Day 3 - Stones and Shakespeare.

Day 3 takes us to the United Kingdom via the chunnel from Brussels to London. The train pulled in to the St. Pancras Station, and we walked a few blocks to pick up our rental car. Driving a manual shift from the opposite of the car on the opposite side of the street is a little tricky. Brad caught on in minutes. 

But we couldn't stay in London today - we would be back the last day and a half of the trip. Today, we had stones to see.

Stonehenge - one of the most famous sites in the world.  Some archeologists believe some of the stones were erected as far back as 2500 BC.  I don't know.  I do know that they are big.  They are very big.  

From here we drove to Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare and home of The Swain Family!  Such a quaint town (population 25,000). I can't talk about Stratford without mentioning how God divinely crossed our path with the Swains. Back story: Before I left Nashville, I had been in touch with Julia via Facebook to try to coordinate our arrival and when we could meet up with them. Unfortunately, we hadn't made firm plans before I left Nashville. I just assumed I would be able to get online or communicate via cell phone once I arrived in London. Not the case. I hadn't had access to a computer and the number I had for them was not correct. So, Brad & I just drove to Stratford thinking that we wouldn't get to see them at all. We made our way toward the town center, and AS SOON as we pulled into this little parking lot, guess who was walking RIGHT IN FRONT of our car!! THE SWAINS. (Again, this is a town of approx 25,000 people). I just sat there for a second with my eyes focusing and my jaw dropping. I said, "Um...there they are." Brad said, "Uh, yeah, I thought so." And we both were thinking, "What are the chances?" Thank God! I jumped out of the car and yelled, "Julia!" It was amazing. I love it when God does that...shows up in seemingly small (but really magnificent) ways. Their beautiful daughters walked into town to meet us, and we were able to spend the entire evening with them, walking around the city and enjoying a wonderful dinner together. I'm so thankful for the time we shared with them. They are a very special family to me.

Julia and I standing on the pedestrian bridge just after we spotted them.

Michael, Julia, me, and Brad

Brad and I in front of the house where Shakespeare was born.

me, Brad, Kathryn, Emma, Julia, and Michael...such a great evening.

Chunnel to London, Stonehenge, Stratford, and The Swains. Day 3.

Day 2 - The Land of a Thousand Castles and a Little City Called Brussels.

As I mentioned earlier, Bacharach is nestled in the Rhine River Valley.  On Day 2, we traveled a few villages south (or maybe it was east) and jumped on a cruise boat to take a trip up the Rhine River to get views of the historic medieval castles that line the river banks.  I won't show all of the pictures I took (believe me, you should be glad-there were several), but you'll get the general idea. The castles are huge, and the castles are gorgeous.  It was like traveling through a real-life storybook.  I expected kings and princes and queens and princesses to appear any minute.  See for yourself.

There was a different castle every mile or so.

The banks were very steep and most were blanketed with vineyards.

Brad is reading the notes we printed by Rick Steeves, the great traveler.  We had notes about every castle along the river. It was quite the history lesson...Brad was in heaven.

Not a castle, but beautiful nonetheless.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!  It was about a 2-hour tour/cruise, and I could barely soak it all in. The cruise ended, and we went back to Bacharach, grabbed our bags and headed to Koblenz to catch the train for Brussels.  

Our couch surfing host, Christian, met us at the train station in Brussels.  There was a jazz festival going on that weekend, and Christian was kind enough to walk us around the city and show us the sights.  Again, it was beautiful.

It was about 10pm when we arrived. The sun still had not set completely. This continued to amaze me the entire trip. You can see the stage set up in the pic above...we don't know who the band was. They were a part of the music festival.  It was a great night to see Brussels...lots of locals out and about.

Beautiful buildings in the town center.

Grand.

Lots of people eating mussels in Brussels.

We are so glad Christian took the time to show us around and share a little history of the city. It definitely would have been nice to be here more than 2 hours. Next time...next time...

Bacharach, the Rhine River Valley, and Brussels. Day 2.

Day 1 - The Day Between The Clouds.

It took a full day of traveling (flights and layovers) to get from Nashville to Newark to London and then finally to Frankfurt. Seriously? Yes, seriously. Because of the time differences, it was basically daylight the entire flight(s)...this is what I saw out the window...for nearly 11 hours:

Clouds above and beneath...clouds look the same everywhere...fyi.

The scenery changed when I landed:


Yay! Brad was there to meet me at the gate in Frankfurt! He had already spent a week in Italy, walking around Rome and Florence ... and then got to relax a bit in Baden-Baden before meeting me in Frankfurt.

From the airport we took a train to Bacharach, a small village in the Rhine River Valley. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!  The pictures below don't do justice to the amazing cobblestone streets and beautiful flowers and breath-taking views of medieval castles...

That first table with the white umbrella is where we ate dinner.  I had jagerschnitzel for the first time...and Coke Light! Brad had some sort of meat (surprise!) and a Coca-Cola Classic! 

See the dates on this gate to the city? 1322 and 1366!

This is the oldest house in the village - built in the 1300s (Altes Haus).

We walked up the hill toward the castle to get a view of the village. I thought the church was gorgeous.

Brad decided to check on the vineyard...wanted to make sure things were progressing as they should. The grapes were tiny. I hope that's normal.

One of the many pictures we that Brad took of us with scenery in the background.  It's worth mentioning that at this point it's about 9:30pm. Yes, that's pm.  The sun didn't go down until 10pm or a little after. It was nuts.

We made it to the top of the hill. This is the back of the castle (now a hostel).

Finally the sun went down, and all of the village streets were lit up with strings of lights.

Nashville, Newark, London, Frankfurt, and Bacharach. Day 1.

9 Days.

Ok...I'll be a bit more specific. 9 days in EUROPE! What a fun (read: amazing and somewhat exhausting) trip! I've decided to post pictures and stories on this blog so that family and friends can read/look at their own pace (and not hear me give every detail of every moment). The posts that follow will be day-by-day recaps...as if I were posting them while we were there. Hope you enjoy!