I’ve spent a fair amount of travel through Europe, mostly for business and little time just being a tourist.  Susan & Alex had never seen Europe so it was off across the pond to introduce them to Europe and just be a tourist.  England is a good place to start. There is a sense of familiarity given commonality of language (sort of) and the roots of American history in England. The British Empire is relatively recent (historically) and the English have well memorialized their exploits in museums, public statues and buildings. Admittedly, it is quite something to visit the Tower of London and stand on the ramparts. Or to visit the Military Museum and see the display of an 

encampment during the First Anglo-Afghan war (1839-1842), then a second display of the same place during the Second Anglo-Afghan war (1878-1880), and then a third display of the same location during the Afgan War with the US led coalition. Very interesting artifacts but it certainly makes one wonder. Over the years visiting London, not much changes, Buckingham Palace, the V&A Museum, the British Museum etc, but one change has been culinary pursuits.  The only good thing about British food is breakfast which they do a pretty good job, but other than that, its not very good.  In more recent years, there are vast improvements in the availability of French, Italian, Indian restaurants all of which make life much more enjoyable.  But England is much more than London.  We took a day trip to Stonehenge.  I must confess, I was not prepared to the enormity of the site.  Sure I’d seen photo’s in National Geographic that well displayed the beauty of the stone structures, but to seem them in place literally took my breath away and changed forever my feeling about seeing Britain.  Next stop: Paris, which is my most favorite cities in the world full stop.  Over the years traveling through Europe on business, I’d had always enjoyed a break walking through the old section of European cities and through markets where there were wonderful fresh colorful produce of all types regardless of the time of year.  The only downside was that staying in hotels didn’t provide much opportunity to consume.  So, we rented an apartment close to the Eiffel Tower in a neighborhood, where we could cook and shop for ingredients from local markets, and local food stores.  It was wonderful wandering through the neighborhood searching through little shops specializing in pastry, cheese, wine, produce etc.  I must also say, that ingredients in Europe far exceed those available in the US.  That is not to say that Europe doesn’t have their supermarkets with packaged and mass processed food as well the quality of which is no different that in the US.  But its the little local markets and shops that are unparalleled.  Paris is wonderful, just take a walk . . . 

Third stop Brugge, arguably the most romantic city of Europe.  It is a very old city laced with canals, beautiful architecture, Belgium chocolate, Belgium waffles and the list goes on . . . Perhaps a few photo’s best tells it all.