Off on a holiday, Europe here we come

Best of luck to you, Ed. I hope you guys have a blast!

I hope you loaded a fair amount of movies loaded onto tablets or something for the kids!

Oh, wow, I have to admit I am jealous, but I am also very happy for you. Well-deserved! Have FUN and take some pics to share with us! 🙂

Good for you CL-Ed and family. I hope you post some of the photos here.

thats awesome ed! hope you and your family have a great time!!!!!! be sure to post alot of picks when you get back!

Oh, wow. Glad you will have some time just for you and family. If anyone deserves it, you do! I can't wait to see the photos. I know it is tough to get back to reality, so I will be patient. 🙂

I'm excited to see some of your photos. I'm glad you are having some fun.

Waiting to hear all about your vacation, CL-Ed, AND for some great photos! 🙂 So glad you had a good time.

CL-Ed wrote:

Ah thanks for the reminder!

Our first stop was Hong Kong. They had some sort of "giant art" thing going on and they had various stuff on display around the city. The most popular was the giant duck. That photo is viewing from the mainland towards Hong Kong Island.

I'm not sure that the giant turd was quite so popular...

OMGosh, I thought you were kidding, so I had to enlarge the photo, lol! I guess you can call anything "art," right? LOVE the big rubber duckie. How cool! Those pictures are beautiful (well, the area, not the "turd," lol)

CL-Ed wrote:

Next stop London, where we stayed for a few days. The lion is near the walk along the river on the Southbank, close to the London Eye. We also did the good old open top bus tour (going over the Tower Bridge in the photo) which, while incredibly cheesy, is a good way to get a look at all the main sights. Plus the kids loved being in a double decker bus with no roof of course.

I think it is great do do those tours, though. When I was in the Florida Keys, I realized so many people did not. My mom and I took the trolley down to Mallory Square, and they review SO much history we otherwise would not have known, and I am certain many missed out on. So, sometimes those "cheesy tours," ARE the right thing to do and a great way to learn the history of the area. And I bet the kiddos DID love the double decker bus. How fun!

Looks like the weather was decent, too? Thanks for sharing, and I will be patiently waiting for more. I would love to see one with the entire "CL-Ed family," lol, but if you don't want to post, I understand that, too.

These are beautiful, so keep them coming! Thanks! 🙂

I love seeing the photos. What did the kids love the most besides the trolley tour?

CL-Ed wrote:

Actually (and we were very surprised by this) their favourite place in London was the Science Museum. It is so interactive and there is so much for them to do and play with there that they didn't want to leave. We hardly took a photo there though.

After London we drove down south to a friend's place near Southampton. On the way we stopped at Legoland in Windsor. This turned out to be their number 1 highlight of the trip and they rated it better than Disneyland in Paris.

The first photo is my daughter in front of Lego London, the 2nd is my boy in the red car on the track for under 5 year olds. I have some hilarious video of him turning a hard left when he's supposed to go right and crashing into the wall. And the last photo is probably our favourite from the whole trip. I'm going to get it framed and call it "Leaving Legoland".

Awww......it was one of my dreams when my sons were little to bring them to Lego Land. We did make it to the giant Lego Land store at the Mall of America (MOA), at least, lol! My middle son was a lego freak!

I LOVE that photo, too. Definitely a framer! How adorable. You take some very good pictures.

My boys always loved the Science Museum in St. Paul, MN. We could be there for hours. Even now they enjoy, but they do have something for everyone, plus an Omni theatre there. We haven't been in a while. Class trips would go there, too.

You are all so fortunate to be able to do these things, and I am so happy for you and for your family. 🙂

CL-Ed wrote:

Next I went over to Amsterdam for the conference for a few days. I didn't get out and about much except for the last day when I had half a day free to walk around until my flight back to Southampton.

The first shot is from the park in front of the Rijksmuseum, the 2nd looking down one of the many canals from a bridge. The 3rd is a cafe with a funny slogan - "Lousy food and warm beer" if you can't read it. Also note the dog in the upper window, Amsterdam red-light district style. And lastly a common site around the city, a wheel without its bike.

I am just loving this mini-tour of your vacation, lol! Honestly! I TOLD YOU I had to live vicariously through you, so thanks for sharing so much. Love the sign and the dog checking everything out. lol! Did you go into that cafe and check out the lousy food and warm beer or weren't you brave enough to try? lol

Any significance about the wheels without the bikes?

CL-Ed wrote:

After that it was back to London then we caught the train over to Paris and stayed there for a week.

First up we have one of the carousels near the Eiffel Tower.

Next, if you have ever wanted to go to Paris and visit the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, allow me to save you the trouble. This is what it is really like! Luckily I have seen it before, but my daughter was a little disappointed. The rest of the place is amazing, you just need to steer clear of the hordes of tourists who move like a wave from the entry to the Mona Lisa. Also another tip for visitors: don't go and line up with the hundreds and thousands of others at the Pyramid to get in, walk around the corner to the lion gate and walk in without waiting.

Republique was the closest metro station to where we were staying. And finally we saw these familiar faces on the wall near Montmarte.

Cool, cool, cool! Oh, wow. Paris for ONE WEEK? How wonderful. That is a very crowded place by the Mona Lisa. But I LOVE the carousal photo by the Eiffel Tower. You are a good photographer, if you took the photos, CL-Ed! That is such a pretty picture.

CL-Ed wrote:

Finally, after a long hard day walking around Paris building up a solid thirst, you need a cool, refreshing drink to lift your spirits before you go on your way. What could be better than popping open a bottle of Pschitt?!?

Funny! What the heck is it? 🙂

CL-Ed wrote:

Pschiit, you say?

Awwwwwwwwwww..................I LOVE IT! 🙂

Were you worn out after it all, CL-Ed? Was it difficult to get back to reality? I know you were working some and checking in a bit while you were away, but I hope you relaxed enough. When I travel, I often find that "I need a vacation from my vacation."

I have so enjoyed spending time viewing and reading in this thread, and I thank you for taking the time to share it all with us. 🙂

This is becoming one of my favorite threads. I enjoy seeing the photos. I completely missed the giant turd above. Omg, who would even think someone would be interested in that? lmao Legoland looks like something I would enjoy!

How were the crowds on your travels? Were people polite? I love the photo with the kids having their arms around each other.

The carousel is beautiful. Sounds like a very enjoyable trip.

Great pics Ed. It looked like a great time for you and your family all throughout Europe!

At first I was horrified and thought the Pschiit was carbonated water or worse... grapefruit juice! 🤢

CL-Ed wrote:

Never a truer word spoken. My wife and I both said after we got home that we needed a holiday! It was great fun but when you have two young children there is no downtime at all because you have to keep them amused the whole time. Anyway hopefully they will get a little bit of an appreciation that its a big world out there and its not all like it is at home.

I've got one more photo here because I know you like dogs. On the wharf near where the huge inflatable duck was in Hong Kong they had a load of smaller ducks that kids could climb on and play in between. This woman walked up and pulled three dogs out of her bag and tried to get them to sit calmly in front of the duck so she could take photos of them from all different angles. Needless to say with hundreds of people milling about this was difficult and shortly after this one of the dogs snapped and tried to bite a little toddler that had come over to try to pat it. It was chasing the poor kid round and round the duck until the parents picked him up. And even then it was jumping up the woman's leg trying to get to the kid. The stupid owner picked it up and put it down in front of the duck again and tried to start taking pictures again which made the parents angry and they had an almighty argument.

OMGosh, those dogs are adorable! Difficult to imagine that one of them was vicious, but honestly most little dogs DO have "little dog syndrome," and can be very excitable. lol Poor little kid had to be so frightened.

Otis only gets that way if he thinks someone is hurting another person. He tried to bite my brother once, when he was throwing his youngest son up in the air and catching him. Otis thought sure he was hurting him and was trying to "save him," but we still scolded him and teach him that you can't bite. Anyway, thanks for posting. They ARE cute little dogs, even if one of them is psycho. lol!

good to see you had a good time in old London town Ed. that drink reminds me of something written by someone far funnier than me.

I believe it was made by a family firm, somewhere in the Auvergne, the founder of the company was a certan Jack Pschitt.

For some time many of us have wondered just who was Jack Pschitt? We find ourselves at a loss when someone says, 'You don't know Jack Pschitt!' Well, thanks to my genealogy efforts, you can now respond in an intellectual way.

Jack Pschitt is the only son of Awe Pschitt. Awe Pschitt, the fertilizer magnate, married O. Pschitt, the co-owner of Needeep 'n' Pschitt.

In turn, Jack Pschitt married Noe Pschitt. The deeply religious couple produced six children: Holie, Giva, Fulla, Bull, and the twins Deep and Dip.

Against her parents' objections, Deep Pschitt married Dumb Pschitt, a high school dropout. After being married 15 years, Jack and Noe Pschitt divorced. Noe Pschitt later married Ted Sherlock, and because her kids were living with them, she wanted to keep her previous name. She was then known as Noe Pschitt-Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Dip Pschitt married Loda Pschitt, and they produced a son with a rather nervous disposition named Chicken Pschitt. Two of the other six children, Fulla and Giva, were inseparable throughout childhood and subsequently married the Happens brothers in a dual ceremony. The wedding announcement in the newspaper announced the
Pschitt-Happens nuptials. The Pschitt-Happens children were Dawg, Byrd, and Horse.

Bull Pschitt, the prodigal son, left home to tour the world. He recently returned from Italy with his new Italian bride, Pisa Pschitt.

Now when someone says, 'You don't know Jack Pschitt,' you can correct them.

Sincerely,
Crock O. Pschitt