Good night, goodbye and thanks for your comments ...

After five weeks, six countries, four high speed train rides, a Rhine River cruise and two internal flights, we're heading home. By the time you read this we'll hopefully be on our way from Paris to Hong Kong and then home.

Today we saw some more of Prague and spent a fascinating hour at the Museum of Communism. I can remember seeing news of the events of November, 1989 as Czechoslovakia went through the Velvet Revolution just months after the Berlin Wall fell. It only took 10 days for the old Communist regime to tumble here, compared to many months in other former Soviet countries in Central Europe.

The Czech Republic is now making its mark on the world with Prague, the 6th most visited city in Europe. After almost three days, we can see why.

It's as if all the residents of Prague have been to marketing school - everyone from the airport shuttle driver to the waiter at a restaurant is keen to promote their city and give you helpful advice.

Bust of Stalin at the Museum of Communism

Recreated interrogation room from the Communist era 

Lenin - who together with Engels, started it all with his Communist Manifesto

St Wenceslas Square - scene of the Velvet Revolution

A cross marks the spot where two Czech nationals took their own lives by self-immolation in protest against the Communist government

These guys are everywhere, although the top one is a girl

Prague's 'dancing building'. 

Notes from 5 weeks in Europe

After five weeks in Europe, here are some random thoughts and comments:

1. Things that were hard to get used to

* Paying to go to the toilet

* Having to search out toilets, particularly in Paris and Rome

* Standing there using the toilet while cleaning ladies mopped around your feet

* Smelling cigarette smoke everywhere 

* Walking on cobbled streets (Janine)

* Luke warm capucino's in Rome

* Working out hotel room bedding when you just want a full width top sheet and a blanket

2. Things we loved

* The sense of energy and entrepreneurship very evident in Prague

* Free toilets in Prague (OK, I know a theme is developing)

* Seeing the beauty of European cities, villages and landscapes. (Alsace region, Venice, Murano and Burano)

* Not having to pack and unpack during our 7 day boat cruise

* Lying in bed as the Rhine landscape sailed by.

* Meeting people from all over the world and with so many Aussies over here, wondering who is running the country

* Food shopping in Paris, Rome and Venice to stock the larder

* Spritz drink made with Proseco, Campari, etc

* Listening to French children speak French

* The dress sense of French women

* Trying and loving new foods

* Repaying a 53 year old debt to the toilet attendant at the top of the Eiffel Tower

Walking tour of Prague ...

Today we went on a six hour guided walking tour of Prague, which included a short boat ride and a traditional Czech lunch. We were driven by bus to the Prague Castle and then over six hours made our way down the hill to the old city across the Charles Bridge.

It was a great way to see the city and hear about its history.

Janine and friend at the Prague Castle

The church inside the castle grounds

Old parking meters in the shape of the severed heads of those who would not renounce their Protestant faith

The John Lennon memorial wall

The Horological clock and main square

Forget everything ... Prague is stunning

Today we left Zurich on a beautiful sunny day and arrived in Prague just after lunch. We didn't know what to expect, but good friends (Karl and Jane) suggested we had to stay there for a few days. It's gorgeous and we instantly fell in love with the city. That combined with a fantastic boutique hotel I discovered on-line which turned out to be even better than the web site images. (Hotel Residence Agnes) A distinct contrast to our Zurich hotel and for less than half the price!

It's a lovely mix of Paris and the best parts of Rome plus something else. We walked for about two hours after we arrived - see  the pics below of the things we came across. The weather was beautiful - warm and sunny. 

Tomorrow we head off on a six hour walking tour starting at the Castle and then working our way down into the old city.

Jazz on the Charles Bridge

Here's how to get your daughter to sit still while her portrait is drawn. Read her a story.

 

Our street as we walked home tonight from a beautiful dinner .... 

A rainy day in Zurich

We had a great dinner last night in Zurich, celebrating 40 years of marriage. We found a traditional Swiss Restaurant that served wonderful traditional Swiss food, veal and venison. It's apparently deer season and so it was on the menu. Zurich has a wonderful 'old town' with lots of great restaurants - like most European cities really. It's not hard to find what you're looking for in menus. 

Today was overcast with rain threatening. 

We took a 90 minute cruise on Lake Zurich which did a circuit down the lake, stopping along the way at small wharves. Not many on board but the rain held off. Back on shore we headed for a number of churches including the Grossmunster and the Fraumunster. (Big abbey and woman's abbey) Quite different architecture to what we had seen and I think both has been converted to Protestant places of worship following the reformation. The Fraumunster has stained glass by Marc Chagall!

We made a few stops for coffee and lunch and tomorrow we head off for Prague and the last leg of our journey.

We landed in Basel and headed for Zurich

After seven days on board the 'Felicity', we docked this morning at Basel and then caught the bus to the airport and the train into town. We're here for two nights and spent this afternoon doing what the Swiss seemed to be doing, taking in the lake air and enjoying walking in the sun.

Our last night on the boat (must speak to my focus puller about this shot!)

After a week of pretty much overcast weather, today was sunny and around 21deg. In the square in front of the Opera House we came across 20 or so Alpen Horn players playing for the crowds. There were lots of other buskers, but you can't get more Swiss than an Alpen Horn ensemble.

On the shore of the Lake at Zurich

Tonight we're heading out for a Swiss dinner - lots of great restaurants in the old town, right near the hotel - to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Will let you know tomorrow what we have.

Seven days cruising was enough - even over just one week, one day tended to merge into the next. We'll have to look at our notes to check where we went.

Koblinz ... The convergence of the Rhine and the Moselle

We moored this morning at Koblinz, where two rivers meet. The Rhine and the Moselle rivers are two of the major rivers in this part of Europe. After we left Koblinz, we headed upstream and travelled through the Rhine Gorge. It's considered to be the most beautiful part of the Rhine with many castles - both ruined and rebuilt along the way. 

Rhine Gorge castle

It was a mainly overcast day, but it was still very relaxing sailing up the river. 

We moored at Rudesheim last night and visited a museum that collects pre-electronic musical instruments. Not single instruments, but huge mechanical cabinets that use a paper or cardboard roll with holes punched in it to activate each instrument and note. There was even one that played eight violins mechanically. 

Mechanical musical instrument museum

After dinner we set sail for Mainz - the home of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the movable type printing press. We saw two complete volumes of the original 190 Gutenberg Bibles and had the concept of hot lead printing press explained and demonstrated. It was a fascinating morning.

A model of the original Gutenberg press

An example of making letters from hot lead. This is a 'G'

Mainz Cathedral

These blogs are not coming as regularly as I would like - posting them via the ships satellite data connection is a bit 'iffy' at times. (Technical term).

Cologne on the Rhine

Today we saw the advantage of spending a week on boat, in that once you unpack you stop at each city, hop off and see the sights and then hop back on for dinner. Today we moored at 4.30 and spent an hour and half seeing the city centre sights. This mainly revolved around the Cologne Cathedral and the old town square.

The sun setting over the Rhine at Cologne.

Cruising the Rhine ....

We boarded our cruise on Sunday although the first 24 hours were in port as passengers were offered tours around the city. We finally pulled away at 4:30 and have been travelling down the Rhine Canal and now in the Rhine itself. There rare 136 passengers on board, Aussies and Americans being the main nationalities. 

Cruising the river is a great way to travel - very relaxing and the food is excellent. We're get to Cologne this afternoon and we have a couple of city tours lined up and then a classical concert on board tonight.

It's an interesting contrast compared to the previous three weeks where we did our own thing. The internet connection from the boat is via satellite, so posting these is a bit iffy.

Remembering our last time in Amsterdam

In 2002 we spent a lovely week here in Amsterdam. It was great to revisit some of the places we remembered from 12 years ago. 

Bubbles for everyone in Dam Square

No sun, but still nice to cruise the canals.

We're now on board our cruise boat (the one over Janine's right shoulder) and ready to head off to Germany tomorrow. 

A day of travel ....

The best part about today was the way we left Venice. The Alilaguna water bus is more like a hi speed jet boat. Whilst it sticks to the 5kmh limit inside the city, once they hit the open water, it becomes a speed machine. The route to the airport is marked by wooden pylons - a bit like the edge markers on a road and the airport water buses treat it like a race track. It's great fun and looking ahead and behind your boat you can see boat after boat churning up the water as they race to and from the airport.

Venice airport is modern, but woefully too small and understaffed. However we made it to Amsterdam where we spent a lovely week back in 2002. Sadly the area around Amsterdam Centraal is even tackier and very touristy. 

Tomorrow we board our cruise for seven days down the Rhine. 

A couple of other thoughts.

We had been warned by friends and by seeing signs in many places, Paris in particular, to be wary of pick pockets. The same thing was a problem in Rome so we were told. Thankfully we saw no evidence of this and also saw no 'gangs' of Romanian gypsy girls who apparently mob women in particular to relieve them of their cash. On our first night in Rome we met an American woman who had lost 80 Euros at the turnstiles of the Metro station we used by such a gang but we never saw anything dodgy.

The other scam we were warned about was people grabbing your suitcase at train stations and helping you, without being asked, to put your case on the train. At first this seems like a generous act, until they hold out their hand and ask for 50 Euro. ($65 approx).

Again we never saw anyone trying to do this, although we did meet an Australian guy in Venice to whom this had happened in Rome. 

I'm not saying this doesn't happen but we made sure we were always aware of who was around us.

In Paris and funnily enough on the Venitian island of Burano, we had people asking us to sign petitions. We could never understand of what value a foreign signature would be on a petition. Again, we walked away from these approaches. 

Last day in Venice ....

Today was our last day in Venice. Tomorrow we head for the airport via Vaporetto and then fly to Amsterdam to start our cruise. 

We took Linea 1 to San Marco this morning and just wandered around an area we hadn't been too before. Around every corner is a new scene and we spent the day taking pictures, trying to stay away from the crowds and just enjoying Venice. 

Here's Janine, sitting on our verandah/patio taken from across the canal. It's a lovely spot to sit and watch Venice go by. 

The rest of the blog is some more images from Venice.

The last two pics we're take inside the roof of Palazzo Mora. There's a free, architectural exhibition on there and they've opened up the roof space as well and made it a feature. It was great to see the 'underwear' of a 15th C building.

Ciao

Burano, Murano and Torchello ....

These are three islands in the Venitian lagoon, accessed by Vaporetto. Murano is famous for Murano Glass, but we decided to head further out to Burano and Torchello first. Burano is an artist and photographers dream. It's very small and compact and unlike Venice, each of the houses are painted in bright colours. It's almost as if it was built by a Hollywood set designer. Every angle is a winner. We saw about six English passengers on the Vaporetto carrying small beach chairs. We thought they might be going to get some sun, but they were all aspiring artists and sat around the island on their chairs sketching away.

Even the reflections are gorgeous.

The island also has it's own, 'leaning tower'. (Exaggerated by a slight 

Dutch tilt)

Burano is famous for its lace and these two pictures were taken by Janine. Men aren't allowed in the Lace Museum! (True)

After an hour or two on Torchello, which has a famous church under restoration and the best looking wedding reception place we've seen, we headed to Murano and the glassworks.

A great day on the water with perfect weather and whilst we bought a few things, we didn't break the budget.

Ciao.