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We just returned from a 3 day trip to Strasbourg, France. One of my favorite cities, it's a short 2-hour drive from Mainz and there is a ton to see. Day 1:  We stayed at the budget-friendly, well-located, and cozy Hotel Roses . Though they don't have parking, the lot across the street was reasonable (20 euros max per day, but very narrow parking spots and driveways - proceed with caution!). Our first room was not renovated but still well appointed; we moved to a triple room the next night which had ample space for our family of 4 (2 under 4). Overall I was really happy with the hotel - location, staff, amenities, price were all perfect for a weekend getaway. We spent the first day wandering the pedestrian area by the Notre Dame where we also saw the Astronomical clock (though we missed it go on at noon) and eating some very delicious ice cream (useful note - no takeaway ice cream allowed at the tables - so we had to find a place to sit near the church!). After a fantas

The other day I had it. I threw up my hands in frustration. Why didn't we just get real tv already? Why does Chromecast give me such a headache? (clarification: it's usually not the Chromecast, but either our network or more often, our macbooks) Why can't I just turn on the news for a minute? Thus, the list below. I'm already enjoying a livestream of Sky News and the option to flip over to a marathon of That '70s Show. Ah, the familiar background noise of tv...  We use a (paid) VPN service to access delayed tv, and there are a lot of livestreams available as well; here's the list so far:  Live Channels: ABC Live Click2Houston  (Channel 2 Houston News) MSNBC Live Al Jazeera Live Sky News   (off VPN) CNN   NDTV India Reuters TV   Deutsche Welle English France 24 English Bloomberg   Washington Post Live Comedy Central  Fox CBS News BBC USTVNow  - the free version is good, the paid / HD version is really impressive!

Ah, the Palatinate Forest... it doesn't quite roll off the tongue like Bordeaux, France, but it was a truly hidden gem just 90 minutes from Mainz. Therefore it made for the perfect weekend getaway with kids! Day 1: We stayed at the lovely Villa Maria in Hinterweidenthal. For about 100 euros / night, we had a huge room, giant bathroom, and breakfast. The hotel also had a big garden outside and indoor sitting area (with wine and beer that could be purchased). It was so relaxing and I couldn't help but think what it must have been like living here when it was originally built. Across the street (a bit noisy, even at night) there was a daytime market with yummy fresh fruit, and just 900 metres away is the Teufelstisch ! We spent at least 3 hours at the playground here the first day, and 2 more the next. The walk all the way to the top is not as hard as it looks, and there is an amazing, giant slide that anyone above the age of 6 can take down. Naturally, we ditched the kids

Before moving here, I was never so aware of the variation that one could have in cleaning products. There are so many options, and it's also a bit tricky to figure out which of the eco-friendly options (should you prefer them) work better among the rest. Here's a starter guide to help out... For really powerful cleaning that's not eco-friendly, but does the job: Bref (any type) and Bleichmittel (bleach) are my go-tos. Persil is great for laundry detergent. DM brands are excellent value as well. For eco-friendly cleaning: Ecover's quality is excellent. Frosch is also very good, and picking up quite the following outside of Europe - most of their products are even made in Germany / Austria! Don't forget to load up on "waschlappen" for scrubbing... For room-by-room cleaning: Kitchen: Ceramic cooktop scraper: you can buy a small tool (I found one at Tchibo ) to scrape food off the cooktop, then scrub it clean. Don't use steel wool, I learned t

One of my new favorite cities... Bordeaux was a beautiful destination to do a bit of city-wandering, playground-visiting, and good-food-eating. If I could go back and rent a car, and explore a bit more outside the city, I could have easily filled up a week. Day 1:  We stayed a bit outside the city at the Mercure Le Lac , since we were tag-alongs to a scientific conference, but right on the tram line - 20 minutes straight to the best place in town, the Miroir d'Eau . On a sunny day, nothing beats people-watching with an ice cream here, or if you have kids, letting them splash and run around. We spent hours here, every day. When the kids got tired, we wandered around the city and let them chill.  We got ice cream here  and wandered over to window shop at Rue Ste Catherine.. then called it an early night to head back up to the hotel.  Day 2 :  We wandered about the Basilica of St Michael and I browsed the flea market for some gorgeous antiques and knickknacks. It was en rou

We recently returned from a very relaxed 5 day trip to Porto, Portugal. Although flight times were a bit on the odd-hours side, we chose Ryanair - 50% cheaper than any other airline to fly, even with car park and seat reservations! We used the extra savings to rent a car & car seats (I'm quickly becoming a fan of Enterprise. They consistently have the lowest prices, and this time even installed the car seats for us!). For 700 euros, we had flights and a car for a family of 4, not bad. The car came in handy as we stayed a little outside of town at a gorgeous apartment by the marina. There was plenty of parking and a Lidl within short driving distance - plus the hosts left us a few bites & port, a fun surprise! You can easily Uber around as well - it's by far the cheapest and fastest method of transport, even compared to driving in and paying for parking. Porto really felt like a great value for excellent food, tourist activities, and parking in town. If we'd ha