June 10, 2008 June 10, 2008 POTSDAM / HANNOVER, Germany A short drive today from Berlin to Hannover via Potsdam and Brandenburg. More nice country and gets more interesting the closer you get to Potsdam. The Potsdam, Brandenburg area is very beautiful with forest and lakes and a lot of 4 - 5 star resorts to service the many tourists. Most come to see the many castles and palaces that were built here over a few hundred years. The lakes and canals make for a very nice setting. We spent some time checking out the main castle area with the old [View Full Entry]

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June 7, 8, 9, 2008 BERLIN, Germany After a short drive Saturday morning from Prague we arrived to a beautiful day in Berlin. Again the drive was great, on good highways, and through some more beautiful country side. We were talking today about all the scenery we have seen and for both of us the scenery around the Austrian Alps and Munich ( Bavaria ) is the most interesting we have seen so far. On this whirlwind adventure we have seen a lot ( we mean A LOT !!! ) of very beautiful places and they all have their own special [View Full Entry]

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June 4, 5, 6, 2008 PRAGUE, Czech Republic Another 3 hours on the road and we arrived in Prague. Prague is also a very popular place for visitors from all over and the city is full of shops, restaurants and an amazing variety of architecture from the several thousand years someone has been living here. In the past Prague, Vienna and Budapest were the most important places in Bohemia and Prague was a cultural and business center ( larger city than Paris or London at the time ) for the region. The city is home to some spectacular old buildings, churches, [View Full Entry]

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June 2, 3, 2008 VIENNA, Austria Monday morning we drove a few hours through Bavaria and along the eastern side of the Alps to Vienna, Austria. Another very nice drive on very good roads. The scenery here is something to behold with the mountains, lakes, and big valleys. As you get closer to Vienna the terrain flattens out to farmland and rolling hills. For any one who has travelled to northern Alberta ( Grand Prairie, Peace River country ) in Canada you would see a lot of similar counry side with the same crops. ( wheat, canola, barley and hay crops.) [View Full Entry]

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May 31 - June 1 MUNICH, Germany Another great drive through some beautiful country and into the heart of the Austrian Alps. We decided to take a short side trip to Innsbruck on our way from Villach to Munich. Innsbruck is kind of like a very large Banff. ( for those that know Banff. ) We are not skiers but it is obvious why the Olympics have been held here on several occasions with all the facilities that are available. There are way too many “Austrian Post Card” photo-ops on this drive. Around every corner is another view of the mountains [View Full Entry]

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May 30, 2008 Villach, Austria Today we drove the 3 hour or so through Slovenia to Villach, Austria. This is a very nice drive through some beautiful country side and across some passes in the Slovenian / Austrian Alps into Austria. Lots of skiing here. The freeways are great ( Tolls ) and it is a very easy drive. The drive into Austria reminded us of travelling into the mountains from Calgary and to Canmore and Banff. Still lots of snow on the tops of some very high peaks. We were amazed again with the amount of tunneling used to straighten [View Full Entry]

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May 28, 29, 2008 ISTRIA, Croatia On a recent ferry trip we were looking at a magazine that showed some pictures and information about the Istrian Peninsula on the Adriatic in Croatia. It seemed like a good idea to check it out and what a pleasant surprise it has been. ( I guess print advertising works ). This is a beautiful part of the world, on some very nice coastline, a 3 hour drive from Venice through Trieste and a short piece of Slovenia. Most of the drive in Slovenia and Istria is through pine forest and some small wheat and [View Full Entry]

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May 26, 27, 2008 VENICE, Italy Venice is for sure a very interesting place. We visited here about 10 years ago and said we would never come back. We found it dirty, smelly ( because of the standing water ), very expensive and not a very friendly place. ( too touristy ). Well here we are again and on first impressions it is a little different now. It is definately cleaner and not so smelly. They have done a good job in that regard. There are a lot of renovations and restorations underway all over town. It is still realatively expensive [View Full Entry]

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May 23, 24, 25, 2008 SPOLETO, Italy After 2 good long days on the road we arrived at Spoleto with an overnight in Cosenza. Spoleto is a town we drove through on our last visit to Italy and at that time we decided we would have to come back for a longer visit to check it out. This town has a lot of old Roman history with a very famous and very high ( 80 meters and 230 meters long ) Roman aqueduct that crosses a large valley. Known as Ponte delle Torre. As usual there are the way too many [View Full Entry]

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May 22, 2008 AGRIGENTO, Sicily, Italy Thursday morning we drove north through the country side and along the Sicilian coast to Agrigento. Another nice drive. This is a small city on the west coast of Sicily and is a resort town with some beautiful beach areas and resorts. ( and some very nice private villas ). Some of the rather rocky beaches are being filled with truckloads of nice, fine, sand. Someone is spending a lot of money !! It is obvious that the tourist business, with all the coastline and beaches, is a very important part of the Sicilian economy. [View Full Entry]

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