The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Kate F said:
Hi! I don't really post in this thread very much but I just felt like having a conversation with someone. A few days ago, I got back from my first vacation in Europe and it was a very neat trip. It was a Royal Caribbean cruise through various parts of Norway and the country is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We also stayed in London a few days before getting on the ship, so it was fun to see some of the iconic buildings there. I was particularly blown away by the size of St. Paul's cathedral. My family is so used to going to WDW/Universal for vacation, and I thought that this was a great change. I love to travel and see new places, although I did not particularly enjoy sitting on a plane for 10 hours :D. Out of the Norwegian towns we visited, I think I liked Alesund the best, it was nice and sunny the day we arrived there and the place was just gorgeous. All in all, it was a great vacation and I'd probably put it up there as my favorite along with the 2010 Florida trip, where we did WDW(MK only), Universal, Seaworld, AND BGT, especially with the opening of Harry Potter at Uni.

Here are a few of the pictures I took from the trip:
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Wow...it looks gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the pictures! I love landscapes and architecture. I grew up in Wyoming where we have gorgeous landscapes and wildlife, but not much in the line of ruins or old buildings. Now I live in the Netherlands and we have visited Germany, Belgium, France, and England, but never Norway. Was it anything like the Norway pavilion in Disney? One of my favorite places we've been was Füssen in Bavaria, right near Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. I highly recommend it if you decide to go back to Europe. I love to travel, too, and I guess that's one of the reasons Epcot is my favorite Disney Park...you get to see a lot of culture without having to go to so many different countries. Italy is on the top of my list for wanting to visit, as well as Greece, Ireland, Scotland, and I'd like to go back to England, too. What's on your bucket list?
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
betty rose said:
I've always wanted to see Italy, and Scotland. They look amazing. And I can't say "no to pasta". I need to go to the region in Italy that serves this. Trouble is, I would gain at least 10 pounds in one week!
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I want to go EVERYWHERE in Italy. I read The Agony and the Ecstasy, which is about the life and works of Michelangelo, and ever since then I've wanted to go to Florence. I want to see the Medici palace, I want to see the cathedral and see The David. But then DD went to see the Violetta movie and it was filmed in Italy and WOW...I want to see those places too. I scoured the internet one night looking for where they filmed. Taormina and Scopello in Sicily. But I also want to see Rome, and the Vatican. So much that I want to see.
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
betty rose said:
Flying from Denver to Iceland might be an alternative for me. With a layover on the east coast somewhere. With the 50th coming in a couple years, I will run this by hubby. If you don't speak their language , do most European's speak a little English. This might be a question for @Goofyernmost, as he recently traveled all over Europe.
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Most places do yes, particularly the younger generations. Some places are better about it than others. In our experience, people in Paris will pretend not to speak English, even if they can. In the Netherlands, people are quite anxious to prove that they can speak it. We went shopping today because DD needed new shoes and the guy heard us speaking English and automatically addressed us in English, which happens all the time. In Iceland, they are trying really hard to find a niche as a major tourist destination, so they speak English. Germans usually do as well. Most schools start teaching English already in Elementary school. I don't know about Italy, having never been there, but the only place I've had trouble was in Paris and that had more to do with the attitude there about tourists. It goes a long way if you try to learn a few words and make an effort...they are more willing to help you if you aren't the typical "ignorant tourist."
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
ajrwdwgirl said:
We flew the airline Iceland air and I think they do fly out of Denver now too. It was a decent airline. The language barrier was not a problem for us, when I tried speaking French to people they just gave me a look that said, "aw thanks for trying," and the immediately spoke English to us. I did have run in at Disneyland Paris with a lady from Spain, so I had to pull out the Spanish for that. She definitely was not expecting me to know Spanish, as when I had listened to her whole conversation about her pushing in front of the Americans (us) and some other stuff she was pretty shocked when I put her in her place in Spanish. It was kind of funny actually.
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They definitely fly out of Denver. That's the route I flew last time I went "Home". It was nice. I wish I had been thinking though..we had a 10 hour layover over night in Iceland. I should have gone out and looked for the Northern Lights, which are also on my bucket list.
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
MinnieM123 said:
Bets, your pictures are wonderful and thank you!! :happy: Side note: just wanted to mention that I hope I didn't cause any confusion. It was never my intention to say that larger pictures in posts aren't as appreciated as the smaller ones, in case people didn't have time to view a lot of them. In my initial reply post to you, I was referring to just my own preference only, if I was posting a bunch of photos, (not just one or two for example) I'd prefer to use a smaller format to save space in the thread. (I think your comment above might have also been referring to @Songbird76 's post a few pages back.)

Anyway, as long as you're happy now with the smaller sized photos, that we can easily click open and enjoy, that's all that matters. :) I love your posts and I love all your pictures, no matter what size they are! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful trip pictures and fun commentary!! :joyfull:
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Yeah, see, I'm one of those people who love photos, and I will spend ages looking at them and living vicariously. But I know that not everyone else is like that, so I generally post the thumbnails so people don't have to look if they don't want to. But like @MinnieM123 said, that's just my own personal preference. But by all means, post the big ones if you like...I'm going to look at them regardless, and it doesn't sound like anyone minds.
 
Mr Ferret 75

Mr Ferret 75

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Kate F said:
Hi! I don't really post in this thread very much but I just felt like having a conversation with someone. A few days ago, I got back from my first vacation in Europe and it was a very neat trip. It was a Royal Caribbean cruise through various parts of Norway and the country is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We also stayed in London a few days before getting on the ship, so it was fun to see some of the iconic buildings there. I was particularly blown away by the size of St. Paul's cathedral. My family is so used to going to WDW/Universal for vacation, and I thought that this was a great change. I love to travel and see new places, although I did not particularly enjoy sitting on a plane for 10 hours :D. Out of the Norwegian towns we visited, I think I liked Alesund the best, it was nice and sunny the day we arrived there and the place was just gorgeous. All in all, it was a great vacation and I'd probably put it up there as my favorite along with the 2010 Florida trip, where we did WDW(MK only), Universal, Seaworld, AND BGT, especially with the opening of Harry Potter at Uni.

Here are a few of the pictures I took from the trip:
Click to expand...
Where in Norway did you go ? We just took a Disney cruise there
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
betty rose said:
Thank you for all the great information. I'm glad you loved the cruising part, I love a cruise too! Doing a 7 day in October. The price is now cheaper than last cruise, we were given 100.00$ on board credit.
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Oh hey, would that be an option for you? Do a cruise to Europe? Then you don't have the really long flight, do you? Or do you have to fly to a European port?
 
Kate F

Kate F

Well-Known Member
Songbird76 said:
Wow...it looks gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the pictures! I love landscapes and architecture. I grew up in Wyoming where we have gorgeous landscapes and wildlife, but not much in the line of ruins or old buildings. Now I live in the Netherlands and we have visited Germany, Belgium, France, and England, but never Norway. Was it anything like the Norway pavilion in Disney? One of my favorite places we've been was Füssen in Bavaria, right near Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. I highly recommend it if you decide to go back to Europe. I love to travel, too, and I guess that's one of the reasons Epcot is my favorite Disney Park...you get to see a lot of culture without having to go to so many different countries. Italy is on the top of my list for wanting to visit, as well as Greece, Ireland, Scotland, and I'd like to go back to England, too. What's on your bucket list?
Click to expand...
Well, I can tell you one thing, there are no talking snowmen in Norway :D. There were definitely some things similar to the Norway pavilion and some of the things we saw actually reminded me of Maelstrom, specifically the trolls. There was something troll-related in pretty much every shop we visited and I remember my brother saying as we were looking through the store "What is Norway's fascination with trolls?" I think the pavilion does a good job at representing the country, although it really does not compare to seeing the real thing, especially with all of the huge, towering mountains.

There are a lot of countries I'd like to visit someday. For Europe specifically, Spain, Italy, Greece and Ireland are the ones I'd most like to visit.
 
Figgy1

Figgy1

Premium Member
MinnieM123 said:
The Fountain is a very casual table service restaurant, and not that large. I just wanted to mention that. Both the Dolphin and Swan have some wonderful restaurants (a lot more pricey than the Fountain), but I just wanted to mention that in case you wanted more of an "atmosphere" and larger menu options table service restaurant. Again, nothing wrong with the Fountain at all, just letting you know of many other choices as well, but in a higher price range.
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I was thinking it would be perfect for the boys and a good excuse to check out the Swalphin
 
betty rose

betty rose

Well-Known Member
MouseDreaming said:
Good Morning! Today we welcome a new teenager in the house! DD hits the big 13. :D
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Congrats to her. Grandson hit 13 in March, that's a big milestone. Grandson is taller than me, and his voice has gotten so low, I can hardly hear him. He is in my silent zone. ;) He is very thoughtful and kind, he knows I can't hear well, and speaks to me on my good side. I'm afraid tinnitus is taking my hearing on my good side. I may need to write really fast, or learn sign language, I know the sign alphabet. I taught my self along with D.D. out of an old Dictionary I have. But, that's way to slow. I think I like the new way of speaking in sign, I may need to go to school for that. I'm checking if the community college has a low cost sign class, hubby and I can go, and we won't live in a silent world! ;)
 
betty rose

betty rose

Well-Known Member
MinnieM123 said:
The Fountain is a very casual table service restaurant, and not that large. I just wanted to mention that. Both the Dolphin and Swan have some wonderful restaurants (a lot more pricey than the Fountain), but I just wanted to mention that in case you wanted more of an "atmosphere" and larger menu options table service restaurant. Again, nothing wrong with the Fountain at all, just letting you know of many other choices as well, but in a higher price range.
Click to expand...
I have wanted to go to the Fountain, so far it's not on DD's radar.
 

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