Hello everyone, Fussen is a pretty little Bavarian town nestled in the mountains. It was a five hour train ride from Frankfurt. But worth it to visit two amazing castles. The first was Hohenschwangau Castle. It was built in 1833 and used as a summer home and hunting lodge by the Bavarian royal family. It was influenced by The Knight of the Swan(whoever that is) and the literal translation of the name of the castle is 'Land of Swan.' There were swans everywhere--pictures, light fixtures, even the door handles were shaped like swan's heads. Narrow passageways were built into the wall [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello everyone, I don't know why anyone would take the chunnel when they can cross the English Channel by ferry. It was wonderful. It had the atmosphere of a cruise ship. Restaurants to suit any taste. The bus ride to Dover gave me a chance to see another part of London. It was far more interesting than hurtling through a tunnel in a glorified subway and at one third the price. I take back all the nasty things I said about people from Paris being rude. I got to the bus station\subway station and found out that there isn't an ATM [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello all, I don’t know why it surprised me that people in Wales would speak Welsh. Surprised at how often I heard it. All street signs are in both Welsh and English. Cardiff is a very modern city. Many of the narrow alleys have been turned into pedestrian only areas with trendy little shops. Did a couple of touristy things and glad that I did. First visit was to Cardiff Castle. It is more than 2,000 years old—originally Roman. It became the home of the Welsh royal family and was used as a private home until 1947 when it was given [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello all, I didn’t expect much in Liverpool. Thought of it as a shipping town—industrial, etc. I was pleasantly surprised. They have retained the old buildings as an art gallery, court house and library. Other old buildings are used for government functions. They are an interesting contrast to the high rises and malls that surround them. The Mersey River isn’t large, but they have made great use of their waterfront. Again, they retained many of the original buildings. And, of course Liverpool is the home of the Beatles. Could a visit be complete without visiting the [View Full Entry]

---

---

HELLO EVERYONE, IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT—NO REALLY. IT WAS RAINY AND REALLY COLD. I THOUGHT THAT NOT SO MANY PEOPLE WOULD TAKE THE “JACK THE RIPPER” WALK THAT NIGHT, BUT OVER 50 PEOPLE SHOWED UP. SOMEHOW IT ADDED TO THE ATMOSPHERE. OUR GUIDE, DONALD HAD WRITTEN A BOOK ON THE SUBJECT AND IS ONE OF PROBABLY HUNDREDS WHO CLAIM TO BE EXPERTS ON THE SUBJECT. IT WAS INTERESTING TO FIND OUT WHY THEY COULDN’T SOLVE THE MURDERS OF FIVE PROSTITUTES. FIRST, FORENSIC STUDY WAS IN ITS INFANCY—NO FINGERPRINT TECHNOLOGY IN 1888 AND NO WAY OF ANALYSING BLOOD EITHE [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello everyone, This is a test and an opportunity to get used to my travelblog. Before I forget...add this address to your list of contacts so it doesn't get blocked as junk mail. Also, there is a place to contact me through this blog or you can e me at donna.chambers@hotmail.com. Please please please keep in touch. Let me know what's happening in your lives. I'm bound to get lonely at times. Here's my schedule for the next year--although things could certainly change. Start in London. Take chunnel to France. Train to Frankfort where I join a group to cycle and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Did this thing work?? [View Full Entry]

---

---

My plans have changed and I want to let everyone know about it. First of all...my plan when I left Canada was to spend the last three months on a cruise--eleven weeks. It would have left from England the first week in January, go south along Europe, down the coast of Africa, around Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean, through the Middle East, through the Suez Canal and back the England. There were over 30 ports of call. It was to be the highlight of my adventure. Rather than give you a blow-by-blow of everything that went wrong with [View Full Entry]

---

---