On May 15, 2001 Gaile Jennings and I departed for London, England for a 16 day tour of Europe.

In London we stayed at the Forum for two nights before joining the Trafalgar tour group and heading off to Paris, France.  We arrived in London to the cold windy weather I have heard about.  On my last trip, the weather was lovely the whole time.  These first two days were miserable.  During this stay I took Gaile to Westminster Abbey, because I remembered it fondly.  We also toured St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London.  Leaving London at 8:00 am, we took a scenic drive to the coast viewing the White Cliffs of Dover before taking the channel crossing over to Calais, France.  There we crossed World War I battlefields and headed for Paris.

In Paris, we stayed at the Sofitel Paris Porte De Sevres hotel.  Our first afternoon we went up into the Eiffel Tower , There we had a lovely view of many sites of the city our guide pointed out to us.  During our stay we also toured Champs Elysees Opera, Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral .  We ate in a bistro one evening after touring, and another, went to the Parisian Cabaret.  While at the Cabaret "la nouvelle", we were entertained by "Can Can" dancers, singers and acrobatics.  The food, the wine and company was very good.  We enjoyed the company of two couples, Jim, Gail, Ross and Sharon, retired from educational institutes in Canada.  I have to go back to Paris.  It was wonderful.  I would like to spend one full day in the Louvre when I do.  There is so much to see.  One thing I never imagined I would ever see in person, but did, was the Mona Lisa .  There were so many things I have read about in history and other books that I actually got a chance to see while in Europe.  It was awesome!  Other pictures.  Gaile and I also took in many sites inMontmartra, where some artists live, while just sitting in an outdoor cafe watching people go by.  The only down side was that we didn't have enough time to shop!

We were up and on the road to Lucerne, Switzerland by 7:45 am.  We traveled through medieval Beaune, Belfort and Basel, France.  On May 22 we toured town of Lucerne and saw Lion monument , before heading to a small hotel where we ate.  We were able to walk to the shopping area, just on the other side of the bridge.   Lucerne was a very clean and friendly town.  Gaile found a Michele Jordae watch for herself.  I purchase some gifts for family and friends.  We enjoyed our short stay.  Some of the group took a lift and boat ride before we left Switzerland .  It was a short, but lovely stay

We then took the St. Gotthard route through Alpine scenery and the Italian lake district to Milan, Italy.  It was raining when we arrived in Milan.  The Italians have very small cars and park very closely together.  We walked through a shopping plaza, past the LaScala Opera House to the Church in the square and then went to dinner with our group to LaVitta, not far away.  In the morning we drove through the fertile agricultural region of Emilia Romagna to Balogna and the Apennine mountains on the way to Rome "The Eternal City".  We arrived about 4:00 pm at our hotel.  I needed new batteries for my camera, so I walked to a local grocery store to get more.  While I was there, I purchased coffee and wine to bring back to my Aunt Lidia and Uncle Joe.   We then went to dinner at a lovely outside cafe type restaurant called LaMurrina.  Right near the square where there were fountains and people selling their art.   The next day in Rome we toured the Forum, the Coliseum  and St. Peter's Basilica.  We saw a great deal of Michelangelo's work.  We walked through the Sistine Chapel, although we could not take pictures while in the room.  Later I was able to get a look at his sculpture of Michelangelo's Pieta'.  We visited the Vatican Museums and saw the Pope.  I almost got parted from my tour group at the Vatican.  We had "whisper ear plugs" so we could hear our tour guide even if you are standing away from him.  I was taking a picture of the Pope.  The guide said we were going to get closer.  I looked but could not see anyone, so I went as far forward as I could, through the guards.  Then I heard the guide say they were headed out toward the street.  They had just noticed I was missing when I found them.  Thank God for whisper ear plugs!   More pictures  .  I noticed that the deserts in Italy were sweeter than in France, and peoples driving became more daring the farther south you went.  I also noticed that the rest stops we made for lunch had better food than some of the places Trafalgar took us for dinner.    We were suppose to stay at the Demidoff that evening.  However, Trafalgar double booked our hotel so we got to stay in a lovely place in Balogna in the Apennine Mountains.  It is called the Palazzo Loupe.  It's a 17th century Inn.  A two building structure with lovely shutters and an awesome view of the mountains, vineyards and the country side down the mountain.  Julie Thistlethwaite, our tour guide, had never been there before herself.  It was the most lovely authentic place we stayed during our tour.  We were presented with a delicious dinner and wine welcome for our group.

In the morning we got back on the bus to drive through Chianti wine country of Tuscany to Florence.  We did a foot tour to Signoria Square to see another Cathedral, but then we were ready to shop.   On May 25, we left Florence for Venice.  It was just a short drive which included a canal cruise by private motor launch to St. Mark's Square.  We got to see the Bridge of Sighs and had lunch on a small but colorful Island called Burno where they make lace.  This Island reminded me of Curaco because the buildings were all different colors.  We were told that each family has their own color.  When you marry and buy a house, you mix your family color with your mates family color.  I don't know if this was a story or true, but that is what we were told.  Taking a boat back to Venice we then toured the glass-blowing factory and shopped and toured on our own for the rest of the day.  We even took a Gondola tour while in Venice.  We stayed at the Ramada/II Burchiello for the evening.  The next morning we left Venice for Verona to see the Roman Arena and Juliet's balcony. It was in the morning that I noticed that I had gotten a rash.  At first I thought it might have been from the fresh fish we had eaten the afternoon before.  However, I soon realized it was from the blanket on the bed.  My rash was just in places it had touched.  Boarding the bus and heading out we passed the Dolomites as we climbed Brenner Pass into Austria.  Crossing Europa Bridge and descending into Innsbruck, Austria.  We enjoyed a lovely day on our own.     Dinner was at our hotel, the Best Western Mondschein Grauer Bar.  On May 27, we left Innsbruck for Munich.   Both Gaile and I had wanted to see Munich, because we had worked with people from there years prior when we worked for Schlumberger.  In Munich, Germany we stopped to see the Olympic stadium and their city Hall.  It was a Sunday and most shops were closed.  We could attend church, stop for a bite to eat and stop at the square to watch and listen to the Glockenspiel.   We got to see the German country side because we got a flat tire on the autobahn and had to get off to change the tire.  We were lucky there were some people to help because the tools in the bus were sparse.  Then we headed on to Heidelberg to view the castle above the city.  It's a university town, 'Student Prince' fame.  After a walking tour, we were on to Rhineland where we spent the night at another Ramada Hotel.  On the morning of the 28th, we embarked near Lorelei Rock in St. Goar for the Rhine cruise past medieval castles and terraced vineyards as we headed for shore at Boppard where we picked up our bus for Bonn and on to Cologne to see it's gothic Cathedral.  We walked around and had lunch on our own.  Later that day we crossed the border over to Arnhem, Holland which had seen World War II action.  We tour another boat tour around the city and then had dinner at the Sea Palace.  The food was the best we had during the trip.  After dinner we were escorted through the "red light" district.  Amsterdam is big on prostitution and drugs.  It was my least favorite country.  I found it dirty.  We stayed at the Novetel for the night.  In the morning we visited a diamond-polising factory.  Then back in the bus and headed through Antwerp, Belgium on the way back to Calais, France for our ferry crossing back to England.  We spent another night back at the Forum.  In the morning after breakfast we said our good-byes and headed to the airport to fly home.

Thank goodness I planned a few extra days to do laundry and rest before heading back to work.  This trip was lovely, but it diffenately was a whirl of a tour.  I would love to go back to France, Italy and Germany.  Europe offers so much history and art.  I was in constant awe!

 Great Britain               France             Switzerland              Italy 

      Austria             Germany         Netherlands              Belgium