William Shakespeare …

Wednesday 28th September

We left a very sunny London to start our second tour, heading out on the M40 driving north west through the Cotswolds just bypassing Oxford, to the town of Banbury. Then we veered off the freeway onto some true winding country lanes, passing through some beautiful villages with their thatched roofed houses and daub and wattle walls. We stopped to have a group photo taken at Anne Hathaway’s house and then drove on to Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of the famous William Shakespeare. This is a town that has maintained the Tudor style architecture of Shakespeare’s time. We toured the house in which he was born and also the house that he lived in when he, as an 18 year old, married the pregnant 26 year old Anne Hathaway and their first child, a daughter was born. It was a two roomed house each room about 4 metres x 4 metres. Very small by today’s standards and quite fascinating. While we were there some Actors performed excerpts from various plays in the garden and answered any questions the public might have. We then spent some time wandering around the town and had our lunch down by the River Avon in the beautiful sunshine.

After lunch we resumed our travelling and visited Coventry, which is a heavily industrialised town that was mercilessly bombed during the 2nd World War. Because of the type of buildings there, the Germans used incendiary bombs which set fire to what was left after the bomb exploded. One of the casualties of this was the Coventry Cathedral which was completed in 1394 and which had been a magnificent Gothic style building. The roof and all the inside was burnt including the stain glass windows, leaving the stone shell as a memorial to that period. The people of Coventry decided that a new cathedral should be built alongside the remnants of the original cathedral. Coventry is an old city similar to Munich, where all the buildings are no more than sixty years old.

Coventry was also the home of a gentleman the Earl Leofric many years ago. He wanted to raise the taxes on his people, however his wife disagreed and pleaded with him to not make the people suffer any more. The Earl said if his wife was prepared to ride naked down the main street on horseback, he would withdraw the tax, so his wife Lady Godiva rode down the street and had the tax removed – which is a lesson to all husbands to never stand in the way of a determined wife! Everyone out of respect closed their doors and averted their gaze to maintain Lady Godiva’s dignity except one person whose name was Tom. He was thereafter known as “peeping Tom”. The people of Coventry have erected a statue and commemorate her with a parade every year.

From Coventry we drove across to Leicester and got onto the M1 then drove north bypassing Nottingham by just a couple of miles. The best known export of Nottingham of course is, Jill!!
We continued on past what remains of Sherwood Forest, bypassing Sheffield a large steel manufacturing city, until we were just south of Leeds. We then left the M1 and travelled into York.
This area which we just travelled through, for our older readers, is the territory that James Herriott lived and worked in (All Creatures Great and Small).

York was the capital of the Viking Empire and there are shops that are listed in the Doomsday Book which is the first Census ever taken, in 1086, therefore there is a lot history associated with this area. Tonight we had a welcome dinner with all the fellow travellers and tomorrow we will explore York on foot before moving on to Edinburgh. There are quite a few Australians again and the rest are mainly American and Canadian.

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Rest and recuperation!

Tuesday 27th September

Well we certainly needed a couple days off as we were both exhausted and there was a lot of washing and ironing to be done. Fortunately we had a washer/dryer in our apartment and managed to get most of it done on Saturday. Only went out to send off some post and stock up on groceries. It was a coincidence that they were showing the Anne Frank movie on TV in the afternoon, considering we had only just gone through her house a couple of days before!! So we relaxed in the apartment and watched that.

On Sunday we were fortunate that Shaun was late arriving into London from Cardiff in Wales, so we had another sleep-in. He came around to the apartment and we made use of him to sort out some more of those damn computer problems we are always having. In the evening we set off for Kings Cross Station, where we met up with Anthony and walked to Islington, where we had a Turkish Banquet for dinner. It was great to catch up with Ant again who asked us if we could please tell his Mum that we met his current girlfriend Annabelle, but we couldn’t raise her hopes, seeing we are not having much success with our youngest either!! Ant said his goodbyes, as he had had a big night the night before and then we walked with Shaun to Angel Station only to find it closed. So we caught a bus to King’s Cross station which is right next door to St. Pancreas where the Euro-Star train had delivered us back two days prior and then we said our goodbyes to Shaun. Unfortunately this was our last chance to see him, as he will now be moving further away from London and nowhere near where we can access him. We have really enjoyed the times we have spent together and hope it won’t be too long before his next visit to Australia.

On Monday, we decided to take a trip to Ealing which is where Shaun thinks he may end up looking for accommodation when this tour ends and also where he used to teach. This was a shopping day, as Jill felt she needed more clothes for the longer tour. Ealing is on the outskirts of Greater London and was interesting to visit, though we think Earls Court is nicer.

Today we packed up and left our apartment and got a cab to our pre-tour hotel across the other side of the city. Would you believe, there are two hotels close by with very similar names! We picked the wrong one and had to catch another cab to our correct hotel. However we are now settled into the hotel and have spoken to Trafalgar Tours and it looks as though we are in for an early start tomorrow, as we depart at 7.15 am!! Jill has almost become an early riser!! We had some spare time today, so we walked along the Albert Embankment, from Lambeth Bridge right around past the London Eye, Royal Festival Hall and the National Theatre, where no doubt we will see Shaun’s name in lights one day. We then grabbed a bite to eat before crossing over the Blackfriar’s Bridge and then walked back along the Victoria Embankment (on the other side of the Thames River) and found this a very interesting walk. We came across an Egyptian Obelisk that dated back to 12 BC and had been found lying in the sand at Alexandria and which was shipped over to England in the 1800’s. It was nearly lost at sea in a storm but was saved and is now part of the London landscape together with two bronze sphinxes. It is hard to comprehend the age of some of the many things we have seen. We wandered on until we came to Westminster Bridge, then crossed over to walk around the Houses of Parliament and get some photos of Big Ben and other things that we had unfortunately lost earlier on. As per usual the sun was shining for us, so we got a good photo of the statue of Oliver Cromwell who lived between 1599 and 1658 and could possibly be called the Father of democratic parliament. Further around was the statue of Richard I (Lionheart) who reigned between 1189 and 1199. Once again you get some concept of the history of this building. This is also the building that Guy Fawkes wanted to brighten up! Moving on we came to the Victoria Gardens which is alongside the Houses of Parliament and I got a photo of the memorial built to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the British Dominions two hundred years ago. It seems the only way to really get to know London is by walking around. It seems that almost every street has something of significance, so we are sure using up the shoe leather!!

That brings us up to date again. We are about to go out again now for another short walk and then will be back for an early night, to prepare for our tour to York tomorrow and the beginning of another new adventure!

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Some photos of Europe ……. (hopefully)

At the Palace of. Versailles

Night view of Eiffel Tower taken from our hotel

Cruising the Rhine

Cologne cathedral

350 year old Dutch windmill

Big shoes to fill!

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Farewell Europe!

Friday 23rd September

Oh boy! Another very early start! Up at 5 am, breakfast at 6.30 am and departure at 7.30am. We had a train to catch!!

As we left Amsterdam the weather was quite moderate although there were low clouds hanging over the fields. I noticed with interest the number of jet streams from the aeroplanes in the area crisscrossing one another due to the cold damp air rising up. We continued our travels for another couple of hours and crossed from the Netherlands into Belgium. Once again with absolutely no sign of any border control now.

We passed through a number of towns where some major battles were fought during the last World War. They looked so peaceful and ordinary it was hard to imagine they had experienced such devastation. We then reached Brussels where we were to have a lunch break. This is where the European parliament is situated and is regularly in the news as they pass some quite silly laws that are supposed to be binding on all countries in the Union. The centre of town has some very old buildings, especially the Town Hall. We were told of an iconic statue in Brussels called Manekin Pis which is a small boy doing what a little boy has to do when he gets caught short. We saw replicas in all the shops and were looking forward to seeing the original which they dress up in various costumes throughout the year. Wow! What an anticlimax that turned out to be! The original statue stands about 12 inches tall!!

The shops were full of the well known Belgian lace and I enjoyed a hefty helping of their renowned waffles. Jill decided although they looked very tempting, they were a bit too rich for her.

The Eurostar train leaves from Brussels, so we set off to board it around 2.30 pm, for the 2 hour journey back to London through the tunnel once more, turning our clocks back an hour after boarding.

We arrived back to sunny London once more and said our farewells to our fellow travellers after a very enjoyable and informative tour. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it and after a few days recuperation, hope the next one is just as good!

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Amsterdam

Thursday 22nd September

We had a quick tour around the city first thing today, before boarding a glass topped flat bottomed boat for a cruise around the canals that dominate the city of Amsterdam. The first canal was built as part of the defence of the city and then others were built as the city expanded, until there were five major canals fanning out from the original city centre and these canals are now joined together. A distinctive feature on the canals are the numerous house boats which people permanently live on. As the land is below sea level and is quite marshy, building of houses is done in a similar fashion to Venice where wooden pylons are driven many metres into the mud to reach a sand base. Because of the tax system in the early days where landowners had to pay tax on the area of land that the houses covered, the very frugal Dutch people chose to build houses with a small base and four to five floors high. We saw one house that was a little over 2 metres wide and five storeys high. This was built by a very frugal Dutchman. Another interesting feature of the houses was that when the water level drops, the wooden pylon foundations rot and the house then develops a lean! We saw a number of such houses. It was quite fascinating going around by boat and out into the harbour to one of the busiest ports in Europe.

After the boat tour was finished we were taken to a diamond house, where they polish and set diamonds. We had a guided tour and were shown how the diamonds were classified and polished, then taken into a special room to see and try on some of their rings and necklaces. I offered to buy Jill a ruby ring and we found a really pretty ring with a ruby surrounded by diamonds, but the frugal Dutch in her made her reject my offer. I think she may have since regretted her decision.

We were then given two hours to do some window shopping before heading out into the country. Our first stop was at a dairy farm where they made sheep and goat cheeses. We were able to sample all their cheeses after a short explanation of how they were made and people who were able to purchase, did so. Then we set off again and stopped off at a nearby place where they made the traditional Dutch wooden clogs. Originally when these were made purely by hand it would take a minimum of eight hours. Now they have special machines that make a pair in just a couple of minutes.

Next stop was to see a 350 year old traditional Dutch Windmill. The mechanics of this were quite mind boggling as everything is made out of wood including the gears and roller bearings that allow the windmill to turn on its axis. The beams and the drive shaft are massive pieces of timber and the reason it is all preserved so well is because of the thatched roof which is a metre thick and is replaced around every eighty years. This amazing structure is able to pump tens of thousands of litres of water every hour. I climbed the steep ladder to the top to see where the windmill drive shaft comes in and connects with the main pumping shaft. As the wind changes direction and the windmill must face into the wind to work, the operator has a pulley system that allows the windmill to be turned rotating on perfectly round bearings. I think engineers today would be hard pressed to come up with a better system. These windmills are used either to grind grain or as in this case, pump water out of the lowlands which are below sea level.

After we had spent some time viewing the windmill we ventured further on to the picturesque town of Volendam, a fishing village that used to be situated on a bay facing the North Sea, but a thirty mile dyke has now turned it into a large lake and the water has been converted to fresh water. Here we spent one and a half hours window shopping etc. before going into one of the restaurants for a farewell dinner as most of our American friends were flying out the next morning. It was a lovely four course Dutch meal and everyone was in good spirits.

There is actually no country called Holland, as Holland is but a province of the Netherlands (which means the low lands). The name Dutch came from a very early king who ruled both the Netherlands and England and who had a name that caused the English to refer to the Netherlanders as Dutchies. As these people are renowned for their very frugal ways, the term “going Dutch” originated from these times. The Netherlanders were also ruled by the Spanish at one time and they had an eighty year war with them until they gained their independance and thereafter began to prosper. The Netherlands is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but is the most densely populated. One third of the country is below sea level and the terrain is very flat. The people tend to be quite friendly and most speak very good English because the Dutch language is so hard to learn.

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Goodbye Germany and hello Amsterdam ….

Wednesday 21st September

It was a very early start today (7.30 am) as we had quite a long way to go and the driver was aware of a lot of roadworks along the route. Although we were passing through farming and forest countryside there was still much to see, with the different crops, the main one being corn probably followed by potatoes, but I also saw a crop of oats. One of the interesting things about farming in Germany is that there are very few fences as the farms don’t seem to have animals. The farmers tend to plant small plots of different crops at different times of the year which tend to create a kaleidoscope of different green colours, giving that postcard look.

We stopped off at Cologne mid morning,mainly to look at the Gothic Cathedral which is over 1,000 years old. The significance of this is that Cologne was 95 per cent destroyed in World War 2 but the bomber pilots were instructed not to destroy the Cathedral. The many beautiful stained glass windows were removed and safely stored underground and replaced again after the end of the war. The Cathedral was a very impressive building but I found it very similar inside to the style of the Norwich Cathedral. It is also said that the remains of the Three Wise Men are buried here in the Cathedral.

We resumed our journey and eventually left Germany and entered the Netherlands with no fanfare as there is no longer any border control due to the European union. Soon after this we passed the town of Arnheim, the place where there was an enormous battle between the Allies and Germany and has been made into a film called “A bridge too far” . (Craig you will have to watch out for that for me).

At last we reached Amsterdam. It is referred to as the Venice of the North because of the numerous canals that go around the city and it is also the city of the push bike. There are thousands of them and they have right of way even when they don’t!!! Here, you don’t worry so much about being run over by a motor car, it is the bikes you have to watch out for. We had passengers alighting from the coach on our arrival and almost immediately some of them were nearly run down by the bicycles! Even Jill nearly got run down. We were also told of the numerous coffee houses here – these are not your run of the mill coffee houses but rather places where you consume drugs!! Just as well we were warned about that!!! Amsterdam is a very free city in many ways!!

After we had settled into the hotel a small group of us walked and caught a tram (quite a feat!) to Anne Franks house and saw the actual house and museum that has been set up in her memory. Another very sad, but interesting outing.

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Rhine river cruise

Tuesday 20th September

Today we set off early to catch the boat for our cruise down the Rhine. We sat on the top deck of the large boat and it was quite chilly to begin with as it was only 9.30 am, but as the day progressed the sun came out and it was very pleasant. The Rhine is the third longest river in Europe but by far the busiest and as we travelled we were passing huge river barges every kilometre or so. They come from all over Europe and are used to transport all sorts of products. The river meanders down a valley that rises very steeply on either side and has vineyards growing up the sides of the very steep hills and it was beautiful scenery and tranquil. This is Riesling territory where unlike Australia they manufacture a dry, semi-dry and sweet variety of Riesling. I later had a chance to taste all three at a wine tasting and like all of them but surprisingly liked the sweet best. The Rhine in this territory is very pretty with the vineyards and every couple of kilometres there is an old castle set into the hillside. Some were ruins, but some were still in use today. Also regularly along the river there were villages which were just like fairytale picture postcards. Beautiful!! Many of the towns and castles along the route had stories associated with them from events that took place many years ago. We saw where the temptress Loreley used to sit on the side of the river combing her hair and the homesick sailors would come around and be distracted by this beautiful girl and their boats would flounder on the rocks as this area is situated on an s-bend in the river and it is impossible to see what is in front of you. The castles date back to the 11th and 12 Centuries but many of them were destroyed by marauding invaders and then re-instated by the conquerors as these were used as an essential form of defence. The trip lasted two hours and during that time we saw six river cruise liners that take passengers through different countries along the Rhine. Eventually we docked at one of the little towns on the banks of the river and caught our coach to the large Marksburg Castle, one of the best examples of an 11th Century Castle in Europe.

On our journey to the castle we drove up a very narrow winding road which allowed vehicles to travel both up and down and at times the bus was virtually touching both sides of the road with a ravine on our right side. We held our breath!! The reason the castle is in such good condition is because it has never come under attack, although it has changed hands approximately six times and is still lived in today. As we entered we were walking on very rough stone pavements then walked up to the battlements where they had cannons facing out onto the Rhine. These haven’t been fired in anger however, but were used to announce the arrival of the king. As we continued to walk around, we came across a garden that was planted with fruit and vegetables that were in use during the time it was built. Then we came across the toilet system which was built out from the wall in which people sat on the toilet seat and there wasn’t anything under them, so whatever they did would fall into the garden. When we went inside, we came to the main bedroom and saw the four poster bed that was used by the husband and wife. It was very small and the reason was that people were afraid to lie down to sleep as only dead people lay flat, so they slept in a sitting position. Next we moved into the dining room here was a long table and immediately next to it was the toilet which didn’t have a door on it so people could go there and continue a conversation with those at the table. It was a most interesting visit and when the tour finished we had our lunch at the castle sitting outside in the beautiful sunshine.

Next on to the bus and on to a wine tasting at a local place in one of the nearby towns Rudesheim. Here we learnt all about the history of wine growing in the local area and sampled three types of Riesling wine. I enjoyed this very much. Then did some window shopping in the local shops and returned to the hotel for an early night as we leave tomorrow at 7.30 am for Holland (Amsterdam) – quite a long day on the road!

Hopefully we will be able to write more from Amsterdam – here’s hoping!

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Rothenburg and Wiesbaden in Germany

Monday 19th September

We are making a number of posts today to try and catch up.

We left grey wet Munich today and meandered north west and luckily for us the weather slowly improved again (that means it was grey but no rain) . Our primary objective today was to reach the town of Rothenburg by lunchtime. This is an old walled city that has seen many wars over the centuries, had many rulers and was changed from Catholic to Protestant and back again many times. When we entered the gateway, we were transported back to the 13th Century. This town took my breath away with its quaint decorated buildings and cobblestone pavements and although we were allowed a 2 hour stop here we wished we had had longer. Many of these buildings and the wall around the city are original and now contain a variety of tourist shops, the likes of which you wouldn’t see anywhere else. There is one shop there called the Christmas Shop where there was a wonderland of Christmas decorations and lights, many in moving displays – absolutely magnificent.

Our destination for tonight is Wiesbaden, a town just outside Frankfurt and we have just settled in here ready fir another busy day tomorrow. Once again we probably won’t get a chance to post again tomorrow and don’t know what the future holds regarding Internet WiFi along the way, so watch this space …….!!

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Munich

Sunday 18th September

We were up early as we are most days on tour, as we wanted to go on a tour of the city sights of Munich before they closed the streets in preparation for the Octoberfest parade through the streets. This city is 800 years old but as 80 per cent of it was destroyed in the 2nd World War the majority of the buildings are 60 years old or less. The day to day commercial buildings are very modern in style but the buildings built by previous kings were rebuilt as exact replicas. The reason Munich was bombed so much was because this was Hitler’s head office and his military head office. Would you believe all the buildings around were destroyed, but these two buildings were not and still stand today and are used as part of a University. We also went past the infamous Olympic stadium where some of the Israeli team were killed. Munich is also the head office for BMW cars, MAN trucks and Alliance Insurance and Munich Re Insurance.

We had to terminate our tour around early in order to stop and watch the Octoberfest parade. It has always been held in sunshine for the past 20 years, however today it rained which was a shame. However it was still quite a sight and very interesting with all the Bavarian bands and different styles of traditional dress, as well as the different brewery carts drawn by magnificent draft horses. It was a very long parade with participants coming from all parts of Bavaria to celebrate the occasion and was very interesting to see despite the rain. We then walked to the town square where we had lunch and then took a tour by bus to Dacau, the first Nazi concentration camp upon which all others were modelled. This was a very sobering and bleak visit as we walked in the rain through the camp and the various buildings.

Unfortunately for us our impression of Munich was just grey and wet. There is a lot of history here, a lot of it quite recent and we were assured that it is in fact a very pretty city, but for us it was marred somewhat by the continual rain.

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Good bye Switzerland …

Saturday 17th September

We travelled through three countries today …… We left beautiful Lucerne and travelled through the most magnificent mountain pass, with flowing rivers, green green pastures and Swiss mountain houses. There were a number of castles along the way which made it impossible to take your eyes off the scenery. We stopped for morning tea in Lichtenstein at Vaduz, the one and only town in this principality and which is 5 kilometres wide and 20 kilometres long. Lichtenstein is aligned with Switzerland, but is independent. And as such isn’t part of the European Market, just like Switzerland. I’m afraid to say there wasn’t anything of significance there that I can tell you about. We continued our journey and quickly entered into Austria. The terrain and architecture remained very similar to Switzerland with very green fields and mountains and it was a pretty drive. We then had lunch at Innsbruck in the ancient part of the city which was very interesting with it’s quaint buildings and cobbled streets. It is also the place where Swarovski crystals come from. The new display shop which had just recently opened had a crystal staircase and crystal chandeliers both of which I managed to photograph and was a sight to behold, and of course the items on sale, both jewellery and ornaments were very tempting for Jill.

We set off after lunch, destination Germany. As we concluded travelling in Austria the terrain altered and mountains gave way to rolling hills, then flatter pastures. This was Bavaria the largest of the 17 states of Germany and with a long history of its own. We eventually reached Munich the capital of Bavaria and the third largest city in Germany. Would you believe we arrived to find out it was the first day of the 201st Octoberfest, the celebration of Ludwig’s marriage. We just had to sample the Octoberfest atmosphere, so went to the famous Hoffbrau Haus which is a large beer hall that seats 6,000 for a meal and a beer, with lively music in the Bavarian tradition. We found it to be very noisy so we left and found a quiet side walk restaurant where we had a very nice traditional German meal and I had a special Octoberfest beer. Until now we had only experienced sunshine on our tour, however that came to an end and the heavens opened up while we were out, putting a dampener on some of the celebrations for the Octoberfest. So after having a look around some of the Souvenir shops, we grabbed a cab and went back to the hotel.

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