Europe Part 1

If you have seen the movie "The Holiday", then you may have heard of doing a home exchange. It's where two different families link up and coordinate to stay in each other's home for a vacation. We did just that and had the opportunity to travel and live in the Netherlands. We met this awesome family that wanted to visit the national parks here in Utah and we of course were dying to see Europe, so we worked it out and stayed in Breda, Netherlands for 3 weeks!

We essentially used the house in the Netherlands as a home base. We took day trips within the city and country, and traveled to surrounding countries. Zack's parents even tagged along with us for just over a week!

What countries did we see?

Netherlands

The Netherlands is everything I dreamed it would be! Green, lush trees, and since we came in the spring, beautiful flowers (tulips to be specific) covering farmlands. We fell in love with Breda and its little big city charm. Cobbled streets line most of the city, cathedrals proudly stand in the main square, and bike paths are abundant. Our host family offered to let us use their bikes and so we pretty much biked everywhere we could - to the market, to church, to the beautiful forest, and to the movie theater.

When we weren't in Breda, we traveled to Amsterdam, visited the tulip fields (and even a tulip "amusement park" called Keukenhof), and visited an amusement park called Efteling. Pictures of some of the things we did below!

Keukenhof-definitely a lot of people, but the flowers were stunning

I wanted to bike around these fields all day!

Amsterdam. Oh Amsterdam...it wasn't the cars I was scared of, but the bikers that came in what felt like all and any direction. Those pathways that look like sidewalks? No, they are not for pedestrians but for bikers. They have their own roadway so don't walk on their space!

Amsterdam Canals

 We LOVE Stroopwafels!

France

While Zack's parents were with us, we took a little roadtrip from Breda around the French countryside and ended in Paris.

The countryside was scenic and there were so many small villages nestled in the hills of France. The abbey, Le Mont Saint Michel, was one of my favorite stops along the way. A little Touristy?? Of course, but the location was stunning and so cool to see that as the tide came in, it prevented anyone from getting into the abbey. This became a problem as we only had so much time before they had to kick us out in fear of stranding the tourists.

 can't get over the view

Babe alert!

I was a little nervous to go to Paris; only because I had either heard it was the most romantic city in the world ooor that it's dirty, creepy, and not worth it. My assessment? Totally worth it and so very romantic! It's one of the few cities to completely survive WWII. The history alone is fascinating and I loved looking at every building just wanting to know their story. If you are there, take the bike tour with Fat Tire Tours. They did a great job explaining the history of the city as well as giving us a great overview of what Paris has to offer. We covered so much ground in such a short time!

 Versailles is way bigger than I imagined

The food in Paris was delicious and dynamic. It's an old city but with all the modernization you would want without distracting from the beauty of it.

Belgium

We spent a little time in Bruges and Antwerp. Bruges was charming because of the moat that surrounded the city. The buildings were old and well maintained to make you feel like you were in a real life fairytale! Antwerp was again, also old, but with modern shopping mixed with an enormous cathedral and darling chocolate shops... I could eat their chocolate all time! So so good! Dang it...now I'm craving some.

Final Thoughts

I broke up our Europe trip into parts 1 and parts 2 because it really did feel like two separate trips. The first three weeks we had the house that we swapped with the family. After those few weeks, Zack's parents went home and we continued our European adventure to Scandinavia. 

Zack and I still tell ourselves that we could move to the Netherlands and be completely happy. The people were so friendly, the cities were charming, and we loved how green it was! I guess coming from Utah, everything seems really green ha. The days seemed to fly by and yet, life seemed to slow down. 

We put together a video mainly for our enjoyment but you might get a kick out of our randomness.

 A quick stop to Normandy. A sacred place in my eyes.