France, Amsterdam/Budapest river cruise


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August 6th 2023
Published: August 6th 2023
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Rennes, the capitol city of the Brittany region of France was an amazing place to visit. We did a walking tour to its main areas of interest, winding through the old cobbled streets and it's half timbered mediaeval houses. We were fortunate to be there on Saturday when their huge farmers market, one of France's biggest, was on and what a display! The stalls were bursting with so many kinds of meat, cheeses, breads and seafood! We sampled the local speciality which is a sausage with cheese and onion wrapped in a buckwheat pancake and cooked in front of you. Delicious! During our walk, however, we were approached by beggars at least five times and all of them looked fit and healthy to us. We are just not used to it in NZ. There are literally scores of outdoor cafes down every side street and main streets and it is hard to choose where to eat. The weather is great so all good so far.
We had two fantastic days with friends in a small village called Rohan who kindly showed us villages and towns close by and then headed up to Amsterdam to board our river cruise to Budapest.
We are now half way through the cruise and having a ball as there are only 102 guests instead of the 182 that can be accommodated so everything feels less crowded and relaxing. We have met lots of interesting people and really enjoying our daily excursions and the food is to die for!
We have used the e-bikes several times and tomorrow will ride 34 kms along the Danube and meet the ship further upstream.
The Rhine and Danube are so pretty with heaps of old castles and the German villages so far have been amazing with their colourful half timbered houses and architecture. Six days still to go. There are 65 locks to go through so quite a feat for the captain!








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Ship lock in Germany.Ship lock in Germany.
Ship lock in Germany.

25 metres deep!


17th August 2023
Beer in Paris in a fancy glass!

Greetings from Glendale California
It looks like you are having a great trip. Are you going to Portugal? Claudia and I got back about 6 weeks ago and we had a good time (except for the mild Covid I got). If you are thinking about going to Portugal, Pete may be interested to know that the beer is cheap there. The wine is good too! The tour we went on often provided wine with the meals so we had our fair share of wine. Suzanne, are you wearing an English women soccer jersey, now that your team is in the World Cup finals? I am trying to forget how the US women team did. Dave
23rd August 2023
Beer in Paris in a fancy glass!

England
Hi Dave, Good to hear from you. We have been to Portugal and visited Porto a few years ago and loved it. So sorry that you got covid. Pete has had a cough and cold but again like you only a mild case. He annoyingly then passed it in to me but thankfully I am coming right now. We have not tested ourselves for covid as we forgot to pack the test kits. Life has been non stop as you can imagine but now we just have two car sits so the days are not so hectic. Four weeks and we will be home! Still hoping to host you in NZ someday!
21st August 2023

Amazing holiday
Wow, looks like an amazing trip.
23rd August 2023

England
Hi Dawn. Good to hear from you. Yes we are really having a ball on this trip. The weather is good to at the moment. Our latest cat sit is going well and just one more to go and then it is on the plane back to NZ. The four months have flown by! When are you going to come and visit us in NZ. There is always a bed for you both.

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