Europe 2003


Europe was GRAND FUN!!!

Steve didn't know where we were going until we checked in at SFO and the ticket agent asked "what's your destination". All the time, he thought we were going to South America (where he had ZIP interest).

We started at London. Had a great time sampling pubs. For me, the #1 destination in London was to the Tate, to see JOHN WATERHOUSE paintings!!! It was the best free ticket I ever had (the only museum we visited that was FREE!!!). Then we WALKED to the London Tower via Westminster Cathedral, the Parliament, Big Ben..... I didn't think we would ever get there!! London Tower is misnamed, I think. It is more like a fortress. Great views of the London Bridge from there! Ravens rule the grounds because of a superstition that if they no longer roost at the tower, the monarchy will end. Then we spent a day with an "orientation tour" (this happened the second day, cause we arrived a day early) Saw the change of the guards, Kensington Palace. Saw the Queen's coronation gown. and lucky to do so, cause at the end of Sept (NOW!!) they are packing it away for 100 years to preserve it. It was fabulous!! All the embroidery, beads, sequins!!! Oh yeah, saw the crown jewels too. Just unreal!! I cant imagine wearing such finery.

On to Brussels......Got on the bus to head to Dover where we caught the Ferry to N. France. Steve got sick (I suspect nerves and car sickness) I really thought our trip would end in an emergency trip home. As we got to the ferry check in at Dover, he got out of the bus while customs was doing their thing. And stood outside. I could see him from my window, his back was to me. I didn't even notice he puked, cause he never even bent over! I can't do that, the vomitous would hit my tits and splash back in my face. It really amazed me! And the expression of some woman on the bus next to us was as they say PRICELESS!!!! Oh, and Steve felt ever so much better!!

The ferry ride to France was about 1.5 hours. There we got onto a new bus, with our new driver Guy (pronounced GEE) who is Flemish (From Belgium).The most amazing Driver I have ever seen in my life, handled the bus like it was a VW bug. Oh, and our tour director who joined us from London was Andrzej who is Polish, grew up in Paris, sounded like the Queen's right hand man, fluent in nine languages, and was a walking encyclopedia (should have been named Jeeves as in "GO ASK JEEVES".) He was WONDERFUL.

We drove thru the N. of France then thru the farm lands of Belgium till we got to Brussels. There we went to the Square. The square is just that, buildings. in a square. With the open LARGE square plaza in the middle.Amazing Baroque buildings. This was a theme throughout-Baroque architecture. Made me wonder how they did it. Must have been before the TV soccer games and men needed something to do!!

For dinner, we had Mussels (in brussels!!) OH!!! SO GOOD. Oh, and did you know, that nearly every town in Brussels has their own (Beer) Brewery and chocolatier? They have more varieties of beer than the rest of Europe. Including one that the Monks make that is 18% alcohol.

We were given the option of walking back to the hotel or getting the bus. It seemed like a straight shot, and we were told it would be a 25 min walk. I depended on Steve to have a brain so that I could leave mine behind, and didn't realize he had puked it out in Dover. So, when we discovered on the way back, that we didn't have a friggen clue where we were, I asked if he had the address. "No".....Oh well, say what was the name of the hotel? "I dunno" Looking for the plastic card key, well it had no address, no phone..... It was by this time dark (around 10pm ) I was tired, cranky, freaking out that we would be forever lost. What do I do in that situation?? Cry....and have loose bowels. Not a pretty sight. Then suddenly, a lightening bolt of profound intelligence hit. We remembered the name of the hotel. With that info, we approached a taxi. Some arab with the intelligence of an empty beer bottle informed us he never heard of the place (maybe the lightening bolt was more of a flicker). We went to a bar. Asked to look at the phone book. Found a hotel with a similar name. Now armed with that name and address, we went back to the line up of taxis. This time a nice black man from British Honduras. So with great fear that we would wind up at a hotel that was not ours, off we went. Fortunately, we got to the right place, about 1.5 miles from where we were wandering with me crying and trying to keep my butt cheeks squeezed tight.

So....on to Germany. First stop Cologne. The AMAZING Baroque cathedral (I told you it was a theme). Steve had his first taste of true European Pastery. Needless to say, he loved it.

From Cologne, we headed south till we got to the boat for our Rhine cruise. CASTLES EVERYWHERE!! At one point we could see 3 castles with a simple turn of the head. There was one Pub of note that could be seen from the boat. A church was attached to this pub. The only way in to the church was THRU the pub. Oh, and yes, the bartender IS the priest. Sign me up for the church of the incredible (beer) consumption!

A night at a non-descript hotel, and on to Munich and Heidelberg. Both were amazing. The clock tower in Munich did play for us. I guess it doesn't do so every day. So we were lucky. The university town of Heidelberg has a nice castle. Complete with the biggest wine barrel I have ever seen. - two stories high. Quite an accomplishment since it is so old!! Gee, do you think Germans like to drink?

Then, we continued on to Austria, with Innsbruck as our first stop. And stay for the night. I had been to Innsbruck before, and was sad that we didn't have time to go to the wonderful castle there. But just the same it was a nice stop, and our stay was in a 600 year old hotel.

Then on to Salzburg. Visit in old town, went to Mozart's house. One of our tour group got lost, but the Amazing Andrejz managed to find him in the hords of people milling about.

On we went to Vienna. I love Vienna. Went to a classical concert, the Lippizan Museum.....wish I had time for other museums, particularly to see Gustav Klimts paintings, but we couldn't do it all.

From Vienna, on to Venice. I loved Venice. Steve hated it. I loved the charm, the uniqueness and amazing history of it. Steve could only focus on the gondola ride that made him feel like he would fall overboard and the occasional whiff of sewage. I ignored it or maybe I just didn't notice since I was to much into the scenery. San Marcus square was interesting. Amazing BAROQUE Cathedral (Now I wonder if it may have been the same Cathedral following us, with some changes just to fool us) and architecture. The most fun I had spending a Euro was for pigeon food, and being bombarded by pigeons. The worst Euro was to the dragon lady: Dragon ladies reside everywhere in Europe, guarding the public toilets like trolls wanting change for passage.

Venice is expensive. We sat, ordered one beer and the equivalent of Sprite. Took them 15 to get it to us, they couldn't remember what we wanted (good thing we didn't complicate matters with lunch!), and the bill came to 25 Euros (1 Euro= about $1.10). Some of the charge was the "cover" for the band that was "playing". Steve raised a ruckus about not paying cover since from the time we sat and 'till we paid the bill, the band was on break. They gave in.

The next day, we visited the glass blower and saw their wares. Amazing glass work.

Then we took the day trip to Burano Island. A small fishing village with homes painted blue, purple, pink, yellow.....so bright and cheery. The women specialize is making lace. On the way to Burano, we passed the island of MURANO. Famous for glass making. In fact, all the "Venetian glass" is made on the island of Murano because the furnaces are on 24/7 at 2,500 degrees. they feared they may one day cause a fire, so they moved all the glass making enterprises to Murano island. Glass blowers like Gondoliers have to be born into the business.

So...from Venice on to Verona. There the highlight was Juliet's house (as in Romeo and Juliet). Story is, crazy English folk used to come to Verona wanting to see where Juliet lived. No matter that Shakespeare never went to Verona, and that the story is made up. The council of Verona got tired of having no house to show to these irate tourists, so they found one that would seem to fit the bill. One problem. There was NO balcony. But the people of Verona being a resourceful bunch said AH! There is a building on the other end of town that has a nice balcony....so off they went. Tore off the balcony, and attached it to "Juliet's house". So now the tourists flock there to play Romeo and Juliet, leave graffiti, and love notes, that need to be cleaned up every six months. And oh yeah, a nice bronze statue of Juliet. Kind of makes me wonder if this is how religion was started......a good story with a decent moral to entertain, the flocks who wanna believe, and want to be shown the relic to prove that the story did indeed happen, even if perhaps it didn't. But don't get me started.....

From Verona to Milan. Again, the BAROQUE Cathedral. With AMAZING Gargoyles. A nice group of gypsies playing out of tune. Managed to get their photo. A spin on the bull's balls for good luck (you had to be there for that tradition....but I did it!-don't ask) Milan is the fashion industries heartbeat much like Paris is. But Haute Couture doesn't impress me. They never make anything big enough, let alone affordable. And those models who DO wear those things have no breasts (maybe like Steve they too can vomit standing up straight without fear of splash back) and have you ever seen one of them look HAPPY? Cripes! Why don't they EAT? So, for me, Milan was much ado about nothing, kinda like Juliet's house. The only thing worthwhile was that cathedral. From Milan.....to Switzerland.

Hit the Italian Alps first, then continued climbing to Lucern. We were transported to the land of Heidi. Green grass, happy contented cows, swans on the lake, clean fresh air, the lake so pure I wanted to stick my face in it and take a drink!....the land of watches(including one store with three entire floors with nothing BUT watches for sale!) in a place where you don't care what friggen time it is, and by the looks of things, time stood still for a very long time.

We took a two-stage trip to the top of the mountain. First stage was an old trolley. Past farms, cows, quaint Swiss houses (duh would they have BRITISH houses in Switzerland?) Then the second stage was in a ski-gondola. The valley floor was about 700 ft above sea level. Our mountain top was at 7,000ft. The views, as someone said, you can see the curvature of the earth! Absolutely stunning. A story book land that is so peaceful that made me think Heaven has nothing on Switzerland.

From Switzerland, we drove on to Paris, by way of the Burgundy area of France. Vineyards all over. Nice sweeping vistas. Regretted that we had no time to visit a small village. But that will have to be another trip.

Paris was a hustle-bustle place where I was told VEHICLES have the right of way over pedestrians. And they have no trouble asserting that right of way. At the Triumph Arch is a roundabout. It is a free for all. Make as many lanes as you want (we were told sometime there is as many as 12), just drive fast, and where ever.....and try not to hit anyone. HA!! So much for the idea of taking a romantic drive in Paris. JEEZE!!!

We went to the Louvre. We only spent 2(?) hours, you really need a week. I would have like to have gone to the Museu D/ Arssey which is across the street, but you can only take in so much art, even for an art freak like me. So I will just HAVE to go back.

The trip ended with an evening at the Moulin Rouge. It was a good Vegas type show. More enjoyment for the guys (Read: naked tits) than for women (not even a bare chest for us). But the dancing was good, as were the in between acts of juggling, and other silly fun.

We traveled some 2,500 miles in 14 days, with about 45 people. It was hectic, but it was so much fun. I would do it again in a heartbeat.