on the minibus, we headed to Thingvellir (Þingvellir) National Park which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was the site I was most looking forward to seeing. The site is a rift valley between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates where you literally get to walk between continents. The plates here are drifting apart at about 2cm a year and the rift valley is 7km wide between the 2 plates.

We arrived on the Eurasian plate, then headed onto the rift valley. We were left off at the bottom on the opposite side so we could hike up to the North American plate. First though, I hiked up to a cool waterfall, Öxarárfoss . We were told that the water comes from a glacier and it takes about 70 years for the water to flow to the waterfall and down to the lake making it some of the clearest, cleanest water you can get. Our guide told us to fill up our water bottles from the waterfall so we could enjoy the water.

The edge of the North American tectonic plate

I then walked up the path to the North American plate. I was so glad to have the crampons again as it would’ve been quite slippery without them. Along the way we passed The Alþing (Althing) which is the original national parliament of Iceland. It was started in 930 making it the oldest parliamentary institution in the world (it has since been moved to Reykjavik).

Once at the top, we had a fantastic view of the rift valley. You could even see the dark edge of the start of the Eurasian plate across the continental drift.

Rift valley between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates

It was now about 4pm and time to head back to Reykjavik, a trip that took about an hour.

Along the way, we made a quick stop off to see some Icelandic horses up close. They came right over to us and were so beautiful and fuzzy and sweet. I wanted to take one home with me!

I’m so glad I went on this tour. Not only did I get to see some of the Iceland landscape, but I got to see some beautiful sites too. It was great to get out in nature and breathe in the clean air and see the pristine snow covered land.

I took my tour with GeoIceland and they did a great job. Our guide, Siggi, was excellent and added enough information to enrich the day. Our tour was only maybe 12-15 people which made it more personal and gave us more flexibility at the sites.

Europe Iceland

Seeing the Magical Northern Lights in Iceland

Kirsten / January 28, 2017

Photo courtesy of Thor Ostensen of Discover Iceland

I’ve wanted to see the Northern Lights for as long as I can remember. Every year I’d see the cheap deals to Iceland and want to book a trip to see them, but never did. This year, however, I finally took the plunge and bought one of the crazy deals from WOW Air to see Copenhagen and hopefully see the Aurora Borealis in Iceland.

I booked the Disco Northern Lights minibus tour with Discover Iceland for my first night in Reykjavik. If you don’t see the lights the first night, they’ll let you go out another night for free so this left me with 2 more chances to see them if the first night didn’t work.

As soon as we left the lights of Reykjavik, our guide, Thor, pointed out the start of the Aurora Borealis out the windows of the minibus. He opted to take us near the mountains only 20-30 minutes out of town as we could already see them.

On the way, Thor told us exactly how to set our DSLR cameras, so we were prepared to take pictures as soon as we arrived.

Once I got out of the minibus, the lights were on full display. I couldn’t believe my luck!

The interesting thing is that they don’t look exactly like they do in the pictures. They’re more white wispiness with occasional colors. They’re still spectacular and I felt so lucky to finally see them with my own eyes.

Thor helped me set up a tripod and I started snapping picture after picture. In the meantime, he took a bunch of pictures which he later shared with us. He also took pictures of each of us in front of the lights by having us stand frozen for about 10 seconds then briefly flashing a light on us. What an amazing keepsake!

Unfortunately, none of my pictures turned out well at all – I think my focus wasn’t set right but it also appears my tripod kept moving so they ended up blurry.

Here are my best shots 🙁

The stars were also incredible that night and Jupiter was so bright it was like a tiny moon in the sky.

At least some of my star pictures turned out ok

After about an hour, Thor broke out the hot cocoa and cookies to help warm us as we stood in the 14°F cold. My hands and feet started to get quite cold, but I didn’t care as I took in the beauty of nature around me.

We stayed in the same spot for about 1:30 before finally calling it quits and heading back to Reykjavik. We could see the lights on the trip back and they started to get even more incredible, so Thor pulled off for a brief view. As soon as I got out of the bus, the lights were a brilliant green and were lighting up a huge section of the sky. They were even more magical than what we saw earlier and I think I stood there with my mouth open uttering “wow” as I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I swear those images are forever sealed in my memory.

I got back to my hotel a bit after midnight still pinching myself.

I highly recommend Discover Iceland especially after talking to other travelers that went on the big bus trips. They didn’t have nearly the same experience, didn’t get help with their cameras, didn’t get their picture taken, and didn’t get the guide’s pictures emailed to them later. Also, while we were out there alone, they were somewhere else with 100s of others. They definitely made the experience even greater.

Denmark Europe

2 Busy, but Fun Days in Copenhagen

Kirsten / January 26, 2017

Lots of bikes near the Strøget stret — Lots of bikes near the Christiansborg Palace

I arrived in Copenhagen around 11am on a WOW flight that had a brief stop over in Reykjavik. I then took the metro from the airport to the Kongens Nytorv metro stop in the city center before walking the 4 blocks to my hotel, the Best Western Hotel City. Luckily they had a room available even though it was only noon. After dropping off my stuff in the room, I walked about 3 blocks to the famous Nyhavn waterfront district to find some breakfast/lunch as I was starving. The Nyhavn area was so picturesque and lined with restaurant after restaurant. Despite it being about 32F out, the restaurants all had outdoor seating with heat lamps and blankets. I choose to eat inside though as it was still a bit too cold for me.

I settled on a place still serving breakfast as my stomach thought it was 6am. I had the most unusual, but delicious scrambled eggs with bacon, greek yogurt with triple berries, and coffee.

After my belly was sufficiently full, I decided to walk to the Little Mermaid statue. It’s about a 15-20 minute walk from Nyhavn, and the route I took went past Amalienborg Palace which is the home of the Royal Danish family. Every entrance is guarded by the coolest looking soldiers on patrol.

The Little Mermaid is in fact pretty small and situated on the Eastern side of the Kastellet fortress.

I then had just enough time to pick up my camera at the room before heading on the Christianshavn free walking tour that started at 3pm. Our guide, Daniel, was awesome and did a lot to bring the city and sights to life. We met near Christiansborg Palace and he explained about it and the Børsen building before we wandered over the bridge to Christianshavn. The tour lasted for 90 minutes and took us to a couple of churches where he explained the history, to an old wooden building – one of the remaining ones that didn’t burn down in the Copenhagen fires – and then we finished at Freetown Christiania.

Our group of 34 – Photo courtesy of Copenhagen Free Walking Tours

After the tour was officially over, we walked into Freetown Christiania. This area is an autonomous artist/hippie neighborhood in Christianshavn. The area is home to 850 permanent residents and has it’s own rules. It also has a ‘green street’, Pusher Street, where one can buy weed. That practice is illegal in Denmark, but it’s partly tolerated in Christiania. Taking pictures of it is strictly forbidden though.

I walked through Christiania with the others, but didn’t go onto Pusher street. It was interesting to get into this community within a city, even if it was brief.

After the tour, I wandered back to Nyhavn for a meal of fish & chips and a Danish beer. Then it was finally time for sleep! Unfortunately I slept great till about 1am, and then was awake for 3 hours in the middle of the night. Ahhh, time change woes!

The next morning, I got an early start as I wanted to head to Sweden after breakfast at the hotel. Yes, Sweden! Sweden is only about a 15 minute train ride from the Copenhagen airport so I thought it’d make a fun day trip. After taking the metro back to the airport, I boarded a train to Lund, Sweden. The entire trip took 50 minutes, but that was partly because of a long stop to spot check passports when we got to Sweden, and a long stop in Malmö. Lund is a college town (city) founded in 990. Once I arrived, I went to a creperie and had a fantastic egg, ham, and cheese crepe. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well so I only wandered around for about an hour before I took the train back to Copenhagen. The trip back only took about 30 minutes and shortly thereafter I was back in the city.

Once back, I wandered down Strøget street which is a car-free shopping street in the heart of town. There were your usual upscale stores, but also some European brands, souvenir shops, and of course, a Lego store. I just had to go in the Lego store! Unfortunately they didn’t seem to have any Danish specific Lego sets or I would’ve picked them up for the kids.

I walked the entire street, which is one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe, down to Tivoli Gardens. Unfortunately, Tivoli is closed for the winter so I could only see it from the outside.

After strolling the Strøget street back, I went to the Tower at Christiansborg Palace to get a birds eye view of Copenhagen. It’s free, and I only had a 15 minute wait before they let us in. The views were fantastic and you can even see across the water to Sweden!

After going up the tower, it was time to relax at the hotel a bit before dinner at an Italian restaurant back in Nyhavn. After dinner I wandered up to a coffee shop for a latte, before hitting a Meyers Bageri where I finally found a Danish danish!

The next morning I only had time to eat breakfast before heading back to the airport for my trip to Reykjavik.

All is all, I really enjoyed my time in Copenhagen. The city is quite laid back and easy to navigate. I love how bike friendly it is and how people spend time outdoors even when it’s freezing out. I also love how safe it is – people would bike up to a shop and just leave their bikes out front without any locks! I definitely enjoyed my time there and would love to return some day!

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Interview with Beckett – A Year of Travel Wrap-up

Kirsten / June 5, 2014

Interview with Beckett at the end of our year of traveling (age 7)

Q: Have you enjoyed traveling this past year?
Beckett: Yes. I’ve enjoyed traveling because you can go a lot of fun places like Turkey and Thailand.

Q: What do you like most about traveling?
Beckett: That I get to do fun activities like paragliding and ziplining and stuff. And elephant camp.

Riding an elephant in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Q: What did you like least about traveling?
Beckett: I have to pack and unpack my bag. And as soon as I find somewhere fun, I have to leave.

Q: What toys/games are you happy you brought with you?
Beckett: Stuffies! Stuffies is like everything I brought.

Q: What were your favorite places? Why?
Beckett: Thailand because we went to an elephant camp and took care of elephants for a day and cleaned it, checked the poo, ate lunch then bathed it. And I also went ziplining through the trees in a jungle. We saw gibbons through the trees.

Turkey because I went paragliding and they have delicious pancakes – yum yum. The paragliding was so fun – you were 6000’ up – but the drive was really scary.

Santorini because we went ATV-ing. And Morocco because we went ATV-ing out in the desert and because of the cobra show.

Watching a cobra in the Medina in Marrakech, Morocco

Q: What were your least favorite places? Why?
Beckett: Istanbul. There was just nothing really good to see there. And Spain, there was just nothing really good to do around.

Q: What were your favorite experiences?
Beckett: Ziplining. Taking care of elephants for a day. Paragliding! ATV-ing. Going up the Eiffel Tower. Walking on the Great Wall of China and taking the toboggan down. Ice cream show in Turkey. Yee Peng. Tigers. Turkish Bath.

Beck and Mara running on the Great Wall of China

Q: What were your least favorite experiences?
Beckett: My least favorite experience was trying new foods. The ferry from Rhodes to Turkey – I hate that. I did not like Pamukkale. The scary drive up the mountain to paraglide. Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace in Istanbul were boring.

Q: Did you enjoy being homeschooled?
Beckett: Uhhhhh… don’t know. It was ok.

Q: What was your favorite homeschool subject?
Beckett: Science

Q: What was your least favorite homeschool subject?
Beckett: Writing

Q: What have you learned from your travels so far?
Beckett: That traveling can be fun but also not fun. How bad the ferry from Rhodes to Turkey was. How boring plane rides are. How fun ATVs are. How fun paragliding and taking care of an elephant is. How fun ziplining is.

Q: What were some of your favorite foods?
Beckett: Turkish pancakes. Crepes. Mac n’ cheese from Hotel Letoon in Fethiye, Turkey. Baguettes. Food-go-round. MK in Thailand.

Eating Gözleme (Turkish pancakes) in Calis Beach, Turkey

Q: What do you miss the most about the USA?
Beckett: Having a house and not having to pack your bags every once in a while. And unpack them. Finding friends and not having to leave them.

Q: What will you miss the most about traveling?
Beckett: Going fun places and doing once in a lifetime experiences.

Q: Where do you want to travel next?
Beckett: Go on African safari.

007 — Me-O Veterinary Clinic in Kidzania in Bangkok

118 — Making curry paste at Sammy’s Cooking School in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Washing MaeBonChon in the river at Patara Elephant Camp in Thailand

416 — Feeding a baby tiger at the Night Safari in Chiang Mai, Thailand

FC Barcelona futbol game at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain

Beckett and his magic genie lamp in Marrakech, Morocco

467 — Loi Krathong festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand

228 — Crossing the Mekong River in a longtail boat from Thailand to Laos

063 — Going Viking at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway

Fresh squeezed OJ from #63 in Marrakech, Morocco — Fresh squeezed OJ from stall #63 in Marrakech, Morocco

Feeding pigeons at Tha Pae Gate in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Tree "snow" in Paris — Tree “snow” in Paris

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Interview with Mara – A Year of Travel Wrap-up

Kirsten / June 5, 2014

Interview with Mara at the end of our year of traveling (age 9)

116 — MaeKwan at Patara Elephant Camp in Thailand

Q: Have you enjoyed traveling this past year?
Mara: Well… it’s fun at times. But sometimes I miss just having a house. But it’s great – I love traveling the world and it’s amazing!

Q: What do you like most about traveling?
Mara: Going new places and experiencing new cultures. And I love to try the different foods. And the different treats are always fun.

Q: What did you like least about traveling?
Mara: I don’t get to have much stuff and it’s kind of hard to make friends when you know you’re going to be leaving soon. Sometimes I just miss having friends and having a real house and being able to decorate it.

Q: What toys/games are you happy you brought with you?
Mara: Well, I’m happy I brought my stuffed animals. Or some of my stuffed animals. And I’m happy I brought my Barbies. That’s pretty much all I brought.

Q: What were your favorite places? Why?
Mara: I loved Thailand because there were so many adventures and there are lots of crazy markets. I loved Paris because I wanted to go there all my life and I SO LOVED going up the Eiffel Tower. And I loved Hong Kong because there was a restaurant we called “Noodle Girl” and it was soooo yum! Santorini was AM-AZ-ING!

Me in front of the Eiffel Tower for the first time!

Q: What were your least favorite places? Why?
Mara: Well, that’s kind of hard but Spain was the worst place we went. But it was still pretty darn good. And in Istanbul, all the restaurants served Turkish food which got boring. Plus the Grand Bazaar was just ok. There are so many stray cats and dogs which got scary.

Q: What were your favorite experiences?
Mara: I loved the elephant camp in Thailand. It was UNBELIEVABLY cool! And I also loved the crazy markets. I liked the Noodle Girl restaurant in Hong Kong – it makes me so hungry for grilled steak. Yee Peng was amazing! Great Wall of China! Marrakech ATVs were awesome! Seeing my family paraglide was neat. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France was amazing! It was so cool. And there were lights on it that blinked and made it looked like it sparkled.

All smiles while warming up after the Forbidden City

Q: What were your least favorite experiences?
Mara: Pamukkale (in Turkey) was ok. And Tiger Kingdom was ok. I really disliked the Louvre, Notre Dame, and La Sagrada Familia. The Alcazar (in Seville, Spain) was bor-ing. The Parthenon was boring. I disliked the ferry from Rhodes to Turkey because the sea was so rocky and wavy and over half the people threw up. Climbing up the Kotor wall was just so long and boring.

Q: Did you enjoy being homeschooled?
Mara: Yes because less school hours. And I don’t have to wake up early, early, early. I have the nicest teacher in the world. I also liked the way she taught multiplication and division.

Q: What was your favorite homeschool subject?
Mara: I don’t have one. I do like multiplication.

Q: What was your least favorite homeschool subject?
Mara: My least favorite was spelling.

Learning about Ancient Greece and hosting our own Olympics

Q: What have you learned from your travels so far?
Mara: A lot about how boring planes are. And how rocky and wavy ferries can be. And how annoying it is to wake up early. I also learned a lot about geography. I also learned how to negotiate. And how fun tuk tuks are. And I learned how annoying it is to have everything you own fit into a suitcase. And that elephants are fun and amazing creatures.

Q: What were some of your favorite foods?
Mara: Pizza in Fethiye, Turkey at Nil Bar. Steak at “Noodle Girl” in the Hong Kong airport. And Nic’s in Chiang Mai, Thailand had great meatballs and pizza. The baguettes we had in Spain were AMAZING! Mint tea in Marrakech. Mmm mmm. The crepes and macarons in Paris – yum! The gyros in Santorini and the olives in Athens were good. I also liked sushi and coconut milk straight from the coconut in Thailand.

I did NOT like the orange hot dog under the Eiffel Tower. Blahhhh.

Q: What do you miss the most about the USA?
Mara: I miss being able to talk to kids in English. And I miss English TV. I miss going to swim team. Girl Scouts! Toy stores!

Q: What will you miss the most about traveling?
Mara: I’m going to miss the food and the cultures and going new places.

Q: Where do you want to travel next?
Mara: Egypt to see the Pyramids. And Russia – I like snow.

139 — Cooking Thai food at Sammy’s Cooking School in Chiang Mai, Thailand

454 — Loi Krathong festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand

224 — Longtail boat trip on the Mekong from Thailand to Laos

Riding a bull at a carnival in La Herradura, Spain

Croatia Europe

Our Final Fling in Dubrovnik, Croatia

Chuck Ullan / June 3, 2014

Sadly for us, the fun had to end sometime, and Dubrovnik was the final planned stop on our world tour. But what a great place to wrap it up!

Dubrovnik is yet another walled city, but much larger and cooler than any we’d come across. The walls are really thick and high, and the city contained within is really, really big.

To enter the city, you cross a drawbridge and moat.

This is the “main drag” you walk down after entering through the gate.

Here are a few shots of the side alleys

While it was cool to walk in the streets of the city, it was even better to walk on top of the walls. They’re probably 30-40 feet high in most places, giving great views of everything.

View of the main street from top of the wall

About half the wall is up against ocean, so we got some beautiful views.

You can hang out and swim off the rocks below.

There are also lots of fortifications, cannons, and other nooks and crannies that were fun to see and duck into.

The last part of the wall tour is inland and sits a big higher, giving nice elevated views.

My mom and her sister had been here about 6 months before and sent us on a quest for a bar that served incredibly good hot chocolate. Found it!

On our last day, Beckett, Mara and I went kayaking, then did a little swim. Despite being living near the sea for months, this was the first time we’d been in the ocean in nearly a year. Made me miss Kona!

Unfortunately, that’s a wrap! Through the miracles of flight cancellations and delays, we did get a single-day visit to Frankfurt, Germany on the way home, but no post on that.

Europe Montenegro World Travels

4 Nights in Kotor, Montenegro

Chuck Ullan / May 31, 2014

At the time we decided on Turkey as the place we’d spend a month, Kotor, Montenegro was the other main location in the running. The country of Montenegro, is brand spankin’ new, and just a few months older than Beckett. (It was part of the former Yugoslavia.)

As part of our final fling before returning to the US, we spent 4 nights here. It’s another neat walled city, but the twist is that it’s walls go right up a mountain.

There’s not a whole lot to do here, besides walk the city, climb alongside the walls, and enjoy the scenery. But all those things are spectacular. It really is a beautiful area. Just not too exciting.

The old town is dotted with squares that hold restaurants

Not the stairway to heaven. Just a cool stairway.

On our second day, Mara, Beckett and I hiked up to the top of the mountain. They enjoyed it for about 10 minutes or so, then things went South. Nice views from up there, but the colors were a little flat since the day was overcast.

The enthusiasm on their faces is inspiring

Finally, we got to the top and had some cool views of the bay and town

The next day, we got a few nice shots when the sun came out.

Albania Europe

A Quick Visit to Tirana, Albania

Chuck Ullan / May 27, 2014

Why did the Ullans go to Albania? To get to Kotor! (of course!)

Near the end of our time in Turkey, Kirsten had hoped to get us over to Kotor, Montenegro, which is one of the locations we’d considered spending a month or two.

Eventually she found a $50 flight to Tirana, which is about 4-5 hours from Kotor by car. I said, um. . . ok, and then had to look up Albania on a map.

We decided to spend a night in Tirana before heading to Kotor, just for the heck of it. Metro Tirana holds about 750K of Albania’s 3 million citizens. They were slow to develop due to a heavy communist history, but are now emerging.

We stayed right in the heart of Tirana, and it had some merits, with coffee shops, restaurants, and a few other interesting shops. But really, apart from being cheap ($1o for 5 crepes, a soda, and a water), there’s no reason to ever TRY to go to Tirana.

That said, here’s some of what we came across.

We came across this communist-era concrete pyramid.

And since everyone else was climbing it, we let the kids have a go.

We could buy bras from street carts. (but didn’t)

We found a cool little French bakery and stopped for snacks and tea.

Communist-era construction spruced up with colorful shades

Dinner at this Italian restaurant was really pleasant

Beckett found souvenir boxing gloves, which he bought for his pet otter.

Europe Markets Turkey

Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

Kirsten / May 26, 2014

Enjoying apple, cinnamon and mint tea plus treats in the Grand Bazaar

One of the things all of us were most looking forward to in Istanbul was visiting and shopping in the Grand Bazaar. So much so, that we went to visit it as soon as we arrived in Istanbul. Maybe it’s because we’d been to Marrakech just a couple of months before and we’d been in Turkey for a month, but we found it a little disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still neat to see. And the history and scale of it is pretty cool.

But at the end of the day, it came off like a gigantic tourist-only market selling only touristy things. Sure there are cool lamps and beautiful tea sets, rugs and scarves, silver and jewelry. But it didn’t feel or look authentic and there wasn’t nearly as much stuff I was dying to buy as I expected.

That said, we did wander through it at least 3 times. And Mara did buy an awesome pair of “Turkish slippers” – unfortunately the picture came out very fuzzy.

Fuzzy picture of Mara and her fun slippers

One thing we did enjoy was the free samples of Turkish Delight from the various shops.

The whole wall was full of various flavors of Turkish Delight

We so enjoyed having tea and treats at this little stall that we went back twice. We ordered 3 teas: Beck got the apple tea, Mara got the cinnamon tea and Chuck and I split a mint tea. They were all delicious and we bought some tea from a stand afterwards to bring back to the States with us.

Aside from Mara’s slippers and the tea, the kids each bought a keychain for their keychain collection and I bought myself a little “Genie lamp”. Overall it was much easier on our wallet than we were expecting.

Here are some pictures of the Grand Bazaar:

Here are some pictures of the various items for sale:

Video Mara shot:

Europe Turkey

Topkapi Palace

Kirsten / May 26, 2014

Topkapi Palace was our final sightseeing stop in Istanbul, so Chuck and I enjoyed it, but the kids were over it. Topkapi was one of the main residences of the Ottoman Sultans for over 400 years. It housed over 4,000 people and consisted of many buildings and courtyards.

One of the most impressive buildings is the Imperial Treasury that houses the most amazing jewelry, art, and heirlooms that I’ve ever seen including staggering amounts of massive emeralds.

The Privy Chamber houses “the most sacred relics of the Muslim world” – hair, a tooth, and relics that belonged to Muhammad. They also had the Staff of Moses on display. It was really cool to see such amazing historic objects.

We spent a large part of our time visiting the famous “Harem” where the Sultan’s mother, wives, children, and concubines lived.

Definitely worth a visit if you got to Istanbul – unless you’re a worn-out kid!

The Harem:

Other buildings:

The Grounds:

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Turkey

6 Days in Istanbul

Kirsten / May 26, 2014

We flew up to Istanbul after spending about a month in Fethiye, Turkey. This was one of the last stops before our year of traveling was up and the kids were kind of over traveling by this point. So while Chuck and I were amazed by the various sites around Istanbul, the kids, especially Beckett, weren’t very enamored with the city.

We still managed to have fun while taking in the big ticket sites like Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi, the Grand Bazaar, and the Basilica Cisterns.

We rented an apartment in the Sultanahmet District which is the old city and where the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi, etc. are located. This meant we were walking distance to all those sites and could even hear the Blue Mosque’s calls to prayer from our apartment. The apartment was a true find – 2 bedrooms, room to spread out, and a great location for an amazing price.

View from our apartment:

Walking around was an interesting experience. There were so many stray dogs and cats that we starting having a daily dog and cat count. I think one day we were up to 40 stray cats!

Streets in Sultanahmet:

Fresh squeezed orange juice carts were found all along the streets. Delicious!

A few times we strolled to the waterfront area. This was lined with restaurants and always had a ton of people. We’d also walk across the bridge to the other side. This was almost always lined with lots of fishermen.

Under the bridge is filled with restaurants which we ate at once or twice.

One of the days we went to the famous Spice Bazaar. It was a similar but different experience from the Grand Bazaar.

We spent most of our time in Sultanahmet which is on the European side, so one day we took the ferry over to the Asian side of Istanbul. It was fun to get out on the Bosphorus Strait and visit a different section of town. There was a big protest happening when we arrived, but it remained peaceful. We spent a few hours wandering around, eating pastries, and checking it out before we took the ferry back to Europe.

We also caught up with Chuck’s friend Erman for dinner and drinks on this rooftop cafe that had amazing views.

We were lucky enough to catch some sunsets too.

Here are some other pictures from our time in Istanbul:

Chuck photobombing Mara in the Blue Mosque

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Europe Turkey

Basilica Cistern in Sultanahmet / Istanbul

Kirsten / May 25, 2014

The Basilica Cistern is a large cistern located under Istanbul, near the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque. The cistern was built in the 6th century and used into modern times until it was forgotten and rediscovered. The kids really enjoyed place and gave it a thumbs up!

It’s a fairly quick attraction to visit – probably no more than an hour once you’re inside.

One fun part of the visit is a dress-up photo station. We really enjoyed our picture.

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Europe Turkey

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul

Kirsten / May 23, 2014

Another one of my top things to see in Istanbul was Hagia Sophia, known locally as Ayasofya. I knew of it but not much of the history until I taught the kids Roman History as part of the 3rd grade curriculum. It was the largest Christian Cathedral in the world for 1,000 years (until the Seville Cathedral was built), and eventually became a mosque. Eventually it was removed from use as an active mosque and became a museum.

The interior is faded and rough but the different colored marbles, gorgeous gold mosaics and all the paint must have been awe-inspiring in pristine condition. Even faded, it’s still a remarkable building and interesting piece of history.

The interior: