- GREAT BRITAIN AND EUROPE 2006
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CONTINUING MY JOURNEY AND ADVENTURES
My Trip through Great Britain and then Through Europe
MY TRIP TO GREAT BRITAIN BEGINS – June 2006
June 16th
Woke up at 7.30 checked mail and had my breakfast. Today I am going to sort out some day trips.
I got my days a bit wrong here a little confused really, I start out on my bus tour tomorrow
morning, so have 1 more day here to explore. Tomorrow will be a very early start I get a wake up
call at 5.45 have to have my bag outside the door by 6am then breakfast 6.30 and the tour
begins 7.20. Yesterday I think I saw the rest of the people arrive who are going on this our. Most
of them looked like fat old white American women HA but hey they are probably very nice
people. And the BAGS here I am worrying about my little bag they had enough to sink the
Titanic. My legs and shoulders are aching from all the walking and carrying my heavy bag. My
legs feel like I have run a marathon.
Yesterday I was trying to find the terminal where the bus tours start out from for the day trips
around London. But you know me I walked the wrong direction. I was going to ask at reception
but there were too many people waiting to be served and I thought I will just go and find the
place on my own. But No went the wrong direction. My friend Joanna told me last night I needed
to head the other direction so this is probably what I will do today.
My room here is very nice, small but nice, I have everything I need here, but a single bed which
the first night I almost fell out of because I haven’t slept in a single bed in years.
But the room has a nice bathroom, a desk and internet connection, an electric jug and a small
fridge. I am very comfy here.
I had a lovely night out with Joanna and her husband, they are really great company, we didn’t
really venture to far away from here, just went to a local typical English pub with a nice garden
bar in it. There were so many people there when we arrived, I guess everybody had an after
work Friday night drink, but Albert Jo's husband soon found us a table and it was great. We had
a meal sitting outside and the weather was just perfect. Then a couple of young English guys
came and joined our table and we started chatting. They were interesting people. One of the
guys had just been to Germany the day before to the Cup. I see England beat Trinidad. But they
guy said the West Indian fans over there really made the game, they had their drums and were
singing and he said they made the English fans look very boring.
At 10pm we were told we had to go inside the pub as that was the rules. I guess so as not to
disturb the people in the surrounding apartments. So we went inside but it was so packed with
people you couldn’t move. We decided to go and sit in the park over the road, so we sneaked out
with our glass of wine and sat in the park. The boys put their beers down the front of their
trousers but one of the bent down to pick up his bag and it all spilled all over his shirt, After that
we went off to a hotel bar where Joanna books all the celebrities into when they are on tour. Oh
that is her travel job, she works for EMI record Studio and do all the stars travel bookings so she
gets to meet lots of celebrities. We stayed in this bar until around 1am then both Jo and I were
very tired plus it was very smokey and I started to just want to go back to my hotel, so we caught
a cab and they delivered me back here all safe and sound. They are such a cool couple and I am
just so glad I bumped into Jo.
June 21
I just got home, it was a good night and my friends and I made some friends with a couple of
young English guys. Went to a couple of bars, had the traditional english fish and chips and
mushy peas for dinner but I didnt really think it was quite what people make it out to be. I think
good old Kiwi fish and chips is just as good. But it was fun. Only problem is they smoke in the
bars over here in Good O'l England so came home stinking of smoke, I hate that, I am glad it is
illegal to do this in NZ
Anyway very tired, I think I must be getting old but then Joanna and I drank 2 bottles of wine
between the 2 of us plus a couple of Baileys so that is my excuse.
Tomorrow night is my last night here at the hotel before I start on my adventurue thru Britain. I
saw most of the people that are going on the trip today, what a sad old bunch of americans they
are.
I begin my tour through Britain
June 17th
42 People on the bus mainly from the US and Canada. A couple of Ozzies and one Kiwi Family. I
think my favorite places in the UK would have to be York and Edinburgh Castle. We did the
Robbie Burns evening with the Haggis etc that was fun. Then we crossed the Channel over to
Belfast. I didn’t like Belfast at all but we were only there a short time. We traveled down to
Dublin, I loved it there. From Dublin we went on down to Waterford then finally crossed back
over the Channel to Wales.
June 24 2006
I am in Wales tonight. Tomorrow I head back to London there for the next few days then off on
my Europe trip. I will know exactly where I will be and what hotel I will be at once I arrive in
London because my travel agent has hopefully sent my itinerary on to my hotel there. She has
said she has done this so I guess tomorrow I will find out.
Today we crossed from Ireland to Wales on the Ferry. It took 5 hours but was a pretty smooth
crossing. I actually prefer it to be rough and wild because I get kind of bored when the water is
to flat. Because I had been out last night then ended up in the bar in the Hotel until 1am and had
to be up at 5am I was very tired today. I had a little sleep on the ferry but only 15 or so minutes.
We went to some old ruins of an Abby in Wales when we got here then tonight went out for
dinner but it was pretty boring. The dinner I mean, the food was OK and I sampled the local beer
it is called Brain, never heard of beer with that name before, last night I was drinking Guinness
then Scotch shooters
BUT today the old bag on the bus finally got under my skin just a tad to much and I ended up
yelling at her in front of everybody on the bus. It sort of went a stony silence, this old bitch at
been pushing her luck with me for days and tonight because I was so tired and also because I
have had enough of her senile stupidity I let her have it. But not in my full force but enough to
make her take a couple of steps backwards as did everybody else on the bus LOL Ooops Oh well
the Irish do have a reputation for firing off when annoyed.
By now I had seen many old castles Monasteries and Ruins but all very interesting. On the way
back to London we visited Bath – the old Roman Baths and Stonehenge.
June 26th
I have made it back to London. It is pouring with rain and to be honest I am quite homesick the
last couple of days.
I find my tickets and Itinerary have not turned up for the Europe trip so off on another rampage,
finally $150US dollars later from taxi rides I track down my stuff at a totally different hotel to
where I am staying. I was pretty pissed off about this and I ended up in the Centre of London
totally lost in the pouring rain. I wandered around for a while trying to find a bus back to my
hotel here, one turned up but wouldn’t open the doors to let me on, they were only letting
passengers get off not on, and I had bought the ticket, you have to pre buy the tickets before you
get on the buses over here. After walking around for nearly an hour trying to find the right stop
that would take me back to my hotel I gave up and grabbed a cab hence more money. It is so
expensive over here and so many people, even worse than NY.
Anyway alls well that ends well and I am back in my room with my itinerary and Tickets and
now I can plan what I have to do next. The next hotel in London looks like a really nice one, this
one is OK but they are very limited on their English, most of the people are eastern Europeans
and their English very bad.
The Persian lady I met on my Britain but lives in Toronto, we were supposed to be having dinner
together tonight but because I got lost in Central London we didn’t catch up and she is leaving
for home tomorrow.
Spend the next couple of days in Kensington enjoying the shopping. Yes I have now become
addicted to the clothes shops. Met up with Dearne from Sheridan and Joanna once again. It was
nice to talk to people from home.
Then set off for Holiday Inn in central London. But it was a bit away from the shops, maybe a
good thing. The next day was a half day tour of London sights.
MY JOURNEY THROUGH EUROPE June 29 - July31
I arrived at Holiday Inn Kings Cross Road (my hotel for two nights). I had been staying in
Kensington after completing my Great Britain tour.
A representative for EVAN/EVAN Tour Company came to the hotel to line up our next day
morning tour and hoped to sell us an afternoon packet too. I just accepted the morning tour as I
wanted to be free the spend the afternoon just exploring.
June 30: A few of us who would be on the tour congregated in the lobby for our London tour.
There was a couple from America, and Donna from America who was to be my companion thru
out this tour 2 Canadian ladies, a fellow Kiwi from New Zealand and myself. Donna I asked me if
I would like to sit with her.
We went to see Westminster Abby and then the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
We stood for quite a while waiting and watching the changing of the guard. I saw Queen
Elizabeth leave in her car. I just missed it. Finally when it was time to leave and head back to
the bus Donna felt real weak and clammy. As I pushed the crossing button to go across the
street to get on the bus, I fainted. I fell and hit my head and got a gash. The next thing I knew I
was looking up at a bunch of strangers. Of course there are lots of police around the castle, so
there was one handy. He summoned the ambulance. I was loaded up!
We sat at the corner for a long time while they ran all kinds of test for heart conditions, thyroid
levels, diabetes etc. The Queen went by again so I got her picture. I had picked up Donnas
glasses and climbed on board the ambulance with me. We eventually wound up at “Guy’s and St
Thomas’ Hospital” in the minor injury unit. They again ran all of the same tests several times. I
fainted at noon and did not get out of the hospital until 4:30.
Donna and I took a taxi back to our hotel. The driver did not know how to get to our hotel. He
had a GPS system but had to borrow a ball point pen to stick in it to make it work! Donna took
me out to a Greek supper in a sidewalk café within walking distance of our hotel. Off to bed early
because we will be up at 4:45 a.m.
July 1: We met the 32 people who will be on our tour and our tour director, Raymond Row. I do
have a roommate…Amelia a 23 year old young lady from New Zealand. We picked up our boxed
breakfast and drove to Dover and took the ferry to Belgium. We picked up our tour bus and
driver, Peter. We soon found out that the bathroom breaks were going to cost us from 20 to 50
euro at most of our stops. At least the “wash closets” were clean.
After arriving in Amsterdam we checked into the Dorint Sofitel Amsterdam Airport Hotel.
Almost everyone gets around on a bike and there are bike parking garages like we would have
for cars. We took a canal ride. The houses along the canal were tall and not very wide. They had
rope pulleys attached near the roof to pull furniture up. After dark, we took a walking tour of
the “Old Sailors’ Quarters”. Girls pay for a window to display their “wares”. “Coffee” houses sold
drugs that legalized in Belgium. We ate dinner at 9:00 in the hotel. Short night!
July 2: A great breakfast and we were on the road to Cologne. We stopped in Antwerp for a tour
of the diamond factory. We toured a cathedral in Cologne and then went for a cruise down the
Rhine. I sat next to a livestock judging team from Hays, KS. (small world). We saw several
castles, pretty villages, farms, vineyards and churches. The churches had roosters on them. Was
that to remind the parishioners to get up when the rooster crows? Our hotel was very noisy and
we had to leave the windows open because we did not have air-conditioning.
July 3: Drove to Switzerland. We ate at indoor/outdoor café at our hotel. Then we walked to
another café and listened to Swiss Folk Music. Our hotel had no air conditioning so our windows
had to be open (street side).
July 4: We cruised on beautiful Lake Lucerne and then took a cog train ride to the top of Mt.
Pilatus. We ate lunch on the mountain top and then had a gondola ride back down the mountain
to Lucerne. We had 3 or 4 very hot shopping hours. We are in the same hotel as last night. Italy
won the soccer match. Idiots were driving their cars, honking their horns and yelling until all
hours of the night. We heard some of our tour members voices in the mob. No Sleep!!!!
July 5: After leaving Switzerland, we made a quick stop in Liechtenstein. Donna and I ate a
delicious apple strudel. Latter we stopped in Innsbruck at the Basilica of Wilten. I took pictures
of ski jump (used in Olympics) church and the cemetery. We went to the main part of town to
shop. It rained, hailed, lightening and thundered. We went up the mountain and had a horse
drawn wagon ride through the woods. The ride ended with a stop at a café for a choice of joy
juice or hot chocolate.
Our hotel in Innsbruck had very windy halls. It was very easy to get lost. I headed off to be at 9:
38 to hopefully catch a bit more sleep.
July 6: We went to Salzburg and Hitler’s Eagle Nest retreat. The scenery was gorgeous from
the Eagle’s nest but it was pretty eerie being where he had been. In Salzburg we toured the
formal Mirabella’s Garden. The priest’s “non wife”, Mirabella, was the mother of his 16 children.
Bus loading seems to be running a bit late. Perhaps some of our members were at the pub a bit
late last night. We are staying two nights at the Bellevue Hotel in Vienna. We have been
warned to watch our bags and purses carefully.
July 7: We toured the Schonbrunn Palace and Treasury of the Habsburgs. It was gorgeous. Lots
of gold leaf decorations. We took a city tour of a city treasure museum which housed beautiful
crowns, ceremonial robes and hand sewn priests’ robes with silk and gold thread. The thread
had been used to “paint” intricate pictures of people. We had 2 or 3 hours of shopping time but
after lunch Donna and I sat in a park.
Dinner was at a quaintly decorated restaurant in the country. It cost 99 euro, so it should have
been great. I think a lot of the money was for those who drank as much as they wanted!!!! After
dinner we attended a Mozart Concert. In addition to the music they had two dancers who
waltzed and did ballet numbers to the music. A male and female also did several vocal
numbers. Some our tour members were a bit loud and obnoxious after the dinner whine, beer
etc.
July 8: We were on the road from 7:45 to 5:00. We went through the very rugged Dolomite
Mountains. There was lots of sand and rock erosion coming down the mountains. Northern Italy
is a faming area. They raised corn, wheat, veggies and lots of grapes. We stayed in a very nice
villa outside of Venice. We can walk to a grocery store and also go for walks along the walking
paths. We will drive into Venice tomorrow and then come back here to stay again.
July 9: We drove to near Venice and then parked the bus and took a boat into the city. The first
stop was at the glass blowers. Then we shopped around the square and had a sandwich and
fresh fruit (and later ice cream). We toured St. Marks Cathedral, The Doges Palace and Bridge of
Sighs. The last activity for the day was a gondola ride with serenading gondoliers. Then it was
on out boat for our trip back to our bus.
July 10: A long bus trip from outside of Venice to Rome. We started at 7:45 and arrived late
afternoon. We took a walk around Rome. We walked in streets that had been used by chariots
and people thousands of years ago. There were many lovely fountains and spectacular
buildings. Our Canadian buddies, Marcelle and Evelyn were taking some pictures!
July 11: Today we toured many Roman buildings…St Peter’s Basilica, Roman Forum, ancient
wall, Coliseum and the catacombs…all thousands of years old. Dinner was in a lower level room.
It was loud but very funny. One of the waiters loved to kiss the ladies for various reasons. Two
musicians played. After dinner we took a walk in the city and threw our 3 coins in the Trevi
Fountain.
July 12: We started with a guided tour of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums.
Michelangelo’s paintings were the main emphasis.
There were beautiful tapestries, inlaid marble tables etc. that the church has stock piled plus
many more suspected in the basement. They have over 20,000 visitors a day.
We had a long ride across the spine of Italy. We saw millions of olive trees and grape vines. The
fields had little rock huts the farmers had made over the ages to use as a shady place to siesta
during the hot afternoons.
We boarded the ferry at Bari for our overnight trip to Greece. The bus was driven on the ferry
by a nervous Peter. Our room was noisy and chilly.
July 13: Our breakfast was in the “formal” dining area this morning. It consisted of cornflakes
and hard rolls. The cereal was already in our bowl. The waiters poured our milk and there were
8 or so hard rolls to share at the table. YUM!!! We were on the boat until almost noon. We
docked at Patras and resumed our bus trip.
We finally stopped around 2:30 for a quick lunch and a look at the Corinth Canal. Our hotel is
nice with shops around. The group will be staying here for several days while sixteen of us in
our group go on the extra 3 day Greek Island Cruise. Those of us going on this tour went on a
quick tour of Athens and the Acropolis and Parthenon, the rest of our tour group were going to
do this tomorrow after we set out on our Cruise.
We went on the underground tour Greek Dinner. We were served many little courses before the
main course (bread with toppings, stuffed grape leaves etc.). Chicken Kabobs and then fresh
fruit finished the meal. Most of us walked home after eating.
July 14: Excellent breakfast in our hotel. We departed at 8:00 for our Greek Isles tour of Athens.
July 15: Cruise
July 16Cruise
July 17: Our The cruise group joined up with the others again. We went to Delphi and ate lunch
in the villa restaurant. The heat was over awing so Donna and I didn’t get quite as adventurous
as most of the group and walk all the trails to the top of the hill. Then we headed back to Patras
for our return ferry trip. This crossing was quieter and not so chilly. I guess we learned from
our last trip.
July 18: Another cornflake breakfast and we were ready to get off the ferry around 10:00 and
head to Pompeii. Around 20,000 people lived there at the time of the volcanic eruption. Around
2,000 to 2,500 died from the fumes, ash, and flying rocks. It was a sea port but now is more than
2 miles from the sea because of deposits from the eruption.
Tonight we are staying at a Holiday Inn in Naples. There are ugly fruit stands across the street
in front of the hotel. The buildings were much nicer out the back door of the hotel. They were
relatively new but looked like a lot of them were vacant. There were many children who lived in
the apartments using the streets and plazas as their playground. Naples is reported to be a
rather rough city. Dinner is in the hotel tonight.
July 19: We went to an inlaid wood factory. They had beautiful items. I loved the gaming
tables. We drove along the Amalfi Coast. The road was very windy and had short turns. Peter
did an excellent job. Our guide, Raymond and Peter did not exactly agree on which road to take
to our lunch spot on a working farm. We finally made it and watched a mozzarella cheese
making demonstration. It was 4:30 when we finally ate. It was kind of a strange lunch…pasta,
pasta, tomatoes, tomatoes, and CHEESE.
We took a tour of the city in our bus. The motor scooter guy/gals were CRAZY. Some tried to
pass on our turning side. Then we saw one scoot between two trolleys coming from opposite
direction. We drove on the trolley tracks when they were not in use. Dinner was at 8:30 in the
hotel.
July 20: Long trip from Naples to Florence. We went to a leather “demonstration”. All of our
“demonstrations” have yielded very expensive items. We think the tour or tour company get a
kick back on items for bringing us to all of them.
We shopped for about 4 hours. It was very hot. I did buy some Christmas presents. We saw the
David and the unfinished works of Michelangelo
We are staying tonight in an old hotel on way to Pisa. We got in late. We ate late (around 10:
00). Went for a short hot walk and then off to bed.
July 21: We drove to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and the Baptistery. Then we drove along
the Italian and French Rivera. We stopped at Monaco and saw the palace, gaming building, and
lots of expensive yachts and cars. Our hotel tonight is part of a country club complex.
July 22: Early this a.m. We went to the most photographed village in France. Mark Chagall is
buried in the cemetery. Next we stopped at Cannes, home of the film festival. We ate lunch
there and some swam at the beach. Tonight we have an elegant dinner & drinks at/by the 3
Corniches.
The dinner was very yummy. Ham/melon appetizer, Beef Burgeon, ice cream & fresh
strawberries. Miranda was drunk as usual even Denny from Tasmania. The ladies from Canada
will remember “knickers”. We had a gorgeous drive down the roads along the Rivera. There
were many huge houses, yachts & private jets.
July 23: A long trip through France and into Spain. Tonight we are in Barcelona. We went to a
Flamenco Restaurant. We enjoyed wonderful food and desserts. Then we watched the
Flamenco dancers…2 men, 5 ladies, 3 musicians and 2 or 3 singers. They were excellent.
On our way back we stopped to watch the dancing water fountains and lights with the president’
s home on top of the hill in the background. The promenade also had fountains all along the
way. Vince and Connie were late and Raymond had to go searching.
July 24: Visited several churches in Barcelona. Then to a jewelry/leather store for yet another
“demonstration. Then we were off to Montserrat and the Black Madonna. Their plantings
included:
Palm Tree for Lashings
Cypress Tree for Eternity
Olive Tree for Peace
Laurel Tree for Victory
July 25: Long boring journey from Barcelona to Madrid. Often the countryside was very dry,
hilly/mountains, valleys with farms and fruit trees.
Everyone seems to live in apartment buildings. There are cranes around both cities building
more and more and more apartments.
At 6:45 we went on a city tour. We walked in a park etc.
We ate dinner in the square around 10:00 (Donna, Marcelle, Evelyn and I). Madrid is much
prettier than Barcelona. Many unique buildings were built by the rich for homes etc. We went
to the train station that was bombed. We are constantly told to watch our bags and purses
though. There are many people coming here from Africa etc.
July 26: We went to Toledo, Spain (former cap.) and renowned for its iron and gold works. I
bought a little Christmas gift here. We ordered a late lunch in a bar/grill with very slow
service. We toured a very old and beautiful church (probably the one I liked best of all the
churches we toured) and stopped in a nunnery. We took another tour around Madrid but we
were getting toured out. Six stayed for the Padra Museum, others went shopping and would
catch a bus back to the hotel and 5 of us went back to the hotel. Donna and I took a walk to find
some dinner. No one opens up until 8:00 p.m. due to their afternoon siesta. The waitress did
not speak English. We pointed to an item on the menu and she waved her arms and said “Bock,
Bock”. We thought we were getting a chicken sandwich but instead it was a scrambled egg
sandwich!
July 27: A long journey across dry Spain. It was more mountainous, green and prosperous in
the Basque area in the northern part of Spain. We entered southern France and were soon
driving by large cornfields, rather neat little villages and farm houses.
We arrived in Lourdes around 5:00. We left the hotel at 8:30 for the torch light procession. It
was raining heavily, thundering and lightening and the wind was blowing. Our candles got wet
and blew out. We went back to the hotel. There were lots of people there in wheel chairs etc.
July 28:
We went for an early a.m. walk before breakfast in Lourdes. It was still misty. The river ran
right in front of our hotel. The business of the town seems to be the tourist coming in search of a
miracle.
A little way outside of Lourdes we stopped and toured Betharram Caves. We walked, boated
and road a train out. The tour guide was a lot of fun.
We arrived in Bordeaux around 5:00. Tomorrow we head to Paris…our final stop.
July 29: We stopped in a village for a.m. break and larger village for lunch. A large dike divided
the city and river. After arriving in Paris around 5:00 we took off at 6:30 for a city tour including
Notre Dam. We each found a place to eat for dinner after the tour. Donna and I ate in a very
crowded little café.
Next we were off to the Eiffel Tower while it was still light. We went to the second level and had
a wonderful view of the city from all sides. The tower lit and we watched the lights twinkle
every hour on the hour for 10 minutes. We went to a vantage point to take a picture at 11:00.
We were home at 11:30. We were very tired. Donna and I even tried to move to the 5th floor
instead of the 6th. Oops!
July 30: Went to the Louve for a quick tour and saw the “Wings of Victory, “Slaves”, “Mona Lisa”
and a few other masters. We went on a monorail to Montserrat…a little hill with church, tourist
shops and that was about it. Amelia, Donna and I had a pizza. It rained like crazy when we were
about 30 minutes before departure time. We got back around 3:00 and since it was Sunday all
the shops and mall in the area were closed.
The Can-Can was interesting. It was kind of like a variety show and had excellent
entertainment. There were a couple of dances where some of the gals forgot their tops though.
A few of the group indulged too much in the liquid refreshments…Miranda, Mick and Henry…to
mention a few.
July 31: The Canadian ladies and Donna were dropped off at the airport at 7:45 a.m. I
continued on with the rest of the tour group on the bus and we continued back to the port to
catch the ferry back across to Dover and then a Bus ride back to London.
On arriving back I jumped off the bus and Raymond hailed me a taxi for my departure from the
UK and the end of my European Tour. Tonight I was heading for Dubai then back home to NZ.
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