Did get our ferry at 5.00a.m. Tuesday 13th and it all went very smoothly being off the boat by 7.00a.m. It was a very big ferry with heaps of cars and semi trailers. We hailed a taxi to take us to the Pozzallo Railway Station and then waited for our 9a.m. train and wasn't it a shock when it arrived, reminded me of the Flintstones, an old two carriage affair with an engine in the front of one of the carriages, and it was high off the platform with very steep steps, poor John nearly busted a foofer valve trying to lug the cases up the steps and onto the train! Got into Syracuse about 10.30a.m. and were able to easily walk to our accommodation whilst not on Ortigia Island its only about 400 metres to ... read more

Flight from Berlin 7.00am all on time 2hr flight to London arriving at 8.00am, then to car hire, got our KIA sportage and onto Faversham. Our houseowner where we rented for 4 days was OK with us coming early morning so we arrived around 10.45 and then had the washing machine whirring for the next few hours, did some supermarketing for drinks and snacks, then ironed everything. Faversham is quite unique not only as an ancient market town but as an English area with their huge hop growing fields and those gorgeous oast houses that they used to dry the hops. Even our care hire man commented on how gorgeous he thought Kent was with their oast houses. El and Dean asked us around for a wine and cheese night at their home Thursday night, Luke ... read more

Wow! We do I start.... Prague has just been enchanting... such a beautiful place and the most amazing buildings you will see anywhere and such a beautiful feel about the city wherever you walk! Its such a special place because it has remained relatively unscathed from World War II bombings this was because planes didn't have the range and also because bombing targets tended to be in Germany and industrial centres. Our train trip from Budapest to Prague was pretty good, though it did run about an hour late, but the journey of approx 8 hrs was quite nice and then we stopped at a few cities along the way, Vienna, Brno and couple of other small ones and then onto Prague. We have been using Bolt Taxis and they have been great, cheaper than most ... read more

Wednesday 10th was day of boarding, of course we knew, not to be boarding. Received an email from APT being transferred to Marriott Hotel Amsterdam to do first night on cruise, tours as normal next day, dinner and drinks at the Marriott, all good! Tour on 11th was to the Zaanse Schans, a village about 45 minutes outside Amersterdam. It is an open air working museum where they make cheese, the windmills crush rock for the base of paints, wood is produced, clogs are maid, food and beverages etc all in age old buildings, houses and windmills. We had a great morning but then had to board a bus for 5 hours to Frankfurt where our boat was docked, arrived there at 5.45. Checked in unpacked in our beautiful suite, it really is so lovely, and ... read more

Monday 25th left Ulverston and decided to take the route through Yorkshire Dales National Park which was a beautiful run when it wasn't raining! More gorgeous towns along the way like Malham where Malham Cove is situated, a huge curved limestone formation formed by a waterfall carrying meltwater from glaciers at the end of the Ice Age more than 12000 years ago.....the history of stuff here is amazing! To get to it the boss took a short cut, along the tiniest little lanes that you could just scrape two cars through, adding to the problem with our big Renault van!!! Anyway after a couple of near misses we eventually got to Malham Cove, with typical Yorkshire Dales weather misting and foggy! From there through Harrogate which is another very picturesque town, I think it oozes money, ... read more