Avery did Europe and boy did she rock it or what!? To say it was a whirlwind is an understatement. To say Avery was the most amazing little traveler is also an understatement. As a parent to a two year old, the idea of travelling anywhere with your kiddo, let alone on a plane, let alone to Europe, can lead to a wonderful mixture of anxiety, over-thinking and pure panic. I assure you that I felt all of these feelings leading up to the trip, however surprisingly enough right before the trip as I'm running through my check lists and packing up our things I had very little anxiety. I figured whatever happens on the flights (specifically Avery's behavior) it is what it is and in regards to her napping, meals and bedtime we were just going to wing it. I had my expectations and Avery surpassed all of them (praise the Lord above!) She was soooo excited to be on a plane. She loves planes so being at the airport and getting on a plane was like a giant discovery land for her. Now to paint a picture for you. Our flight left Boston at 6:50ish or so at night and we were embarking on a 6 1/2 hour flight. *gulp* That's right. Landing in Lisbon, our connecting airport, at midnight. Now ideally, Avery would have slept a little bit on that flight. But I know my child and I knew she was not going to sleep a wink. I was right. However, she was the best behaved kid on that flight. No issues whatsoever. Naturally once we landed and got into the airport in Lisbon she passed the eff out. At that point, it was almost 2am in her internal clock so she really missed out on her night time sleep. Then, our flight got cancelled. Thankfully my parents were able to get all 10 of us (everyone except Sammie and Shane who were on another flight) on the next flight out to Switzerland. Crisis was averted and Avery was having a blast watching the airplanes and (much to my chagrin) rolling around the airport floor, pressing her face and hands up against the windows and sprawling out across germ infested airport chairs. I assure you I would not typically let my child lay on the disgusting floor moving her arms and legs like she's swimming, however she had no sleep and it made her happy. I couldn't argue. Plus I bathed her in antibacterial wipes every other minute. Bleck. Let me be clear, I'll never be the person judging you and your kid for laying on the floor because honey, I've been there. I'll give you a high five and maybe an antibacterial wipe. It's called survival. The next flight was a cake walk; 3 hours. She was awesome.
Montreux was our first stop and it was gorgeous. Avery had a blast walking around looking at the water, riding on a boat tour, playing on a playground (she sought these out the whole trip!) and exploring an old castle. On our way to Interlaken we stopped in Gruyere for a cheese tour (yum) and Bern for lunch.
Interlaken was my favorite stop on our trip and I think it was probably Avery's too. We had another bump in the road and when we got to Interlaken, the house we were supposed to be renting for the next few days was being used by another family😮 Long story short there was a mix up with the people we booked through. Of course, what are the odds that last minute TWELVE people would be able to find a place to stay? Thankfully the minor bump in the road was just that; minor. The person in charge of our house was able to get us into two of her apartments. They worked out perfectly and our good times kept rolling! Interlaken had a ton of paragliders. Avery loved to watch them and called them balloons hehe We ate dinner at the top of one of the mountains that you had to take a cable railroad up the side of the mountain to get to it. It did not disappoint. Killer views and great food. Avery enjoyed the live music as well. While in Interlaken we visited Grindelwald which is deeper into the Alps. We took a gondola ride up to the top and it was breathtaking. Definitely made me sing some Sound of Music songs😜 We had dinner there and it ended up being a very long dinner. Between the fact that there were 12 of us eating plus the fact that in Europe dinners out are much more laid back and slow paced than in America, we were there for 3 hours. Avery was so well behaved, in fact I hadn't even realized it had been that long because she was so content. She made friends with the maitre d and he came over and gave her a wrapped present. It was a stuffed animal ram which she loved! It was so nice of him to even think of her. With all of the meals we ate out at restaurants and how long some of the meals were, Avery was so well behaved and really made it nice to eat out with the family.
We stopped in Luzern for an afternoon on our way to Zurich. We explored the city and saw the Lion monument, which honored the Swiss guard who were massacred in the French Revolution War. We also walked across a really old and beautiful covered bridge called the Chapel Bridge, built in 1365. In Zurich we stayed in the old part of the city in a hotel called Hotel California. It was really cool. It had actual keys to get into the rooms and keys to get into the building and had a fun restaurant downstairs. We were able to walk out of the hotel and be right in the city. During the trip Chris and I were able to have a few "adult nights" too which was nice! (thanks mom and dad!) Avery fell in love with a splash pad right in the middle of a plaza. One night she was running through it fully clothed and had strangers just in awe of her. Some were even taking pictures and videos. Which is another thing we kept noticing. People were taking quite a few pictures of Avery on this trip. Some would ask permission, but most wouldn't. I feel like it should be mostly flattering. I mean she is adorable, but I am certainly biased. But it was very strange at the same time. And it wouldn't be posed pictures or anything. It would be pictures of her just enjoying herself. I suppose some people enjoy watching children enjoy life, but it certainly was something I just couldn't get used to.
While in Zurich we met up with family in Bauma, which was basically the entire purpose of the trip. We have family who live in Switzerland and we met up with them and saw some of the family historical sites. It was a nice day to gather with family and bond over our ancestry. I was especially happy to see that my grandmother was able to meet her family and see our family monument. Shout out to Gram, by the way. She was a champ during this trip too! 85 years old and you would never know it! I was so happy she was able to be on the trip with us. Plus she was travelling with us in our car when we went from place to place so that extra time was nice as well.
Our final big travel day was heading up to Munich, Germany. We stopped in Neushwanstein to see the beautiful castle that Disney based his Cinderella castle off of. So naturally I had to put Avery in a Cinderella dress. Avery loved the castle. Her favorite part was riding in a horse drawn carriage up to the castle. The man who was bringing us up to the castle was so nice. We were able to sit in the front and he even let Avery sit on his lap and help hold the reigns for the horses! She was so focused on the horses. It was so cute. The castle was gorgeous and it was definitely a highlight of the trip!
Our last stop was Munich. Avery enjoyed watching the glockenspiel clock play music and watch the mechanical people joust on horses and dance around. We ate lunch at the Ratskeller, famous for it's history of hosting meetings of the Nazi Party, including Hitler himself. It was fun to walk and around and explore. We went to a beer garden which was a lot of fun and great atmosphere. It had a playground for Avery, lots of pretzels, lots of pork knuckles and lots of beer! Chris and I had already been to Munich on our honeymoon so on our last day we decided to give Avery a fun day and we took her to the Munich Zoo. She was so good on our trip, not always necessarily appreciating what we were doing like we did, and we wanted to reward her for how amazing she was on the trip. She loved the zoo, of course. It was a really nice zoo and had a ton of animals. It was a great way to end our trip.
Our flights back to the states were another doozy. We woke up very early in the morning to make a 6am flight out of Munich. Another 3ish hour flight to Lisbon. Luckily no delays or cancellations on our way home. Our last flight was 7 1/2 hours long *gulp* Between getting up early, just being on a very exhausting trip and now being on a really long flight I was not sure how she would do. Well, she rocked it. No issues. She was just simply amazing. She actually napped a little in the beginning of the flight because the airport AC units were broken so the plane had no AC until we were finally flying. It was a thousand degrees in that plane. Between the heat and exhaustion she passed out before the flight took off. Chris was fanning her with the emergency handout card they give you and I was keeping an ice pack on her neck that a flight attendant was nice enough to get for her. Once we got going it was comfortable and she continued to sleep for a bit. Then she was up and was awesome. It didn't take long for her to readjust to the time zone once we got home, but we all were definitely jet lagged.
As far as toddler logistics went, Avery napped on the go (if she napped) mostly in her stroller. Her bedtimes were later than normal but slept great each night, and all of her meals were on a whim for the most part. She loved all of the food too, especially the gelato! The "winging it" method really worked out well for us. She adjusted well and we have definitely discovered that we have ourselves one awesome little travel buddy. Until next time, Europe!✌
Pictures are pretty much in order!
Montreux, Switzerland
Gruyere, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland
Interlaken, Switzerland
(Avery trying to wink 😉😂)
Grindelwald, Switzerland
Luzern, Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland
Bauma, Switzerland
Neushwanstein, Switzerland
Munich, Germany
