Thursday the fun was over, we got up early and took a shuttle to the Schiphol Airport. I wondered why it was named Schiphol, I looked on the internet, there were several speculations. One theory suggests it translates to "ship hole," referencing a lake where many ships were lost, interesting.
June made herself comfortable while we waited for the airport shuttle. I ordered her a set just like these.
We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, while killing time, I found these in the airport gift shop.
I sent the picture to Ronnie Van Slooten and he said this is his cousin....small world.
Our flights were through Delta, but we flew KLM from Amsterdam to Detroit, then SkyWest to Burlington. All went pretty much as planned, we really can not complain.
My buddy Steve picked us up at the BTV Airport, it is great to have friends that live close to the Airport.
We were home and in the hot tub by 7PM. Eddie stopped by yesterday and turned the hot tub up so it would be ready upon our return. Yes, leaning on our friends and relatives again.
It was nice to be home!
Post Trip impressions:
It was a good trip, we did 7 countries (8 if you count Vatican City as a country).
England: Highlight - Stonehenge, British Museum
London
Windsor Castle
Stonehenge
Lacock
Bath
Greenwich
France: Highlight - Moulin Rouge
Paris
Eiffel Tower
Arc de Triomphe
Switzerland: Highlight - Cable Car to the top of Mt Pilatus
Lucerne
Horse and carriage ride
Italy: Highlight - Tower of Pisa, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum
Vatican City
Florence
Pisa
Rome
Venice
Austria: Highlight - Triumphal Arc
Innsbruck
Olympic Ski Jump
Germany: Highlight - Glockenspiel, Castle views from the Rhine
Munich
Netherlands: Highlight = Canal Cruise
Amsterdam
We used Cost Saver as a tour company, they are owned by Trafalgar. We have used Trafalgar 3 times previously (Italy, Germany, Greece). The idea is you can pick and choose your itinerary items and ultimately save some money. In addition, the hotels tend to be out of town, so you just can't walk to the sights. My impression is that most people (like us) will do most excursions (FOMO) and the increased flexibility actually causes some issues with coordination. Our TD did a great job keeping things on track but you could see it was a challenge at times. I would just pay the extra and go with Trafalgar next time.
Overall, we had a great time. We would never have been able to see what we saw without a guided tour. Guided tours are not for everyone, especially one that had the pace of this one, but as long as we are still relatively agile, it works for us.
Finally, we packed so much into the trip that I know I will need this blog to refresh my memory from time to time.
Wednesday was our last full day on tour, all good things do come to an end. We left Bad Durkheim and set out for Amsterdam with a stop along the Rhine to do a boat Cruise.
We started this trip with June and I in the front row seats of the bus, the seats with the best view, and we rotated seats daily. I am unsure if Matt planned it or it was just luck, but we were back in the front on the last day and the Allens were just across the isle from us in in the other front row.....awesome.
We exited the highway and drove along the Rhine and through many small towns, some of which had their own castles in the middle of town.
We made our way to the small town of Boppard which is on the Rhine River. The weather was cloudy and about 60F, but no rain.
Before boarding we walked through the town just to see it, it is a very typical German town with a church and square, very pleasant.
We set off up stream, and although scenic, for the first half of the cruise we saw few castles.
We did eventually come upon castles and very pretty small towns along the Rhine.
It was chilly so we all got coffee or cappuccino, we had an artist behind the counter.
We passed the two closest castles on the Rhine River, separated by a stone wall, Burg Sterrenberg and Burg Liebenstein. June and I visited Liebenstein in 1993, it was good to see it was still there...it has been since the 1300s.
Jean got jealous watching the Asians doing their photo sessions...she is working on it. JeanModel
We passed the "Zur Klosterschenke," which combines a church and a pub. To enter the church, visitors must pass through the bar, and the priest is known to serve at the bar when he's not fulfilling his other duties.
We saw lots of castles, pictures did not have a lot of pop because it was pretty overcast. None the less, they are beautiful.
As we got off the boat, Matt got us together for a group picture, I will have to get that from him and update our blog later.
After our boat ride we started out of the Rhine valley towards Amsterdam, we turned onto a secondary road and were immediately faced with a low underpass. Matt says into the PA system on the bus " Oh this is where we try to pass under a bridge that is lower than the bus", everyone held their breath, including Marco our driver. He said to Matt..."thanks for that". A bit later the road got really narrow and climbed a mountain with switchbacks, Marco says to Matt, "we have made a wrong turn, I think we are lost". Matt looks at him with disgust, Marco just smiles...that was for the bridge announcement. Such are the conversations you get to hear when you ride in the front...aside from June making squeaky noises now and then...it is the best place to ride on a bus. June's brake was not working either; Marco was tailgating at times. :(
When we reached the top of the mountain it was beautiful countryside (and more windmills), Marco clearly knew where he was going. German Countryside
We made our way into Amsterdam, unloaded and walked to the docks for a canal tour. It was cloudy and rather cool, but still no rain. Amsterdam is known for its famous artists and wealth.
We almost died several times before we learned to look for bicycles, there are even more than there are in Paris or London and they will run you over. The red paths are not to walk on...they are for bikes and they don't like people in their way. The scooters also use them and they are going very fast. They don't care about the pedestrian crosswalks either.....
Our boat was called the Blue Boat and is covered with glass, it was cool and it was nice to be inside out of the wind.
The houses along the canals are beautiful and expensive, they are multiple 10s of millions to buy.
Our captain is not a fan of the mayor, she said she is trying to mandate EVs in Amsterdam, yet, as you can see from what is parked in front of her house, she drives a big diesel Audi. It sounds too familiar.
In addition to the expensive houses there are expensive house boats on the canal system. Some look pretty rough and are just floating houses but still cost well over $1million to buy.
After our tour, we were turned loose to explore and find dinner.
I really liked the town center and even on a Wednesday, it was quite busy.
We settled on a small Pub for dinner, the food and beer was good....and that is all we wanted.
As we left Amsterdam the sun was setting. We only saw a glimpse of the city, it would be easy to come back and spend a week or so exploring.
We got to our Ibis Hotel near the Schipol airport around 2100, it was the end of our tour but it did pass very quickly.
Tuesday we left Innsbruck around 0800 and headed north to Germany.
As we descended the mountains from our hotel we had nice views of the ski jump tower with the city of Innsbruck below.
We made good time and were in Munich about 1000. We were dropped in Marienplatz (Mary's Square), which is the central square in Munich, with instructions to return at 1300 to head back to the bus.
This is June and Matt while walking to the square when someone yelled look out for the dog turd...too funny.
As you enter Marienplatz and make the turn where you can see the New Town Hall it is an overwhelming sight.
The Glockenspiel was scheduled to go off at 1100 so we wandered the square killing time until then.
The Glockenspiel tells a story and is interesting to watch, it lasts about 8 mins, runs 3 times per day and has been doing it for over 100 years.
It has 32 life size figures but they look small up on the tower.
After watching the Glockenspiel, we did our usual, we walked.
We walked to the The Theatine Church of St. Cajetan and Adelaide, just to see it up close. It is huge and can be seen from a distance with it's two towers that are higher than most others in Munich. It was built in the 1600s.
There is much to see in Munich, but we were getting hungry and went back to Marienplatz for lunch.
We ate at Wildmosers Restaurant right below the Glockenspiel, just like June and I did in 2018. The Bratwurst and beer were very good.
It was another day of perfect weather, we have been on the road 2 weeks now and had one day that was cloudy with some drizzle (Venice), 'The weather odds have been ever in our favor'.
After lunch we all made our way back to the bus pick up, for our journey to Bad Durkheim.
We arrived at our hotel and immediately went to dinner, it was 1900.
It turns out that Bad Durkheim is a quaint town. We were full after dinner and had not had our 10,000 steps, so we walked the town. It was very pretty, clean and quiet. We passed a few young people in the park enjoying some weed, just like home.
Wednesday is our last full day on tour, we have two boat excursions planned one in Germany and one in the Netherlands, then we fly home Thursday morning.
Monday was a travel day. We moved from Italy to Austria. It was rainy when we left the Venice area so even though we were told we were traveling through beautiful countryside, we really could not tell.
It is amazing what you will see out the window of a bus in Italy. This is Säben Abbey a Benedictine nunnery located near Klausen in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It was occupied by nuns from 1687 until 2021.
It was not long before we knew we were headed back into the Alps, they are magnificent.
It is a long drive to Innsbruck, we made rest/lunch stops and made it to Innsbruck around 1400 and had about 3 hours of free time to explore the city.
Innsbruck is a ski and college town, it has a population of about 130K and gets 3000 visitors a day for skiing and tourism. It is a pretty town that backs up directly to the mountains.
We walked the narrow alley ways to the central part of town.
In this picture the Golden Roof can be seen, it is made of 2,657 gilded copper shingles and is the oldest and most famous building in Innsbruck. Emperor Maximilian I had the Golden Roof built between 1497 and 1500.
We first stopped at the bridge that crosses the River Inn, the views are nice but the wind coming down the river kept blowing my hat off.
From the Inn River, we walked the main street of Innsbruck, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, or the shopping mile.
We took the main street to the southern end of town where the Triumphal Arch which was built in 1765 by order of Maria Theresa in the 18th century as a tribute to her son's wedding. However, days after the wedding Maria's husband (father of the groom) died, so Maria had the south side commemorate the wedding and the north side commemorate the passing of her husband. This is the south side.
We had some refreshments at a small cafe just south of the Arch, a beautiful setting.
Directly south of the Arch is the Bergisel Ski Jump, which hosted the winter Olympics in 1964 and 1978. We could have watched the jumps from our table, very cool.
We continued our walk back towards the center of town ducking into a few of the side streets which all seemed to open into a plaza of some sort. For example Eduard-Wallnofer Square has The Liberation Monument dedicated to those who died in the struggle for liberation from National Socialism (Nazi) from 1938 to 1945. The square had lots of ramps that were being used by young people for skate boarding.
All that walking made us thirsty again so we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe. We sat on the street and while we were there a robot came out of the side street to collect dishes, but the waiters seemed to ignore it. I asked a waiter how he liked it, he said in broken English..."It doesn't work"....LOL.
We had a nice time in town, boarded the bus and climbed into the mountains on switch backs to our hotel, Hotel Bon Alpina. This hotel is sprawling and looks like every addition was an after thought. It is a maze to find your way around, we had to pass through the bar and the restaurant with our luggage to get to our room. That being the case, the rooms are quaint with nice views.
This is the view out our window.
We were treated to a dinner that I am told was good, but they obviously did not get the memo that I hate onions....it was an onion dinner, but the strudel was good.
After dinner we attended the Tyroler Abend Family Show which included Tyrolean dancing and singing, yodeling.
It was very much like what you would see at home during Octoberfest in Stowe, VT or Whiteface, NY.
It was a late return to our hotel so we retired straight away.
Sunday we drove from Rome to Venice, we made a couple of rest stops and still arrived ahead of our schedule. It was our first day of less than perfect weather, it was cloudy and cool but not raining.
To get into the city of Venice, you need to take a water taxi, so we headed for the docks where the taxis run all day long. All but 6 of us signed up for a canal tour. so their taxi ride would be a bit longer. June and I just taxied straight to St.Mark's Square and waited for the others.
This is Jean and Ed getting on their taxi/tour boat.
Everyone stood up to take in the views.
Even in cloudy weather the views from a water taxi are unforgettable.
The famous Rialto Bridge.
Arriving at Piazza San Marco. It is kind of a zoo where the taxis load and unload.
Once off the taxi you are greeted by Piazza San Marcos, it is a site to see. It is so huge you can't capture it in a single photo.
We walked around the square some before the others did their gondola ride. There is so much to see.
As we made our way to the Gondola ride launch, we could see The Bridge of Sighs that separates the Doge Palace from the Venice Prison, built in the 1600s.
The Bridge of Sighs was the bridge that prisoners crossed before being locked up in the Venetian prisons and from which, sighing, they could see the sunlight for the last time.
It is the third bridge in this photo, Jean would not smile, she only sighed.
Ed and Jean set off on their Gondola ride while June and I went into the Hard Rock Cafe for a hot toddy.
Venice is known for being romantic, a couple in our group got engaged on their gondola ride, Ed captured the moment.
Congratulations Sam and Stephanie!
Ed and Jean enjoyed their gondola excursion.
After the Gondola ride, we walked the streets.
We came upon a 12th century church, San Salvador. Like most churches, it was open to the public.
It is lent so statues and crosses were covered in preparation of Easter.
June lit a candle and we all thanked the lord for the safe return of Margarita.
Lucky for us, the light rain that had started passed and we continued our walk.
We made our way to the famous Rialto Bridge, it was not nearly as busy as it was when we were last here in November of 2018.
We eventually were hungry and stopped at a nice restaurant for dinner, Osteria San Lio. We shared a meat platter appetizer and all had pasta, it was another excellent meal.
After dinner we had time to roam about before our pickup at Piazza San Marco.
Venice is very picturesque.
The girls liked the Red Marble Lions that guard the Piazzetta dei Leoncini. They are from the early 1700s and give the square its name.
As we walked to our water taxi we went by The Bridge of Sighs one more time. Having to leave Venice will make one sigh.
By the time we departed it was getting dark, of course Venice is also beautiful at night.
We took a short bus ride to our hotel and called it a night, it was a long but good day.
