European Adventure 2010

Spring and Summer of 2010 included an amazing 20 week journey through some of the highlights of Europe. We started with a month long stay in Rome taking in the Eternal City’s ancient wonders, museums and art galleries. We stayed near Vatican City which was a real treat as our stay included the Easter holiday celebrations. From Rome, we went to Florence for two weeks soaking in the Renaissance art and Tuscan atmosphere. Two weeks following Florence were spent living in Venice, the land of canals, gondolas and bridges.

After two months in Italy, we moved on for a month long stay in Madrid, Spain. We observed local traditions through a Real Madrid fútbol match, a bullfight, tapas, sangria, gazpacho and paella. Madrid was the half way point in the trip with two months in Italy beforehand and two months in the UK following.

We then hopped on a plane and flew to Edinburgh, Scotland. We stayed in the charming city of Edinburgh for two weeks, taking in the castle, Royal Yacht Britannia and walking the Royal Mile. A quick train ride to Glasgow for the night before catching a ferry across the Irish Sea… where we arrived in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The highlight of our week in Belfast was the black cab tour with murals and history of the Troubles. A train south took us to Dublin, Ireland – another week-long stay. We enjoyed the Dublin Castle, St Stephen’s Green, Grafton Street and the colorful doors of Dublin. When this week was up we took a ferry back across the Irish Sea to Holyhead, Wales. From Holyhead we continued by train down to Cardiff, Wales for the night. The next morning we woke up and took a train to our final destination: London, England.

London! A busy, busy month to end our trip was jam-packed with fun. We visited Notting Hill’s Portobello Road Market several times, as well as trips to the Thames to see Big Ben and friends. And of course there were museums: The British Museum, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Museum of London, and, of course, the National Gallery. The weather was incredible while we were in London and there were several days spent in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens picnicking and reading.

Our 20 weeks of European travel was amazing and we had a lot of fun. You can read more about the details of the individual places we stayed by checking out the links below. There is also a photo slideshow with some photo highlights in chronological order.

Thanks for reading. We hope you’ll follow along on our next adventure.

Full archive of European Adventure 2010 posts
Posts from Italy
Posts from Rome
Posts from Florence
Posts from Venice
Posts from Madrid
Posts from the British Isles
Posts from Edinburgh
Posts from Belfast
Posts from Dublin
Posts from London

Photos of our 20 week European Adventure: http://fromtheopenroad.fotki.com/our-trips/european-adventure/