Two Travel Days

The Tour Director's aim was to get the group from Amsterdam to Prague as quickly as possible. This would occur over two days with tonight's stop being at Warzburg. Driver laws for bus drivers in Europe are very strict. A driver must have a 45 minute break for every 4 hours of driving. There must be a 9 hour break from last thing at night to first start up the next day. If we are late in getting back from an after dinner function, eg 11 pm, the bus could not leave the next day until 8 am. Because we were covering large distances (up to 600k's per day) we needed early starts. Often evening activities would begin early to ensure the bus was back by 9:30 pm to ensure the driver had his 9 hours and to get an early start! Today's first stop was Cologne for a couple of hours.

The main feature of Cologne is the cathedral. Most cathedrals are made from sandstone so they can't be cleaned with a pressure hose. They have to be hand cleaned. This is expensive and time consuming. Cologne was heavily bombed during WWII in retaliation for the bombing of English cities. The cathedral is the only building in Cologne which escaped the bombing, either a miracle or an example of precision bombing as this photo shows!

We had bread rolls for our lunch. Bread rolls in this part of the world are just so varied and so tasty!

We boarded the bus and headed further into Germany. The countryside here is very attractive and busy small towns and cities are found everywhere. The road system is fantastic and there is hardly any holdup. Credit for the German road system all goes to Adolph Hitler! It was he who had these great roads built. Here is a pretty small German town.

Shortly after we arrived to catch a boat for a Rhine River cruise. We all boarded and the boat headed off up the river to where we would meet the bus again (and thus provide the driver with another 45 minute stop!) Along either bank of the river were more small towns with 'typical' German buildings. One great building was a Pub at the front and a church at the back. This is one way of getting people to church I suppose.

People in Europe have been killing each other for over two thousand years. The Rhine River has always been important for the transport of materials and goods throughout Europe. To make some money from all this river traffic, local lords built castles overlooking the river then stretched a big chain across the river stopping any traffic passing by until the appropriate 'toll' had been paid! There must have been another castle every two or three kilometres along the river like this one. In one spot you could see three castles, one just behind us, another behind a couple of kilometres on the opposite bank and a third up ahead of us just visible around a river bend!

Not only is there an abundance of cargo vessels using this mighty river, there are also numerous tourist vessels as well. The one in this photo is an overnight tourist boat with plenty of creature comforts available to all passengers. As we sailed along we had quite a long chat with a young lass and her mother from USA who was touring Europe after she had just finished senior high school.

We were back on our bus again hewing up the kilometres heading to Warzburg. We arrived about 6 pm covering the 600k's! Many of the group headed into town to see this bridge. I headed straight for the beer garden across the road where it was happy hour! I couldn't have timed it better!


We were on our way early next morning heading towards Prague. Last night was the last of our single night stopovers, from here on it was two night stops. It was about 30 degrees. We stopped in Nuremberg for the mandatory driver refresher and spent time having a quick look round. Most of Nuremberg streets have become only for pedestrians. The city is very clean and modern and again we bought scrumptious bread rolls for our lunch!

Again we pushed on heading towards Prague and we stopped for lunch on the Czech border. Though the Czech Republic is a member of the European Common Market we had to change our money in kroner! We arrived in a hot Prague mid afternoon. Trish and I found a bar over the road and despite a bit of a language problem we soon had a wine and a beer. Half a litre of beer cost about AUD$2.30.

After tea we went into the city of Prague by metro and had a superb walk around in the evening air. On the Charles Bridge were stalls, people singing, art shows and the evening was wonderful. We found an outdoor restaurant and enjoyed a cold beer while the ladies had a mixed drink under starry skies. It was a highlight of our trip away! Eventually we found the metro station and returned to the hotel for a good night's rest!

To Amsterdam

We were on our way from Brussels by 8:15 am and heading into the Netherlands. The scenery in this part of the world is just flat, flat and flat! There are bicycles everywhere and later in the day we even saw a bicycle carpark in Amsterdam. Our tour director filled us in on all the constant battle people here have with the sea and water levels and then in due course we arrived for a clog making demonstration. As you can see from the second photo below they do come in all sorts of colors.




Our next stop was a village called Volendam. This used to be a fishing village but with the construction of numerous dykes, this town no longer has any access to the open sea. This has destroyed the local fishing industry. It has now turned its hand to tourism and is now 110% focussed on tourism. This is not the sort of place we really wanted to see! We then had a mandatory look at a a windmill and were surprised to see this housing estate below. It is exactly as you would have expected a Dutch housing estate to look!


We arrived in Amsterdam and our new hotel for the night. Again our accommodation was very comfortable. We had a busy night in front of us. Firstly we had a look at the red light district where you see the ladies of the night (or late afternoon in our case) in their small shop windows. From there it was on a pre dinner canal cruise around Amsterdam. We passed these homes and when you look closely you see how 'crooked' they are with their foundations sinking in the formerly swampy ground. The photo below gives another view of bridges which cross the canals.


After the Canal Cruise we experienced a 'typical' Dutch evening meal. The meal was excellent and there was enough beer for yours truly! I enjoyed some raw fish for my meal, it was wonderful. The next day we were having a huge travel day heading from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Warzburg in Germany, a distance close to 600kms!

In Bruges and In Brussels

There were only 25 in the "Romantic European" tour which left the London hotel at 5:45 am sharp bound for Dover. We arrived at Dover in misty conditions and the ferry then arrived in Calais about 90 minutes later. We adjusted our watches (forward 1 hour) and boarded the bus for Bruges in Belgium. The first thing we noticed was the fantastic roadway we were on and these highways and freeways would be the normal thing throughout Europe. The roads are extremely impressive. They basically follow the routes set out by the Roman road builders from 2000 years ago.


Bruges is a picture postcard city showing the best of medieval Europe with cobblestone streets, large city squares, canals, historic buildings, churches, cathedrals and all so picturesque. Remember to click on the pictures for a larger view, then hit "Back" to return to this page. The day had warmed up a little so we were able to enjoy a two hour lunch stopover here. We had the first of many Salad Rolls or Panini for our lunch while in Bruges.

It bears out what was said in the recent movie "In Bruges" which captures this city's beauty very well indeed. As we watched the movie we remembered the spots in the city where we had been. Chocolate making is a favorite pastime here and there are chocolate shops scattered throughout the city.

Some more of Bruges below (can you spot me?):


We arrived in Brussels later in the afternoon and took a quick walk through the city. There were rows and rows of restaurants, street entertainers and more cobblestone roads, city squares, chocolate shops, churches and cathedrals too. There were numerous souvenir shops as well. This is an arcade below which the group strolled through.


World War Two has had a huge impact on Europe. Each place we visited had stories to tell from times of the German occupation. In Brussels there is this small statue of a little boy twinkling from on high! It is said to be a monument to remind everyone of the resistance and disdain the Belgians had for the German Occupation troops. This statue is symbolic of a little boy urinating from above onto an occupying German soldier.

The hotel we stayed in was not the original hotel for the tour group. Instead we had been moved (and subsequently upgraded) to a 5 star hotel. It was just wonderful! We enjoyed our first evening meal in Europe in an outdoor restaurant. It was a one night stopover with Amsterdam our next overnight stop!

Wednesday's News

We had a glorious 26 yesterday, quite warm for this time of year. Today we are looking at about 22 with a cool breeze blowing.

Trish's cold has worsened and she spent much of the morning lying in bed. She has a nasty cough and just feels awful. Today she missed her Stitchers session, not feeling up to it!

I am back into the home brewing, catching up on what was not done before we went away. I put a brew on last week and on Monday I washed over 60 bottles. Today I bottled one lot and then put a second brew on straight away. Home brew likes warm weather. In the winter I use a 'heat pad' to keep the brew warm. Then I wrap it up in an old tracksuit jacket to try and keep the warm 'in'. I only have the one heat pad so I can only do one lot at a time.

I should be able to bottle the second lot early next week.

I have recently downloaded Pinnacle 12, a computer program you can use to make your own movies or slide shows which I will use to create a DVD of our recent trip away. I played around with it a lot yesterday, learning how the program works. That kept me out of mischief but also away from the blog. Therefore I have a long post below on our recent tour to UK and Europe.

Enjoy!

Stonehenge and More London

We left Bath just before lunch and an hour or two later, after crossing the Salisbury Plains, we came to Stonehenge. Just unbelievable! You see it on the TV, you see pictures in books but to see it 'in the flesh' was another of the highlights of our trip. How was it built is the question no one can really answer. As you approach Stonehenge you start to see small mounds of earth now overgrown by grass. The mounds are 10 to 15 metres in diameter and 4 or 5 metres high. This is the first sign that Stonehenge is nearby! Stonehenge is a popular spot for any tourist to the UK.

Our next stop was back to London and the Thistle Marble Arch Hotel for one night. The bus got in about 4 pm on a Friday. Many group members were staying at the "Thistle" but others were moving straight on. We caught up with friends David and Lorraine for a few beers and a bottle of Hardy's red wine (about AUD$10 a bottle) in our room to relax after a hectic couple of weeks. That night the four of us hit the Marlborough Arms Pub (near the hotel) for a meal and quite a few 'frothy tops'.

The next day we were to move to another hotel, The Victoria Park Plaza which was the take-off point for our next tour. The cab fare was 11 pounds to travel about 5 kms through London's busy streets. It had a very good position near many major attractions (eg Westminster Abbey) but also there was a supermarket very near (see photo to left) by as well as internet access at another nearby shop. We also had access to many eateries. That afternoon we decided to 'explore on foot' and walked Victoria St, past Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament Buildings, and the London Eye.




We only had three days in London this time before setting off for Europe. We had also arrived over a weekend and to top it all off it was a Bank Holiday weekend too. The final straw was that very unpleasant weather was forecast for Sunday morning as well as all day Monday! So we had to make the most of our time here! Trish has always wanted to go on the London Eye. I am NOT keen on heights so I was just going to watch. Holiday weekend and a poor forecast for next two days meant the Eye was crowded with long queues. We bought a 'Fast track' ticket which put Trish at the head of the queue so it wasn't long before she was up and away.

The 'Pods" on the London Eye each hold about 25 people and they were continually moving. Groups of people were always kept together to be in the same pod so there were several 'queues', each ensuring people had their turn but that groups were not separated. Very few pods were filled to the maximum number which meant everyone had their ride in comfort. The photo below was taken from the top of "The Eye".


After The London Eye we were both feeling a little tired so we returned to the hotel,, visited the local supermarket, bought some beer and apple cider and enjoyed a quiet relaxing drink. The view from our hotel room (photo to the left) was great. If you look closely you can see The London Eye and Westminster Abbey. There was a Pub 5 minutes walk from the hotel which is where we had our dinner. Great paying for a meal and a few beers in a Pub with your credit card!

The forecast was correct and we awoke on Sunday to a wet drizzly day. I visited the internet cafe nearby while Trish explored the supermarket. The weather cleared later in the day and as Harrod's was fairly close by we walked around to have a look. A 5 minute look was enough for me so I left Trish and found a Pub where I relaxed with a couple of pints! From the photo below you tell it was a good spot! We walked back to the hotel via some beautiful London Terraces.

We had a 'Roast Duck' evening meal at a Chinese Restaurant run by two Asian ladies, one from Ipoh and the other from Penang (both cities are in Malaysia!). We slept soundly.

Monday was the Bank Holiday and we awoke to heavy rain showers, strong winds and cold temperatures. The rain eased a little about 11 am so we slipped out and crept from cover to cover to keep dry and headed towards Westminster Abbey. Upon arrival there we saw there were no queues. (On Saturday the queues had been a couple of hundred metres long!). What a magnificent place Westminster Abbey is. We walked around enthralled by all the history and magnificence of the building and its contents. Just mind blowing what we saw. We stayed for over 2 hours before creeping back, scurrying from shelter to shelter to the hotel to dry out! We enjoyed a few drinks before finding another Pub for our evening meal. Tomorrow was the beginning of our Europe Tour and the bus was due to leave at 5:45 am!