Dana Burland

I did sit still for a little this weekend… but not for the whole weekend. Today was Ben’s birthday! I made “dark chocolate, extra gooey” brownies per his request and after we spent the afternoon staining our side yard fence together we took said brownies to a concert at Frederik Meijer Gardens with our neighbors. I listened to Ben Folds a lot in high school but haven’t listened to his new stuff at all. My pal Elena said his performance with a live symphony was one of the best concerts she had ever seen. This might not have been the best concert I’ve ever seen but it was impressive and really fun. Also a beautiful night with good friends and a tasty picnic we threw together last minute didn’t hurt.

Never one to sit still, I returned from Europe just to fly into another trip. My family and I had planned to explore Pittsburgh for the 4th of July weekend long before a trip to Europe was on my radar. We spent a long weekend exploring the city and the surrounding areas—and loved it. Pittsburgh reminds me so much of eastern Pennsylvania—windy roads, hilly green farmland, hidden streams and wildflowers and jagged stone sided mountains. We stayed about a half hour outside the city in a small rural town with turkey vultures ( ugh ) in our backyard, pitch black nights and a nearby pay-and-pick farm stand. So charming! Minus the turkey vultures. We visited the National Aviary (which was much cooler than I thought, partly because of a baby sloth!), went 400+ feet up the historic (1877) Duquesne Inline (whoa the views) and walked through the Carnegie Natural History Museum. The highlight of the trip, though, was a day trip out to Mill Run, Pennsylvania to tour Frank Lloy...

This is part five of many recapping my trip to Europe. Read about my fourth leg in Rome , third leg in Switzerland , second leg in France and first leg in Amsterdam (part 1) . Beyond an over-confident moment upon landing in Amsterdam causing our first real traveler’s headache, Amsterdam was great. I played tour guide for Ben and we booked an impromptu day-trip to see the countryside. Amsterdam feels like Seattle in that its climate is cooler with always a chance of rain. We walked around the canal lined streets popping in and out of shops, restaurants and museums and mostly missed the rain. Our day trip to the countryside was a real highlight. We toured a town with working windmills, visited a gouda cheese factory (omg best gouda cheese ever), stopped at a beautiful lakeside town, watched wooden shoes be made and learned more about the Netherlands’ history. We learned most of the country sits below sea level, and canals/rivers run like veins all over its landscape. Ye...

This is part four of many recapping my trip to Europe. Read about my third leg in Switzerland , second leg in France and first leg in Amsterdam . Due to storms we got to our Rome AirBnB near 2am. There was a lot we wanted to see, so we walked all day in 97 degree heat with direct sun. I got a heat rash on my feet to show for it. We loved ancient Rome but wrestled with our feelings about the loud, grandiose and crumbling city today. We did not go hungry in Rome. For breakfast we bought a chunk of cheese, sliced salami, fresh bread and strawberries from a farmer’s market. We ate amazing thin crust pizza, chewy homemade pasta (cacio de pepe for me as I knew it’s famous in Rome), buttery gelato and syrupy tiramisu. I taught Ben what limoncello is through a mini bottle in a brown paper bag. Good thing we walked a lot. The vastness of the ruins is amazing. They’re EVERYWHERE. Ben was wowed at the size of the Colosseum and how amazing it is so much of the structure is in tact. I ...

This is part three of many recapping my trip to Europe. Read about my second leg in France and first leg in Amsterdam . Beyond some light foreigner confusion, the train system to Zurich was pretty easy. Ben and I were both due to arrive at noon but flight delays kept him from Zurich until 7pm. I explored the first day in the city center solo and when he arrived and got situated we decided to take a day the following day. It was hot (90) in Zurich, but beautiful with the Limmat River running through it and the Swiss Alps in the background. The city is fancy—expensive cars, swanky shops, Swiss banks, nice boats in the harbor, etc. I felt very safe walking around solo. A day-trip to neighboring town Lucerne with a ride up Mount Pilatus was recommended by my dad. Lucerne was very charming, but the cogwheel rail ride up almost 7,000 feet to Pilatus Kulm stole the show. During the ride we looked out open air windows onto farms built into the mountain side with cows grazing on th...

This is part two of many recapping my trip to Europe. Read about my first leg in Amsterdam . I stayed and worked in a quiet industrial park area in Schiltigheim while in France. Each day was full of meetings—and delicious cafe latte breaks—but each night my boss organized plans for the group. Schiltigheim city center was nearby and Strasbourg city center was 15 minutes away by bus, which we took advantage of. One night we went to a new brewery in town that felt very Grand Rapids-y. Another night my boss had us to her flat for a pizza dinner. It was so fun to see her everyday French life and to meet her 2-year-old daughter Lucie. Strasbourg is full of cobblestone rues (streets), charming town squares, flowers, shutter-windowed homes and German influenced timer framed buildings. Every street feels like a fairytale—especially Le Petite France, a historical area where the River Ill splits. The Cathedrale Note-Dame de Strasbourg just celebrated its 1,000th birthday (of the sta...

A month and a half ago my team at work got approval to travel to France. Ben and I, having never been to Europe, seized the opportunity and quickly tacked on vacation time to my trip. There’s too much to say about my 11 days overseas for one blog post, so here’s one of many recapping a really great adventure. Amsterdam Central Station I flew direct from Detroit to Amsterdam landing at 7am Sunday morning. I purposefully planning a long layover in Amsterdam en route to France so I could explore the city with coworkers. Together we took a 3-hour walking tour of Amsterdam’s city center. The streets of Amsterdam are beautiful with row houses, bike lanes and canals running through them. Because of faulty foundation many of the houses lean precariously. Our tour guide pointed out hooks at the top of each building where a pulley can be attached to move large items up levels. At 10am the “cafes” were already alive with clouds of pot smoke and a few red light windows were open for...