une autre bouteille du même vin, s’il vous plaît

Our grand tour of Europe is coming together.  It's so exciting!  I discovered that Sting is going to be playing the Gelredome in Arnhem on the 15th!  We missed out on his performance at Red Rocks- which I heard was amazing- so I'm stoked to see him overseas.  We had to take the majority of our England time out of the trip (time constraint) so Tom's not going to be able to see his mighty Red Devils in action.  Instead we are going to see AJAX (Amsterdam's football club) play on the 16th.  Perfect timing- our last day in Amsterdam will be spent watching footie! 

I'm super excited to visit Brussels.  The city is supposed to have some excellent examples of art nouveau architecture.  I heart art nouveau!  I was always down to see Brussels but it wasn't on my favorites list- now I'm really excited to experience the city.  To be honest I forgot about Belgian beer and chocolate (not to mention waffles)    Stoked!

We booked our houseboat in Amsterdam.  It has the cutest bed nook and a great patio on the top with a table and chairs for dining al fresco.  It's right in the heart of the historic district.  Fun! 

After a few challenges with our Paris loft we finally booked one.  We're right in the heart of the latin quarter- 2 blocks from the Notre Dame.  Paris, Je t'aime.  I've been attempting to brush up on my french while at work- I have an audiobook that is rather good- French with Michel Thomas.  Hopefully I will be able to effectively stumble my way through conversations.  Come on brain remember those high school and college french courses!  The most important phrases for us to master are "I would like another glass of wine please" and "How much is the (insert item here)".  As long as we can remember those two sentences we should be golden.  We have four full days in Paris to visit the museums, cafes, and get a glimpse into the life of a true Parisian.  I'm bringing my sketch book.  It's been a goal of mine to get back into sketching- I used to draw all of the time.  I think Paris will be that perfect motivation.  I'm also stoked for the burgundy wine region.  We're renting a car so we can explore off the beaten path.  Outside of Auxerre there are Roman bath ruins that we would like to find and explore.  We want to book a wine tour of local wineries in Beaune.  This tour is run by England transplants who take you to 4 local wineries where we can sample the wine (sometimes from the barrel) and learn about the whole process that makes Burgundy world-reowned.   

We have exactly one day in London.  It's going to be whirlwind tour- Big Ben, London Eye, and Piccadilly Square are a must- that is if we don't get stuck in an English pub (that's a highly likely scenario).

Everyone has been giving us such great advice on where to go and what to see.  It's fantastic!

Emily wrote us a list of things to see:
-Bulldog coffee shop in Amsterdam
-Anne Frank house
-Van Gogh museum
-walk the canals
-Red light district
-watch out for the bikes
-Pere Lachaise Cemetary
-Notre Dame
-cool book store on corner by Notre Dame
-N. Paris- sketch-tastic
-Never eat at McDonalds (Tom wants to go so he can order a Royal with cheese)
-Arcd de Triomphe
-eat at restaurant across from the Manneken Pis statue of the little boy peeing

If anyone has favorites that we need to check out in London, Paris, Auxerre, Dijon, Beaune, Rouen, Brussels, and/or Amsterdam let us know.  We're looking for some off the beaten path, tried and true places to see and experience.