Contrary to the movie Eurotrip, Europe is bigger than the Mall of America
A family trip across Western Europe
When it comes to the European continent, one thing immediately pops to mind, and no, it is not the rich (and occasionally sordid) history or the fantastic food but the trains. This may come as a shock to many of you, but since I was a young boy, I have been obsessed with trains, particularly the high-speed trains of Europe (yes, even counting the German ICE IYKYK). Traversing the continent is made more civilized with rail travel, and this issue of my trip newsletter is indicative of the fantastic cities, sights, and food we could experience taking a humble train. Welcome to a story of trains, food, family, trains, weddings, wine, and, you guessed it – trains.
Planning for this trip started with a humble email from mum's first cousin, Geeta, who had invited me, mum, and my brother to her daughter Priya's wedding in the UK in June 2023. The wedding provided an opportune moment for us to go on one big holiday, for Mum to tick off three new countries on her list, and for her to reunite with her sisters and cousins. We planned out our potential route around the wedding along with the availability of points tickets to the European continent from Singapore and sights we wanted to see, and thus came our travel route. We flew into Frankfurt, where we spent the night, and then took an ICE from Frankfurt to Brussels in Belgium (a new country for the three of us). We would subsequently take the Eurostar right into the heart of London (spoiler alert, the channel tunnel does not have any windows for you to see the fish 😠). We would then spend a week in the UK touring London, an extraordinary train ride my brother and I embarked on, and the wedding. Then we'd spend a few days with my aunt in Paris (again by the Eurostar), then to wine country in Burgundy by the TGV. We'd spend a few days in and around Dijon and Beaune, then take the same TGV to Zurich through part of the Alps. It turned out to be quite the little European adventure.
Highlights:
Before you ask, the food and drink will be coming as part of the highlights, but I have to say one of my highlights of this trip was spending time with family and friends. I had the opportunity to meet with a couple of friends in London, mainly from my UWC days and my friend Naira from Skidmore. She was keen to meet not only me but my mum as well. I was delighted to see they got along well, and I hope it is not the last time they meet. Another fun reunion was with my old kindergarten teacher, Mrs Fensom (for the life of me I can never refer to her by her first name). It was the first time in roughly ten year that we saw each other and I almost felt like that five year old again, when interacting with my teacher.
The main highlight of this trip was seeing my mum genuinely enjoying herself on holiday with little worry. Mum has not treated herself to a long holiday like this in eons, so it was amazing to see Mum going out and exploring all these places, some of them being for the first time.
Despite some of my earlier doubts about my enjoyment of this wedding, especially some individuals causing some headaches, the wedding was good fun. I met some relatives for the first time and got along with them almost instantly, particularly the second cousins (most of whom were around my age). For my mum, being with her cousins and especially her sisters was humorous and good fun. When we were driving from London to the wedding venue in Essex, a bit of role reversal took place as my mum and one of her sisters were acting like rambunctious teenagers. In contrast, myself, my cousin, and brother took the role of the stern parent. One bit of solace I can take from that short drive is that I have most definitely inherited my own rambunctious tendencies from my dear mother, thus cementing the fact that I have indeed inherited her best qualities.
We have come to everybody's favorite section, food and drink. We found ourselves enjoying the food significantly across the various cities we visited. In Mainz (just outside Frankfurt), I revisited an Italin restaurant, Da Vito, I previously went to back in 2021 when Singapore was first experimenting with travel. The food I can safely say is still excellent, and I am glad I got to share it with mum.
In Brussels, we enjoyed some classic waffles (both sweet and savory) and some remarkable Lebanese food (a literal food coma occurred after this meal).
In the UK, we ended up sampling some of its national cuisine, Indian food, with our personal favorite being the absolutely fabulous restaurant Gymkhana (I strongly recommend their lunch menu; it is excellent value for money).
Mum is also a big fan of the chef Ottolenghi and so we had to try one of his restaurants in London.
I also paid a visit to an old friend, Borough Market where I indulged in a pita sandwich and a frozen cider, perfect for a June afternoon.
Within the UK, my brother and I, while exploring the quaint town of Salisbury, found a small hotel serving up a delectable afternoon tea for the princely sum of £5. It included a pot of tea, hilariously buttery scones with jam and clotted cream.
I also ended up revisiting a bar that my Georgian friend David took me to on my last visit, Opium, with an old Skidmore friend of mine, Naira. They have an excellent range of dumplings paired with awfully potent cocktails.
*Insert food photos of dumplings (I ended up committing a cardinal blogger sin and forgot to take photos of the dumplings*
Across the channel in France, my aunt, now in Paris, treated us to some of her favorite cheeses and several bottles of excellent wine, a trend that will continue as we ventured on the TGV to Dijon and Burgundy.
In Burgundy, we spent a couple of days educating ourselves on the rich history of wine growing in the region and exploring it in some traditional modes of transport, an electric assisted bicycle, and a Citroen 2CV. The 2CV was driven by our guide Gaetan from My French Tour, who provided an excellent tour as we explored the stunning scenery, which was appropriately paired with multiple tastings. While exploring Beaune, we enjoyed simple pleasures when it came to food, namely croissants, and sandwiches, all of which were sublime owing to the quality of the produce. It would be rude of me to not mention some of the wines we enjoyed in this region. We learned that the Burgundy region in France is known more for its rich variety of white wines over reds (not to discount the pinot noirs we had). Gaetan, our guide who grew up in the region, highlighted the narrow channel between the hills and the flat lands where the wine grows and the different grading systems. I garnered a newfound appreciation for the region's wine growers and the fantastic produce.
Our time in this veritable Eden came to an end as we ventured to our last country, Switzerland. We only visited Zurich, but exploring the city we had spent barely a day in on our previous visit was great. The biggest highlight of our short venture in Zurich was the Lindt chocolate factory. It is definitely well worth the holiday. My favorite aspect of the tour is the remarkably sassy mobile audio guide commenting on what she described as the ill intentions of the colonial powers when exploring the world for cocoa beans. The tour did include numerous opportunities for tasting, and no, I have to preface I am not the biggest chocolate fan, but I had an absolute field day with the tasting. I did become mildly hyper with my poor mother and brother having to deal with my nonsense and "zoomies." An unexpected highlight came in the form of the restaurant Haus Hiltl, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the Western world at over 125 years old. They have a proper a la carte menu, but the three of us ended up enjoying the buffet, which is priced by weight, so for those buffet fans among you, you need to strategize accordingly.
Now we come to a fun section of the highlights: the amazing trains we rode in Europe. From a young age, I have always had a great love of all things trains, and with the region of western Europe being a hub for all things high-speed rail (DB's ICE is a bit of a stretch here), I was having a field day. Train travel, I find, is indeed a civilized way to cross a continent, I felt relaxed the entire time and found myself to be surprisingly productive while on the rails cruising at 300-320 kilometers an hour. We took the French TGV, everyone's favorite German ICE, and the Eurostar during this trip.
My train highlights were the Eurostar that took us under the water to the UK from the Schengen travel zone and an old steam train my brother and I took in the UK. It is important to note that this is not just any steam train, but THE steam train – the legendary Flying Scotsman. Named for the London to Edinburgh service, the A3 class steam train from the UK became famous for being one of the first trains to hit 100 mph on mainline service and has driven more than several billion miles. It is a celebrated train, and 2023 was its centenary. For its centenary, the current owners, the national railway museum, were running special rail tours, and one lined up nicely with our travel dates. My brother and I could not miss the opportunity to cross off the ultimate train lovers bucket list, a journey on the Flying Scotsman. It was one of my favorite days out with my brother as our rail tour took us to Salisbury, home to a beautiful Cathedral and an honestly excellently priced afternoon tea. The best part was simply that my brother and I enjoyed each other's company and crossed off a childhood bucket list item that the two of us could not imagine doing.
Trip reflections:
The trip to Europe might have been one of the better family holidays the three of us have been on in recent history. I suppose the previous stresses that had plagued some of our earlier trips were gone, and we could finally focus on truly enjoying the destination. It was lovely just seeing my mum happy and enjoying a trip, plus witnessing her rambunctious tendencies. On this trip, I was truly spoiled by the quality of the food I consumed; there is not much more to say other than that vegetarian food in Europe is truly outstanding. I cannot forget the trains; my inner child had an epic time on the rails. It reaffirmed how the train is the superior mode of transport for regional/short-haul travel. I am hoping for another adventure like this with my family, as we found a great travel dynamic together.