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Mon 1/07 Evening |
Mon 1/07 Morning |
Amsterdam, Canal cruise |
Holland countryside, the Rhine in Netherlands (We'll see more of the Rhine later.)
 
The Heineken Brewery. The skinniest house in Amsterdam has the lowest possible city rates. However, they have to keep their IKEA furniture folded. Many Amsterdam homes are tilting because their foundations are sinking.
  
Wherever you look there is something amazing. Here we see in the one shot, a monument to sailors lost at sea, the Duyfken (which landed on the west coast of Cape York) and a Rhine cruiser. Amsterdam diamond cutting (and of course sales)
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Mon 1/07 23:00 |
Mon 1/07 15:00 |
Netherland country tour, Clog & cheese Factory, Vollendam, windmills |
At the clog factory... (I think we should try the next size down.)
Vollendam, a Catholic enclave in mainly Protestant Netherlands. At the back of the church, we discovered an amazingly well kept cemetery. Of course, trading in flowers is a major industry in Holland. We were told that most Dutch people have an annual contract with a local florist to keep a gravesite well flowered.
 
What's the name of that street? Is it "Geek Street"?
We also visited some of Holland's last few remaining working windmills. On the day we visited, they were grinding rocks for use as a pigment in fine porcelain glazing. The guide said it was amazing how many people stuck their fingers in it, tasted it, and still thought it was flour!
  
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Amsterdam, Inntel Centre
t +31 (20) 530 1818, f +31 (20) 422 1919 |
A group Welcome dinner this evening at a Dutch-Indonesian restaurant called the Sea Palace.
Andrew, Paul and Hannah from Melbourne, Noreen (partly obscured) and Alec from NSW, Marion, Bethia, Elizabeth and Tom (partly obscured) from NZ, Maureen, Paul (our tour director) and Marleen (married to Andrew) |
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Tue 2/07 Evening |
Tue 2/07 Morning |
Cologne (Köln) |
The Cathedral in Cologne was awesome. Massive and beautiful. Temperatures continued to be cool - 15 degrees Max or so- and that is July!.
 
The whole cathedral was surrounded by dozens of stained glass windows like St Bernard (below), and even the mozaic floor was spectacular. Temperature and humidity were monitored in precise German fashion.
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Tue 2/07 Night |
Tue 2/07 Afternoon |
Rhine Cruise |
In the afternoon, the sun came out, and the Rhine Cruise was everything we could have imagined. Just why do they have the opposite of contour farming? The vines climbed up the steepest of hills. Must be hell to pick the grapes!
 
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During one part of the cruise, you could see three medieval castles at once. There were lots of churches, including this one, home of the Black Madonna. The best had to be the one on the right, where the church was entered through the pub. The priest has the difficult task of being the barman and the pastor. What a life! This would go down really well with a certain priest we know!
 
We seem to have a great group of people on our tour. There are 42 in all. Six are children, who are very well behaved, and all American. Most of the passengers are from Ossie land, some from NZ and the others from the USA.
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Tue 2/07 23:00 |
Tue 2/07 15:00 |
Koblenz, Mercure Koblenz , Julius-Wegeler-Straße 6 t +49 (261) 1360, f +49 (261) 136-11 99 |
Very nice hotel, modem didn't connect though. The schedule is very tight, and we are busy morning, noon and night, with the wake up call every day; at 5.50 am. Many hotels are older, but very nice, and we have not been able to E Mail. Koblenz was very pretty, at the junction of the Moselle and the Rhine.. |
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Wed 3/07 2:19 |
Tue 2/07 18:19 |
Last Qtr |
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Wed 3/07 |
Wed 3/07 |
Koblenz, Germany to Engelberg, Switzerland |
Huge drive today, lots of time on the bus. We left at 7.30 am and got in to the hotel at 9 pm.
In Heidelberg, saw the ruins of a 13th century castle, which must have been massive. Moved through lovely towns like Freiburg (below) and on to the Black Forest. Medieval buildings everywhere and spectacular scenery.
  
Houses in Switzerland are much, much bigger than those in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. We later discovered that most wealthy Swiss have 2 residences, one in a city and one in the country. This is because country folk enjoy a lower income tax rate.
 
The Rhine Falls at Schauffhausen were impressive, as was Lucerne, after a shower and a lovely rainbow. Food very expensive in Switzerland. ie. steak is on special at the supermarket for 45 Swiss Francs a kilo (about $50).
 
Other things are not as bad. Engleberg is such a pretty town, as is Lucerne. Unlike everywhere else, the room has a normal key, not a special security key. People in Europe ride bikes everywhere, and seem much thinner than Americans and Aussies. In Switzerland, they leave their bikes parked all over the city, and don't bother to lock them up. There is almost no crime. There is no litter. All 18 year olds have to do 6 months military service, and every man up to 45 years of age does 2 weeks military service each year. Every single male over 18 has a gun, ammunition and a full uniform and combat kit at home, at the ready. This would go down really well in Australia and the USA! |
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Thu 4/07 05:00 |
Wed 3/07 21:00 |
Engelberg 2nts, Europe Europaischerhof t +41 (41) 639 7575, f +41 (41) 639 7576 |
Lovely ski resort hotel, 106 Yrs old, recently restored, large rooms, lots of coat hangers, suit a week-long stay during the ski season. |
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Thu 4/07 Evening |
Thu 4/07 Morning |
Lucerne |
Buildings in Lucerne often have paintings all over them. Bridges date back to the early 1500s and have flower boxes in bloom all over them. Indeed, most of Europe has flower boxes in windows everywhere. Can you imagine the banks in Brissie having flowers in bloom hanging below every one of their windows?
  
There were some REALLY expensive shops in Lucerne, particularly selling watches. Is a schmuck one who buys at these prices? Is a cuckoo one who buys a clock? The Swiss also seem to love tunnels and flags - they are everywhere.
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Thu 4/07 Night |
Thu 4/07 Afternoon |
Lake Lucerne cruise, Stanserhorn mountaintop excursion |
We did a cruise on Lake Lucerne and the scenery was as stunning as we have seen anywhere. There was a big statue of Jesus on the lake. We weren't too sure if he was blessing those on the lake or indicating the size of fish to be caught in its waters! Sophia Loren's house is the one on the left at the top of this hill overlooking Lake Lucerne.
  
We then took a funicular train and then a cable car to the top of Mt Stanserhorn. On top of the world! What scenery! In the late afternoon we could hear cow bells from all over the valley.
  
This is a marmot at the top of Mt Stanserhorn. We thought Robbie would think he was cute.
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Fri 5/07 Evening |
Fri 5/07 Day |
Lucerne to Liechtenstein and then to Innsbruck in Austria |
We drove out of Switzerland (below), past the green waters of Lake Zurich. The waters in all the lakes in Switzerland, were remarkably clear. They are very conscious of keeping it perfect, and boats are very restricted. There is no litter in the Rhine, Switzerland, or Austria. As you can see, we were blessed with the weather and cloudless skies. The cold, but clear weather in the north (Belgium, Netherlands and Germany) gave way to much warmer weather as we left Switzerland.
  
Until 30 yrs ago this was the only road access to Liechtenstein. The Royal Palace overlooks the Rhine.
 
Liechtenstein in the foreground and Switzerland in the background.
Innsbruck, the Golden Roof and Maureen at the Inn River. Again, there were lots of medieval buildings, and it was just beautiful. We now take in our stride, the sight of a 1200-AD building, but still look up when something dates from 800AD.
  
We went on a horse-drawn ride through a rural area above Innsbruck and saw this amazing country chapel and a 700 year old house. We stopped at a rural pub. Thank goodness we ordered a beer, and not a wine. It was so bad, that some of our fellow travellers added salt and pepper to the wine and it really improved it!
 
  
  
These roadside shrines are everywhere. They are the European equivalent of the little white crosses we use to mark the site of road fatalities. Travellers also used them in years gone by in place of churches. |
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Fri 5/07 23:00 |
Fri 5/07 15:00 |
Innsbruck, Grauer Bär , Universitätsstrasse 5-7, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria t +43 (512) 59240, f +43 (512) 574 535 |
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Sat 6/07 Night |
Sat 6/07 Day |
Innsbruck to Salzburg to Vienna |
Salzburg : Apparently, it never stops raining in Salzburg. Must have been the secret to Mozart's music. They get 160 inches a year - 4 times that of Brissie!. On the day we were there, we had perfect blue skies and a warm day. The cathedral was breathtaking, and Mozart marketing was everywhere.
  
Below is his birthplace and his statue. At least his statue gets the entertainment of watching beach volleyball in the square. There are Mozart chocolates, and every other kind of Mozart souvenirs.
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Sat 6/07 23:00 |
Sat 6/07 15:00 |
Vienna 2nts, Parkhotel Schönbrunn , Hietzinger Hauptstraße 10-20, 1130 Wien, Österreich t +43 (1) 87 804-0, f +43 (1) 87 804-3220 |
Hungarian Dinner , Moving on to Vienna, we finally found summer - around 28 degrees. In the evening we went to a Hungarian Gypsy Restaurant. The food was good and the entertainment terrific fun. We then went on the Prater Wheel at the amusement park. Until the London Eye it was the biggest in the world- for about 130 years!
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Sun 7/07 Evening |
Sun 7/07 Day |
Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna Tour, Vienna Opera House |
This was followed the next morning by a trip to Schonbrunn Palace. Greater opulence is impossible. All of the walls and ceilings were covered in wood carvings, which were gold plated; every floor in the place was a different parquetry. Every ceiling had magnificent artwork. It will be interesting to compare Versailles.
Who's that standing on the balcony?
Is it Marie-Therese, mother of 16 children? It looks like...
Oh, that's who it is!
At the Stadtpark, we saw Strauss's gold statue. (The Europeans are crazy on gold everything). Then we saw the Opera House. Hate to say it, but it made Covent Garden look really tacky. There were 3 steel curtains on the stage and backstage to protect in case of fire - weighing 40 tonnes each!. Backstage went to 18 stories high. They can comfortably perform Verdi's "Aida".
 
St Stephen is the patron saint of Vienna. A visiting American choir sang at Sunday Mass in St Stephen's Cathedral
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Sun 7/07 Night |
Sun 7/07 Evening |
Concert at Liechtenstein Palace, Vienna |
Then we went to a performance at the Liechtenstein palace in Vienna in the evening. I have to say the sopranos at the Opera in Stanthorpe are better. The ballet was danced on carpet! Bit of a rip-off. Below is our group, seated at the front.
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