Day 41 - London

Wow, what a day! I can’t believe we did so much. Carly and I started the day by going for a little wander around the neighbourhood in which we find ourselves…and a very nice area it is too! Lots of lovely houses and gardens, very much like the scenes in Notting Hill. Speaking of which, that was our first adventure for the day.

 

Carly’s friend Carley is living in London and (was) volunteered to act as tour guide for us today in London. She started off brilliantly by conducting us on a walking tour of Notting Hill, reliving many of the scenes from the movie (one of my all time favourites). We saw the famous blue door, the private garden they invaded, the markets in Portobello Rd and various shops and houses depicted in the movie. I was actually surprised that they were all close together and pretty much placed as you would expect them from the movie, just around the corner from each other. It was great fun chasing them all down.

 

In the middle of that we also managed to find a very lovely café and have a wonderful breakfast – porridge, omelettes, crepes…the stuff of legends. It was then a lesson on buying an Oyster card and topping it up with funds to ride the underground for the day. Next we were off to Camden to check out the markets and the lock before we were back once again on the tube heading to Leicester Square to buy some theatre tickets for tonight. After some discussion we decided on “We Will Rock You”, bought the tickets and finally sat down to some lunch at a restaurant on the Square. The desserts were amazing!

 

Some more wandering found us at Trafalgar Square, the M&M World store, Oxford Circus to view the Christmas lights before we farewelled Carley as she was travelling to Amsterdam for the weekend (as you do) and needed to get to the airport. A better guide we could not have hoped for!

 

Carly & I were then back on the tube to have a look at Harrods which was extraordinarily crowded and hot! Nevertheless purchases were made and we were heading back to Tottenham Court Rd Station to get to the theatre as it was now about 6.30pm. All the bars and pubs were too crowded and we were still full from lunch so we simply went in and sat down in our seats. Although it was pretty early our feet certainly appreciated the rest!

 

The show was amazing! Absolutely incredible! We were singing and clapping along and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was then back onto the tube for the trip back to the hotel where we finally arrived at about 11pm. What a big day…and a great day!

 

 

Day 40 - Glasgow to London

We took it easy this morning and took our time, finally checking out about 10.30am. As we were walking into town I noticed that my jacket was falling apart so what else could I do but buy another one? The homeless guy out on the street seemed to appreciate the donation of my old one so it was a win win situation I believe.

 

We spent a pleasant hour or so at the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens. It gave a social history of Glasgow which I found very interesting.  After educating ourselves we walked back into town, bought another macaroon each (yes, we’re officially addicted), and then had a yummy lunch of fish and chips at a pub. It was then back to the hotel to pick up our bags, a walk to pick up the shuttle bus and then the flight to London. Once again we battled the underground, though this time we had to change lines and negotiate stairs with our heavy bags. I just keep telling myself it is all part of the adventure!

 

So we found our hotel where we have a great room with 2 double beds and 5 days ahead of us in London!

Day 39 - Glasgow

It takes some getting used to – the late sunrise. When we awoke we swept open the curtains to greet the new day to find our view of the motorway packed with early morning traffic but pitch black as if it were midnight…and it was 7.30am. It stays really dark and then suddenly (at about 8am) it is daylight, and in the case of today, the sun was shining. Yes, the weather continues to smile upon us against all the odds. We were discussing it today and in the last 39 days we can only recall a total of a few hours of rain…and only 20 minutes of that was heavyish, the rest was drizzle.

 

After another scrummy breakfast (I love the automatic pancake making machine!) we headed off on foot to get to town by 10am where we joined the Hop On Hop Off bus to do the full circuit. This took 1 hour 45 minutes and was really good. I took heaps of photos (ironically the sun was not helpful as it put a glare on the window of the bus) and enjoyed the recorded commentary. I really love Glasgow and hope to come back one day to look at some of these gardens, museums and other assorted attractions. We can use the bus ticket again tomorrow and may have time to see some of what’s on offer.

 

We met David, Sheila & Derek at midday for lunch and had a wonderful time. Davey had a reunion with Greg and Alex (ha ha) and we had so much food there was no chance of ever getting through it all though it was very nice indeed. It was great to catch up with them and hopefully we’ll catch up with them again in Australia soon.

 

 

 

After lunch we did a bit of shopping on the way back to the hotel and Carly discovered she had not mastered the Scottish accent to quite the extent she had first thought. As we were coming out of Tesco a fellow was collecting for charity and said something like “Any small change for the hospital?” Carly said “Pardon?” to which he repeated himself and she still had no idea and said “thank you”, wondering why I was killing myself laughing as we walked down the street. Anyway, we rested in the room for an hour and watched some game shows (The Weakest Link and another bizarre word game) and then headed back into town to go to a movie. We saw Gambit which was not at all what I expected – quite a strange movie. We came home via the Christmas Markets (again) and devoured another macaroon each – they are awesome.

 

So it was just a jam roll and fruit for dinner – too much food earlier in the day. Last night in Glasgow tonight and then it’s back to London tomorrow.

Day 38 - Edinburgh

After a fantastic night’s sleep Carly & I enjoyed our gourmet breakfast (gotta love the Hilton!) and then headed off to investigate how to get to Edinburgh by train. It was very easy in the end. We walked for about 20 minutes, bought our tickets and at 10am we were on the express train headed for Edinburgh. The weather was again very kind to us – no rain, slightly overcast and about 6°. I can honestly say I never thought I would describe 6° as mild but after Austria and Switzerland it doesn’t seem too bad!

 

It was a very pleasant journey of about 50 minutes flying through the lush green Scottish countryside. We had reached Edinburgh Waverley Station by 10.50am and were ready to take the town by storm. After stopping at the tourist information kiosk for a map and some advice, we hot footed it up some stairs and a pretty steep hill to find ourselves at the famed Edinburgh Castle. The views were amazing and Carly and I spent ages trying to take a “selfie” photo that included the castle in the background…in the end we gave up, though you can sort of see a bit in the corner of the photo!

 

 

 

Carly is a bit over castles so we decided not to pay the £15 entry fee and just admired it from the outside. We then walked down the Royal Mile towards Hollyrood Palace, stopping at just about every souvenir shop on the way (and if you’ve been there you will agree that’s some serious shopping). We admired the architecture, the occasional church and the odd statue or monument as we continued down through the Old Town. We stopped at a pub for lunch where Carly had an awesome beef stew – check it out!

 

This was but a brief respite and we were back out in the cold continuing on our walk to the palace. We circled the grounds, took a few photos and headed back up towards the shops – Carly is over palaces too so we admired it from afar only.

 

It was then over to the New Town and some serious shops that all seem to be beautifully decorated for Christmas. By 3pm and almost 4 hours of walking by mutual consent we decided to head back to the station for our return journey. The trains run every 15 minutes so we had only a few minutes to wait before we were heading back to Glasgow – a great service.

 

We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to call in to the Christmas Markets on the way back to the hotel and grabbed some fudge and two of the nicest coconut macaroons you have ever tasted – Carly says she has to go back tomorrow to get more. We were in our room by 5pm where we watched a strange game show called The Chase, went downstairs for a pizza in the bar, and then chilled out, resting our tired tootsies.

We are meeting David, (my friend from work), and his family, tomorrow for lunch which should be really good so I’m quite excited to see them again. We are also planning to explore Glasgow a little further.

Day 37 - London to Glasgow

We are so clever! Once again we made our own way from the hotel in London to Heathrow on the Underground AND when we arrived in Glasgow we caught the shuttle bus into town and found our hotel with no trouble at all. What seasoned travellers we are. We are staying at the Glasgow Hilton as our travel agent found us this amazing deal…and I must say it is a cut above where we have stayed up to now. It has an indoor pool, Jacuzzi, gym, very nice rooms and I’m sure we’ll have a lovely 3 days here.

 

Our flight was delayed slightly and we arrived at the hotel at 2.20pm, dropped our stuff in the room and then headed off to grab some lunch at a nearby pub, the Bon Accord. Lunch was amazing – I had an incredible thing that was vegie sausages, mashed potato & gravy all in a massive “yorkie” or Yorkshire pudding.

 

We then saw that there were some markets at the other end of the city so we hightailed it through the shopping district just to discover that the Barra Markets had just packed up when we arrived at 4.15pm. Oh well – we got slightly lost and stumbled upon St Andrew’s Church so it was not a wasted trip.

 

We wandered back through the shops and were excited to see that there were also some Christmas Markets that we had previously missed. They were fantastic but unfortunately we weren’t hungry after our late lunch so we only bought one small French pastry. Hopefully they will be open again while we are here so we can go back and eat some of the yummy food. I had never heard off or seen Christmas Markets before but they have been on or about to open in many of the countries we have visited.

We got back to the hotel at about 6pm and decided to do some washing and generally take it easy and plan our next few days. I love Glasgow!

Day 36 - Amsterdam to London

Very early start today as Patricia wanted us to beat the traffic to make the 12.30pm ferry from Calais to Dover…so we were on the bus at 6.45am (that’s right…6.45AM). It was a fairly uneventful trip as we travelled through Belgium, though it was difficult to know what anything looked like as everything was shrouded in fog once again.

 

We did have a brief stop and we managed to grab some Belgian chocolate – what can I say…when in Rome…you can’t be in Belgium and not try their chocolate! We made it to the port in plenty of time and were on the boat by 12pm after saying our goodbyes to Patricia & Rocko. It was incredibly empty – there was hardly anyone on the boat besides us so it was easy to grab some lunch and relax. It was a good crossing – no problems with the high winds that were predicted.

 

Eventually we sighted the white cliffs of Dover and we were soon off the boat and transferred to a new coach for our drive to London. We were told this would take 2 hours but it was three and a half hours before we finally made it to our hotel. Grabbed some soup in the bar for dinner while we used the Wi-Fi to look at what we can get up to in Glasgow where we fly to tomorrow.

 

Day 35 - Amsterdam

Today it was raining! What a shock – we have been so lucky with the weather so far so we couldn’t complain. It actually stopped by about lunch time which was when we were mostly out and about so once again luck was on our side.

 

We left our hotel at about 8am and headed off towards the Netherlands. After a brief morning stop, our first destination was a diamond factory in Amsterdam where we were treated to a demonstration and explanation regarding diamonds. Unfortunately they weren’t giving out free samples…

 

We then had about 45 minutes to grab a bite to eat so after some brief souvenir shopping CJ and I decided to try the famed chubby hot dog which was very nice indeed.

 

We then departed for a cruise along the canals of Amsterdam which lasted about an hour and a half – lots of photo opportunities. This was followed by a walking tour of the famed red light district – no photo opportunities as this is greatly frowned upon and they come out and bash you if you take photos. It is always an experience to see the girls in the windows though you do feel somewhat of a perve as you walk down the streets with 47 other people in tow! We also checked out the “Coffee shops” – I think you could get high just breathing in the smoke as you walk past…

 

After the tour finished we were allocated some free time and Carly and I literally raced to Anne Frank’s house to go to the museum there. We were able to spend about 45 minutes there before we ran back to the meeting point at the allotted time. I had been there before and knew it was worth the effort to see it and Carly agreed it would be one of the most memorable times on the trip.

The group then gathered for our farewell dinner as this is the last night of the tour. It was all fun and good to reminisce about the best bits of the last 4 weeks. We have an early start tomorrow with a 6.45am start time on the bus so we can get into London at a reasonable time. Hopefully I can sleep then!

 

                                                  Our tour director, Patricia & driver, Rocko

Day 34 - Germany

For some strange reason on this 27 day tour of Europe we only spend 24 hours in Germany and most of that is in the bus travelling from Switzerland to the Netherlands. It’s a shame because I have really enjoyed my time in Germany in on previous trips and Carly won’t really get to see much of it.

 

Anyway, today was perhaps the least exciting day of the tour so far. We spent just about all of it on the bus and our first two stops were on the motorway – a 30 minute morning stop and then a 45 minute lunch stop. All this after a 7.30am start!

 

It wasn’t until 3.15pm after following the Rhine River along for some time that we stopped for a cruise on the river. Unfortunately the boat took exactly the same course as the one we had taken to get there so we didn’t actually see anything new. Oh well, it was a change from being on the bus! There were lots and lots of castles overlooking the river but we learned they had all been destroyed by Napoleon and re-built afterwards so they weren’t quite as old as they looked – very impressive none the less.

 

After the cruise we did get to wander for 40 minutes in the small village of Boppard so that was nice. It was a really cute place with the obligatory cobble stoned winding streets but had the added attraction of fronting the beautiful Rhine River and being surrounded by lovely scenery. 

 

We arrived at our hotel (which is randomly the Holiday Inn at Cologne Airport!) at about 6.30pm and just had time to wait for our bags to arrive before it was time to head down to dinner. Another quiet night tonight - filling out our feedback questionnaires for Cosmos and generally re-arranging our suitcases. Last night of this tour tomorrow night and then it’s back to London!

Day 33 - Lucerne

It was another chilly start to the day with a foggy mist hovering somewhat over us. Not the ideal conditions for a scenic lake cruise…but, hey, you can’t do anything about the weather! So we walked from the hotel for 5 minutes or so to Lake Lucerne where we boarded a boat for a 1 hour cruise. The misty conditions meant we were unable to fully appreciate the mountains around us, but we were able to see the immediate surrounds of the lake. It was very cold out on the top deck of the boat so we mainly huddled inside where it was very pleasant indeed.

 

 

 

After the cruise most of our group were heading off to Mt Titlis for an optional excursion to the top of the mountain. This did not appeal to Carly in the least and I had done it before so we decided to give it a miss and spend the day in Lucerne instead. There was a large painting of a chairlift thingy in our room and that was the closest Carly was getting to that mountain!

 

We spent the morning shopping – checking out watches and swiss army knives. Just about every shop has an abundance of both – I’m sure it is mandatory to sell these items for anyone going into business here. We also ran into Julie & Lyn, some friends from our group, and had lunch – some yummy goulash soup – it was nice to sit down and rest for a little while.

 

It wasn’t for long though and then after dropping off our purchases we went for a long walk through some residential streets, finally ending up at the river and following it back to the lake, passing the old city walls and towers on the way. It probably took us 2 hours but was worthwhile as there was a lot to see. Our feet were very sore though! Not too sore to discourage us from hitting the supermarket on the way back and stocking up on Swiss chocolate.

 

A bit of a rest for an hour or so, dinner at the hotel and it was back to the room to pack and prepare for our departure tomorrow. I have loved Lucerne – it is a really pretty place.

Day 32 – Innsbruck

We woke up to blue sky – that’s right, the fog was history and we realised that we were literally surrounded by snow-capped mountains. What an amazing sight! So we watched the locals scrape the ice from their windscreens as we waited for the bus – it was 0°…but the sun was shining so that was a plus.

 

It was just a short drive from our hotel to Innsbruck where we entered the older medieval area of the city and were excited to find that the Christmas decorations were up. These mainly consisted of depictions of fairy tales and were pretty cool. We then went to the Swarovski exhibition (and shop) and spent a pleasant hour or so oohing and ahhing over some pretty nice stuff...oh, and buying a bit of it too. An hour or so wandering the streets was quite pleasant – it is amazing to be walking along a street and then glance up to see a mountain towering over you – quite incredible.

 

 

 

So it was back on the bus to head off towards Switzerland but before we had left Austria we stopped at another awesome road-side restaurant – these places are fantastic – and had a farewell Wienner Schnitzel for lunch. Another hour or so on the bus found us in Liechtenstein, a small principality, where we made a brief stop and then it was on to Lucerne, Switzerland.

 

Unfortunately the fog had descended once again just after lunch so we missed out on some scenery but hopefully it will be clear tomorrow so we can see the Swiss Alps for ourselves. When we arrived we made a short walk to the famous Lion Monument honouring the 400 or so Swiss soldiers that were killed in the French Revolution. After settling in to the hotel room we ventured out and found a large supermarket where we grabbed some stuff for an easy dinner back in the room – some fresh fruit (clementines!), yoghurt, and umm…choc chip cookies. Well, it was sounding healthy there for a while.

 

Back in the room we did some washing, watched some very weird shows on TV – How I Met Your Mother dubbed in German, and some trashy MTV shows with German sub-titles, and generally chilled out. Tomorrow should be all about chocolate, watches and Swiss army knives…oh, and a lake cruise – can’t wait.

Day 31 – Salzburg

So the day dawned…well I guess it did, but who could tell, it was so foggy! We had a fair drive to Salzburg, leaving at 8.30am, making a 30 minute stop along the way and then arriving at about 12.30pm. I would like to say that the scenery was breathtaking…and I’m sure it was…it was just that we couldn’t see it through the thick blanket of mist that shrouded everything. None the less it was a pleasant drive and at least the sun wasn’t in my eyes!

 

Unfortunately my cold had worsened somewhat overnight so as well as pretty much being voiceless, or at the very least quite croaky, I also felt pretty crappy with a headache and fever. But in the true spirit of soldiering on CJ and I set out to explore Salzburg. It certainly looked very different to how I remembered it. This was mainly, I think, due to the fact that it was 2° and not 32°! Yes, it was freezing and despite being well rugged up our faces and noses in particular, were very cold.

 

So we wandered around the shops with Carly going in to thaw out occasionally – I still found it way too hot inside so mainly did mini dashes in and out. We went to a random Irish pub for lunch and ordered a cheeseburger which turned out to be a frozen one microwaved out the back and served on a paper plate. It was actually surprisingly tasty and I guess you can’t expect too much for €3.

 

In addition to shopping we did a bit of sightseeing but did not attempt the climb up to the Abbey as it was shrouded in fog, I was fading fast, and we also probably didn’t really have enough time. Ditto for the gardens – it was just too cold to face the walk. I did manage to point out a couple of other Sound of Music sights but frankly I could have told Carly anything as she is not an SoM connoisseur and would not have known the difference.

 

Importantly we found a pharmacy and I was able to stock up on cold and flu tablets to keep me going. Thankfully Carly hasn’t succumbed to the dreaded lurgy yet and I hope it stays that way. We got to our hotel in Innsbruck about 6pm, had dinner at 7pm and then it was back to the room for a nice warm bath and an early night. Not sure how cold it is expected to be tomorrow, but hey, I’m sure we’ll cope with whatever it is.

Day 30 - Vienna

I had a good night’s sleep thanks to the cold & flu drugs CJ gave me. This was especially good as a number of bruises have started to appear after my famous “stack” on the Venice boat the other day and it is a bit hard to get comfy in bed.

 

So we awoke to a cold morning with a thick fog which lasted all day. The locals seem to think it may snow soon. We rugged up and jumped on the bus at 8.30am for the short drive into the city to meet our local guide. We then had a two and a half hour tour where we drove around, getting off a couple of times to get a closer look.

 

 

The first stop was at the Winter Palace of the Hapsburg family – some very impressive buildings indeed. The guide was very entertaining and told us all about the fortunes of Franz-Joseph, Sisi, and, of course, poor old Archduke Franz-Ferdinand who managed to be the catalyst for the start of WW1 by being shot by that Serbian dude. She also regaled us with stories of how bad the European Union is and, as just about every guide we have had agrees, she hopes it will not last and the Euro will be abolished.

 

Our second stop was to the Johann Strauss Museum which was also very interesting. The museum was actually in the house where he lived and had some original sheet music, musical instruments and other memorabilia from his life.

 

Our last stop was at St Stephen’s Cathedral, a magnificent church both inside and out. We then had over 3 hours free time to just wander about. We went to the famous “Christmas Markets” where we marvelled at the goods but managed not to buy – they looked beautiful but also very fragile and unlikely to make it home in one piece. After a while we found a cute restaurant called Chattanooga and had some Austrian looking wraps with a name that was so long it almost went off the page of the menu – unpronounceable name but very nice. Thankfully the menu had pictures, otherwise we would have had no clue what to order.

 

We then wandered around the city which was pretty crowded considering that all shops (except restaurants and souvenir shops) were closed because it was Sunday. Every time we went inside a building I had to strip off as it was so hot but Carly’s feet and hands had gone numb despite 2 pairs of socks and leather gloves so she needed to regularly thaw out. We ended up compromising with me waiting outside while she browsed inside. Our internal thermostats are clearly very different!

 

We met up at 3pm and headed back on the bus to the hotel for a quick breather before heading out again at 5pm for our optional excursion to the Vienna Woods. After a short 30 minute bus ride we had (apparently) reached the famous Vienna Woods. We weren’t really sure as it was a) dark and b) extremely foggy, but we took Patricia’s word for it. After alighting from the bus, we walked through a tiny, quaint village and then arrived at our ultimate destination – a small tavern where we were to experience a traditional Austrian evening. We were entertained by a guy on the violin and another on the piano accordion who were very festive and encouraged us to sing along and dance. As well as some traditional waltzes they played classics such as Edelweiss and Waltzing Matilda…let’s say they knew how to play the crowd!

 

It was a very entertaining evening with ample food (including strudel), lots of wine and much fun and frivolity. My cold is progressing nicely and after tonight I fear I may be losing my voice…and we go to Salzburg, Sound of Music country, tomorrow – this would be a disaster!!!!