European Interlude - Part 1

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Week 5 European Tour - Part 1

Well here is the latest update. It is now Sunday 7th September - Fathers Day - and we are back in London.

We are both very glad that our travel agent advised us to take a tour that was at a leisurely pace. We are exhausted after starting every day at 6:30am and not getting to our hotel until 9:00pm. I would hate to go on a tour that was listed as lively.

Just a few quite words about our stops on our European bus tour that took 15 days.

Amsterdam

Early start from London - 4:00am wakeup. On the bus to Dover, across the channel and then on to our bus with our Slovenian driver Daniel and off to Amsterdam. The country side is fairly flat and unintetesting.In Holland we saw a working windmill. The weather was fairly ordinary - wet and windy.

We had a nice tour along the canals of Amsterdam - very extensive but fairly dirty.

Went for a walk through the red light district. I was actually expecting a little more sleaze - it was fairly tame.

We were both really happy to hit the hay at the end of the day.

Mannheim

After a quick stop in the Dam square in Amsterdam for some photos we were off to Mannhein in Germany.

The countryside from Mannheim was fairly plain but started to improve as we approached Cologne. We visited the Cologne Cathedral - how magnificent. I was totally overwhelmed by the size, beauty and serenity of the Cathedral. The windows were magnificent. The cathedral is the resting place of the remains of the Three Wise Men.

We then drove on to pickup a Rhine River cruise. The scenery just seems to get better and better. The Rhine is very busy with lots os cruise ships and commercial vessels. It certainly flows fairly fast as well.

Stayed at the Holiday Inn at Mannheim - quite comfortable.

Innsbruck

Early start at 5:45am.

On to the autobahns - how impressive are they. All large trucks are limited to 80kph and they seem to travel nose to tail. It was not unusual to see a 'train' of trucks that could consist of 50 to 60 vehicles all travelling at 80kph with only a few feet between them.

At lunch we stopped in Munich. Lovely but busy city. Managed to go to a Hofbrauhaus to have a beer. Saw a Nun there having lunch including a 1/2 litre of beer!

Managed to reach Innsbruck early in the afternoon. Had a pleasant walk around this compact town which is absolutely ringed by mountains.

Vienna

A beautiful day.

Stopped at Salzburg for lunch - a lovely spot and we both want to return to have a further look. Had a walking tour to see the cathedral, Mozart's birthplace and some of the sites were 'The Sound of Music' was filmed.

The countryside continues to be stunning.

At night we had dinner in a restaurant in which Napoleon was said to have dined! The dinner was very enjoyable.The Vienna Hilton was were nice. The hotel is right next to the Danube River - a truly romantic spot.

We had two nights in Vienna. The next morning we had a tour of the Royal summer palace - a small dwelling of 1400 rooms. It was very opulent and extravagant. The gardens were vast and beautiful.

We had a walking tour through Vienna and saw another great cathedral. Also saw the exterior of the Royal summer palace - this palace has 3000 rooms!

In the afternoon we went to a lookout over Vienna followed by an authentic Austrian dinner. It was huge.

After dinner we had the pleasure of attending a Strauss concert - a true thrill. The soprano was great.

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Photos

Dutch Windmill
Karen and our Tour Director John Evans

The Summer Palace in Vienna
Queen Sissy referred to this as a cottage - it only has 1400 rooms

The Winter Palace
This is the palace with 3000 rooms.