Last day Germany

Today was our drive back to Germany. As we boarded the bus we felt a communal sigh of relief to be going home. We had little expectations for the day, expecting to spend most of the day traveling by bus and some by boat. But we drove through a beautiful countryside and were able to see Queen Beatrice's home, she just abdicated the Netherlands throne last month.  Then we stopped at a lookout point of the Rhine, here there is a fable that the Loreli siren who sings and causes ship wrecks on the Rhine. 

After a treacherous drive down into the valley we boarded a boat for the trip upriver and during the next two hours we counted about twenty castles, which date from medieval times. Here are a few.

This one was actually in the river for taking tolls.

What a spectacular cruise!

And just when we thought nothing could highlight the day our director took us to another Rhine lookout and offered our arrival into Rudesheim by cable car from the mountainside into our village. 

Me, with my trusty nametag.

Chuck enjoying himself, while holding on for his dear life.

We arrived into the cutest village yet and walked through the alleys of town to our sweet little hotel.

There was a couple dancing here in the afternoon.

After our final meal with our group, we exchanged lots of emails and hugs. We're collapsing into bed to sleep before our early morning trip to the Frankfurt airport tomorrow.

View out our window this evening. Good night and good bye Europe. We had a wonderful time.

Day 12 Holland

In so many ways this trip has been unbelievable. After we think we have seen so much and nothing else can impress us more than what we have already seen, we take In another beautiful location and are in awe all over again.

Today we drive over the dikes leaving Lelystad, we arrived in the cute fishing town of Volendam, pretty much a tourist town, but we were early and the sun was shining. We enjoyed out cappuccino and the board walk. 

We've tasted cappuccino in every stop in Europe!

This little bird joined us.

The countryside here is the most beautiful, the reclaimed land is lush and the canals are filled with water fowl and everyone rides their bikes!

Loved this area.

These windmills, from the 1600's, still dot the countryside, even though they have pumps all over to continue to keep the waters at bay these windmills still work when needed.

 Then we drove to Amsterdam and took another boat ride of the city, then found a restful cafe. The languages and the chatter is very comforting. People switch from Dutch to English very comfortably (but not us).

We did not see the Red Light district but some of our tour did and said it was something else. 

Tomorrow a short Rhine river cruise, then back in Frankfurt.

 

  

Day 11 Antwerp, Belgium

Today was another long travel day, we drove for two hours took a break, then drove another two hours through the french countryside.  

Finally we arrived in Antwerp, Belgium. 

This is a large part city with buildings from the 1600's. 

They are known for their waffles, chocolate and lace.  We ate waffles, bought chocolate and skipped the lace. 

The streets of town.

Day 10 Paris

We've arrived in Paris with a limited amount of time in this beautiful city. We had to choose where to spend our time.  After a river cruise, to get orientated to the city, we decided to see the Louvre.  What a place, the famous art and sculptures. We saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory and other beautiful art. Then then walked to the L'Orange and viewed the magnificent Water Lilies by Monet and art from Picasso. Water Lilies is a hugh display talking up two rooms, covering all the walls, he worked on it for 25 years. No pictures were allowed.

Waiting in line for the Lourve.

 Giant Winged Victory

Outside the Lourve

Chuck enjoying the parks

In the evening we took a city lights tour and saw the Eiffel Tower sparkling and lit up and drove down the Champs Élysées where the police were our working the gay protests in the city. Quite a scene!

  

Tomorrow Holland.

Day 9- driving through France

Today we left the Alps during a fresh coat of light snow. Down the mountain our driver headed without a worry. I guess, it gets very bad in winter but as they say 'no worries'. We spent most of the day driving through the countryside.

More castles

By the late afternoon we stopped in Beaune, France, the heart of Burgundy wine, some of the most expensive wine in the world.  This town had an older walled section where we walked through to the center of town. It was absolutely beautiful inside with the old buildings, numerous wine caves (cellars) where you could taste the wine. 

This town has one of the oldest hospitals in the world, the Hospital of God built In the 1400's.  It served the sick and the poor as late as 1980's and been restored to it's condition around the 16th century, unbelievable and beautiful.

The hospital courtyard.

Patient beds

Tomorrow Paris!

Day 8 Lucerne, Switzerland

I had heard that Lucerne was a beautiful city, but again, words cannot describe the beauty of this 13th century city with it's old city walls and towers surrounding the waterways. When we arrived we walked the covered bridge that has been used for centuries to protect them from incoming ships.  The stories are drawn in pictures on the beams. Here are some pictures of the city.

Again, more of the history of the independence of Switzerland by the different tribes in1100 AD.

Lucerne is called the city of swans.

This is the waterway from the large mountain lake.

This lion represents the Swiss army that defended Louis the 13th even though he was beheaded and they were losing the battle, they battled until their deaths. This sculpture was created in the heart of Lucerne on the mountain side in the 1300's.  It really created an emotional response in me. 

Day 7 Switzerland

What a long day, we spent most of the day driving through the north part of Italy, to the mountains and up into the Alps. We made a stop in a Swiss vacation lake town of Lagano.

Since the pass was still snowed in we drove thru the 14 mile tunnel to our mountain town of Seelsburg, Switzerland. The view is magnificent.

The drive.

Day 6 - Venice, Italy

Well, we drove an hour from Verona to Venice, which looks like nothing from the transport station. But when we came around to the Port, the city and it's 100 plus churches came into view. We saw the church where Vivaldi (my favorite composer) taught and wrote his music. We viewed the two pillars where people were punished to death and the Bridge of Sighs, where they walked from the court house to the jail.

It's a beautiful, indescribable place. Both the beautiful Church of St, Mark and the enormous and famous Piazza San Marco. 

and of course we rode in a beautiful gondola through the waterways.

There are many other walkable streets and alleys to get lost in.

The architecture is unbelievable and the mosaic work is incomprehensible.  The church of St. Mark, who is believed to be buried there, was started in the 11th century and completed in the 13th century.

I didn't take this picture because there is scaffolding covering much of it in the front. 

Wish I had more time for details and history, but it's 10:30 now and wake up calls come at 7:00 AM!

Italy- Day 6

Well, we took off and finished driving through the Bavarian mountains.  I'm surprised there are so many castles, I'll bet we saw one every 15 minutes or so during our two hour drive.  Here's one of many. Many of them changed hands often during the last 500 years.

 Our first stop of the day was in Lake Garda in Northern Italy. This is a popular vacation spot, the beautiful waters and mountains together were beautiful. There's another castle on the mountain.

Next we drove into the city of Verona.  Here we visited the Roman ruins of 2000 years ago, markets of then and now and the colosseum, which is as old as the one in Rome but still used for current events, like operas and concerts.  Tonight there was a soccer party there.

This is Juliette's Balcony.  Don't tell me how they know this since it's a made up story. there were notes on the gate and they say that touching the statue of Juliet will bring you good luck, but everyone posing with here was touching her in places where I didn't want to get a pic. More tomorrow.

 

Castles, Churches and Palaces

May 19th, my birthday, day 5, Well, I'm getting behind in my postings.  This is a whirlwind trip, usually we make three significant stops a day and it's getting harder and harder to keep track. This is the town of  Oberammergau, where they hold the famous Passion Play every ten years. The town if full of these darling story book and religious painted houses.  As you can tell it was raining, but I liked how this one, Little Red Riding Hood, turned out.

 

Next we drove to see the famous castles of King Ludwig II, he reigned Bavaria were from 1864 to 1884. He was a young king that loved the arts and music, but didn't care for politics or running the country much for that matter.  He built the famous Neuschwanstein Castle
near the end of his reign. It's the one which Disneyland designers based their castle.

                

           

Then we went on a tour another of his palaces, by this time he was called "Mad King Ludwig", the castle was extremely opulent.  Here he spent most of his time completely alone. He had his dining room table dropped through the floor then lifted completely set with food so he wouldn't have to see the servants. Everything was lined with gold or porcelain.  This is Linderhoff Palace.

Then the bus took us back to Austria and we visited a traditional show of Austrian singing, dancing and yodeling. We had a nice meal and they brought out a birthday cake! We were caught laughing.