Paris adventure :-)  This day was a whirlwind! We didn't arrive in Paris till nearly 1pm, so we knew we had to pack a bunch of stuff into a short time. We planned ahead to do a bus tour since walking all over London had our feet crying.  First glitch was finding our airbnb.  The addy wasn't quite right and we ended up walking for over an hour (in the rain!) before finally finding it. Again,  around 60-ish steps up - seems to be the norm. Neat courtyard before heading up those steps.

Headed out to the Avenue de Champs Elysees - impressive and beautiful,  and THE most expensive shopping street in the world. Hopped on our bus in front of Louis Vuitton and headed out.  The 2-hour tour took us all over the city - down the Avenue, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe,  and of course the Eiffel Tower among others. Such a beautiful city! Thankfully,  the rain had stopped for our tour.  We enjoyed sitting in the top of the open air double decker bus. We took the bus back to the Eiffel tower and, after finding a cafe for dinner (we were underwhelmed with the food) we got in line to go up the tower!  Di and I had intended to walk up (can't resist a challenge!) but before we got thru the line they announced only lifts going up (it had started to rain again and was windy). Waited a bit past an hour.  Was it ever worth it! Incredible view up there! And so beautiful all lit up at night.  Definitely made an awesome memory :-) (and we walked down).

Longer walk back to the room than we thought.  Worn out and need to be up pretty early tomorrow. We missed our French pastries on Monday,  but had them for a very early breakfast at the Orly airport outside of Paris on Tuesday.  Note to self: order Americano coffee,  otherwise if you order cafe latte it's really, really small (but potent!) 😂

Saturday!  Up early and headed back to Amsterdam airport with our backpacks! Our flight out was delayed about 30 min but we got to England fine and headed by train for London!

Arrived,  stopped to pick up our theater tickets and then found our hostel, the Walrus :-)  - up to the 4th floor (79 steps)! Cute bar on ground floor.  Then we headed out into the city,  took a ride on the tube and a double decker bus. Found a street fair of sorts and picked up some yummy sandwiches to eat while crossing the Thames on foot over a bridge.  Hit the theater for our 2:30 production of Les Mis and absolutely loved it!

I was raining after so we decided to get a bite to eat (wanting fish and chips) and bought tickets to another show on a whim.  Running close to showtime so stopped at pizza Hut - good food buy we found a fish n chips place between there and the theater (ug!) Didn't know much about Kinky Boots buy is turned out to be hilarious and we loved it.  Spent some time in the Walrus hanging out and hit the hay.

Up on Sunday and had toast and cereal downstairs and hit the tube to Green Park where our guided walking tour started.  Had the sweetest,  funniest Irish/British gal as a guide.  Saw Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, (where Charles and Camilla live),  Big Ben ( which is actually the name of the bell,  not the tower),  Westminster (the bells were ringing for Easter services),  Trafalgar Square and more.  Loved it!

Got our fish and chips for lunch at a cool pub.  Very good!  Had some pretty heavy rain and wind so decided to head to the British Museum.  It was very crowded and just OK.

Headed back to the Walrus, then out to the Horse and Stable for some steak and ale pie -  good London food!  Some serious thunderstorms overnight,  not much sleep.  Next stop. - Paris!

Today we exported Amsterdam.  I can see why Di loves it. Quaint,  pretty, and feels so safe,  even when walking at night looking at the pretty canal lights :-

Today we slept in a bit,  of course.

The family was off to Milan so Di headed to the airport to see them off (after I read 15 books to Gio and Bianca) while we got up and around. We headed out and went straight for the Anne Frank museum,  but the line was way long so we DE idea to do the master Dungeon first, an entertaining,  kind of fun house full of the history of the city's witch hunting,  brining at the stake and torture days.  A good way to spend the drizzly afternoon.  We still had to wait 2 hours for Anne but not in rain. It was worth the wait.  Surreal to be in those very rooms...

While waiting in line,  I decided to use a public toilet (costs 50 cents). Put the money in and opened the door and there was a guy,  standing in there, peeing! Thankfully his back was to me.  Needless to say,  I didn't go cuz I didn't want anyone walking in on me😂

We walked looking for "the bench" but didn't find it (as Di and Leah😕). Also got to see the city at night with the canals all lit up😃 We got back to the apartment for leftovers and a bit of Les Mis (excited!)  then to bed - early flight!

We left Pittsburgh in Tuesday evening and landed in Toronto around 8 where we thought we'd have dinner. Made a bungle and had to go back through security, which was kind of a time eater.  But we had a couple hours so we were fine,  tho the service at the burger joint was incredibly slow!  And the $15 burger was lukewarm. Ah well!  Had we known there would be a warm dinner on the flight (at 11:30 pm!) we would have waited...?!  Probly not - lol!

The flight didn't seem overly long to me,  but sleeping was difficult.  Dozed in and out,  probably totalling 4 hours maybe.  Waited so long to get luggage and finally got out to Di!  She was waiting for us with hugs and also amazing chocolate almond pastries! Hugs for Nessa and Evan too (one of her littles), as we traveled with her mom and aunt who are also visiting. The airport is cool and very industrial-looking (not restrooms, but toilets on signage!)  We found a Starbucks in the airport and munched and visited. A lady asked Di a question -  in Dutch.  She says people do that all the time,  thinking she is native because of her height. I'm finding it's true -  my 6 foot daughter is on the low side of average for height here :-)

Took a bus to the apartment.  They live on the 2nd and 3rd floors -  super steep steps!  They live in Museumplein - a very ritzy neighborhood.  Di says she can't afford to shop on their street.  Met the children (Giovanni, Bianca and Matilde) and Nonno and Nonna (Rosa's parents) . Nonna fed us a yummy pasta carbonara for lunch.  We hung out for a while, played with the kids (they LOVE the farm animal and dinosaur sound books I gave them!), got settled,  then headed out for a walk around Amsterdam.

Very busy city! Thousands of cyclists. Di tells us they have the right of way over people and cars.  The cars will stop for pedestrians,  but not the bicyclists!  We quickly learned to recognize the bike lanes and to look both ways twice! And they have Bedo sirens here - lol!

We saw a couple "coffee" shops (no coffee,  just weed! )  and some sex shops... Interesting :-) Walked through the floating market where the back side of the open air shops actually float on a canal. Lots of flowers for sale! You can even get your own Marijuana starter kit-lol!

We decided to do a canal boat tour and it was relaxing and fun, but we are starting to feel fatigued (Leah actually took a snooze on the boat). It was a guided tour so we learned about the city.  People actually live in some of the houseboats right on

 the canals! Took a walk through the park where Di takes the kids. Again,  watch out for the bikes!  Rosa was home when we got back,  so we met and visited and enjoyed cheese-less,  very yummy lasagne for dinner (made by Nellie, the Spanish cook, who we met). Retired around 8:30,  very sleepy tonight.  Di gave me her bed and took the couch.  Judy and Leah took the kids room and they slept with mama. Nonno and Nonna are leaving tomorrow early so the guest room will be free tomorrow night.