Crossing the Channel

From drizzly Bath we ventured north to Manchester, UK, via mystery first class upgrade. Arrived in the evening without much of an idea what to expect, and our only plan to meet a friend (of a friend) for a drink, which we did, just down the street from our lodging.

We stayed at Hatters' Hostel and had a 6-bed shared room to ourselves. The hostel is in the Northern Quarter, a busy nightlife neighborhood with many bars, clubs and cafes. Manchester turned out to be quite interesting, with an amazing museum and some great places to wander.

Our first day was spent at the Museum of Science and Industry (the city was once a major textile manufacturer), walking through the graffitied and bridge-spanned canals to the Imperial War Museum North, then wandering back to visit Marble Brewery to see what Manchester had on tap.

View from the hostel.

Canal wandering.

Imperial War Museum North

Denver Art Museum, for reference

"Looks like the Denver Art Museum," was the immediate thought upon seeing the War Museum up ahead. Turned out to be the same architect, although the museum is a looming bigger brother. The creative structure was carried through the exhibits; a timeline of artifacts from WWs. 1 and 2, the Cold War, and modern wars unrolled around the walls, while every hour a film projected across their irregularly-angles.

Egregious.

Post-beers we hit the hay, getting up to grab a full English Breakfast on the way to the train station. After a solid day of travel back to London, through the Chunnel, Lille, Antwerpen, and Brussels, we knocked on the door of Jesse and Jessie, friends of Molly's family and our hosts in the Hague. Greeted with burritos and brownies—awesome!

Holland: Dingen Die Gebeurden

Amsterdam was first on the next day's agenda. Exited the train about an hour after departing in the morning, dodging the (wonderful amount of) bikes to try and beat the lines for the Anne Frank Museum. No luck, so we strolled through the city center and Vondelpark, peppered with statues including a Picasso. Continued on to begin our use of the Museumkaart provided by Jess(i)e which allowed access to all our museum visits—thanks guys.

In a nutshell.

Vow, vat a Vonderful Park!

Skipped the line for the Van Gogh museum and spent a solid couple hours there, then stopped in the diamond museum which was pretty lame except for one room. Parting the black curtains to enter, the visitor is greeted by a glittering replica of a skull set with diamonds, spinning slowly on a brightly lit dias while "Diamonds are a girls' best friend" plays. The walls are paneled with mirrors and inset by television screens broadcasting clips of starlets talking about, singing about, and marveling at diamonds. Glittering lights shine overhead, some of them projected by a rotating diamond-shaped light.

Anyway, Van Gogh was way cooler. Wrapped up the museums with a visit to Anne Frank. The actual house holds the museum, left bare except for minimalist installations by request of Anne's father Otto to signify the absence left by its former occupants. 

Hit Brouwerij 't IJ—a brewery—located under a windmill on the east part of town and found the beer delicious and the bar a great hangout. Returned to the Hague for pizza and conversation with our hosts and Bahati the dog.

Hague Bike Tour and Amsterdam Pt II

Started our day in the Hague with bikes lent by Jess(i)e. We pedaled through a good portion of the interesting and overlooked (due to its lurid neighbor) Hague, or Den Haag in Dutch. Past sand dunes on the beach and to a huge rose garden, whizzing by the UN International Courts and the Peace Palace and hopping off our bikes to explore the squares near downtown and a sculpture park.

In Westerbrook Park rose garden.

Peace Palace, man.

 After enjoying a beer in a sunny square we returned to pack up and say goodbye to our friendly hosts (and to take Bahati the dog for a quick walk). Back to the winding streets of Amsterdam for the night, an even more intoxicating environment than the AM hours. Neon flickering across the leaning 15th century buildings, soft water noises mingling with laughter coming down alleyways. It was a decent hike with our large packs to the hotel, which ended up being quite nice and even had a 24/7 espresso machine, which we did not discover until the morning, to our mixed dismay and amazement. "We check daily for vandalism or signs of it," reads the in-room brochure.

Moonrise over the Basilica of St Nicolas.

We wandered the city for a few hours and picnicked with our legs dangling over a canal. We failed to find several points of interest in our wanderings. One we did locate the next day (and turned out to have been closed, so we aren't total idiots), a "hidden" wooden door on a street that opens into a courtyard. In use since the 1300s, this is traditionally for pious, quiet women.

Had a beer on the main nightlife square for some people watching, then hit the hay fairly early with the intention of more sightseeing in the morning (like the above square). Excited to find an excellent breakfast spread included and even made lunch sandwiches from it. Ate breakfast on the tiny patio in our room overlooking the street and canal, bikers pedaling past below.

One Night StAntwerp

Took an afternoon train to Antwerp, one of the largest cities in Belgium—this instead of a night in Lille as we figured we'd rather see another country and would have plenty of time for France. A brief snafu with our hotel reservation, which apparently had not gone through, didn't deter us for long. Dropped the bags and off to explore as we only had a few hours.

First stop: a crazy street lined with buildings ranging in style from gothic to art nouveau. Apparently the rich folk here all tried to out-do each other. Fairy-tale homes with incredible detail. Then onward to one of the greatest beer bars we've ever set foot in. Called Kulminator, it has a list in a binder about one inch thick and is distinctly non-touristy, although there were some other travelers there.

Beer garden at Kulminator.
Not pictured - enormous beer list, cats, mad beer scientist.

Great little beer garden in back with cats running through it (and above us on the plastic paneling overhead). Plenty of clutter about among the beer signs/art and old plastic tablecloths. Dust covering the extensive collection of bottles in the cellar behind the bar. When I ask the waitress about a kriek (sour cherry beer) for Molly, she tells me she'll have to inquire with her husband, the proprietor. He's a mad beer scientist, wearing a blue lab-type-coat and with long white hair. The beer, it turns out, is stellar.

The juice makes it healthy.

Back to the hotel and up in the morning for the obvious Belgian waffle. Wandered past the largest Cathedral in Holland but didn't have time to go in, unfortunately. Bellies filled, we returned to the train station to catch our reservation to Paris...

Mind the Gap

Sleeping off the journey

Greetings from rainy Bath, UK. We spent four days in London without a single bit of rain, despite threatening clouds. We're about due for it, I suppose. Good chance to catch up on the blog with a tasty quad latte! Yes, quad. 4 shots or no shots. That's what I always say. Except I would take any and all espresso, so please disregard that "no shots".

Anyway. We arrived in London the evening of the 10th. After a bit of disorientation amidst the crowds, we hopped a bus to our flat, which we rented through AirBnB. Just a studio, nothing fancy. Located on Kingsland Road in the Hackney borough, our area was very lively albeit a bit dodgy. Very central through, with a bus stop out front and a Tube station around the corner!

They really, really want you to.

The Underground really can't be beat. Anywhere in the city you can walk for 10 minutes tops and find a station. The map is intimidatingly large at first, but things started to look familiar quickly. But I digress. The first night was spent just relaxing as we were exhausted from our travels. Grabbed a pizza from our street and settled in, at least the best we could with the revelers on the rooftop next to us blasting tunes late into the night. Caffeine starved come the morning, I improvised a drip coffee maker by poking holes in a juicer and sticking filters in it. Yes Mom, you were right about bringing the portable pour-over.

Imperialists Get All the Good Stuff

The great hall / center of the BM.

Day two was a museum day, hitting the V&A (art and design museum) and British Museum (everything). The major museums are free in London which is huge for us poor travelers. Spent several hours wandering in each one. Highlights included wall-sized tapestries from medieval times, munching on some nuts next to the reflection pool/garden in the V&A, coffins carved like cameras/buses/eagles from Africa, and an exhibit on Asian propaganda.

Navigating the huge British Museum.

All that museum-going worked up an appetite so we walked to Chinatown to try and find cheap eats (London is expensive!). Had dimsum and pork belly with sticky rice and crossed our fingers that the credit card would work. From there we hit SoHo, a happening borough and a big gay area as well. Enjoyed some pints in the park and then headed home.

No dog here. Hopefully.

SoHo Park drinking.

Thames River Park

Monument, the monument.

On our way up the Eye.

Big Ben lit up on the way down.

Day three in London was spent sightseeing, covering all the major landmarks including Big Ben/Parliament, several parks, Monument, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Trafalgar Square. The only other time I was in London we only had one night, so we walked many of these landmarks around midnight and there was nobody else around. During the day, not so much. Huge crowds. Probably a few tens of thousands of tourists all milling about.

Panorama from the top of the Eye, looking East.

We got lost a few times on the way to Kew Gardens and when we finally stumbled in, it proved too expensive a fruit for us to taste. We did cover a lot of ground this day, going from the far East of the tube map in the AM (Thames River Park) to the far West (Kew). Covent Gardens had us watching street performers and wandering the market stalls, coming away with our first souvenir: letterpress blocks. Come on, design nerds couldn't pass that up, despite it not really being a British item.

Had to happen.

We had obligatory fish'n'chips at one of the best spots in London after a long quest, then wandered around a bit before riding the London Eye just as the sun set. Lovely views of the city and a festival underneath along the Thames.

The final day in London was nearly half-wasted, but we ended up filling it nicely. Started off with a tour of the East End, just a few stops down the Overground. This was well worth the ten pounds we paid as we got a decent history overview of the entire city as well as the area, which is traditionally the sketchy gangster ridden spot (Jack the Ripper wuz here). Also saw loads of street art including a Banksy.

Bet You Weren't Expecting to Learn Something Too

Where the banks want you to live?
Actually protest art about housing.

An interesting history note (still true today) that we didn't know is that the City of London is itself a borough in the center of the larger city, and it is controlled entirely by the financial institutions in the area. The larger the company, the more votes they get. They elect a Lord Mayor, and when the Queen visits she can't even wear her crown: this is outside her jurisdiction. This area was the walled-off city back in the day, and the East End was just outside. This is where they stuck the crazies (Bedlam Mental Hospital), and where the plague and crime flourished. Meanwhile, today the House of Lords (as opposed to the elected House of Commons) is still influenced completely by the big players in the City of London—meaning, you guessed it, banks are legitimately running Britain, and the rest of the world is basically the East End.

Street art in the East End.

 After the tour we grabbed curry with our fellow tour-goers, who were all young travelers as well. Two from France, three from Australia, one Yankee (California), one from Switzerland and one Czech. Bellies filled and after talking travel shop with our much more seasoned new friends (some had been on the road for 5 months!), we hit the train to waste time until a musical. Visited Buckingham Palace and wandered Hyde Park, one of the biggest in the city.

Curry with fellow travelers.

It drizzled a bit as we walked to the Phoenix Theater to see Once, based on the movie (based on the album?). It was pretty great, particularly because every actor was not only an amazing singer but played instruments as well. Cello, violin, guitars, bass, drums, cajon, banjo, mandolin and accordion all made an appearance. Fantastic music. The set was also very cool, as it was a big round bar hung with many lights and mirrors, providing multiple angles you wouldn't normally see. Plus it was an actual functioning bar that you could walk on and purchase drinks at during the intermission.

A Bed in Bath - and Beyond

She's a Countess.

Yesterday morning we ventured to Bath, leaving our London flat behind. Bath is a very pretty and old town, full of winding cobblestone roads and white stone buildings, with a huge abbey in the center. Stayed in St Christopher's hostel here, but glad we only had one night as there isn't a ton to do. A bit touristy but great cafes and such (and the "World's Best Pasty" which we are about to go sample). Wandered last night and did a lengthy walk this morning to see a tower. In about an hour we head to Manchester for a couple nights, then it's on to the continent!

Beers at Bath brewery.

Arrival

We made it safely and successfully across the pond, as they say, and with our luggage! The trip has officially begun. We had a brief layover in Dublin - just enough time to check out the coast and have a beer. We spent a few hours wandering in Malahide, a suburb about 15 minutes from the airport, before heading back to catch our flight to London. We could definitely spend more time in Ireland and considered buying a house for sale there that was a mere $1.3 million. If anyone wants to contribute, we will give you your own bedroom.

For anyone who is traveling, we flew Aer Lingus and thought it was excellent. The flight was cheap so we were expecting low budget but we got two meals (the dinner was even kind of tasty) and had personal televisions with way too many movies to choose from. On a related note, we recommend seeing 'It's a Disaster!,' 'Mud,' and 'The Croods.'

So many options!

The marina at Malahide, Dublin

Malahide Castle built in the 12th century

Duffy's in Ireland! We knew we liked this place right away. They didn't have $5 pitchers of Old Style, but the bartenders were very friendly.

Breakfast of champions

Departure

All of this is staged. Even the trip.

Welcome, family and friends, to the travel blog of Molly and Joe. We swear we won't try to rub it in too much.

We've had a blast visiting old friends and seeing family members throughout Chicagoland. Thanks for all your hospitality and well wishes! In case you're wondering, here is our planned itinerary, which may change depending on where the winds blow us:

London
Bath
Manchester
Amsterdam
Lille

Last shot under the Stars and Stripes.

Paris
Bordeaux 
San Sebastian
Madrid
Valencia
Barcelona
Nice
Geneva
Interlaken 
Frankfurt
Siegen/Olpe
Berlin
Bamberg
Prague
Munich
Florence
Assorted Italy
Rome 
Return Flight

Please send us suggestions, warnings, or advice based on where you've been and what you know. You can reach us through e-mail or Facebook. We're outta here in a few hours. Until next time.