U and Me (Bob & Jan Holicza)

June 1, 2008

2008-06-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Europe! We took the hotel shuttle to the Airport/train station, then took the subway to the downtown area of the city. We saw some really interesting buildings, and a pedestrian area, where there are a large number of booths set up, along with restaurants. We decided that after we returned to the hotel, to book our seats on the planes tomorrow, we'll return to this area and have something to eat.

It is really expensive in the hotel (25.00 Euro each for breakfast, 19.50 Euro for a cheeseburger), so our dinner hopefully will be less, although we have to go a ways to get it. We picked up a couple of subway passes at the hotel this morning, at a special price of 4.85 Euro, each, so we can go downtown any number of times. We just have to put up with the infrequency of the trains.

We saw the "Alte Oper" (Old Opera) that has been completely restored to it's original Grandeur because of the devastation during the war. Also the " Houses of the Romerberg " are fantastic and so fairy tell looking. The Churches and the Guard's Pub are really great
old buildings.

On our way back this afternoon, the train pulled into the main Frankfurt train station, and after a few minutes I noticed that it had completely emptied. We cautiously got off and saw the engineer heading back. He told us we had to switch trains to one on the other side of the platform. We just made it on in time! We've now booked our seats for the return flights, and we lose our internet connection this evening at 8:00 pm, so this might be our last blog from Europe.

We've had a great time, and will have many stories to recount.

May 31, 2008

2008-05-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

For those of you still following our travels, we have two more days in Europe, then it's back to Canada. Yesterday, Jan found a tree in mom's yard that was starting to bloom, so we took a few pictures. Mom didn't know what type of tree it is, but as you can see, the flowers are two toned, orange and cream, and the whole tree is covered in blooms.

Today we rose early and after a big breakfast at my mom's, we waited for the taxi to arrive. We booked the taxi for 7:30, thinking that we needed to leave enough time for ourselves to get to the train station by about 8:30. When we arrived 10 days ago, it took an hour at least to get home, due to the traffic. Today, we made it in less than 30 min, so we had a long wait.

Our train finally pulled in and we were allowed to board at about 8:30. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. It went past our expected departure time, by 30 minutes, and we were getting a little nervous as we knew that in Vienna, we only had a 1/2 hour wait to get on the connecting train. There were a number of others in the same boat, wanting to get to Vienna in time to board another train. When the conductor came by we all asked if we could make up the delay, but he was unable to give us a definite answer.

Imagine our surprise when we arrived with minutes to spare. We rushed down the platform, since we were in the last car as the train nosed into the station, and I noticed an ICE train on the next track. We saw a conductor about 1/2 way down the platform and asked which track we had to go to, and when he heard or destination, he advised us we were at the right train, but had to go back to the "front" car. We boarded the train and it left in a matter of minutes. We were in the first car which was "1st class" and realized that our car included the driver of the train as well. There was a glass partition to the front of the car and the engineer sat in a big "arm chair" with a console in front of him to drive the train. Cool.

This train wasn't quite as fast as the one we took from Paris to Saar Brucken a month or so ago, but it still clipped along at a fair speed varying between 100 and 200 km/h. We saw some really beautiful country, but I found that the speed of the train combined with the tree-lined gully the tracks are in made picture taking difficult if not impossible. Every time I wanted to take a picture, a tree or tunnel obscured the shot by the time I got ready to shoot. We arrived in Frankfurt just before 8 pm and managed to find the hotel shuttle which took us to our hotel in a matter of minutes.

We have a beautiful suite in a new part of the hotel, so we're going to enjoy our last two nights in Europe. The shuttle will take us to the airport on Monday in time to catch our flight to London and by that night, we'll be back in Canada (after an 8 or 9 hour flight).

May 29, 2008

2008-05-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

Our holiday is quickly coming to an end. It's hard to believe that 2 months have passed since we left Kelowna. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time over here, with a few exceptions (see previous comments, Paris) but we are ready to return to the real world. We miss the wide streets, and the English-speaking people.

We have enjoyed our visit with my mom for the past two weeks, and thought it was time to update the blog, as we figured out a way to access the internet rather than having to go to an internet cafe. We thought we'd include a few pictures of Budapest.

The tiles used for the roof on this church came from a factory in the town where my grandmother was born.

This contraption is called a "funicular" railway. It goes straight up the side of the mountain to the Castle, similar to the one we took in Paris. Tomorrow, we are planning to take a tour of the Opera House and hopefully get a peek inside the spa at the Gellert hotel. We'll attempt to add more comments on what we've done tomorrow night, before we head off to Frankfurt on Saturday.

May 24, 2008

2008-05-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

We spent the last week at my mom's house in Budapest, relaxing and getting ready to return home after a very enjoyable 2 month vacation.

On Monday morning we returned the rental car early and boarded the train in Munich for Budapest. We had a very enjoyable trip in first class, which our eurail pass entitled us to. The car we were in had power outlets, so we were able to use our computer the whole way, although I wasn't able to locate an internet link. I guess the train was moving too fast to find a stable connection. We had lunch on the train and and passed the time playing games and watching the videos we purchased.

Sometime after we entered Hungary, the rain started and by the time we arrived in Budapest, it was a downpour. My mom met us at the train station, and a taxi driver promptly cornered us to give us a ride. We stopped to reserve our seats on the train to Frankfurt next week, so that was something we wouldn't have to worry about. After a long ride through rush hour traffic, we finally arrived at mom's house. It's amazing that in Budapest as in Vancouver, they are building a subway. Unfortunately, they are also refurbishing one of the major bridges at the same time, supposedly to cut costs, and it's causing huge traffic jams, especially when it rains.

We've had a great visit. I'm picking up the language much faster than 2 years ago when we were here. Today we met my youngest sister, Hanita and her fiancee, Gabor, and had a nice visit with them. They are planning their wedding for August. We found a "tulip tree" in mom's garden for all you flower people. Mom says she took a picture of the flower to a horticulturist and was told that it was a tulip tree, very rare, and that he had never seen the flower of one before. The tree has been in mom's yard for 16 years and last year was the first year that it bloomed.

May 19, 2008

2008-05-19T10:36:00.001-07:00

Today was a very quiet day. I finally got through to my mom this morning using my SKYPE connection, and she's happy to see us. We then went and found the car rental location, and finally got a copy of the rental agreement (oh, I think I forgot to mention it before, but somewhere during our journey through France, I realized that I had no paperwork for our car rental, and they only have locations in Germany, so until we got back to here, we couldn't get a copy.) I guess the guy who rented us the car neglected to give me a copy. I happened to be reading something on our roadmap, and there was a note on there about the requirements for driving in Europe, one of them a copy of the car rental agreement, ooooops.

Anyway, we then went to the train station and reserved our seats to Budapest, then found out that we were nowhere near the station where the train was leaving from, it was about 10 minutes away. So off we went to locate it, for tomorrow. There is a car rental outlet across from the station so we figured once we found it, we would find the station. I needed to know where to drop Jan off with the luggage while I dropped the car off in the morning. We found the station, relatively easily, but it took, three trips around the block, and a stop at the police station, where they didn't speak English, to finally find their office. There is a tiny sign, on the wall pointing to a parking lot driveway, where I have to take the car, then walk a block or so to the train station. This is different from the location on both GPS units.

Our train for Budapest leaves at 9:30 in the morning, so we need to be there by shortly after 8:00 am so I have time to leave the car, find Jan and the luggage and get on the train at 9:00 am At the moment, we are the only passengers in the car (that could change by train time) in a compartment. We'll take some pictures to share, of our journey. Mom is going to try meeting us at the train station in Budapest.

After this we returned to the hotel to rest, and repack our luggage, clean the car, and fill the gas tank. Tomorrow we start another, final leg of our holiday. We want to do some travelling in Hungary, which we'll probably do by train as we will have 4 days left on our passes to do so. Our blog might be a little less frequent as we'll have to use an internet cafe to post them, but we plan to do so, every couple of days as and when we can.

May 18, 2008

2008-05-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

We had another wet, miserable day. We're not enjoying the trip anymore! (lol). On top of it all, we were driving along the road in Innsbruck, Austria, trying to find an Information bureau that was actually open for the tourists, when out of the clear blue, our Blonde GPS froze! This was a MAJOR hindrance to our plans, as the one in the car only appears to work in Germany.

After trying to coax it back to life, without any success, I decided to call my mom, in Budapest and ask if we could come a few days early if we couldn't get the GPS to work. I couldn't get my cell phone to work. I finally found a phone booth and tried my calling card. Yep, you guessed it, it wouldn't work either. Both were purchased in France, and I suspect need a different code than I've been using. I'll try and find a dealer for my sim card and see if he can tell me the trick to make the phone work.

We had a second straight day of heavy, steady rain, and we're both getting tired of it. After six weeks of traveling around, all the castles and churches seem to blend into each other. It's not much fun standing in line to go into an attraction, usually after walking some distance from the parking lot, in the pouring rain. It's certainly not as accommodating over here as it was in England. There, in most cases our "Handicapped" sticker got us a special spot close to the facility, and often even a ride to or through the attraction. There were at least two castles where Jan got a ride to the top of the hill, and after walking around in the castle, a ride back down. Here we haven't found it so accommodating. And it takes away a lot from the attraction.

We're getting to the point where we want a rest from all the travel, and a chance to sort out what we've seen. We have actually talked about returning the car a few days early and taking the train to Budapest to visit my mom for a few days longer than planned. If I can sort out my phone problems tomorrow, we'll call mom and see if that works for her. Jan's getting tired and sore from all the walking, and as most hotels we've stayed at do not have a bathtub, only a shower, she hasn't been able to soak her sore hip, each night, and it just gets worse the next day.

The next blog might come from Budapest rather than somewhere in Germany. That's it for now.

May 17, 2008

2008-05-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

What an ugly day we had today. When we woke up, we could hardly see across the valley, even less than last night, and it was drizzling. We stopped at a grocery store for some fruit and luncheon material. We were hoping to stop and have a picnic somewhere along the way. This next leg was supposed to be a very picturesque one. Instead of slowing down, the rain got progressively worse all day.

We started along the road out of Cortina, which I assumed was towards the north, and after a bit, I asked Jan what our destination was to be. When we first entered the address, the route seemed to be back towards Cortina, then it changed and I was asked to turn left at this road coming up. I did, and we started going along this pot hole covered, but paved road up into the mountains. I thought, if I see snow anytime soon, we're turning around!. Soon we reached a corner where the road seemed to get better... I thought it must be an important corner as there was even a streetlight in the middle of the forest!

Later we crossed under a chairlift, and I'm thinking, where the heck are we? Then we started heading downhill, and I was sure we were going back toward Cortina. We reached another corner, where I had to turn right, uphill again. Jan and I had a small disagreement as to following the GPS route of going by the map, although the places we were going through were so small that they weren't on the map, and the road signs showing villages coming up, didn't match the ones on the map either. We finally came to a restaurant/hotel, and Jan went in to get directions, but couldn't locate anyone. We were told yesterday that places were shut down for the spring. We stopped a guy walking along the sidewalk, and tried to ask if we were on the right road. After looking at our map for a while, he thought we should go back the way we had come, but then he changed his mind and we got the impression that we might actually be heading in the right direction.

We continued on for a bit, and finally saw a sign for a certain mountain pass that was on the map as well, so we carried on. The road was climbing up the mountain, and into the clouds. It was hard to take pictures as we couldn't see much through the mist. We kept seeing cars and bikes coming down, so I felt fairly sure that if they could make it so could I. We finally reached the top, and started down, with numerous switchbacks and a very narrow road. At times blondie tried "recalculating" 'cause I was doubling back on myself so tightly on the road that she thought, I had turned around.

Every so often, we would pop out of the clouds and get a picture or two, then back in again. We drove through numerous little ski villages, which were mostly all closed up. Finally we reached another little village and started climbing up the valley. Within a matter of 2 kms, I must have turned around 20 times, a hairpin turn one way, drive 50 feet, and turn back the other way. I tried to take some pictures looking back down the valley, and in the rain and mist you can see the road curving back and forth too many times to count. I think before I hit the summit, I counted 43 switchbacks going up, and about 27 going down the other side!

We finally figured out that we were going along a different road to our destination than we had wanted to. We stopped and had lunch at this little restaurant, still in Italy, where they mostly spoke German! Then we started up again, over another high pass, The snow on the sides of the road was higher than the car. I braved tha rain to take some shots looking back the way we'd come. It was an unreal road!

We finally arrived at a place where we could get on the freeway. So following the GPS, I entered the toll gates, and took the turnoff for Austria. We went around the corner and were stuck in a monumental traffic jam trying to get on the same freeway! When we got to the toll booth, I had to pay 1.60 Euro for driving 200 feet! The gate I first entered was 30 feet away to my right. Well, no big deal, I thought, at least we're on our way. About 50 km down the road, another toll booth, and now 8.00 Euro! Then I got off the freeway about 6 km past this point as we reached Insbruck, Austria.

The hotel we were hoping to stay at, was full (it's Saturday afternoon) so we tried driving around looking for another hotel, but they don't identify their hotels over here, like we do ours in North America, with BIG GAUDY signs. After driving around for a while, unsuccessfully, we had the GPS locate a place for us. It's a little pricy, but at least it has wireless in the lobby, so I'll be able to post the last two days' blogs and check our emails.

May 16, 2008

2008-05-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

We got up this morning and found that God had answered our prayers and given us a nice sunny morning, after last night's thundershowers. We had breakfast and quickly got on our way. While we were in Padova, we figured we may as well see if there's anything interesting in town. We found a cathedral, and Jan took some pictures, while I drove around, 'cause there were no parking spots, AGAIN! I ended up driving all over the place down narrow streets and finally returned to the square where I dropped Jan off. I was trying to figure out how to find her, since I came back from a different direction than before, but fortunately, she was waiting for me right where I came out of the alley.

We now decided to head to our next destination of Venice. On the map the distance from Padova to Venice shows as 25 km, but it took us close to an hour and a half to get there. We found signs pointing to "Parking + Boat = Venice" and eventually came to a parking lot which showed 8.00 Euro for up to 12 hours. I asked Jan to check on the price of tickets, and when she returned, and said go park the car, the ferry leaves in 15 minutes, I told her to start walking while I parked the car. We just managed to get to the boat before it left!

We got some great pictures, saw the canals and boats, and had lunch and some yummy Italian Gelatio. The canals here are utilized just like streets in any normal city. They haul freight, and people, with even a "bus" service, although it is a boat service. We then took the boat back to our car and got on our way to travel north towards the Alps.

And I just had to take a picture of this boat with the guy steering with one hand and talking on a cell phone with the other!

We are up high in the Dolomite Region of the Italian Alps; and I don't know why but these mountains are very different from the Rockies. I have gotten some beautiful shots and Bob stopped to get some great extra's that I couldn't get when we were driving. Cortina, where we will spend the night, is a popular Winter Ski Resort and we are lucky to find a hotel open. Out of 60 Hotels in the town only 5 are opened right now. Our host told us one of the better restaurants to go to as most of the restaurants are closed also.

They say that the Winter and summer seasons are busy but the Spring and Fall are dead. We don't know if we will be able to get this posted tonight or not as there is no Wi-Fi and we are not sure if any place has internet right now. Tomorrow we will travel down the Valley of Cortini and into Austria. We are hoping to get some beautiful pictures as the travel books all tell us of the great vistas you can see between here and Bolgona.

May 15, 2008

2008-05-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Today started out hazy, and we were up early and away from the hotel. As you can see from this view out of our hotel room window, there are a lot of roads over here. I have never seen so many on/off ramps criss-crossing all over the place.

We had to fight the morning rush, and what a rush. There must have been a million scooters and other bikes and motorcycles on the roadways, weaving in and out of the traffic. The most difficult part of driving over here, especially in the larger Italian cities, is having to look out for all the bikes. They pass anywhere, go into the oncoming lanes, anytime they are held up by cars, and at every traffic light, they all congregate at the front so that they get a jump on the cars.

We started off leaving Genoa, by following the lower coast road again. Fortunately, we had blondie to guide us, as without her, we wouldn't have found our way out of a paper bag. We twisted and turned all over the place to get out of town, then it only got worse! The road wound up into the mountains and back down, a number of times, before we finally got fed up and switched off the "no toll roads" exception on the GPS. The first picture shows how narrow the roads are with people parking virtually anywhere, including double parking everywhere, while in the second, we were stopped at a traffic light beside the police car, when a large tanker truck was making a right turn. We expected it to run over the police car, and they wouldn't back up to help.

We found the nearest entrance ramp and got onto the straight, fast, freeway. Although it started out hazy, we expected the sun to come out (and later on we did hit 29 deg.), but at one point as we came out of a tunnel, we were hit by a humongous rain storm that forced the traffic to slow to about 80 from the 110+ speeds we'd been doing. This 125 km trip took us to Pisa, where we wanted to visit the leaning tower, and cost us 10.50 Euro.

There was not much else to see there, and after taking a walk around, and a bunch of pictures, we got on the road again.

We decided to head towards Venice, but after inputting the final destination, and a stop at a MacDonald's where we wanted to go online (we couldn't as they did not have the WiFi connection), we learned that it would be after 5:30 before we would arrive, so we once again went to the freeway and cut off approximately 1-1/2 hours from the trip. (cost 14.60 Euro) We arrived at Padova (Padua - isn't that from Romeo and Juliet???) at 4:00 pm and found a nice hotel, part of a chain that we'd stayed at before, but slightly better qua lity. This one actually has free wireless internet, so we can catch up on all our blogs and emails.

It has been a rough day for me as I have really been having a time with my hip and leg. ( Part of the reason for heading straight to the Venice area.) and wouldn't you know it as we are sitting here writing this blog there is a wild storm outside. My weather barometer is working real well. I am hoping that we can get a good rest tonight and that by tomorrow I will be feeling up to seeing Venice and then we head up to the Dolomite Mtns. and on to Austria. Arrivederci from Padova.

May 14, 2008

2008-05-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

The beginning of the Cannes Film Fetival! Today the lines were starting up just to get into see the films up for awards. Exotic Cars all over the place and chasing us down the Cannes-Nice road. We had Masserrattis, Porsches, Lamborghinis, Jaquars and many I can't name. We drove all the way through to Monaco only this time we chose the Mountain Top road. As you can see from the vista's we were really up high in the clouds. The road we're looking down on, is the road we took yesterday.The weather was beautiful and we had a pleasurable drive until we came into Italy.

We got some absolutely gorgeous panoramic shots over Monaco and we really are pleased with the pictures.

Bob takes back all the bad things he says about French Drivers ( well at least some :-) ) There must be 10 motorcycles here, to every one in France and they are hell on wheels. We were both thinking we were surprised not to hear about more bike and bicycle accidents when we saw one just outside of Savona, where it appeared a trail bike ran over or into a bicycle.

The water is beautiful but it is a sin that you have to pay to go on the beach in a lot of places. Bob kidded about not seeing the topless beaches Italy talks about. However, I told him he might as well stop looking as I'd have to put an end to it anyways. (and I told her, I had trouble enough seeing anything but the multitude of motorcycles whizzing by on both sides of the car, and trying to understand the Italian road signs, to watch for the girls on the beaches.)

For some reason it is really hard to find a hotel so we have to figure out which way we want to go; further into Italy or north toward Austria and Switzerland. No matter which way we choose to go, we'll have to figure out ahead of time where to stay, as it is really difficult to keep an eye out for hotels and also watch where I'm driving and avoid the bikes, pedestrians, and other drivers.

We were merrily following the main coastal highway, and just as we were ready to go through one of the many tunnels, the road ended! No signs, no detours, no nothing. So we had to backtrack a few miles, and force the GPS to direct us to the Toll highway, so we could bypass the blockage. This road goes through the mountains high up the valleys. About 20 km cost us 1.90 Euro! At almost every valley you can look to the left, up the valley and see these huge viaducts!

May 13, 2008

2008-05-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

Today we drove to Monaco, via Cannes and Nice, and I actually drove on the Grand Prix circuit, mind you, it was only at 50 kph, but I was there. It was crowded and heavy with traffic the whole way. We ran into a huge traffic Jam at Cannes, as they were getting ready for the start of the film festival tomorrow, and Nice was just busy.

Cannes and Nice are not anywhere near as pretty as St. Raphael and Frejus where we stayed. They may be known all over the world but I am not overly impressed. However as I said before the roads to and from have some beautiful sections for picture taking. I am trying to figure out a better route for tomorrow to keep us away from Cannes, Antibes, Nice and Monaco. If we can get past these places then it is clear sailing to the Northern Italian Coast.

I'm convinced the drivers over here are All for One and One for One! At an intersection, you don't leave the intersection empty so the cross-traffic can move, otherwise other drivers force their way into the line and block the intersection, and no one can move. If you close up tight against the car in front, no one moves anyway! Weird! On top of this, there was a tour bus double parked blocking the oncoming lane, holding up the traffic, 'cause no one from this side was going to allow alternating traffic. When another tour bus came by, it was unable to go around, 'cause again no one from the other direction would let it by. Where are the police to direct traffic when you need them?

On the way out of Monaco, we drove through this tunnel system that was simply awesome to get the traffic out of the city. The surface streets are clogged with traffic, but the tunnels were flowing at 90 kph with little hold-up. The pictures are a little blurred, as Jan was having problems holding the camera steady enough in the dark.

Tomorrow, we say goodbye to France and plan to spend a little time in Italy. We're hoping to find reasonable accommodations, and also hope the locals understand our English!

May 12, 2008

2008-05-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well here we are from the Mediterranean. I would say sunny but we have had a hazy day, although still warm. I can't get over how beautiful the Mediterranean Sea is. It Looks a real turquoise blue and then sticking out of it are deep "brick red" rocks.

Whoops before I start my glowing report about the Mediterranean; let me finish about Nimes. It was such a delightful place to see and visit. For me it has so much history combined with beauty. Just a couple more pictures to finish up Nimes. This is the Arenes du Nimes which we were not able to go into over the weekend because of the Freria that was going on. The picture here shows the Arenes du Nimes at its finest and then some pictures I took as well. Also we got a picture of Le Pont du Gard that we tried so hard to get yesterday so we are putting it in. The church is the Catherderal Notre Dame in Nimes and La Maison Carree at night. All this was blocked off to us so we had to improvise.

When we got to St. Raphael-Frejus this afternoon we were still dealing with it. Apparently we got in on Pentecost Celebrations all across France. We had a ball and walked a lot of miles in the last 3 days.

This afternoon, after we checked into the hotel (a bit better class) we went for a drive up the Mediterranean Coast and Bob and I got some awesome pictures. I wish we could share them all but will try to limited it to some of the best shots we got. We took 162 pictures today and only had to drop 2.

As you know I have been trying to find Bob some "too cool" roads to drive on and today I succeeded again. I set him off on the D6068 much to Blondie's dislike. However once we got going down the coast towards Cannes we were well rewarded. I am going to let Bob take over and describe his feelings as he was doing the driving. He had to make room for me to stop and take all my oohs and awhhs and make them a reality. We can even see the SEA from our hotel room. It is just so beautiful and it really was worth a lifetime of waiting to come and see it. I am so glad I can share these firsts with my husband of 33 years.

The above are a small sampling of the pictures we stopped for on this road Jan referred to. The following ones are the road, and one last one of a spot on the coastline that we both felt was interesting enough that we walked for a few hundred feet in the rain over a rocky landscape to take some shots of it. The road was awesome, comparable to the one a few days ago when we "went over the mountain", as it were, that I described in an earlier post. Ever since we took the train from Paris to Saar Brucken, I have been trying to drive alongside the tracks as a "fast train" whizzed by. Well, today, we were stopped for Jan to take a few pictures and all of a sudden, there goes a train, and I missed it 'cause we were stopped. Then, just as we started up again, another one went by the opposite way. Oh well, maybe before we drop the car off, I'll get my wish.

May 11, 2008

2008-05-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

We had planned a two day stay in Nimes as there were a number of interesting sites around this area, so today we left early and went in a big triangle, sort of, around Nimes. We started off with the ruins at Montmajour, but when we arrived, we felt that their entry fee was a little steep for what we expected to see. I took some pictures from outside, and we carried on.

Our next stop was the Chateau des Baux, built on the cliffs above the Provence valley. It was quite a magnificent sight, and we spent over three hours wandering around. We met a couple from Edmonton, who were over visiting relatives in Normandy, and decided to take a side trip??? of a few days to visit in the south. We saw a demonstration of the dreaded Trebucher. It was incredible to watch how far it can shoot a water bomb, but it takes about 1/2 hour to reload. The audioguide we had, explained that in the medieval times, it actually took about 2 hours to reload! I'm guessing they could do some serious damage when they used large rocks rather than water filled plastic balls.

The view from on top was magnificent. The Provence valley was spread out below us, with the patchwork of Olive trees and vineyards. It's easy to imagine the difficulty aggressors would have in attacking this mountaintop chateau. It was interesting to see how the people of that time managed to incorporate their buildings into the rock face of the mountain. We could see the walls clearly in a number of spots and the rooms they cut out of the rock, although primitive for this century, were probably quite posh for back then.

Next we headed northward to Avignon, but by this time it was mid-afternoon, and the crowds were quite thick. Also the clouds rolled in and it started raining. We saw some beautiful countryside, and of course, many fine buildings, but we didn't feel like wandering through any more.

We did make a point to find this one bridge, actually an aqueduct, that Jan saw in a book, or National Geographic, or something. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the place was crawling with cars, busses and bikes, and no parking anywhere, except the lot....at 5.oo Euro! So after driving around for a while, I dropped Jan off at the closest place to the entrance and told her I'd be back to pick her up, after she took a few pictures. On my way back out, I found a parking spot on the sidewalk, when another car pulled out just as I got there. So I walked back to find Jan, and found out that they wanted 9.00 Euro more just for going to see the aqueduct, and 3.00 Euro to use the toilet! For two of us that would have been 24.00 Euro, plus the 5 for parking, and the next available tour didn't start for another 1/2 hour.. Needless to say, we left. As we were driving back to Nimes, we saw more signs for the aqueduct, on the other side of the river, and naively, we thought we would just go and take a quick picture....well, not likely, that side of the river was just as built up and commercialized as the first. We couldn't even get a glimpse of it without paying to get in. hehehehehe

So it was back on the road, and back to the hotel. We're resting up for tomorrow, when we should be heading towards Cannes, or Monaco....not sure how far we can actually get. I did see some nice bikes today, and wanted to share a couple of pictures. I'll have many more when we return, We're up to 3369 pictures so far!

I especially liked the colors on the last one!!! You sure wouldn't miss that bike in a crowd of bikes!!

May 10, 2008

2008-05-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

We actually saw the Mediterranean this afternoon! I have pictures to prove it. We also saw flamingos in the water near the road, and palm trees appear to be everywhere. The countryside has sure changed over the last couple of days. Now we're seeing adobe-type houses, with tile roofs. They remind us of Spanish villages.

There are lots of vineyards in this area, and where we travelled today. However they sure look different than those in the Okanagan. Most of the ones we saw today, looked like they had just been started; short, and not much foilage yet. And the countryside reminds us of the Cache Creek/Ashcroft area. The roads quite often have trees growing on both sides and overhanging the road, very picturesque.

I was running low on fuel so we were checking the prices as we passed gas stations. There was a variance of !.30 - 1.52 Euro per liter of diesel within about a 10 mile area. That's about $2.42 CDN. Be thankful for our $1.25+ prices.

We ran into a traffic jam today and almost got routed onto a toll road before I turned away, and finally realized that the "Avoid Toll Roads" exeption was unticked on the GPS. We wasted about 45 minutes driving around before blondie figured out where we wanted to go and corrected our route. Then when we finally arrived in Nimes, she took us to a completely incorrect location. We asked to go to "83 Rue de la Republique" and she took us to something like "83 Chemin du Pont Rue de la Republic"??? It took us a while to figure that out as well. We only had a small hotel map with a diagram on it, with no road names or anything. I finally asked blondie to take us to the train station, and from there I drove around in the most likely direction until we found the correct road. Then I turned right, instead of left, and it took us another half hour to return to the same spot, and find the hotel to the left of where I previously turned right.

On top of the narrow roads and many one way streets, there is a four-day celebration here called "Faria" going on this wekend, so some of the roads are closed off to traffic, and pedestrians are walking on the roads everywhere. The room is quite nice but, although we have a tub, there is no stopper. We asked at the desk for one, but were advised that this chain does not normally have tubs. This is a hotel they have taken over and do not provide stoppers in the tub??? Are these French for real? No supper available until 7 pm, no stoppers in the tubs, give me a break!

We went out at about 4 pm to find an information center, and walked through the celebrations mentioned earlier. We ended up buying some Mexican style thingy like a burrito, which was quite good. The information centre, was, true to form, not very informative. For some reason, they tend to bury them in the most out-of-the-way back roads, where it is almost impossible to find, even with a map. Why can't they simply put them on the side of the highway, just outside the city or province, where the tourists would find them most helpful. Or better yet, put them up at the gas stations on the freeway. Most tourists need to stop for gas, and this would be a great place to find information about the area they plan to visit. Oh, and make sure to have multilingual peopel manning them, who know about the surrounding area and its attractions.

We're staying here for two nights to see a few attractions in the area, if we can locate them!

May 9, 2008

2008-05-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Well today we travelled from Brive to Carcassonne. We are getting closer to the Riviera but you wouldn't know it from the weather. It was very cool and cloudy all day. We got here at about 1:30 in the afternoon and tried to check in at our hotel to be informed told that we couldn't do that until after 5PM. In France they don't seem to do anything between 2-5 PM. Well when in France do what the French do. It is very difficult getting used to the laid back way of life.

We had a real experience driving today and I am going to let Bob share his thoughts personally. We came over the Pyrennes to get to Carcassonne and what an experience. First of all, I missed a turn that blondie asked me to make. Sometimes it's really hard to understand what is a road and what is a driveway. Anyway, she rerouted me by again making a sharp turn into a gap in a fence across a set of railway tracks. Then about 5 km down the road, she says keep right, and I was sure this was a driveway, as I had never been asked to go onto a gravel road. Sure enough, it curved up onto the mountain, so I figured I'd made a mistake, and made a U-turn. I went back down and thought I'd drive a bit farther down the road and hope to find the correct turn.

No such luck, I was told to return and go up that same road, so I went a little farther up the hill, and ended up in the yard of an abandoned farm. It's quite possible that the track would eventually have ended up going somewhere, but I was unwilling to take the rental car any further. I thought I'd return to where I made my earlier error, and try again, but she picked up on it right away, and directed me along another route (track, but paved this time) to bisect the road I should have taken earlier.

We now started heading up the mountain, on a quite nice road, with a white line down the middle, so it was a "real" road. We must have travelled for about 25 km UP, almost straight up, with multiple switchbacks as you can see from the GPS that Jan took a picture of to verify where we were. We met a loaded logging truck coming down at one point, and I had visions of it pushing me off the road, it was so narrow. There is virtually no shoulder on the roads over here. As we didn't meet anyone else for the longest time, actually until after I started heading back down, I was worried that if I slipped off the road, we'd disappear, and no one would know where we were. LOL

Finally we started heading down, and now the white line disappeared, and there were numerous piles of decked logs on the sides of the road! Where the heck are we??? All this time it has been pouring rain. We tried taking pictures but we were in the clouds and not very conducive to a clear shot. At one point I was fiddling with the windshield wiper switch, and must have accidentally hit a button, on the stalk, as sometime later I noticed an odd warning picture on the dash, and some German warning. I thought something was wrong with the car, and we're miles from the nearest Renault dealer!

I thought maybe the warning was telling me that my rear window washer tank was out of fluid, or that there was a problem with the fuel, but the gas gauge showed 3/4 of a tank. The car was still performing as well as ever, so I kept on driving, hoping we'd make it to a dealer sometime soon. Eventually we had to turn on to a specific freeway in order to find our hotel, but the road we were on did not have an entrance ramp to it. We tried a number of different roads, that looked likely, but no success. At one point, after blondie tried to take me onto another gravel road that happened to be alongside the freeway, I decided enough was enough. I pulled into some business parking lot, and went in to ask someone for directions. (me, a man??? unheard of!) With my limited comprehension of French and their virtually non-existent understanding of English, I found a guy who drew up a small map for me, which I was able to follow, right to the hotel, just in time to find out they were closed for another 3 hours. (siesta, I guess).

We searched the GPS for the nearest Renault dealer, and after confusing her again, when we came to a road closed for construction, 1 block from our destination, we finally arrived at the dealer. Of course they didn't speak English, or German, so we had an interesting time trying to tell them our problem with the car. One guy suggested that they reprogram the dash warnings to come up in English, which seemed perfectly sensible to me, but then another guy reached into the car, and touched something on the steering wheel, and voila! the warning went away! I asked him dumbfounded what he'd done, and he managed to explain, in French mind you, what he'd done, and I actually understood. I guess while coming down the mountain, as I was trying to maneuver around the corners, and play with my windshield wipers, I inadvertently touched a button that worked the computer on the car, so it simply switched the display to show me the fuel consumption km/l. As soon as he touched the button again, it reverted back to the readout I was familiar with. I drove all week not realizing that the car even had a computer. Too bad they didn't explain the workings of the car completely to me when I picked it up in Germany.

Oh, and while I was attempting to explain my problem to the dealer, I told them I picked the car up in Germany, was driving around Europe, and returning it to Germany. They advised me I couldn't do that! I said what do you mean? I've been doing it for a week. I guess his understanding of English wasn't as good as he thought it was.

So we're here for a night and then on to Nimes for two. This hotel that we're trying is really roughing it, The bathroom looks like a porta pottie stuck in a corner, there's no rug on the floor, and the bed is a metal frame, sort of like the ones I used while in the armed forces years ago. But the price is half of what we've been paying for the past week. And they have free wireless internet. Oh well, what's the big deal about a rug anyway?

May 8, 2008

2008-05-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

Not too much to report today. Last night, we had trouble finding our hotel, so we went to another one in the same chain, and got directions. Following them, we turned onto this freeway, for no more than 2 kms, then when we pulled off came upon a toll booth and had to pay .90 Euro, to exit the freeway. It's an unbelievable society over here.

We started this morning by looking for some books on different hotel chains, then checking out some of the French Chateaus in the Loire valley, however, we found that the entrance fees to these were astronomical. I guess we were spoiled in Great Britain with our Heritage passes, allowing us to go through most of their castles and museums, for free. We found in France so far, the cheapest entrance fee has been 9.00 EURO each, which works out to about $29.00 CDN for the two of us. Add a few of those up and it can eat into our trip costs quite dramatically. So we took some pictures in one little village, but when we went on to the next one, and found it was as much or more, we decided to press on south.

We let blondie lead us, and again she took us through some wonderful country, with great scenery and narrow empty roads. It's uncanny how I can be driving along a nothing road in a tiny village, turn onto another narrow, nothing road, which turns into a track as I exit town, but does connect with another road somewhere further on. I cannot figure out how she knows how all these "roads" interconnect. Anyway, tonight we're staying at a little place called Brive-La-Gaillarde somewhere south of Limoges. It's a nice little place but neither one of us is impressed with it. The city is not nearly as "quaint" as some of the others we've seen.

We have a good WIFI connection right in the hotel tonight, so we are catching up on all of our internet stuff. The last couple of days, we have had to resort to North American food, by utilizing MacDonald's' and using their free Internet connections. We went ahead and booked the next three nights accommodations in Carcassonne, and Nimes. We're getting closer to the Riviera! We found a lot of the hotels in Nimes were full, so Jan thought we should check when the Cannes Film Festival was taking place this year. Wouldn't you know it....next week. No wonder all the hotels are booked up!

Hopefully the next few days will be more exciting, and picturesque. TTFN (that's "tata for now" for those unfamiliar with computer shorthand)

May 6, 2008

2008-05-07T03:03:00.001-07:00

We're posting this on Wednesday from another MacDonalds as we had no internet connection last night in Mont St Michel. I took some pictures in Dieppe which I'm posting here as I couldn't get them in before. It was an awesome sight to see!

We had a tremendous trip from Dieppe, through Normandy to our final stop at Mont St Michel. We actually had to turn off our GPS for a time, as we had it programmed to ignore toll roads, and we didn't realize that the bridgees at La Havre were toll bridges. We kept driving by the same spot in the road, and seeing this huge bridge, but blondie continually took us away from it. Finally, I just started following the signs and the trucks toward the bridge, and realized why when we arrived and saw the toll gates. Fortunately, it appeared the attendants were all on strike or something as they were waving everyone through!

Before all this though, we had driven throughout Normandy on a number of back roads, not even sure I would call them roads, more like wide footpaths, but they were all paved. It is uncanny how you can drive along on a paved road, not see anything, but fields of grass, and trees all around, and all of a sudden you can turn onto another paved road, that appears out of the grass, or suddenly meet a vehicle. We had a late breakfast in a little town called Cuny and had some excitement when there was either a car accident or a car fire, which blocked the main street (only street) in town, and brought all the inhabitants and shopkeepers out onto the street to watch the firemen do their thing.

Mont St Michel is an awesome sight when you first see it. About 30 km away we saw it rising out of the sea, and it seemed like it was just around the corner, but it took us another 1/2 hour to get to it. There is a llong causeway from the town to the Abbey, and as shown in the pictures, when we got there, the tide was out, and cars and busses were parked in parking lots on either side of this causeway, which next morning, were all under water, when we went to visit. The site is something to behold! Lots of steps and narrow passages, filled with souvenir shops, hotels, and restaurants/bars, all below the abbey.

The one unique thing we found was that the town closes up somewhat differently than we're used to. We arrived at 3 pm yesterday, and couldn't find a restaurant open. We could go in and drink but no food available, until 7 pm. Today after visiting the abbey, we're off to the Loire valley to visit the chateaus that are supposedly there, so Rick Steeves says.

May 5, 2008

2008-05-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well here we are from Dieppe. We left Brugge this morning and it was already beautiful and sunny. It got to 22C today and when we got to Dieppe at about 3:30 it was wonderful to get out and walk on the beach some.

I was trying to think what it would have been like all those years ago when Canadian Soldiers landed here and came ashore to fight for someone else's freedoms. It is very sobering when you think about it.

We came through De Panne Belgium and just had to stop and get some freshly made chocolates. It is very definitely very good chocolate. Now we were ready to go back into France again. We left Dunkerque, then Calais and the traffic was very busy because of the ports at both places so we continued on to some smaller places just inland from the ocean. One of the places was a neat little place called Nieuwport (sp) and our Blonde co-driver found us some really small tracks to follow.

Unfortunately the first two were closed for construction, and the third one ended up being a private residential road which had a questionable road sign on it that I was loathe to try. I didn't want to get a ticket. On one of the ones closed for construction, I had to back up a gravel path for about 200 feet before I could turn around LOL. There was a local guy sitting in front of his house right where I turned around and he laughed at our predicament. This all came about as Jan was tired of flying down the freeway at 100+ and wanted to try some quieter, more picturesque scenery, so I programmed the GPS not to use Highways on our trip for a while.

We travelled through some really nice country, saw lots of beautiful landscapes, small villages, well looked after farms, and hardly any traffic. We're spending the night in Dieppe, and hope to see the Canadian memorial here, before we leave, if we can find it, then on to Ste Michel farther down the coast.

May 4, 2008

2008-05-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Today dawned sunny and clear, a beautiful day. We had breakfast in the hotel and then headed south, after checking with the desk clerk to verify where on the map we were, as the town didn't appear on our map. It was a good thing as it turned out we were farther south than we had expected. We got on the freeway and travelled to Rotterdam, which we found quite unimpressive, in spite of the large harbour, and many new buildings. We were both expecting old construction, but realized as we were driving around that this city must have been destroyed during the war, and so all the buildings were relatively new.

We pushed on toward Antwerp, and saw a number of "windmills", although most were of the modern kind. We actually drove along the coast for a bit and saw the ocean and locks to let ships in and out of the canals.

For a while we drove alongside the train tracks (many tracks) and I wanted a fast train to come along and pass me at 300+ km/hr, but no such luck today! We finally arrived in Antwerp and managed to locate a parking spot on the sidewalk. We wandered around a bit, saw an interesting church, and a crowded square, where we had lunch.

I'm finding it increasingly frustrating over here, not having places to park. Most of the city centers seem to have a pedestrian only section, where cars aren't allowed, however, there are no signs advising people where to park while in there. It must be well known to the locals, but for tourists, who can't find a tourist information centre and can't read or speak the language, it is nearly impossible. We carried on to Brussels where we didn't really have an attraction to see, we just wanted to say we'd been there. LOL We then asked the GPS to find us another place to visit, and after winding through the narrow, crowded streets, we ended up at the train station?? We decided once again, that it wasn't worth our time to fight the crowds especially when we couldn't park anywhere again, so we pushed on toward Gent. Blondie put me into this tunnel that seemed to go on forever, and ever, probably 2 miles, if not more, and we actually lost sattelite reception, but when we emerged into bright sunshine, we were exactly where she wanted us.

When we arrived in Gent, we tried to visit the Grand Palace, and actually managed to get into the "parking" area, but could not find a spot. People in front of and behind us were getting spots, but I was just getting more and more frustrated. I'd much rather drive than park anyway. There was nothing else of interest to us, so we drove to Brugge. Now the fun started. We pulled off the freeway and followed her directions. At one point we were stopped behind a few cars, and I noticed that the bridge ahead of us was opening. We had arrived at a canal, and the boats were lined up just like cars at an intersection. We must have waited 15 minutes while boat after boat passed by, then they started going from the other direction....I thought we were stuck for good.

We got within 350 meters of the hotel, where the road was closed. There was some kind of "run" going on which happened to cross the road we had to go down, and no matter how I tried to go around I just couldn't get through. We finally went right around the town and came in from the other side, where we found some kind of carnival going on. After driving through this maze of streets filled with people and rides, we were sent back to where we originally started, and by this time, the road was finally open and we were able to go the extra 350 meters to get to the hotel. What a zoo. After checking in, we went out for a walk around the town, took some nice pictures, and had pizza at Pizza Hut, which we found to be the cheapest. Meals here seem to start at around 30.00 Euro, per person!!!

Tomorrow we're back to France if all goes according to plan. We hope to drive down the west coast visiting, Dieppe, Dunkirk, Calais, Normandy, and Ste Michel, if the tide is right.

May 3, 2008

2008-05-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

This morning, we thought we'd grab a MacDonald's breakfast downstairs, however, they weren't open yet. Darn, I was soooo looking forward to an egg mcmuffin... NOT! Since it was closed we got on the road, figuring we'd find something along the way. Sure enough, not 15 min later, as we were driving down the freeway, we saw a service center coming up. We pulled off and found a really nice restaurant over top of the freeway! We also found a better road map for Jan to use, as the one we'd bought in Canada was big and had to be folded/unfolded constantly. Not really recommended for car use. The new one is much more easy to use, with page references, and everything.

We headed north through Belgium, into Germany for a while, and eventually into Holland. As you can see, I only got up to half the speed of the train! hahaha. I love driving on the roads over here, cruising at 130 and not even feeling like I'm moving, however, I constantly have to be watching my mirrors for the next Mercedes, BMW, or Porche, catching me like I was standing still (at 130???). The freeways criss-cross each other all over the place, some 2 lanes wide, while others can be 6 wide. We've seen windmills, and canals, and old churches.

We stopped in Enschede, and wandered around the center of town for a while, even going to a mall. There is a really neat pedestrian only area, that is wall to wall restaurants/pubs. There are bicycles everywhere. In Holland they even have special lights for bicycles also, not just cars and pedestrians.

We got to Amsterdam, in the afternoon, and blondie took us over a circuitous route right to a hotel, on a canal, where we found a parking spot right outside the front door! We went in to see if they had a room for the night. Sure enough, they did, with internet. The price, however, put us off. $285, Euro for the night! We mentioned Rick Steeves, and they knocked it down to 260 Euro, plus 32 Euro for parking until noon the next day, and Internet for 8 Euro. OUCH! That's close to $480.00 CDN. We decided that we could stay for 4 or 5 nights, at cheaper locations, so we thanked them very much and left, moments before the traffic warden came by to give us a ticket. The crowds and bikes everywhere were, pretty thick, and the lack of space, especially for parking, really puts the crimp in a tourist's plans. The guy at the hotel we turned down, said we could park out of town and take a tram in, but that would have been something like 7.50 Euro plus 5 to 10 Euro each for the tram, so we felt we'd just take some pictures as we left Amsterdam, and we'll see more of Holland tomorrow.

Earlier in the day we'd seen some hotels along the freeway, so felt we could continue on and find another one. We headed off toward Bruges, and did find another nice one, in a place called Meerkerk. It was a nice restaurant/bar and a cafeteria/buffet as well. We turned down their offer of breakfast at 12.50 Euro, each and will probably do like today, in the morning. The canals in Amsterdam were nice, but once you've seen a canal, or 20, what's the big deal?

May 2, 2008

2008-05-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

This morning, we awoke bright and early, ready for our trip to Germany to pick up our car and continue on our journey. We were hoping that no problems would come up with my lost license. At 7:15 am, Maria, the caretaker, finally arrived. I asked her to call us a taxi to take us to the train station, as our transit passes had expired and we thought it would be easier to load the luggage once rather than carrying it up and down stairs and fighting the crowd in the metro. Of course the driver didn't speak any English, and ended up charging us extra for the "extra" bags we had, although he didn't do any lifting due to a bad back. He pointed to a small sign on one of the windows of the cab indicating the extra charge of 1 Euro per bag. I hoped this wasn't to be a sign of things to come. LOL

We arrived at the train station about an hour before our train was due to depart, so we grabbed a juice and roll (coffee for Jan), then went out to the platform to wait. As we waited we again saw armed soldiers walking around. It sure is disconcerting seeing them, unlike at home. We were finally allowed to board the train, and settled down for the trip. This time, I was able to put our luggage close by, so it would be easier to move off at the stop at our destination, as the train would only be stopping for 2 minutes. What an exhilarating ride! As we started moving faster and faster, we noticed a couple of guys with a huge movie camera coming down the aisle. As our seats were right at the doorway, we were close enough to see what they were doing. There was a small TV screen in the doorway, showing the speed of the train, and they were apparently trying to verify how fast the train was moving. It sure seemed fast to me, but I was surprised to see how really fast it was. I just had to go and take a picture of it, but by then we'd slowed a bit. I actually saw almost 10km higher than I was able to get.

At SaarBrucken we had a fair hike to get off the platform and find the car rental location, which was in the station, however, it was outside and along the front of the station. True to form, the agent spoke very limited English, which may or may not have been a blessing. He took all the information, and processed the rental, without blinking at the copy of my license. Praise the Lord! We got a very nice Renault Scenic, which looks like a squashed mini van. It is slightly bigger than the Vauxhall we had in England, is Diesel-powered, very quiet, smooth, and comes with a built-in GPS, but we like Blondie, better and so the two of them will be fighting each other. ha ha. I unfortunately made a discovery later on in the afternoon, that the doors don't remain locked when I leave the car. This is a MAJOR problem, and we'll have to do something about it asap. Hopefully, I can find another rental location nearby and stop in to ask them what to do. Jan couldn't believe me about the doors, so she wanted to try them out. Sure enough the doors were locked, but as soon as I approached the car, the doors automatically unlocked. So we tried again. I locked the car, gave Jan the keys, then I tried to open the doors. nada, nothing, locked tight. Sooooo we deduced that the proximity of the key actually unlocked the doors, without pushing the button. What a relief.

The drive northwest along the German-French border, was pleasant. We stopped for some lunch just after entering Luxembourg, at a small place called DudeLange, then carried on to Luxembourg. Again I'm not impressed with the signage. Fortunately, the GPS is very good, but even when we reach a spot she says is the destination, we have trouble seeing/finding it. We saw some of the sights in the center of town, but couldn't find proper parking, and had trouble with the crowds, so we pushed on towards Liege, where we thougth we'd stay the night. We finally located an information station, in the middle of nowhere in a narrow little lane, where Jan was able to get some info on B&B's and hotels in town. We tried a few of the B&B's but were unimpressed with the places or locations. After driving around for a bit, we finally located a reasonably priced hotel in the downtown area, which had parking available underground. It was a nice clean hotel, and the room is no worse and no better than a lot of our Travelodge accommodations in England. So not too bad for our first day in Europe.

We were able to get a few nice pictures. In Luxembourg we took some awesome pictures of their Notre-Dame and the Place du Confederation and a couple of palaces.

It is a very pretty little country. Then our next stop was Liege, Belgium. We are not sure exactly what language they speak here but it seems to be a mixture of French and Flemish. The pictures we have gotten were from the hill top overlooking the valley of Liege. We found this spot while looking for a Bed and Breakfast we never found. It was a good day and I hope tomorrow we will be able to find a tourist Information centre that is for more than just a small area. The tourist info we found today, only had info on The Province of Liege and not on Belgium. Well today we are off to the Netherlands and then we will be heading south again. BFN

May 1, 2008

2008-05-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

Happy May day one and all! Today we went up to the supposed highest point in Paris, except for the tower, in the Montmarte district, to see a church called the Sacre-Couer. It was an interesting trip, as after waiting for the third carload of people on the Funicular train, we arrived at the top, and beheld the view of Paris spread out below us. The church was crowded, and again, the visitors moved around the outside
while people were praying in the middle. There was a church service about to begin, however, we finished our tour before it started. It was another opulent building, not quite as gold-filled as some others we've seen, but equally as mercantile. There was a gift shop in the church and numerous areas where you could light different sized candles to offer up prayers, for different prices. I'm not sure if you pay more for a bigger candle, God hears you better, or quicker.

On the front steps of the church there was a mime, similar to ones we saw in England, who the crowd seemed pretty taken with. Each time someone made a donation to his collection cup, he made strange faces, and kissed hands etc. It was pretty funny. We then headed back down via train to the bottom of the hill, where an even bigger crowd was waiting, and did some souvenir shopping, before catching another subway to go to the Arc de Triumph again. We walked down the opposite side of the Champs Elysses from where we walked a couple of days ago. Jan wanted to check out a shop called "Sephora" which is filled with perfumes, arranged alphabetically from Armani to Versace. Unfortunately it closed at noon for some reason, and we got there at 12:15! Oh well. We found a spot to have something to eat, then as it was getting quite windy, and cool, and looked very threatening for rain, we returned home to pack, and relax for our trip tomorrow.

After we leave Paris, we don't know where we'll be each night, so the daily blogs may not happen as regularly, unless we find B&B's that have internet access. If not we'll have to hunt for internet cafe's and download files from my memory stick.

April 30

2008-04-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

We had a rather lazy day today, washing our clothes, and getting ready for the next leg of our trip to Germany on Friday, to continue our holidays. It was raining fairly hard for a while this morning, so we didn't go out until after noon. We visited a street famous for it's street market called the Rue Clerc, to see what it was like, and had a bite to eat, at a slightly more reasonable cost, than previous days.

We then walked to the Eiffel Tower again and it was much less crowded today but there were a lot of army personnel in full garb around so not sure what was going on. On Saturday the first day we went to the Eiffel Tower we didn't see any army just a few police. If anyone knows what was going on let us know; we can't tell because we don't understand the news broadcasts.

From the Tower we crossed the bridge over the Seine to get to the famous Trocadero. This building was finished for the 1937 World's Fair that was held in Paris. The Eiffel Tower was for the 1866 Fair I believe. We walked down the river on the West side on the Aveneue de New York.

These townhouses date back to 1850-60. The very wealthy lived in this area which is also very close to the Champs de Elysses which is where the rich of that day went to be seen, not much different from today.:-)

It was very windy and the rain was coming off and on, so we found our way back to the trusty subway service and headed back to the apartment. We stopped on the way to pick up some groceries and I made us Toasted Ham, Cheese and Tomato Sandwiches with a Canadian type salad. Tomorrow night for our last night in Paris I am going to make Bob a special dinner. We have been able to see the main things we wanted to in Paris and keep smiling even though we had misfortune the first day here.

April 29

2008-04-29T10:19:00.001-07:00

Well this morning we awoke to more rain. This can't keep good Canadian Stock down. We had planned to go to Versailles and that is what we did. Once we got to the correct metro to get to the "C" Train it was a snap. We arrived at Versailles right at noon so we went into a McDonald's and got a couple of burgers and fries for 11.90 Euros. The clock in the flower garden is just across the street from McD's.

Now we had to find where the Palace of Versailles was. No easy trick. The signage leaves a lot to be desired. Finally we got to the gates and the line ups were horrendous. Thank goodness we only had to stand in one line-up because we already had our tickets. The line-up was to go through X-Ray machines for security. I am sure we could put one of the treasures in our bags. :-)

Next we had to deal with the hordes of people inside. It was incredible to see but not totally what I expected. Most of the castles we saw in England were lived in but so far the Palaces in France are just museums. It's a totally different feeling when you go through them.

The paintings on the ceilings were fabulous and the opulence of the Kings of that time is very obvious (the Hall of mirrors). However the beauty is undeniable. The gardens were beautiful from what we could see but we didn't go through them because it was pouring by this time. We had to buy an umbrella to get home it was raining so bad.

Back in Paris we went down to the Latin Quarter which we both really like and had supper. One of the streets we passed was so narrow I could touch both sides of the walls. We had a glass of wine at this restaurant the first day, the service was good so today we went back for a meal and the meal was very good. I am really enjoying the Quiche Lorrainre. I have had it 3X Bob had roast chicken and fries. It costs 3.50 Euros for a wine but for a coke or 7-up you pay almost 6 Euro's.

For those of you reading our blog, we'd appreciate comments on what you think of it. You can add comments right to the blog and we (along with anyone else) will be able to read it. Just a thought. We've heard some very positive comments via email, but also some complete strangers have responded (one from Brazil, I believe). So we bid you adieu (good French huh?) for another night from Paris.

April 28

2008-04-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well here we are again. The day started a bit differently than most others so far. Bob went out early to shop for some milk and crackers. He arrived at the store a little early and had to wait about 15 min before he was able to get in. He was the second customer at the till, and only had a 50 Euro bill. He cleaned out all the change the teller had :-(

After breakfast we started at the Arc de Triumph and walked down the Champs-Elysees, where all the expensive shops are located (sort of like Rodeo drive in LA). We saw prices like 24 Euro for a hamburger, and 4800 Euro for a watch! (The current exchange is about 1 Euro=1.60 Cdn$) We had lunch at the Cafe de Roma a fancy name for a Pizza Joint (lol), sitting outside on the sidewalk, watching the traffic speed by, really, motor scooters weaving between the cars and busses at an unheard of speed, well for city traffic in North America!

We then walked onward to the Place de la Concorde and the Grande Palais and the Petit Palais (they are right across from each other).

We got some beautiful pictures of the Egyptian Obelisk and the Tuileries Gardens designed and built in the 17-18 centuries. They are quite something to behold what with the different trees and the statues etc. They run for 1 km. between the Place de Concorde and the Place de Carrousel. The Place de Carrousel is the original gate into the Tuileries Palais that was destroyed by the peasant rabble during the French Revolution when King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette lost their heads.

From there it is about another kilometre to the entrance to the Louvre. We were a bit disappointed with the layout of the Louvre. Not only is it extremely overcrowded, everything is in French only (go figure, we're in Paris after all). There are too many stairs up and down all over the place and it is quite difficult to navigate to the different displays. We got a few good pictures, and the entrance fee was free with our museum pass, but all in all, we weren't (at least I wasn't) impressed.

It had rained some while we were inside, but had stopped when we left, so we decided to go back to the Latin Quarter, for supper. Instead, we stopped at Lafayette street, but found the prices at the restaurants there quite expensive, and then the rain started again, so we changed our minds. and headed back towards home, and eventually found a little pub around the corner from the apartment, where we had a nice supper.

Tomorrow we're off to Versailles.

April 26

2008-04-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

Well Hello from Paris: Had a great day in Paris today after the junk that happened yesterday. We were able to get all Bob's card cancelled and no extra charges have so far turned up on them. Also we still have to deal with his driving license, care cards, and blue cross when we get home. All in all it is taken care of.

We started the morning later which is nice because we could get up and relax and not have to rush on to the next stop. We are getting the hang of the subways and went to the Islands of the Seine this morning to see the Sites there. First of all we sat down and had lunch as it was getting onto 2:00 PM. After lunch we went into the Palais du Justice and found a beautiful little chapel called the Sainte-Chappel. It is incredible but you have to put everything through an x-ray and go through a body search yourself to get in. I guess the saying "it only takes a few bad people , to ruin it for the many" is absolutely displayed here. It was very small compared to others we've seen but really magnifique.

Then down the road to the Nortre-Dame of St, Michael. Here the other thing that blew our minds was that in the afternoon there was a service going inside the sanctuary while tour groups and visitors were wandering about, taking pictures and talking. There was even a 'gift' shop in operation, right in the sanctuary doing business. I can't believe they didn't shut the visiting down for the 1 hour service. I guess the money would be worth too great a loss. I thought back to Jesus being upset with money changers etc in the temple. I asked myself "What would He think of this"?

From here we crossed the Seine on a foot bridge and magically arrived in the Latin Quarter Shopping area. I will go back before I leave as the souvenirs are still expensive but cheaper than other areas. We then caught the subway 3 stops to get to the Louvre and spent about 1 hour taking pictures as we were to late in the day to go in and explore. There is One Bigger Pyramid surrounded by 3 smaller ones. Looks like the waterfalls have been turned off but it was still gorgeous.

The museum takes in all the buildings around the huge square which was at one time the Palais du Louvre. We will go back on Wednesday as they stay open longer in the evening. Tomorrow we are off to see the "Palais of Versailles" it is about a 35 minute drive on a train and you apparently can spend the whole day there looking at things. Going to take some garden pictures tomorrow as a lot of people say that the French Gardens are very different from the English ones. We'll see.

At lunch today we had French Onion soups and then a bagette with ham, tomatoes, egg, cheese etc. I am having a hard time chewing the crusty bread even though it is very good. Bob said that he can't wait to get home to ordering and knowing what you will get. He ordered a Chicken Caesar and it had the ingredients in a way but didn't quite come out the same.

All in all it was a grand day and the weather was excellent. I will let Bob put in the pictures so that we can get this posted tonight because tomorrow is a very big day also.

April 25

2008-04-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

We had an early morning wake-up today, 5:30 to be exact, as we had to catch the Eurostar train to Paris, at 7:25. Our taxi arrived at 6:30 and we were off to the station. No traffic this morning, unlike last night when I returned from dropping the rental car off, so it took us no time at all to arrive. We walked in, and following the signs went to the correct floor for the "chunnel" train. Once our tickets were processed, we had to go through customs, where a very nice customs officer promptly broke the handle on one of our suitcases. I should have recognized the signs and protected myself better!

We had only a 10 minute warning for the arrival of the train from London, before we were allowed onto the platform, and only 1 lift. By the time we walked all the way to the very end of the platform where the door for car #1 would end up, the train was pulling up to the "gate". I was told there would be a luggage rack for larger items just inside the door, however, this was completely full. I had to leave my bacgs stacked in front of the door. Wonderful! When Jan got to our reserved seats, she found another couple sitting there, who had to then move. By this time the train was already moving out. And wow, does this train ever "move out"!!!

In 10 minutes, we were entering the tunnel, and approximately 17 minutes after that were pulling out onto French soil. A nice smooth ride, and you can actually feel the power of the engine. No idea how fast we were movin, but later on we were alongside a freeway and were passing traffic like it was standing still! We arrived at Paris in 2 hours, and after getting our luggage off the train, we were facing the daunting task of trying to make ourselves understood. I was supposed to phone the caretaker of the suite we have rented, but my phone again would not work. Funny how that happens over here.

The directions I had to get here were very explicit, so we were able to find the apartment, without too much trouble, but I was told that the house number would be 11, whereas we found the address as 11-15, and across the street the numbers were in the 20's already. A strange way of numbering, to say the least. I finally was able to contact the caretaker, and advise her we had arrived at the apartment and were waiting out front, not at the train station. So after another 1/2 hour of standing around, waiting, she finally showed up and let us in. She advised us that the cleaning lady would be coming my at 2:30 to clean the apartment after the last tenants, and would prefer us not to be here. So at 1:30, we left and explored our area. We walked about a mile I'm guessing, and found a nice restaurant, where the waitress spoke a bit of English to tell us exactly what the items were on the menu. We ordered 2 glasses of "white wine" and a seven up. We received 2 "red wine" and a Schweppes water. If you can believe this, the water was more expensive than the wine! After eating, we walked back to the apartment, shopping for groceries along the way, and arrived back at about 2:30, thinking, surely an hour would be enough to do what needs to be done.

Not so, as a few minutes later, a lady showed up , and speaking no English, while I spoke no French, she made it clear she was here to do the cleaning! Eventually, she went and got the caretaker, who advised us that she had said 3:30, not 2:30 for the cleaning, and could we go away for a while. So what could we do? We left and decided we'd go see the Eiffel tower. It was relatively easy to do, once we found the entrance to the Metro station around the corner (it was different than the escalator we had taken a few hours earlier when we arrived), and off we went, with one change of trains. If you know the station you want it's really easy as all the cars have multiple route maps, so you just need to know which direction to go and what station to get off at. I couldn't believe the wheels on one of our trains, so I just had to take a picture. Imagine rubber tired subway trains!!!

Here we are having dinner near the tower and next to the metro line. The waiter kindly took our photo. And I forgot about this other picture. Jan had me take it on our arrival at the train station earlier this morning. It was only the first of many such sights we've seen so far!

This is about when I found out my wallet was gone! I don't know how, I don't know when. It was with me at the restaurant at lunchtime, 'cause I used my card to pay, but when I went to pay for dionner....gone! fortunately, all my money was in my other pocket, so all that was in the wallet, were my credit cards and driver's licence. I sure hope when we go to rent our car in Germany later this week, they'll accept my International licence and a copy of my BCDL, which we had taken the trouble to make before we left Kelowna.

So the first duty was to cancel all my cards, which is easier said than done. The phone wouldn't work AGAIN! I had to go online to figure out the codes to use to call North America. I just managed to get through to MC when the phone beeped and I was advised I needed to 'top-up' my phone as I only had a minute left.

This is really starting to sound like a Soap Opera! It's a free call back to England for the sim card carrier, but in order to get a customer service clerk to "register" the phone before actually adding time to it, cost 60 pence. No problem, I have just enough, take that charge add the time, and I'm set....noooo, they need to know the phone number, which was on a card in, you guessed it, my wallet. No problem, take out the sim card, get the serial number off it, and they can use that, only, to do that I lose my connection, and have to call back. Another 60 pence charge, but now the phone has no time left, and because all the info I needed was on the lost card, I was told to call another number where they could help me, with only the sim card serial number available. At this point either it was past the time they were open (after 8:00 pm) or my phone was out of time, take your pick, but I couldn't make any more calls. Well not true exactly, I was able to call the caretaker lady and explain to her my problem, sort of, before the phone cut out. I neglected to mention, that there is no phone in the apartment, and hence no phone book. So I couldn't even search for a number or address for the "Orange" dealer nearest here.

A few minutes later I get a knock on the door, and it's a lady who doesn't speak English, but hands me a cell phone, to talk to the caretaker, who tries to figure out how to help me. I explained what my problem was, and that I needed to top-up my minutes. She said no problem, go with this lady and she will take you to the nearest dealer (at 8:30 pm???). Now understand, she speaks no English, I speak minimal French. I can say "Do you speak English" quite well, in French, and please and thank you. Anyway we go out, and she tries a few places that are either already closed or don't handle what I need. Finally at the 4th place we hit paydirt, sort of. I gathered from the conversation that it was not going well, so I asked the clerk if he spoke English, and he did, along with another customer, who showed me where I'd have to go on Sunday to get the phone looked after. While we were talking they mentioned a phone card (something which was also in my lost wallet) that I could use to make calls. It had a 100 minutes of free calling anywhere in the world for 7.50 Euros. I thought this is better that nothing, and I don't want to wait until Sunday to cancel my cards. I even got a deal as the clerk sold it to me for 6.00 Euros

I can use this at any phone booth, so I returned to the apartment, jotted down all the numbers for the cards, and phone numbers (from Jan's cards, and my other records, and made my calls to the card companies. At least I can rest easier now knowing that my cards, are protected. I 'm still a little concerned about the Driver's licence, but everything else is replaceable and of no real value. All in all, we had an exciting first day in Paris!

Hopefully the next 5 weeks will be a little less hectic. I don't think my heart can take any more! bye for now.

2008-04-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

If nothing else, today was interesting. Last night, we packed up a box of booklets and souvenirs into a box, and this morning we tried to find a post office. We felt there was no point in carrying all that paperwork as extra weight on the plane, in addition to lugging it around for another 5 weeks! Well, we soon changed our plans. The post office wanted to charge us over $130.00 to send the box back "surface" mail, and I'd already paid to purchase the books!!! Not much chance of that. So tonight, we've repacked our suitcases, and hopefully when we get to the airport in 5 weeks, the weight won't be too great.

I knew I should have packed lighter and brought another bag! When will I learn?

We arrived at our hotel in Ashford, just after 3:00 pm, then I drove the car to the rental place in Canterbury, took a train back to Ashford, and caught a taxi to the hotel. Tomorrow morning, we'll get a taxi to pick us up at 6:30 am to get to the train station for our 7:25 am ride to Paris! Here's hoping all goes well and we arrive safe and sound.

April 24

2008-04-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well, we're getting closer to the end of the England portion of our holiday. 2 more nights then we board the Eurostar train in Ashford for the 3 hour trip to Paris under the English channel.

We left Nottingham in a pouring rainstorm this morning, but, eventually, ran out of it, except for off and on rain/hail throughout the day. We saw a 12th C Almshouse which was quite interesting although it was much different than anything else we've seen in the past three weeks.

We also saw a triangular house! It had three sides, three floors, three windows per side, etc. Now that was different!

These are actually pictures of a couple of postcards I saw at the shop, as they're better than the ones I took on a dreary day! We went to Rockingham (where the race course is) but the house we were going to see was one without a roof, and it was pouring rain at the time, so we just took some long distance photos and moved on.

We've seen some wonderful places in the past three weeks. Hope you have all enjoyed the blogs. If I do say so myself, I've enjoyed writing them probably as much. If I can take 34 more pictures tomorrow, that will make it 2000 in the first three weeks.

April 23

2008-04-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

We're fast running out of things to see, and our time in England is coming to an end. This morning we got up to cloudy skies, and rain forecast. Since we didn't get to see Yorkminster cathedral yesterday, we decided to do that this morning, before we headed south. It was pretty impressive, as was the 275 steps up to the top of the tower! One can only go up on the 1/2 hour as there is not enough room on the spiral staircase to pass another person. After about 50 steps, I had to walk across the bottom of one of the roofs, on a narrow walkway, then start up the second set of stairs. Well the doorway was so narrow, I could barely fit through, and then had another 200+ stairs to climb. If the weather had been clear, I was told, I could have seen about 35 miles. Sadly it was not to be today.

When we finally finished going throughout the cathedral, and got outside, we found that the rain had found us. We headed off to Nottingham, via a few smaller towns. We passed some fields which we could catch glimpses of through the hedges and saw what I thought were pinkish 'cows'. It turned out they were hogs not cows. I just had to stop and take a picture or two of the 'hog farm'.

We passed through Sherwood forest country and finally arrived in Nottingham. Can you imagine a hotel in Canada where you can't drive up to the front door, (which I can't), you'd have our hotel in Nottingham. There is a bus stop in front, and no stopping, there is no parking lot attached, so guests have to park two blocks away at a Marriott hotel parkade, and pay public parking fees. It's not very convenient at all. I mean how does one arrive at a hotel, and not be able to unload luggage?

April 21

2008-04-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

Not much to talk about today. We went into the walled city of York, and wandered around the narrow streets. There are lots of shops and a multitude of people. The streets are super narrow, especially with the way drivers park and/or leave their vehicles all over. Where we were in the city center, the streets are all cobbled stones, and hard to walk/drive on. Drivers park virtually wherever they want, and being a visitor, I'm finding it tough to figure out safe spots, unless they are marked as "disabled" so we can use Jan's disabled badge.

The road signs are almost non-existent when compared to our signs back home. It's hard to tell what lane to be in as you're driving along, since there are only arrows painted on the lanes and once there is a line of cars, it's a toss-up whether the lane you're in is supposed to go straight through or turn. Motorcycles and bicycles drive between any lane of traffic, and even weave between cars in order to get ahead. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, and take their lives in their hands crossing anywhere they want.

Other than these complaints, I'm really enjoying the driving over here, as I've mentioned a few times before. LOL There are roads everywhere, crisscrossing the land, and you can get on a narrow little one lane road in the middle of nowhere, and end up connecting with a 6-lane freeway a short while later!

Tomorrow, we're off southward to Nottingham. Maybe we'll run into Robin Hood, or the sheriff.

April 21

2008-04-22T01:20:00.000-07:00

We're back in England after a long day driving from Edinburgh to York, via Alnwick Castle, and Chesters Roman Fort ruins. We also had to fight with blondie (my pet name for the voice on our GPS). She wanted to take us on the main freeway to York, however, we heard on the radio that there was a traffic tieup along the way, so Jan came up with a different route to bypass it. She was NOT a happy camper, constantly wanting us to return to "her" route. Eventually, blondie was able to re-calculate and realize that this route would also work. LOL

The visit to Alnwick castle was very interesting. It is a 'working' castle, which means the family still lives there, six months out of the year. They seem to be a very down to earth kind of family, if I might use that term, after seeing their "home". I wasn't able to take pictures inside, but here are a few of the outside. How would you like to live here?

While we were in the area, we just had to find and see Hadrian's wall, so we finally tracked down a spot called Chesters Roman Fort, where we saw a piece of the 'actual' wall??? who knows, it could all be a great hoax. Anyway, the ruins were interesting to see. I took lots of pictures, and by then Jan was getting tired of all the walking so we took off for York.

After the earlier mentioned 'fight' with the GPS, we eventually arrived at a very nice B&B, which turned out to be about 200% nicer than the last one we had in Edinburgh. Here, at least, we can put our suitcases down and have room to move around. Tomorrow, we will tour York, and all it has to offer, and maybe rest a bit.

April 20

2008-04-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

We did a lot of walking today in Edinburgh. Started off this morning at the "Queen's Gallery", the Holyrood House, the Queen's residence in Scotland. It was a very interesting tour, and a lot of walking, but no pictures were allowed to be taken inside. The layout of the rooms was extravagant, but nowhere near as plush as what we saw later on.

While on the tour, I somehow realized that I had forgotten my International drivers licence in the room, in my knapsack, so to avoid any problems, we returned to pick it up. Fortunately, at this point, we weren't too far away. We then decided to check out the Royal Yacht Britannia, that has been decommissioned as the official royal yacht, and which is moored at Edinburgh harbour as a tourist attraction. WOW! What a plush boat this was, at least those portions assigned to the royals, anyway. It took us three decks down before we saw anything resembling what I expected a ship to look like.

On February 25th 1994, the Brittania reached 1,000,000 miles, and by 1997 when she was de-commissioned, she had logged enough miles to take her around the world once every year for all her years of service. I've no idea what, if anything, they are going to replace her with, as there has been a royal sailing vessel in the English monarchy since 1660. It was some ship to see. There is an actual shopping mall at the dock where she is moored, with shops and restaurants, all very expensive to cater to the tourist trade. We had a small lunch there at Starbuck's before we headed off to our third destination of the day.

Our next stop was Edinburgh castle. We were able to get a ride through a newly dug (1980's) underground tunnel, so Jan wouldn't have to climb all the way to the top. ( We also got a ride back down at the end of our tour). It was very windy at the top of the mountain, and the display of Scottish honors (their objects of power), and their "Stone of Destiny", was very well done, and interesting. It amazes me how these hilltop fortresses were built so long ago, without modern building machinery. Some of the walls were 3 meters thick!!!

Tomorrow we turn south and head back to England and hopefully, less windy conditions.

April 19(2)

2008-04-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

Here we are again, finally arrived in Edinburgh about 6:30 pm, after touring Stirling castle, late in the afternoon. What with the traffic tie-up I mentioned earlier, plus the 4 sites we visited, we did pretty well. We were sitting in a pub when I wrote my earlier blog today, and it was really bright and sunny, so the computer was hard to see, so I not only made it short, but didn't take the time to add pictures.

Blackpool

Lancaster

Carlisle

Everywhere we went this morning, was extremely windy. On top of Dumbardon castle, which was built on a hill it nearly blew us over. You can't really see from the pictures, but it was so strong, it was hard to take pictures. The view was breathtaking! It was the same from the top of Stirling castle, which is also built on a hill.

So tomorrow we will scour Edinburgh for any interesting sights, and then we're off towards the south, back to England. It's hard to believe we have been on the road already for 16 days. Hope you're all enjoying our travels with us.

April 19

2008-04-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

Hi all. We're in a small village in Scotland called Balloch. Somewhere northwest of Glasgow. We had a nice trip from Liverpool, after stopping at Blackpool, Lancaster castle, and Carlisle castle, we arrived in Glasgow at a very nice B&B hotel (the Newton Inn). We highly recommend it for a nice comfortable well-looked after place to stay. We walked around the corner to a busy campus hangout type street, lots of pubs, nightclubs, and restaurants, and had dinner at a "campus pub". That's what it was called. It seemed to cater almost exclusively to students, except for us old fogies of course.

This morning we had a very nice breakfast in the hotel, and toured a castle just outside of Glasgow, and David Livingston's house. We then headed to Dumbarton to see the castle there, and got stuck in a 5 mile traffic jam on the motorway. With being unfamiliar with the roads, we didn't want to get off the motorway and try a different route. Anyway I need to finish lunch so we can carry on to Stirling Castle, and then Edinborough, for the night. more to come later

April 17

2008-04-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

45 years after the fact, we finally got to visit the birthplace of the Beatles in Liverpool. It was an interesting tour which took us over 2 hours to go through. It was an excellent display, and well worth the time.

Other than the Beatles display, there was not much else in Liverpool we wanted to see, and it was a really windy (although sunny) day so Jan didn't feel up to walking too much. After a bite to eat we headed back to the hotel, and by that time it was already late afternoon.

Tomorrow, we're off to Scotland for 3 days. I may or may not have an internet connection for the next week, so the blog may take a short hiatus.

April 16

2008-04-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

We had a great day today! We drove into Caernarfon to do our laundry, but the directions we got from the clerk at the hotel, were a little ambiguous and we were unable to find the laundromat. so we went to see the castle which opened at 9:00am. It was a beautiful day and the castle was almost empty at this early hour. We learned the history of the Castle and how Edward I built a series of castles all around Wales each a days march from the other, as protection against invaders.

On our way back to England, we saw one other castle that looked in really great condition at Convy, but we didn't stop as the parking, or lack of it, was pretty bad. We continued on to a place called Rhyl, where we checked out another castle in the series. This one was in ruins, but it was easy to see what the place potentially looked like in its glory. We had a nice lunch at a small cafe around the corner, and then headed on to Warrington, outside Liverpool.

Tomorrow we plan to visit Liverpool and check out the places where the Beatles got their start. Oh yeah, we finally found a laundromat and did our wash and then had an early dinner at a nice restaurant we were told about by a lady we met in the laundromat.

April 15

2008-04-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

We had an interesting day today. When we woke up at the B&B, the sky was clear blue and the sun was shining. We were hoping for a great day. we drove around for a bit, but it seems not too many attractions are open on Mondays and Tuesdays, and some don't open until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. After finding 2 places we wanted to see closed and a third not open until later in the afternoon, we decided to pass them by and try for something different.

We met a couple of guys at one of the places we had gone to, who told us about the site of the largest Roman town site nearby. It was actually on our list of Heritage attractions, but we hadn't thought to see it for some reason. It turned out to be very informative and interesting. Some of the features we saw at Bath a few days ago, were also present here.

About this time, we noticed that the clouds were rolling in and the wind was picking up. We decided to head for Wales and see if we could outrun or bypass the rain. We eventually did get back to sunshine, but we had to pass through a long period of rain and hail along the way. We stopped at a small pub just into Wales for lunch, and then had a very enjoyable drive through the countryside to get to Caernarfon, and eventually to Bangor, where our hotel was situated. We had mountains to drive through, around and over, once again. It was great. There were even snow covered peaks!. But the roads were super narrow, twisty and fun to drive on. We are now in Bangor, Wales. It feels like we're driving around Quebec...the Welsh/English signs are weird.

Tomorrow, we will visit the Castle at Caernarfon, then we're off to Warrington, outside of Liverpool, for a couple of nights. We need time to see the place where the Beatles started their careers.

April 14

2008-04-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

No internet access last night, so I wrote this and saved it until I could post it today.

We started off heading northward to Coventry this morning. Jan has been anxious to see the cathedral for years. Today she finally got there. It was a pretty awesome site to see the remains of a bombed out building with the steeple standing right beside it. The new cathedral that has been built is a pretty impressive, very modern looking structure. Other than the short trip earlier in the week, as we skirted London, this was the first major city we encountered, along with its increased volume of traffic and the multitude of freeways criss-crossing each other. We didn't have any problems, but it was an interesting time.

After Coventry, we drove back south to Warwick Castle, and spent a couple of hours wandering around the grounds. There were some very well-done audio-visual displays of the early days of the castle, and wax models depicting the royal visit in the early 1900's. I again climbed a million steps to get up to the top of the castle tower, to see the view, while Jan relaxed below. Every castle I've been to, I find it amazing that the medieval people built these huge castles, by hand mostly, and they are still standing today. We had lunch at the castle before we left, and realized as we were waiting for our food that the tables were set up in old stalls in what must have been the stables at some point in the past.

We then headed back to Stratford on Avon to finish off the visit there as we were rather late yesterday. We saw Anne Hathaway's cottage, The Nash house (Shakespeare lived here until 1616 when he died), and Mary Arden's home (his mother's family home).

Later on we drove through the outskirts of Birmingham and got caught in their 'rush-hour' traffic. That was fun. This was on our way to Himley to a place called "The Crooked House" where you can watch a ball roll seemingly uphill and the walls appear to be at odd angles to the vertical.

Our stay was at a nice B&B at a place called Much Wenlock, Shropshire. We met and chatted with a very nice couple who have been to Canada, drove from Prince Rupert, through Prince George, Jasper, The Icefields parkway to Calgary and knew quite a bit about our country unlike most Britons.

April 13

2008-04-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

Doesn't it ever stop raining in England? LOL Once again we started off today in pouring rain but again it stopped after a little bit of driving. Our first stop today was Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. I managed to get a few pictures outside, but I was unable to use my camera inside. I don't understand why these world-famous heritage sites don't allow cameras. It would be so nice to keep a memento of the places and things we've seen. There was so much information to see, not only related to Churchill, but also to Blenheim Castle and the history of the Dukes of Marleborough.

We weren't able to find a pub to have lunch, so we splurged and went to mickey d's!! Then we were off to Burton on the water, via Upper and Lower Slaughter. Yeah I know, strange names they have here, but the roads are really, really neat to drive, although I can't figure out why they have roundabouts (circles) then put traffic lights on them???? There are actually a few like that, strange as it may seem to believe.

Our last stop for the day was at Stratford on Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, where we just had time to go through the house he was born in, before they closed for the day. Tomorrow, we may go back for a look at Anne Hathaway's house and a few others in the area.

There were a lot of beautiful flowers blooming already, I guess the rain does have some uses.

it's getting late. I'm off to bed. More tomorrow.

April 12

2008-04-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

We woke up this morning to clear skies, but the TV news was forecasting unsettled weather. By the time we left the hotel, it was raining, and the rain just got heavier as we went closer to our destination. Finally we ran out of it, and by the time we got to Bath, it was sunny again, although the roads were all wet. We had no map of the city, so we just found a place to park on the street, and wandered around, trying to locate something interesting. It was still early and not too many tourists on the street yet, but later on the sidewalks and roads were crawling with them.

Once again we found narrow, winding streets everywhere. The Roman Baths is the main attraction in Bath, so that's what we looked for. Our British Heritage Passes allowed us in, and we spent about 3 hours going through the facility. It was very interesting seeing how the Romans and various peoples afterwards built and updated the baths. Their technology was primitive, but it still stands today, and I presume still functions, although we weren't able to take a bath to test it. LOL

After we left the bath and were walking around a bit, we came across a couple of street performers, who were hilarious. The were both dressed in thongs and nothing else. They had been going for some time, so we just caught the last few minutes of their performance, which included doing simultaneous handstands with sparklers stuck into the cracks of their behinds. It was quite funny.

The cost to go into the new baths is outrageous so we decided not to spend an arm and a leg. We got some pictures of the Royal Crescent and I bought a necklace of Bath Aqua Glass which is made the same way as my ring, which I bought years ago in Williams Lake. Everything is very expensive. We had lunch consisting of 2 small soup, 1 small pizza, 2 coke and a small piece of chocolate cake and it cost 21.45 which is almost $50.00. Supper was 2 double bacon cheeseburger, 1 large fries and 1 coke at 11.86 almost $25.00. The prices for Burger King and McD's and most other things, is the same in pounds as we pay in Canada the only difference is we have to multiply the pound by 2.2 which makes it double the cost.

We drove to a few places today including Glastonbury in Gloucestershire. and went through 3 counties. Tomorrow we leave Wiltshire and head into the Costswalds. We're hoping to see the Crooked House; Bourton-on-the-Water, Upper and Lower Slaughter, and Strafford on Avon, the Home of Shakespeare. Bob is going to put some pictures on if they will take. Looking forward to talking to you all in the next couple of days. Missing everyone but having an awesome time. Looking forward to things and then finally getting to see them is really great.

April 11

2008-04-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful day today. We drove to Winchester to see the cathedral in bright sunshine. We got there just in time to go on a tour with a very knowledgeable man who told us all about the history of the cathedral, from it's very beginning to now. It was most interesting and enlightening.

As we finished the tour and started heading back to the car, I noticed the sky wasn't as clear as when we arrived. It was windy, and as we walked off the property and got into town. Soon the rain started, and by the time we walked across the road, and into a pub for lunch, it was literally raining cats and dogs. Then the hail started! The people in the pub were hilarious to watch. You'd think they never saw hail before. By the time we finished eating, it had more or less stopped. We walked a block, and it started again, so we took shelter in the entranceway to a jewelry store. Finally we moved on in a slight drizzle, and soon the sun came out again and we were back to a beautiful sunny day. Only in England, I guess.

Our next stop after about an hour's drive, was Stonehenge! When we arrived in the area, about 5 miles away, we ran into a two lane line-up which took us about another 1/2 hour to work through. we walked onto the field with the stones and were forced to fight against a 25-30 mile per hour wind. It lasted the whole time we were there,

Now it was on to Chippenham where we're to stay for two nights. We drove through some really nice country, and even passed some "Tank Crossing" signs on the road, but Jan wasn't quick enough to turn on the camera and snap a picture before the traffic behind us drove over our little car. LOL

Tomorrow, we're off to Bath and the South-west corner of England before we start up north.

April 10

2008-04-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

Today was another driving day. It seems like the rest of our time here will be more of the same. A night here another one there, seeing various heritage sites as we make our way in somewhat of a clockwise direction around the country.

We started off by going to a place called Alfriston, to see of all things, the Alfriston Clergy House, who knew? It is a small house with a thatched roof, situated beside the church in a very picturesque setting. We had a wonderful chat with one of the stewards, an older Dutch lady who seemed fascinated that we were Canadians. She called over the temporary gardener, who had done a canoe trip in Algonquin park in Ontario, to chat with us as well. The house was really small. I took some pictures showing how Jan just barely fit through the doors.

We then went into Brighton, but found that the city public parking area wouldn't allow us to park for free with Jan's handicapped sign. (other places clearly say those with a displayed sign don't have to pay. When we didn't have enough change for the machine, I saw a parking cop coming by. I asked if he had change and he said no, but since we had a handicapped sign, we should be ok without paying. He wanted to verify with his dispatcher, who advised him, "we would have to check with the council and get permission" (that's like the regional district in Canada). We decided this was too much trouble, as all we wanted to do was find a pub to eat lunch, not settle in town.

We went on to our next stop, and found a really nice hotel/restaurant/pub somewhere along the way in Lansing. It was a little expensive,, and we couldn't figure out exactly what we were eating, but it was reasonably good. We sat beside an older couple (well a little older than us really) who were from the area, and had a great chat with them, talking about our trip, and about Canada. The restaurant was directly below the Lansing college campus.

Following lunch, we carried on to the town of Arundel, where interestingly, Arundel castle is located. The Dukes of Norfolk and their ancestors for over 900 years reside here. The Duke of Norfolk is the premier or highest ranking Duke in England. The castle was impressive, especially the keep where I went on my own as Jan wasn't able to navigate the narrow, steep staircases. A couple were so narrow that I could barely fit through myself (I know I'm a little overweight right now, but still....). There were some great views from the top of the keep. Part of the castle is closed off to the public as the current duke and his family lives there.

It was getting quite late and we had to get on to our next hotel. Our trusty blonde was merrily giving me directions, when my "gas low" warning light came on. I thought I had plenty to get to the hotel, where I knew there would be a gas station, however, now I'm panicking, as we are in the middle of nowhere, and gas stations in England are few and far between. Finally we got the brainstorm to ask blondie to search for the nearest gas station, and happily I was able to fill up and get to the hotel without further problems.

I love driving on the roads....!!! Have I said that before? More tomorrow....

April 9

2008-04-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Today was a "travel" day. We had been in Canterbury/Whitstable since Sunday afternoon visiting the sights in the area. We are starting our clockwise trip around England by traveling to Eastbourne on the south coast. Along the way we stopped and went through a number of properties.

I got to drive on the "dual carriageway" (freeway) for quite a distance this morning. The ring road around London is about 8 lanes across, and at times there are four lanes going to the right and 4 to the left in one direction. It is also interesting driving on the narrow roads. The left side edge of the road is also the edge of the house, hedge, tree or sidewalk on that side. There is usually no shoulder to speak of. at one point I was going around a corner and met a large truck going the other way. It was touch and go whether we could pass without touching. Other times my lane was wider than two of the roads I had been driving on earlier, put together. Needless to say, I'm enjoying the driving over here....very few traffic lights, and a LOT of roundabouts.

I find it amazing that my GPS can find the route to any postal code from another location. miles away, taking me down one narrow country lane after another, or one city street after another. It almost always knows exactly where we are, and if I make a wrong turn, or miss her directions, she recalculates and gives me new directions instantly.

April 8

2008-04-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today, we drove down to Dover to tour the Castle and War Tunnels. WOW! What an awesome feat of construction. There are close to 4 miles of tunnels built into the limestone cliffs, on 4 levels. The English war effort in the second world war was directed from here. There was a fully equipped hospital, command center, and barracks here. There are a maze of tunnels criss-crossing below the ground. From what we heard, the fact that there was anything underground was impossible to tell from the air, and it was a complete secret.

It took us a close to four hours to go through the whole complex, and we actually missed the "Medieval tunnels" in the back of the castle as it was getting too difficult for Jan to walk down them and back up. At one point we came to a spiral staircase which went up to the roof. I suggested that Jan head down to continue the tour, while I went up. There were 70 steps to the very top from that point, and 117 steps back down to ground level! I'd hate to go running up and down that staircase in time of a conflict. In one of the display rooms, I learned how to count on an abacus. Now I know how orientals can count so fast!

The views from the castle were unbelievable. France can be seen as a dark line on the horizon. There are large numbers of ships sailing by, and the ferry traffic appears unending.

After we had some lunch, we proceeded up the coast to Walmer castle, which at one time was lived in by the Queen mother. It is right on the coast, with only a narrow (see previous blogs and pictures LOL) roadway, a bike path and the beach between it and the ocean.

We were quite impressed with the interior, although we were unable to take pictures. It is laid out slightly differently from most other castles we've seen. Unlike others, this one has a "house" built into the walls. And behind the castle there is a very nice garden with a large swimming pool sized goldfish pond.

It was now getting later in the afternoon, and we decided to head back to our hotel. Then we drove into Canterbury for a nice steak and prawn dinner. Tomorrow we're off to the south coast.

April 7

2008-04-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

After yesterday's fiasco, what with the snow, and our travel problems, today was a great day! We were picked up by a cab at 8:30 am, and had a nice trip to Canterbury (for $24.00!) The driver had been to Canada and was familiar with a lot of BC. He told us that the taxis in Canterbury overcharged tourists, especially on Sundays. In hindsight, we would have been better off calling them to come get us yesterday.

We were at the rental place by 9:00 am, and processed all the paperwork. The car is very nice, although not a match to our Accord. It has no GPS so the portable one I brought from home was very useful.

Our first destination was Canterbury Cathedral, but we had no street address to input into our GPS. We could have put in the name of the place and the GPS would find it, but we didn't find that out until our next destination.

Once we found a place to park the car, we walked into the walled city and wandered the narrow crowded streets until we came to the cathedral entrance. When we walked into the church we immediately stepped into the gothic time period, depicted by the archways in the nave. Further down, we entered the Norman era in the quire and finally in the crypt, the oldest part of the church, we found the Saxon influence. The church itself was not nearly as glittery as some others we have seen, but it was very peaceful. We had lunch in a small pub on the way back to the car, where the service was great and the food was cheap.

Now comes the fun part. We entered "Leeds Castle" into the GPS, and it found the address, generated a route and took us right to it. For Jan it was much more than she expected. It was picture card perfect. At the car park we met a guy who was born in Canada, but has lived most of his life in England. He was recently in BC, knew Vancouver, Penticton, Prince George, and Williams Lake. He shared with us where we should go to eat near the castle and also near our hotel. Here is a selection of some pictures.

This is the entrance to Leeds Castle, and the Castle itself. It is one of the few fully-moated castles. It was voted one of the most beautiful castles in the world. The last owner, Lady Baillie was very much into wildlife and nature, and birds in particular.

The black swans were brought to Leeds castle and are now synonymous with Leeds Castle.

When we left, we decided to follow the directions we were given, to the pub for dinner, however, when we arrived we found that they had a private function going on. We decided to go the the town close to the hotel, and let the GPS guide us. Consider our surprise when it told us to turn onto this little 'track' that was like a driveway, wide enough maybe for my little car, that we had to follow, weaving here and there for miles before we found a major roadway.

Fortunately, my surprise was somewhat alleviated when I looked into my mirror and found another car following us. Obviously the GPS knew where it was taking us. And we did not meet any traffic head-on. LOL

April 6

2008-04-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

NEED I SAY MORE????

This is the view that greeted us this morning when we woke up. It was a surprise to say the least, not the fact that it snowed, the girl at the hotel desk told us yesterday that it was expected, but the fact that we got this much in April! Jan's leg told us a couple of days ago, but we didn't put it together with the weather. We thought it was just the amount of walking she'd been doing.

We had a great train trip to Canterbury, where we found out that we should have actually gone to Whitstable or gotten off at Flaversham as those were closer to our "Canterbury" travelodge hotel than Canterbury was. We booked a hotel at Canterbury, but ended up at a little rest stop about 7 miles away! Now we just have to figure out an easy way to get to the car rental place in Canterbury in the morning, to pick up our rental car.

We had thought by coming down on Sunday, we'd be able to walk around Canterbury, and reserve the other two days of our stay for the area, however, faced with a $70.00 taxi fare each way, we've decided to take a "rest day" and stay put in the room. We have a great choice for entertainment.....the freeway is 50 feet away from the front door, there's a Shell station, and Little Chef restaurant on both sides of the road, although there is no way to get across the freeway, even if we wanted to try a "new" restaurant. LOL

The room is comfortable, actually bigger and nicer than the one we had in London. There are FOUR channels on the TV all with programs we are unfamiliar with. Without transportation we are stuck here. It is a strange feeling, having always had a vehicle at our disposal. The only access to the internet is a "special" provider that deals with Travelodge. I signed up with them for a month, so everywhere we go in England I can get online, so they say! Time will tell.

April 5

2008-04-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Today started out much like the previous few days, except there was a vicious cold wind blowing, and the prediction is for SNOW!!! Needless to stay, I went out in my usual attire of shorts and T-shirt, but I did put on a sweater just in case. We jumped onto the first subway train in the station, and realized belatedly that it was going to the wrong place, well, not wrong exactly, just not the direction we wanted to go. The next stop was the end of the line, and we had to return to get the correct train. Live and Learn!

Our first stop was Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard. Although it was very cold and windy, and we were unable to hear what was going on, or know it, for that matter, the production was interesting. First a group of guards marched out of their barracks. They were joined by another group who arrived after a march down the Mall, accompanied by a band. Then a third group double in size again accompanied by a band from a different direction showed up. After a bunch of movements which we couldn't understand marching around the parade square, the guard was finally changed. There was a huge crowd on hand watching, with lots of police presence.

After this we returned to Victoria station and had lunch at the Shakespeare pub, and warmed up following our chilly morning. We then took a double decker bus to Marleybone station, then a tube to Baker street, where we saw the Mme. Toussaud exhibit. It was a very crowded display, with people fighting over each other trying to see all the exhibits.

We are getting ready to take the train to Canterbury tomorrow morning to continue with our trip. We pick up our car on Monday morning, and I'll finally get to drive a car from the wrong seat, on the wrong side of the road. I'm truly looking forward to that. That's it for now.

Friday Apr 4

2008-04-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

Today, we walked for miles, as we took in St. Paul's Cathedral, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and Wellington's Apsley house, followed by a visit to Harrad's. We booked our train tickets for Sunday to Canterbury, where I realized that I neglected to replace the battery in my camera, after charging it last night, so we had to return to the hotel to get it. It's a good thing we have transit passes. (although one of us lost his pass somewhere, somehow, today, and had to get another one.

St. Paul's was interesting, especially walking on all the markers for those buried under the floor of the crypt. Very extravagant with much gold etc. although not as bad as some others we've seen. We walked down Fleet street, and through the court buildings area. We stopped at a small sandwich shop on the banks of the Thames for a bite to eat at lunch, then continued across the Blackfriars bridge, and along the riverfront walk in Southwark to the Globe theatre.

We took the tour and learned that this is the third version of Shakespeare's Globe theatre. The first burned down after a cannon was fired during a performance, catching the thatched roof on fire. Out of 3000 patrons, one ended up with his trousers on fire, which he promptly extinguished by throwing his beer on the fire. The second was torn down during a puritan era of the British government, This latest one was built in the 1990's, and they had to obtain special permission to put a thatched roof on it to make it look authentic. This roof is protected by a sprinkler system, and is said to last 50 years. In the time of the original Globe, they were able to put 1000 patrons paying 1 pence and 2000 "better class" paying 2 pence, and a few behind the stage on a balcony who paid 12 pence so that they could be seen by their peers. Today, due to fire regulations, they can only admit 700 at 5 to 33 pounds each, which is still relatively the same price.

We went for another walk to catch the tube where I realized that I'd misplaced my 3-day transit pass! Horrors! Jan was on one side of the gate, and I was stuck on the other without my pass. I was faced with the option of getting a one-way ticket to our destination for 4.30 or a day pass for 5.40. Guess what I chose? LOL I'll have to do it again tomorrow. Apsley house was interesting, I can't figure out why they need 6 different drawing rooms, one next to the other! There are a lot of expensive paintings, and thousands of plates that were given to Wellington by Kings of other countries.

We walked to Harrads and wandered through two floors before we got tired and left. Jan did find me a watch there, but it was a little out of her price range for this trip....27,000 pounds!!! I found a nice chinchilla coat for her but it had no price tag so I couldn't get it (we have no room in our luggage to bring anything back anyway! :>)

we finished off by walking down the street to a pub and having dinner. A great first day, all in all.

This picture we found quite intriguing. It is made up of the small individual pictures of all patrons to the cathedral over a three day period in 1999.

Tomorrow, we hope to visit Hampton Court and possibly Mme Troussard's.

Flight 1

2008-04-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

We had a pleasant bonus upon our arrival at the airport for out trip to London. We were advised that our tickets were upgraded to business class! This meant that we gained a half dozen seats closer to the front of the plane, and got better service, including complimentary drinks. We got to sit in the nicer seats that sort of face each other in pairs, instead of being crammed into the normal front-facing seats. We had a really good flight, and even got to sleep some. We arrived at Heathrow right on time at 1:00 pm on Thursday afternoon.

We made it through customs in record time and then tried to pretend were actually in terminal 4 not 5! We had a long wait before our luggage finally joined us. Jan got to ride in a wheelchair and missed the long walk! The BA rep even went so far as to take us to the tube station and helped us on the train. Then after a45 min subway ride we arrived at Earl's Court. Our hotel is just around the corner from the station - about 250 Meters. We have a small bedroom with a tiny bathroom, and a 12" TV, but that's OK as we don't plan on spending a lot of time here. Oh, and I found that in spite of all my careful packing, I still misplaced an adatper for the power (here in England). I had to go out and purchase another one right away so I can use my laptop!

We've already stepped out and gone for a walk through Earl's Court to Kensington gardens. I got my GPS to finally recognize the satellites it needed to locate itself, so now we appear to be set. We walked around a bit then took a train to Covent Garden, where we walked to the farmer's market and had a bite to eat. Then we took a different train back to our hotel. It is now just after 9pm, and we're both pretty tired. The next few days are going to be busy.

April Fool's

2008-04-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't an April Fool's story! We finally got away from Kelowna Monday afternoon. It was an interesting getaway!

We checked with a shuttle service and a cab company for rates to go to the airport. The shuttle was a bit cheaper so we arranged for them to pick us up, and at the appropriate time a cab showed up, so we loaded our suitcases and left. About 3 min later the phone rings, and it's the shuttle service advising us that they will be about 7 min late. I said that's funny as we're already on our way to the airport. I guess that cab showed up before the shuttle and we mistook it for our ride. Oh well. It was only $25.00 with the tip.

We checked our two bags and started going through security, where we were informed that we could only take TWO plastic bags worth of toiletries, and the two bags of cosmetics were too much, so we had to return to the check-in counter and put our third bag through baggage. This was only our second BIG flight since 9-11! We'll know better for next time.

We are now spending a couple of days with our children and Carter, before flying out tomorrow night for London. So far our trip has been great, and it can only get better, if we get our luggage to arrive at Heathrow, at the same time we do. Wish us all the best. More to come........

Last Night

2008-03-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

We just received the latest pictures of our grandson, Carter, and after spending our last night in Kelowna, we are flying to Calgary tomorrow afternoon. We will be seeing our family before we fly to Europe on Wednesday night.

We hope you join us on our journey.

thanks

2008-03-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

As we begin our last week in Canada, we look forward to another week of packing (re-packing), LOL, our worldly possessions back into our trailer. We will miss the nice house we spent the past five months at, and the many special people we've met in our short time in Kelowna. Just to name a few: A special thank you to Reenie at BCAA travel for all her effort in helping us organize our trip and get our itinerary together; also to Trish at Valley First insurance for all her help over the past five months as we settled in to the Okanagan, and lastly a big thank you to the special people at Lifestyles chiropractic, for starting to get our bodies tuned-up for the trip. Keep in touch with us at this site as we travel around Europe.

March 19th

2008-03-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

The time is getting closer for us to get on the big aluminum cylinder and wing our way to Calgary, then London, England. I thought I'd post some pics of our grandson, Carter, before we go.

Retirement

2008-03-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, the BIG day finally arrived! On February 1, 2008, I officially retired from West Fraser Mills (Weldwood) after 31+ years. Jan and I are looking forward to retirement, and we're starting out by taking a 2-month trip to Europe. We're leaving Kelowna on March 31, spending a couple of days in Calgary with our children, then flying to London to start our holiday.