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From Vienna we traveled to Hallstatt where thanks to Danielle’s info we spent the night on top of the mountain in the Hallstatt Lodge am Krippenstein. What an incredible experience. We took the cable car up to the first stop where we exited to see the ice cave and then enjoyed a beer in the sun while the kids played a little football. We then then took the cable car up to the next level where our lodge was. After 5pm the cable car stops running and so we enjoyed the luxurious experience of having the mountain to ourselves (and the few other lodge guests). The 360 views of the mountains surrounding is stunning. Matt and I got up early to enjoy the sunrise, kids elected to stay in bed. After breakfast we went back down the mountain to briefly see the town of Hallstatt. Such a picturesque village. Apparently they get up to 10,000 visitors daily in the summer so very happy not to have been visiting then! Can not imagine how the residents cope. From Hallstatt it was a quick boat ride to the train station to catch our train to Salzburg where we just had a few hours to wander the old town and a walk up along the top of the old city walls. The defensive fortifications of the city are impressive!

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We enjoyed 3 nights in Vienna. Such a beautiful city. Every corner we turned was another gorgeous building. Matt’s high school friend was there to show us some of the city and to make sure we were able to try some Vienna cakes in the classic setting. We enjoyed a small orchestra performance one evening and never tired of the view from our apartment! Spent a day at the zoo which kids really enjoyed and especially the maze in the palace grounds afterwards. Unfortunately we ran short on time and didn’t get to see inside the palace, which only Matt and I were sad about missing.

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The food here was incredible. This photo of Matt getting his bib on before being served his bouillabaisse soup I had to share. Along with the kids demolishing their extremely chocolatey roadside crepes on our way to Sibenik.

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2 weeks in Croatia has been a blast, much of it because of the amazing hospitality shown to us from Zeljka and Ivan. We began our time meeting up in Sibenik (Zeljka’s home town) where we stayed in the old town. Loved coming back to our apartment through the narrow cobbled alleys and all the restaurants found through the town. Enjoyed a wonderful sunset and gorgeous views of the city below from one of the 4 fortresses the city has. Day trips from there to Primosten (beautiful clear water and the water inflatable made Jonah a very happy boy and maybe the best fish meal of our trip) Krka Waterfalls, Makarska and Split. Split saw Matt doing some of his best narrow street driving of the trip as he deftly maneuvered us out of a very narrow street in our quest for a parking spot. Our brief stop in Split made us happy that we changed our base to the quieter town of Sibenik. From Sibenik we then spent 6 nights glamping at Zaton beach resort, which is a huge campground and still extremely busy. We managed a boat trip to Kornati National Park where we had fun cliff jumping into the deep blue water below. We really enjoyed the town of Nin nearby and enjoyed a couple of great meals there. We also enjoyed visiting Zadar. The figs are in season and abundant where ever we go so the kids and I have enjoyed searching for the ripest, sweetest fruit when ever we wander. As well as a lot of seafood we enjoyed a suckling pig for dinner one evening. From Zaton we spent a night near the entrance to Plitvice Lakes National Park. We traveled there via a bear sanctuary which was a quirky, enjoyable detour. For dinner we tried the local specialty of veal cooked under the bell, lamb and pork cooked on the spit and a grilled trout. We got up early the next day to see the lakes. The lakes were very beautiful in color and surrounded by gorgeous greenery. It was a nice walking path over and around the lakes, with a boat ride in the middle. We walked about 6 miles of the trails. To begin with we cleared a few tour busses of Chinese tourists but the real congestion of tourists came later in the day with the queue of tourists to see the largest waterfall (87m) reminiscent of the queue hiking up Diamond Head in Oahu. Regardless of the crowds the lakes and waterfalls are stunning and it was a great day spent. We now finish our trip again enjoying the wonderful hospitality of Zeljka and Ivan in Zagreb. Zagreb seems to be a very nice city. Clean, easy to walk around, lots of busy restaurants and bars and beautiful architecture. The food is good and cheap and we have enjoyed eating out. Last night we all had a lot of fun at the football and this afternoon we are excited to enjoy a meal with Zeljka and Ivan (she is making us squid her uncle caught) and after a few drinks in Ivan’s dads bar. Just a few as tomorrow we have an early bus to catch to Vienna.

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Slovenia was wonderful. Incredible views everywhere you turn. We started our adventure with our shuttle dropping us off from Venice at Predjama Castle. We had a very interesting audio tour taking us through the castle. From the torture chamber to the cave that had secret paths out that allowed supplies in during a year siege and the collection of water from the cave walls it kept everyone’s attention. We then caught a bus to Ljubljana where we spent one night. Ljubljana is a beautiful city and looked like it would have been enjoyable to spend some more time there. The next morning we picked up our rental car and made the short drive to a campground near Bled. After a very quick, cold dip in our campgrounds lake we decided to walk to Bled. Unfortunately we missed a turn so our 2 mile hike became 4. Kids were hot, hungry and unamused. A couple of burgers and a gelato and everyone was much happier for the return. I was a little worried we were off track again but ran into some very cute puppies which really got the kids smiling and then after a little scramble we were on track and return journey remained at targeted 2 miles. The next day we took a big (intended) hike in the Julian Alps. 4 miles up with a 3200 feet elevation gain we were all excited for the lodge at the top. Matt and I for a cold beer, Charlie a cold soda and Jonah for the WiFi to use with my phone. Next days adventure was a 4 km zip-line course (over 7 zip lines). We returned to our campground to meet up with an old friend, Anya and meet her 8 year old son! Jonah enjoyed having a friend to play soccer with and then Charlotte joined in for a game of mini golf. Our last day we drove to the ski mountain town, Kranjska Gora where we took a short walk along the river, stopping for kids to play along the way and finishing with a couple of beers at the lake while the kids used the SUP’s. Again the most incredible views every turn we made.

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We had a quick photo stop in Pisa on our drive north to Verona. Our first night we spent outside the city in Bure. This small village is surrounded by vineyards though sadly we didn’t have time to visit any. We drove up to the tiny hilltop town, San Giorgio where we enjoyed spritz’s with gorgeous views of the terraced vineyards and lake below. We then returned to our Bed and Breakfast and walked down to the Trattoria where we tried their wild boar (good but not as good as our previous night), horse (no distinctive taste in the sauce, it was served over pasta) and rabbit (thinly sliced and delicious). The next morning we made the quick drive into Verona and after dropping off our bags we spent the day exploring the city which Matt and I enjoyed a lot. We took a few hours rest before our evening entertainment seeing Madam Butterfly performed at the Verona Arena (Roman amphitheatre built in 30 AD). The opera and orchestra perform without any microphones so you can really get a sense of how the Roman experience all those years ago. Sitting on the stone steps also helped to keep us awake as the opera ran until 12.30am. Jonah would have liked to have been in bed and would have returned at halftime but kindly agreed to stay as surprisingly Matt also wanted to stay as did Charlotte. Charlotte loved the whole experience and can’t wait to go again! We spent our final night in Italy in Venice. We walked more than expected as the Vaporetto stopped running for a regatta. To many people to even consider trying to watch it. We finished our evening with a lovely picnic and playing cards in our huge Venice apartment before watching a movie before bed. We are all looking forward to hopefully a less crowded Ljubljana, our next stop.

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The weather wasn’t ideal for our week at the beach in Punta Ala so we enjoyed a lot of day trips. The sun was out our first and last day so kids we were all able to enjoy some time swimming in the warm sea. Highlight was a winery tour, Tenuta Poggio Rosso where we enjoyed all their wines, gin and olive oil. We now have a 2013 Tuscan red (Jonah’s birth year) to join our 2012 Bordeaux (Charlie’s birth year) to try and keep until their 21st birthdays. Also left with a bottle of their Gin (will share with you Anya FreeSpirit and Zeljka Nakic)! We left the winery with a recommendation for trying the local specialty, wild boar. This restaurant is in the hillside village of Tirli. This tiny village seemed to be made up entirely of restaurants enjoying stunning views. Food was excellent and so was our liter of house wine. Day trips also included quick visits to Abbazia di San Galgano (sword in the stone and hands torn from a would be thief by a wolf, a friend to San Galgano), Massa Marittima, San Quirico d'Orcia and Siena. Our last day at our campground kids enjoyed getting us out on the inflatable obstacle course and then Matt on the peddle boat (with slide). The had fun at the kids club in the afternoon (the camp staff very excited to have kids from California and a little puzzled as to why we were there) more arcade play and a final cashing in of their weeks tickets on some toys as equally crappy as those found in the states and which made the kids equally excited to leave with. In all it was a very enjoyable week in Tuscany.

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We enjoyed two very full days in Rome. We started with a tour of The Vatican City which the kids somewhat enjoyed. It was my first visit there and Saint Peter’s Basilica blew my mind. Was great having the guide through the art rooms leading to the Sistine Chapel but what I really would have loved was him to take them away when we reached the St Peters’s as that’s where I could have definitely lingered longer. Unfortunately that was not part of our package so after visiting the tombs our time in the Vatican came to an end. We then managed to walk to Trastevere for lunch (no small feat in the heat) and onto Ceaser’s assignation spot before taking a taxi back to the AirBnB for some a/c heat relief before our evening tour of Rome beginning at the Trevi Fountain. This was with two other families (both from the US) and was done as a kids v parents game challenge which the kids loved. We all enjoyed the information and I was pleasantly surprised by how much Charlie retained from our morning Vatican tour. No surprises with Jonah. The next day we spent the good part of the day ensconced in our a/c apartment and after I caught up with work and the kids some school work and ipad time) we started watching Gladiator before heading out for our 3pm Colosseum tour. The kids almost took each other out racing up the Colosseum steps (they are very steep) and then fighting each other at the top and the day only went down from there. This was supposed to be a group tour but unfortunately we were the only ones on it. Kids v Parents is fun, Lloyd girls v Lloyd boys was anything but. Our guide tried hard, but Charlotte cried with the unfair scoring (he tried to keep Jonah interested and in the game) and Jonah just melted with the heat and history. We made it through and finished with the Spanish Steps, a nice dinner and two kids who promise to do better.

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We spent a wonderful 4 days in Saint Emillion. It was unfortunately very hot which definitely marred Matt’s enjoyment. We had bikes rented for our stay but they didn’t get as much use as I had hoped due to the heat and we ended up returning a day early and taxiing to our last winery. Our friends met us at the train station where we were able to leave our bags in their car and then walked up to the village of Saint Emillion where we enjoyed lunch and the kids did a treasure hunt before we had a tour of the largest monolithic church. We also got to see Saint Emillions hermit cave and the catacombs. We were all very happy to be on this tour, out of the heat in the cool cave and church. The next day after plenty of pool time we biked with our friend’s to our first winery where the kids got to do a pretty impressive treasure hunt before the adults did their wine tasting. The next day our friends left us (before surprising Jonah with an early birthday piñata) and we biked solo to an old 14 generation winery, Chateau Coutet which gave us a very fascinating wine tour. They produce two wine labels, one which is produced almost entirely without electricity. Day 3, Jonah’s birthday we biked early into town, returned the bikes and then enjoyed birthday crepes and Matt and I shared a banana split. You know it’s hot when instead of coffee and a croissant we are having a banana split for breakfast! We never managed to get keys to climb up to the top of the bell tower so instead kept ourselves cool in the old wash house and church before heading out for our last wine tour at Château Cormeil-Figeac. This one was geared towards the kids, they had a great time seeing and doing the steps of wine making, right up to sticking the label on the bottle. We also enjoyed a bbq and a swim in their pool as well as a few games of ping pong. Jonah had made friends with an English boy at the campground and he and his sister were also at the tour so the kids loved having friends sharing the experience with them. It made for a good b’day. Our last day we finished with an archery battle, another swim before catching our train back to Bordeaux to fly to Rome later that evening.

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We spent a week at the beach in Hourtin. Waves were huge on arrival and got progressively smaller throughout the week. Lots of kids clubs and evening shows which kids enjoyed. Fun to catch up with Carole (Frenchie) and her family after so many years and to see our kids all having fun together in spite of the language barrier. As well as many beach days we visited the lake and kids enjoyed an hour on the floating obstacle course. Also took time for oysters and shellfish at a nearby local spot.

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We spent a week at the beach in Hourtin. Waves were huge on arrival and got progressively smaller throughout the week. Lots of kids clubs and evening shows which kids enjoyed. Fun to catch up with Carole (Frenchie) and her family after so many years and to see our kids all having fun together in spite of the language barrier. As well as many beach days we visited the lake and kids enjoyed an hour on the floating obstacle course. Also took time for oysters and shellfish at a nearby local spot.

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After a quick one night stop in Bordeaux we headed north to the small village of Fouqueure where we spent the night on our old North Park neighbors farm. This may have been Jonah’s favorite stop so far. He got to pick fruit from the trees and veggies from the garden. Kids enjoyed multiple river swims and dropping from the rope swing. Charlie especially loved the raft used for the river crossing. Enjoyed a nice walk past an 11th century church and stayed in their 1820 farmhouse. Our evening walk had all the neighbors dogs barking and the donkey braying and also had great star gazing. Bonus was the after dinner cognac tasting. Interesting to see their farm which is 250 acres but split up over many different plots and learn how their different crops are grown and cultivated, including the vines used for Cognac production. We also enjoyed our hosts ham and dried duck and left with jars of their home made honey and various jams as well as so many tomatoes that I thought would be impossible to finish. Turns out they taste so good that it’s unlikely they will last us the week. Unfortunately the neighborhood bread baker died and with no one stepping in to take her place the daily bread is now picked up at the 24 hour bread kiosk. Croissants as well as baguettes and both very good.

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We arrived in Paris early afternoon. After dropping off our bags in our AirBnB which was on a very cute street (so pretty that there was a constant stream of people taking their photograph) we headed out to explore a little. We started with climbing the stairs up to the Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre and from the top the kids enjoyed their first Eiffel Tower sighting. We then stopped for a couple of beers and enjoyed the ambience of the area. From there we decided to walk down towards the Arc de Triomphe where we had tickets to go to the top at 9.30pm. We actually ended up walking the whole way there and finished our night enjoying the views of Paris from the top. The next morning we walked from our apartment along the Seine to the Louvre where we had a two hour family tour organized. This was an excellent tour that kept the kids entertained and was very informative for Matt and myself. We then enjoyed a picnic in the Tuileries Garden before walking up the Av. des Champs-Élysées. Our next day we had a Versailles: Food & Palace Bike Tour booked which was again excellent. There were a couple other kids that made friends quickly, the tour was very informative and entertaining and the picnic lunch we enjoyed from the Versailles market was delicious. Our next day was one for the kids with it spent at an amusement park. The kids enjoyed this a lot more than anticipated and we had to drag them off at 6pm. We returned to our apartment to refresh and have dinner and then we headed back out to go up to the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower for which we had tickets at 10.30pm. This ended up being a bit of a let down for the kids as with all the crowds and security you now have to go through it took us and hour and half to get up. Our final morning we strolled to the market in Bastille for breakfast before catching our train to Bordeaux

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We all thoroughly enjoyed our time in Holland, despite the rain. After getting oversold on transit tickets we made our way to our AirBnB outside the city center in Katwoude. We had dinner that evening in a restaurant nearby at the marina. The kids then enjoyed running home after dinner in what was by then a light rain. The next day we put on our rain jackets to tour the city on tandem bikes. These were a lot of fun. Stopped for a needed break to watch different countries performing dance? in the Volendam Park. This is a lovely park. Performances were a little odd but the kids enjoyed them and Matt and I enjoyed the break. Jonah was excited to use one of the street urinals. The next day we all had our own bikes while we stayed out of the city biking through small fishing villages, visiting a cheese/dairy farm (which was very impressive in how automated it was to the point that the cows entered the milking area when they wished and were then milked without any human interaction in the entire process) taking a boat ride with our bikes onto windmills and home. Raincoats again were needed. Our last day we headed back into the city to visit the science museum, (thankful that this should be the last science museum of this trip) which the kids again loved. Took a break from the museum to go watch the canal pride parade that was taking place. Starting point was right by the museum. We returned to the museum just as the rain was starting up and remained there until it had cleared. Then took the tram for a ride before walking back to the train station to catch our bus home. The post pride parade parties were happening all over town. The streets were busy! Kids took a quick dip on our return home that evening. Woke up this morning happy that today was a travel day as it has been raining solidly all morning. We are all excited to be heading south to Paris where the forecast is dry and not too hot until our last day.

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Fun quick one night stop in Brussels on our way up to Amsterdam. Enjoyed mussels and fries for dinner, lots of Belgium beers, waffles and chocolate. Also took advantage of the boys 10 euro haircut. Loved our apartment in the city where kids enjoyed watching the street performers from the balcony. Jonah threw down a 5 euro note which got stuck on a roof below and was amazed at the performers agility in managing to retrieve it. The Grand Place was very impressive as was the quantity of tourists!

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Very good beginning to our European adventure. We started with three nights near Reading staying with Vanessa and Rob. Country walk to a local pub and later the marina bar, River Thames cruise, dinner in a pub from the 16th century, kids and I joined in Vanessa’s Bounce class, Banksy art sighting, Reading Abbey (dates back to 1121) and day trip to Bath and Stonehenge. (Not in order). Matt also improved his narrow street driving skills with only one side mirror collision. London we spent three nights with Jasmine and her two girls and enjoyed playtime in the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground, Science museum, streets/parks of London, riding the bus and underground, Abbey Road, Hop on/off double decker bus, rain, Tower of London, Thames river cruise and a delicious Indian feast. Matt also enjoyed a solo afternoon reunion with his old buddy Andes.

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We left Washington DC with a quick stop in Mercersburg to see Matt’s high school and meet up with a couple of his old teachers. We then enjoyed 4 days of family time in State College, PA where unfortunately the newest member of the Lloyd family decided to wait for our departure before making her appearance. Welcome Alexandra DeAngelo Lloyd! We missed our turn off for Queens and ended up driving down 42nd Street through Manhattan, much to Matt’s dismay and the kids delight. Was a lovely auto tour through central NYC passing Times Square, Empire State Building, Bryant Park and Grand Central Station. Somehow we made it through without accident or divorce and ended up at our intentional destination of The Local Eatery & Craft Beer where Jonah ate the biggest burger of his life and Charlie demolished her fried chicken sandwich. The thunderstorm that we left State College in unfortunately caught up to us in Queens and we are now stuck at the airport waiting for our delayed flight to leave for London.