Day 40 – Tampa, Florida
Woke up very early this morning and so did Paul which is quite unusual. I asked him why he was up so early and his response was – “It’s 12 noon in Paris!!”. I started unpacking and checked on-line and found that they had located our missing bag and it would be delivered sometime today between 8am and 10pm. We had a lot to sort through and a pile of mail to go through.
I have to say that even though it is nice to be back home, our trip just flew by. It never felt like we had been gone all that long as we were so very busy and having such a wonderful time. There were several places that we would have liked to spend more time in and some that one or two days was enough. Paul wasn’t thrilled with Venice and I wasn’t real fond of Rome. We loved Germany but I hated the food. We were both surprised at how much we enjoyed Paris as it is such a big city. London was a lot of fun; Norway was absolutely beautiful as was Germany and Switzerland. We tended to enjoy the countryside more than the city centers although it was great to see all the major sites that we had heard so much about. The ruins in Rome were amazing, the Eiffel Tower beautiful. All of the churches we visited were fantastic with the Sistine Chapel and Notre Dame being my favorites. I loved Europe and would go back in a heartbeat and hope to plan a return in the very near future. Because there is so much to see over there, I’m not sure I would repeat any of the countries I have already been to before seeing the other countries first. I would definitely recommend the Rick Steves Tours to everyone but be prepared to go full speed the entire time. We were lucky that we had a terrific tour group and several great guides. We learned a lot about traveling, such as how to wash your clothes in a sink and string them all across your hotel room to dry!! We are comfortable maneuvering through subway and metro systems. We learned a few words in German, Italian and French and a little about their customs. It is amazing the hard times that they have been through over there with wars and dictators that we have never experienced on American soil. I think everyone should go to the Anne Frank House and Dachau as it is something that we should never forget or stop being horrified at so that something like that can never happen again anywhere.
Well, it’s back to the daily grind and real life for us but we had 6 weeks of living a dream and some fantastic memories to relive in the future.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Day 39 – Paris to Tampa
Got up extremely early to shower, dress and finalize our packing. We were in the lobby before 4am to catch our shuttle. By 4:30 we had determined that they weren’t coming and tried to get the front desk person to call us a cab. He spoke very little English and didn’t seem to be too bright!! The first cab never arrived either and we had to ask him to call another one. We finally got a cab around 5am and headed for the airport. We had been told that the cab would run us about 50€ but the driver insisted on 60€ because he had put our suitcases in and out of the trunk of his cab. We didn’t have time to argue with him so we forked over. Our day was not starting on a positive note!! We finally checked in with the airlines, checked our luggage and headed through security to our boarding gate. We only had about 15 minutes before we started boarding.
Our first flight took us to Milan, Italy. We ran through that airport as they had changed our boarding gate and it was way over in a different wing. Made that plane and settled in for a LONG flight. We were on Alitalia Airlines and I have to say they really treat you well. We were fed a really good meal, given snacks and free wine!! And we each had a little TV in the back of the seat in front of us that allowed us to choose what movie we wanted to watch and we could even play video games. Of course, you can only catch a few minutes of sleep here and there as you are so uncomfortable. Got to JFK, grabbed our luggage, it was all there, to go through customs and then give our luggage back to the airlines for transfer to our next flight. We had enough of a break in flights that we grabbed something to eat and then caught our flight to Atlanta. That flight was uneventful and we arrived in time to catch our final leg of the trip to Tampa. Even though our day had started on the wrong foot, all our flights were pretty much on time and we didn’t run into any real problems. We arrived in Tampa at about 8:45 to find two of our three bags waiting for us. We had to file a claim for our one bag which, of course, was the one we had put the majority of our souvenirs in. Heather came and picked us up and we headed to our home and our first night in our own bed in a long time.
Got up extremely early to shower, dress and finalize our packing. We were in the lobby before 4am to catch our shuttle. By 4:30 we had determined that they weren’t coming and tried to get the front desk person to call us a cab. He spoke very little English and didn’t seem to be too bright!! The first cab never arrived either and we had to ask him to call another one. We finally got a cab around 5am and headed for the airport. We had been told that the cab would run us about 50€ but the driver insisted on 60€ because he had put our suitcases in and out of the trunk of his cab. We didn’t have time to argue with him so we forked over. Our day was not starting on a positive note!! We finally checked in with the airlines, checked our luggage and headed through security to our boarding gate. We only had about 15 minutes before we started boarding.
Our first flight took us to Milan, Italy. We ran through that airport as they had changed our boarding gate and it was way over in a different wing. Made that plane and settled in for a LONG flight. We were on Alitalia Airlines and I have to say they really treat you well. We were fed a really good meal, given snacks and free wine!! And we each had a little TV in the back of the seat in front of us that allowed us to choose what movie we wanted to watch and we could even play video games. Of course, you can only catch a few minutes of sleep here and there as you are so uncomfortable. Got to JFK, grabbed our luggage, it was all there, to go through customs and then give our luggage back to the airlines for transfer to our next flight. We had enough of a break in flights that we grabbed something to eat and then caught our flight to Atlanta. That flight was uneventful and we arrived in time to catch our final leg of the trip to Tampa. Even though our day had started on the wrong foot, all our flights were pretty much on time and we didn’t run into any real problems. We arrived in Tampa at about 8:45 to find two of our three bags waiting for us. We had to file a claim for our one bag which, of course, was the one we had put the majority of our souvenirs in. Heather came and picked us up and we headed to our home and our first night in our own bed in a long time.
Day 38 - Paris, France
This is our last day in Paris. I guess it was appropriate that it should be raining as that is how we started the trip and how we will end it.
Since our breakfast is no longer included in our room fee and they want 8.50€ for a bowl of cereal we decided to walk over to a little place that would give us a Rick Steves breakfast discount and we could get an “American” breakfast that included ham & eggs.
Day 38 – Paris, France
Our plan for today is to see Napoleon’s Tomb and go up in the Eiffel Tower. We walked to the Tomb in a fair downpour and saw a group on a Segway tour in the rain – that must have been miserable!! The Tomb is inside so we were able to get out of the rain for a while. They also have a Military Museum included in the ticket and our book had said that the World War I & II exhibits were quite good. The Tomb is quite impressive. I think they said he is in like 4-6 caskets in all. The outer casket is quite large and sits on a pedestal in a circular room with friezes of Napoleon along the outside wall. The building it is in is actually a church and Napoleon’s two brothers are also there along with a couple of military leaders that are quite well known in France. The museum was very interesting also and we spent several hours seeing it all.
We headed back to the hotel before going on to the Eiffel Tower and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and some pastries from a boulanger along the way. We ate in the lobby and then walked to the Tower. It was still raining but had turned to more of a drizzle by this time. Because of the foul weather the lines to purchase tickets to go up in the Tower were much shorter than those we had seen over the past couple of days. We decided to only go to the second level as the views from there are better and because of my fear of heights. By the time we got up to the second level, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. Even though we were only on the second level, our ears were popping. We had some great views and took numerous pictures. There were gift shops up there so we did a little shopping as we really had not found any tacky tourist gift shops anywhere in Paris. Paul tried to talk me into going on up to the top but I refused. We headed back down and back to the hotel for a rest before going out for dinner.
We went to a little cafe just around the corner from our hotel for dinner. They have outdoor seating and had a plastic barrier up to protect us from the rain if it started up again. We ordered chicken and mashed potatoes and expected to get a skimpy serving again. They brought out a huge portion of food that also included some salad which we hadn’t had in quite a while. It was very good and we, of course, had some beer and wine!! Back to the hotel to be sure we are all packed up and ready to go as we have reserved a shuttle to the airport and it is supposed to pick us up at 4am – YUCK!!
This is our last day in Paris. I guess it was appropriate that it should be raining as that is how we started the trip and how we will end it.
Since our breakfast is no longer included in our room fee and they want 8.50€ for a bowl of cereal we decided to walk over to a little place that would give us a Rick Steves breakfast discount and we could get an “American” breakfast that included ham & eggs.
Day 38 – Paris, France
Our plan for today is to see Napoleon’s Tomb and go up in the Eiffel Tower. We walked to the Tomb in a fair downpour and saw a group on a Segway tour in the rain – that must have been miserable!! The Tomb is inside so we were able to get out of the rain for a while. They also have a Military Museum included in the ticket and our book had said that the World War I & II exhibits were quite good. The Tomb is quite impressive. I think they said he is in like 4-6 caskets in all. The outer casket is quite large and sits on a pedestal in a circular room with friezes of Napoleon along the outside wall. The building it is in is actually a church and Napoleon’s two brothers are also there along with a couple of military leaders that are quite well known in France. The museum was very interesting also and we spent several hours seeing it all.
We headed back to the hotel before going on to the Eiffel Tower and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and some pastries from a boulanger along the way. We ate in the lobby and then walked to the Tower. It was still raining but had turned to more of a drizzle by this time. Because of the foul weather the lines to purchase tickets to go up in the Tower were much shorter than those we had seen over the past couple of days. We decided to only go to the second level as the views from there are better and because of my fear of heights. By the time we got up to the second level, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. Even though we were only on the second level, our ears were popping. We had some great views and took numerous pictures. There were gift shops up there so we did a little shopping as we really had not found any tacky tourist gift shops anywhere in Paris. Paul tried to talk me into going on up to the top but I refused. We headed back down and back to the hotel for a rest before going out for dinner.
We went to a little cafe just around the corner from our hotel for dinner. They have outdoor seating and had a plastic barrier up to protect us from the rain if it started up again. We ordered chicken and mashed potatoes and expected to get a skimpy serving again. They brought out a huge portion of food that also included some salad which we hadn’t had in quite a while. It was very good and we, of course, had some beer and wine!! Back to the hotel to be sure we are all packed up and ready to go as we have reserved a shuttle to the airport and it is supposed to pick us up at 4am – YUCK!!
Day 37 – Paris, France
Saw most of our tour members this morning for breakfast. Quite a few of us are staying another day or so in Paris before returning home.
Since Paul and I wanted to catch the first train to Versailles, we ate a hurried breakfast and headed to the train station. Jackie and Ray caught up with us and while we were waiting for the train we met up with another couple from the US who were sitting waiting with a Rick Steves book in their hand. They were doing their own tour using his book as a guide. It is amazing how many people you see in Europe carting around his books!!
When the train arrived, we boarded and found that David and Linda from our group were already on it – they had walked to a different station to board. The ride to Versailles was about 40 minutes long and then we had a 10 minute walk to the entrance.
Versailles it absolutely massive. Louis XIV built it as his country hunting lodge. He continued to expand it until it became overwhelmingly large. At that point, he decided he needed to build another home away from his vacation home and built another mansion a little further back on the property. His wife, Marie Antoinette, also decided she needed another home and built a smaller place not far from her husbands place. She also decided that she needed to get closer to the people at times and built a 12 building farming village on the property. The gardens are beautiful and there are numerous fountains of different sizes that only run on the weekends and they play accompanying music.
My favorite part of Versailles, besides the gardens and fountains, was the farming village. They have maintained the exteriors of the buildings, you can’t go inside any of them, and the gardens around the buildings have been maintained, including the vegetable gardens and vineyards. The main farm building has quite a bit of livestock including, cows, horses, sheep, pigs, rabbits and chickens.
We arrived at Versailles at around 9am and stayed until after 4pm. It was a beautiful day and not too hot. This is where we met our first rude Parisian. They have a Petit Train that runs throughout the grounds and our all encompassing ticket included transportation on this train. We stopped at a loading point and asked the driver if he went to a certain area of the grounds that we wanted to visit. He told us that he did not go there. I asked him if we could catch a different train at that stop that would get us there and he informed me that “No, You can walk!!” Soooooo, we took off walking. As we arrived at our destination, up drives the same gentleman we had spoken to in his train. I was not too pleased. We finished our sightseeing in that area and got in line to at least catch the train back to the castle. Who drives up but the same man. We showed him our tickets and he refused to accept them, said we had to purchase additional ride tickets from him at 3.50€ each. After we got off the train, we asked another employee of Versailles if our tickets covered riding the train and we were told that yes they did cover it. We were seeing red by this time but there wasn’t much we could do about it. We thought about asking for our money back but the lines to talk to anyone were extremely long and not worth the small amount we had paid. Oh well!!
Got back to our hotel and ran into some of the others that were in our tour group and made arrangements to join them for dinner later. We walked to a recommended restaurant and had a terrific but somewhat expensive meal. Paul and I opted out of dessert and went to see if we could find a pastry shop open. Most places are closed on Sundays, or only open half a day, and quite a few are also closed on Mondays so we didn’t have any luck finding some pastry. Our dinner, though expensive, had been somewhat skimpy so we were both still a little hungry. We decided to just go to sleep so we wouldn’t know we were hungry.
Day 36 – Paris, France
We had breakfast at the hotel and then gathered to take the Metro to the Louvre. We had a local guide and used headsets again. Our first view of the museum was of the glass pyramid. It is a really neat thing to see.
Our guide basically hit the highlights of the Louvre, starting with sculpture and then we went to see the Mona Lisa. I didn’t realize that it was painted on a small piece of wood. It is hanging out in the open, no traffic control, but it does have a sheet of bullet-proof glass hanging in front of it. They were allowing people to take pictures of it but we had been told that if you use a flash, after being told not to, that the glass was specially made that all you would get on your film was a glare and you wouldn’t be able to see the picture at all. Besides the Mona Lisa, we saw Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, the inverted pyramid, the Slaves by Michelangelo and then Paul and I went back in to go through the Egyptian portion of the museum to see the sarcophagi and other items from that time. The Louvre is absolutely huge. It could take days if not weeks to see everything in it. It was originally a castle for the king and if you go down to the very lowest level you can see the original moat and base of the castle that has been incorporated into the current building.
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Since the Louvre is fairly close to the Champs-Elysees, we walked through the Tuileries Garden, grabbed a sandwich from a shop in the garden, ate it on one of the park benches and then strolled down the Camps-Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe.
They were setting up the bleachers all along the street getting ready for the finals of the Tour de France. There are high-end stores all along the street and several car dealerships, Toyota, Peugeot and Mercedes. The traffic around the Arc is so bad that you aren’t allowed to cross the street there. They have built an underground tunnel to get you over the island where the Arc was constructed. We used our Museum Pass to climb to the top of the Arc so that we could take pictures of Paris. There were about 284 steps but it was well worth the effort. We took the Metro back to the closest train station to our hotel so that we could purchase our passes for our trip to Versailles tomorrow and them back to our room to rest for a while as we were pretty beat.
Our group gathered again for our last dinner together. We walked over to a restaurant and were given a menu to choose our meal from. We started with Kir in white wine and then had a choice of starter, our entree and a dessert plus Jennifer had ordered red wine for everyone. We all had a great time and we took a group picture in front of the restaurant to remember our tour together. Jennifer had told us all day that she had a special treat set up for us after dinner. She finally revealed that we were all going on an evening cruise of the Seine River. We walked past the Eiffel to the dock and got on a tour boat. We sat out back in the open and went on an hour long trip up and back down the Seine where we could see the different areas of the city all lit up. She provided us with champagne and then gave each of us a small Eiffel tower as a souvenir. We walked back to our hotel and told the members who were leaving early the next morning goodbye.
Another wonderful day in Paris. We had been told that Paris was dirty and that the people here were rude and hated Americans. We have found the city to be very clean and everyone we have met so far has been very nice and helpful. Paul and I are really looking forward to our trip to Versailles tomorrow. There are several others in the group that are going also so I’m sure we will see them.
Day 35 – Beaune to Paris, France
We left Beaune fairly early this morning to head for Paris. It was drizzling rain so we had to haul our luggage through the rain to the bus. Our luggage has increased in size and weight and with Paul’s back bothering him I am having to haul most of the stuff around. It rained for most of our 4 hour bus ride but by the time we got to Paris, it was sunny and cool.
We checked into our hotel and this time we have air conditioning but no shower curtain on the tub but it has a shower head in it. We aren’t sure exactly how we are going to take a shower without soaking the floor in the bathroom and Paul can’t sit down in the tub or he will never get out.
We are on our own for lunch so we walked down to the pedestrian street close to our hotel, found a place that sold already made sandwiches and had some lunch sitting out at a table on the sidewalk. The place also sold all kinds of pastries so we tried a couple of those also.
The group met back at the hotel and we all walked to the closest Metro station to go to Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame. Sainte-Chapelle had two floors. The poor people worshiped on the lower floor and the nobility on the upper floor. You enter the church on the lower floor and you really aren’t very impressed. You then have to climb a circular stone stairway up to the main part of the church and as you emerge you are stunned with the stained glass windows. Every window in the church is brilliant stained glass and the windows are extremely tall. There are statues of the different apostles ringing the sanctuary and a gorgeous gold altar that was under renovation when we got there so we really didn’t get to see it very well – bought the postcard!!
We hopped back on the Metro to get over to Notre Dame. When we came up from the Metro station, we saw a huge area of sand. Once a year in Paris they haul in tons of sand and set up a beach area in the middle of Paris. They were out there playing volleyball and football. This is supposed to encourage the Parisians to get outside and to be content with city life. We walked over to Notre Dame and Jennifer talked to us about the exterior of the church and what we would see on the inside then we were set free to explore the church. They were having a service while we were in there but this is typical for that church. They allow tourists to go through even though they are holding services. They do have a certain area that you aren’t allowed to go into unless you are joining in the service. We walked around to see the different little chapels ringing the church. We joined the group again to travel back to our hotel. We were on our own for dinner and joined up with Barbara, Bruce and Jeff and went to a little restaurant, Leo le Lion, just a couple of doors down from our hotel. One of the big things that they do in Paris is sell you dinner by “plat”. This means they have a set price and you can either choose your three courses from a special menu or the menu is already set for you. You have to ask for the carte rather than the menu if you want to buy your food item by item.
After a delicious, but expensive, dinner, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up at night. When we got there now only was it lit up but it was sparkling which was just beautiful. As we watched and took pictures, it stopped sparkling and we discovered that it only sparkles for 10 minutes at the top of the hour.
Back to the hotel after a wonderful first day in Paris.
We left Beaune fairly early this morning to head for Paris. It was drizzling rain so we had to haul our luggage through the rain to the bus. Our luggage has increased in size and weight and with Paul’s back bothering him I am having to haul most of the stuff around. It rained for most of our 4 hour bus ride but by the time we got to Paris, it was sunny and cool.
We checked into our hotel and this time we have air conditioning but no shower curtain on the tub but it has a shower head in it. We aren’t sure exactly how we are going to take a shower without soaking the floor in the bathroom and Paul can’t sit down in the tub or he will never get out.
We are on our own for lunch so we walked down to the pedestrian street close to our hotel, found a place that sold already made sandwiches and had some lunch sitting out at a table on the sidewalk. The place also sold all kinds of pastries so we tried a couple of those also.
The group met back at the hotel and we all walked to the closest Metro station to go to Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame. Sainte-Chapelle had two floors. The poor people worshiped on the lower floor and the nobility on the upper floor. You enter the church on the lower floor and you really aren’t very impressed. You then have to climb a circular stone stairway up to the main part of the church and as you emerge you are stunned with the stained glass windows. Every window in the church is brilliant stained glass and the windows are extremely tall. There are statues of the different apostles ringing the sanctuary and a gorgeous gold altar that was under renovation when we got there so we really didn’t get to see it very well – bought the postcard!!
We hopped back on the Metro to get over to Notre Dame. When we came up from the Metro station, we saw a huge area of sand. Once a year in Paris they haul in tons of sand and set up a beach area in the middle of Paris. They were out there playing volleyball and football. This is supposed to encourage the Parisians to get outside and to be content with city life. We walked over to Notre Dame and Jennifer talked to us about the exterior of the church and what we would see on the inside then we were set free to explore the church. They were having a service while we were in there but this is typical for that church. They allow tourists to go through even though they are holding services. They do have a certain area that you aren’t allowed to go into unless you are joining in the service. We walked around to see the different little chapels ringing the church. We joined the group again to travel back to our hotel. We were on our own for dinner and joined up with Barbara, Bruce and Jeff and went to a little restaurant, Leo le Lion, just a couple of doors down from our hotel. One of the big things that they do in Paris is sell you dinner by “plat”. This means they have a set price and you can either choose your three courses from a special menu or the menu is already set for you. You have to ask for the carte rather than the menu if you want to buy your food item by item.
After a delicious, but expensive, dinner, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up at night. When we got there now only was it lit up but it was sparkling which was just beautiful. As we watched and took pictures, it stopped sparkling and we discovered that it only sparkles for 10 minutes at the top of the hour.
Back to the hotel after a wonderful first day in Paris.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Day 34 – Lauterbrunnen to Beaune, France
We left fairly early this morning to head for France. The scenery as we leave is absolutely beautiful. I will miss Switzerland and wish we could spend more time here. We made our first rest stop in Switzerland and everybody wanted to use up their Swiss Francs and so we all loaded up on Swiss chocolates. We stopped for lunch at a French rest stop that was attached to a fairly large shopping mall. They had delicious food and a lot of choices. The scenery has changed again from mountains to hills and the French countryside is covered in vineyards.
We arrived in Beaune and jumped off the bus and hauled our luggage to the hotel. It is a very old place that wanders in all kinds of directions and has several courtyards. There aren’t any elevators but our room is only on the second floor but the steps are very narrow and curved so it was a bit of a chore to get our suitcases to the room. Unfortunately it isn’t air conditioned and our room opens up onto the street so we can’t leave our window open.
We all met for a quick orientation of the town and then we were free to wander around before meeting up again for a tour of a winery and wine tasting. I did a little shopping and we wandered around until we found a church that we went into and took some pictures. Time for our winery tour and we went down in the cellars that are extremely old. When they excavated the tunnels they found tombs for some monks that were in the area. Part of the winery building was a church at one time and the monks were usually buried under the church. We only tasted three of their wines and some cassis but we didn’t buy anything as we didn’t want to have to haul it around. From the winery we walked over to a nearby restaurant for a group dinner. Jennifer had chosen the menu and we were to have a true Burgundian meal as Beaune is in the Burgundy region of France. We started out with escargot and parsley ham that was in clear jelly stuff. Not very appetizing looking but we tried it and it was actually very good. In France they normally eat 2-5 courses at their meals and take a minimum of 2 hours to eat. We all had beef burgundy for our entree and then a cheese plate for our dessert which is very common here.
Everybody headed back to the hotel – we leave for Paris in the morning.
We left fairly early this morning to head for France. The scenery as we leave is absolutely beautiful. I will miss Switzerland and wish we could spend more time here. We made our first rest stop in Switzerland and everybody wanted to use up their Swiss Francs and so we all loaded up on Swiss chocolates. We stopped for lunch at a French rest stop that was attached to a fairly large shopping mall. They had delicious food and a lot of choices. The scenery has changed again from mountains to hills and the French countryside is covered in vineyards.
We arrived in Beaune and jumped off the bus and hauled our luggage to the hotel. It is a very old place that wanders in all kinds of directions and has several courtyards. There aren’t any elevators but our room is only on the second floor but the steps are very narrow and curved so it was a bit of a chore to get our suitcases to the room. Unfortunately it isn’t air conditioned and our room opens up onto the street so we can’t leave our window open.
We all met for a quick orientation of the town and then we were free to wander around before meeting up again for a tour of a winery and wine tasting. I did a little shopping and we wandered around until we found a church that we went into and took some pictures. Time for our winery tour and we went down in the cellars that are extremely old. When they excavated the tunnels they found tombs for some monks that were in the area. Part of the winery building was a church at one time and the monks were usually buried under the church. We only tasted three of their wines and some cassis but we didn’t buy anything as we didn’t want to have to haul it around. From the winery we walked over to a nearby restaurant for a group dinner. Jennifer had chosen the menu and we were to have a true Burgundian meal as Beaune is in the Burgundy region of France. We started out with escargot and parsley ham that was in clear jelly stuff. Not very appetizing looking but we tried it and it was actually very good. In France they normally eat 2-5 courses at their meals and take a minimum of 2 hours to eat. We all had beef burgundy for our entree and then a cheese plate for our dessert which is very common here.
Everybody headed back to the hotel – we leave for Paris in the morning.
Day 33 – Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland
Jennifer had planned to start early this morning and take the gondola up to the top of the Shilthorn. We had our breakfast, packed our jackets and boarded the bus to go to the lift station. Our gondola was the first of the day and we had to change at three different stops. When we finally got to the top, the clouds had moved in and we couldn’t see down into the valley nor could we see the other mountain peaks. We were very disappointed but decided to wait around on top to see if the happened to get a break in the clouds. We were rewarded in a short time as the clouds parted and we were given views of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountaintops. It also cleared up enough at one time to get some views down into the valley. We all went into the rotating restaurant on top of the Shilthorn and had hot cocoa and then headed back down the mountain by gondola until we reached the Murren stop. From Murren, we hiked the trail down the mountain to Grotschalp. It was a fairly flat path, an easy walk with beautiful views. Lower down the mountain, the clouds were gone and we could see for miles.
Our group walked until we came across a restaurant out in the middle of nowhere and we stopped to have a bite of lunch. They had an outside terrace where we ate with views of the mountaintops. Next door to the restaurant was a little shop where they made cheese and a display of the cow bells that they use in competitions. They try to have the largest and most elaborate cow bells in this area and some of the bells were HUGE!!]
When we reached Grotschalp, we took another gondola down the remainder of the mountain and ended up very close to our hotel. We took a quick break and then headed down the main street of Lauterbrunnen to catch the bus over to Trummelbach Falls. You take an elevator up to the top part of the falls and then stairs into the mountain to actually see the falls as they shoot through the inside of the mountain. The water is the glacier runoff from the three main mountain peaks in the area. The force of the water is unbelievable and that is how it managed to carve out paths through the mountain. There are numerous views of the falls and they have placed lighting inside the mountain to give you better views. You get fairly wet seeing these falls just from the mist that is generated as the water crashes into the sides of the mountain and sprays outward and upward.
Paul and I had reservations to eat at the restaurant in our hotel and we also wanted to head over to the laundromat to try and get some clothes washed. We got a load going, took a quick rest in our room and then headed down for dinner. During the afternoon, thunderstorms had moved in but we were able to eat outside on the porch as they had awnings up.
We leave for Beaune, France in the morning. We loved Switzerland and the scenery. There were numerous other trails that I would have loved to explore. This is a place that I would definitely want to come back to.
Jennifer had planned to start early this morning and take the gondola up to the top of the Shilthorn. We had our breakfast, packed our jackets and boarded the bus to go to the lift station. Our gondola was the first of the day and we had to change at three different stops. When we finally got to the top, the clouds had moved in and we couldn’t see down into the valley nor could we see the other mountain peaks. We were very disappointed but decided to wait around on top to see if the happened to get a break in the clouds. We were rewarded in a short time as the clouds parted and we were given views of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountaintops. It also cleared up enough at one time to get some views down into the valley. We all went into the rotating restaurant on top of the Shilthorn and had hot cocoa and then headed back down the mountain by gondola until we reached the Murren stop. From Murren, we hiked the trail down the mountain to Grotschalp. It was a fairly flat path, an easy walk with beautiful views. Lower down the mountain, the clouds were gone and we could see for miles.
Our group walked until we came across a restaurant out in the middle of nowhere and we stopped to have a bite of lunch. They had an outside terrace where we ate with views of the mountaintops. Next door to the restaurant was a little shop where they made cheese and a display of the cow bells that they use in competitions. They try to have the largest and most elaborate cow bells in this area and some of the bells were HUGE!!]
When we reached Grotschalp, we took another gondola down the remainder of the mountain and ended up very close to our hotel. We took a quick break and then headed down the main street of Lauterbrunnen to catch the bus over to Trummelbach Falls. You take an elevator up to the top part of the falls and then stairs into the mountain to actually see the falls as they shoot through the inside of the mountain. The water is the glacier runoff from the three main mountain peaks in the area. The force of the water is unbelievable and that is how it managed to carve out paths through the mountain. There are numerous views of the falls and they have placed lighting inside the mountain to give you better views. You get fairly wet seeing these falls just from the mist that is generated as the water crashes into the sides of the mountain and sprays outward and upward.
Paul and I had reservations to eat at the restaurant in our hotel and we also wanted to head over to the laundromat to try and get some clothes washed. We got a load going, took a quick rest in our room and then headed down for dinner. During the afternoon, thunderstorms had moved in but we were able to eat outside on the porch as they had awnings up.
We leave for Beaune, France in the morning. We loved Switzerland and the scenery. There were numerous other trails that I would have loved to explore. This is a place that I would definitely want to come back to.
Day 32 – Cinque Terre to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.
We had another early morning as we have an 8-9 hour drive today. We walked to the train station, took the train back to Levanto and met up with Alfonso and the bus there. We stopped at another Auto Grill for lunch except this one was operated by another company. The restaurant was really nice and they have so much freshly made food to choose from in these things it is unbelievable. They actually bake their own bread here.
The ride into Lauterbrunnen was twisty and several people on the bus were having problems with car sickness. I happened to get a front seat where I could look out the front windshield so I didn’t have a problem. The countryside was beautiful and we started to see the snow covered mountains. The buildings were mostly stone on the bottom and timber on the top and again, we see lots of flower boxes at the windows.
We arrived in Lauterbrunnen late in the afternoon. Our hotel is an old Swiss looking building with no air conditioning and lots of stairs. Our room was on the third floor which was a bit of a challenge as I am hauling all the luggage to try and help with Paul’s back. He is doing better today and we want to keep it that way.
After dumping our luggage in our room, we took off to see the town. There is a huge waterfall very close to the hotel and we walked up there to take pictures of it. Our group had dinner together tonight in the hotel. Their specialty is cheese fondue. They prepared a couple of large pots of the fondue for our group and we all got up to try it. We dipped chunks of bread from the local bakery in the cheese and it was very good. Since we are in the German speaking part of Switzerland we had SAUSAGE!! and something called a “rosti” which is basically a big hash brown patty with gravy for dinner. Switzerland is kind of divided into three sections – Italian, German and French. They do have a language of their own, not Swiss, that is only spoken in more remote areas of the country and usually by the older generation only.
After dinner, Paul and I walked up to the waterfall, Staubbach Waterfall, again to take more pictures as it is lit up at night. Once we got our pictures, we headed off to bed. We noticed that the floor in our room slanted and the head of the bed went downhill. We decided to sleep in the other direction. It is fairly warm here so we left the doors onto the patio open for the night to keep things cool. Also, they don’t use top sheets in Europe so the only thing you can cover up with is like a duvet which is pretty heavy unless it is a cool night.
We had another early morning as we have an 8-9 hour drive today. We walked to the train station, took the train back to Levanto and met up with Alfonso and the bus there. We stopped at another Auto Grill for lunch except this one was operated by another company. The restaurant was really nice and they have so much freshly made food to choose from in these things it is unbelievable. They actually bake their own bread here.
The ride into Lauterbrunnen was twisty and several people on the bus were having problems with car sickness. I happened to get a front seat where I could look out the front windshield so I didn’t have a problem. The countryside was beautiful and we started to see the snow covered mountains. The buildings were mostly stone on the bottom and timber on the top and again, we see lots of flower boxes at the windows.
We arrived in Lauterbrunnen late in the afternoon. Our hotel is an old Swiss looking building with no air conditioning and lots of stairs. Our room was on the third floor which was a bit of a challenge as I am hauling all the luggage to try and help with Paul’s back. He is doing better today and we want to keep it that way.
After dumping our luggage in our room, we took off to see the town. There is a huge waterfall very close to the hotel and we walked up there to take pictures of it. Our group had dinner together tonight in the hotel. Their specialty is cheese fondue. They prepared a couple of large pots of the fondue for our group and we all got up to try it. We dipped chunks of bread from the local bakery in the cheese and it was very good. Since we are in the German speaking part of Switzerland we had SAUSAGE!! and something called a “rosti” which is basically a big hash brown patty with gravy for dinner. Switzerland is kind of divided into three sections – Italian, German and French. They do have a language of their own, not Swiss, that is only spoken in more remote areas of the country and usually by the older generation only.
After dinner, Paul and I walked up to the waterfall, Staubbach Waterfall, again to take more pictures as it is lit up at night. Once we got our pictures, we headed off to bed. We noticed that the floor in our room slanted and the head of the bed went downhill. We decided to sleep in the other direction. It is fairly warm here so we left the doors onto the patio open for the night to keep things cool. Also, they don’t use top sheets in Europe so the only thing you can cover up with is like a duvet which is pretty heavy unless it is a cool night.
Day 31 – Cinque Terre, Italy
Had some breakfast this morning and Paul decided that his back was still bothering him too much to go out sightseeing so I joined another group for the day. We took a trail to the next city, Vernazza, and spent some time checking out the town and taking pictures. Then we got back on the train and took it to the last town Riomaggiore. We walked through the town and then hiked the Via Dell Amore, Walk of Love, to the next town, Manarola, Italy. This is a level, paved trail with fantastic views. Towards the end of the trail is a little carved seat of two people kissing. The seat and the railing around it are covered in locks. This is where a couple pledge their love forever and put the lock around the railing, lock it and throw the key into the sea.
We then took a boat back to Vernazza and had lunch up on top of a hill at Ristorante Castello. The views were incredible. We could see the sea off one side of the patio and the little town of Vernazza on the other. After lunch the group decided to take the train back to Monterosso. I wasn’t ready to call it a day so I headed over into Old Town of Monterosso to do some sightseeing and shopping. I found the little sanctuary for the Oratory of the Dead. This was a brotherhood, kind of like a religious Rotary Club, whose responsibility was to arrange funerals and take care of widows and orphans. The decoration in the sanctuary included a lot of skeletons and skulls mixed in with angels and crucifixes. Very unusual and interesting.
We had dinner as a group tonight. We ate at a family restaurant and the grandmother and her two grandchildren made fresh pesto for us and gave us all the recipe. We then had their specialty of pesto lasagna, swordfish with caper sauce, salad a dessert and a small glass of dessert wine to sip.
Paul and I headed back to the hotel after dinner for an early night and to rest his back.
Had some breakfast this morning and Paul decided that his back was still bothering him too much to go out sightseeing so I joined another group for the day. We took a trail to the next city, Vernazza, and spent some time checking out the town and taking pictures. Then we got back on the train and took it to the last town Riomaggiore. We walked through the town and then hiked the Via Dell Amore, Walk of Love, to the next town, Manarola, Italy. This is a level, paved trail with fantastic views. Towards the end of the trail is a little carved seat of two people kissing. The seat and the railing around it are covered in locks. This is where a couple pledge their love forever and put the lock around the railing, lock it and throw the key into the sea.
We then took a boat back to Vernazza and had lunch up on top of a hill at Ristorante Castello. The views were incredible. We could see the sea off one side of the patio and the little town of Vernazza on the other. After lunch the group decided to take the train back to Monterosso. I wasn’t ready to call it a day so I headed over into Old Town of Monterosso to do some sightseeing and shopping. I found the little sanctuary for the Oratory of the Dead. This was a brotherhood, kind of like a religious Rotary Club, whose responsibility was to arrange funerals and take care of widows and orphans. The decoration in the sanctuary included a lot of skeletons and skulls mixed in with angels and crucifixes. Very unusual and interesting.
We had dinner as a group tonight. We ate at a family restaurant and the grandmother and her two grandchildren made fresh pesto for us and gave us all the recipe. We then had their specialty of pesto lasagna, swordfish with caper sauce, salad a dessert and a small glass of dessert wine to sip.
Paul and I headed back to the hotel after dinner for an early night and to rest his back.
Day 30 – Rome to Cinque Terre
Left Rome fairly early this morning for our bus trip to the Cinque Terre which is a group of 5 Italian coastal towns. It will take us about 6 hours driving so we have planned to stop in another hill town for lunch.
We stopped in Montipulciano, Italy for lunch and hiked up through the main street of town. Karen took us to a winery that she knew about that has Estrucian tunnels all underneath the store and that is where they store their wine casks for aging. We were able to wander all through the tunnels and see the wine casks and the cheese storage area also. When they excavated the tunnels, they found all sorts of torture devices that they have displayed in cases in the tunnels. After we finished going through the tunnels, we were treated to a wine and cheese tasting and just about everyone in the group purchased wine. After the winery tour, we were free to wander the town, get some lunch and then meet back at the bus to continue our trip.
We had a lady in a shop make us a sandwich from proscuitto and porcini cheese which is a goat cheese that is very good. They don’t put mayo or mustard on their sandwiches. If they put anything at all on them, they will spread and bread with butter. We took the sandwiches and drinks to eat on the bus.
We arrived in Levanto, Italy where we had to take a train to Monterosso, Italy. Our hotel is in Monterosso which is the first of the five towns that are linked by trails and trains. We all walked over into the older part of town where Karen and Jennifer, our next tour guide, met us with wine, limoncello and pizza as a snack. We were then free to walk around town and get some dinner.
Because Paul is having trouble with his back we decided to go off on our own to get some dinner. We went to a restaurant that was just around the corner from our hotel. We were able to get a table on the patio area where we could people watch. The beaches here are extremely popular so it is pretty crowded with locals and vacationers. We had seafood and vegetable pasta and it was unusual in that they cooked the shrimp in it whole, head, shell and all. It was delicious but very different.
We went on back to our room for the night and hopefully Paul will be feeling better tomorrow.
Left Rome fairly early this morning for our bus trip to the Cinque Terre which is a group of 5 Italian coastal towns. It will take us about 6 hours driving so we have planned to stop in another hill town for lunch.
We stopped in Montipulciano, Italy for lunch and hiked up through the main street of town. Karen took us to a winery that she knew about that has Estrucian tunnels all underneath the store and that is where they store their wine casks for aging. We were able to wander all through the tunnels and see the wine casks and the cheese storage area also. When they excavated the tunnels, they found all sorts of torture devices that they have displayed in cases in the tunnels. After we finished going through the tunnels, we were treated to a wine and cheese tasting and just about everyone in the group purchased wine. After the winery tour, we were free to wander the town, get some lunch and then meet back at the bus to continue our trip.
We had a lady in a shop make us a sandwich from proscuitto and porcini cheese which is a goat cheese that is very good. They don’t put mayo or mustard on their sandwiches. If they put anything at all on them, they will spread and bread with butter. We took the sandwiches and drinks to eat on the bus.
We arrived in Levanto, Italy where we had to take a train to Monterosso, Italy. Our hotel is in Monterosso which is the first of the five towns that are linked by trails and trains. We all walked over into the older part of town where Karen and Jennifer, our next tour guide, met us with wine, limoncello and pizza as a snack. We were then free to walk around town and get some dinner.
Because Paul is having trouble with his back we decided to go off on our own to get some dinner. We went to a restaurant that was just around the corner from our hotel. We were able to get a table on the patio area where we could people watch. The beaches here are extremely popular so it is pretty crowded with locals and vacationers. We had seafood and vegetable pasta and it was unusual in that they cooked the shrimp in it whole, head, shell and all. It was delicious but very different.
We went on back to our room for the night and hopefully Paul will be feeling better tomorrow.
Day 29 – Rome, Italy
Up early for breakfast and then off to the Vatican. We had to wake the Metro and then walk around the Vatican City walls to get in line. There were thousands of people there in line when we arrived at 8am. Luckily we had an appointment time for entry and we didn’t have to wait long. The Vatican only stays open until 1:30 today and some of the individuals in line will stand there for hours and still may not get in.
We had another local guide and he toured us through the Vatican Museum first. There are a lot of sculptures in the Museum and the buildings themselves are beautiful with frescoed walls and woven tapestries hung everywhere.
The next part of our visit was through the Sistine Chapel to see the frescoes done by Michelangelo. We had to dress appropriately in order to gain entrance and no photographs were allowed as they tend to degrade the frescoes. Our guide had gone over everything we would see before we entered as silence is also requested while you are in the Chapel. Luckily they had cleaned the frescoes approximately 2 years ago and we were able to see them in brilliant color. They had left one little section uncleaned so that you could see exactly how bad it was prior to the cleaning. I think I would have been very disappointed if I had seen the Chapel prior to the cleaning as the walls and ceiling were almost black. There is no way you would have been able to see all the detail. Michelangelo painted his own face in the frescoes four different times which was very interesting. While we were touring through we were joined by some Monks also going through and I was able to sneak a pictures of them while we were still in the museum.
Our next stop was St. Peter’s Basilica. This place is huge and absolutely beautiful. There is sculpture everywhere, a huge carved brass alter from which only the Pope is allowed to deliver Mass and a fantastic Papal Chair that they said the Pope actually never uses as it is so high up and very difficult to get into. The dome in the Basilica was also designed by Michelangelo towards the end of his life. There are several tombs on display and we could have gone down under the church to see additional tombs, including Pope John Paul’s tomb, but we decided not to do that. Also on display is Michelangelo's Pieta, a statue of Mary holding Jesus’ body after he has been taken down from the cross. It is behind bullet-proof glass as it was attached by a madman at one time who hacked off Mary’s nose before they were able to stop him. We were able to take all the pictures we wanted to inside the Basilica so I took a lot of photos.
Once our Vatican tour was over, we had the remaining afternoon on our own. Paul and I spent additional time in the Basilica and then went in search of some lunch. We found a place recommended in our tour book, had some lunch and then hit the recommended gelateria and got what was probably the best gelato I’ve had since we got to Italy, chocolate orange – YUM!!
We took the Metro back to our hotel to rest up as we wanted to go over to the Spanish Steps this evening and to another restaurant over in that part of town. After a few hours rest, we joined Barbara, Bruce & Jeff and took the Metro over to the Spanish Steps. Our first choice of restaurant required reservations which we hadn’t been aware of and they could not accommodate us so we headed over to our second choice. They had open tables and we all decided to have the antipasti bar for our dinner. It was very good even though we couldn’t identify most of what we ate – probably best that we don’t know! We finished off our meal with tiramisu which is totally different from what we get in the states. They don’t use mascarpone cheese but rather zabaglione so it isn’t as rich and heavy as ours. Paul has been very surprised that they use so much less spice in their food than we had expected. He has had lasagna twice now in Italy and neither time did he find it to be nearly as spicy as what we get at home or what I fix myself.
We headed over to the Spanish Steps which was pretty much a disappointment. The pictures they have of them on postcards isn’t anything like the real thing. There wer hundreds of people there sitting on the steps and a small fountain in front that wasn’t very pretty and lots of street vendors trying to get you to buy their junk. We took a couple of pictures and headed back to the Metro at about 9:30pm to find that it closes at 9pm. Even though most Italians don’t even begin to eat their dinner before 8pm their public transportation system closes down at 9pm even on a weekend. The people here are very big on not working too much and spending free time with their family. Most businesses close up by 5 or 6 and many are not open at all on Sunday. There are no 24hr places of any kind.
We finally got a taxi, you can’t hail a taxi here you have to go to the taxi stand to get a taxi. We tried hailing a few and even though they didn’t have any passengers in their car they would not stop they would just stick their arm out the window and point up the hill towards the taxi stand. We weren’t actually that far from our hotel but we were all pretty bushed from a busy day with lots of walking and standing so we shared the taxi and it ended up costing the same as it would have cost us to take the Metro if it had been open.
Needless to say, the culture over here is totally different from ours. People aren’t in a hurry over anything and the reason they charge you to sit down at the restaurants is because once you sit down, the table is yours for the remainder of the evening if that is what you want. They will not come over to you or try to rush out of the restaurant and will not bring you your bill until you specifically ask for it.
Off to bed after an exhausting couple of days, partly due to the heat. We leave for our vacation from our vacation in the Cinque Terre tomorrow. We are all looking forward to it. We will meet our new tour guide, Jennifer, tomorrow also.
Up early for breakfast and then off to the Vatican. We had to wake the Metro and then walk around the Vatican City walls to get in line. There were thousands of people there in line when we arrived at 8am. Luckily we had an appointment time for entry and we didn’t have to wait long. The Vatican only stays open until 1:30 today and some of the individuals in line will stand there for hours and still may not get in.
We had another local guide and he toured us through the Vatican Museum first. There are a lot of sculptures in the Museum and the buildings themselves are beautiful with frescoed walls and woven tapestries hung everywhere.
The next part of our visit was through the Sistine Chapel to see the frescoes done by Michelangelo. We had to dress appropriately in order to gain entrance and no photographs were allowed as they tend to degrade the frescoes. Our guide had gone over everything we would see before we entered as silence is also requested while you are in the Chapel. Luckily they had cleaned the frescoes approximately 2 years ago and we were able to see them in brilliant color. They had left one little section uncleaned so that you could see exactly how bad it was prior to the cleaning. I think I would have been very disappointed if I had seen the Chapel prior to the cleaning as the walls and ceiling were almost black. There is no way you would have been able to see all the detail. Michelangelo painted his own face in the frescoes four different times which was very interesting. While we were touring through we were joined by some Monks also going through and I was able to sneak a pictures of them while we were still in the museum.
Our next stop was St. Peter’s Basilica. This place is huge and absolutely beautiful. There is sculpture everywhere, a huge carved brass alter from which only the Pope is allowed to deliver Mass and a fantastic Papal Chair that they said the Pope actually never uses as it is so high up and very difficult to get into. The dome in the Basilica was also designed by Michelangelo towards the end of his life. There are several tombs on display and we could have gone down under the church to see additional tombs, including Pope John Paul’s tomb, but we decided not to do that. Also on display is Michelangelo's Pieta, a statue of Mary holding Jesus’ body after he has been taken down from the cross. It is behind bullet-proof glass as it was attached by a madman at one time who hacked off Mary’s nose before they were able to stop him. We were able to take all the pictures we wanted to inside the Basilica so I took a lot of photos.
Once our Vatican tour was over, we had the remaining afternoon on our own. Paul and I spent additional time in the Basilica and then went in search of some lunch. We found a place recommended in our tour book, had some lunch and then hit the recommended gelateria and got what was probably the best gelato I’ve had since we got to Italy, chocolate orange – YUM!!
We took the Metro back to our hotel to rest up as we wanted to go over to the Spanish Steps this evening and to another restaurant over in that part of town. After a few hours rest, we joined Barbara, Bruce & Jeff and took the Metro over to the Spanish Steps. Our first choice of restaurant required reservations which we hadn’t been aware of and they could not accommodate us so we headed over to our second choice. They had open tables and we all decided to have the antipasti bar for our dinner. It was very good even though we couldn’t identify most of what we ate – probably best that we don’t know! We finished off our meal with tiramisu which is totally different from what we get in the states. They don’t use mascarpone cheese but rather zabaglione so it isn’t as rich and heavy as ours. Paul has been very surprised that they use so much less spice in their food than we had expected. He has had lasagna twice now in Italy and neither time did he find it to be nearly as spicy as what we get at home or what I fix myself.
We headed over to the Spanish Steps which was pretty much a disappointment. The pictures they have of them on postcards isn’t anything like the real thing. There wer hundreds of people there sitting on the steps and a small fountain in front that wasn’t very pretty and lots of street vendors trying to get you to buy their junk. We took a couple of pictures and headed back to the Metro at about 9:30pm to find that it closes at 9pm. Even though most Italians don’t even begin to eat their dinner before 8pm their public transportation system closes down at 9pm even on a weekend. The people here are very big on not working too much and spending free time with their family. Most businesses close up by 5 or 6 and many are not open at all on Sunday. There are no 24hr places of any kind.
We finally got a taxi, you can’t hail a taxi here you have to go to the taxi stand to get a taxi. We tried hailing a few and even though they didn’t have any passengers in their car they would not stop they would just stick their arm out the window and point up the hill towards the taxi stand. We weren’t actually that far from our hotel but we were all pretty bushed from a busy day with lots of walking and standing so we shared the taxi and it ended up costing the same as it would have cost us to take the Metro if it had been open.
Needless to say, the culture over here is totally different from ours. People aren’t in a hurry over anything and the reason they charge you to sit down at the restaurants is because once you sit down, the table is yours for the remainder of the evening if that is what you want. They will not come over to you or try to rush out of the restaurant and will not bring you your bill until you specifically ask for it.
Off to bed after an exhausting couple of days, partly due to the heat. We leave for our vacation from our vacation in the Cinque Terre tomorrow. We are all looking forward to it. We will meet our new tour guide, Jennifer, tomorrow also.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Just posted some more pictures on Shutterfly - here is the link if you are interested in seeing them - share.dell.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CcMWjRmyZsac
Day 28 – Florence to Rome
Headed to Rome today – another sunny day and we are expecting warm temperatures in Rome. We made a stop in a small Italian hill town named Orvieto. We were supposed to ride a funicular to the top of the hill but it wasn’t working so they bused us up.
Once at the top, we walked up through the main street of town to a huge church. They have a chapel inside with painted ceilings depicting the end times as described in the Bible. We paid to be able to go inside and see them and they were spectacular. As usual, we weren’t allowed to take pictures. We did purchase some postcards though.
After we finished in the church, we did a little shopping and picked up some lunch and a bottle of wine to have on the bus as we continued our journey to Rome. Orvieto is a wine-making city and they have a lot of local wines to choose from. There are vineyards and olive groves everywhere you look. Not many tourists here and no crowds.
We arrived in Rome which is a huge city, walked to our hotel and then up stairs to the fourth floor. Thank goodness there was a freight elevator for our luggage. We are across from the Defense Ministry so there are armed guards and gates. Our room is large and has air conditioning. All of our rooms in Italy have had bidet (not sure about that spelling!!) haven’t tried that out as can’t figure out how to work it!!
We only have about 15 minutes to get settled in our room before we have to meet back down the four + flights of stairs for our ancient Rome walk. We take the subway to the Colosseum and meet up with our guide, Franchesca. The Colosseum is HUGE, very impressive and awful all at the same time. These people would come for a full day of games. In the morning they would watch warriors slaying all kinds of wild animals, during the middle of the day they would watch people being executed and then in the afternoon they would watch gladiators battle to the death. Now that is what I call a day of FUN!! Everything was paid for by the emperor and he provided everyone with free food and wine. All propaganda!!
After the Colosseum, we walked across the way and through the ruins of Rome. Paul was approached by some gypsies who were probably out to try and pick his pocket. Our guide picked up on that real quick and ran them off. Pickpockets are a real problem in most cities in Italy. We saw several arches, the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, the Roman Forum, the place where Julius Caesar was cremated after he was murdered and then on to the Pantheon. The Pantheon has a huge dome with a hole in the top that acts as a sundial. It is now used as a church and the hole is open so that when it rains or snows it comes into the building. It is the best preserved building in Rome and was not raided and destroyed because it was turned into a church so it was left alone.
We walked from the Pantheon to our restaurant and had a group meal. The restaurant was built over the site where Julius Caesar was murdered. The menu is set by the owner each day based on what she feels like cooking and that is what you are served. You don’t have any choices. We had antipasta, fried potato chips, salad, wine and some type of cakey pie type of thing. It was all delicious.
After dinner, we headed over to Trevi Fountain. This place was absolutely covered up with tourists. Jostling room only!! We each threw our coin in the fountain, took some pictures, got some gelato and headed back to the hotel after an extremely full day of walking.
Headed to Rome today – another sunny day and we are expecting warm temperatures in Rome. We made a stop in a small Italian hill town named Orvieto. We were supposed to ride a funicular to the top of the hill but it wasn’t working so they bused us up.
Once at the top, we walked up through the main street of town to a huge church. They have a chapel inside with painted ceilings depicting the end times as described in the Bible. We paid to be able to go inside and see them and they were spectacular. As usual, we weren’t allowed to take pictures. We did purchase some postcards though.
After we finished in the church, we did a little shopping and picked up some lunch and a bottle of wine to have on the bus as we continued our journey to Rome. Orvieto is a wine-making city and they have a lot of local wines to choose from. There are vineyards and olive groves everywhere you look. Not many tourists here and no crowds.
We arrived in Rome which is a huge city, walked to our hotel and then up stairs to the fourth floor. Thank goodness there was a freight elevator for our luggage. We are across from the Defense Ministry so there are armed guards and gates. Our room is large and has air conditioning. All of our rooms in Italy have had bidet (not sure about that spelling!!) haven’t tried that out as can’t figure out how to work it!!
We only have about 15 minutes to get settled in our room before we have to meet back down the four + flights of stairs for our ancient Rome walk. We take the subway to the Colosseum and meet up with our guide, Franchesca. The Colosseum is HUGE, very impressive and awful all at the same time. These people would come for a full day of games. In the morning they would watch warriors slaying all kinds of wild animals, during the middle of the day they would watch people being executed and then in the afternoon they would watch gladiators battle to the death. Now that is what I call a day of FUN!! Everything was paid for by the emperor and he provided everyone with free food and wine. All propaganda!!
After the Colosseum, we walked across the way and through the ruins of Rome. Paul was approached by some gypsies who were probably out to try and pick his pocket. Our guide picked up on that real quick and ran them off. Pickpockets are a real problem in most cities in Italy. We saw several arches, the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, the Roman Forum, the place where Julius Caesar was cremated after he was murdered and then on to the Pantheon. The Pantheon has a huge dome with a hole in the top that acts as a sundial. It is now used as a church and the hole is open so that when it rains or snows it comes into the building. It is the best preserved building in Rome and was not raided and destroyed because it was turned into a church so it was left alone.
We walked from the Pantheon to our restaurant and had a group meal. The restaurant was built over the site where Julius Caesar was murdered. The menu is set by the owner each day based on what she feels like cooking and that is what you are served. You don’t have any choices. We had antipasta, fried potato chips, salad, wine and some type of cakey pie type of thing. It was all delicious.
After dinner, we headed over to Trevi Fountain. This place was absolutely covered up with tourists. Jostling room only!! We each threw our coin in the fountain, took some pictures, got some gelato and headed back to the hotel after an extremely full day of walking.
Duomo
Ponte Vecchio
DavidDay 27 – Florence, Italy
Up early and walked to the Ufizzi Gallery for a tour of Renaissance art. We stopped in a square right outside of the museum to see all the statues that are out in the open. We had a local tour guide through the museum and saw quite a few works of art. Having someone to explain about the painter and the subject themselves make viewing them much more interesting. Most of the subjects are religious subjects and she explained the evolution of painting and how they changed with time and the thinking of the time. We also saw paintings that were basically done by two artists, the teacher and pupil. One of those paintings the pupil was Da Vinci and you could see how his talent was above and beyond that of his teacher. After that painting was completed, the teacher no longer painted again as he said his time was over and it was his pupil’s time.
We had the remaining part of the day free. Paul and I wanted to walk over the Ponte Vecchio bridge, a neat little bridge with jewelry stores on both sides of the road running the entire length of the bridge, and on to a park to have lunch. We stopped at a gelateria and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and drinks and hiked on. About halfway there, we decided it was taking longer than we had thought and sat down on some shaded steps to eat our lunch. After checking our guidebook for the hours at the Duomo we headed back into town instead of going on to the part as we wanted to see the church.
Got in line for the Duomo which was long but they let people in in groups. This church, which was Protestant, wasn’t as ornate as the many Catholic churches we had been in. It has one of the longest and highest naves in Europe and had several beautiful chapels with lovely stained glass windows in them. After the church we did a little shopping, leather is big in Florence and so are illegal merchants who lay out their goods on big sheets and when the cops head their way they gather the four corners, throw it all on their backs and run. The law here is if you purchase illegal merchandise you are penalized with a very heavy fine. The guys selling the stuff always run so they don’t usually get caught but the unsuspecting tourist may have to pay some big bucks if they are caught with their illegal purchases. We got some gelato and then headed back to the hotel for a short rest before dinner.
We met up with Barbara, Bruce and Jeff and went over to Za Za’s for dinner. We had hoped to sit outside but we evidently needed a reservation to do that so we headed inside which was kind of dark, decorated with lots of bottles of chianti and candles. We had a great meal, Paul and I have discovered we love gnocchi, a few glasses of wine and nice company.
Back to our room and to bed as we have an early morning and a tough day tomorrow. They have been warning us since the beginning of the trip that Rome is our hardest days due to a lot of walking and warm temperatures.
Up early and walked to the Ufizzi Gallery for a tour of Renaissance art. We stopped in a square right outside of the museum to see all the statues that are out in the open. We had a local tour guide through the museum and saw quite a few works of art. Having someone to explain about the painter and the subject themselves make viewing them much more interesting. Most of the subjects are religious subjects and she explained the evolution of painting and how they changed with time and the thinking of the time. We also saw paintings that were basically done by two artists, the teacher and pupil. One of those paintings the pupil was Da Vinci and you could see how his talent was above and beyond that of his teacher. After that painting was completed, the teacher no longer painted again as he said his time was over and it was his pupil’s time.
We had the remaining part of the day free. Paul and I wanted to walk over the Ponte Vecchio bridge, a neat little bridge with jewelry stores on both sides of the road running the entire length of the bridge, and on to a park to have lunch. We stopped at a gelateria and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and drinks and hiked on. About halfway there, we decided it was taking longer than we had thought and sat down on some shaded steps to eat our lunch. After checking our guidebook for the hours at the Duomo we headed back into town instead of going on to the part as we wanted to see the church.
Got in line for the Duomo which was long but they let people in in groups. This church, which was Protestant, wasn’t as ornate as the many Catholic churches we had been in. It has one of the longest and highest naves in Europe and had several beautiful chapels with lovely stained glass windows in them. After the church we did a little shopping, leather is big in Florence and so are illegal merchants who lay out their goods on big sheets and when the cops head their way they gather the four corners, throw it all on their backs and run. The law here is if you purchase illegal merchandise you are penalized with a very heavy fine. The guys selling the stuff always run so they don’t usually get caught but the unsuspecting tourist may have to pay some big bucks if they are caught with their illegal purchases. We got some gelato and then headed back to the hotel for a short rest before dinner.
We met up with Barbara, Bruce and Jeff and went over to Za Za’s for dinner. We had hoped to sit outside but we evidently needed a reservation to do that so we headed inside which was kind of dark, decorated with lots of bottles of chianti and candles. We had a great meal, Paul and I have discovered we love gnocchi, a few glasses of wine and nice company.
Back to our room and to bed as we have an early morning and a tough day tomorrow. They have been warning us since the beginning of the trip that Rome is our hardest days due to a lot of walking and warm temperatures.
Day 26 – Venice to Florence
Another early morning. Left Venice by vaporetto and then by bus and headed for Florence. It was only a three hour drive but we stopped at an Auto Grille for lunch. The rest stops in Europe are something else. They have grocery stores, general stores and restaurants in them. You usually have to pay for the use of the restrooms but they remain pretty clean because of it. We have been warned, however, to always have Kleenex with us as there is a good chance in Italy that you may not have toilet paper.
We arrived in Florence and walked to our hotel, Hotel California. There was a lift, elevator, for our luggage but we had to go up several flights of steps to get to our rooms. This time our rooms were air-conditioned. Our room had a small balcony and overlooked the Duomo.
We gathered to go to the Accademia to see David. We got headsets so that we could hear what our guide had to say and we walked over to the Accademia. Seeing David for the first time isn’t something you can explain and this is being said by someone who isn’t really a great art lover. There is a long hallway leading up to David standing under a glass dome. Along the hallway are sculptures that were also done by Michaelangelo but not finished. Davis is about 14 feet tall and absolutely amazing. We had some time to see him, the prisoners which are the unfinished sculptures and a few other parts of the museum. We then gathered for a walking tour of Florence seeing many of the major sights and then walked over to our restaurant for a group meal.
We had two kinds of wine, a sampler plate of pasta, steak Florentine, roasted potatoes and then they brought out the dessert cart. It was a fantastic meal land a great time had by the entire group. We walked back to our hotel and called it a night as we have another early morning tomorrow.
Another early morning. Left Venice by vaporetto and then by bus and headed for Florence. It was only a three hour drive but we stopped at an Auto Grille for lunch. The rest stops in Europe are something else. They have grocery stores, general stores and restaurants in them. You usually have to pay for the use of the restrooms but they remain pretty clean because of it. We have been warned, however, to always have Kleenex with us as there is a good chance in Italy that you may not have toilet paper.
We arrived in Florence and walked to our hotel, Hotel California. There was a lift, elevator, for our luggage but we had to go up several flights of steps to get to our rooms. This time our rooms were air-conditioned. Our room had a small balcony and overlooked the Duomo.
We gathered to go to the Accademia to see David. We got headsets so that we could hear what our guide had to say and we walked over to the Accademia. Seeing David for the first time isn’t something you can explain and this is being said by someone who isn’t really a great art lover. There is a long hallway leading up to David standing under a glass dome. Along the hallway are sculptures that were also done by Michaelangelo but not finished. Davis is about 14 feet tall and absolutely amazing. We had some time to see him, the prisoners which are the unfinished sculptures and a few other parts of the museum. We then gathered for a walking tour of Florence seeing many of the major sights and then walked over to our restaurant for a group meal.
We had two kinds of wine, a sampler plate of pasta, steak Florentine, roasted potatoes and then they brought out the dessert cart. It was a fantastic meal land a great time had by the entire group. We walked back to our hotel and called it a night as we have another early morning tomorrow.
Day 25 – Venice, Italy
Up early today for a 7:30 breakfast and then an 8:30 walking tour of Venice. Our guide is a local woman and she likes to do the tours early in the morning before all the tourists swarm the square. Yesterday, the square was packed with people and pigeons. They both clear out in the evening and don’t return until later the next morning.
Our guide told us all about the buildings we saw in the square and their significance in history and then we headed through the back streets of Venice where the people really live. There was a lot of laundry hanging from the windows, fruit stalls in the streets and we actually went to a park. This is special because there are not trees or grass in Venice. The entire city is built on millions of pilings driven into the lagoon floor. Napoleon had the park we went to built but I’m not sure how the trees can grow there unless it is part of the natural island of Venice.
After the tour was over we were encouraged to just wander around Venice and basically get ourselves lost so that we could see the real city. We did go back to the square to see the Basicilica when they turned on the lights. The interior of the church is extremely dark and they only turn on the lights for one hour during the day. The entire ceiling of the church is covered in mosaics that all have a glittery gold background. It is beautiful. You were not allowed to take pictures inside the church so we purchased a few postcards showing the interior.
After seeing the church Paul and I took off in search of lunch. We went back to a street we had gone down during our tour where there aren’t many tourists and bought some fruit from a stand, sandwiches and drinks from a little bar and walked to the park for a picnic. We then wandered the back streets of Venice going in any church we found and taking pictures. Once back in the square we got some gelato and then headed back to our room to rest before our 6:30pm meeting time for the cicchetti.
Up early today for a 7:30 breakfast and then an 8:30 walking tour of Venice. Our guide is a local woman and she likes to do the tours early in the morning before all the tourists swarm the square. Yesterday, the square was packed with people and pigeons. They both clear out in the evening and don’t return until later the next morning.
Our guide told us all about the buildings we saw in the square and their significance in history and then we headed through the back streets of Venice where the people really live. There was a lot of laundry hanging from the windows, fruit stalls in the streets and we actually went to a park. This is special because there are not trees or grass in Venice. The entire city is built on millions of pilings driven into the lagoon floor. Napoleon had the park we went to built but I’m not sure how the trees can grow there unless it is part of the natural island of Venice.
After the tour was over we were encouraged to just wander around Venice and basically get ourselves lost so that we could see the real city. We did go back to the square to see the Basicilica when they turned on the lights. The interior of the church is extremely dark and they only turn on the lights for one hour during the day. The entire ceiling of the church is covered in mosaics that all have a glittery gold background. It is beautiful. You were not allowed to take pictures inside the church so we purchased a few postcards showing the interior.After seeing the church Paul and I took off in search of lunch. We went back to a street we had gone down during our tour where there aren’t many tourists and bought some fruit from a stand, sandwiches and drinks from a little bar and walked to the park for a picnic. We then wandered the back streets of Venice going in any church we found and taking pictures. Once back in the square we got some gelato and then headed back to our room to rest before our 6:30pm meeting time for the cicchetti.
Day 24 – Reutte to Venice
We have an 8 hour bus ride in front of us today so we were up and on the bus by 8am. Our guide now is named Karen and she has lived in Italy for 8 years and only does tours of Italy. You really can’t sleep on the bus even though everybody has two seats to themselves. Our day started out rainy again but we had our fingers crossed that we would see the sun by the time we got to Venice.
We went through the Austria mountains first and then through the Dolomites once we entered Italy. The countryside was beautiful and we ended up taking a lot of pictures from the bus. There are vineyards everywhere with lots of small towns in valleys surrounded by mountains.
We stopped for lunch in a small Italian village and were served a group salad and then three sandwich halves plus gelato. It was a short lunch but a nice break from the bus. We had two other stops during the trip but they were at gasoline stations or what they call AutoGrille.
When we arrived in Venice, we had to get on a vaporetto, boat taxi, to get to our hotel. They had our reservations changed and we ended up in a 4 star hotel just a short walk from St. Mark’s Square. We have a beautiful room with our first air conditioning. Because we had gotten caught in traffic today due to an accident on the highway, we arrived a little late so we only had a few minutes to store our luggage and then meet back downstairs for a walking orientation of Venice.
We all walked to St. Mark’s Square, Plaza San Marcos, and got our first view of the basilica and Doge’s Palace. It is huge with several mosaics on the front and beautiful towers. We were turned loose to find some dinner and we went with Bruce, Barbara & Jeff to get a bite. We ended up at a pizzeria and paid ridiculously high prices for a very simple meal. They have some interesting rules here. If you sit down to eat your meal you are required to pay extra for the food and the seat. They also charge you an additional 12% fee if you chose to pay with a credit card. Forget sitting on the square as they will charge you a minimum of €15.
After our meal we all met back in the square to walk to the gondolas. Karen had arranged for all of us to go on an evening gondola ride. She surprised us with a bottle of champagne and musicians. Paul and I and Barbara & Bruce got to ride in the gondola with the musicians because we were the two couples who had been married the longest. We also only had to share the bottle between four people whereas all the other gondolas had six people in them. The ride is about 40 minutes long and a lot of fun. When we were out in the Grand Canal, they lined all the boats side by side so everyone got to hear the accordion player and the singer. It was a lot of fun and a very memorable experience.
Afterwards, we all walked back to the square to try a Venetian drink called a spritzer. There are two flavors, one for women and one for men. Paul and I got one of each so we could taste both. They were the most disgusting thing I have ever drunk. Paul’s was much worse, bitter, than mine but they were both pretty bad. Guess we wouldn’t make very good Venetians.
Headed off to bed. Tomorrow we have a walking tour of Venice and then the rest of our day to ourselves. Karen has offered to take us on a Cicchetti which is sort of a pub crawl where you drink and eat finger foods.
We have an 8 hour bus ride in front of us today so we were up and on the bus by 8am. Our guide now is named Karen and she has lived in Italy for 8 years and only does tours of Italy. You really can’t sleep on the bus even though everybody has two seats to themselves. Our day started out rainy again but we had our fingers crossed that we would see the sun by the time we got to Venice.
We went through the Austria mountains first and then through the Dolomites once we entered Italy. The countryside was beautiful and we ended up taking a lot of pictures from the bus. There are vineyards everywhere with lots of small towns in valleys surrounded by mountains.
We stopped for lunch in a small Italian village and were served a group salad and then three sandwich halves plus gelato. It was a short lunch but a nice break from the bus. We had two other stops during the trip but they were at gasoline stations or what they call AutoGrille.
When we arrived in Venice, we had to get on a vaporetto, boat taxi, to get to our hotel. They had our reservations changed and we ended up in a 4 star hotel just a short walk from St. Mark’s Square. We have a beautiful room with our first air conditioning. Because we had gotten caught in traffic today due to an accident on the highway, we arrived a little late so we only had a few minutes to store our luggage and then meet back downstairs for a walking orientation of Venice.
We all walked to St. Mark’s Square, Plaza San Marcos, and got our first view of the basilica and Doge’s Palace. It is huge with several mosaics on the front and beautiful towers. We were turned loose to find some dinner and we went with Bruce, Barbara & Jeff to get a bite. We ended up at a pizzeria and paid ridiculously high prices for a very simple meal. They have some interesting rules here. If you sit down to eat your meal you are required to pay extra for the food and the seat. They also charge you an additional 12% fee if you chose to pay with a credit card. Forget sitting on the square as they will charge you a minimum of €15.
After our meal we all met back in the square to walk to the gondolas. Karen had arranged for all of us to go on an evening gondola ride. She surprised us with a bottle of champagne and musicians. Paul and I and Barbara & Bruce got to ride in the gondola with the musicians because we were the two couples who had been married the longest. We also only had to share the bottle between four people whereas all the other gondolas had six people in them. The ride is about 40 minutes long and a lot of fun. When we were out in the Grand Canal, they lined all the boats side by side so everyone got to hear the accordion player and the singer. It was a lot of fun and a very memorable experience.
Afterwards, we all walked back to the square to try a Venetian drink called a spritzer. There are two flavors, one for women and one for men. Paul and I got one of each so we could taste both. They were the most disgusting thing I have ever drunk. Paul’s was much worse, bitter, than mine but they were both pretty bad. Guess we wouldn’t make very good Venetians.
Headed off to bed. Tomorrow we have a walking tour of Venice and then the rest of our day to ourselves. Karen has offered to take us on a Cicchetti which is sort of a pub crawl where you drink and eat finger foods.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Day 23 – Reutte, Austria
We got up early for breakfast – more cold cuts, and then boarded the bus for a short ride to the trail head for our walk up to the castle. Thank goodness it was a nice day and not rainy again. We had a pleasant 1 ½ hour walk through the woods, crossing the boarder between Austria and Germany, there was an old crossing gate and guard house there, and on to Fusse, Germany.
We then had a steep walk up to Neuschwanstein Castle. The castle where he grew up is just across the gorge and it is called Hohenschwangau Castle. Neuschwanstein Castle was built by “Mad” King Ludwig and is only about 1/3 completed. We toured through all the rooms that were finished and they were definitely “over the top”. There isn’t any photography allowed inside the castle so we had to purchase postcards from the gift shop in order to have any pictures of the interior. The king actually only lived in the castle for 172 days. The walls and most of the ceilings are covered in murals and he even had a cave built inside the house where he could sit to listen to music.
Outside the castle you can take another STEEP walk to Mary’s Bridge, Marienbrucke, which is a suspension bridge across a deep gorge just beside the castle where you can get some great pictures of the castle and countryside. We did that and then headed back down to town for a beer and some lunch – MORE SAUSAGE!!
We all met back at the bus and headed for the luge. We each got to have two rides. We boarded our luge and were pulled up the mountain where we were turned loose to ride down. You had like a joy stick between your legs that you pushed forward to go faster and pulled back towards you to slow down or stop. Everybody took it easy on their first run and then on our second run we took off. Paul got a little too enthusiastic and managed to flip his luge and scrape up his arm. He was our only casualty.
Our next stop, in the rain again, was at a church about 30 minutes outside of town, Wies Church or Wieskirch. This is a rococo-style church and is very ornamental. The ceilings are painted with all kinds of scenes and there are massive amounts of gold leaf used on everything.
We returned to our quaint little hotel for a rest before we all met for dinner. We are losing our tour guide again and getting a new one for our next part of the tour in Italy. Our new guide is named Karen and she has lived in Italy for quite a few years. We haven’t been able to keep our guides since our original guide had to leave us but we have gotten guides in each area that are experts for that area so it is working out well so far.
Tomorrow we leave for Venice. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that it isn’t raining!!
We got up early for breakfast – more cold cuts, and then boarded the bus for a short ride to the trail head for our walk up to the castle. Thank goodness it was a nice day and not rainy again. We had a pleasant 1 ½ hour walk through the woods, crossing the boarder between Austria and Germany, there was an old crossing gate and guard house there, and on to Fusse, Germany.
We then had a steep walk up to Neuschwanstein Castle. The castle where he grew up is just across the gorge and it is called Hohenschwangau Castle. Neuschwanstein Castle was built by “Mad” King Ludwig and is only about 1/3 completed. We toured through all the rooms that were finished and they were definitely “over the top”. There isn’t any photography allowed inside the castle so we had to purchase postcards from the gift shop in order to have any pictures of the interior. The king actually only lived in the castle for 172 days. The walls and most of the ceilings are covered in murals and he even had a cave built inside the house where he could sit to listen to music.
Outside the castle you can take another STEEP walk to Mary’s Bridge, Marienbrucke, which is a suspension bridge across a deep gorge just beside the castle where you can get some great pictures of the castle and countryside. We did that and then headed back down to town for a beer and some lunch – MORE SAUSAGE!!
We all met back at the bus and headed for the luge. We each got to have two rides. We boarded our luge and were pulled up the mountain where we were turned loose to ride down. You had like a joy stick between your legs that you pushed forward to go faster and pulled back towards you to slow down or stop. Everybody took it easy on their first run and then on our second run we took off. Paul got a little too enthusiastic and managed to flip his luge and scrape up his arm. He was our only casualty.
Our next stop, in the rain again, was at a church about 30 minutes outside of town, Wies Church or Wieskirch. This is a rococo-style church and is very ornamental. The ceilings are painted with all kinds of scenes and there are massive amounts of gold leaf used on everything.
We returned to our quaint little hotel for a rest before we all met for dinner. We are losing our tour guide again and getting a new one for our next part of the tour in Italy. Our new guide is named Karen and she has lived in Italy for quite a few years. We haven’t been able to keep our guides since our original guide had to leave us but we have gotten guides in each area that are experts for that area so it is working out well so far.
Tomorrow we leave for Venice. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that it isn’t raining!!
Day 22 – Rothenberg to Reutte, Austria
We left fairly early this morning for our trip to Austria. The traffic in Germany is really bad and we were caught up in several in traffic jams. This, of course, caused us to run late.
Work Will Set You Free
Our first stop of the day was at Dachau. There are no words to describe this experience. I have posted several pictures on Shutterfly that you can look at.
Our next stop was at Munich for lunch. This happens to be our tour guide’s hometown. She took us to the center of town where they have a market every Saturday and a huge biergarten, beer garden. There was also a maypole in the middle. We all went different ways to grab something to eat and a table to eat at. I managed to get seats at a table, let me tell you this place was slammed with people, all drinking huge mugs of beer. Paul grabbed some food and our friends Bruce, Barbara & Jeff joined us. We were sitting at a picnic table with another gentleman who ended up being from the states, graduated from Auburn University and married a woman from Opelika, Alabama. This is truly a small world!!
After lunch we had time to wander around the market, we bought some dried fruit to snack on and then Karolina took us on a walking tour of her town. It was very interesting but extremely crowded with people. Not some place that I think I would enjoy living for sure.
Back on the bus and on to Reutte. Once we arrived, we quickly put our things in our room and met downstairs for dinner.
Tomorrow we go to Fusse, Germany to see Neuschwanstein Castle.
We left fairly early this morning for our trip to Austria. The traffic in Germany is really bad and we were caught up in several in traffic jams. This, of course, caused us to run late.
Work Will Set You Free
Our first stop of the day was at Dachau. There are no words to describe this experience. I have posted several pictures on Shutterfly that you can look at.
Our next stop was at Munich for lunch. This happens to be our tour guide’s hometown. She took us to the center of town where they have a market every Saturday and a huge biergarten, beer garden. There was also a maypole in the middle. We all went different ways to grab something to eat and a table to eat at. I managed to get seats at a table, let me tell you this place was slammed with people, all drinking huge mugs of beer. Paul grabbed some food and our friends Bruce, Barbara & Jeff joined us. We were sitting at a picnic table with another gentleman who ended up being from the states, graduated from Auburn University and married a woman from Opelika, Alabama. This is truly a small world!!
After lunch we had time to wander around the market, we bought some dried fruit to snack on and then Karolina took us on a walking tour of her town. It was very interesting but extremely crowded with people. Not some place that I think I would enjoy living for sure.
Back on the bus and on to Reutte. Once we arrived, we quickly put our things in our room and met downstairs for dinner.
Tomorrow we go to Fusse, Germany to see Neuschwanstein Castle.
Day 21 – Rothenberg, Germany
Left in the rain, again, somewhat early today to drive to Rothenberg, Germany. This little town is very old, very Germanic and is surrounded by a medieval wall which you can walk around on. We arrived in time for a late lunch and we headed off to a small restaurant where Paul got some sausage & kraut. One thing about German food so far is that there is pork or pork, it is always breaded and usually fried. I ordered a Caesar salad with chicken and it came with a piece of breaded, fried chicken on top. The other thing that is interesting is that my orders for water or tea cost more than a huge glass of beer.
We basically had the day to ourselves today as Rothenberg is a very small town and it would be impossible to get lost. Luckily by the time we had arrived there the sun had finally decided to shine. There is a lot of shopping here and that is mainly what people do other than going to the huge church to see the beautiful wood carvings they have. Luckily they did allow you to take pictures as long as you didn’t use a flash. I will put some of those pictures on Shutterfly.
We also had an opportunity at our hotel to get some laundry done which was a VERY good thing after only being able to wash things in the sink now for a couple of weeks. So we visited the church, did some shopping – bought a cuckoo clock – and then headed back to the hotel to wash our clothes. Once we finished our laundry, we decided to walk the wall then join the group for the Night Watchman’s Tour.
The Night Watchman’s Tour starts in the market square and is led by a gentleman dressed in period garb carrying a large weapon and a lantern. He walked us to various parts of the city and told us about it’s history but was very humorous with the tales he told. It was a lot of fun and very informative. Afterwards, we headed back to the same restaurant where we ate lunch for a little dinner. Mine was awful so I hardly ate any of it. I don’t think I am a fan of German food!!
Turned in for the night as we have another early day as we head to Reutte with a visit at Dachau.
Left in the rain, again, somewhat early today to drive to Rothenberg, Germany. This little town is very old, very Germanic and is surrounded by a medieval wall which you can walk around on. We arrived in time for a late lunch and we headed off to a small restaurant where Paul got some sausage & kraut. One thing about German food so far is that there is pork or pork, it is always breaded and usually fried. I ordered a Caesar salad with chicken and it came with a piece of breaded, fried chicken on top. The other thing that is interesting is that my orders for water or tea cost more than a huge glass of beer.
We basically had the day to ourselves today as Rothenberg is a very small town and it would be impossible to get lost. Luckily by the time we had arrived there the sun had finally decided to shine. There is a lot of shopping here and that is mainly what people do other than going to the huge church to see the beautiful wood carvings they have. Luckily they did allow you to take pictures as long as you didn’t use a flash. I will put some of those pictures on Shutterfly.
We also had an opportunity at our hotel to get some laundry done which was a VERY good thing after only being able to wash things in the sink now for a couple of weeks. So we visited the church, did some shopping – bought a cuckoo clock – and then headed back to the hotel to wash our clothes. Once we finished our laundry, we decided to walk the wall then join the group for the Night Watchman’s Tour.
The Night Watchman’s Tour starts in the market square and is led by a gentleman dressed in period garb carrying a large weapon and a lantern. He walked us to various parts of the city and told us about it’s history but was very humorous with the tales he told. It was a lot of fun and very informative. Afterwards, we headed back to the same restaurant where we ate lunch for a little dinner. Mine was awful so I hardly ate any of it. I don’t think I am a fan of German food!!
Turned in for the night as we have another early day as we head to Reutte with a visit at Dachau.
Day 20 – Bacharach, Germany
I was not feeling well this morning after our wine tasting last night. I skipped breakfast but met up with the group for a tour of the city with Heir Jung. This is a local resident who was a teacher in the area and is about 75 years old. He is a true character. He led us through the city explaining life way back when and now. I left the tour a little early to go back to bed for a while before we had to meet to take our bus over to St. Goar. Paul stayed with the tour and got the privilege of picking up Heir Jung on his shoulders – thank goodness he was a small man!!
Once we arrived in St. Goar we were free to get our own lunch. We stopped at a little place recommended by our new tour guide, Karolina. Unfortunately, Ferdi had received a call the day prior that his mother had been taken to the hospital and was in intensive care so he had to leave the tour and be replaced. Paul tried the schnitzel and I just had potatoes and soup. We then walked up the mountain at the edge of town to the ruined castle – Rheinfels Castle. We had a local tour guide for this. Paul and I opted not to go through the dark tunnels beneath the castle as you had to walk in a crouch the whole way and use a flashlight to see. We did, however, go through the dark walkway of part of the castle and up and down circular stairs but you didn’t have to crouch as low to get through that portion. Took a lot of pictures overlooking St. Goar and the Rhine. It is very beautiful up in the castle tower.
We met back in town at the boat dock and had strudel, apple, rhubarb and cherry before boarding our ferry for a trip down the Rhine River. It has started raining again but we were able to get under an open air roof part of the boat so we could stay somewhat dry yet get decent pictures. Lots of castles on the hills, pretty little towns and in the middle of the Rhine a tax booth where in medieval times they put a chain across the river to stop boats until they paid the lord of the area a tax to be allowed to continue on their way. If they refused to pay, they would be placed in the dungeon below water level at the tax booth.
Got back to Bacharach and had the rest of the evening free. Paul and I walked through town and he showed me everything that I had missed that morning. We then met up with Barbara & Bruce for dinner and ended up back at our hotel to eat when the restaurant we wanted to go to wasn’t open because they said the owner was out shopping and they couldn’t let us in until they returned. Paul tried the spaetzel tonight with is a German type of dumpling. He said they were very good.
Tomorrow we leave by bus for Rothenburg.
Day 19 – Amsterdam to Bacharach
Left early this morning after breakfast for Bacharach, Germany. It is about a 6 hour drive but we will have a stop after about two hours at Arnhem, an open air Dutch museum. It is raining again!!
Arrived in Arnhem and did a walking tour of the outdoor museum. We saw an old farmhouse where one third of the house was for the family to live in and the remaining 2/3 was for the animals and there were no walls separating them. They said this was because there was no heat and they used the heat from the animals bodies to help keep their home warm. I imagine the odor was awful. We also saw several windmills used for various jobs, grinding grain, pumping water, etc. We visited an old laundry where they beat the daylights our of their clothes using big wooden devices and a papermaking place where they took their old rags and made them in to paper.
We had lunch together at the museum at a Pannenkoeken Café. Each table of four got four pannenkoeken to sample. Our first was an apple, raisin & cinnamon, the second a bacon and cheese, third a farmer’s pannenkoeken with vegetables and bacon and the third had baker’s cream. They were very good and not like the pancakes we have in the USA but more of a cross between a pancake and a crepe. They were very good – especially the sweet ones!! After lunch we had free time to wander the museum on our own before we reboarded the bus for Bacharach.
We only drive two hours at a time before stopping. Once we entered Germany, we got on the Autobahn where there are no speed limits. Our bus driver is only allowed to go 65 mph but some of the people were absolutely flying.
We arrived in Bacharach and checked into our hotel. It is very old with adorable rooms, each unique. We all left our doors open and went from room to room checking out each others décor. The Hotel Kranenturm is part of the old tower and wall that wrapped around the city from the castle on the hill. There are a lot of half-timbered buildings which I absolutely love. We all met in the hotel restaurant for dinner then went out to a local wine tasting house. We are in the Rhine part of Germany where they make a lot of Riesling. The hills are covered in grape vines. We purchased about 6 bottles of wine and all had tastes. It was a good time and I think I drank a little too much!!
Back to the room, which has railroad tracks right outside our windows so we slept with our earplugs in and of course the fan running as none of the hotels so far have had any air conditioning.
Day 18 – Amsterdam
We got up early today, had breakfast – usually cereals, lots of bread, cheese, cold cuts, yogurt and some fruit. Walked to the train station and took the train into Amsterdam. Unfortunately it is another rainy day!! Once we were in Amsterdam, we took a tram into the center of the city to visit the Anne Frank House.
The Anne Frank House was a very solemn experience. It is absolutely unimaginable what these people had to endure. I had not read her diaries so was not real informed as to the entire story. They lived above her father’s business, which he had had to sign over to a business associate to keep from losing it due to his being a Jew. During the day, when there were people present in the offices downstairs, all the people living in hiding upstairs were unable to use any water, including the toilet, had to be very quiet, especially walking around so as not to give themselves away to those below. There were two ladies who worked for Anne’s father that had agreed to help them and were mainly responsible for getting them food and water which became more and more difficult as time went on. They lived with all the curtains drawn and could only see outside through a crack in the curtains and there was a rear-view mirror type of thing mounted on the outside wall that allowed them to see the street. Of course, they were finally discovered and taken to the concentration camps where all but the father died. Anne’s diaries were left in the house and held in safekeeping by one of the ladies in the office until the father returned from the camp and she gave them to him. We purchased her book there and I will read it on the bus.
We then toured the city, stopping to see the old orphanage where there were actually small boxes built into a wall where women could come in the night and put their baby in the box for the nuns to find. Many women felt that this was giving their child an opportunity at a better life as they would receive an education by the nuns. We also saw the place where all the Jews were placed on boats to be taken to the camps. There is usually lots of flowers placed there. It is simply a triangular piece of pink marble jutting out into the canal. Jews were forced to wear a gold star on their clothing to identify them as Jewish but Hitler also punished homosexuals and they were forced to wear a pink triangle on their clothing and that is the significance of the pink marble triangle. We visited Dam Square, saw urinals placed on street corners with only a small wall around them and saw a small apartment place where the wealthy families of Amsterdam helped house widows and unmarried women who in turn helped care for poor children. These women lived as nuns but never took the vows and were called begijn. There are women still living there today.
We were free for lunch and then met back up to go to the Reijks Museum. Ferdi pointed out several of the most important works and explained how to read a painting. We were then free for a couple of hours. Paul and I wandered around the museum for a while and then headed out as Paul wanted to try a Heiniken Pilsner beer. We found a place close to the museum and got a beer and a glass of wine and rested our feet for a while. Ended up staying and having a latte also before rejoining the group for a walk to the Red Light District.
The Red Light District was a seedier part of town with lots of sex stores and “coffee shops”. You could smell the marijuana smoke drifting out into the streets. We only walked down one street in the District. It was a very narrow lane with rooms with large plate glass windows and the doors standing open. The women stood or sat behind these windows in their underwear under black lights that made their underwear glow. Most of them were young and attractive. Being the prude that I am I had difficulty making eye contact with any of them and could only catch quick glimpses of them. I felt guilty staring like they were freaks or something. Of course, that is what they are there for, for you to check them out and pick out which girl you would like to spend some time with.
That was the end of our day in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, during one of our tram rides in the city, we lost 4 members of our group when they were unable to get off quick enough and were trapped on the tram until it made it’s next stop. They were on their own to find their way back to Haarlelm and our hotel. Luckily, most of the people in Amsterdam speak English.
We had dinner together at De Lachende Javaan an Indonesian restaurant. Everything was served family style and it was all very good even though we weren’t really sure what all we were eating.
Tomorrow we get on the bus for the first time to drive to Bacharach, Germany.
We got up early today, had breakfast – usually cereals, lots of bread, cheese, cold cuts, yogurt and some fruit. Walked to the train station and took the train into Amsterdam. Unfortunately it is another rainy day!! Once we were in Amsterdam, we took a tram into the center of the city to visit the Anne Frank House.
The Anne Frank House was a very solemn experience. It is absolutely unimaginable what these people had to endure. I had not read her diaries so was not real informed as to the entire story. They lived above her father’s business, which he had had to sign over to a business associate to keep from losing it due to his being a Jew. During the day, when there were people present in the offices downstairs, all the people living in hiding upstairs were unable to use any water, including the toilet, had to be very quiet, especially walking around so as not to give themselves away to those below. There were two ladies who worked for Anne’s father that had agreed to help them and were mainly responsible for getting them food and water which became more and more difficult as time went on. They lived with all the curtains drawn and could only see outside through a crack in the curtains and there was a rear-view mirror type of thing mounted on the outside wall that allowed them to see the street. Of course, they were finally discovered and taken to the concentration camps where all but the father died. Anne’s diaries were left in the house and held in safekeeping by one of the ladies in the office until the father returned from the camp and she gave them to him. We purchased her book there and I will read it on the bus.
We then toured the city, stopping to see the old orphanage where there were actually small boxes built into a wall where women could come in the night and put their baby in the box for the nuns to find. Many women felt that this was giving their child an opportunity at a better life as they would receive an education by the nuns. We also saw the place where all the Jews were placed on boats to be taken to the camps. There is usually lots of flowers placed there. It is simply a triangular piece of pink marble jutting out into the canal. Jews were forced to wear a gold star on their clothing to identify them as Jewish but Hitler also punished homosexuals and they were forced to wear a pink triangle on their clothing and that is the significance of the pink marble triangle. We visited Dam Square, saw urinals placed on street corners with only a small wall around them and saw a small apartment place where the wealthy families of Amsterdam helped house widows and unmarried women who in turn helped care for poor children. These women lived as nuns but never took the vows and were called begijn. There are women still living there today.
We were free for lunch and then met back up to go to the Reijks Museum. Ferdi pointed out several of the most important works and explained how to read a painting. We were then free for a couple of hours. Paul and I wandered around the museum for a while and then headed out as Paul wanted to try a Heiniken Pilsner beer. We found a place close to the museum and got a beer and a glass of wine and rested our feet for a while. Ended up staying and having a latte also before rejoining the group for a walk to the Red Light District.
The Red Light District was a seedier part of town with lots of sex stores and “coffee shops”. You could smell the marijuana smoke drifting out into the streets. We only walked down one street in the District. It was a very narrow lane with rooms with large plate glass windows and the doors standing open. The women stood or sat behind these windows in their underwear under black lights that made their underwear glow. Most of them were young and attractive. Being the prude that I am I had difficulty making eye contact with any of them and could only catch quick glimpses of them. I felt guilty staring like they were freaks or something. Of course, that is what they are there for, for you to check them out and pick out which girl you would like to spend some time with.
That was the end of our day in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, during one of our tram rides in the city, we lost 4 members of our group when they were unable to get off quick enough and were trapped on the tram until it made it’s next stop. They were on their own to find their way back to Haarlelm and our hotel. Luckily, most of the people in Amsterdam speak English.
We had dinner together at De Lachende Javaan an Indonesian restaurant. Everything was served family style and it was all very good even though we weren’t really sure what all we were eating.
Tomorrow we get on the bus for the first time to drive to Bacharach, Germany.
Day 17 – London to Amsterdam
We travel today to Amsterdam to meet up with our Rick Steves tour group. We took the Gatwick Express train out of Victoria Station to the airport. We had thought the security might be very strict after the bomb scares they have had over the last couple of days. It was more strict than we have encountered so far but not too extreme. We had to check our luggage though as they are much more strict about what you can carry on. Our flight is on Easy Jet which is a European company. While waiting in Gatwick for our flight, an alarm starting going off and they announced that the fire alarm had been set off in another part of the building and that we were to stay put. This went on for 30-40 minutes. We noticed that several of the gates for flights had closed and were concerned that we were going to be able to make our flight. Finally our gate came up and we headed that way. There was only a short delay before we boarded our 1 hr flight to Amsterdam.
Once in Amsterdam, now we cannot read any of the signs, we had to find our bus to Haarlem. It took some time to locate bus #300 but we did it, boarded the bus, tried to figure out what stop to get off at and picked the wrong one!! With the help of a map in one of our books, we were finally able to locate our hotel, dragging our luggage around behind us.
We went out for lunch, another experience as nothing here is in English and so you don’t know what you are ordering. Our group met in the hotel at 5pm and we met our tour guide, Ferdi. He went over all the rules and regulations and gave us an overview of what to expect.
We then went on a walking tour of Haarlem with a local guide named Hans. He took us throughout the town, pointing out the brickwork in front of the stores in shapes to indicate what type of business it was. This was done because the people long ago were all illiterate and so they relied on symbols rather than the written word. He explained why there are different types of bricks on the walkways and why their money is in all different shapes and sizes – to help the blind citizens get around and be able to identify their money. We also saw our first “Coffee shop” or marijuana store. Soft drugs are legal in Amsterdam and they are VERY liberal in their thinking and acceptance of different ways of life, especially homosexuality and nudity.
We were on our own for dinner and went with some new friends, Barbara, Bruce and their grandson Jeff to a Steak House restaurant next to our hotel. We had a delicious meal and a waiter that was a real character.
Our group consists of 5 couples, several mother daughter pairs, a single young lady and a lady and her two sons – a total of 25. We have a wide range of ages from 70’s to the youngest who is 14.
Tomorrow we take the train back to Amsterdam for a tour.
We travel today to Amsterdam to meet up with our Rick Steves tour group. We took the Gatwick Express train out of Victoria Station to the airport. We had thought the security might be very strict after the bomb scares they have had over the last couple of days. It was more strict than we have encountered so far but not too extreme. We had to check our luggage though as they are much more strict about what you can carry on. Our flight is on Easy Jet which is a European company. While waiting in Gatwick for our flight, an alarm starting going off and they announced that the fire alarm had been set off in another part of the building and that we were to stay put. This went on for 30-40 minutes. We noticed that several of the gates for flights had closed and were concerned that we were going to be able to make our flight. Finally our gate came up and we headed that way. There was only a short delay before we boarded our 1 hr flight to Amsterdam.
Once in Amsterdam, now we cannot read any of the signs, we had to find our bus to Haarlem. It took some time to locate bus #300 but we did it, boarded the bus, tried to figure out what stop to get off at and picked the wrong one!! With the help of a map in one of our books, we were finally able to locate our hotel, dragging our luggage around behind us.
We went out for lunch, another experience as nothing here is in English and so you don’t know what you are ordering. Our group met in the hotel at 5pm and we met our tour guide, Ferdi. He went over all the rules and regulations and gave us an overview of what to expect.
We then went on a walking tour of Haarlem with a local guide named Hans. He took us throughout the town, pointing out the brickwork in front of the stores in shapes to indicate what type of business it was. This was done because the people long ago were all illiterate and so they relied on symbols rather than the written word. He explained why there are different types of bricks on the walkways and why their money is in all different shapes and sizes – to help the blind citizens get around and be able to identify their money. We also saw our first “Coffee shop” or marijuana store. Soft drugs are legal in Amsterdam and they are VERY liberal in their thinking and acceptance of different ways of life, especially homosexuality and nudity.
We were on our own for dinner and went with some new friends, Barbara, Bruce and their grandson Jeff to a Steak House restaurant next to our hotel. We had a delicious meal and a waiter that was a real character.
Our group consists of 5 couples, several mother daughter pairs, a single young lady and a lady and her two sons – a total of 25. We have a wide range of ages from 70’s to the youngest who is 14.
Tomorrow we take the train back to Amsterdam for a tour.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Since I haven't had any luck posting pictures on this blog, I have posted them on shutterfly.com.
Here is the address:
share.dell.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CcMWjRmyZsZy
Hope you enjoy the pictures. I have a good internet connection for the next couple of days so I may try getting the pictures on the blog again, but if I am unsuccessful, I will add more to the shutterfly address.
Here is the address:
share.dell.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CcMWjRmyZsZy
Hope you enjoy the pictures. I have a good internet connection for the next couple of days so I may try getting the pictures on the blog again, but if I am unsuccessful, I will add more to the shutterfly address.
Day 16 – London
We were up early this morning to meet up with our tour guide for the Stonehenge Tour. It was about a 2 hour drive to Stonehenge. I think our driver made it in about half that time!!! He drove like a maniac the entire time. I put on my seatbelt, held on for dear life and did a lot of praying.
Stonehenge is out in the middle of nowhere. Lots of fields, cattle, sheep and then there it is. It was a mix of overcast, sun and rain. We started circling the structure with the sun shining and by the time we had walked around to the other side it had started to rain. The people who built Stonehenge also have hundreds of burial mounds sprinkled across the countryside. Stonehenge has a very mystical aura about it. The stones used to construct the circle were brought from over 200 miles away and some of the stones weigh 50 tons. How they transported them and how they hoisted them up on top of each other has never been figured out.
Our next stop on the tour was Bath. This is a beautiful town. Lots of flowers everywhere and almost all the buildings are built from a cream colored limestone. We went in to see the Roman Baths and had a very interesting tour there. We were on our own for lunch so we wandered down to a place called Retro Café. It was very quaint, lots of locals and we had a great lunch. It was sunny in Bath. We also walked down the street to Sally Lunn’s home. She was the creator of the Sally Lunn bun. We went inside and bought a bun and found out it is like a HUGE hamburger bun. I thought it would be like a big sweet roll but I was wrong. Will need to get some jam to go with that big old hunk of bread!!
Next on the tour was Windsor Castle and the sun is still shining. Now this is a castle!!! It was absolutely huge. Lots of guards even though the Queen wasn’t in residence while we were there. We headed over to where they have Queen Mary’s dollhouse was on display. This thing was monstrous in size. It was at least 5ft by 5ft and had four floors in it. From there we were toured through the Royal Apartments. We went through 20 rooms of absolute opulence. I have never seen so much gold leaf in all my life. The entryway had lots of armor two statues of life-size horses and riders and lots of coats of armor. The church on the grounds was not open for tourists as it was Sunday and they were having services there. We saw the gardens with lots of roses and several waterfalls and fountains. This place was just beautiful. After leaving the castle we walked through the town of Bath. They have lots of little pubs and cafes with tables all over the sidewalk and into the street area that is not for pedestrians only. We stopped in at The Three Tuns and tried an English cider. It is kind of a mix of apple juice and beer. It was interesting tasting and very easy to drink. You could knock a few of those back without thinking about it. Time to head back to London. We are tired but have had a very good day.
Tomorrow we will travel to Amsterdam to link up with our group for the Rick Steves tour. We are very excited about that.
Day 15 – Harwich to London
We were off the ship early this morning – before 7am and on the train from Harwich back to London. Another overcast, rainy day unfortunately. Got to London – Liverpool Street Station and took the tube over to Victoria Street Station where we hauled our luggage up about 3 flights of stairs and walked to our hotel. After leaving our luggage in our room, we took off again for Buckingham Palace. When we arrived we noticed that the crowds were lining up and realized that they were claiming their spots to watch the changing of the guard. We took some pictures of the palace and the Victoria Monument and decided we didn’t want to stay to watch the changing of the guards so we hiked over to see the London Eye. On the way over, we heard that the changing of the guards was cancelled due to the rain.
We saw the Horse Guards in formation and also got to see their change. Once they are finished with the change there are a couple of guards who stand on the grounds and two others who sit on horseback. They are there to allow you to take pictures but they do not speak and they do not look at you.
We saw the London Eye but it apparently was not open to passengers today. Don’t know if that was due to the lousy weather or not. We could hear Big Ben chiming in the distance and were lucky enough to get there in time to hear it strike 12 noon. It was a very busy area tourist wise and traffic wise. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are beautiful and located right on the banks of the River Thames. We walked around to get other views of the Houses of Parliament and they were heavily guarded with guards carrying assault rifles.
Across the street was Westminster Abbey. After taking pictures of the outside we decided to go in. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed inside the Abbey. This was probably the most beautiful church I have ever seen. It was very different from other churches as it was filled with graves. Some of the graves dated back to the 1300’s. Some of the graves were vaults above ground while others were plaques laid in the floor stating who was buried underneath. We saw the coronation chair and the seat that the Queen uses whenever she attends services there.
Time for lunch!! We took Rick Steves advice and took the tube over close to Trafalgar Square and found a little place called Gordon’s Wine Bar. It was located on a neat, narrow little road just outside of the tube station. You took some very steep steps down into the restaurant. They had a buffet bar on one side and a wine bar on the other. We ordered and headed back into the 15th century wine cellar where there were tables lit only by candles. It was very dark in there, somewhat warm and the ceiling occasionally dripped water on you. It was so NEAT!! We had a good meal and a great glass of wine. Overall, a very unique place and a great memory.
After lunch, we headed for Trafalgar Square. We had heard that a few days previous, they had found a car with a bomb in it. There was a large police presence and a very interesting event going on. Evidently they were having a Gay Pride Parade. They had floats with men in nothing but their tighty whities dancing around, waving rainbow flats and blowing whistles. Some of the supporters in the crowd were interesting also – especially the fellow in striped briefs and a feather mask and nothing else, or the fellow in very tight hot pants and bright pink high heels.
Back to our room for a short rest and then we took off to The Duke of Wellington Pub for dinner. This is another place that was recommended by Rick Steves. We decided to try the roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, whatever that is!! It was delicious and the pudding appears to be some sort of bread. Twice now, we have been in restaurants where there was a dog inside. Tonight there was a large German Shepard in the restaurant. He was well behaved and when we left he was under one of the tables sleeping. Most of the restaurants that we have tried have been written up as mostly for locals rather than tourists so we are usually the only outsiders in the places.
Overall, a very enjoyable day in spite of the constant rain. We saw the stuffy to the outrageous in London!! Tomorrow we have another early day as we will be joining a tour to Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle. We have our fingers crossed that maybe we will get a little sunshine.
We were off the ship early this morning – before 7am and on the train from Harwich back to London. Another overcast, rainy day unfortunately. Got to London – Liverpool Street Station and took the tube over to Victoria Street Station where we hauled our luggage up about 3 flights of stairs and walked to our hotel. After leaving our luggage in our room, we took off again for Buckingham Palace. When we arrived we noticed that the crowds were lining up and realized that they were claiming their spots to watch the changing of the guard. We took some pictures of the palace and the Victoria Monument and decided we didn’t want to stay to watch the changing of the guards so we hiked over to see the London Eye. On the way over, we heard that the changing of the guards was cancelled due to the rain.
We saw the Horse Guards in formation and also got to see their change. Once they are finished with the change there are a couple of guards who stand on the grounds and two others who sit on horseback. They are there to allow you to take pictures but they do not speak and they do not look at you.
We saw the London Eye but it apparently was not open to passengers today. Don’t know if that was due to the lousy weather or not. We could hear Big Ben chiming in the distance and were lucky enough to get there in time to hear it strike 12 noon. It was a very busy area tourist wise and traffic wise. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are beautiful and located right on the banks of the River Thames. We walked around to get other views of the Houses of Parliament and they were heavily guarded with guards carrying assault rifles.
Across the street was Westminster Abbey. After taking pictures of the outside we decided to go in. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed inside the Abbey. This was probably the most beautiful church I have ever seen. It was very different from other churches as it was filled with graves. Some of the graves dated back to the 1300’s. Some of the graves were vaults above ground while others were plaques laid in the floor stating who was buried underneath. We saw the coronation chair and the seat that the Queen uses whenever she attends services there.
Time for lunch!! We took Rick Steves advice and took the tube over close to Trafalgar Square and found a little place called Gordon’s Wine Bar. It was located on a neat, narrow little road just outside of the tube station. You took some very steep steps down into the restaurant. They had a buffet bar on one side and a wine bar on the other. We ordered and headed back into the 15th century wine cellar where there were tables lit only by candles. It was very dark in there, somewhat warm and the ceiling occasionally dripped water on you. It was so NEAT!! We had a good meal and a great glass of wine. Overall, a very unique place and a great memory.
After lunch, we headed for Trafalgar Square. We had heard that a few days previous, they had found a car with a bomb in it. There was a large police presence and a very interesting event going on. Evidently they were having a Gay Pride Parade. They had floats with men in nothing but their tighty whities dancing around, waving rainbow flats and blowing whistles. Some of the supporters in the crowd were interesting also – especially the fellow in striped briefs and a feather mask and nothing else, or the fellow in very tight hot pants and bright pink high heels.
Back to our room for a short rest and then we took off to The Duke of Wellington Pub for dinner. This is another place that was recommended by Rick Steves. We decided to try the roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, whatever that is!! It was delicious and the pudding appears to be some sort of bread. Twice now, we have been in restaurants where there was a dog inside. Tonight there was a large German Shepard in the restaurant. He was well behaved and when we left he was under one of the tables sleeping. Most of the restaurants that we have tried have been written up as mostly for locals rather than tourists so we are usually the only outsiders in the places.
Overall, a very enjoyable day in spite of the constant rain. We saw the stuffy to the outrageous in London!! Tomorrow we have another early day as we will be joining a tour to Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle. We have our fingers crossed that maybe we will get a little sunshine.
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