Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion) is a Zen Buddhist temple that was originally built in 1397 and reconstructed in 1955. It is such a beautiful structure set in such a picturesque setting.
It was overcast when we visited, but still quite stunning. The weather didn’t keep the crowds away so it was also quite crowded. We only spent about an hour or two seeing it and wandering thru the gardens. Even though it was a short visit, it was still one of my highlights from our entire trip.
One of the most iconic pictures I see of people’s travels to Kyoto are of the Torii gates in Kyoto. The Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine is considered Kyoto’s most important shrine. It was founded in 711, but the main shrine wasn’t built until 1499.
The beginning of the shrine complexWalk up to the shrineMap of the shrine and gates
At the rear of the shrine are literally thousands of torii gates (I’ve read 10,000 gates!) that wind 4km up the mountain. Each torii gate was donated in the hope of receiving good luck and fortune or to have a wish come true, and the name of the donor is written on the back of each gate.
We arrived around 10am and gave ourselves an hour and a half to see the shrine and walk through the gates before we had to leave for our 12pm ramen making class. Apparently every other tourist in Kyoto had the exact same timing as the gates were mobbed. However, as we walked up to other sections, we’d find moments where the crowd stopped for pictures behind us and we were able to appreciate the site and get some good pictures.
Entrance to the first torii gate section. So crowded!Entrance to another torii gate section
The kids and I walked up the main couple of sections, then decided we’d seen enough. Chuck wanted to hike up further, so I led the kids down the mountain and we did some light browsing at the gift shops until Chuck returned.
By leaving the gate path, we were able to enjoy the surrounding forest and even found a cute, little bridge over a stream.
Gates set in the forest
Once we left the shrine, we walked to the train station to catch a train a few stops to our ramen making class. On the way there, we discovered a place making fresh watermelon smoothies. Watermelon is Beckett’s favorite fruit so we couldn’t pass up the chance to let him try a fresh watermelon smoothie made by putting a blender inside of a watermelon.
On our first morning in Kyoto, we took a taxi to the pedestrian streets leading up to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple complex. We had a great time popping into the shops on the walk up to the temple. Many shops had samples so we were able to try so many Japanese desserts and snacks and even bought a few souvenirs such as “cat”. We ended up buying many of the snacks we tried including these delicious matcha white chocolate cookies from the Malebranche store shown below.
After about an hour, we finally made it up to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. The Temple was founded in 778, however, the buildings were constructed in 1633. Before we walked up to the temple, we stopped by the bathrooms and discovered this really cool cemetery.
The temple structures were both bold and intricate, really fascinating just to sit and take in.
Its neat that many visitors to the temple dress up in traditional clothes. I loved seeing everyone dressed up!
It cost extra to go into one of the buildings so Chuck and the kids found a seat while I went to explore. Little did we realize that it wasn’t just the building that I had access to, but the entire rest of the complex. I ended up being gone far longer than expected, but it was such a treat to see everything. Unfortunately without working cell service, I couldn’t text them to come meet me, and by the time I was back, they were ready to move on.
We explored a little more of the complex together. Since we were set so high up, we had a great vantage point to look down on Kyoto and surrounds too.
Great view of Kyoto from the temple complex
We took a branch off the the main pedestrian street on our walk down from the temple onto what I think is Sannenzaka street. We found a great little place for lunch that had a soft tofu lunch which Kyoto is famous for. Lunch was not cheap, but was delicious!
RestaurantBeckett’s tofu lunch
Description of Beckett’s lunchMy lunch – so good!
We then spent another couple of hours checking out the shops on what I think was Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka streets. Chuck disappeared at some point and I found a shop giving out samples of this yuzu honey drink. O.M.G. was this stuff good! I called the kids over and we tried so many flavors of their honey drinks – blueberry, mango, raspberry, and on and on. We bought some to drink then, but also containers to drink at home which we slowly rationed over the next 6 months.
Yuzu & mango honey drinks
After gorging ourselves on yummy drink samples, we found Chuck in a nearby shop eating some weird ball things. I tried one and quickly regretted my decision.
And on it went. Walking into shops, trying samples, seeing a cool pagoda or shrine, walking more, popping into another shop.
What a great sign!
We eventually found the world’s coolest Starbucks:
Starbucks
Unfortunately there was quite a line and we didn’t feel like waiting, so we decided to head back to the rental. All told, I think we were out for over 6 hours and were absolutely wrecked once we got back. Despite the long day, this was one of the (many) highlights of our time in Kyoto for me. I loved the traditional feel of the streets and even though I’m not much of a shopper, I loved exploring all the shops and what they had to offer. I was hoping we’d get a chance to come back before we left Kyoto to pick up some more souvenirs, but we never did. I’ll just have to do that next time!
Gion is the traditional geisha district and is what I picture as the quintessential historic Japanese area. Wooden buildings, paper lanterns, Shoji screen doors. It is so picturesque and charming and I wish we’d had more time to explore the tea houses, shops, temples, and shrines that are tucked into the district.
I booked our rental a few blocks from the main Gion district. We were able to walk through the area numerous times, but never went into any of the shops, restaurants, or tea houses at all. However, just walking around was such a cool experience.
Our first night, we went out and stumbled onto pedestrian only Hanamikoji street. We came upon a group of people just standing around and were trying to figure out what they were looking at, when all of a sudden a geisha and a maiko (apprentice geisha) came out of the building and were quickly whisked into a car. I was unprepared for this so my pictures came out fuzzy and had a lot of people in them. Still, I couldn’t believe our luck of seeing them in person our first night in Kyoto. Later in the trip, we were walking along the street with our rental and I saw one come out of a building not even 20′ away and quickly get into a car and leave. I’m not even sure the kids saw her as it happened so fast!
Hanami-koji street
We meandered onto Shinbashi-dori Street on another trip to Gion which is called the prettiest street in Gion. Its also home to the Tatsumi Bashi bridge which was featured in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha.
The Tatsumi Daimyojin Shrine
Here are some pictures from other streets around Gion and near our rental:
Years ago I watched the movie “Memoirs of a Geisha” and was completely taken by the scenery. The movie was partly filmed in Kyoto and the more I saw pictures of the area, the more I knew we had to visit when we went to Japan.
Planning our trip there was the hardest part of the entire planning though. Kyoto has more than 1600 temples and more than 400 shrines, so trying to figure out which 3-4 to visit was overwhelming especially since everything I read recommended different temples. This is also where I decided we’d do the bulk of our activities so weaving it all together and not exhausting us was tough. I partly succeeded, but partly failed as we didn’t see as many temples as I wanted and skipped some other things I wanted to do, and STILL ended up exhausted!
That said, Kyoto was a highlight of the trip for us!
Kyoto was the 2nd stop on our Japan trip after a busy 5 days in Tokyo. We were all worn out from our whirlwind trip there and the gray, raining travel day didn’t help.
But our moods improved when we made it to our rental. This place was so cool! The kids loved their room and all the traditional touches. Having a nice kitchen and a washing machine also made the place a great choice. And it was once again cheaper than a hotel!
Kid’s bedroom
Street our rental was on
By the time we got settled in, it was already dinner time. The kids elected to stay in for some downtime so Chuck and I went out for dinner and found this great gyoza place a couple of blocks away. I love gyoza and enjoyed trying the different fillings.
Gyoza
Chuck and I were excited to see Gion, so we wandered the streets despite it raining. We were also exhausted, but I didn’t fly the whole way to Kyoto to sit in the rental! The area is just too perfect. Its absolutely what you picture when you think of traditional Japan with the wood buildings, paper lamps, shoji screens. We even saw a geisha and a maiko (an apprentice geisha)!
We found a grocery store and bought the kids food for dinner, breakfast foods (I even found pancake mix!), and headed back to the rental for the night.
Day 2
Day 2 started with breakfast at our rental before getting a taxi to the area around Kiyomizu-dera temple. We had a great time walking around the famous streets around the temple, Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka. After walking our legs off for over 5 hours, we went back to the rental for some much needed rest.
We decided to cook dinner at our rental as none of us wanted to go out to eat. After dinner, Chuck and I went for a stroll to the famous Pontocho Alley and nearby Kiyamachi-dori Street. Once again it was raining, but it was still cool to see.
Pontocho AlleyPontocho AlleyBack side Pontocho Alley buildingsKiyamachi-doriKiyamachi-dori
Day 3
We had a relaxed morning on Day 3 before heading out for a very busy day. Our first stop was Nishiki Market. There we saw some really interesting sea creatures for sale along with the usual items. We didn’t try anything exotic, but did share a bubble tea and bought some cool gelatinous face washes for the kids.
After the market and a lunch stop at an Italian restaurant for marginal pizza and Italian food, we went to our Ninja Class where we had an absolute blast. On our walk there, we saw an Eggs ‘n Things like we ate at in Tokyo, so we stopped in after our class for some more yummy pancakes with a mountain of whipped cream.
At this point the kids were begging to go back to the room to rest, but this is when I was surprising them with a visit to the Otter Cafe. They quickly realized something was up and spent the entire walk badgering me about where we were going and taking guesses. As we got close, there was a sign and Beckett figured it out and got so excited!
Unfortunately, they were booked up, but had a window for us to visit an hour or so later at 5pm. The time meant we’d have to leave early as we had 6pm tickets for the GEAR show. We jumped at the chance though as some otter time is better than no otter time!
While waiting, we walked around the Shinkyogoku and Teramachi Shopping Streets where the cafe was located.
We had the best time with the otters! You can read more about that here.
Then we headed to the GEAR show. This is a 1 hour non-verbal show featuring street performers, wrapped in a story about robots and a doll that come to life. The show was fantastic and the kids absolutely loved it. You aren’t allowed to take photos during the performance, but I took one before the show started. Beckett loved the show so much that he did the “robot walk” for months after.
GEAR show set
After the show, we hunted around for what felt like forever trying to find a suitable dinner and ended up at another Shabu Shabu restaurant. There was a good hour wait and I felt like I was going to pass out, but eventually around 9:30pm, we finally got fed! Phew!
We were so exhausted at this point, that my entire afternoon plan of visiting a Zen garden, wandering the famous Philosopher’s Path, seeing the Silver Pavilion, and having a soft tofu dinner got completely scrapped. Instead, the kids stayed home again while Chuck and I wandered around Gion. We found an Indian restaurant for dinner that was quite good and a welcome break from Japanese food. Then we found a place where I had a delicious mango cocktail, Chuck got sake, and we shared a ginormous kakigouri (shaved ice).
My mango cocktail, Chuck’s sake, and Kakigouri (shaved ice)
And then we stumbled upon the Yasaka Shrine. It looked so cool all lit up at night and there were even food vendors selling various foods all around the shrine.
Yasaka Shrine entrance
Day 5
Day 5 had us going to beautiful Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) on the other side of town. Originally we were thinking of going to a zen meditation class in the morning before visiting the temple, but that got scrapped. I was also hoping to visit the nearby Arashiyama Bamboo Grove and maybe get a foot massage and tofu lunch in the area, but all of that got scrapped too. We also had penciled in a samurai lesson that afternoon, but didn’t bother to book that as we all needed a break from scheduled activities.
Instead, we took a taxi back into the heart of Kyoto for another shabu shabu lunch, then rested back at the rental.
Chuck booked us another visit to the otter cafe, so we headed there for another hour with the otters before checking out the Gion Matsuri Festival that was happening. Gion Matsuri is Kyoto’s biggest festival and is celebrated over a couple of weeks. The first main event, the Yamaboko Junko, is a parade that was being held the next morning when we were headed out of town. There are festivities on the 3 days leading up to the parade, where they shut down the streets, people dress up, and there is a big street party.
We saw none of that. Sure, we saw the floats parked and the streets were closed with a lot of people out, but there wasn’t much of a street party happening. So after wandering thru the streets and into Gion, we called it a night and went home to start packing up for our departure the next morning.
Float for the parade“Street Party” the night before the first big parade
Day 6
On Day 6, it was time to leave Kyoto and head for Osaka.
Kyoto was such a beautiful place filled with such history. I’m so glad we spent as much time as we did here and wish we’d gotten to see and do even more. It is definitely a place I’d love to come back to some day with more time to meander and soak it all in.
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.
Our bus from Riga to TallinnViru Gate – entrance to the old town. We ate lunch at the outdoor restaurant on the right.Outside the Viru Gate
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.
Kiek in the Kok
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
From there we walked down the town walls and into the lower old town before finishing in Town Hall Square.
Viewing platform from belowTown Hall SquareAnother side of 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.
Movie projected on the Town HallTown Square lit up at night
Cute little street off the Town Square
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.
Kadriorg Palace
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
Another part of the town wall
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!
St. Catherine’s PassageTombstones 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.
So good!
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.
Outdoor dinner spot
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!
One of the main things we were looking forward to in Belize was getting out to explore the barrier reef. On our second full day, we went scuba diving and got our first taste of the reef.
The first dive, at Bottom Time, was not quite what I expected. I thought the reef would be one of the best I’d ever seen and that there would be tropical fish everywhere. However, this wasn’t the case. Sure there were a lot of corals, but not the vibrant colors I’m used to and the fish were quite scarce.
What was cool were the nurse sharks. These guys would swim so close to us and didn’t care at all that we were there. We also saw spotted eagle rays, lots of lionfish, a huge pufferfish, a giant lobster, shrimp, barracuda, a moray eel, and more.
While descending on the second dive, I felt like someone was jabbing an ice pick into my eye brow once I was down at 15′. I tried coming up and going back down only to have the same sensation so I aborted the dive. I’ve never had to do that before, and still don’t fully know why it happened, but it sounds like I got a sinus squeeze which commonly happens to divers. Chuck was able to do the dive and said it was similar to the first, so at least I didn’t miss out on much.
On our 3rd day, I was still in a lot of pain from the sinus squeeze, but decided to snorkel anyway. I’m so glad I did as this was my favorite ocean time of the entire trip. We went to Mexico Rocks which was right off of our resort. We saw so many stingrays and they were so close!
We also got to see some conchs up close.
We also saw a barracuda that followed us (I didn’t like him one bit), a green moray eel, lobsters, lots of lionfish, flounders, Sergeant majors, ocean triggerfish, trunkfish, a horseshoe conch, anemone, and 2 fish that were kissing in addition to stingrays, spotted eagle rays and another nurse shark.
BarracudaTrunkfish
On Day 4, we snorkeled at Hol Chan Marine Reserve and at Shark Ray Alley. Both sites are famous and considered ‘must do’.
At Hol Chan we saw similar fish and corals to our Mexico Rocks snorkel. We also saw a spiny starfish and a worm like a Christmas Tree worm.
Moray EelSpotted eagle ray
On the way to Shark Ray alley, we stopped at a fishing boat that was feeding the fish. Here we saw a ton of fish, rays, and even a sea turtle looking for a hand out.
At Shark Ray alley, we quickly got in the water as our boat captain chummed the water. It was complete mayhem as nurse sharks and fish swarmed in hoping to get a bite to eat. We were only a few feet away from the action which was amazing to watch.
On Day 6, we went back to Mexico Rocks as I wanted more time in the water. This snorkel ended up being similar to the other two except we saw a group of squid. I chased these guys down and spent a long time watching them. I found it so cool how they lined up in a straight line formation and followed each other around.
SquidSquid in a row
Our dive guide found a trunkfish with a remora harassing it, so he pulled the trunkfish out of the water to discourage the remora and sent them both on their way. The remora kept looking for a new home and followed us around for the rest of the snorkel. At the end of the snorkel, I saw the fish stuck to Chuck’s chest! I couldn’t stop laughing. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture.
The remora that was harassing the trunkfishTrunkfish being freed of his harasser
We even saw jellyfish. Luckily they don’t sting, but I wasn’t a fan of being that close to them regardless.
Jellyfish
Overall I’m quite happy with our ocean time in Belize aside from the sinus squeeze. The water was a fantastic temperature and it was so nice to explore a coral reef again. I was especially happy with how many rays we saw – I love spotted eagle rays – and how close we got to nurse sharks. I loved seeing the squid too and I’ve never seen lobsters that large before.
Our trip this year took us to Ambergris Caye, which is an island off the coast of Belize and right next to the Belize Barrier Reef. We were looking forward to some sun, ocean, and swimming with tropical fish and this place definitely delivered.
We had a nice 6am flight to Belize via Atlanta. Once in Belize, we flew in a tiny, 12 person plane about 15 minutes out to the island. We flew so low you could see the reef and the other islands.
From there, we had to take a boat taxi about 20 minutes to our place. But once we arrived, all the traveling was worth it! We were greeted with rum cocktails and an inviting resort with amazing views, turquoise blue water, and soft, powdery sand.
The view from our balcony
Unfortunately, paradise was ruined by tiny no-see-ums that harassed us anytime we were outside. They even attacked our faces while in the pool. We were forced to eat inside on our first day and for breakfast the next morning because we were being eaten alive.
Luckily, in a strange way, we started getting extremely strong winds for the rest of our stay which kept the bugs at bay. We would gladly take the wind over the bugs, so it ended up being a good thing and salvaged our stay. The forecast called for rain for our entire visit, but we only got the occasional storm coming through which never lasted for long.
On Day 2, we took the kayaks out exploring hoping to snorkel or see some fish. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take them out very far and could only explore the sea grass areas and some mangroves.
On Day 3, we finally got into the ocean when we went scuba diving. And on days 4-6 we went out snorkeling each day. We spent the rest of the time lounging around and trying most of the resort’s cocktails.
Happiness is a rum drink in a heated pool (the gorgeous view doesn’t hurt either)
On Day 6, we headed into the main town to explore. We found the town very underwhelming and returned to the resort after about 30 minutes.
On Day 7, it was time to pack up and take the 3 flights home.
All in all, I’m glad we went to Belize, but I don’t need feel the need to return especially since the bugs are so out of control. It was really nice to get some sun, ocean, and tropical fish.
We arrived into Zambia on the afternoon of July 4th for our visit to Victoria Falls which was the last stop on our 3+ week Africa tour.
Livingstone, Zambia airport
Victoria Falls straddles the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Falls themselves are in Zambia, but the best vantage point for viewing is on the Zimbabwe side.
We chose to stay on the Zambia side for a few reasons: 1, we couldn’t find non-sketchy lodging in our price range on the Zimbabwe side, 2 we could use points to stay at a Marriott on the Zambia side, 3, Zimbabwe was having money and safety issues, and 4, I thought more of our activities were on the Zambia side.
It turns out I was very wrong on that last point, and we would’ve been better off on the Zimbabwe side. Every activity we wanted to do was on the Zim side, so we really never had a need to go to the Zambia side at all. And since all the hotels weren’t near the falls, we had to pay for a taxi to and from the hotel THEN go through immigration on the Zambia side, THEN take a taxi across the bridge and THEN go through immigration on the Zimbabwe side which was quite time consuming and a pain in the butt. In fact, I think I counted that we EACH got 32 passport stamps in 3 days just from crossing borders over and over. Lesson learned. Luckily we were able to get a multi-entry visa for each country or this would’ve cost a fortune!
Zambia border crossingLots of baboons hang out near the border crossingsWaiting to cross the Victoria Falls BridgeEntering Zimbabwe on the Victoria Falls BridgeVictoria Falls border crossing
Our hotel was great though so that part worked out well!
Once we arrived, we dropped our bags at the hotel, and headed to the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe for a proper high tea. None of us have ever had a proper tea before and we couldn’t have picked a better spot. We couldn’t see the falls from the grounds, but we did have a neat view and had grazing warthogs come by as well. Not to mention pastries, petit fours, tiny sandwiches, and 4 different types of tea!
The Victoria Falls HotelYou can see the mist from the Falls in the distance
The next day we were up bright and early for our day trip to Chobe in Botswana. We were exhausted after that and had dinner near our hotel, then went to bed.
The next day was our last day in Victoria Falls and we still hadn’t really seen the falls! Since we all wanted to do the swing jump, we headed to lunch in Zimbabwe then to sign up the kids to do their jump. Unfortunately the only border officer handling entrances decided to leave right as we made it to the front of the line. We assumed he was taking a bathroom break and would be back shortly. About 45 minutes later, another officer finally came over and stamped us through. The line was ridiculous at this point and we lost some precious time!
Victoria Falls town
After lunch, the kids went to do the Gorge Swing. You can read more about that here.
And then after that, it was finally time to see the Falls! They were magnificent!
The Falls are the largest in the world and span over a mile. It isn’t one big waterfall, but consists of multiple falls. At the park we started by seeing the Falls on the western side then walked east the length of the Falls till we hit the end of Zimbabwe. Some areas were so wet that we ended up soaked by the end. Words don’t convey how spectacular it was to be there seeing the Falls, and hearing the rush of water thunder down.
Western edge of the falls
Beckett trying to touch the rainbow
Beckett catching the rainbow. He didn’t find a pot of gold though. 🙁
Then it was time to return to the Zambia side for dinner and packing. The next morning, we headed to the Victoria Falls Airport in Zimbabwe and started our long journey home.
I’ve dreamed of going on an African safari since I was a kid. Back then it seemed unrealistic and reserved for the ultra-rich. As I got into my 20s, I started seeing affordable deals and knew it could happen someday. So when I first created my bucket list in my late 20s, the African safari was #1 on the travel list. However, it still took me another 20+ years to get there. But I finally got there! And I got to take my kids and husband along which was the icing on the cake.
We arrived at the Crocodile River outside the park around 10am and immediately saw hippos and crocodiles in the river! Upon crossing the bridge, we saw our first giraffe as he casually ate then walked right in front of our car!
Hippos in the Crocodile RiverGiraffe about to cross the road
We weren’t even in the park yet and had already seen 3 different types of animals!
After entering the park, we headed to the Hippo Pools to see more hippos. Along the way we saw a rhino in the distance, more giraffe, a dwarf mongoose, and of course hippos at the pools.
Hippos at the Hippo Pools
We then headed to the Lower Sabie camp. It’s only 34km to camp, but given that you want to go very slowly so as not to miss anything, it took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there. It also took a long time because we kept stopping over and over to see the animals.
We quickly came upon 3 White Rhinos grazing right next to the road! I can’t even describe how excited we were. We sat there for a long time watching them and taking pictures and video. I still feel so incredibly lucky we got such a great rhino sighting!!
3 RhinosClose up of a white rhino
As we drove on we saw warthogs, more giraffes, zebra, wildebeest, and so many impala.
Warthogs. There was a baby warthog, but I didn’t get a picture of him.Wildebeest crossing the roadZebraZebras, impala, and a cool birdI love his stripesHerd of impala with warthogs and a zebra mixed inZebra and impala
After that, we came to some water and saw a huge crocodile basking in the sun. We also saw some neat bird – I think he’s the Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill.
CrocodileSouthern Yellow-billed Hornbill (I think)
Next, we came upon a herd of elephants beside the road. One of them was pulling bark off a tree and eating it. One of the moms had a baby with her and after a while, she looked at us, flared her ears, and made it clear we were no longer welcome, so we quickly drove away.
Elephant pulling bark off a tree and eating it
Next up was more giraffe and hippos out of the water!
Giraffe in foreground with hippos in the backgroundHippos out of the waterPretty heron?!?
As if that wasn’t enough, as we got near camp, there was a mass of cars pulled off looking at a lion! Our first lion sighting in the first few hours!
See the lion right above the tree stump?
We finally pulled into camp around 1:30pm quite hungry. The restaurant was on a fantastic deck with an incredible view. As we ate, we saw at least 10 giraffes across the river and some buffalo relaxing at the water’s edge.
The restaurant at Lower Sabie Camp. Not the best picture, but the only one I have of the deck and surrounds.View from the restaurantBlack bellied starling?!? These guys were all over the restaurant trying to swoop in for a snack.
After getting settled into our cottage at camp, Chuck and I went to Sunset Dam around 4:30pm for sunset. There are usually big cat sightings at the dam, but we only saw more hippos, crocodiles, and a bunch of birds. It was still neat to see though.
Hippo in the water, crocodiles on the edge of the water, and a storkHippo with it’s mouth openBeautiful, rainbow bird. I have no idea what it is, so I referred to them as “fun birds” the whole trip.
At dinner, we were treated to a beautiful sky. We also had a barn owl in the rafters hooting away. And there were impala and kudu grazing in the grasses beside the restaurant. Unreal.
I’m still in awe of our first day in Kruger. It was a complete highlight of my life, and even the kids and Chuck were blown away by all they saw. Definitely a dream come true for me!
Driving Route:
We entered Kruger via the R571 from Komatipoort to the Crocodile Bridge Gate.
After the gate, we took the left fork to the S25, then a left onto S27 to the Hippo Pools.
We then retraced back to the gate and took the right fork onto H4-2 to Lower Sabie camp.
The H4-2 trip is 34km and was scheduled to take 1:20, but it took us about 2 hours.
Animal Sightings:
Before the Crocodile Bridge Gate: Hippopotamus, Crocodile, Giraffe
To/From the Hippo Pools: Giraffe, Rhinoceros, Dwarf Mongoose, Hippopotamus
Along H4-2 from Crocodile Bridge Gate to Lower Sabie camp: Rhinoceros, Warthog, Impala, Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Elephant, Lion, Crocodile
At Lower Sabie camp: Buffalo, Hippopotamus, Kudu, Impala, Giraffe, Barn Owl, and lots of birds
At Sunset Dam: Hippopotamus, Crocodile, Storks, and lots of other birds
After 5 days of island life on Mauritius, we headed to Cape Town for 3 days. Instead of a hotel, we got a condo through AirBnB near the V&A Waterfront. Wasn’t always the most convenient place relative to all the attractions we visited, but the views were nice and we had plenty of dining nearby.
The views from our condo:
The view from our condo – Table Mountain in the distance
The first morning we grabbed breakfast then headed to Table Mountain. The weather wasn’t perfect, but we’ve heard that Table Mountain gets shut down often due to bad weather and wind, so we needed to jump on getting up there when we had a decent enough window.
We drove part way up the mountain, then took the cable car to the top. The car spins so everyone gets a view as you ascend.
The side of the mountain on the ascentThat’s a long way down!
It was freezing up top! It was also a bit hazy so the views weren’t amazing, but it was still pretty cool. It was also far rockier up there than we expected. We spent about an hour wandering around the top taking in the views of the city from all sides.
We gave the kids a camera so they could capture their perspective. We should’ve known this is what we’d find:
At one point we saw a sign warning not to feed the Dassies. What on earth is a dassie? Eventually we found out. They’re adorable!
Beckett fell in love with them and bought himself a stuffed dassie to bring home.
After Table Mountain, we grabbed lunch, then headed down to the V&A Waterfront. The waterfront area has a mall, indoor food stalls, shops, and restaurants. We ended up picking this pub for dinner and the food was awful, but at least their hard cider was good. 🙂
Table Mountain in the distanceV&A Waterfront
The next morning we were up at 4:30am for our Great White Shark trip in Simon’s Town. After the shark trip, we had lunch then went to Boulders Beach to see the wild penguins. Yes, Penguins! They were adorable. We saw plenty of baby penguins and saw them wandering around, swimming, and just hanging out. We even had one “attack” Beckett’s shoe.
Penguin “attacking” Beckett’s shoe:
We then headed back to our condo and relaxed the rest of the day as we were pretty exhausted. Since we didn’t see any sharks, we called the shark company to see if spots were available for the next morning and 2 spots opened up. So the next morning, Chuck and I woke at 4:30am and headed back down to Simon’s Town to try to see Great Whites again. The kids were able to sleep in and had a nice, relaxing morning playing games on their iPads.
Unfortunately Beckett started to not feel well right before we got home and proceeded to throw up once we got back. The poor kid had a fever and felt awful so that shut down any plans we had for the afternoon. Mara and I did venture back to the V&A waterfront to wander around and have a snack. And later Chuck and Mara went out for dinner and brought me home food so I could stay with Beckett. It wasn’t exactly how we expected our last day to go, but such is life. And at least we got to do all the things we REALLY wanted to do.
Luckily Beckett was well enough the next morning for our flight to Kruger. It still took him 2-3 days to get fully better, but at least he could travel.
Overall, I went into Cape Town with high expectations and came away disappointed. I thought I’d fall in love with the city, but I didn’t. It was pretty, and I could see how fun it’d be during the summer. I think Chuck and I would’ve enjoyed it more if we had gone to Stellenbosch to go wine tasting or driven down to the Cape of Good Hope. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy my time there and am very happy we went. But I left not really ever needing to go back.Save
Once I saw pictures of Mauritius, I quickly added it to my list of places to go. It looked incredible! Plus, I’m always up for visiting a tropical island, especially one in a location I’ve never been before, the Indian Ocean.
When I booked our United flights, I realized we could stop over in Mauritius for free on our way to Cape Town. This seemed like a perfect way to start our trip.
We first flew on a red-eye to London, had a long layover in London, flew to Istanbul’s Ataturk where we had just enough time to grab some Turkish Delight and a snack, then took another red-eye to Mauritius. In total, we had 21 hours of in air flying time, and it took 30 hours, 30 minutes to arrive. We hired a shuttle company to drive us the 1 hour to the resort as we didn’t feel like landing and doing it ourselves after that much travel.
We were so happy to arrive especially once we saw our resort, the Victoria Beachcomber. Mara was so excited she threw up in their lobby. Ok, it was from motion sickness not happiness, but she did feel better after throwing up then seeing the place.
Yeah, this works. Yes, that is the kids posing.
After checking in, we changed then headed to the buffet lunch as we were quite hungry even though our stomachs thought it was 6am. And then it was time to relax and play!
After lunch, the kids were really excited to try water skiing. They were able to stand up pretty easily holding onto the bar beside the boat. They loved it!
Beckett ended up going out water skiing 3 or 4 times during our stay, while Mara went out twice.
Water skiing platformBeckett getting ready to goMara water skiing
Mara water skiing:
Beckett water skiing:
Over the next few days, we took advantage of the free kayaks, stand up paddleboards, paddle boats, water skiing, mini sailboats, and more. The kids loved being able to go down to the beach and head out in one of the water craft. Chuck and I took them out too, but loved watching the kids enjoy the ocean just as much.
The kids stand up paddleboardingKayakingMini sailboat. Both kids hated it!An array of fun ocean toysChuck on a stand up paddleboardThe kids spent so much time in the pool that I thought they were going to turn into fish
For a small fee, they also had an inflatable chair that they drag behind a motor boat which looked like a lot of fun. Chuck and Mara went first, followed by Beckett and I. It was a lot of fun although I made the mistake of giving the driver a thumbs up meaning to go faster – oh, we went faster and we really started flying around. It was awesome. Until the next morning when I couldn’t walk and had to cancel out of scuba diving. But it worked out as I went for a massage to help and had an interesting, but very good massage. The kids really wanted to go on the chair again, so we sent them out on our last day.
The kids getting towed in a giant inflatable chairI think they liked it
Luckily my back was better the next day and Chuck and I were able to go out scuba diving then. We only booked 1 dive and are glad we did as it was one of the worst dives we’ve ever done. There wasn’t much coral and what was left was mostly in poor shape, plus there weren’t that many fish or anything of interest. I thought the diving was supposed to be good in Mauritius, so we were pretty disappointed. But it’s still nice to get in the water, so it wasn’t a total loss. We did get to see a lot of clams, a moray eel, these neat sea cucumber type things that looked like fan filters, and I saw a lobster.
Me scuba divingFishiesNeat coralsClamAs you can see, the reef isn’t in great shape
The resort also had free snorkeling trips where they’d drive out to a reef about 10 minutes away and let you snorkel for 40 minutes. We all went our first full day and Chuck and the kids went the next day, but I stayed behind because of my back. The kids loved being the ocean and got so excited pointing out all the neat things.
I’m on a boat!Beckett and I snorkelingReef where we snorkeled
Aside from all the ocean activities, we enjoyed the all inclusive buffet and drinks. They had juice cocktails for the kids and Beckett must’ve ordered 50 “Emotions” during our stay which were some mango, tropical fruit infusion. The kids also had more sodas and shirley temples that you can count. Chuck and I fully enjoyed the fruity cocktails and drinks of the day as well.
The buffet also had a rotating variety of food each night. Despite that, Beckett had pasta with tomato sauce for every dinner. Mara was more brave and discovered a love for calamari. She also joined us at the seafood restaurant one night where we had a lovely 3 course meal with our toes in the sand as we watched the sun set.
On another night, we ate at the Italian restaurant on site. We were so looking forward to an amazing Italian meal, but came away a little disappointed.
We also went to the one restaurant for snack time and got pancake/crepes and drinks.
Snack time!Cheers!
When we weren’t eating, drinking, playing in the pool, or playing in the ocean, we enjoyed hanging out along the beach or around the resort. It was so beautiful there. And a great place to watch the sun set each night.
The view from our room
Too quickly our time was over and we headed to the airport for our flights to Cape Town.
Mauritius on the way to the airportBeckett asleep before we even took off. I think we wore him out!
Our time in Mauritius was even better than I hoped. The kids have never been big ocean/beach fans, but they loved all the water sports and had an absolute blast. The all-inclusive was absolutely the way to go as we didn’t have to think about the cost of all the food and activities and could just enjoy whatever we wanted whenever we wanted it. And we really allowed the kids a lot of freedom so they were able to enjoy themselves without many parenting reins on them.
We also ended up with some great family time as everyone was so relaxed and happy and not distracted by work, electronics, to do lists, etc. It was also a great way to start our trip to Africa as it let us adjust to the time change and let us recover from the flights. It also set a nice, relaxing tone for the rest of our trip.
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.
Lobster soup at Saegreifinn
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.
Plokkfiskur with rye bread
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.
Skólavörðustígur streetHallgrímskirkja Church
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!
Hallgrímskirkja Church
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.
Inside of Hallgrímskirkja Church
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.
Iceland from the airSome land on my flight back to the USGreenland?
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.
Sunrise around 10:15am
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.
Faxi waterfall
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.
Strokkur geyserStrokkur 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.
Water from the Öxarárfoss waterfallÖxarárfoss waterfallHiking up to Öxarárfoss waterfallThe 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).
Alþing/Althing parliament site
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 platesRift 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!
Icelandic horse. So fuzzy!!
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.
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.
NyhavnNyhavn
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.
Amalienborg Palace
The Little Mermaid is in fact pretty small and situated on the Eastern side of the Kastellet fortress.
The Little MermaidSt Alban’s Church
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 ToursBørsenChristiansborg Palace
Old wooden beamed buildingChristianshavn
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.
Lund, SwedenLund, Sweden
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.
StrøgetStrøget
Lego storeThe Angry Viking
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.
Tivoli Gardens
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!
Christiansborg PalaceView of CopenhagenView of Copenhagen – You can see Sweden in the distance across the water
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!
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!
Isabela was the 2nd island on our trip. We mainly wanted to go there so we could snorkel with penguins and seahorses, but also because everyone said it was their favorite island. We only had 1 late afternoon/evening and 1 full day on the island so we didn’t have time to do much.
We arrived on Isabela after a long day of ferry rides starting at 7am with a 2 hour ride from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz, a 5 hour layover on Santa Cruz, then a 2 hour ferry ride from Santa Cruz to Isabela. I was so happy to finally get there, partly because it meant I could get off speedboats and partly because it was gorgeous there!
When we arrived, we realized the dock was 1km from the town so we hired a taxi – more like a huge sightseeing thing that I wish we’d taken a picture of – for the ride to our hotel, La Gran Tortuga. I guess the hotel was full because they moved us to a room a block away which turned out to be just fine.
Our first impression was that we loved the main town, Puerto Villamil. It is so tiny and full of character and we loved that roads aren’t even paved.
We didn’t have time to do much except check in for our snorkel trip, get some laundry done and eat dinner. For dinner, I took a risk and ordered fish and it was outstanding. Best meal of my trip so far. Unfortunately, I woke quite sick the next morning (maybe it wasn’t the fish?!?!). Really unfortunately, it was also the day of our big snorkel trip to see the penguins so I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to go. Luckily I rallied and we had an amazing day!
When we got back into port, we saw some penguins swimming around the dock. They are so fun to watch!
There were some massive marine iguanas hanging out near the dock too.
We then wandered to Concha de Perla near the dock to see if we’d get to swim with penguins and/or sea lions. Unfortunately neither were present although Chuck did get to swim near a marine iguana.
The next morning we took the 6am ferry from Isabela to Santa Cruz. We were sad to leave as we really didn’t get to spend enough time on Isabela. Next time!
San Crístobal Island was the first stop of 3 islands on our Galapagos tour. Just looking out from our room near the harbor, you could see sea lions, crabs, pelicans, marine iguanas, and more.
The afternoon of arrival, we just laid low and checked in at the dive shop. Next day was diving at Kicker Rock, and the final day there was spent on an island tour.
2 full days is plenty for the island. Everything that you can see is easy to get to, so you wouldn’t really have much to do if you stayed longer.
View from our roomSea Lions are everywhereAnd they take over.The Sally Lightfoot Crabs are very cool.Big ol’ marine iguana just hanging out.Cool Opuntia (cactus tree)Typical street in town
On our last day there, we did our own island tour that took us to the Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado Tortoise reserve and breeding center, plus down to Puerto Chino beach.
First tortoise we sawMore tortoisesA few young ones.
Puerto Chino beach reminded us a little bit of Kua Bay in Hawaii. We were both homesick a little bit.
Puerto Chino beach
We struck out on finding blue-footed boobies here, so our taxi driver took us back to a spot near town where we found them, plus a cool view of the town.
Blue-footed Boobies!Pelican flew in and landed.View of town from area near Playa MannGreat rainbow to finish the day.
We stayed at Hotel La Zayapa, which worked out very well. Fantastic location, nice views from the room and very clean. Nothing fancy about it, but a solid mid-range choice.
Despite our travels in 2013 and 2014, we hadn’t had an adults-only vacation for about 2 years. Luckily Chuck’s mom Carla came to the rescue, and flew down to babysit the kids while we went to Sonoma and Napa for 4 nights.
Our first night was spent with Chuck’s friend Bonny in Santa Rosa. In the morning we had a great breakfast then got a tour of Bonny’s property including her 2.5 acres of grapes. Then it was off for some wine tasting!
We dropped our car off at Coppola then drove to Stonestreet Winery which is owned by Jackson Family Wineries. Bonny has been here multiple times and knows one of the executives so we got VIP (free!) tastings. We sat outside looking at a gorgeous view as we were treated to both the white and red wines. I’m not usually a big white wine drinker but the one Chardonnay was the best Chardonnay I’ve ever had (I think it was the 2012 Cougar Ridge Chardonnay).
Then it was on to tasting the reds. These were some of the best red wines I’ve ever had. I think it was the 2012 Cougar Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon that was amazing. Smooth, balanced, with many subtle flavors all blending together in perfect harmony. They also brought out a few of the high end “back room” wines. Once again, the red wine, 2010 Christopher’s Cabernet Sauvignon, was beyond words and Chuck and I “fought” over each sip.
The two of us with Bonny at Stonestreet. Wonderful place to relax and enjoy wine!
After our time at Stonestreet, we made a quick stop for lunch and then drove back to Coppola. The best thing about being here was the grounds and all the movie memorabilia. We even got to see his Oscars which was pretty cool. Once again Bonny hooked us up with a free tasting although I didn’t really enjoy any of the wines.
View from CoppolaOscars!
Bonny had to leave us at this point but suggested DaVero which is a small farm and winery. Not only did they have pretty good wine, but they had delicious jam and olive oil. They also had the cutest little piglets we got to see.
We were pretty full of wine at this point (well I was, Chuck was driving), so we headed to Healdsburg for dinner. After a fine dinner at Healdsburg Bar & Grill, we headed to our hotel, the Hampton Inn Windsor, checked in and went to bed pretty early.
On Friday, it was off to Napa! First we drove to Calistoga and had some BBQ before another free tasting (thanks again Bonny!) at Freemark Abbey. The wines were pretty good but since we’d been spoiled at Stonestreet, they didn’t seem like anything to write home about.
Then we drove to Yountville to pick up pastries and bread at Bouchon Bakery. The macarons were a close second to the ones at Ladurée in Paris. So good!
Next up was Cakebread. I had the highest hopes for this winery and paid extra for the special red wine tasting. The wines sounded so good so I figured this was the place to blow the budget. Turns out we were the only ones that signed up for this particular time so we had our own private tasting! Score!
The bad part was that we didn’t like the wines that much. They were good but young (so the guy told us but now I know what a young wine tastes like). They were pleasant but lacked depth and character. They’d probably be delicious aged for a few years but I wasn’t going to buy any at their prices and risk it.
Last on the agenda was a tasting at Domaine Carneros. I picked this place because of the photos – it looked incredible. They also mostly serve sparkling wines, and even though I’m not much a fan of sparkling wine, I thought it would be nice to try something different and mix things up. Actually I should say that I didn’t used to be a fan of sparkling wine until my visit here. They completely changed my mind.
Panorama of the view at Domaine Carneros
Our tasting consisted of 4 sparkling wines – 2 bruts, 1 rose and 1 demi-sec – although we were treated to an extra one. They were delicious. Interesting, balanced, well rounded and with bubbles. Our favorite was the Blanc de Noir which is made from Pinot Noir grapes. This stuff was so good that we enjoyed another glass AND bought our first bottle of wine to take home. The grounds are beautiful and it was such a wonderful place to sit and enjoy a glass of bubbly while watching the world go by.
4 glasses of happy at Domaine Carneros
After our bubbly, it was off to dinner at Ristorante Allegria in downtown Napa. Chuck and I had eaten here once before on our first trip to Napa and it was an amazing meal – one of those meals of a lifetime. We had no delusions that it would be as remarkable the 2nd time but still knew we’d have a very good meal. Boy were we both wrong. We both ordered the same thing as last time, Wild Mushroom Ravioli for me and Gnocchi al Pesto for Chuck, and they were every bit as good as our first trip. I think I spent the entire meal with my eyes closed savoring every single bite and making mmmmm noises. It was that good.
On Saturday, it was Sonoma day. We first headed to Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve to see some redwoods. There was a redwood tree there that was 310′ tall and another was 1400 years old! Incredible. It was such a treat to visit this park and surround ourselves in old redwood trees. Quite amazing.
Colonel Armstrong – 308′ tall and 1400 years oldSee the tiny speck that is Chuck?
Next we headed to downtown Sonoma to check it out. Mara had just been studying the missions of California and her assigned mission was Mission San Francisco Solano which happened to be in Sonoma, CA. So Chuck and I stopped by to take a tour and some pictures to share with Mara.
Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, CA
Then it was time for some more wine! First stop was Imagery which we enjoyed. They had a White Burgundy that I’m still thinking about and now I wish I’d bought a bottle. I did enjoy a nice glass of it while basking in the sun. They also had a couple of other wines I’ve never had before which is always fun.
We had time to squeeze in one more winery, so we hightailed it to Benziger. I really enjoyed their wines as well, especially their Pinot Noir and their Gewürztraminer. In fact, I enjoyed them so much that I had a glass of Pinot Noir while at the vineyard and brought a bottle of the 2013 Gewürztraminer home.
Benziger
Chuck found us a great, little Indian restaurant so we loaded up on Indian food for dinner and headed back to our hotel.
The next morning, it was time to head to airport and head home. After 4 nights away it was definitely good to be back home and with our kids again. But I’m already dreaming of my return to wine country some day.
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.
Main gate into the city
The old town is dotted with squares that hold restaurantsNot 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.
Hmm, I wonder why they have this sign?Oh, that’s why they have the sign!The enthusiasm on their faces is inspiringSigh. . .up we go again!
Finally, we got to the top and had some cool views of the bay and town
Beckett gives it 2 thumbs down
The next day, we got a few nice shots when the sun came out.
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!
We gave the kids a camera so they could capture their perspective. We should’ve known this is what we’d find:
