We visit Poland and get a warning from the past and a message for the future…

Fresh off the back of a nice easy drive down from Estonia, through Latvia and into Lithuania, Mrs P and I decided that perhaps The Child could handle something a bit more extreme. This next run started in the heart of Poland and we cut west through the country to the Czech Republic. Then we took a sharp turn south into Slovakia and finished in Budapest, Hungary. It gave us some incredible experiences as we visited the spectacular Wieliczka Salt Mine Cathedral in Poland which is 135 meters underground, a Slovakian ski village with no snow, an enormous rip-off of the Houses of Parliament in Budapest and ate one of the best pastrami sandwiches I’ve ever tasted in Brno in the Czech Republic. This was all put into stark and definitive perspective when we visited Auschwitz because this focused centre of such unimaginable cruelty and suffering was harrowing, incredibly thought provoking and very emotional for all three of us.

Malta – Was the Maltese Cross, or is it just me?

I know a lot of people love Malta and on the face of it, there’s a lot to like. A Capital city that’s just won the European City of Culture 2018, great weather, relatively cheap drinks and only a couple of hours flight from the UK. The Mediterranean region is a sure fire hit with the Brits, with temperatures never dipping below the mid 20’s from Spring through to Autumn and the Island of Malta is well placed to take full advantage of our attempts to blend in our Truckers Tans. But it had to come some time; we’ve been to too many amazing places across Europe like Stuttgart, Ljubljana or Helsinki that I knew it couldn’t last – but Malta don’t take it personally, it’s not you, it’s me.

Salzburg and Vienna; the #2MenEUTour goes to Austria

So far on Trip 4 of the #2MenEUTour, it’s been a rampage across central Europe as we’ve taken in Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg and Stuttgart in a non-stop juggernaut of continental culture dunking. But we knew we couldn’t keep that up, we needed somewhere to slow things down for a few days and what better destination to do that than Austria?  Stunning countryside meets fascinating history in this wonderful land of all things Von Trapp.  Home to old skool Music moguls Mozart and Beethoven, the famous Spanish Riding School and of course some of the friendliest locals you could ever hope to meet, all made Austria one of our favourite destinations of the tour so far.

What to do in Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Two Men About Town’s Big Brexit Tour

“Daddy? Why hasn’t the woman standing in that window got any clothes on?”

In accordance to the universal inevitability of Sods Law, of all the things for which Amsterdam is famous, we hit the one I didn’t want to see within 15 minutes of arrival. The Child is often found ignoring her homework, pouring talcum powder down the sink or banging all the drawers and cupboards at 6am with complete and utter disregard to the rest of the household, so why does she choose now of all times to develop an insatiable appetite for those questions a Dad doesn’t want to answer? I attempted evasive manoeuvres into a nearby cafe but were caught in a cross fire:

“Daddy? This place smells funny and those people all have brownies, can I have one please?”

No. No you can’t and actually I’m not really that thirsty anymore. Who wants to go on a boat trip? It was with these childhood innocence ending verbal grenades that The Child kicked off trip 4 of our Big Brexit Tour.

TwoMenAboutTown Big Brexit Tour – England and Scotland #2MenEUTour

And here we go! We’re kicking off on our two year European adventure with the easiest way Mrs P and I could think of to start this exciting/terrifying two year exploration into the mountainous highs and cavernous lows of Europe. We just jumped into the car and drove North to see what happened.

TwoMenAboutTown’s Big Brexit EU Tour

Whether we like it or not, Brexit is coming. Soon no-one will be able to tell us how curly our bananas need to be or what protection we need to give to the most vulnerable in our society, we can make those mistakes all on our own: Lucky us. Here at TwoMenAboutTown we’ve always liked Country Clubs so the thought of leaving one makes us a little bit sad, even if the membership was getting a touch too expensive. Therefore, before the possible glory or potential horror that awaits us arrives once the principle of freedom of movement is removed, we thought we would say goodbye to our European Cousins in our own special way; as it is already well known, the boys have criss-crossed the globe from Canada to Dubai and are not afraid of a bit of long haul travel, so RobsRibs has only gone and decided to visit all 28 EU member states* to give them a damn good cheerio before the fateful day itself as only he knows how.