June 11, 2008 Dusseldorf, Germany Nice city !!! We travelled a few hours today through some more great countryside and arrived in Dusseldorf in time to spend the afternoon and evening exploring this great city. Dusseldorf is a lot different from Berlin. Very clean, a lot of the “old character” that we enjoy and a very beautiful location on the Rhine River. Dusseldorf is a favorite place to visit due to it's location on the Rhine and many river cruises come here as well as day trips from coastal ports. In hindsight we wish we had another day here but we are committed to go to Brussels tomorrow. There is some interesting castle hunting here as well. Yup !!! More castles. We'll be Back !! The terrain changes significantly as you travel through Germany and we ... read more

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 character. We took the local TRAM in Berlin from our hotel to city center and some general snooping around. The tram is great and the station stop is literally accross the street from the hotel. ... read more

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 traveled to northern Alberta ( Grand Prairie, Peace River country ) in Canada you would see a lot of similar country side with the same crops. ( wheat, canola, barley and hay crops.) Vienna is the cultural center of Austria, and for this part of the world for that matter, with the art, music, and architecture a big part of their lives. It is a beautiful city in ... read more

May 30, 2008 Villach, Austria Today we drove the 3 hours 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 traveling 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 out the roads in Europe. These guys have it right !! The longest one today was 7800 meters ( meters for everyone in the world except Americans.) ( For you it's about 4.85 Miles ) ... read more

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 definitely 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 relatively expensive but so is the rest of Europe. ( maybe we are getting “acclimatized” to the prices ). The locals seem to be more accommodating to tourists. ( maybe it's just us ). This is really ... read more