London, Dover, Calais, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Lucerne
Hi all,
We have covered a lot of ground in the last 5 days.
We left Cardiff Thursday morning and arrived in London about midday. We went for a walk from the hostel (King's Cross) into London, via the British Museum, Oxford Street, Regent Street, Carnaby Street, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery and Portrait Gallery. Then late in the afternoon, we decided to go to Greenwich and see the Observatory and straddle the Prime Meridian of Longitude. As we returned to the hostel it started belting down with rain and didn't stop until the next morning, this aborted our dinner plans and we ended up eating in the hostel cafe.
Friday morning we had to catch a bus/coach to Dover, then get on a ferry and then join our tour group in Calais (France). We then had a very long drive through Belgium, then the Netherlands and arrived in Amsterdam at about 9 pm. A long day, but the hotel (Dorint) was fabulous and allegedly the best we will have for the whole tour!
Saturday morning started with a canal tour of Amsterdam and a diamond factory visit (managed to keep Kristin from buying anything!) and then a couple of hours around the city centre. The boys insisted that we went for a stroll through the Red Light District (well, Lucy hadn't been there before), then it was another lond trip to our accomodation in Hennef, Germany.
Another early start on Sunday to catch the 9:00 am boat cruise down the Rhine river from a pretty little town of Boppard. The 2 hour boat trip, was lovely and the scenery spectacular. If you have a look at the photos on the web albums you notcie the vineyards on very steep hills above the river. Besides the many castles there was also the Lorelely Rock, which has a tale about a mermaid/scorned lover/ etc..
After the boat crusie, our next stop (all too brief) was Heilelberg, a pretty medieval (now a university) town on the Neckar river. From Heidelberg we travelled to Lucerne in Switzerland (via France for a short time) in total about 700 km in the day!
Monday began with a walk around Lucerne, which is located a large lake and at the bottom of some large mountains. We visited the Lion's monument, built to commemorate the Swiss Guards who were killed trying to defend Louis XVI (?) and Marie Antoinette, not successfully obviously, and as a result this why the Swiss became neutral. Next was the visit to Stanserhorn (a relatively small mountain ~1900m) which involved a cog railway then a cable car trip to reach the summit. Up there were some great views looking towards other peaks and down on the lake and Lucerne. Back in Lucerne Billy and Declan each bought themselves genuine Swiss Army Knifes and they think they are very pleased with themselves!.
At he moment, we are driving through Switzerland and its amzing scenery and tunnels. One of the tunnels, St. Gothards, is 17 km long, third longest in the world.. Next stop is Lugano, then onto Verona (Italy and the last stop for the day is Venice.
Cheers for now.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Budapest
Hi all,
Budapest (capital of Hungary) was a great city to visit. We had an apartment for 2 days not far from the centre of town (Pest). The Danube splits Budapest into 2 parts, the hilly side (Buda) has the castle and the flat side (Pest) is the commercial/retail/.. area. The currency of hungary is the Forint - the exchange rate is something like 157 florint to A$1 - so they have big notes - e.g. 20000 Ft - so I'm thinking in Hungary, I could be a millionaire!!
For the first time on our tours we did a "Hop-On-Hop-Off" tour. Even though we enjoy the walking around the towns, it was quite enjoyable. It was 33 C, so it was probably a good idea! The buses are open topped and have a audio commentary via headsets. We did all the sites of Budapest, check the albums for photos, including the castle, citadel, heroes park, jewish synagogue, parliament etc.. As part of the ticket we also got a free 1 hour ride on the Danube. It went around Margaret Island and gave another view of the wonderful sites along the river, but must have been too much for Andy and Kristin as they both had a little nap!
Budapest had a very similar geography to Prague, but we enjoyed Budapest a lot more - maybe it wasn't as a "tourist city" as Prague. The streets were a lot more open.
Anyhow we arrived home in Cardiff for a couple of nights and guess what? Rain!! On Thursday we head off to London and Friday morning we start our coach tour. Hope all is well and will try to keep you informed of our travels.
cheers,
GO PIES!
Budapest (capital of Hungary) was a great city to visit. We had an apartment for 2 days not far from the centre of town (Pest). The Danube splits Budapest into 2 parts, the hilly side (Buda) has the castle and the flat side (Pest) is the commercial/retail/.. area. The currency of hungary is the Forint - the exchange rate is something like 157 florint to A$1 - so they have big notes - e.g. 20000 Ft - so I'm thinking in Hungary, I could be a millionaire!!
For the first time on our tours we did a "Hop-On-Hop-Off" tour. Even though we enjoy the walking around the towns, it was quite enjoyable. It was 33 C, so it was probably a good idea! The buses are open topped and have a audio commentary via headsets. We did all the sites of Budapest, check the albums for photos, including the castle, citadel, heroes park, jewish synagogue, parliament etc.. As part of the ticket we also got a free 1 hour ride on the Danube. It went around Margaret Island and gave another view of the wonderful sites along the river, but must have been too much for Andy and Kristin as they both had a little nap!
Budapest had a very similar geography to Prague, but we enjoyed Budapest a lot more - maybe it wasn't as a "tourist city" as Prague. The streets were a lot more open.
Anyhow we arrived home in Cardiff for a couple of nights and guess what? Rain!! On Thursday we head off to London and Friday morning we start our coach tour. Hope all is well and will try to keep you informed of our travels.
cheers,
GO PIES!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Vienna and the Danube
Hi all,
Just left Vienna on the hydrofoil to Budapest, along the Danube river.
Vienna was a very lovely city - we enjoyed it immensely.
Lucy joined us on Friday and we all stayed in our apartment (Opera suites), as the name implies it was next door to the Opera in the heart of Vienna. A great spot. There was even an Aussie bar around the corner. I went in there Fri. afternoon because they were showing the cricket live, bought a local brew (although I could have bought VB, Crownies, XXXX, Tooheys,etc..)watched 1 over then they went off for bad light!!!
Before Lucy arrived, we went for a short walk around the "Inner Strade", and were impressed with the buildings, cathedral, sculptures and open spaces. Not as grand as Paris but lots of similarities. friday evening, we had dinner, but only Lucy had a Wiener Schnitzel (Wien is the Austrian name for Vienna).
Saturday we spent the day walking around the "Ringstrasse", which has all the prominent museums, parliament, fountains, churches, monuments.... very pretty city! See web album to see the sites.
Sat. night dinner, I went for the Wiener Schnitzel washed down with a nice local brew (1516).
Sunday morning, we rose earlier to catch the hydrofoil to Budapest. The trip was about 6 hours long (inluded 2 half hour stops at locks) and overall not bad. The hydrofoil averages about 68 kmh and was very comfortable. For the majority of the trip there wasn't much to see, but there were some very pretty towns and cities along the way. We also passed Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, which sits on the Danube.
We have been blessed with the weather so far, most days for the past two weeks has been between 25 and 30 C. Yesterday on the hydrofoil was about 33 C and when we arrived in Budapest at 3pm it was very warm and a bit humid.
Will write about Budapest in a few days, but so far it looks great!
Just left Vienna on the hydrofoil to Budapest, along the Danube river.
Vienna was a very lovely city - we enjoyed it immensely.
Lucy joined us on Friday and we all stayed in our apartment (Opera suites), as the name implies it was next door to the Opera in the heart of Vienna. A great spot. There was even an Aussie bar around the corner. I went in there Fri. afternoon because they were showing the cricket live, bought a local brew (although I could have bought VB, Crownies, XXXX, Tooheys,etc..)watched 1 over then they went off for bad light!!!
Before Lucy arrived, we went for a short walk around the "Inner Strade", and were impressed with the buildings, cathedral, sculptures and open spaces. Not as grand as Paris but lots of similarities. friday evening, we had dinner, but only Lucy had a Wiener Schnitzel (Wien is the Austrian name for Vienna).
Saturday we spent the day walking around the "Ringstrasse", which has all the prominent museums, parliament, fountains, churches, monuments.... very pretty city! See web album to see the sites.
Sat. night dinner, I went for the Wiener Schnitzel washed down with a nice local brew (1516).
Sunday morning, we rose earlier to catch the hydrofoil to Budapest. The trip was about 6 hours long (inluded 2 half hour stops at locks) and overall not bad. The hydrofoil averages about 68 kmh and was very comfortable. For the majority of the trip there wasn't much to see, but there were some very pretty towns and cities along the way. We also passed Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, which sits on the Danube.
We have been blessed with the weather so far, most days for the past two weeks has been between 25 and 30 C. Yesterday on the hydrofoil was about 33 C and when we arrived in Budapest at 3pm it was very warm and a bit humid.
Will write about Budapest in a few days, but so far it looks great!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Prague
Hi all,
We had a lovely train trip from Berlin - very comfortable!
Prague was very different to Berlin and Paris. It was a lot more compact and therefore looked very busy. The main sights of Prague included the Prague Castle, Astronomical clock (slightly disappointing - 45 seconds and the show is over!), Charles Bridge and the many old buildings.
Kristin enjoyed the shops (Andy and the boys not so much!), Andy sampled several different beers and didn't find a bad one and the boys once again were the perfect travellers.
cheers fro now, next blog will be from Vienna then Budapest. (We are in Vienna now and the city is lovely - more like Paris/Berlin - off to Budapest on the Danube Sunday on a hydrofoil!)
Cheers!
We had a lovely train trip from Berlin - very comfortable!
Prague was very different to Berlin and Paris. It was a lot more compact and therefore looked very busy. The main sights of Prague included the Prague Castle, Astronomical clock (slightly disappointing - 45 seconds and the show is over!), Charles Bridge and the many old buildings.
Kristin enjoyed the shops (Andy and the boys not so much!), Andy sampled several different beers and didn't find a bad one and the boys once again were the perfect travellers.
cheers fro now, next blog will be from Vienna then Budapest. (We are in Vienna now and the city is lovely - more like Paris/Berlin - off to Budapest on the Danube Sunday on a hydrofoil!)
Cheers!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
2 days in Berlin
Hi all,
We are currently on the train from Berlin to Prague. Berlin was very enjoyable.
After catching the plane from Paris (and sitting next to the only other Aussie on the Plane besides us four) we caught a bus to our hotel in the Charlottenburg area of Berlin.
Charlottenburg was a lovely area with some very expensive shops (but I managed to keep Kristin away from these!) and splendid tree-lined avenues.
Once we settled in we went for a walk, our first “tourist” site was the KaiserWilhelm Gedachtnis Kirche, This was a church that had been bombed in 1945 and only the tower part remains.
Next, we walked through the Tiergarten (giant Berlin park), pass the Zoo to the Siegessaule (the Victory Column). The column had a (very) long spiral staircase, which led to a lookout platform had great 360 degree views of Berlin. From here we walked pass the Chancellor’s residence, by accident and then onto the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Tor.
We then head back to the hotel, through the Tiergarten, stopping for a drink in the square near the Europa Centre. All up the walk was about 12 km!! We went out for dinner – souvlakis and beers in the park.
Tuesday was a whole new holiday experience for us. We hired bikes. Berlin is very flat, the name means boggy marsh. We all enjoyed a different form of touring around a city. In total we rode about 45 km and saw the following: Victory Column, Tiergarten, Brandenburg Tor, Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, remains of the Berlin Wall, Museum area, East Side Gallery, Schloss Charlottenburg, Rathaus area and lots, lots, more. After a small rest, we went out for dinner and again had Doner Kebabs and drinks.
Cheers for now! All pics have been posted.
We are currently on the train from Berlin to Prague. Berlin was very enjoyable.
After catching the plane from Paris (and sitting next to the only other Aussie on the Plane besides us four) we caught a bus to our hotel in the Charlottenburg area of Berlin.
Charlottenburg was a lovely area with some very expensive shops (but I managed to keep Kristin away from these!) and splendid tree-lined avenues.
Once we settled in we went for a walk, our first “tourist” site was the KaiserWilhelm Gedachtnis Kirche, This was a church that had been bombed in 1945 and only the tower part remains.
Next, we walked through the Tiergarten (giant Berlin park), pass the Zoo to the Siegessaule (the Victory Column). The column had a (very) long spiral staircase, which led to a lookout platform had great 360 degree views of Berlin. From here we walked pass the Chancellor’s residence, by accident and then onto the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Tor.
We then head back to the hotel, through the Tiergarten, stopping for a drink in the square near the Europa Centre. All up the walk was about 12 km!! We went out for dinner – souvlakis and beers in the park.
Tuesday was a whole new holiday experience for us. We hired bikes. Berlin is very flat, the name means boggy marsh. We all enjoyed a different form of touring around a city. In total we rode about 45 km and saw the following: Victory Column, Tiergarten, Brandenburg Tor, Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, remains of the Berlin Wall, Museum area, East Side Gallery, Schloss Charlottenburg, Rathaus area and lots, lots, more. After a small rest, we went out for dinner and again had Doner Kebabs and drinks.
Cheers for now! All pics have been posted.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Paris Day 6 & 7
Saturday started with meeting up with Mike (who we met from the Turkey trip earlier in the year). By coincidence he was staying at a hostel(called The Peace and Love) 150m from our apartment.
We started the day by catching the metro to the George Pompidou Centre. A modern building, built inside out, we went to the top and got a good view of Paris.(see photos).
Next, we wandered down towards Notre Dame, going pass a concert, where had some lunch. from here we walked along the Rive Gauche (left bank of The Seine) until the Musee d'Orsay.
We fulfilled our cultural obligations for the day by going inside, and we were careful not to confuse the Monets with the Manets. There were also some other famous works, including Whistler's Mother (a portrait in grey and black), Van Gogh's, Rodin sculptures, Renoir, etc... but after 2 to 3 hours we had all had enough!
From here we continued along the river passing the National Assembely, then across the bridge to the Grand Palais and Petit Palais. We crossed the Champs Elysees, checking if all was ready for the cycling tomorrow, and headed north. By accident we walked pass the French President's residence and through the richest part of Paris I think. We finally bumped into the Madeleine.
Here we caught the metro home as a beer around here was about 7 euro!
In the evening, we ate Indian food and had a few Kingfishers to wash it down. After that we decided to have a last drink at a corner cafe/bar - ended paying 7.20 euro (about $12) for a single beer!!!!
On Sunday, we met up with Mike and 2 other young Adelaide boys, Mark and Nathan, that shared Mike's hostel room. Mark and Nathan were two-thirds of the way through a fun-filled European vacation and were having the time of their lives. (I think partying was higher on the list than sight-seeing!)
We all had lunch on the lawns in front of The Hotel des Invalides, which for the young lads consisted of 4 or 5 cans of beer! Kept cold by packs of frozen vegies!
At about 3:00 pm we headed to the Champs Elysees to watch the cycling. It was packed! We picked a spot where you could see a big video screen, about 100 m from the finish, but it was limited viewing, lots of people brought their step ladders! The atmosphere was fantastic and a real buzz. The Caravanne of sponsors went by for an hour, but no freebies! Finally the cyclists arrived and flashed pass us 8 times up and down the Champs Elysees. We were about 50m behind the podium for the presentations. A great spectacle and enjoyable day.
After an early night, we headed to Berlin Monday morning.
More on that soon, au revoir. (I'm trying to upload photos daily - so keep an eye out!)
We started the day by catching the metro to the George Pompidou Centre. A modern building, built inside out, we went to the top and got a good view of Paris.(see photos).
Next, we wandered down towards Notre Dame, going pass a concert, where had some lunch. from here we walked along the Rive Gauche (left bank of The Seine) until the Musee d'Orsay.
We fulfilled our cultural obligations for the day by going inside, and we were careful not to confuse the Monets with the Manets. There were also some other famous works, including Whistler's Mother (a portrait in grey and black), Van Gogh's, Rodin sculptures, Renoir, etc... but after 2 to 3 hours we had all had enough!
From here we continued along the river passing the National Assembely, then across the bridge to the Grand Palais and Petit Palais. We crossed the Champs Elysees, checking if all was ready for the cycling tomorrow, and headed north. By accident we walked pass the French President's residence and through the richest part of Paris I think. We finally bumped into the Madeleine.
Here we caught the metro home as a beer around here was about 7 euro!
In the evening, we ate Indian food and had a few Kingfishers to wash it down. After that we decided to have a last drink at a corner cafe/bar - ended paying 7.20 euro (about $12) for a single beer!!!!
On Sunday, we met up with Mike and 2 other young Adelaide boys, Mark and Nathan, that shared Mike's hostel room. Mark and Nathan were two-thirds of the way through a fun-filled European vacation and were having the time of their lives. (I think partying was higher on the list than sight-seeing!)
We all had lunch on the lawns in front of The Hotel des Invalides, which for the young lads consisted of 4 or 5 cans of beer! Kept cold by packs of frozen vegies!
At about 3:00 pm we headed to the Champs Elysees to watch the cycling. It was packed! We picked a spot where you could see a big video screen, about 100 m from the finish, but it was limited viewing, lots of people brought their step ladders! The atmosphere was fantastic and a real buzz. The Caravanne of sponsors went by for an hour, but no freebies! Finally the cyclists arrived and flashed pass us 8 times up and down the Champs Elysees. We were about 50m behind the podium for the presentations. A great spectacle and enjoyable day.
After an early night, we headed to Berlin Monday morning.
More on that soon, au revoir. (I'm trying to upload photos daily - so keep an eye out!)
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Paris Days 4 & 5
Hi all,
we are having a great time in Paris. On Thursday, we walked to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, along the canal and went via L'Republique monument (they really know how to build monuments and memorials here!). At the cemetery, we saw the graves of Chopin, Jim Morrison, Edif Piaf, Oscar wilde and many more.
From the cemetery we caught the metro into town and walked down from the Bourse to the Louvre. We went inside and it wasn't just the magnificient art works that impressed me, but the building itself is something else! We pushed against the hundreds to get a glimpse of the Mona Lisa (Da Vinci could have made it bigger!!!!). The other great art pieces we saw were: The Wedding Feast at Cana, The Raft of Medusa, The Club Footed Boy, Venus de Milo (and about 5 million othe sculptures) and many other wonderful works. The Napolean III apartments were amazing.
After all this we had a quiet evening back at the apartment!
On Friday, we started by catching the Metro to La Sorbonne. the Sorbonne was an interesting enough building but we were pleasantly surprised when we ran into the Pantheon. It is truly a magnificient building - once a church but now a National monument. Under the Pantheon, in the Crypt are the tombs of the famous French (mainly republicans and a few othe noteworthies.
From the Pantheon, we headed to the Jardin Du Luxembourg, where there is a palace (now I think the Senate building), lovely gardens and the Medici fountain.
Next on the agenda, we walked (sounds like too much walking to me!) to the Hotel des Invalides. In the church is Napoleans Tomb, and a few other famous French people. The whole building for the hospital is massive and is located in a very central place of Paris.
We decided from here to walk to the Ecole Militaire (Military School) and then have another look at the Eiffel Tower and have a late lunch on the lawns. The skies started to get grey so we decided we would cross the river and look at the Tower from the other side. Half way across the bridge it started pissing down, so we seeked cover under the bridge (Pont d'lena).
The view of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocodero side is probably the best. It was getting late in the day so we headed back to our apartment.
In the evening, Andy and Kristin went for a nice stroll along the canal at La Villette. Very romantic!! We had a quick drink with our neighbour, Julian, who happened to be a wine merchant (who could speak really good English) and he gave us a taste of a fantastic red wine they were drinking - sensational!
That's all for now, great win to the Pies! All pics are on the web, and today we are off to see more of wonderful Paris and the tomorrow we'll be on the Champs Elysees watching the finish of the Le Tour de France!
Au Revoir,
we are having a great time in Paris. On Thursday, we walked to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, along the canal and went via L'Republique monument (they really know how to build monuments and memorials here!). At the cemetery, we saw the graves of Chopin, Jim Morrison, Edif Piaf, Oscar wilde and many more.
From the cemetery we caught the metro into town and walked down from the Bourse to the Louvre. We went inside and it wasn't just the magnificient art works that impressed me, but the building itself is something else! We pushed against the hundreds to get a glimpse of the Mona Lisa (Da Vinci could have made it bigger!!!!). The other great art pieces we saw were: The Wedding Feast at Cana, The Raft of Medusa, The Club Footed Boy, Venus de Milo (and about 5 million othe sculptures) and many other wonderful works. The Napolean III apartments were amazing.
After all this we had a quiet evening back at the apartment!
On Friday, we started by catching the Metro to La Sorbonne. the Sorbonne was an interesting enough building but we were pleasantly surprised when we ran into the Pantheon. It is truly a magnificient building - once a church but now a National monument. Under the Pantheon, in the Crypt are the tombs of the famous French (mainly republicans and a few othe noteworthies.
From the Pantheon, we headed to the Jardin Du Luxembourg, where there is a palace (now I think the Senate building), lovely gardens and the Medici fountain.
Next on the agenda, we walked (sounds like too much walking to me!) to the Hotel des Invalides. In the church is Napoleans Tomb, and a few other famous French people. The whole building for the hospital is massive and is located in a very central place of Paris.
We decided from here to walk to the Ecole Militaire (Military School) and then have another look at the Eiffel Tower and have a late lunch on the lawns. The skies started to get grey so we decided we would cross the river and look at the Tower from the other side. Half way across the bridge it started pissing down, so we seeked cover under the bridge (Pont d'lena).
The view of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocodero side is probably the best. It was getting late in the day so we headed back to our apartment.
In the evening, Andy and Kristin went for a nice stroll along the canal at La Villette. Very romantic!! We had a quick drink with our neighbour, Julian, who happened to be a wine merchant (who could speak really good English) and he gave us a taste of a fantastic red wine they were drinking - sensational!
That's all for now, great win to the Pies! All pics are on the web, and today we are off to see more of wonderful Paris and the tomorrow we'll be on the Champs Elysees watching the finish of the Le Tour de France!
Au Revoir,
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