Planes, Trains, and Ferries

I'm currently sitting at the Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, waiting to catch a flight to Nice, France, which has been delayed a little over 1.5 hours. I've been here for about 4 hours already, as public transportation got me here faster than I expected, and I wanted to give myself ample time for traveler error, as my last time traveling solo in Europe didn't go so swimmingly. I'm pleased to report that I had little to no difficulty hopping on a bus to the train station, and then catching a train to Schipol!

I'll be meeting up with Iain, driving to his home in Apricale, Italy (which is about an hour from Nice, just across the France/Italy border), and spending the next week hanging out with him in both Apricale and Florence!

We've found ourselves with 9 days off, so we're each taking mini vacations, and have unintentionally spread ourselves out all over Europe (Daniel + Scotland, Charlie + Belgium, Alicia + England, Hidayat & Annette + Germany, Tim & Kristina + Netherlands).

I figured maybe in this last bit of time before my flight I might be able to start posting about what's happened in this last week. Here goes!

To get to Scotland from Italy involved quite a bit of travel. And by quite a bit I actually mean a lot.

We drove to Reims, outside Paris, and stayed there overnight. The following morning we had some time before our drive to hit up the Reims Cathedral. I frequently feel as though all the famous Cathedrals start to look alike (I guess that's what happens when you visit cathedrals all over Europe?), but this one was unusually beautiful. Perhaps it was the overcast weather, but there was definitely an aura of mysticism about this one. The Reims Cathedral is also particularly notable as the location of the crowning of most of the kings of France.

This smiling angel, right outside the main entrance, is the most iconic representation of the Reims Cathedral.

After taking in the cathedral, we drove to Zeebruge, Belgium, and hopped on an overnight ferry to Hull, England (from which we drove to Ayr, Scotland).

It was my first time riding on a ferry (or on any significant boat, for that matter), so it was really fun to take it in. I definitely prefer sleeping overnight on a boat over sleeping overnight on an airplane...

Kristina was so excited that she started running around doing "stag" leaps.

That's the bathroom...and the shower is in the space between the toilet and the wall.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand time to go board my plane!