What to do in Amsterdam with kids (by Keren)

Today I'm delighted to have a blog post from the author and journalist Keren David. She lived in Amsterdam for eight years, and her children grew up there, so she's the perfect person to give you the rundown on what to do when you're visiting this Dutch city with your family. And it sounds just perfect - from the parks to the museums.

Over to Keren:

For me, Amsterdam is not a city of coffeeshops and dodgy areas, it’s a great place for kids and parents, with lots to do and see beyond the obvious.
Park life

[caption id="attachment_3847" align="alignnone" width="640"] The Vondelpark (pic by Guilhem Vellut, Flickr)[/caption]

The most obvious park is the Vondelpark, which is one of my favourite places in the world. You can hire bikes (try Macbikes in the Leidseplein, which also does kids’ bikes), or roller skates with protective gear (the Vondeltuin at the Amstelveenseweg entrance), or just stroll around. There are playgrounds (we liked the one at the Melkhuis café best), a rose garden, and a good tree for climbing. The Blauwe Theehuis is definitely the best café in the Vondelpark, it’s round and blue and looks like a grounded flying saucer. But for a more active experience, try the Kinderkookcafe where children get to cook and serve the food.

Just north of the Vondelpark is the Hollandsche Manege - a stables and riding school dating from the late 19th century. You can watch the horses training in dressage from the café, tour the stables and book riding lessons in the Vondelpark. The Overtoom, which is the road just north of the Manege has some great furniture shops.

[caption id="attachment_3851" align="alignnone" width="640"] Amsterdamse Bos pic by Matthew Pennell (Flickr)[/caption]

There are other parks too.The Beatrixpark has a paddling pool and a playground, and if you walk around you are sure to see some herons - I once counted 17 in one lake. The Amstelpark is a bit further out, but worth it for smaller children as there is a little train, a crazy golf, ponies to ride, an excellent playground and chickens running wild. But my favourite is the Amsterdamse Bos. The 1,000 hectare forest on the outskirts of the city is entirely manmade (built in the 1930s as a response to high unemployment rates) and is the perfect place to walk, cycle or picnic. There’s a lake with an island which is just for children – the Speeleiland – we used to take a picnic to the artificial beach at the side of the lake, and the kids would swing over to the island on a zipwire. The Bos also has a goat farm where you can feed the animals.

The Artis area

[caption id="attachment_3852" align="alignnone" width="512"] The reconstruction of the book case at the Anne Frank House (pic by Bungle via Wikimedia Commons)[/caption]

Everyone goes to visit the Anne Frank House, and rightly so. But few go to see the monument to the entire Jewish community of Amsterdam, which is quiet and devastating, and, I think, a better place to contemplate the scale of the Holocaust. It’s filled with pictures of a community at work and play, celebrating weddings and barmitzvahs, taking holidays and living their lives. The Hollandsche Schouwburg was once a theatre, but first the Nazis designated it a Jewish theatre and then it became a deportation centre. Some children escaped death by being smuggled by the Dutch Resistance to a nursery across the road.

The Rembrandthuis is one of my favourite museums in Amsterdam. The house where the artist lived and worked has been painstakingly restored, giving a real sense of life in the 17th century. Rembrandt was a keen collector of curiosities, and I never tired of visiting his workshop and looking at all his stuff - from the stuffed armadillo, to Roman helmets and spears. It’s just around the corner from the Waterlooplein market, Amsterdam’s flea market, and then across the road is the Jewish museum and the Portuguese Synagogue - a really beautiful building, lit my candlelight and still in use today.

The Artis itself is Amsterdam’s zoo - quite small, but fun for kids.

Food

Dutch cuisine is mostly mashed potatoes – although you should definitely try poffertjes, little sugar-covered pancakes, and also raw herring with chopped onion, bought from street stalls, for a taste of the local cuisine. Liquorice is the national sweet, and in any supermarket you’ll find dozens of varieties. For the most amazing chocolates you have ever seen, head to Puccini in Staalstraat.

But you can’t go to Amsterdam without trying Indonesian food. My favourite restaurants are Tempo Doeloe (you will need to book) and Sama Sebo, which is right next to the Rijksmuseum. Order a rijstafel for a feast of little dishes so you can try everything. Vegetarians are well catered for.
And for cakes, head to The Pijp, which is full of little shops to explore, and has a thriving street market. My favourite local landmark is a gloriously camp café called De Taart van m’n Tante which is the place to go for the most flamboyant and creamy cakes imaginable.

Museums

[caption id="attachment_3853" align="alignnone" width="512"] The Dutch Royal sloop in the Scheepvaartmuseum, (pic by Hetscheepvaartmuseum via Wikimedia Commons)[/caption]

The Rijksmuseum can be too much for kids, so pick your galleries carefully – the dolls houses were always a favourite for my family. The Van Gogh museum up the road is smaller, and easier to digest. But if your family includes a budding fashionista, then take them to the Tassenmuseum, a comprehensive collection of bags and purses through the ages. When I first visited it, it was displayed in the home of the lady who had collected these bags, but now it has outgrown her, and has its own home in the centre of Amsterdam. Children also enjoy the NEMO interactive science museum. Our absolute favourite though was the Scheepvartmuseum, the maritime museum full of maps and globes, a preserved whale foetus and an 18th century boat to explore.

[caption id="attachment_3860" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Keren's two children and a friend (in their younger days), at the Zuiderzee Museum[/caption]

If you explore outside Amsterdam, then don’t miss Enkhuizen - a short train journey away. From the station you can take a boat to the Zuiderzee museum, a place where Dutch life in times gone by is lovingly recreated. You can sit in the village school and write on a slate, visit a working windmill, and the kids can dress in clogs and traditional clothes.

For a trip to the beach it’s Ijmuiden every time. Just half an hour drive from Amsterdam it’s not as smart as some resorts, but you can walk for miles on the beach, and eat the best fish and chips in the Netherlands near where the Newcastle ferry docks.

The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam’s concert hall, has free lunchtime concerts where you can hear orchestras in rehearsal. And in the summer there are free concerts in the Vondelpark.

[caption id="attachment_3850" align="alignnone" width="1200"] King's Day in Amsterdam[/caption]

Try and time a visit for King’s Day on April 30 when Amsterdam has a giant party, and everyone dresses in orange and sells jumble on the streets. Head to the Apollolaan for the best bargains. Children take over the Vondelpark for their stalls. Or, for a taste of Dutch culture come for the Sinterklaas parade in mid November, when St Nicholas arrives at the harbour on his boat from Spain and parades through the streets of Amsterdam. The tradition has caused controversy in recent years, because of the figure of "Zwart Piet", the Sint’s companion. Now there are moves to change Piet to ‘Colourful Piet.’ You’ll see lots of Piets, some on roller skates, giving out sweets and pepernoten - little spiced biscuits.

Keren David is the author of eight Young Adult novels, including This is Not a Love Story, set in Amsterdam.

More European family guides

To Barcelona (by Ella)

To Vienna (by Robert)

To Paris (by Sarah)

Taking a Tour Up Big Ben!

Robert, aged 10 says: Last week I had one of the best experiences that I’ve ever had in London and, if you’ve read the name of this post, you’ll know that it was having a tour of Big Ben. We were in the iconic clock tower for around an hour and the 60 minute tour included walking up 334 steps, watching all the machinery move in order to ring the bells, plus standing less that a metre away from the Big Ben when it rang for ten o’clock.

[caption id="attachment_2410" align="alignnone" width="900"] Standing in front of Big Ben[/caption]

Jess, aged 14, writes: We walked into the building at around quarter to nine, and had to go through security before we could get inside. This was an experience in itself, as I felt strangely important! Soon, a man named Tim gathered the group together, gave us lanyards, and outlined what was going to happen in the tour. The tour was comprised of around six groups, and there were about fifteen of us altogether. We would walk up the Elizabeth Tower to the Belfry (stopping to catch our breath on the way), learn how the clock works, and eventually see Big Ben being rung at 10am.

We were escorted to the base of the tower, and began by walking up around 100 steps. The spiral staircase was relatively steep, but the journey only took a few minutes, so we sat down to regain our energy in the first room, while Tim told us the history of the tower. Every single room in the tower is "U" shaped, as there are three large weights running through a shaft in the centre of the tower. These weights control the clock and the bells, and it was pretty cool to know that these were right behind us!

We learnt that Big Ben was built after a fire in the Palace of Westminster in 1834, and a competition was held to find the best design for the new building. Architect Charles Barry's entry (which included a prominent clock tower) won, leading onto a competition to find a design for a really accurate clock. The best clocks in those times were accurate to one minute, and the architects wanted it to be accurate to one second, which caused a lot of problems. The stories Tim told us were fascinating, and there were many more than the ones I've written here...

[caption id="attachment_2411" align="alignnone" width="1175"] The faces of the clock were so big when we were up close to them.[/caption]

Robert says: After another, shorter journey up the spiral staircase we opened a second door and what we saw when we walked inside was breathtaking. We were looking directly at one of the giant white clock faces near to the top of the tower. The whole circle was nearly three times my height and as it was a sunny day, we could clearly see the minute hand moving slowly every two seconds. We looked at all four clock faces but you can’t see through them and we were also told about the giant light bulbs suspended on all of the walls to light the clock faces up in the night time. Some parts of the clock face were an orange colour as they were quite new and in each clock face there was one part that could open and you could see outside.

Jess writes: Next, we made our way up to the machinery room. For someone interested in robotics and mechanics, I was utterly enthralled - the giant gears were arranged in a complex way and I really wanted to find out how they worked. Luckily, Tim was there to explain. We were shown the pendulum, which swings every two seconds to affect the minute hand on the clock. We were all amazed by the stack of coins above the pendulum, which help to regulate the speed at which it is swinging. Adding or removing one coin will change the speed of the hand by 0.4 seconds in a day.

Soon, it was quarter to ten, so we got to be inside the room while the bells were going off. This was a brilliant sight, and we loved hearing the weights drop and seeing parts of the machinery spinning right in front of us!

Robert says: For the final part of the tour we walked up the last few steps and entered the belfry. The wind was blowing in our faces, we could see a beautiful view of the London skyline, and right in the middle of the room was a massive bell, Big Ben itself. It was surrounded by four smaller bells which are needed as Big Ben only rings every hour. We were told that the bell we were looking at was actually the second Big Ben. The government wanted the bell to be exactly 14 stone and make a E natural note when rung. Unfortunately, when the first bell was created, it weighed the right amount but made the wrong note. The size of the hammer hitting the bell affects the sound, so to make an E natural they kept on increasing the hammer. Eventually the hammer was so big that it cracked the bell in half so they had to make a new one.

[caption id="attachment_2415" align="alignnone" width="900"] Big Ben seen from across Parliament Square[/caption]

The second Big Ben was paraded through the streets of London by horses to get to the tower where it was then hauled up by six men, which took over 35 hours. When hit, the new Big Ben made an E natural note, but just three months after it started being used it got a crack. Luckily, the crack didn't go all the way around so they put a hole on either side to stop the crack spreading. This meant that the bell still didn't make the right sound.

After the explanation we put on our ear plugs and waited for ten o’clock. What we heard next was the amazing but also the loudest thing I've ever heard. After the four smaller bells rung we saw the big black hammer hit Big Ben and we heard the noise which thousands of other people heard, a massive ringing sound just we heard it a hundred times louder. After the bell was hit ten times everything was vibrating, we took one last look at the scene that surrounded us then started the tiresome journey back down.

Jess writes: Soon, our tour was over. We had all had such a fantastic time, and it was such an intriguing and unique opportunity to learn all about the Big Ben. Not only had I really enjoyed the tour, I also felt as though I had been a part of something really special. I definitely recommend going on a tour of this building.

We all loved our tour of Big Ben and would highly recommend it. It is only available for UK residents, and you need to apply via your local MP (we just emailed). There are tours three times a day, at 9am, 11am and 2pm and it really is a fantastic experience, especially being inside the tower and seeing the back side of the clock, and then hearing bells ring from inside the belfry. Tours are free, but you have to be over 11 (Robert is very nearly 11 and we told them this in advance!)  and be able to walk up and down the 334 steps. However, you need to hurry as Big Ben is being closed for three to four years at the end of this year for renovations!

More on us walking up famous buildings:

The Monument to the Fire of London (by Robert)

The Eiffel Tower – with our tips for visiting with kids

Must-dos in Paris with - or without - kids

[caption id="attachment_1195" align="aligncenter" width="940"] The views from the bateau mouche were fabulous[/caption]

The sun is out and I'm sure lots of people have Paris on their minds! Here are our family tips for visiting the City of Love!

A huge group of people are all hurrying towards the same destination. We are in the Louvre Museum in Paris, famous not only for its art, but for its starring role in The Da Vinci Code, and we are moving along at speed to see one specific painting.

[caption id="attachment_1188" align="aligncenter" width="940"] A lot of people wanted to see the Mona Lisa![/caption]

Except, of course it is not just any painting: the Mona Lisa is probably the most famous piece of art in the world. It is over 500 years old and has been housed in the Louvre since 1797. Despite the many objects on display, no one seems very interested in anything but the woman with the enigmatic smile.

When we actually find her, on a wall, behind a rope, she looks a bit smaller than I expected (only 21 by 30 inches). She’s also covered with bullet-proof glass.

Jess, Robert and I wriggle through the many people staring and taking pictures. We try to get an uninterrupted view, but it’s tricky with so many mobile phones in the way.

This museum, with its long queues and hordes of tourists, was not, as you may have guessed, the highlight of our trip to Paris, but it felt like something which had to be done. Luckily, once we had ticked it off our to-do list, we could enjoy some of the other treats on offer.

[caption id="attachment_1192" align="aligncenter" width="940"] Outside the Louvre[/caption]

Of course these included the iconic Eiffel Tower, once the tallest building in the world (it's over 300 metres high). It should be top of every first-time visitor’s list, although it is extremely popular and if you just turn up, your heart will sink at the sight of the incredibly long queues. To avoid those, make sure you buy a ticket online in advance, and when you arrive, look for the signs for "Entree Visiteurs Avec Reservation". You can find more of our tips for visiting the Eiffel Tower with, or without kids, here.

It’s ironic that the Tower, built by Gustave Eiffel for the World Exhibition in 1889, was meant to be temporary and there were complaints that this huge "object" was not a suitable fit for Parisian architecture. Fortunately, those grumbles are long gone and the Tower has become a symbol of the city, hovering into view pretty much wherever you are. If you want to take the perfect photograph, you might want to walk over to the Trocadero after your visit.

The Eiffel Tower more than lives up to the hype, and so does its home town. This so-called city of light is not only known as a place for lovers, but for artists, gourmands and shopaholics.

That doesn’t mean we fell in love with it instantly. In fact, we found Paris less friendly than London (although I’m a Londoner, so might be biased) and a bit confusing because lots of places are closed on certain days – Victor Hugo’s house and the Musee D’Orsay on Mondays, the Louvre on Tuesdays - so you have to plan ahead.

It’s also one of the priciest cities in the world. We were shocked to find that a soft drink or hot chocolate cost more than €5 and I had to bite my tongue when my daughter wanted a macaroon and I saw that it cost €6, or over £5 for one biscuit!

[caption id="attachment_1194" align="aligncenter" width="940"] La Basilique du Sacré Cœur in Montmartre - at night[/caption]

But those things apart, Paris certainly has a lot to offer. The city is actually a collection of villages (or arrondissements) and you can stroll round the artists’ area of Montmartre before taking a short cable car ride up to the beautiful Basilique do Sacre-Coeur (where you can see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night) or saunter through the beautiful Tuileries gardens.

[caption id="attachment_1190" align="aligncenter" width="940"] The beautiful Tuileries Garden can be found between the Louvre Museum and the Place de la Concorde[/caption]

Shoppers should take in the Marais district, which is also full of galleries and cafes, while families should take advantage of the fantastic parks on offer, from ones you just fall upon by chance (such as just outside Victor Hugo's house) to the spectacular, such as the Jardin D'Acclimation, which is worth a visit on its own. Robert has written his own post about this.

We also enjoyed seeing the famous Rodin sculpure of the Thinker at the Rodin Museum. We loved walking around this museum as there are so many sculptures to see outdoors. It was already closed for visitors inside when we were there.

Walking is a particular pleasure because you keep coming upon remarkable monuments, such as the 23 metre high Obelisk, which was originally located at the entrance to Luxor Temple, in Egypt. We also walked past a memorial to Winston Churchill.

One of the most impressive is the Arc de Triomphe, even though it’s right in the middle of traffic chaos. Built by Napoleon, it’s situated in the centre of the Place de L’Etoile (which means “place of the star”). Twelve grand avenues, including the Champs Elysees, radiate off it, to form, funnily enough, a star.

However, our favourite part of our Paris trip was not on dry land. It was a sightseeing cruise along the River Seine in a boat, the famous Bateaux Mouche.

[caption id="attachment_1197" align="aligncenter" width="940"] We absolutely loved travelling on the bateau mouche and saw so much[/caption]

This 70 minute ride, which costs  €12.5 per adult, is a must-do, as it’s relaxing and informative, with fantastic views. It is wonderful to see so much, from Notre Dame to the fortress of the Conciergie, and all from an angle you could never see on land. It really is the best way to see the city.

PS We went to Paris via Eurostar and thought it was a fantastic way to travel and far more relaxing than flying!

Click here to watch our very shaky video of our trip

Read Robert's tips for the best parks in Paris

A wonderful trip to Lake Wolfgang in Austria, part 2 (including Salzburg!)

[caption id="attachment_610" align="aligncenter" width="940"] There were great views of the city from the top of the Fortress[/caption]

We had a brilliant time on holiday in Austria, near Lake Wolfgang (the Wolfgangsee) as you may have seen from Jessica's first post last week. Here she tells you about the rest of our terrific stay - including a trip to Sound of Music heaven...

Over to Jess:

Our wonderful holiday continued with a trip to Salzburg on Thursday

Today, we visited Salzburg, and were very lucky to have a tour around the city by Michaela our amazing guide. She took us to churches, statues and locations from where The Sound of Music was filmed.

[caption id="attachment_601" align="aligncenter" width="940"] These steps are in the Sound of Music - they're where the children sing "Do, ray, me"[/caption]

I especially liked walking through the pretty square where part of “Do Ray Me” was sung and you can see some Sound of Music references in our video!

[kad_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ivzOAzN7FY" width=460 height=325 ]

Salzburg is full of stunning Baroque architecture, and we loved looking at all the incredible buildings, especially all of the churches. There are lots of religious places to see in the city, but my favourite was the church where Mozart was baptised. It was absolutely beautiful, and the walls had lovely black and white decorations.

[caption id="attachment_608" align="aligncenter" width="940"] Mozart was baptised at the beautiful Salzburg Cathedral[/caption]

Mozart lived in Salzburg, and his presence was everywhere. Salzburg is the home of Mozart chocolates which (happily) were in almost every shop, while you can also visit his old house and see a statue of him.

[caption id="attachment_603" align="aligncenter" width="940"] This is where Mozart lived in Salzburg[/caption]

Michaela told us lots of facts about Salzburg, which I was fascinated by. I never knew that Salzburg used to be an independent country but was annexed to the Austrian Empire in 1816, or that Salzburg means “salt castle”. This name is because of all the salt mining done nearby. We also bought some delicious things to eat...

[caption id="attachment_599" align="aligncenter" width="940"] I was lucky enough to find a huge doughnut pretzl in the Salzburg market.[/caption]

After this, our family took the cable car up to the fortress, which had lovely views over the city and was also full of history.

Next, we took the bus to the lovely palace of Hellbrunn, built in the 17th century, and which has lovely grounds and even boasts the pavilion where the song “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” was filmed for The Sound of Music.

[caption id="attachment_600" align="aligncenter" width="768"] You may recognise this pavilion from the Sound of Music[/caption]

Instead of exploring the rooms, we opted to go to the trick fountains, which we all loved. My brother got absolutely soaked.

Hundreds of years ago, the Archbishop loved inviting friends to his palace, but always tried to liven up their visits. By placing surprising fountains around the gardens, he would shock them and get them soaking wet!

[caption id="attachment_604" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Robert was soaking after a tour of the water gardens at Hellbrun[/caption]

We got to walk around, sit on chairs and watch shows which ultimately left us covered with water! One example was when we were watching a show with small figures powered by water. Before starting, our guide told us to watch the cannons. Once the show had finished, we were quite confused - no water had come out the cannons! Just ask we started to walk away, water started to spew out from the steps behind us, giving us a shock…

Friday

[caption id="attachment_607" align="aligncenter" width="940"] The water was so green and so clear[/caption]

On Friday, we went cycling again. First of all, we went to tobogganing centre in Strobl, passing a clear blue lake with people swimming in it on the way. It was gorgeous, and I thought it was amazing how unpolluted it was! In London, a lake like that would be brown and full of rubbish!

[caption id="attachment_609" align="aligncenter" width="940"] The tobogganing was lots of fun[/caption]

The tobogganing was lots of fun, and Rob especially loved it. You went up really high before sliding down the hill very quickly, and half of the time you were practically riding on the wall. Each go took a very long time as going up the hill took aages. There were two different ways you could go down; one was short and fast, and one was longer and slightly slower. You also got to control how fast you went by pulling a lever on the board you were riding on.

Next, we cycled 14k to St. Gilgen at the top of the Wolfgangsee, which looked sublime. It was another hot day, and we quenched our thirst with lemonade and a really bitter lemon drink that everyone hated but me!

[caption id="attachment_605" align="aligncenter" width="940"] This swing in St Gilgen has a beautiful backdrop![/caption]

After a brilliant pizza, we took a look around the shops, got cream cakes from a bakery and took a ferry back to Strobl.

Saturday

Today we had a short cycle in the direction of Bad Ischl, passing beautiful mountains, trees and waterfalls on the way. The weather was not lovely, but an erdbeer torte in a cafe back in Strobl more than made up for it…

So that was our fabulous holiday for the summer. Even though we spent a lot of time running, swimming and cycling, I still felt really relaxed and refreshed throughout the week, which is something that does not normally happen to me. The holiday was very different to others I have been on, and is definitely one of my favourites. Funnily enough, I had never been cycling for longer than half an hour before, but the holiday really helped me to improve my confidence, and there were not too many parts of the journeys that were uphill.

[caption id="attachment_598" align="aligncenter" width="940"] We loved our cycling experience by Lake Wolfgang[/caption]

I would 100 percent recommend this holiday to anyone - there seemed to be something for the whole family and I honestly cannot think of anything bad about it! The sights were incredible, the food was fantastic and there was loads to see and do. I wish that we could go back next year!

Disclosure: our tour around Salzburg with Michaela Muhr, a licensed guide, was complimentary and you can book your tour via the Salzburg Experience website. All the views and opinions about the tour and the city are our own.

Disclosure: we were offered a discounted media rate for a Headwater cycling holiday to Austria. However, all our views are entirely our own.

For August departures this year, Headwater would have charged: £1038 for an adult self drive including Eurotunnel (child under 12 sharing £599), £1238 for an adult flying with with BA from Gatwick-Salzburg (child £819) and £1029 for an adult tour only (child £619). This is for half-board accommodation, including transfers, plus the bikes!

This week we're part of the Sunday Traveler (or traveller as we would write in the UK!) where you can link up and read about travels around the world. It's hosted by by the lovely Sarah-Jane at Chase the Donkey!

Barcelona - a city with so much to see and do (by Ella)

Ella eating Spanish paella

Our first guest post, by Beverlie, was a hit! Now I'm delighted to have our second, and we are keeping in the family as it is by my gorgeous niece, Ella, who is 14. She was lucky enough to visit Barcelona.

Over to Ella:

I was lucky enough to visit Barcelona which is an amazing city, with so much to see and do. Here are my recommendations.

The Sagrada Familia is probably the best known thing in Barcelona. Gaudi’s ambitious – and incomplete, but beautiful – Church is an amazing sight, whether you explore the inside or enjoy the beauty of the outside.

La Rambla

La Rambla is another brilliant thing you find in Barcelona. A wide pedestrian street, with street performers, stalls selling birds and other animals, flowers everywhere and stunning – but crazy – buildings surrounding you, the road is one you must walk down, if you ever find yourself in Barcelona - although I was warned a thousand times to look out for pickpockets! The mosaic in the centre of the street is also something that is impossible to miss.


Other famous places in Barcelona include La Pedrera, the Park Guell, Montjuic – even the Camp Nou Football stadium could be thought of as cultural... maybe.

The thing with visiting such famous, well known and brilliant places is the queues. It’s inevitable, everyone wants to be there – but if you're travelling with young children, on a short trip, standing in a queue for hours is not the most enjoyable thing to do. Fortunately, in Barcelona, there are other ways to get a taste of the city, without spending your day staring at the back of someone’s head.

The highlight of my trip was the Cable Car from Montjuic to the port. It transports you over the city, offering amazing views, especially over the water, where you honestly feel like you can see the whole world. (Unfortunately, this is something that has not yet been mastered!)

The view from the cable car

When you get off the Cable Car, you’ve arrived at the Barceloneta – the beach! It amazes me how the city has managed to fit a beach in too - how unfair that London doesn’t have this on offer. And it's not just any old beach, cafes, shops and extremely friendly people were all around.

Barcelona’s Chocolate Museum was another brilliant way to spend an hour or two. Here, we learnt about and celebrated how chocolate was first brought to Europe – and being able to eat your ticket to the museum was an added extra which EVERY museum should have! We had the opportunity to learn about the cultural and economic significance of chocolate for Barcelona and the entire continent of Europe, and we also could marvel at incredible chocolate models.

Something that I found incredible in Barcelona was the amount of scenery and greenery! The Park Guell is a highlight of the city.  It’s an incredible park, with amazing buildings, sculptures, amazing tile work – and all this was designed by Gaudi. When I was in Year 4, we studied Gaudi, and my teachers put a lot of effort into making me DETERMINED to visit the park. Finally – five years later – I was able to go, and it was amazing, it completely met my expectations.

Montjuic was another place to find incredible scenery. The view was, to put it simply, WOW. Breathtakingly stunning, with only one turn of our heads, we could go from seeing an endless, glimmering sea, to the bustling and busy city centre.

On our final day in Barcelona, we spent our time in the Parc de la Ciutadella. It was fabulous. We had a brilliant afternoon boating on the lake, eating ice creams, and listening to live music from the bandstand. And my brother and I loved dancing to the Disney songs, and making fools of ourselves!

There were two practical things on our trip that looking back, really did impact extremely positively. The hotel we stayed in was called Hotel Fira Palace. It was slightly outside the main tourist area, meaning it was very peaceful and relaxing. The rooms were spacious – and interconnecting! The best thing about the hotel was its indoor pool, which was an amazing way to end a busy day. The breakfasts were delicious, and the set evening menu was reasonably priced and surprisingly good quality! There was even veggie Paella on offer, which I happily enjoyed two days in a row.

Another brilliant practicality was a taxi app called Hailo. If you have a smart phone, this app is an incredible luxury to make your trip to Barcelona just that little bit easier. Because Barcelona is a relatively small town, the price of a taxi for a family of four isn’t that different to a tram or bus ride. With the knowledge that a taxi is just one click on an app away, you don’t need to go chasing taxis – one’s always right round the corner!

We had a brilliant time in this wonderful city – and I hope to be able to visit Barcelona again in the future!

Thank you to Sarah, Jess and Robert for having me on their brilliant blog – and thank you for reading!

Ella x

More on family Travel Times:

Parks in Paris with kids by Robert

Why we love writing this blog - and please nominate us!

Barcelona - a city with so much to see and do (by Ella)

Ella eating Spanish paella

Our first guest post, by Beverlie, was a hit! Now I'm delighted to have our second, and we are keeping in the family as it is by my gorgeous niece, Ella, who is 14. She was lucky enough to visit Barcelona.

Over to Ella:

I was lucky enough to visit Barcelona which is an amazing city, with so much to see and do. Here are my recommendations.

The Sagrada Familia is probably the best known thing in Barcelona. Gaudi’s ambitious – and incomplete, but beautiful – Church is an amazing sight, whether you explore the inside or enjoy the beauty of the outside.

La Rambla

La Rambla is another brilliant thing you find in Barcelona. A wide pedestrian street, with street performers, stalls selling birds and other animals, flowers everywhere and stunning – but crazy – buildings surrounding you, the road is one you must walk down, if you ever find yourself in Barcelona - although I was warned a thousand times to look out for pickpockets! The mosaic in the centre of the street is also something that is impossible to miss.
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We've been to Paris (and made a video!)

Did you guess where we spent last week? We put some clues on our Facebook page, and also in the post below, and the answer is... Paris!

We had a great time in this beautiful (but very expensive!) European city and will be writing more about our travels over the next few weeks. We especially loved going right up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and were lucky enough to do so on a beautiful day, as you can see from the picture above.


The children made a video of our trip, and if you can excuse the shaky camera, please take a look and see what we got up to. And please leave us any comments too.

Thank you.

We've been to Paris (and made a video!)

Did you guess where we spent last week? We put some clues on our Facebook page, and also in the post below, and the answer is... Paris!

We had a great time in this beautiful (but very expensive!) European city and will be writing more about our travels over the next few weeks. We especially loved going right up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and were lucky enough to do so on a beautiful day, as you can see from the picture above.

Read more »

We've been away, but where?

This statue is of a famous monarch

We're lucky enough to have been on holiday during half-term. But where do you think we've been?

Here a few clues, all pictures from the city we very much enjoyed visiting.

Isn't this beautiful? We were delighted to see a rainbow in the fountain at this palace...

We'll let you know where we went soon, but if you have any thoughts, please put them below.

Thanks!

We also saw a statue of a very famous British Prime Minister

 We think this thinker is the one which will give it away!

UPDATE: The answer is....Paris! Please see our new post for more.

We've been away, but where?

This statue is of a famous monarch

We're lucky enough to have been on holiday during half-term. But where do you think we've been?

Here a few clues, all pictures from the city we very much enjoyed visiting.

Isn't this beautiful? We were delighted to see a rainbow in the fountain at this palace...

We'll let you know where we went soon, but if you have any thoughts, please put them below.

Thanks!

Read more »

Vienna and my family history: the trip I will never forget

My sister, Jo (left) and myself, outside the Admiral Kino

It's hard to pick one trip or journey which changed my life. Or one that is more important to me than any other. I thought about the first time I visited New York with my boyfriend and realised, in that week, how much I loved being with him, enjoyed his company and didn't want to be without him. We have now been married for 17 years and when I think of New York, I always smile.

I also thought about trips with our children - taking our daughter to the seaside for the first time and hearing her squeal with happiness as the waves licked over her feet; waving at her as she sat in a baby chair on the back of my husband's bike or burying her feet in the sand on a beach in Lanzarote. And then there is the happiness as a family of four, the contentment of vacationing as the children grow up and are becoming increasingly good holiday companions.

Instead, I am writing about a very unusual trip which I made. It was just me and my older sister on a very important journey indeed.

We arrived in Vienna in November 2011 and it was all faintly unreal, especially as I walked into the Admiral Kino on the Burgasse, one of the last neighbourhood cinemas operating in Vienna which is not a multiplex.

My grandmother’s cinema licence for the Admiral Kino in 1938, dated a few months before the Anschluss

I felt as if I had stepped back in time as I explored this place, which is a strong part of my family’s history. Long ago it belonged to my grandmother, Margarethe Ebner. She ran it with my grandfather, Berthold.

However, that was another era. That was before my grandfather was arrested for refusing to show Nazi propaganda films. It’s before he was sent to Dachau and Buchenwald for 13 months, and it’s before my grandmother, left with a small baby (my father Henry, then called Heinz), somehow managed to get the three of them out of the country. They arrived in England two weeks before the start of the Second World War.

I had never been inside the Admiral Kino before that trip to Vienna. And I was unprepared when the current owner, Michaela Englert, showed me into the auditorium.

I expected a normal cinema, but instead felt a little light-headed as I walked through the door. It was as if I was going back in time and almost surreal as the room looked so old-fashioned, from the period lights on the wall to the plain seating and decor. I am sure that it hadn’t changed much since my grandparents were here in the 1930s.

My reaction caught me by surprise. I never met my grandfather, who died before I was born (my son, Robert, is named for him) and yet (and I know this sounds strange) I felt as if I could sense him and my grandmother in this small room. It was as if something of them remained there, before their lives changed irrevocably.

I was in Vienna, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but with a less than beautiful 20th-century history, for the screening of Double Exposure: Jewish refugees from Austria in Britain. This documentary is made up of interviews with 25 refugees from Austria who settled in the UK, including my father, who was the youngest to feature.

When she was arranging to take the exhibition to Vienna (where it was on at the Literaturhaus), the maker of the film, Dr Bea Lewkowicz, asked if there was somewhere nearby to screen it.

“When I was told that the nearest cinema was the Admiral Kino, I nearly fell off my chair,” she told me. “Your father hadn’t said that it was still going.”

Unfortunately my father couldn’t attend, so my sister and I decided to represent him. I don’t think I realised how emotional it would be, how strange to feel part of other people’s memories.

The exhibition is a photographic display of the 25 refugees. They include some well-known names, such as the violinist Norbert Brainin (famous for the Amadeus Quartet), historian Richard Grunberger (author of A Social History of the Third Reich) and the composer Joseph Horovitz.

Both film and exhibition are incredibly moving. Many of the people included have strong, clear memories of their Viennese childhoods, of coffee houses and delicious whipped cream. Then they recall the sudden, horrendous changes in their lives after 1938, the friends who deserted them, the whisperings of their concerned parents, and the struggle to leave their homes.

The Germans moved into Austria to widespread acclaim on March 12 1938. This was the Anchluss (annexation) and the Jewish population of Austria at that time is estimated to have been around 200,000, of whom around 180,000 lived in Vienna. Around 65,000 were killed in the war.

Some of the stories in the film are extremely painful. As most interviewees were children at the time, they recall leaving their parents and never seeing them again. Otto Deutsch, who, aged 83, also attended the Vienna screening, told of how his sister was eight months too old to be included on the Kindertransporte (where thousands of children, aged between 6 and 16, were allowed into the UK). He never saw her, or his parents, again, but remembers his sister running alongside his train as he left, telling him to be a “good boy”.

My father, Henry, on screen during the documentary

Another interviewee, Gina Gerson, left with her sister. At the end of August 1939, she was thrilled to receive a telegram from their parents, who had somehow managed to get visas and reported that they would arrive on September 6. War broke out on the 3rd and they never made it.

My grandparents were “expropriated” of their cinemas within days of the Germans’ arrival (they also owned the Johann Strauss Kino which is no longer in existence). The stormtroopers also took all their cash and jewellery. They were very fortunate to get domestic visas to England; many of their relatives, including my grandmother’s mother, were not so lucky and died in Auschwitz. Meanwhile, the Ebners ended up in the tiny Norfolk village of Binham, where they became butler and cook to the Reverend Carroll and his two spinster sisters.

Everyone’s story matters, wherever it is told. And yet hearing the stories while in Vienna gave them so much more poignancy. Many of the interviewees felt conflicted, still Austrian (Viennese in most cases) and yet so grateful to Britain for offering them refuge, for saving them. And I felt conflicted too, as if I shouldn’t have been there. As if, in a different world, I would never have been born, and my Viennese father might still be welcoming people to the Admiral Kino.

To find out more information about, and to access the interviews in the documentary, visit Refugeevoices.co.uk, which contains most of the Jewish-Austrian interviews featured in Double Exposure.

Vienna and my family history: the trip I will never forget

My sister, Jo (left) and myself, outside the Admiral Kino

It's hard to pick one trip or journey which changed my life. Or one that is more important to me than any other. I thought about the first time I visited New York with my boyfriend and realised, in that week, how much I loved being with him, enjoyed his company and didn't want to be without him. We have now been married for 17 years and when I think of New York, I always smile.

I also thought about trips with our children - taking our daughter to the seaside for the first time and hearing her squeal with happiness as the waves licked over her feet; waving at her as she sat in a baby chair on the back of my husband's bike or burying her feet in the sand on a beach in Lanzarote. And then there is the happiness as a family of four, the contentment of vacationing as the children grow up and are becoming increasingly good holiday companions.

Instead, I am writing about a very unusual trip which I made. It was just me and my older sister on a very important journey indeed.

We arrived in Vienna in November 2011 and it was all faintly unreal, especially as I walked into the Admiral Kino on the Burgasse, one of the last neighbourhood cinemas operating in Vienna which is not a multiplex.

My grandmother’s cinema licence for the Admiral Kino in 1938, dated a few months before the Anschluss

I felt as if I had stepped back in time as I explored this place, which is a strong part of my family’s history. Long ago it belonged to my grandmother, Margarethe Ebner. She ran it with my grandfather, Berthold.


Read more »