Bergen, Norway

Our next big trip was a two-part one. The first part being Bergen, Norway. If I am being technical, it was really three parts. One night in Bergen, several nights in the Faroe Islands and then back to Bergen for a few more nights before heading home. But for the purpose of this blog, I am going to lump all of our Norway information together. 

Bergen is famously rainy. I went in with low expectations in regards to the weather. We were pleasantly surprised with decent weather while we were in town! Sure we had some rain and chilly wind, but we also lucked out with some sunshine!

On our first day in Bergen we took a walking tour which led us down cute alleys. We learned some of the history of Bergen.

Bergen was rife with street art! 

Another outing while in Bergen was a "fjord" cruise. It was pretty much just the fjords closest to Bergen, so it was more populated and less scenic than I would have liked. But it was a relaxing boat trip. 

We rode the funicular up to the top of the mountain for some panoramic views of the city. 

We did not eat nearly enough pastries while in Bergen. This was like a cheese Danish. Charles was happy to see mochas on most of the café menus. Surprisingly, we haven't seen that a lot in Germany.

We mostly avoid Mexican food in Germany. It's just not good. I saw a taco place with good ratings and thought we'd give it a try. It was actually pretty tasty!

We also enjoyed some Thai food while in Bergen. Yum, yum, yum!

This was the view from our Airbnb which was located outside of Bergen. Downstairs is an Italian pizzeria with some of the best pizza we have had in a while. The owner was so friendly and brought us fresh croissants every morning of our stay. His story about living in Italy and how he came to relocate to Norway was fascinating!

Vielsalm, Belgium

We had a random long weekend and decided to drive up to Belgium. We have visited Belgium once before, but it was quite awhile ago. On our previous trip we stayed in Bruges which would be great to visit again, but we did not want to drive quite as far on this trip. 

Originally we were looking at visiting Liege, Belgium. Have you heard of liege waffles? Yup... same liege. After searching the map on Airbnb, though, I found this converted military bunker and thought it would be a neat place to stay. 

And now Suzie has visited six different countries!

We're not sure what the metal piece on the top means, but we joked that the place is owned by the Illuminati. 

The location of the Airbnb was so idyllic! We were surrounded by fields. It was exactly the peaceful and quiet location I was looking for. 

This general area of Belgium is significant in WWII history, specifically because of the Battle of the Bulge. There are museums dedicated to this history in the area, but we did not visit any. On our hike, though, I felt like I was in scenes from Band of Brothers. 

Adjacent to the town center was a lovely promenade around the lake. It was the perfect spot for an evening stroll!

Vielsalm is also known for its folklore, especially their witch history. The town has a museum and annual festival dedicated to it. We did not visit the museum since I could not tell from the website if the displays were in English, but we found this broom on our stroll. 

Vielsalm ended up being surprising. I was expecting a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere, but the town had quite a lot going for it! You could tell that it is a popular place for hikers and the town had a variety of restaurants. It was perfect for a weekend getaway!

Sunflowers, Lavender and Aix-en-Provence

Not only can you find fields of lavender in Provence, but also fields of sunflowers! This one was up the road from our Airbnb so on our last night in Rians we drove over and took pictures. 

On another evening we drove out to Valensole to see if we could find these famous fields of lavender. Upon arrival, we discovered that most had been harvested already. We saw only one field that still had blooms. I was prepared for this, especially because it had been a hot summer already. It was still a bit of a let down. 

But before heading home, we found a spot with a great view. 

I did not see a lot of street art on this trip, so I had to snap a photo of this one.

The final city in our tour of Provence was Aix-en-Provence where we booked a food tour through Airbnb. Charles and I agreed afterward that it was our least favorite food tour out of the few we have done since being in Europe. The food was pretty good and our tour guide was friendly, but it did not provide a lot of detail about the city and why we were eating the things we ate. The French desserts were tasty, though!

Aix is known as the city of fountains and they were EVERYWHERE! Thank goodness, too, because it was soooo hot. We splashed water on ourselves from just about every fountain we came across.  

Gorges du Verdon and Moustiers St. Marie

A highlight of our trip to France was a visit to the Gorges du Verdon. When I saw pictures of the Gorges during my research phase, it looked too good to be true. I have learned that many bloggers edit photos to look more amazing than the locations actually are. But in this case, it was just as impressive in real life. 

A popular activity is to rent a boat and cruise along the water. You can rent a paddle boat, kayak, canoe or an electric boat. Because it was ungodly hot, we opted for an electric boat to reduce the amount of effort we would have to exert. It turned out even better than we thought because the electric boats have covers unlike the other boat options. This is a win for us pale skinned folks!

In anticipation of this trip, I searched out tips on how to pose in pictures. This is my attempt to be more "Instagram worthy". The water was a beautiful turquoise color! 

If I am correct, this was a first for Charles--driving a boat. It was so easy and relaxing. 

These sandals are amazing! If you need some cute, but super comfortable sandals for walking, check out Ecco! 

After our boating time came to an end, we visited the nearby town of Moustiers St. Marie. We parked below the town in a lot off the main street and took a little train up to the town. It was perfect because it was hot, hot, hot! Luckily there were fountains scattered throughout the town. We splashed water on ourselves to try to stay cool. 

The town was adorable! We stopped for cool drinks at a café and had gelato at another place. 

If it had been cooler, we probably would have spent more time in town. But it was just ridiculously hot and uncomfortable. Before heading out, we did stop at a market vendor selling pottery. Charles picked out a mug and we chose a cat figurine to add to our little collection.

Andorra

On our most recent trip we were able to cross off two new countries--Spain and Andorra. We flew into Barcelona, rented a car and headed up to Andorra for one night. It was not the most convenient nor affordable of side trips, but it was a must to visit the small country that is nestled between Spain and France. 

Andorra is known for shopping (duty free, of course) and nature. We spent our first evening walking down the main shopping street. If you love perfume, this is the place to come. I think every other store was a perfume shop (a bit hyperbolic, but there were soooo many). 

Our hotel room had the best view! There was a rushing stream right outside. It was especially perfect for white noise at night. 

I keep forgetting to look it up, but this statue is based on Salvador Dali's work and it was in the main shopping area of Andorra la Vella. 

One benefit of our hotel was their spa! Andorra has a lot of spas (much like Germany) and we wanted to spend a least a bit of time there. Our reservation included time in the hot tub which we did not realize until check-in. We were fully prepared to pay extra for it, so that was a very pleasant surprise! 

The other nice thing about our hotel was the in-house restaurant. We chose a half-board reservation which means our time included dinner. We enjoyed our first taste of Cava at dinner. Cava is a sparkling wine, similar to Champagne, that is unique to this region. It is very popular in Barcelona, as well.

Breakfast was included and it was so darn good! They had an amazing selection including a full piece of dripping honeycomb. We were definitely fueled up for a little hike and journey back to Barcelona. 

As I said earlier, Andorra is known for nature. There are tons of hiking trails, skiing opportunities (in the season) and outdoor activities of all kinds. Throughout the country are wooden creatures called Tamarros. They are protectors of nature and the forests. There was one close to our hotel that we set out to find. It was a dreary morning, but we started on our trek, nonetheless. However, after thunder, lightening and hail started coming down and no Tamarro Andy in site, we turned around. We still do not know exactly how much farther we had to go to find him, but maybe we will return one day. 

Labor Day Weekend in Austria: Side trip to Liechtenstein

Another goal of our Labor Day weekend trip was to visit Liechtenstein. It's a small country that borders Austria and Switzerland and you can drive through the whole country in an hour (or less). We started in Vaduz, the capitol. It was filled with sculptures, like the one pictured above. 

We did not go inside the church since we had Suzie with us, but the outside gave us some good photo opportunities and they had a free bathroom that we took advantage of. 

We drove up the hill to see the Liechtenstein palace. The royal family lives there so visitors are not permitted inside, but there are hiking trails nearby that give different vantage points of the outside. On our way out of town back to Germany, we visited the Prince's winery and picked up a few bottles of wine. 

For our one night in Liechtenstein, we stayed in Malbun. It's a big ski resort town, but in September it was just beautiful and chill. We walked into the town from our hotel and snagged some pictures of this little church. 

We found a little free library with a Max & Mortiz book inside. I snapped a photo and sent to my sisters who I knew would appreciate it. There used to be a German restaurant in our home town that was named after these characters. I was tempted to take the book home with me, but thought it better to leave for a little kid to enjoy. 

For dinner in Malbun, we visited a pizza place. For some reason, the restaurant was decorated like a cave complete with cave paintings like the one pictured behind us. The pizza was pretty tasty and the ambiance was interesting. The place was pretty empty, but I imagine during ski season it is a happenin' place. 

This is what happens when you are an American living in Germany and visiting a country that uses the Swiss outlets. We did not realize that Liechtenstein did not use the same outlets as Germany, but luckily the hotel had an adapter that we could borrow. 

Our hotel had a great breakfast buffet! It had the typical sliced cheese and deli meats and breads, but also sausage, eggs and more. We also tried Ovomaltine for the first time. It's a chocolate and nut spread not unlike Nutella, but it was crunchy! I am going to have to look for it in the German grocery store next time I'm there.