Photos!

If any of you are still reading this, you can access a small portion of our photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/craigrossiter/EuropeanVacation02. We will be adding photos occasionally as we find some worthy of your time.

We Made It Home...Craig's Thoughts

We arrived safely in Vacaville after a long day of travel, even though we left at 9:40 AM from Berlin and arrived in San Francisco at 4:30 PM! But we have been up for 26 hours. Funny how that works. It was a great trip with lots of memories and experiences. Ending in Berlin was fitting for me, because I got to spend some time with my best friend from high school, David Fayram, and his wife Nancy who are teaching high school in Berlin this year. And Berlin is such an amazing city. I found it so moving to see how the city has suffered so much, but is so vibrant and alive. During WWII, 70% of the city was destroyed. While many reminders remain, so much has been rebuilt. Even now, construction continues all around, and and we saw an eclectic but poignant mixture of architecture from the Nazi's, the communists, as well as old original buildings reconstructed and new ultra modern structures. Reminders of how horrible we can be stand side by side with examples of how good we can be. I think I will need a few more days to reflect on what we learned so that it has a chance to really sink in. Check back for some final thoughts from Carol and me, and in a few days I will get some photos uploaded for you viewing pleasure--I will provide a link here in the blog.

Hi from Berlin, Germany and Craig's friends Dave and Nancy Fayram!

Hi everyone, well this is our last evening in Berlin. Off back to the good old US of A tomorrow morning and 10 hours of coach seating. But it will be worth it.
Yesterday after we saw Karen and Stan off on the bus to the airport, we decided to go walking and we found ourselves outside the Charlottenburg Palace after a 45 minute walk. We went in and did the tour. They had the audioguide M3P players with earphones and explain everything. By the way I stand corrected. This palace along with pretty much all of Berlin was leveled during WWII. But they had done such an incredible job of reconstruction, it was hard to tell. the palace was huge but not ornate. Most was reconstructed and most of the furnishings were lost, but the rooms that were saved and the room saved were beautiful. This was the home of Queen Sophie Charlotta, the first queen of Prussia in the 1700's. We saw a lot of black and white pictures of what it looked like before the war and their attempts of reconstruction and replicating the beautiful designs were amazing. But it just goes to show you that in war no one is the winner at it was our bombs against the Nazi empire that destroyed such a beautiful treasure. We then walked outside and walked around the gardens. Even though this is the middle of October it is bloody cold and I mean cold here, especially when the wind blows. I am wearing several layers with two jackets, mittens, a scarf and hat and the cold wind cuts right through you.
About 2 p.m. after we got back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. (We walked for 5 hours and was I pooped), we got a call from Dave and Nancy who were returning from an Italy vacation and we were going to meet them in front of the Russian Embassy and then go to their house together. 3 trains later we finally found them and headed south to their house. They have a lovely apt. south in a suburb of Berlin. Thats all I can tell you. We watched some of the Rugby World Cup. South Africa won. I think I am going to check out Rugby at home. It looks like a cool sport.
Today we got up and Dave and Nancy wanted to take us on a walking tour. So we started out with a train back up to the huge glass covered Sony Center. We found out that it is hollow inside with a huge covering that kind of looked like a huge tent out of fabric material. But the center is a monster with restaurants and shops around the bottom on the inside and offices above. Then we headed back over to the Brannenburg gate via the Jewish memorial. this memorial was soooo coool. From the street it just look like several gray slabs of cement of various heights which were suppose to represent tombstones over Jewish graves. But what you don't realize is that when you walk down inside, there are rows and rows of these, no two are exactly the same shape and the paths inside drop down to where the stones are a good 5 feet higher than your head (whereas at the sidewalk they are just a slab about 6 inches high.) So when you walk down inside, you are surrounded by these grey stone structures. All I could think of what it represented how the Jewish people must have felt locked up in the concentration camps, considered to be all alike as a people. but if you looked closely, the stones were all slightly different demensions and shapes. Thus the Jewish people maintained their own identity while locked in a unified prison camp. It gave you goosebumps to think beyond the immediate impressions.
We then walked over to the Brannenburg gate and saw in stones in the street where the Berlin war wall ran through the street.
We walked over to the Reichstadt building. This is their central government building and the other day didn't have time to stop to check it out. But today we stood in line and got to walk up to the observation glass dome they have in the center on top. From the outside you can see that its a circular ramp you can walk up several feet above the building for a fantastic view of the city all around you. The first thing that struck me was how many cranes are around the city with construction or reconstruction. And on a business day, you can look down the center into the chambers of their government and watch them at work.
By this time even Craig is freezing and so was Dave and I, so we found a tourist shop and the three of us bought Berlin black pullover sweatshirts to add to the layers. I finally started to feel warm but the wind is so cold. While we were standing in line to go up the Reichstadt, there were a few snowflakes. They are afraid they will have a very hard winter.
They then took us to the Bebelplatz square where before WWII in the 1930's in front of the Humbolt University (where Einstein worked before moving Harvard in 1932) the government encouraged students to burn any and all books that was contrary to the facists theme of government that was taking hold in the country. There is now a plaque there of a famous poet who made a statement a hundred years earlier, "Once you start to burn books, next will come the burning of human beings." How prophetic, that this poet had no idea what was to come with the WWII.
We then saw a famous sculpture Kathekollwitz sculpture. You walk in this big empty building except for the marble mom sitting holding a huddling dead son with a saying in the ground in front of her "There is sacrifice with war and violence". what is interesting is that above her in the building there is a round hole in the roof so that when it rains only on her statue, it looks like she is crying. the public have put flowers in front of her on the ground. its quite something.
Then they took us to the Pergamon Museum. We didn't stay long but we went in and saw huge statues, sculptures and artifacts from Assyria, Babylon, Greek and Roman times.
It was a definite wow.
Then we walked over to where they are restoring a walkway made from old pillars of stone, but what was amazing was that these stones had not yet been patched. The patching is to cover the bullet holes left over from the fighting during WWII.
Then they took us over to a part of what was East Berlin behind the wall and saw an ally way of old apts. that showed how runned down, drab and trashy it was to live in East Berlin, then they showed us an alley way that had been refurbished with decorative tiles and fresh paint. The difference was amazing.
Finally we ended up at the Gendarmait plaza with two domed churches and the concert house in the center. near by we found a famous chocolate store. I was in heaven.
They took us to a good German Cafe to eat dinner. Our waitress was from Boston and was moving to Tempe Arizona next week. She was so exited to get out of the cold!
Finally, its about 11 p.m. here and our wonderful hosts are tucked into bed. They are here for two years teaching English in the local school system and need to get up early for work tomorrow. But they were very proud to show us Berlin and we are very grateful for our stay with them.
I can't believe 5 weeks has come to a close. Our lives have been so enriched by all we have seen, experienced, tasted, and heard. It's obvious that we want to come back and learn more about Europe. We are so grateful for all of our wonderful travels and shared it with Karen and Stan. We had a great trip and look forward to coming home and seeing our dear family and friends!
Talk to you soon. For now, much needed sleep and rest our weary traveling feet!
Love from Carol and Craig to all of you at home. See you tomorrow!

Hi from Berlin, Germany

Hi everyone, wow today is the end of our fifth week here and we just saw Karen and Stan off on their bus to take them to the airport and home. Karen was excited to see the good old USA again and everything in English.
We are spending another day in Berlin before heading south this afternoon to stay with Craigs friends Dave and Nancy Fayram. Craig grew up with Dave in Concord.
Yesterday we went on the City Center sightseeing tour around Berlin. These hop on hop off buses are great if you dont have much time and want to see a lot. We first headed east of town and were immediately struck by how modern the city was. We then learned that 70/80% of Berlin was leveled in the WWII. Everywhere we went there was still new construction. We found out in London that they had just been able to pay off all their debts from WWII and had started a lot of reconstruction around the London area. So it seemed to be the same with Berlin. Plus a lot of foreign companies have come in and built skyscrapers, not tall but big. Sony, Japanese, has a huge glass multicomplex building in the city that really stands out. So their opera buildings and foreign embassy buildings were all new, or at least 60 years old. But once in a while you would see what looked like a pre world war building that had been able to survive and reconstructed. They had left what was left of a tower of a church as a reminder of the horrors of war and built a new church next to it. They have interviewed grandchildren of WWII generation and they all say We don't know where Berlin is going, it's in a state of constant building and change, but we do know where we were and we NEVER want to go there again. Its kind of sad to watch how 2nd and 3rd generations of WWII are trying to survive their horrible history and develop a new one of their own. But they are trying.
We first went to Check Point Charlie. This is quite a tourist attraction with the original border building still standing. It was surrounded by tourists, like ourselves, taking pictures. I was excited to find a gentleman who stamped our passports with commenorative stamps from WWII era. For a fee, of course, but it wasnt bad. Craig and I then went into the Checkpoint Charlie museum they had right there and it was incredible to see all the black and white pictures and read personal stories on every wall of how the people tried to escape, how some succeeded and how some failed. I learned a lot about the history of the wall and how it worked. What was really interesting was the museum was filled with young German teenagers who were actually studying their history and were interested in what happened too.
We then went on to their DOM church, main church, and it looked like the original old building, the outside was spectacular but we couldn't go inside to see what we were sure was beautiful. But by looking at all the postcard stands with black and white fotos of 1945 Berlin and what wasn't left, we realized that a bomb dropped in the middle of the church and so a lot of what we were looking at had been rebuilt.
We went then on to the Brandenburg Gate. This was built in the 1700s and Napolean, Hilter and other conquerors have marched under this arch. But what was sad that it ended up behind the wall which existed from 1961 until 1989. It became a symbol of freedom when the wall was finally torn down. It would have been exciting to be here when the wall came down as there was tremendous emotion as East Berlin was liberated.
Finally, we made it to Charlottenburg Palace. We don't know much about this as it was late and we couldn't get in, Craig and I are thinking about walking back there today but it was named for Queen Charlotte I think in the 1700s and survived WWII as it was in West Berlin.
We have had a spectacular time in Europe. We are not sure what we will do with Dave and Nancy tomorrow before we have to catch our flight early Monday morning. But there is so much we want to come back and see in more detail. We only scratched the surface but we still feel that our traveling views have again expanded as we have learned a little more European history and culture. We have loved it here.
We have missed you something awlful and so look forward to seeing everyone soon! We will be home late Monday afternoon and Karen and Stan are picking us up at the SFO airport.
Love from all of us to all of you.

Hi from Berlin, Germany!

Hi everyone, Well we are in Berlin. We had a long ride on our ICE train. It took several zigs and zags between Frankfurt and Berlin. But when we were on straigaways it was rolling smoothly along at 150 mph. We could have a drink on our little table in front of us, play cards and write journals while moving along at 150 mph. It is something to see the countryside zip on by very, and I mean very quickly. We noticed that the southern part of Germany was very mountainous and beautiful but the farther north you come, especially around Berlin it is flat as a pancake and a lot of farming country. I am going to find out how cold it gets here in the winter and how much snow. When we got to the Berlin main train station and found the i information station,we found that we were quite a ways from our hotel. Couldn't walk it and the local train and bus connections were complicated. So it cost us 20 euros to get a cab, 10 euros per couple. But it was worth it. We found out there was a Hard Rock Cafe in Berlin just down the street, so off we hiked to find it. We had good food and Craig and I split a piece of one of the most decadent and ooy gooy of chocolate cake we've had in a long time. OOOOOOhhhhh the withdrawals when we get home and go back on the calorie wagon!
We can tell that we have distinctly gone north in Germany. It is very cold here. Also the main street we walked along was loaded with every possible upscale shopping store you could imagine. Cartier, Gucchi, Channel, etc. But fun to window shop.
Berlin is huge, and by the map even the tour bus tomorrow covers a lot of territory. With one day the hop on hop off bus is the only way to go.
Saturday, Karen and Stan are leaving and looks like it will be early and an expensive cab ride to the airport. There are two and quite a ways out of town. I am not sure what Craig and I will do as we will be coming in from Dave and Nancys, our friends here we are staying with the last two nights before coming home on Monday. We have to figure out how to get to the airport from 45 minutes outside Berlin and be at the airport at 7.30 a.m. Monday morning.
We found out that just last week, Germany passed a country law that there is no more smoking in restaurants. But there must be people that haven't gotten the message as we still see smoking everywhere inside and out. The culture here is based on smoking, I swear, and it will be very difficult for them to have any restrictions on them.
Miss you all and hope you are well. Love from all of us to all of you.

Hi from Frankfurt, Germany

Hi everyone, well we were trying to decide what to do for one day in Frankfurt, and found a tour company that took you out to the Rhine River. We have found out that Frankfurt is probably not a city that we will return too. On our walk this morning by the Main (pronounced mine) River we found their Dom which is there main church. While it was really pretty, all around it was modern buildings. Yet just in front of the church we found what was a Roman bath ruins that had been uncovered dating back to before Christ. As we were walking around what looked like a very small version of "old town" by this church, I found postcards. I wanted one of the Dom church but also found a black and white showing the Dom church in 1945 and the whole city around it was rubble to the ground. We found out on our Rhine tour this morning that Frankfurt was pretty much leveled in WWII and they built a new modern version. So in this postcard from 1945, the Dom church is still standing while everything around it was gone. You could say that it was unbelievable luck that random bombs didnt hit the church, or divine intervention. Who knows. Even their old town is only about 60 years old. They had pictures and tried to reconstruct some of the buildings to look like they did before the war. But Frankfurt is a city of commerce. No tourism. Even the locals during the winter leave. It gets to a minus 20 celsius and all the locals leave and go to warm countries (Mexico, South Amercia, Australia) for 6 months. Its cheaper for them to leave for 6 months than stay in Frankfurt during the winter. So its swamp with tourists here because of the Rhine River in the summer and there is no one here in the Winter. So we took about an hour ride in a bus out to the Rhine River area. We went to what was called the Rhine Middle Section. The river is very long and we only did a small part. We stopped at this one citý and saw a hugh monument they have by the shore of a lady they call Lady Germania. Then we rode a ski lift from up above by her down to a small town called Assmannshausen and had lunch at a local restaurant. Then we got on the huge tour boat and took off in the north direction. We passed several castles along the shore. Some were restored. A couple were ruins. Some were youth hostels or hotels. All were very old dating back to 1000, 1100s and 1200s. We then went down past the Loreley point (the singing siren that lured sailors on the Rhine to their deaths). and caught our boat and returned to Frankfurt. It was a lovely day even though it threatened to rain.
We have been so lucky with the weather. So far (knock on wood) we keep dodging the rain. Tomorrow its suppose to rain, but we are on the train to Berlin so rain away!
One of the things about their trains here. You have to be sssooooo careful around the platforms. When we have been standing at a platform waiting for our train, you have to brace yourself. If one comes through before your train and its not suppose to stop at your train station, it doesnt slow down by the platform. Whatever speed it was doing when it arrives at the train station, it maintains the speed and whizzes through. Its downright scary at times. And we have been on our trains when they whizz through a station without stopping. Its scary to watch the platform fly by. Also, when your are waiting for a train, when it arrives, you have to be ready to get on as its not there very long before it leaves. But their trains are so efficent and definitely on time, so they know something we dont.
The temp. is getting colder and all the trees are turning to yellow and dropping around here. I would love to see Europe in the spring.
Last night Craig was reading and went to turn on the bed light by his side of the bed when it blew with sparks. the whole room went dark. Well not actually dark, as through the curtains the lights from the buildings across the street lit the room up as well as our lamps. But we lost all power. He tried to call the desk but no one answered. He was nervous to go out in the hallway for fear that he had blown the whole floor. But it was just our room and they came and tripped the circuit breaker.
We will definitely looked at American things at home in a completely different light. (Pardoned the pun!)
Love to all, miss you loads! Love from all of us to all of you.

Hi from Frankfurt!

Hi everyone, we are in Frankfurt, Germany. After i sent my email this morning, we walked downtown one last time and found a tower of a church with an overlook, so up we went! 295 stairs later, sweating and huffing, we came out on the top. What a view in 360 degrees. It was great.
It took all afternoon to get to Frankfurt. Our train came in the south terminal of the city and we found out we needed to get to the main terminal of Frankfurt, so we had to negociate the ticket system to catch a local train (very much like BART) to get to the main train station. Our hotel was just across the street. We are getting very good at hauling our suitcases behind us.
If I have learned anything, its think small on a European trip. I had already downsized my suitcase once before leaving, and after 5 weeks of hauling my medium suitcase around, I wish that I had brought a carry on size case. There have been many times where there was no elevator in the hotels and we hauled suitcases up flights of stairs. Or jumping on and off trains. You have to be fast, they dont wait for you when opening and closing their doors. So next trip, small and small.
Talk to you soon. lots of love from Germany!
By the way, Karen found a cool Hummel. It was a little boy at a gate ringing a doorbell for Doctor Muller. He had a bandage on his right forehead and holding his left hand on his other side of the forehead. It was great, as Stan and Karen have both hit their heads on this journey. Perfect way to remember Europe!

Hi from Munich!

Hi everyone, miss you all a lot.
On Sunday, our train ride took most of the afternoon. Karen and I sat up toward the front of a car where the seating was minimal (probably for people with bikes and heavy luggage). But the view was great. sometimes this preferable to riding backwards with a backward view out the window. Well, this would be a good time to talk about the intricacies of how to work European bathrooms. Craig took a good five minutes trying to figure out how to lock the door on this particular bathroom on the train. When he finally figured out the buttons, he then explained it to us. As Karen and I were sitting up in this front part, we were also sitting by the bathroom door. No surprise there, I realized that I became the bathroom monitor. It wasnt just us that couldnt figure it out. Even the locals were stumped. So as each person walked in (it was a big one for handicapped). Ýou could see puzzlement on their faces. The doors usually have the open and close buttons on them, but this one had open and close and lock buttons on the side wall. So I couldnt stand watching them struggle and there was no translation needed to show the open, close and most importantly the lock button. But each time we use a public bathroom, these buttons along with how does the water turn on, what do you push to flush the toilet, how do you dry your hands, and more always has us chuckling as we exit. Every single one is different and we do a lot watching others first to figure it out. Craig loved the one in Como where the doors opened and closed with a whoosh like a Star Wars space ship, and then when you were done, locked the door and sprayed the whole bathroom with water to wash it down. Other places where there is attendants, they take pride to keep them clean and when you are done, they are right in there behind you, making sure they are clean for the next person. Its really quite amazing to observe their workings.
Okay, we arrived in Munich. We got here in the afternoon, and immediately started checking the tour brochures as we only had one full day here. We finally found one that takes you out to the castles. But they were closed. So yesterday we were up and going by 8 a.m. at the train station to find the tourist office opened at 8. We found a tour bus that took you out to two famous castles and made the bus by 10 minutes. It was packed and we sat in the very back but we were excited to make it.
First we left Munich and got on the Autoban. Now I have heard a lot about this, but when we got on it, it wasnt that bad. The buses have to go no more than 65 mph in the slow lane but we found that most cars didnt fly by. An occasional zipper flew by but it didnt seem that scary.
First we went to Castle Linderhof. It was smaller, but when you got inside, it was opulent galore. It was built by King Ludwig II, the last Baviarian king. He loved French architecture and design and had barroque design everywhere. It was beautiful with gold carvings, statures and gold framed paintings on walls and ceilings.
We then made a quick stop in a town for shopping, there were tons of tourist stores here and our tour guide recommeneded three. It was obvious he knew the people but it was still fun to walk around and check out the stores.
We then went onto the next castle. Castle Neuschwanstein. This is the castle that everyone sees in postcards perched up on a mountainside looking like a fairy princess castle, and its the one that Walt Disney used to design the castle in Disneyland. We got to a lower parking spot for the bus and then hiked up (and up and up). But the view of the valley below was incredible. We then went on the tour inside. Again this belong to King Ludwig II and he loved Robert Wagner music so all the design inside reflected his operas and stories. But what was interesting was only about 1/3 of the castle was finished. For some unknown reason they had this king declared insane and shipped off to another castle where he was found drowned in a lake with his doctor the next day, all at the age of 40. Many speculate there was nothing wrong with him but policital intrigue looked for an excuse to get rid of him, so it could have been murder or suicide. No one knows. As the money for the castle building came from family money, I am suspicious they had had enough of his extravagant spending and called a halt. So we only toured the finished parts but wow, unbelievable extravagant furnishings and tapastries, and carved oak wood. We went way up in the castle and the views all around took your breath away.
We finally came down, got back on the bus and 2 hours later at 6:30 p.m. we tiredly returned to our hotel. Exhausted but thrilled at what we had seen.
We then returned to the Haufbrauhos restaurant again. Good German food. I loved their version of meatballs and mash potatoes. Craig ate pigs knuckle, he loved it. We sat in the non smoking section, but out in the main dining hall, the beer was flowing freely, with cigarette and cigar smoke. They were having a great time, as a band played.
Walking around Munich, you dont see much "old town" with 4 or 500 year old buildings. WWII destroyed much of their old town and they tried to reconstruct a lot of it, but it is more of a modern city to explore. But we found a pedestrian walkwaz with every possible expensive store you could imagine.
So today we are off to Frankfurt. Wont get there till later this afternoon.
We miss you all so much. Love from all of us to all of you.

Hi from Salzburg, Austria!

Hi everyone, wow, is Salzburg a beautiful city. I forgot to mention yesterday when we were at the church in the center plaza area, they had a section chain linked off and it looked like there was archaeological digging going on. What we found out was that they had discovered human bones in an old cemetry that the original church had been over and later the direction of the church had been changed. So they had uncovered what looked like square stone pillar bases and we saw two sets of workers laboring very diligently with small paint brushes over exposed human bone skeletons. It was cool to watch.
Well today we got up and caught the Panoramic tour bus that in the morning took us out to a salt mine about 45 minutes from town. Being a little nervous about going under ground in anything that resembled a cave, my mind was at war about not wanting to miss anything and getting the heck out of there. Well this tour was coooolllll! We rode a train car in (after we dressed in overalls over our clothes). We then traveled deep into the mountain where they had drilled for underground salt deposits. We walked around looking at the drilling equipment and you could see the salt right in the rock. It looked red because of iron ore deposits. Apparently they would look for large deposits, flood it with water, and then the pockets would sit for 30 years as the brine would settle out. We took a boat ride across one of these large ponds of settlement. It was kinda creepy but cool at the same time. We also got to go down two actual wood slides. You would sit on your butt just like Splash Mtn. at Disneyland and then slide down quite a long slide to a lower level. We got to do this twice. They showed us a pump that had runned for 110 years (1817-1927) without any breakdowns. Amazing technology for several hundred years. We've got pictures of us going down the slides. Pretty funny.
Then we came back and went on the Original Sound of Music Tour. This was actually cool. We had a tour guide who knew her stuff. We drove around Salzburg and saw the bridge and grass bank where they played in the drapes clothes. We saw the Mirabell gardens where they go around singing the Do Re Me song, saw the Abby up on the hill (hope to go find this abby tomorrow) for all the Nun scenes that is still an actual abby for Nuns today), then we went out for a drive to see all the lake district. We saw about 5 of about 50 lakes with all their local villages. Gorgous! We stopped at Mondsee lake and village where Julie Andrews married Christopher Plummer in the beautiful wedding scene. Saw the church, wow, and several more scenes. Plus we saw so much of the countryside. It was a full day but we loved it.
Our days are full and we get tired. But we are trying to cram in as much as we can in our short stays. But boy do I have dreams of where i would love to come back to.
Anyone is welcomed to come watch the Sound of Music at our house, just be prepared for "we saw that! we saw that too!" (just kidding!)
Miss all of you a lot. Hope you are all well. Love from all of us to all of you.

Hi from Salzburg!

Hi everyone, we are now in Salzburg, Austria. Wow, the home of Mozart and chocolate. Speaking of chocolate, I am going to go through serious withdrawals when I get home. There have been some days when I have chocolate 3 times a day. Some hotels had croissants with chocolate in them. Then we would find chocolate stores that were just calling us by name to stop and buy some, and then of course you need a chocolate chaser after dinner. We are walking so much that my clothes seem to still be fitting fine. But as soon as we get home, things will not be the same so I am going to enjoy it now while I can!
Yesterday we spent most of the day just getting here from Innsbruck. Today we did a walking tour around the old town. Their main cathedral was gorgous inside. We love to go in and check out all the different architecture and craftmanship in how they design their churches. No two are alike. Also, we saw the baptismal fountain that Mozart was baptised in. There were horse drawn carriages everywhere. We didnt do one today, I hope another time. There are a lot of upper class stores in the old town but its fun to window shop. But I draw the limit at €129 euros for a Porche wallet. This afternoon we rode a funicular (like the cog wheel trams) up to the Hohensalzburg fortress. It was huge and the original foundation was started in the 700s and as each ArchBishop in the church came along they built and expanded the buildings to form a huge fortress up on the mountain top overlooking the city. The views were spectacular. It is like the landmark for the city of Salzburg.
Craig is going to type now:
Time is short here at the Internet Cafe, so I will save my comments on transportation for another time. About Salzburg--it is a fairytale kind of place. Looking across the rooftops this afternoon as we rode up to the fortress was way better than Disneyland. The church towers and other old architecture is fascinating. We stood in a square today called Residenz Plaz, and listened to the Glockenspiel plaz--35 bells that are operated by a mechanism built by a watchmaker 400 years ago. It has been a blessing and a treat to see so much history. And there is so much that we don't have time for!
Back to Carol---
We feel like there is so much to see and not enough time. We know that we are only scratching the surface. But heck, there are always more trips in the future!
Tomorrow we are heading for a salt mine, Salzburg means salt city. Then in the afternoon we are doing The Sound of Music tour. We thought it would be cheezy, but Rick Steves actually recommended in his 2007 book so we're going to try it.
Love to all from all of us.

Hi from Craig, still in Innsbruck, Austria

Austria is a beautiful place. I just finished walking around through part of old town, and the old architecture is just beautiful. Many of the buildings hear are 500 years old and very well maintained. I really like it here. But, I really need to elaborate on the way things work. The public transportation is wonderful--efficient and on time, the water is fresh, cold, and plentiful, and the plumbing is, well, top notch. When we were in London, the toilet in our hotel had a problem, but since I didn't have a chance to do a decent survey, I will reserve judgement. But ever since, there has been no such thing as a second flush, and I say that after sampling flush efficiency in five countries. Maybe they have a lot of water here, but let me give you a good example. In our current hotel, the toilet has two buttons on the wall. They aren't labeled, but I have concluded from experimentation that the big one is for #2, and the small one is for #1. As you might guess, the #1 button uses less water, which makes the whole system quite efficient and effective. And when the situation calls for a #2 flush, one time is all you need. Why can't we have this technology in the United States? When it comes to bathroom plumbing, we are behind the times. Another remarkable unit was the public restrooms in Bellagio, Italy. They cost .5 Euros to use, but the entire interior of the restroom was cleaned and sanitized automatically between each user. Awesome!

Tomorrow we leave for Salzburg, Austria, and more beautiful scenery, nice people, and good food. Last night I had Wienerschitzel with salad and roasted potatoes. Delicious. You may hear from Carol next--she is napping right now. But I will take the opportunity to elaborate on transportation in my next post. Auf Weidersehen!

Hi from Innsbruck, Austria!

Hi everyone,
Well we are in Innsbruck, Austria and we are still doing great. During our second day in Como we went out for the taxi ride on the lake and saw wonderful villas on the waters edge. We rode up to a big villa called Bollagio with gardens and walked around. But we messed up on the time to come back and so we just rode the taxi boat back. didnt have time to get off anywhere else. But the taxi ride was great. Clear weather and warm breezes. Lake Como is like a huge upside down letter Y and it took several hours just to do one section of it.
The next day we took a local train down to Milan. What an incredible city. It was waz bigger than we expected. We walked from the train station down toward the Duomo which is their big plaza with their huge cathedral. what we didnt know what that this church is the 3rd largest in the world. The outside is ornate in Gothic style and unbelievable detail. The church inside was dark and dark stone but very tall and I love the gorgous stain glass windows. the colors are so vibrant when the sun shines through them, I could stare at them forever. We then walked through a huge fortress that is in the center of town that a Viscount built in the 1300s.
We have been on the move and staying busy.
But yesterday we took the train from Como to Innsbruck and we went through ´Zurich. It took 4 hours to get there and then 4 hours to get from Zurich to Innsbruck. We were exhausted last night but we got a train this time with an actual compartment. Like what the kids ride in going to Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies.But the train system is great over here and its too bad that Americans cant figure this out, because the pollution over here is so much less.
Today we found another sightseeing tour bus around Innsbruck and we took trams up to the mountain peak called Hafelekarspitze at about 7000 feet. It was something to stand that high and see the Austrian alps to the north and south and could determine where Switzerland and Italy was from up there. Is is so easy to find a perch on a wall and just sit and soak in the grandeur of the mountain jagged peaks and the spectacular views. I know that the pictures when we get home wont do them justice.
We are eating good. We arnt begging for food yet. We discovered that the grocery stores are pretty cheap. So we eat our free breakfast at the hotel, we make peanut butter and jam sandwiches (Nutella chocolate sandwiches), fruit and cookies and then eat out for dinner at restaurants. Its really making a difference in the high cost over here.
Miss you all very much. We are going back to our hotel and going to the basement to swim at their cool looking hotel swimming pool.
Take care and talk to you soon. Love from all of us to all of yzou.
Please forgive the typing errors, its still an european computer keyboard!

Hi from Lake Como, Italy

Hi everyone!
This is the first time weve been able to get to an internet cafe.
We are in Lake Como, Italy. We left Interlaken and headed up toward the northeast corner of Switzerland to Appenzell area. This was probably the hardest spot to find a hotel as we were out in the middle of nowhere in dairy cow country and it was after 6 p.m. and we finally found a Bed and Breakfast up a hillside. karen and stan were on the first floor with a bathroom in their room. no walls for the bathroom, just a curtain around the toilet. We were on the 3rd floor and had to use the hall bathroom. but as no one was there besides us it wasnt so bad. Quiet, you cant believe how quiet. I love the cows all night with their bells clunking all night.
The next day we took off for Chur on the way to Lugano and we stopped to see a church that was huge and was reported to be the biggest in Switzerland. I cant spell the name but it was unbelievably gorgous. Beautiful paintings on the ceilings and ornate carvings and paintings everywhere. Then we stopped in Liechtenstein and stopped and saw the castle of the Royal Prince.
Then after that went to Chur and found a hotel. tired very tired. We have covered a lot of Switzerland in the car. It is one of the cleanest countries I have ever seen. no garbage anywhere, the roads are in great condition, and there is no pollution.
Yesterday we headed for Lugano. and drove down one of the longest canyons we have ever seen. it had to be at least 30 miles of all downhill. then we found a great bed and breakfast 20 minutes out of town and way above the city overlooking Lake Lagono. No phone, no TV, no credit cards but they had a restaurant that was obviously popular with the locals and for good reason, very good food. The view was spectacular.
We turned the car in this morning and caught the train to Lake Como. The trains are easy to navigate once you figure out the system. Our hotel overlooks the south tip looking north on the lake and tomorrow we are catching a water taxi that will take us around the lake and we can get off and check out small villages and gardens. We re thinking that we will catch the train on Saturday for Milan and go check it out, we didnt get reservations in time to see the Last Supper but Milan looks cool and its only an hour away.
We miss you all and hope you are all well. Take carek, love to you from all of us.

Hi from Interlaken, Switzerland

Hi everyone.
We have seen some unbelievable mountains and valleys in Switzerland. Yesterday when we got back into Interlaken, we decided to go up a cable tram car to a high spot called Harder Kulm. Its a restaurant up on the north side of the Interlaken valley and when you look south from up there you got an incredible view of the mountain peak Jungfrau. The weather was clear and the views of the mountain range with snow on top was incredible. Also from up there you could look down into the Interlaken valley and see the Brainzee lake to the east, the outlet where the glacial turqoise water flows exits the lake and runs west through Interlaken to the lower Thun lake to the west where it empties. This whole Interlaken area is one of the most beautiful locations I have seen in a long time. There are several train and tram rides you can take and go on mountain hikes and go up to see several mountain peaks in the Swiss Alps and could be situated here for weeks and never get bored.
Today though was incredible. We left at 8:30 this morning and took a 2 and 1/2 hour ride on 3 different trains and two different cog wheel trams to get up to the Jungfrau mountain peak. The place we were actually at was called Jungfraujoch. The train and tram rides went through some of the most picture perfect postcard type scenery imaginable with green valleys dotted with the traditional Swiss Chalet type houses and dairies everywhere. But then to top it off, mountains would just jut straight up from these valley communities right up behind them. It took your breath away. The last half hour of the last tram ride near the top was through a carved out tunnel of rock that was constructed in 1895. The train stop at Jungfraujoch was in carved out rock underground and you came out into the hugh visitor facility. There were several floors of this complex perched up on top of this mountain. More than half of the facility was under rock or carved in the rock and you would walk down several rock tunnels to get to the different parts of the visitor center. We first took an elevator to the "Crystal Ice Palace" This literally was tunnels carved in the snow and ice under a snow pack and there were several outpockets in the ice tunnels where they had done ice carvings of animals and structures. It was cool to walk through it. At the other end you come outside and walk along a perch between the Jungfrau peak and the Monch peak. (The Jungfraujoch is the visitor center located between these two peaks). As we came outside we were blinded by the bright sunshine on the snow but also the bitter cold as the wind was howling up there. It was blowing snow in gusts that were so strong it could blow you over. But looking to the north, you could see down into the Interlaken valley in all directions and looking south, you looked over a glacier flow flowing away to the south that was hugh. West you looked up at the mountain peak Jungfrau and east you looked up at the mountain peak Monch. Between the altitude of 11,500 feet and the bitter blowing wind, to say that it took your breath away was an understatement. But to say that we did it and made it up there was an achievement. We then went back in and had lunch with delicious hot soup and then went over to the east end and up an elevator to something called the Sphinx Observatory. This was very tall and had incredible views plus they do meteorlogical studies there. Then we went down below and Craig and I walked out onto the glacier ice flow where they had made a walkpath for visitors. That was cool. Then we finally decided to come down the mountain on two more cog trams and 3 trains through gorgous valleys and mountain ranges. We were tired and happy and ate dinner at a restaurant called Pizpaz and ate delicious Italian food.
So this is our last night here and we are up on the road for new adventures. Karen and Stan and Craig are making the plans and our next stop is up by Zurich somewhere.
We miss you all and hope all are all well. Lots of love from all of us to all of you.
P.S. I am in love with the brown Swiss cows and the wonderful bells that clunk while they eat. I want to bring one home with me. Craig is in love with the efficient trains systems and the cool working flushing toilets! Love ya

Hi from Alpnach, Switzerland

Hi everyone, we have been visiting Alpnach, home of Stans parents. This is just below Lucern. Its a small village and Stan has loved visiting with a cousin he didnt know if he was still alive.
Yesterday we went up the mountain Pilatus. Wow and wow. We rode up a cog wheel tram car up to 7000 feet. At times this car was climbing at almost 50% grade. We got higher and it was much colder than below. We finally came out at the summit and the weather was iffy when we left but we lucked out at the top. There were still clouds blowing in and out (and I mean blowing, it was very windy and cold up there) but as the clouds moved through you could see off in the distance the beautiful snow capped mountain peaks of the Swiss Alps. We climbed more stairs up to an observation tower and it literally took your breath away. To the south and east were the mountain ranges and to the north and west were the green (green everywhere) valleys of Lucern. I have taken so many pictures but they will not do it justice. It was one of those moments you wish you could freeze in your memory forever. No smog, no pollution, just crisp, clear air and sharp visions of raw nature. I didnt want to leave up there.
We then took off in a small tram on a cable to start out descent to Lucern. This took almost a half hour and we came down near Lucern. We were high enough to look down on top of the fir trees. Several of them were loads with cones and tall here. It was wild to look down on the tops of such huge trees. We then took a bus to the ferry docks of Lake Lucern and caught a ferry boat to come back to Alpnach by boat. We rode the ferry boat for 90 minutes as it made several stops along the lake shore. It was cold on the lake and windy but we didnt want to miss any of the views. There are several hugh lakes here that are all interconnected. And on many shores there are no shores. Along the water line in many places man made rock walls line the shore. Some places you can see the mountain drop down and disappear into the water. The forests here are thick and you can tell up the mountainsides how hundreds of years ago trees were cut to make room for the farms. There are farms everywhere around here. Dairy dominates and the Swiss brown cows are everywhere. I have fallen in love with the bells around their necks. Supposedly when they go up to upper pastures during the summer the bells stay below. But when they come down for the winter, the bells go around their necks and as you walk around town you can hear the bells jingling all the time. I will always remember the bells here. Plus there are churches everywhere and their bells go off on a regular basis. Charming things like this I wish we had at home.
Today I am not sure where we are going. We might double back to Interlaken so that we can see the Jungfrau mountain. (Its suppose to be a sight not to miss) but the weather has been unpredictable. We had everything from rain, wind, overcast, to clear. Or we might decide to just move on and go to new territory.
We love and miss everyone. Hope all is well with you. Love from all of us to all of you.

Hi from Alpnach, Switzerland

Hi everyone, hope yzou are all well.
We arrived in Interlaken yesterday about 5 p.m. We took back roads from Bern to Interlaken and it was gorgous. We picked up our rent a car in Bern and by the time we walked to the place, got the car, and drove back and picked up the luggage and headed out of town it took us a hour. It went easy but we were very careful as there were a lot of one way streets not marked. We headed north and went and saw the Swiss Temple. It was beautiful but smaller than we expected. From there we headed south toward Interlaken and decided to get off the main highways and enjoy the backroads. It was cool to drive through what I would call villages and twice we stopped to visit castles. The first one was in the town of Thun south of Bern and the castle was built in the 1100s. It was barren and cold and huge. It was fun to walk up and climb up to the turrets for the incredible views. From Thun you can see the beginning of the two lakes that make up the Interlaken area. Then we drove some more and saw the Oberhofen Castle. This one was built in the 1600s and a lot more opulent with expensive furnishings, paintings, wood carved paneled walls and armor with spears everywhere. Plus gardens galore. Even now with the trees turning and its really cold, there are flowers everywhere especially geraniums.
Finally, we got to Interlaken, its a tourist town but we are discovering that one big advantage to being here when the dollar is so miserable to the Euro is that all the tourists are staying home or visiting South America where the dollar is worth more. Therefore, we dont have crowds and the roads are empty of cars. Its great.
We really thought we would find more Swiss food restaurants but all we see are Italian, Chinese, and McDonalds. But they have good food. We did Italian last night and it was good.
We are finding hotels fine in Switzerland and wow is this country clean. All the bathrooms even the public ones are spotless. The streets are clean, you hardly see garbage cans and everything is very pristine and Craig wants me to mention how great the toilets flush. Last night if you were sitting down when you flushed, there is so much water, your backside would get a full bath. He was too chicken to try it, but he thought it was great.
Today we arrived in Alpnach. This is where Stans dad was born. With the help of a couple of pictures we found what we thought was his dads farm house and we met the people there and found it was the house of his aunt and uncle and the 89 year old resident was his first cousin. There was a son and daughter in law there who spoke English and we had a great visit. Up the mountainside from the valley we finally found the house that Stans dad was born in and the view from up there was spectacular.
We got hungry at 5 p.m. and none of the restaurants open until 6 p.m. So we finally found one that opened earlier and it was Mexican food that was really good.
When we were in Bern the driving required a little more concentration but once you got out on the highways and backroads, its very much like home, except the roundabouts. Although we love them as they make navigating changes easier, although when you cant read the road signs all the time we have been known to circle the roundabouts a few times till we make up our minds which way to go.
Its raining here and very cold. You can see snow in the surrounding mountains. But we hope to take a cool tram and boat ride tomorrow up to the peak and surrounding mountains called Pilatus. Hope the weather cooperates.
We miss you and hope all is well. love to all of you from all of us.

Hi from Bern, Switzerland

Hi everyone, the day before we headed out from Paris on train for a 4 hour ride to Geneva, Switzerland. The ride was wonderful and the countryside was rolling and lots of agriculture. We got into Geneva about 5 p.m. and basically were starved and there were not many restaurant choices around so we ended up at McDonalds. Then we walked down to the Lake Leman, the huge lake in Geneva. There it was lined with 5 star hotels and out on the breakwater there was a hugh, and I mean hugh, fountain shooting up by the docked boats and yachts. It was like a hugh fire nozzle shooting a couple of hundred feet in the air. We walked around looking at the boats and hotels and came back for sleep.
We got up early and went down to the lake and went the other way and along the lake they have beautiful promenade walkways. As we didnt have much time, this was all we could do.
We walked to our train (Jay our travel agent, set it up that we could walk to train stations wheeling our luggage behind us. It saves on cab fares). Today was just a 2 hour train ride but we were on top of a 2 decker train and the train went slow because it went through several towns so we had great views of vineyards and dairy farms and small villages. Everything here is green. And we got into Bern about 2 p.m. We are in an older part of town that has a river on three sides of it. On the other sides of the river across bridges I suspect is the more modern part of Bern. But its enjoyable to walk around the expensive shops (window shopping only) and all the buildings here are made of some kind of greenish grey stone. Its pretty with flower boxes in all the windows of all the floors but the buildings are all the same color. The churches are the same too. I wonder what type of stone it is and where they got it. We found an Italian restaurant tonight that had an English menu as we cant read Swiss German at all.
They speak German here (Geneva was still French) but its Swiss German and its different. We are all struggling to figure things out but we usually find someone that speaks English to help us. So we are doing very well.
Tomorrow we are picking up the rent a car and hitting the open road. So I dont know when our next entry may be, depending on what hotel we find and if they have internet service in the smaller villages. Stan wants to head to Interlaken and then north to where his parents came from. I cant pronouce the names let alone spell them but it should be exciting.
Hope everyone is well, and we miss you loads. Lots of love from all of us to all of you.

Last full day in Paris!

Well today was a little less hectic. We tried to figure out how to get out to Versailles but we couldn't do it. It wasn't until last night we figured out that we could have taken the metro. Darn but it's just something for the next trip to look forward to. We knew coming into this that we would not be able to see everything.
We found an aquaduct that ran for quite a ways and walked along the top of it yesterday. They have planted beautiful gardens along it and it was wonderful to enjoy and eat our lunch there. Yesterday also was a great nap day. During the afternoon I took a 2 hour nap. It was heaven. Then we had dinner across the street from our hotel. I am loving the salads here. So much flavor. Then we were picked up last night by Nicolas our driver to drive us to the Eiffle tower and take a cruise boat down and back again for an hour. It was beautiful to see the lights around Paris along the Seine River. The Eiffle tower is normally all lit up with off white lights but because we were in town this weekend for the Rugby World Cup they had changed the color of the lower half to green for the Irish that were in town. France won by the way 20-3. The celebrations around here were intense. Rugby is so interesting to watch on TV. Looks like a combo between our football and soccer.
Then Nicolas drove us around the city and explained more about the sights and their history. By this time it's about midnight and no traffic, it was great. The lights are beautiful. There is so much richness here. We also saw the hugh church and building where Napolean is buried. Didn't have time to go in but he is held in great esteem here.
Today we are on the train to Geneva Switzerland. Can't wait. Miss you all loads. Lots of love from all of us to all of you.

Last day from Paris!

Hi guys. this is our last day is Paris. i am still trying to figure out the keyboard and had my message all done and couldn't figure out the right key to enter the entry and wiped out my message so I am starting over. Oh well, we are not on a schedule this morning.
I love Paris. it's beautiful. we can't figure out how people get around with cars. there is no visible parking anywhere. they must know something we don't. and Paris has a lot of tourists.
we got up Friday morning and took off on our tour bus (hop on and hop off) and went to Notre Dame first. wow, and wow. the stain glass inside was so beautiful and the arched ceilings were so high. then we walked around it and the flying buttresses were impressive. it was way bigger than i thought and it's out on a island in the river. we then went next to the Concorde plaza, like a central located plaza where their major streets branch off from. you could see the Arc de Triumph and the Champs Elysee street (forgive my spelling, not sure) there were fountains and beautiful old buildings. we then got on the bus and went to the Arc de Triumph which has about 8 streets branching off it and the roundabout around it is crazy. we had lunch by it at a outside restaurant and people watched. but as we walked around the Arc it was hugh. beautiful carvings and reliefs carved in stone and the French's tomb of the unknown soldier is there. then we went to the Eiffle tower. the bus drives you around so you can take pictures from all angles and then lets you off in the front. we stood in line for about a half an hour just to get tickets and then stood in line for about the same amount of time to get up the lifts to the very top,but the wait was worth it. the views from the top take your breath away. you can see how the city is layed out and where the major tourist stops are. the buildings look different from above and you can get an appreciation for how they layed out the city. their city blocks are mostly in triangle shapes and the whitish stone buildings that are about 6 floors high are everywhere in this part of town. but it also gives you a chance to see how the Louvre and other churches and museusm look from above. it was hard to come down but we decided to walk down the lower steps. 785 of them and we were wobbly at the bottom. then it took awhile to navigate the buses back and we missed the last 6 p.m. bus and had to walk from Notre Dame an mile and a half. that doesn't sound like much but at the end of a very hectic and long day it seemed forever. but we walked along the river and it was great. Yesterday, we were up and on the bus driving around andseeing the sights again. when we got to the Eiffle tower we could see the lines were hugh compared to our day and we were glad we had gone the day before. finally we got to the Louvre and it's gorgous and hugh. we saw Mona Lisa (she is beautiful) and other paintings and greek statues and art. with lunch this alone took almost 3 hours and it was just one wing of it. it would take a long time to see everything. then we navigated the buses to go north of town and see the Moulin Rouge and the Paris Hard Rock Cafe. we got back last night tired but thrilled at all we did in two days.
today is slower day and tonight we are signed upto go out on a boat on the river and drive around to see the lights after dark. can't wait.
tomorrow we are off to Geneva, Switzerland.
hope you are all well and we miss you loads. love from all of us to all of you. take care!

Bonjour from Paris!

Hi guys,
This is tough as the keyboard is different: We arrived in Paris this afternoon: We left early this morning for the Waterloo station in London and got into Paris at about three this afternoon: We then checked into a coooolllll Holiday Inn: We are up on the fifth floor overlooking the main street; and we have balconies; plus our rooms are pretty nice: For those of you that have a map: We are in the southeast corner of Paris on the north side of the river by the Gard de Lyon train station: As we drove from the Gard de Nord train station to our hotel; I fell in love with Paris: We cant wait for tomorrow to get on the Open Tour bus line (like in London) where you can jump on and off: there are so many buildings that are the old French style with the whitish granite walls and grey roofs and then around them are the modern skyscrapers: It feels very funny not to be able to communicate in a languge we know: I want to learn French: I have a hard time understanding French words; but when we see it written; Craig and I can figure it out because the language is similar to Spanish: The train ride was great: We were under the water for twenty minutes: At top speed we were traveling at one hundred eighty six miles per hour: But it was so smooth: They served us really good food on the trip: We went for a walk and found a Garden of Natural History across the street from our hotel; it was hugh and beautiful gardens to walk around: And ate dinner at a side walk cafe: heaven!
Take care; love to all: Karen and Stan say hi!

Last Day in London!

Hi everyone! Well since we wrote you all last, we've had some busy time and some down time to still try to catch up on much needed sleep adjustment. The bus company we've been using is great. It really gets you around the city. And sitting up on the top gives you a great birds eye view of the cool buildings and the designs. We went and did the London Eye. It's a great big type ferris wheel across the Thames from Big Ben. It's quite high and when you are at the top you can see quite a bit in every direction. It takes about 1/2 hour to do the rotation and it doesn't stop moving. It was great. Then we went off and saw the Tower of London. What is really strange is how they have preserved as many of their old buildings as they could, but they build new skyscrapers around them. The tower of London is built with modern buildings all around it. It's way bigger than I thought. And it had been used for many reasons. It was originally built by William the Conquerer in 1066 a.d. and added on to with each king after. But it is most famous for the famous and royal executions they did there. So it became a dreaded place of being sent to as it meant your death. They also had a vaulted room there that contained the crown jewels. I had no idea what to expect, but they had crowns dating back to the 1600's and every possible additional thing that went with coronations imaginable. They were beautiful and I couldn't imagine being the person wearing all that splendor or money. We also went in St. Paul Cathedral. Sir Christopher Wren designed and built it (along with several other buildings in the city) and he is buried there. I found out that this is the church where Prince Charles and Diana got married, not Westminster Abby. It also had it's own beauty on the inside. The stone in West Minster Abby was almost a dark grey where as the stone in St. Paul's was almost a white stone and a lot cheerier.
We also went on a river cruise up and down the Thames. The water was a murky brown and very rough. I had heard the current is very strong and the river is fast, and it sure looked that way as we navigated up and down. We had a very funny guide explaining all the buildings along the shore.
We've also just rode the bus around the city on the different routes just to see everything, as you could spend days here and not see it all. Plus the fact that there is a lot of traffic and when you are in the downtown area, it can take quite a while to get just a couple of miles. Especially if it's a one way street with roundabouts. We never found the time to travel out into the countryside. Quite honestly, I don't know how we could of done that unless we spent a fortune for a driver.
But we got to do a lot in 3 days. As everything costs so much we had to pick and choose our preferences.
This morning as we were about to leave, I thought I heard what sound like a lot of horses hooves clic clac down the street below us. When I opened the curtain and looked down, there was a line of about 15 riders each ponying an unsaddled horse on each side in formation going down the street toward the busy Oxford street. The riders looked military. Where they came from and where they were going, couldn't say but boy did they look out of place but the horses were beautiful.
Well we are off to Paris in the morning. We are allowing a lot of time so we are heading out right after breakfast as Waterloo Station is huge and we don't know exactly how to navigate it. We want to allow extra time for getting lost in the station. We should be in our hotel by afternoon. Paris is going to seem so different from here. Can't wait to see it.
Hope all of you at home are well. We miss you loads.
Lots of love from us to you!

Hi everyone! Wow, London is sooooo coooooollllll! We got up and had a pretty good continental breakfast with the hotel and then we set out for the "Original Tour Bus Company" which is a double decker tour bus and the upstairs floor is open. It's the kind that makes several stops and you just hop on and off where you want to get off. It has been an amazing day riding around on this thing. Sitting up on the top open deck you get some amazing views of all othe old and new buildings. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace. The flag was up which means the Queen in town. What we didn't expect was that every year they open part of the palace to the public for viewing for two months. We just happen to be here during the last two weeks. So we ended up spending 3 hours touring the unbelievable opulent rooms that normally the public would never seen. We saw the ball room, the corination room, the banquet room, the art gallery, stair cases, the inner court yard, and more. We were able to pick up great earphones with prerecorded explanations of the rooms and so we could walk through all the rooms at our leisure. Some of the rooms just took your breath away. It was gorgous. Hugh paintings of past monarchs and the thought occurred to us, what must have it been like to be born royalty and not know anything else in your life and to have every luxury imaginable? So we had a great time checking out all the dishes, gifts to the queen in the past, and chandeleirs, and more. When we went outside (we entered the tour from the side of the palace) we were in the back of the palace that faced 30 acres of green gorgous gardens surrounded by brick, wired fence for their privacy and protection. Then we came out and met a Sgt. Constable who talked with Craig and Stan. They compared salaries, benefits, and stress levels. He told us that he had enjoyed visiting America because a good dinner in London costs about $50 but he was thrilled about a steak house we have called Sizzler where he could get a good steak and all you can eat salad for about $8. He told us that if he lived in America, he would get fat. Well we are eating well here. We are finding ways to economize on food. After we exited the palace gardens, we walked back around to the front gates and saw the balcony where Prince Charles and Princess Diana stood after their wedding and saw the mile long street that leads up to the front of the palace. The ornate work on the gates and the statues everywhere leave you in no doubt that the premises are royalty.
Then we got back on the bus and when to Sherlock Holmes Pub where we had bought a prepurchased lunch of Fish and Chips from the bus company. It was good and Karen was so looking forward to it. There are pubs everywhere and they are so old English looking. Then we got off and visited West Minster Abby. This church was built in 1066 and it was unbelievable to realize that it had been around for about a 1000 years. We weren't sure what to expect inside and we found that many famous people were buried there. Some of the most famous was Sir Issac Newton and Darwin. They also had several kings and queens there. Mary Queen of Scots was there as well as King Henry the VIII. We walked around in there for quite a while reading all the headstones on the walls and the floor. We saw the same corniation chair that has been used since the first corination in 1066 that Queen Elizabeth used in 1953 for her corination. This was the same church that Charles and Diana got married in and it was cool to imagine the wedding there. Then we rode the bus for a while just to look around. We saw Big Ben and Parliment and the London Eye (hugh observation ferris wheel) all of which we are going to do tomorrow along with a boat ride on the river Thames. (We ran out of time today) We saw Picadelly Circus and walked around Trafalgar Square. Karen and Stan were stopped by the BCC and interviewed. That was fun to watch. Then we got out and checked out the Tower of London which back in midevil times was a prison and execution facility. By the time we got there it was closed so that is also on the list of do's for tomorrow. We drove over the London bridge. The bus tour was so worth it as it would have been difficult to drive to all these spots and we have seen no parking anywhere. The driving alone is scary. Craig and Kim were recently there and \I don't know how Craig did it. Rush hour around downtown was interesting to see how they work the roundabouts and not crash. We ended up making a couple of repeat trips around the bus route to get where we wanted to go as we missed a part of the tour earlier but by 6 o'clock we were beat and headed home. We found a KFC by the hotel and decided that it was a cheaper way to go for dinner. There is still so much we could go see but everything costs to enter and on the tour we found out that London is the most expensive city in the world right now and the exchange rate proves that. So we are saving a lot of extras for the next trip as we want to come back and see more. As I will probably say this about every city we see, I think that we will be making more trips to Europe in the future.
Everyone here is so friendly. We are having a great time and miss you all so much.
Hope everyone is well. Lots of Love to all from all of us in the UK!

Hi everyone! We made it to London! We flew in a 747 (our first time) and Karen and Stan were in Business class while we were in coach. They did great. We actually did fairly well. But boy were the seats tight together. But they had good movies and served us food all through the night. We arrived in London around 7 in the morning. Our plane had to bank a few times before landing and out the window the plane flew over the Thames overlooking Big Ben and the London eye (Their hugh ferris wheel). The sun was just coming up and it was cool. It took a while to get through customs, and get money exchanged, but then Craig decided that the tube (underground rail) might get us to our hotel fine. Well, it was a lot cheaper than a cab and believe it or not, it is set up just like BART at home. We found ourselves getting around pretty good even with luggage in tow. We are staying at the Hotel Rose Court. It's a nice clean small hotel off the main drag. Rooms are tiny. This afternoon we took the underground to Notting Hill. It's really pretty there and a lot of upscale homes. Geranium flowers everywhere. We are out in Marble Arch area, about 40 minutes northwest of downtown London. I really like it here. Hugh parks,and lots of trees. Tomorrow we are heading out on the tour bus that drives all over London to see the main tourist sights.
We survived the all night flight but after having dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (this is the original one) we are beat and heading for the hotel to sleep.
It's freaky to have to watch backwards to cross the streets so you don'[t get hit by a car. The double decker buses are cool. We are doing a lot of walking. Hopefully it will counteract the calories.
Miss you all. Take care and we will write again soon. Love Carol and Craig and Karen and Stan

Preparations

It is amazing how many things there are to do when leaving home for five weeks. We are almost ready though, and looking forward to a great experience. If you would like to leave a comment, click on the"comments" link below this post. You will note that each of our posts has a comment link, with the number of comments previously posted. You could be the first!

Welcome!

We leave for Europe on Saturday, Sept. 15th, for a five week vacation that will take us to six countries. We are travelling with Stan and Karen Muller. When we have the opportunity to access the Internet (this is the 21st century!) we will update our travels, and we invite you to check in often and see what we have been up to as we travel. You can also leave us a message, or comment on what we write. It will be a fun trip--too bad you can't all join us!