July 3,4,5, 2008 South Africa We continued our adventure with a long flight across the equator and into South Africa. We had an overnight in Johannesburg before our noon flight to Nairobi, Kenya. In Johannesburg we get very different opinions on the safety and security in this big city. Our taxi driver from the airport suggested there were few problems and the government had things pretty much under control. We drove past the town of Alexandria that became famous as a sort of slum that has been rebuilt with primarily social housing ( units are about 300 - 400 Sq. Ft. [View Full Entry]

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July 1, 2, 2008 Madrid, Spain Our journey took us from Porto back across the mountains, through the forest and into the farmland around Madrid. Some of the passes are very high here and it makes for some very interesting scenery. We can’t say enough about the excellent roads and freeways here. We have been very impressed with our whole trip through Europe and this piece was no different. I think I’m going to organize a trip here for some of the highway engineers from North America to show them how it should be done. We do have some good roads [View Full Entry]

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June 29, 30, 2008 PORTO, Portugal This was a bit of a long drive ( 5 hours ) from Santander through a couple of small mountain ranges to the north coast of Portugal. Our “GPS Lady” ( sometimes referred to as something not so polite ) took us a little off course with some new roads that have been opened that obviously were not on our GPS maps yet. We are getting spoiled and can’t even read a map anymore ! Made it to our destination safe and sound with a diversion through the city of Porto and back north to [View Full Entry]

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June 28, 2008 SANTANDER, Spain A few hours on the road through S.W. France and into northern Spain and we arrived at Santander, Spain on the North coast of Spain on the Atlantic Ocean. Another nice drive on good roads and a great variety of scenery from farmland to mountain passes. Santander is a very nice resort area with a huge, very nice, beach and at this time of year it is getting busy as expected. We took a short walk to the beach and stopped at the local Casino to donate a few euros to the local economy. This is [View Full Entry]

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FRANCE We have now left France and would like to comment on some of our observations. France is a great country to visit. The people are very FRENCH, and very proud of there language, history and culture. We had very few language issues. ( there is always the odd idiot ). Accommodations are good and if you look around you can get some relatively reasonable rates. Parking costs are an issue in the big centers, with up to 30 Euros a night at some places, and worth considering when reserving a room. Also 13 - 16 Euros for a continental breakfast [View Full Entry]

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June 26, 27, 2008 BORDEAUX, France We arrived in Bordeaux in time on Thursday to take the local tram to the center of town to have a look around. Turns out our timing was perfect for me. The annual “Bordeaux Fete Le Vin” ( Wine Festival ) was just getting started and the promenade along the Garonne River was set up for wine tasting from all the areas producing “ Bordeaux “wine. This is a very well organized affair. With the purchase of a wine glass ( with carry case ) and a coupon book you get to try about 10 [View Full Entry]

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June 25, 26, 2008 AUVERGNE REGION, France Our journey from Geneva took us across a small mountain range through some very beautiful countryside to Clermont-Ferrand. We were pleasantly surprised. This is a very nice city known as the geographic center of France. The city is in some very nice farmland and crops of all kinds are grown here. We took our usual “walk about” from our hotel to the town center. Bad idea !! The start of a major summer SALE had begun and every store had everything ( almost ) at 50% off ( off what we don’t know, but [View Full Entry]

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June 23, 24, 2008 GENEVA, Switzerland Our travels took us from Bern along the lakes to Geneva which is surrounded by rolling hills and farmland. Grain, Grapes and fruit trees. Geneva sits on the southern most lakeshore of Lake Le Leman, the biggest fresh water lake in Europe. Geneva is a few kilometers from France ( in fact our room was in France ) and less than a 100 Km via the Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy. This is a very political center with the United Nations, Red Cross and every NGO you can imagine all centered here. There are currently [View Full Entry]

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June 21, 22, 2008 BERN / INTERLAKEN, Switzerland Our first day in Bern was Sunday. A perfect day to visit downtown and all the shops. They are nearly all closed on Sundays !!! We did a good walk about the old city center and visited the park where they keep the city mascots, bears. Bern is a very nice city. Not a lot of real touristy things to do in the city but a very nice old city that has been well restored and maintained. Bern sits on the edge of The Alps with some very nice views of the mountains [View Full Entry]

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June 20, 21, 2008 BLACK FOREST REGION, Germany The drive from Dijon, France to Baden-Baden, Germany is a few hours of more varied scenery as you travel from farmland into a more rolling hills and forested area. We were pleasantly surprised with Baden-Baden. This is a very nice, very clean, small city with a very tourist friendly city center with limited vehicle traffic and lots of good restaurants. Nice place to take a break after Paris. Baden-Baden is at the top end of the Black Forest Region of western Germany and a favorite stop for tourists exploring the region. We had [View Full Entry]

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