June 3rd

Woke up to another beautiful day. Love laying in bed and looking out at the valley view and smelling the croissants baking! This is a wonderful place to kick back and relax. We were treated to fresh eggs again this morning! On Liz's suggestion we headed to a nearby town, Villedieu, whose claim to fame is copper production that dates back to the Middle Ages. It was a lovely little town with cobblestones streets and a number of alleys and courtyards to explore. I picked up a couple of small copper pots to bring back home.

Villedieu

After making sure we stopped at a small supermarket to stock up on a bit of food we headed to Le Mont Saint-Michel. UNESCO classed this site as a world heritage in 1979 and it has three million visitors a year. This the 2nd most visited place in France, next to the Eiffel Tower. http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/en/accueil.htm. It was certainly a busy place and required lots of climbing but well worth it for the views and history of the place.

Headed back towards La Maugerie and decided to turn off the GPS and just explore some of the back roads and gorgeous French countryside. Had a nice glass of wine at a roadside brasserie and stopped a couple of times to take pictures.

Liz out did herself again with another excellent dinner. Liz and Mark are great hosts and we really enjoyed their company. It we win the lotto will be taking this place off their hands. :) There were other guests staying the night; four young people from the Netherlands so we had an enjoyable evening chatting with them.

Just a pretty village church

Normandy and Landing Beaches

 Yesterday started with an excellent breakfast with eggs laid that morning by the chicken's Liz has in the  garden. :)  We're loving being in the country after 4 weeks of city living.  Opened the curtains when we woke up and looked out over the beautiful countryside with cows mooing in the next field and sheep baaing.   This home is so beautiful and the views even more so.



Fresh Eggs for Breakfast!



We started off about 9:30 for our D-Day tour.  First stop was a Canadian cemetery in Cintheaux.   2,978 Canadian soliders buried here.    Very moving to see so many young men buried in one place and with the dates of their passing all within weeks of each other.  The care and upkeep of the cemetery is amazing.  After drying a few tears we headed to the landing beaches starting with Sword Beach where the British landed.  We stopped a number of times to take in the views and the memorials.  In each village/town along the route there were numerous memorials each flying the Canadian, British, American and French flags.  Next major stop was Juno Beach, the main landing point of the Canadian troops.  We spend a couple of hours were and took our time at the Juno Center.  Very interesting and really helped us understand what this men faced when they landed in France the morning of June 6th, 1944.  From Juno we visited a 2nd Canadian cemetery, Benny-Sur-Mer-Reviers.  Here lie 2,049 Canadians.  The cemetary is laid out much the same as the one In Cintheaux with the same care and standard of upkeep.  Amazing how many people have laid wreaths, flowers, personal notes, pictures and flags at various headstones. 

We also visited Omha Beach where the US landed and walked around Grandcamp-Maisy where the US Rangers scaled the cliffs.  You can see all the mine craters, old bunkers etc.  While we were there they were setting up stages and tents for the June 6th remberance services.



Cemetarey



Sword Beach

One of the landing beaches

Grandcamp-Maisy

Juno Beach

After a full and rather emotional day we came back to our B&B, La Maugerie, where Liz had outdone herself with another excellent 3 course mean which included Beef Bourguignon with Lemon Posset for dessert!  (I'm bringing home Liz's cookbook so I'll get to share some of these recipes!)

We needed to take a bit of a walk after dinner to digest after eating far too much!  Country lanes are so great and again the views just blow us away!

Evening Walk



Normandy, France



Courtyard of our 17th Century hotel in Rouen

Restaurant were we finally had a good French meal!

Cathedrale Notre-Dame in Rouen

Rouen is where Joan of Arc was imprisoned and burnt at the stake

Mon Dieu!  We headed out for dinner last night about 6:30 only to find the places we'd seen during the afternoon now closed or only serving drinks and snacks!  We soon realized there were other restuarants that opened at 7pm for dinner and went on to have an awesome four course dinner.  Could barely walk back to the hotel we were so full.  Scallops for starter, main course (steak for me, fish for Denis) then 5 different types of cheese with bread and a creme bruille for dessert!  And of course some lovely French wine to wash it all down.

Breakfast this morning was the usual coffee and croissant.  (Mum - Denis will be after a good fry up when we're home!)

Train to Caen was uneventful although for some reason almost 30 minutes late even though we left on time??  Picked up the rental car and after playing with the GPS for a bit we were on the way to our B&B, La Maugerie, in St Vigor Des Monts.  It's a beautiful 300 year old farm house with stunning view of the countryside.  Our hosts, Liz and Mark are from New Castle and moved here to France about 4 years ago.  Super nice people!  We went for a long walk through the winding roads and had a beer at the local bar.  Funny enough we met another English couple there who retired to France after having their home broken into  for the 3rd time!  Baraba and Tom (like in The Good Life, an English TV Show)

Liz cooked us an excellent meal which we are now trying to digest. :)  Tomorrow we're off to the landing beaches.  Denis is studying the map right now and planning our route!

Having problems uploaded pictures again today...will try again tomorrow.

Walking the Normandy countryside



View from B&B bedroom window

Not so friendly France

Our last night at the Baden Blues Festival was really good.  Our buddy from breakfast, Ernest 'Guitar' Roy was very entertaining.  Duke Robillard was also good although not so much party music as the previous night.  Just as well because we had an early start on Sunday morning.  We thanked Suzanne and her husband Robert profusely and bought ourselves T-shirts.  

Denis is making me mention that he found out part way through Saturday evening that Man U lost to Barcelona, 3-1,  which certainly did not make him a happy man.

Train to Paris was longer than scheduled.  Apparently French trains are not on par with the rest of Europe.  Train stopped twice due to technical difficulies...one being no air conditioning but they did hand out water. :)  We were scheduled to arrive in Paris at 1:30 and arrived about 2:00.  Took taxi from one train station to another to make the connection to Rouen.  That part went smoothly although the French were already laughing at Denis' french at the train station.  

Met a nice older couple on train to Rouen.  He had been a merchant marine in the '70's, travelling across the Atlantic and up the St. Lawerence.  He was familar with Montreal, Quebec and had even been to Thunder Bay.  Although by reputation, French people aren't know to be friendly, we've had some luck.  We asked a young girl for directions to our hotel;  turns out she lived close by and walked us there!  Front desk at the hotel and people in 'restuarants' last night did live up to the reputation! We had a really hard time getting something to eat.  Apparently most stores and restaurants are closed on Sundays!  We sat at one Bistro and although we could get beer and wine, food was not available.  Another place could only serve us ice cream as it was close to closing!  Our first night in France we ended up eating in McDonalds!  Needless to say, I went to bed hungry and grumpy!

Today didn't start out promsing on the food front either.  Now we know how the French stay thin!  Coffee and cigarettes seems to be the breakfast of choice with the odd croissant thrown in.  Denis had a sandwich and I settled for expresso and croissant which are pretty amazing.  Rouen is a pretty place with a lot of history and we did some good sightseeing.  The hotel we're staying is in a very old building, built in the 17th century!  Really neat place and Denis has taken some good pictures which we'll post later.  (internet connection not that great here)

Light rain started about 2pm so Denis headed back to the hotel, and me, I went shopping!  Yes, again. :)

We're writing this from the lounge/dinning area of the hotel, enjoying some nice French wine, which we purchased today for $6...... 2009 Chateau Monestier La Tour! before leaving for dinner.  We saw a place on our travels today that serves food!

A demain, mes amis!

Baden, Switzerland

Yesterday was the first day of real rain since we left England which isn't so bad on a travel day.  More awesome scenery out the window although with it being overcast you often couldn't see the tops of the mountains.  Very easy and quick transfer from Zurich to Baden and by the time we arrived the rain had stopped.

Baden is not very big place and the hotel was a short walk from the train station.  We're here to take in the Blues Festival Baden and were lucky to run into one of the organizers, Thomas,  at the hotel.  He told us where to find Suzanne, who Denis has been corresponding with prior to us leaving Canada.  She had made our hotel arrangements for us and we're staying at the hotel that the musicians are staying at.  Thomas told us how to get the venue and that Suzanne was there for the sound check.  Another 5 minute walk, found Suzanne who was excited to meet us and have people from Canada come to their festival.  She let us know that they were providing us with VIP passes for both Friday and Saturday nights at no charge!  They are worth more than $300 and include all our drinks and some really nice finger food and balcony view of the stage.  Denis had bought her some Ottawa Blues Society trinkets as gifts and we thought maybe we'd get a T-shirt out of them, never expected free VIP tickets.

We were even more appreciative when we realized how expensive Switzerland is.  Crazy!  We went to get some lunch after checking in to the hotel and ended up at Burger King where 2 Whopper meal cost us about $30!!  Today Denis had $20 spaghetti lunch and I had $12 soup. :)  Good thing we're only here for 2 nights.

Last night we saw Whitey Johnson and Delbert McClinton, both excellent.  And we saw them at breakfast as well. :)  Along with one of the performers who is playing tonight!  Very nice guy; he and his wife are from Mississippi.  It's the most English we've heard in weeks!  And I use english loosely with the guy from Mississippi...he was as hard to understand as some of the Germans.

Oh yeah, when Suzanne kicked off the concert last night, of course it was all in German,  but she did give the Denis and the Ottawa Blues Sociey a call out which was really nice.

Today the sun was shining again but cooler, about 20.  We checked out the local market and bought some goodies to eat on the train tomorrow.  Baden is a pretty town and we did a nice long walk following the river.  After lunch we went to the Thermal Baths.  Baden has the richest mineral thermal water in Switzerland and they had pools both inside and outside.  Very relaxing afternoon and a good way to recover from the miles we've walked recently.   www.thermalbaden.ch

We're seeing |Duke Robbillard tonight (as well as our Mississippi buddy from breakfast who's name escapes me right now) from the VIP balcony. :)  Fairly early start tomorrow, passing through Paris on the way to Rouen.  (Normandy Region)

Baden Market

Thursday Innsbruck

What an beautiful place Innsbruck is.  We have sore necks from looking up all the time!  The mountains completely surround this small city.  We checked out the old town which isn't really very big then headed to the funnicular to go up the mountain.  Denis only went as far as the first plateau which is about 2600 feet above sea level before the height got to him.  There was no way he way going the rest of the way in a cable car.  You could see the colour drain from his face just going to the first plateau!  Denis insisted I go the rest of the way, up to 6000 feet in the cable car and I was really glad I did.  I've never seen anything like it; simply took my breath away.  Almost literally because it was a good deal colder up there and since it was 28 degrees in Innsbruck that day, I wasn't dressed for mountain air.  I took a bunch of pictures and came down to the 1st plateau to find Denis enjoying the sun and the great Austrian beer.  After a couple of beer the ride back down went much smoother for him. :)

Back safely on the ground, we wandered the Imperial Gardens, checked out the Golden Palace and had a good Schnitzel for lunch and yes, more beer!  Austria isn't much different than the other countries we've visited in that beer is still the cheapest thing on the menu.

For a change our train isn't at the crack of dawn...left Innsbruck at 10:00am to go to Baden, Switzerland.



View from town



Every time you turn a corner, there are the mountains!

View from 1st Plateau

1st Plateau, 2600 feet

Just over 6000 feet, can you imagine skiing this!?

I wasn't sure I could relax sitting at these tables...not much of a wall!

See the trails?  People hike and bike these both up and down!

Avalanche barriers

Here's where Denis waited for me safe and sound



Funnicular to 1st Plateau



It's Wednesday so this must be Innsbruck

Our outing to the Jazz Dock to see a 'blues' band on our last night in Prague was a bit of a bust!  The American guitar player really wasn't very good and therefore most of the music was carryed by the keyboard player.  No vocals, no tune, just a lot of noise and certainly not the blues.  The crowd there seemed to be enjoying them so we're guessing they don't get a lot of good blues music in Prague.  Either that or they were really drunk!

Our 'direct' train journey from Prague to Linz, (where we were transferring to Innsbruck) held a bit of a surprise.  The women that checked our ticket had to explain to us in broken English that we actually had to get off the train at one point, get on a bus to another town and then get back on a train to finish the trip.  A bit of confusion trying to understand her directions but in the end it worked out okay.  From what I could see on the first part of the train trip they were doing a lot of work on the tracks so I think that was the cause of the detour.  There was a Chinese/American couple on the same coach as us who were just as confused so we stuck together!  Czech Republic is still rebuilding and I think this kind of thing is commonplace.  Their trains were vastly different than other European trains.

Once back on the train and headed to Austria we couldn't stop looking out the windows.  No reading on this leg of the trip.  The countryside was so, well, Austrian!  Just like you see in pictures or in the movies and when we got on the very efficient, modern Austrian train from Linz to Innsbruck I think our mouths were hanging open.  Never again will I think of Mont Tremblant as mountains!  The views were incredible and I don't think my pictures will do it justice. 

We didn't arrive until 4pm.  I've posted a pic of the view from our hotel room and will post more when we get up the mountain tomorrow.

Weather is still hot and sunny even here!  I had to go buy some shorts.

View from hotel room

View from Park across the street from hotel.

Monday/Tuesday Prague

Monday was a tad cooler in Prague which was a good thing!  We decided to give Denis' poor feet a break and took the very efficient public transportation instead.  One ticket, $1.50, gets you a ticket good for 75 minutes with ability to transfer from metro, bus and tram.  Our hotel is very close to a main metro/tram line so that made it quite easy.

We headed to Petrin Hill which is parkland rising up above the city and offers great views of Prague.  It's been a park since 1825!  You take a funicular, (cable car) to the top.  It was very peaceful and cool up there and had amazing gardens.

After a good lunch Denis came back to the flat and I did a bit of shopping at a nearby mall, complete with a Marks & Spencers. :)  Funny not being able to speak the language but I managed to get by.

Last night we did a dinner and jazz cruise up the Vltava River.  Finally got to try authentic Czech food which was okay but I can't say we loved it.  I have no idea how all the beautiful women here stay so thin when the food is so heavy.  More great Czech wine and beer.  Dixieland jazz band on board was great and of course the views on the river were amazing.  The package included transport to and from the hotel so even more of a break for our feet.

View From Petrin Hill

Prague Castle view from Petrin Hill

Dixieland Jazz Band

Today, Tuesday, was hot and sunny, again!  Not that I'm complaining.  Took the tram, this time to the St. Charles bridge and did some souvenir shopping.  Wandered the old town square and visited the History of Communism museum which was very interesting.

Just resting up now before heading out for dinner and live music at a place called the Jazz Dock.  It's right on the river, not far from our hotel and has live blues music tonight.

Early call tomorrow morning as our train to Innsbruk, Austria leaves at 7:15am!

Sunday in Prague

Slept late on Sunday, we are on vacation after all!  Nice to have breakfast in our flat and a good cup of tea.  Kristina and Gaston, the hotel owners can't do enough for us.  Kristina even did all our laundry.  I'd expected to do it myself here but she insisted I not waste my day....came back in the evening and she'd left the basket of clean clothes inside the door.  Nice.

We did an organized walking tour Sunday, this time only 4 hours!  Our tour guide, Helga, was excellent and very knowledable, filling us in on the history and many legends of Prague.   A lot of Prague is over 800 years old and it's amzing how they could build such intricate buildings with no cranes or power tools. :)  Our tour finished up at Prague Castle which sits above the city.  (we got to take a tram up and walked back down)  This is where the Czech govenment sits and where their President lives.  They have both a President and Prime Minister, with the Prime Minister having the power.  Helga was able to give us lots of background on the 40 years of Communisim and the Velvet Revolution that saw them become a democratic country again.

The castle grounds includes vast vineyards and we rested in a nice terrace overlooking the city and tasted the lovely Czech wine made there.  I've already become a fan of Czech wine!

We've put some miles on our weary feet that's for sure.  Denis has blisters on both feet now!

I'm a day behind on blogging but it's another beautiful sunny day so I'll write more later.

City View from one of 7 bridges crossing River Vltava



St. Vitus's Cathedral within Castle Walls




Vineyards at catle



Prague

This segment of our trip started off with beautiful scenery from Berlin to Prague.  The train follows the River Elbe through the Elbe Valley from Dresden to the Czech border.   Loads of boats and rafters on the river and pretty little towns scattered about.  We certainly didn't read much of this train trip, too busy looking out the window!

Our host here in Prague picked us up at the rail station which was a nice touch and we arrived at the hotel/apartment about 2pm.  It's a great place with kitchen, sitting room and bedroom as well as a little  balcony with table and chairs. 

We walked to the old town in about 20 minutes, following the river Vltava River and had a couple of cheap ($2) beers on a patio.  Weather is the best so far and looks like it will be sunny and 25 for the next few days.  I knew I packed sunscreen for a reason!  Since we have a kitchen so we went to a huge Tesco's supermarket a couple blocks from the hotel to pick up some supplies.  That was a challenge because nothings in English and a lot of the food stuff is a lot different from what we have in Canada.  We obviously didn't get the right kind of milk as Denis found out after chugging from the milk carton!  Thick and creamy, certainly not 2%. :)  We managed to get some cold cuts and cheese by just pointing and holding up 5 fingers for 5 slices.  There are a few brands the same as North America, like Activa yogart and I noticed they had Tide detergent.

I'd packed a box of good ol' Kraft dinner and that's what we had about 8pm last night.  Nice taste of home except made with cream instead of milk!  We had an excellent nights sleep after watching fireworks from our balcony.  Not sure what that was about but we had a great view.

Today we'll take in a walking tour to orient ourselves to this beautiful old city.

Berlin

River Elbe

Gemany's House of Parliment

Part of Old Berlin Wall

We had no expectations of Berlin and have been blown away by this city.  The history and architechture is amazing.  We did the Best of Berlin walking tour today.  Left the hotel about 10:30 and didn't finish up until 6pm!  We did stop for lunch and an afternoon break thankfully.  The hotel guide was a young man, originally from Leeds, England who has been living in Berlin since 2005.  He studied conflict journalism at university and was certainly well versed in German history.  It wasn't so much a sightseeing tour as a history tour detailing both the Nazi rule and the Cold War years.  Excellent tour that we would recommend to anyone visiting Berlin.

Beer is really cheap here, perhaps we should be staying longer. :)  you can buy a beer at any store for about $1 and walk the streets with it.

Back at the hotel now which overlooks a busy square.  I noticed an art gallery across the street, (city is full of artist's and galleries) which is having an exhibition.  Just looked again and apparently men are on display as well as some artwork.  There are 4 young men in their underwear in the window posing!  Europe is so much more liberal than North America!  Yes, girls I've taken soom zoom shots but having trouble uploading any photos on the current internet connection.

There is live music in our hotel lounge tonight that we'll take in for a bit; nice way to end our quick stop-over in Berlin.  Next stop Prague.

Berlin

Loved the train ride to Berlin today.  Eurail pass is the way to go.  Riding 1st class with tons of room and comfort, very different than the plane ride over here.  Saw tons of wind turbines in both Netherlands and Germany.  Why hasn't this caught on in Canada?

Berlin train station is huge and modern but no problems getting a taxi to the hotel.  Walked around the neighbourhood a bit and ate an organic, typical German dinner right in this little hotel.  Tomorrow is a Berlin 6 hour walking tour!  Great way to work off the delicious German beer and wine. :)

Amsterdam

Not sure where the times goes... Amsterdam has meant late nights for us and not very conducive to blogging.  We've really enjoyed our time here; it's a great city, lots to see and do.

Tuesday, still recovering from all the walking on Monday, we opted for a sightseeing tour via bus, which included a diamond factory tour.  Very interesting but Denis wouldn't let me buy the $310,000 necklace I wanted.  After the bus tour we took the canal tour which was even better and offered a ton of photo ops.  The canals are what make Amsterdam so unique and engaging.  Oh yes, Denis insisted we visit the Sex Museum!  I'm pretty sure Amsterdam is the only city with a museum like this. :)

Tuesday night we met Sherry's friend Donna and her friend Karin for dinner at lovely restaurant, Theeboom, http://www.theeboom.com/index.php/en/information.  What a great night.  The food was excellent and the company even better!  I think we were at the restaurant for almost four hours, enjoying a 3 course meal and lots of good conversation. I'd have to say it was one the best meals I've ever had!  Donna and Karin, despite it being a work night for them, accompanied us to a night club that  was on Denis' list, Bourbon Street.  Good thing or we'd never have found the place.  Although Amsterdam is not that big it's quite confusing to find your way around.   The girls stayed for a drink then headed home on their bikes.  Denis and I manged to find our way back to the hotel an hour or so later and saw some more of the Red light district on the way.   The ladies looked a better than the ones we'd seen the night before.

Wednesday we had thought we'd head out of the city to the sea but the weather wasn't on our side so we rented bikes in Amsterdam and cycled the city for about 4 hours.  This is a great way to experience Amsterdam and bicycles definitely rule here.  The city infrastructure is well set up for bikes and it's how most people get around.  We really enjoyed ourselves and the rain held off all day.  (although we both had sore bums after all that bike riding!)  We found a great market where we bought a few things including some local cheese for the train ride to Berlin.

A rainy morning, perfect for sleeping in.  Got a late start to the day, and managed to go to the gym in the hotel (Sherry/Sharon!)  Went to a little pankcake place for breakfast, where the owner walks up this narrow, steep, sprialing staircase with 4 plates and 4 glasses of juice.  Amazing! 

We did the Heineken Experience which takes you through the history and walks you thorough how they make the beer.  It was very interactive and interesteting and of course there was free samples.  We met 9 Canadians during our tour...funny, how Canadians gravitate to beer!

Had our first look at the Red Light District...Denis figures if you have to pay by the pound, it would be pretty expensive. :)  Could be it was the early shift.

By this time we'd been walking since noon, so sat down, had a beer in the smallest bar in Amsterdam(that's their claim to fame!),  dinner at a "Mexican" restaurant, then stopped for coffee and now hitting our room for a relaxing night with some wine for me and more Heineken for Denis.

Almost forgot..Denis has an upper lip.  He shaved except for what they call a soul patch, (we are in Europe!)  Picture of Den taken at Heineken Experience, dedicated to his father-inlaw.

Amsterdam

Arrived in Amsterdam about 8:30 this evening, May 15th.  Hotel is awesome, very modern and clean.  Rail station and city is full of drunken football fans as Ajax, (Amsterdam football club) won their country league championship today.  We've been for a bite to eat and will start to explore the city tomorrow.

I haven't had much chance to write in the last couple of days.

We spent Thursday with my Aunt Joan and Uncle Jim.  Lovely country drive through beautiful country side and lunch at an old pub called The Flying Fox.  Yes, I had fish & chips again. :)  From lunch we went to a garden center and walked around there for a bit before having tea in their conservatory.

Friday my cousin Mark picked us all up and we toured around a bit more, taking in some of the villages Susan and I remember from when we were kids, including Norhill where Susan used to go riding.  We even managed to find our old house in Biggleswade where we lived before moving to Canada.  Back at Mark's we had the chance to meet two of his daughters and their children.  Mark has 3 grandchildren  and of course Denis had Jake, age 4 pretty wound up in short time!   They are lovely children and Mark and his wife Sue have every reason to be proud parents and grandparents.

Sad to say goodbye to Susan at the end of the day but it has been great to spend some time with her.  Yesterday we did a bit more family visiting with Marks Mum, Eileen and her sister Mabel. (As well as a pink parrot called Penny!)

Mark and Sue brought us to Harwich yesterday afternoon with the Man U vs Blackburn football match on the radio.  I'm happy to report Man U won the Premiership Championship.  Denis was proudly wearing his new Man U jersey!  Looked like like a proper Englishman.

The Tower Hotel was just how it looked on the web, which is always good!  After saying another sad goodbye to Mark and Sue, we settled in and had a nice dinner in the pub at the hotel.  |And no, I didn't have fish & chips this time!  We're up bright and early after a good nights sleep and leave this morning via ferry for Amsterdam.

We've had a great time in England, lovely to see all the family and the gorgeous English countryside and now looking forward to the next country.