In reflecting on our trip we a,re so very happy to have done this. The trip was more than what we could have hoped for. We were blessed with great weather except for only two days of the 47 days since we left Canada.
While there are so many others with more experience than us, we now consider ourselves to be world travellers and we have learned a few things.
BEING NICE ISN'T ALWAYS THE BEST WAY.
So many times people pushed in front of us, or walked in front just as we were trying to take pictures. The worst were the Asian people who seem to always talk very loud and look like they are about 10 minutes late for their next appointment. We had to use our "chicken wings" as Sophia told us, sticking our elbows out and not always getting out of their way.
GET A NEW COMFY PAIR OF SHOES AND WATCH WHERE YOU STEP
On a trip like this, there is a lot of walking, some days more than others. Having a great comfortable pair of shoes is what you will need and a newer pair so they don't wear out on you is a good idea. Be careful to watch where you are stepping, many of the roads especially in the older parts are usually cobblestone, but they are uneven and can easily cause a fall. There is also a lot of marble that is very slippery when wet and still slippery on a good day.
WASHROOMS CAN BE DIFFERENT.
Many of the public washrooms cost money in Europe, usually only .50 to .70 cents. Some have toilet seats, some only the porcelain bowl and in one case, only a porcelain plate with a hole in the floor. It is also very common to have a female cleaning attendant in there with you in the men's room and in some places the ladies lined up for the men's room since the lineup was too large for their room. Men and ladies together in side by side stalls is rare but not unusual, especially in smaller towns or areas where tourists don't often go.
In a number of our hotels, the bathroom doors were made of glass usually in the shower, but a couple of times the actual door to the room was also clear glass, with no privacy at all.
PICK POCKETS AND MONEYBELTS
Wearing a money belt is or should be mandatory at least for your passports. While we didn't have any problems, there are signs and warning everywhere about pick pocketing people who just love tourists. If you normally always were a belt, I have a money belt that attaches to a normal belt and after a short while you don't even know it is there and just looks like another belt loop of your pants.
TRY TO SPEAK THE LANGUAGE
Even trying to learn how to say please, thank you and you're welcome in the language of the country seemed to be appreciated. At our dinner a couple of nights ago is where we found our best example. Barb and I were at a nice little corner table, served by a very happy, funny older gentleman who spoke mainly French. We were seated next to a table of 5 older Americans who made absolutely no attempt to even say thank you in French. The impression which was maybe not intended, but Barb and I just felt that because they live in the US, they only need to speak English and it is not their problem if others do not understand. Barb and I got hung up with the word "cassis" in the sorbet deserts menu and we asked our waiter who didn't quite understand the question. A group of parisiennes sitting to our left, told us that it meant black current sorbet. We thanked them explaining that we liked to learn new words.
LAUGH WITH OTHERS AND LAUGH AT YOURSELF
In order to spend 28 days in the close confines of a tour bus and eat almost every meal with people you have never met before we think our group taught us the best way to survive. It started really at our first meal where our tour director was telling the waiters about my allergy to eating any kind of nut. She looked around the room then announced "where is Dave with no nuts"! This broke the ice, I got a new name tag and was called "no nuts" more than once. Our group of 27 people was smaller than many other tours, but everyone was there for fun and we all laughed at and with each other everyday.
LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER
Our group was special in another way as well. We all, without being asked, looked out for each other. Everyone warned me if they thought nuts were in the food, my fear of heights was another thing where many asked if I was okay and celebrated when I crossed a high bridge in Delphi or climbed the mountain in Switzerland. We celebrated others as well and almost everyone always looked back on walking tours to be sure that those of our group who walked a little slower, were never left behind. When getting to a meeting point, everyone knew who was missing and in most cases where they were last seen.
BE THERE ON TIME.
Our schedule was busy like all tours but everyone took the attitude that they would not be the ones to hold everyone up. Sometimes a person or couple was maybe a minute late and took a ribbing from everyone when it happened. This was all in fun, but our group respected each other and we have been told that this doesn't usually happen on most tours.
WHAT ROOM AM I IN?
We have been in 21 different hotels including our cabins on two separate boats. At times Barb and I just looked at each other and said what room are we in? Of course, we almost never knew what day it was and at times we even had to stop and think what city we were in.
PILLOWS.
Some hotels, like everywhere, just did not have the right pillows. We stayed in Switzerland where they only had feather pillows where your head would sink down to the mattress and you could not hear a thing. Our nights of poor sleeping were mainly caused by these pillows that we didn't like, but there was always nap time on the bus to get us through.
DOGS WITH NO WHERE TO GO!
In Venice and again on our Ferry ride from Greece to Italy, there was no grass or anywhere for the dogs that we saw walking around on a leash. However we never saw any poop anywhere.
TRAVELLING ON A TOUR
These last two days have made us appreciate the tour with Trafalgar and how much we have been spoiled. Our bags were taken to our rooms or back to our bus without us having to carry them, we only had to have them ready on time in the morning and outside our room. Our tour bus was always exceptionally clean ... Marcello our driver was always washing the windows so we would be able to get clear pictures. The bus took us everywhere unlike the taxi driver who got a little lost getting us to our airport hotel for our trip home. There is a rotation on the bus where you move two rows forward or backward every day. That way everyone gets a turn at the front and back of the bus and everywhere in between. It works only when everyone follows these rules. Each morning breakfast was ready for us where the past couple of days we have had to find our own knives and forks at the dinner buffet because our tour guide was not with us to kick some butt and ensure there was a spot available for members of our tour.
Plan to gain weight, don't go to McDonalds, Burger King or Subway. They are all everywhere in Europe, but find the local restaurants and try the local food.
If ever you are looking for coach / boat tours in Europe, we would recommend Trafalgar. Contiki Tours are great and part of the same company for those younger than 35, where parties take a bit more priority. Another branch of the same company, Insight Vacations are similar but even more expensive than what Trafalgar offers because they stay in 5 star hotels. Our hotels were fantastic, good sized rooms in very nice hotels, the trip was well planned out and the tour guides really know how to make everyone comfortable. Our guide had her Masters in history and she told us about every country and the special places we visited. She knew just where to go to get away from the crowds and see places that most would not know about.
It has been an incredible 47 days that we will never forget. We have taken approximately 6,000 pictures, been to 13 different countries, managed 6 different currencies, 3 different time zones and travelled over 8,000 km. We have learned that we like to find places away from the crowds, like the little Piazza we found in the back streets of Venice, or the smaller laneways in Mykonos, or this little area where we spent our last night in France called Roissy en France near the Charles de Gaulle airport. As in most places, there are small hotels in this area servicing the airport, but Barb and I found a little park and when we walked through it we found a lovely little town with small stores, shops and restaurants. We had dinner at one of them, it was quiet, not crowded and typically French. This is what we enjoy on our alone time.
The summer of 2015 has been very special. The main thing we have learned is that Barb and I love to spend time together with others and alone. This proves that we have something special. AND the favourite saying from our Tour Director about all of the things we have seen for the first time. IT IS NOT WRONG...IT'S JUST DIFFERENT
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Friday, August 28, 2015
Paris our way.
It rained all day yesterday here in Paris. We had planned to drive to Normandy but that is a bucket list item that will have to wait until next time. We needed a day of taking it easy, not that we stayed inside. We hopped on the Paris Metro (subway) to travel back downtown. We went to the Golden Dome where Napoleon Bonaparte is entombed in 6 caskets according to one of our travel directors. This was to ensure that he never returns!
Next stop was off to the Louvre, the original palace of French Kings, when Louis XIV moved there from Paris to build a palace to rival the Schonbrunn Palace in Austria. The Louvre is now a giant art museum and houses the Monna Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci.
By the time we got through the crowds and saw a couple of other things we were done, so it was time to find a café and sit at their outdoor tables and watch the world go by like they do in Paris.
A few glasses of wine, a chocolate crepe and about two hours later, we decided to get back out in the rain and go back to our hotel. Dinner was at a very nice little restaurant at the end of the street .. what a wonderful day!
Next stop was off to the Louvre, the original palace of French Kings, when Louis XIV moved there from Paris to build a palace to rival the Schonbrunn Palace in Austria. The Louvre is now a giant art museum and houses the Monna Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci.
By the time we got through the crowds and saw a couple of other things we were done, so it was time to find a café and sit at their outdoor tables and watch the world go by like they do in Paris.
A few glasses of wine, a chocolate crepe and about two hours later, we decided to get back out in the rain and go back to our hotel. Dinner was at a very nice little restaurant at the end of the street .. what a wonderful day!
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Our last day on tour.
Yesterday was our last official tour day with our group. Another early morning start, but all for good reason. We were visiting the Eiffel Tower and wanted to be early to avoid the crowds of tourists. We were warned again about pick pockets and our tour guide pointed out two ladies with clip boards or papers on them. They come up to you looking for help or directions, then while you are distracted they take your valuables.
One fellow in our group was talking inside a store when the shop keeper warned him to be careful. This was in Rome or Florence and while he was discussing pick pockets in the store he was used in a nice but very interesting way. He and the shop keeper were talking while another lady who worked at this shop took his wallet. He had no idea until he was about to leave when they called him back to give him back his wallet. An interesting demonstration as to how good these people are and they collect inside churches, palaces or anywhere that tourists gather.
We have been safe and very careful. We both have money belts and are very aware of where we are and who is around us.
So we went up the Eiffel Tower only to the 2nd level which is where our guide said we could take the best pictures. I wasn't really comfortable up there which was interesting after mountain climbing in Switzerland.
Next we took a tour of the Palace at Versailles where the French Kings resided back before the French Revolution. It was massive and so over the top it makes you wonder how much better it would have been for the French people if they had received the money it took to build this place.
After the tour we had some free time to spend in Paris, so Barb, I and a travelling companion named Peter decided to do the French thing and have a drink outside a café on the Champs Elysees. We were just near the Arc de Triomphe.
Then it was back to our hotel to get showered and dressed for our farewell dinner followed with a cruise on the Seine River to see Paris by night. Once again we were wowed with the beauty of the buildings and the Eiffel Tower all lite up. Every hour for about 5 minutes from 9:00 pm until 1:00 am it sparkles.
We said our goodbyes to all our out travelling companions, most of them were up early again this morning to get back on the bus for their final trip to London, but we will remain here in Paris for a couple of days to rest before returning home,
We are happy and very grateful that we had such a great group to travel with and our Tour Guide Sophia and Driver Marcello were such a big part of our Trip of a Lifetime on this tour.
We are happy not to be on a schedule now but we would never have experienced everything without this tour. God willing and good health, there will be other trips like this for us, but not as long. This was a big one, the longest trip that Trafalgar offers and was just right to see the key parts of Western Europe and a little of Eastern Europe too!
One fellow in our group was talking inside a store when the shop keeper warned him to be careful. This was in Rome or Florence and while he was discussing pick pockets in the store he was used in a nice but very interesting way. He and the shop keeper were talking while another lady who worked at this shop took his wallet. He had no idea until he was about to leave when they called him back to give him back his wallet. An interesting demonstration as to how good these people are and they collect inside churches, palaces or anywhere that tourists gather.
We have been safe and very careful. We both have money belts and are very aware of where we are and who is around us.
So we went up the Eiffel Tower only to the 2nd level which is where our guide said we could take the best pictures. I wasn't really comfortable up there which was interesting after mountain climbing in Switzerland.
Next we took a tour of the Palace at Versailles where the French Kings resided back before the French Revolution. It was massive and so over the top it makes you wonder how much better it would have been for the French people if they had received the money it took to build this place.
After the tour we had some free time to spend in Paris, so Barb, I and a travelling companion named Peter decided to do the French thing and have a drink outside a café on the Champs Elysees. We were just near the Arc de Triomphe.
Then it was back to our hotel to get showered and dressed for our farewell dinner followed with a cruise on the Seine River to see Paris by night. Once again we were wowed with the beauty of the buildings and the Eiffel Tower all lite up. Every hour for about 5 minutes from 9:00 pm until 1:00 am it sparkles.
We said our goodbyes to all our out travelling companions, most of them were up early again this morning to get back on the bus for their final trip to London, but we will remain here in Paris for a couple of days to rest before returning home,
We are happy and very grateful that we had such a great group to travel with and our Tour Guide Sophia and Driver Marcello were such a big part of our Trip of a Lifetime on this tour.
We are happy not to be on a schedule now but we would never have experienced everything without this tour. God willing and good health, there will be other trips like this for us, but not as long. This was a big one, the longest trip that Trafalgar offers and was just right to see the key parts of Western Europe and a little of Eastern Europe too!
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Our last country...France
It was a long day on the bus today, and we were delayed by 1 hour due to construction on the highway. This made for a rather rushed day when we finally arrived in Paris, but we are here.
When we spend so much time on the bus, our tour director has ways to keep us entertained like showing movies or doing trivia about our tour. Hey today I won a prize.
You can imagine the laughter. It is actually perfume... you dirty minded people!
On one of our rest stops I found this bottle of coke in the coolers,
We only had about 20 minutes to get into our rooms, get changed then back on the bus for the highlight of the day. Dinner and a show at the world famous Moulin Rouge. Moulin in French means windmill and rouge means red.
This was a fantastic show we both enjoyed it very much.
One item from yesterday I forgot to mention. In Switzerland they have fondue. Our tour guide said a few days ago that if you dropped an item of food into the fondue, you are supposed to kiss the person seated to the left of you. We forgot about this when we had lunch yesterday with another couple from our group.
Tomorrow is the last day of our tour, we end in Paris while most others will travel back to London on Thursday. It will be a very busy day tomorrow, with site seeing, a visit to the Palace at Versailles and then a farewell dinner for everyone and finally a nighttime cruise down the Siene River in Paris to see the city at night.
When we spend so much time on the bus, our tour director has ways to keep us entertained like showing movies or doing trivia about our tour. Hey today I won a prize.
You can imagine the laughter. It is actually perfume... you dirty minded people!
On one of our rest stops I found this bottle of coke in the coolers,
We only had about 20 minutes to get into our rooms, get changed then back on the bus for the highlight of the day. Dinner and a show at the world famous Moulin Rouge. Moulin in French means windmill and rouge means red.
This was a fantastic show we both enjoyed it very much.
One item from yesterday I forgot to mention. In Switzerland they have fondue. Our tour guide said a few days ago that if you dropped an item of food into the fondue, you are supposed to kiss the person seated to the left of you. We forgot about this when we had lunch yesterday with another couple from our group.
Tomorrow is the last day of our tour, we end in Paris while most others will travel back to London on Thursday. It will be a very busy day tomorrow, with site seeing, a visit to the Palace at Versailles and then a farewell dinner for everyone and finally a nighttime cruise down the Siene River in Paris to see the city at night.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Words cannot describe
One thing I forgot to mention in yesterday's post was that we drove through a 17km tunnel through a mountain on our way through Switzerland yesterday. One of the largest tunnels here in Europe.
I personally did some things today I thought I would never dream of doing. Our morning started by heading towards Lucerne and a ride up to the 7000 Ft level of Mt. Pilatus. We headed to the top by a cog wheel train or tram up the side of the mountain. We were told that we would come down the other side by 2 gondolas.
As the title says, words cannot describe this and the pictures really don't explain the view. It brought tears to my eyes being up there.
(I was so proud of him !!!)
The first gondola that brought us down about a quarter of the way was large, able to hold 45 people. We only had about 10 of us in it and I went to the middle initially, to hang on. It was fantastic, smooth and I was walking around to the windows taking videos before very long.
Next we transferred off to smaller gondolas that only held 4 people each for the remainder of our drop to the bottom. These move slowly to allow you to get on, like they do on our ski hills, then the door closes and it speeds up out the building and into the abyss. I had both hands firmly grabbing my seat, between my legs and I was looking at my feet initially thinking oh no. This trip down took 45 minutes in total and in this little car we would be at least 30 minutes. Again though after a few minutes the ride was smooth and I started to enjoy it looking at the scenery and taking videos. I would not have missed this for anything, despite my fears.
We had some time to shop and eat in Lucerne, then we took an hour cruise on Lake Lucerne. We saw the Lion monument which was a tribute to the 600 Swiss Guards that were protecting the French Royal family who were at the Tulleries Palace from French revolutionaries. This monument was carved in 1820-21 in honour of those fallen guards. You may notice that the lion is carved into the mountain inside the image of a pig. Some say it was deliberate to show how the Swiss felt about the French revolutionaries.
We have some more spectacular pictures from the cruise but they don't compare to these mountain views.
One more cultural story here from Switzerland. In yesterday's post I mentioned how we have had to push and shove our way in or others away. Today while Barb and I were walking through Lucerne, a young lady cut right in front of me. She realized this and stopped immediately, backed up and apologized to me then even though I asked her to continue, she insisted I go ahead to be with Barb.
Switzerland, absolutely beautiful, extremely expensive but a place to see with your own eyes. We will never forget this place.
I personally did some things today I thought I would never dream of doing. Our morning started by heading towards Lucerne and a ride up to the 7000 Ft level of Mt. Pilatus. We headed to the top by a cog wheel train or tram up the side of the mountain. We were told that we would come down the other side by 2 gondolas.
As the title says, words cannot describe this and the pictures really don't explain the view. It brought tears to my eyes being up there.
Once we arrived at the top it was indescribable. I have never seen anything like this with my own eyes in my life.
(I was so proud of him !!!)
Next we transferred off to smaller gondolas that only held 4 people each for the remainder of our drop to the bottom. These move slowly to allow you to get on, like they do on our ski hills, then the door closes and it speeds up out the building and into the abyss. I had both hands firmly grabbing my seat, between my legs and I was looking at my feet initially thinking oh no. This trip down took 45 minutes in total and in this little car we would be at least 30 minutes. Again though after a few minutes the ride was smooth and I started to enjoy it looking at the scenery and taking videos. I would not have missed this for anything, despite my fears.
We have some more spectacular pictures from the cruise but they don't compare to these mountain views.
One more cultural story here from Switzerland. In yesterday's post I mentioned how we have had to push and shove our way in or others away. Today while Barb and I were walking through Lucerne, a young lady cut right in front of me. She realized this and stopped immediately, backed up and apologized to me then even though I asked her to continue, she insisted I go ahead to be with Barb.
Switzerland, absolutely beautiful, extremely expensive but a place to see with your own eyes. We will never forget this place.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Beautiful, Civilized Switzerland
We knew this country would be beautiful with the mountains all around, but let me tell you the reason for the title of this post. In Greece, Italy and some other countries we have been in, we were told that we cannot be the polite Canadians, where we don't push and usually leave space in front of ourselves. This cannot happen here, especially in Italy, where everyone cuts in front of you or pushes and thinks nothing of getting ahead of you. We have been told to use our "chicken wings", elbows out and push anyone who tries to but in front of us.
Two days ago Barb was in a rather long line for the ladies room when two women just casually walked past everyone and then cut in line. She lost it, grabbed one of the ladies and told her and her friend to go back. It is always convenient that all of a sudden these people don't speak English so Barb got the attendant and she ordered these women back. This morning it happened to another lady in our group in a coffee lineup and when she was challenged her answer back was "it will only take a second"!
At our rest stop this morning the area was full of tour buses and trying to get a coffee was like seeing the refugees here in Europe trying to escape to the UK. Imagine the old days at the stock exchange where people are packed around small tables drinking coffee, while others are packed all around them pushing to the counter with their hands up yelling their orders to the servers. Barb and I just shook our heads and went back to the bus. This is the way in this part of the world.
So now we are in Switzerland, in the small mountain town of Engelberg, the scenery is amazing.
Engelberg is smaller than our town of Bowmanville ... you could walk almost everywhere except there are some homes up on the mountains so the walk may not be an option. Only 3721 people live here as of the last census. It is quiet, peaceful, friendly and the water is pure from the mountains, Tasting it you notice a real difference.
After checking in to our hotel were taken on a tour through the town on a horse and carriage.
We were taken to a local dairy farm where they explained what they do there. They raise 16 dairy cattle and have another 16 young cows. Also a few horses and the carriages we rode in. In the summer, the cows are taken to a mountain pasture (the Alp) for the summer where they give milk twice a day. This milk is used to make cheese in the summer. During the winter, the cows are brought back down to the lower farm here in Engelberg and milk is sent to Lucerne to be pasteurized for the milk used to drink. They cannot make cheese during the winter because the cows can only eat hay in the winter since they do get a lot of snow here. Grass fed works for cheese but not when the cows eat hay.
We were treated to wine, local cheeses, a cheese pastry, and chocolate cake all made from local fresh ingredients. It was all so wonderful! When I playfully asked their 13 year old son about the recipe, he asked his mother if it was okay to share it, and then wrote it down for us. It was fun working it all out because he is just learning English in school. In this part of Switzerland they speak either French or German.
The family is very friendly, we were able to walk anywhere on their tiny farm of only 23 acres. Barb even got to feed one of their horses. Of course we didn't see the cows, they are about 1 1/2 hours away up in the mountain pasture.
Two days ago Barb was in a rather long line for the ladies room when two women just casually walked past everyone and then cut in line. She lost it, grabbed one of the ladies and told her and her friend to go back. It is always convenient that all of a sudden these people don't speak English so Barb got the attendant and she ordered these women back. This morning it happened to another lady in our group in a coffee lineup and when she was challenged her answer back was "it will only take a second"!
At our rest stop this morning the area was full of tour buses and trying to get a coffee was like seeing the refugees here in Europe trying to escape to the UK. Imagine the old days at the stock exchange where people are packed around small tables drinking coffee, while others are packed all around them pushing to the counter with their hands up yelling their orders to the servers. Barb and I just shook our heads and went back to the bus. This is the way in this part of the world.
So now we are in Switzerland, in the small mountain town of Engelberg, the scenery is amazing.
Engelberg is smaller than our town of Bowmanville ... you could walk almost everywhere except there are some homes up on the mountains so the walk may not be an option. Only 3721 people live here as of the last census. It is quiet, peaceful, friendly and the water is pure from the mountains, Tasting it you notice a real difference.
After checking in to our hotel were taken on a tour through the town on a horse and carriage.
We were taken to a local dairy farm where they explained what they do there. They raise 16 dairy cattle and have another 16 young cows. Also a few horses and the carriages we rode in. In the summer, the cows are taken to a mountain pasture (the Alp) for the summer where they give milk twice a day. This milk is used to make cheese in the summer. During the winter, the cows are brought back down to the lower farm here in Engelberg and milk is sent to Lucerne to be pasteurized for the milk used to drink. They cannot make cheese during the winter because the cows can only eat hay in the winter since they do get a lot of snow here. Grass fed works for cheese but not when the cows eat hay.
We were treated to wine, local cheeses, a cheese pastry, and chocolate cake all made from local fresh ingredients. It was all so wonderful! When I playfully asked their 13 year old son about the recipe, he asked his mother if it was okay to share it, and then wrote it down for us. It was fun working it all out because he is just learning English in school. In this part of Switzerland they speak either French or German.
The family is very friendly, we were able to walk anywhere on their tiny farm of only 23 acres. Barb even got to feed one of their horses. Of course we didn't see the cows, they are about 1 1/2 hours away up in the mountain pasture.
We will stay here for two nights, tomorrow morning we are going up a mountain in one of these.
Yes a cable car ... the only way up and then back down. I'm not the only one a little nervous about this, but I will be there. The views are too good to miss. We're really hoping the weather clears for tomorrow as most of the mountains were in the clouds today. I want to come back here again one day because it is so beautiful.
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