Sunday 23rd December Judy not at all well but we are expected to be in Amsterdam today and have paid over 230 Euros for train tickets! Well rugged up we left the hotel before 1000 to get the bus to the station and a sign advised us that the temperature was -6 degrees! Because of light traffic we got to the railway station early, enough time to catch an earlier train to Frankfurt, and as it was so cold we thought there would be a greater chance of finding a warm place there whilst waiting for the connection to Amsterdam. Big [View Full Entry]

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Friday 21 December Wouldn't you believe it after the wonderful time we've had Judy now has a chesty cough! We heard people coughing early in the cruise and have heard some were sick when they began the trip and now they've passed it on to one of us as well as many others we can hear coughing. So Judy didn't want to get out of bed this morning but we did and were at breakfast before 7.30. After the part we hate the most - the goodbyes we were off out into the white frosty morning. Having sussed out the bus [View Full Entry]

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Monday 17th December This morning was taken up with a demonstration of how to cook apple strudel! This was done in a most entertaining way by the the head chef. The captain and the other officers were then introduced with a toast made on a good trip with a complimentary glass of champagne. Meanwhile the ship continued its way up-river passing lovely little towns in the Wachau Valley covered lightly in snow. This is a wine growing district and the rows of vines could be seen on the mountainsides. Most picturesque and many photos were taken. After a hurried lunch with [View Full Entry]

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Friday 14th December Once again it was gently snowing when we left our room to walk the 50 metres tot he main square to await our shuttle to Linz. We have taken the lazy way here by choosing a shuttle but otherwise we had to walk half a km to the bus stop, then take an hour bus or train ride to Ceske Budejovice before hooking up with the train to Linz. We were the only passengers in the shuttle and we made our way through the mountains toward Austria. As we climbed higher we saw patches of snow that gave [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 13th December It was snowing very lightly when we left our room on the way to the bus station and both of us felt light-hearted and happy because of it! As soon as the snow hit the ground it melted but we could feel it against our faces and see it on our dark jackets. That set the mood of the day. Our intended destination for today was Cesky Budejovice. The city is also known as Budweis --the name in German, used in the 19th century. Cesky Budejovice is famous for its Renaissance and Baroque Buildings, for the biggest square [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 11th December Judy seldom needs an alarm clock so we were up by 0615 ready to have breakfast at 0700. Just as well as Rags had set the alarm for the wrong day! We left the apartment before 0800 for the walk to the railway station. Rags was going to bargain the ridiculous A$15 taxi-fare quote we were given yesterday but as there weren't any taxis around we had to walk the 2-3km anyway! It was hot work at the time but we got there with all our luggage in plenty of time for the train. We firstly travelled for [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 8th December This morning we were at breakfast just after 7am so we could be at the train station before 9 for our 9.19 departure. It was a beautiful morning with cloudless blue skies. The train trip to Karlovy Vary took us through some stunning countryside and enchanting little towns, much of the track following a fast flowing river. It was hard to keep our eyes from the scenery even though both of us were glad of the time to enjoy our engrossing novels. Karlovy Vary is also known by its German name of Karlsbad and was founded in 1350 [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 5th December An early start where we did our final packing and washing of sheets & towels before being taken to the airport by Moe & Colin. They have both been great to us and we would have liked to get to know them better as they have some similar ideas & values. The trip to Prague was uneventful, Easyjet having the best planes and service we have come across with the cut-price airlines. At Prague we decided to use the public transport system rather than a taxi as we had excellent directions on how to get to our [View Full Entry]

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Our last 2 and a half days back in England after our week in Lanzarote were spent washing, tidying, sorting and packing. We have bought a new trolley case so we have a bag each and one with all the things that we don't need to take to Europe. This is the biggest bag and consists of our summer clothes, things we have bought, books and travel guides. The one thing we did do today was to walk to Moe and Colin's. Moe who assists Nessie with the housekeeping in the B&B has popped in several times to see us. She [View Full Entry]

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Lanzarote Sunday 25th November After spending the morning tidying and ensuring our bag was packed we were ready when Colin picked us up at 11.30am. We had no problems checking in at Stansted and security was well organised and efficient. We killed a little time in the duty free before making our way to the lounge at the gate where we read the novels we had brought until it was time to board. A very bumpy landing ended our flight into a windy, rainy Lanzarote. On the way to the luggage Judy bumped into an old friend Ros Keep who had [View Full Entry]

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