Blogs from Europe - page 14072

Getting up at 6am isn't fun. To find that the bus which leaves at "7am sharp" is goign to be late is even less fun. This was a god send for a couple of guys though. They had one hell of a night partying, and a few looked like they had a night worth missing the bus for.... Luck was on our side, and traffic along the very narrow Amalfi Coast wasn't bad. When they built this road, they were obviously not thinking of the massive tour-buses that would exist a century or so later. I understand now why Busabout uses local drivers instead of their own - you'd have to be crazy AND fearless to drive a bus through a couple of the turns. Anyone with a fear of heights? Don't sit near a ... read more

...and I'm spent. It's been a long day. I have no idea why I'm working on this blog instead of passing out in a bathtub full of cool water. Today, Ton (the same Dutch colleague who toured a bunch of us around Rotterdam) took Dale and me up north near Amsterdam to the cities of Weesp and Muiden for a 10-mile hike across the countryside. Along the way: a fort city and a medieval castle...."ooooooh", "ahhhhhhhh." The weather was awesome...right in the 70s and tons of sun, which seemed like a good thing at the time. My wicked farmer's tan and sunburned face are not feeling particularly awesome at the moment, though. There was some great scenery along the way...old towns, forts, cannons, sprawling farmlands, and paths cut through shoulder-height fields; so all in alll, a ... read more

After an arduous hike last night through Mainz to the Stefanskirche, which seemed to me to be in a rather unsavory neighborhood, I decided it would not be practical to attend Mass in the morning before my action-packed day of travel. This may have been a poor choice, because after weeks of hot and blindingly sunny weather, for my Sunday morning Rhine cruise I got thick cloud cover and haze. Ugly cruising weather, ugly photography weather. Nevertheless, I did cruise the most scenic part of the Rhine between Bingen and Koblenz, where there really is a castle (or ruin) at every one of the many bends in the river, and every quaint half-timbered little town has at least one huge, majestic cathedral towering over it. Amusingly, our little ship, which originates in Rüdesheim, was packed from ... read more

Djen Dobri from Polska!! Although I said that the Czech Republic was my favorite country of the trip so far, it has been far surpassed by Poland, but who knows, maybe every new country we cycle into will be better then the last? Slovakia will have a lot to live up to... But enough about Poland for now, this blog must start where the last one finished, in Praha. After an annoying and expensive afternoon on computers doing the last blog and making a mess of downloading photos form the camera on a Czech language PC (we succeeded in copying the files but corrupted our memory card in the process - now sorted thankfully - but the CD with the files on it has a habit of crashing any PC you put it into!!) we spent ... read more

How exciting, we eventually have a leaving date, appropriately the 4th July, (our independence day) I can’t believe it has taken us 9 weeks to get everything sorted out and organised. It is not an instant business this packing up your life. However thanks to all our friends we have had a great time. Many thanks; you have lived the highs & lows with us! After many late night hours on the internet & phone (Graeme not me) we have found our new home. It is to be delivered from the factory this week and we will be introduced to it on the 7th. The service from “Tim” in the US has been exceptional, as well as the usual vehicle sale stuff, answering many questions and changes of mind, it has extended to booking our hotel ... read more