Hawaii
Hawaii aloha Well we actually arrived on the 4th of September but we have been very busy ever since. To say Harry was excited would be an under statement, We were lucky to get him to preschool in the morning after we arrived but we did get him there and had to give his teacher a hug to say hellođĽ°...
Prague final day
Final day on Prague, yay we got to sleep in.... lots of activity with the groups leaving from as early as 4 am until 10 pm tonight but we get to enjoy our last day in Prague just looking around. We started with a lazy breakfast then joined up with Diane and Ron for a tram and funicular trip up to th...
Prague Day Three
Day 20 2/9/2019 Today we are off to Chateau Jemniste, for lunch and a Falconry show. On the way the tour guide filled us in on the history of the Chateau. The same family has owned the Chateau since the early 1800âs. But during the war the family were asked to choose if they wanted to become Germ...
Prague Day Two
Day 19 1/09/2019 Happy Fathers Day to all the Fathers. Todayâs tour started on the bus to Prague Castle, where we had a walking tour around the perimeter of the Castle which has been a Royal castle and which is now a Presidential Castle. We learnt about the Vaclav Cathedral , which has the body o...
Prague Day One
Day 18 31/8/2019 Depart the ship at 8:00am and onto the bus for a 550 km drive to Prague. It should take about 8.5 hrs depending on the traffic. We had a great trip with a stop at a family run winery for lunch with the obligatory glass of wine which ensures a quiet trip following, with what the t...
Budapest
Day 17 30/08/2019 Budapest Today we woke up in Budapest. We were told to be up on the sun deck early because the sights coming into Budapest would be amazing, and they were. Today we are all going on the same tour. Budapest is the capital of Hungary and from the bus we got to see some wonderful high...
Vienna
Day 15 & 16 Vienna 28/8/2019 - 29/8/2019 Two days in Vienna 28/8/2019 After cruising all night we arrived in the beautiful city of Vienna at 8:00am. We have to be up and ready as our tour starts at 8.30 because it is going to be warm today. We have a walking tour of Vienna where we are shown the t...
Melk
Day 14 MELK 27/8/2019 We arrived in Melk at 7:30am. Up and about early as we have to be ready to go by 8:45. Today we are on a walking tour around the city of Melk. The first thing you see when you leave the ship is this rather large imposing building high up the side of hill. So on the bus to th...
Passau/Linz
Day 13 Passau/Linz 26th August 2019. Today we woke up in Passau Our excursion today is to Salzburg so we are going from Germany to Austria because we are finishing our tour in Linz where the ship will sail to during the day. Salzburg was the birthplace of Mozart whose house is preserved as a museum....
Regensburg
Day 12 Regensburg 25th August 2019 After cruising all night we arrived in Regensburg at around 9.00am by this stage we were expected to be ready for our freedom of choice excursions. Our choice was a walking tour around the town although I did tell Ian I had booked him into the Bavarian Dance opti...
Nuremberg
Day 11 24/8/2019 Nuremberg To we woke upon Nuremberg. Nuremberg was 90% destroyed during the 2nd World War so a lot of its buildings are only 80 years old but they have been rebuilt from pictures found hidden during the war so some of the history is still there. Even with the heavy bombing only 650...
Bamberg
Day 10 23/08/2019 Bamberg (Pronounced Bumbag by our guide đ) Today was official sleep in day. The ship doesnât arrive into Bamberg until 2.30 so we can have a sleep in yay..... Which encourage us to take part in usual breakfast in the restaurant then a typical Bavarian breakfast of meat loaf, saus...
Wurzburg
Day 9 22/8/2019 WĂźrzburg Up early to because our tours all leave at 9.15 am Our choices are either a Farm visit Visit to Rothenburg Ian and Rob (who is a farmer from Mt Gambier) Chose the farm visit ,and Rosie and I chose Rothenburg tour. Off we went with the men being very worried as our tour...
Miltenberg
Day 8 21/8/2019 We are now on the River Main (pronounced Mine in German ) it is 524 km long. It stretches from the Rhine to the Danube and has 34 large locks. It also has a lot of low bridges so the upper sun deck was closed on at least 3 days. Miltenberg suffered a lot from the 30 year war betw...
Rhine gorge/RĂźdesheim
Day 7 20/8/2019 Rhine Gorge and Rudesheim Today we woke up to a ship cruising down the Rhine gorge with some magnificent castles either side of the river for approx 70 Klms. We did not arrive in RĂźdesheim until after lunch so we stayed on the upper deck until we arrived so we could take in the ama...
Cologne
Day 6 19/8/19 Good morning Cologne Interesting facts about Cologne ( or Koln in German) Cologne is Germanyâs fourth largest city, the Romanâs founded it in 50 AD. The cathedral was built especially for the relics of the three kings (Magi). There are over 3000 pubs, wine bars and brauhauses in Colog...
Amsterdam
Day 5 18/8/19 The Netherlands. Just a couple of facts about the Netherlands. Almost half of the Netherlands was once under water, the Netherlands is now one of the most densely populated nations on earth. The region is famous for its centuries old windmills, artistic masterpieces and tulips. Seve...
Paris Ghent Amsterdam
Day 4 17/8/19 Paris Ghent Amsterdam Today we were up early to leave Paris by coach. Some of the tour took up the option of train travel , but we are on the coach. First stop Ghent at lovely little town where we were treated to a canal tour in a glass top boat with a hilarious young man who was very...
Paris
Last day in Aix-en-Provence Our last day in Aix was a very quiet one, we are up a little later than usual, returned the car then went for a last walk around this beautiful city if Aix. Agnes our host called in before we left for our walk and dropped off a bottle of champagne, so we decided on a ligh...
Aix-en-Provence/Avignon
12/8/2019 Today we went to Avignon to see the Palace of the Pope's. The Palais construction began in AD 1252. Avignon became the residence of the Popes in 1309, when the Gascon Bertrand de Goth, as Pope Clement V, unwilling to face the violent chaos of Rome after his election (1305), moved the Papal...
Aix-en-Provence/Cadenet/Lourmarin
10th August Yesterday our adventure consisted of a car trip up in the hills from Aix, first stop was the smallish village of Cadenet. But being a Sunday not much was happening, we had a walk around the town and a look at the cathedral from the outside. We tried to find a cafe but the only one we cam...
Aix-en-Provence/Valensole
Car trip today to find a lavender farm, couldnât find one open as it was siesta time. First stop the small town of Valensole Where we ended up some very interesting roads into some very small places đłđł. We stopped here for lunch and a walk around the town. Then in the car to hunt for lavender aga...
Aix en Provence
Wednesday 7th August Sadly we had to leave Cinque Terra/ Monterosso on Wednesday morning at 6.30am so it was up and at em at 5.30 for our long train trips. Monterosso to Genova 1 1/2 hr trip , Genova to Nice ( with a 1 hr delay in the middle) 3 hr trip and then another 3 hr trip from Nice to Aix En...
Monterosso day two
Day two of beautiful Monterosso, slow start as we have booked a tour for 1 oâclock so easy breakfast then slow walk thru the town to the other end of Monterosso to find where would take our tour from. Monterosso and Vernazza were the two main cities that were affect by the mudslides in 2011 but you...
Cinque terra
5/8/19 The day has finally come, we get to go to Cinque terra, we have been trying to get there for our last two trips to Europe. The first trip to Italy in 2008 we didnât make it and in 2011 girls trip they had the massive mudslides and our hotel was washed away and we couldnât go there either so h...
San Gimignano/Siena
Today 3 Aug we are up early Ian has gone off to get a haircut from an non English speaking hairdresser who is very handy with a cut throat razor, so who knows how he will come back, but he had put in his translator short back and sides. đŹ We are off to Siena today which involves not so much transpo...
San Gimignano/Florence
Today we decided to take the trip to Florence. On the bus to Poggibonsi, then train to Empoli, then another train to Florence where we decided to hop on the hop on hop off bus the best way to see the sights and hear the facts of the buildings etc. We got as far as The Piazzale Michelangelo where the...
San Gimignano
Up early for our trip to San Gimignano, take our cases to the station no mean feat as I think we have the biggest and heaviest cases in Venice but we got stooged Sue and I at the biggest bridge where this you man kindly offered to carry our cases over the bridge for us, I knew he would charge us but...
Venice day three and four
Day three off to Murano and Burano today, not a very early start but at least it is not raining and it is cooler. We walked down to near St Marks square to hop on a water ferry out to Murano for a look at glass blowing demonstration had a look around especially the master glass bowers works but deci...
Venice day one and two
We arrived at Venezia after an eventful plane trip. Firstly the plane wa delayed on the tarmac because of a strike at the airport, so we had to wait in line for refuelling, then we hit some pretty rough turbulence coming in to Venice at the other end which caused us to miss our landing so we had to...
Barcelona day two
Barcelona continued, today I went one way and Ian and sue went the other. I had to get my nails done yep priorities đ. Well thatâs two hours I will never get back, in a Spanish nail salon with Asian technicians with no English lol lots of gesturing, but I did manage a manicure. I also managed to ge...
Barcelona
Hola from Barcelona, we traveled up from Madrid via the wonderful train system here in Spain, they leave on time and arrive when they should.đ Our accomodation here is a 3 bedroom apartment ( no we are not taking in lodgers) lol. But it is quaint. See the picture of the antiquated lift and you will...
Madrid
Move from Seville to Madrid on the fasts train to Madrid great way to travel the train way very comfortable and cool. Arrived around 3.30pm with enough time to settle in. To our hotel then hop in a axi to take. In the sites. Into the city of Madrid, to visit the Cathedral ( the biggest in Spain ) ag...
Seville day two
Today day two of touring we tried our luck on public transport on the bus. Off to see the Real Alcazar palace and gardens. We managed to find our way there with a little shopping and lunch in a very nice restaurant. The gardens and palace were amazing as you can see from the photos, getting used to...
Seville
on the move again, we dropped the car at the Faro airport and caught a bus to Seville, it took around 3 1/2 hrs to get there through some very dry countryside. Olive trees everywhere, the climate here is well suited to growing olives most of them used to make Olive oil, but by products also. We expe...
Lagos day two
Up early and on the road again, started with a walk down the Main Street to the central shopping district where we did a lot of window shopping, no purchases today.... we did find a shop selling genuine Portugal boomerangs made in Indonesia đ. See the photo attached. Back to the hotel to pick up th...
Lagos
Up early raring to go...... ian and sue off to pickup the car, then our next leg, start a 3 hr drive to Lagos ( pronounced Lagoosh) so we were told by the receptionist to our hotel who tried to teach us all some Portuguese âšď¸. Great drive down thru some very dry countryside, you get the impression t...
Lisbon
Well we finally arrived in Lisbon at around 11.00 pm after a delay at the airport but only a minor one. Our hotel is very nice, Sue had arrived around 4 hours earlier so had retired. Early start next morning catch up with Sue over breakfast then on our way. Hop on hop off bus the best option for us...
Mullingar
We arrived in Mullingar Saturday afternoon to a very nice hotel with a pub, started with lunch in the pub, then a walk to the church of kings, and a check of the local area. The locals are very friendly there was group of women in the pub yesterday celebrating a 65th birthday printed T/shirts and al...
Donegal Ballybofey
We arrived at the Jackson Hotel after an interesting drive from Galway, the GPS Loves taking you off road if you make one wrong turn. But we made it..... we sat next to a trio of women out for a girls weekend so they gave us all the local gossip what to do and what not to do, which was very helpful....
Galway
have have a quiet three days staying at Galway. It has been cold but am told it is typical Irish summer which is a nice lead up to the heat we might receive next week in Portugal. We went for a drive up or down to Clifden to see the Kylemore Abbey which was very impressive, Ian walked around it whil...
Back on the road again, heading north from Dingle
After our delays in Killarney, we arrived here in Dingle Saturday afternoon. Went out to see "Fungi" the dolphin today - interesting trip in the bay where one dolphin in the wild (the sea) routinely entertains about five boat loads of tourists for about an hour. Moving on to Galway in the morning (M...
Kilkenny , Blarney & Cork
Today we went back to Kilkenny to do the Medieval Mile Museum tour and we were not disappointed. The tour took an hour and the tour guide was very enthusiastic about his subject, we learnt all about the Church that has been totally restored and interesting facts re who and whom are buried there. It...
Kilkenny and Waterford
Woke at 4.30 am (jet lag). So used the time to plan our day, off to Kilkenny castle. What a beautiful town Kilkenny is lots of small laneways and of course the castle. It had been owned by the Butler family for 600 years before for financial reasons they gave up the castle to the local council for 5...