Title:  All Good Things...

Yes we are home now but we had a wonderful experience.  Travelling is not only fun but truly an education.  We learned history, about other culture and customs, more about wine and food - a total package.

We spent a few more days in Amsterdam and thankfully the weather improved (as we were not dressed for cold.  The sun favoured us most of the next few days and we walked and walked.  We seen all the typical sites and covered it all on foot.  No shortage of places to shop in Amsterdam (not my favourite vacation activity).

Here is what we liked best:

• Pecorino cheese from Tuscany (medium)
• Tuscany Wine tour
• Experiencing something spectacular around every corner in Rome
• Sitting on the side-walk and eating/drinking as the people passed by
• The spectacular Swiss Alps
• Getting to know some of the fabulous Rhineland - while we only seen a part of Germany it was a great part with friendly people.

What we liked least:

• Traffic in Rome - road lines and crossings are invisible to drivers - you need to be brave
• Bicycles in Amsterdam - there cars and even trams stop at cross-walks but bikes ring and bomb through.

Friendliest people:  Italy and Germany  (least friendly is undoubtedly the Swiss)

Best value / prices: Italy and Germany  (most expensive is undoubtedly Switzerland)

Best food:  Italy (and on the cruise boat)

Best wine:  (that we tried) Italy

Overall we are blessed to have been able to make this trek!  The hundreds of pictures will now have to keep us satisfied (at least for a while).

Title:  It's all down hill from here

We boarded the Avalon's new ship "Visionary" which is leaving for it's 4th commercial sailing.  We are following a route that has been taken for hundreds of years BC though we will be living in better conditions than most who have traveled it.

I could have entitled this blog "the spread of western civilization" had I known the history lesson we were in for - a lot of the things we learned and were reminded of in Rome are tied together on our Trip down the Rhine - the shore guides not only speak great english but all are well educated and excited about their topics.  We see wonderful towns, another wine vineyard, and more churches that are simply amazing.

We have visited places that have impacted everything from religion to knowledge. (Luther to Gutenburg) and have seen the result of many wars, in fact in the German town of Mainz have preserved ant remains of a bombed out church and have added columns to hold up the remains as a monument to the impact of war.

We went for the new boat but should have realized that even Dutch/German engineering can leave the first users of a new product still working through some problems.  In any case we have been finding the cruise to be fabulous to inform us about areas in Germany that we may have never visited - places like Koblenz and Spire that we loved and would like to see again.

Cologne still smells (they have fixed their ancient sewer problems but people still wear way to o much "cologne".  The church is magnificent inside and out - it rivals the Milano church but it is not as beautiful and it took longer to finish - though they still are working on it.

Our Dutch guide tells us arrival day is a typical Nederland day ( rain, cold and very windy).  No wonder they found a way to harness the wind - they have lots of wind and water!  They take us in a canal tour of Amsterdam and a cool tour to a "typical Dutch village" of the old days - windmills, cheese making and wooden shoes - a great way to end the trip on the boat - we are already looking forward to being back on our own schedule with three extra days in Amsterdam.

Title:   Leaving the beauty of Bellagio for the beauty of the Swiss Alps

We had a great last night in Brellagio, thanks to the recommendation of our "land lord" Flavio - we were picked up and driven way above Bellagio to a working Farm/Restaurant that overlooks Bellagio - beautiful food and scenery in one sitting!

The next day we ferry to Varenna and catch the train down the north leg of the lake then to Tarino where we are disappointed to find the Bernina Express has no window seats left - well sometimes things work out best - turns out there is an excellent train, leaving earlier on the same track through the Bernina pass for less money.  As it turns out the four of us and one other passenger have a whole car to ourselves - facilitating viewing of the scenery we could not have done from the packed cars with the bigger windows - awe-inspiring views!

Only Joe MacGillvary couls get a free beer from a passing train bar car we happened to stop beside.

After spending considerable time 'above the tree line' (when we closed most of the windows) we landed in Pontresina early and had a good stopover with a small hike in this small but expensive ski town.  Then we headed through some more alps and then began to slowly descend and moved on to Zurich to be picked up for part 2 of the Eurotrek - being picked up by Avalon on June 3.

Zurich

Title:  A hectic train ride and one little mistake but we still arrive in someplace close to heaven - Bellaggio.

We had a very tight schedule to meet and a long day of travel - Taxi to the train, Siena to |Florence - switch trains to Milano Garabaldi then on to Como - (10 minutes to find and switch the trains - tested our running with packs on.  Then we arrived in Como but were looking for "Como S. Gieovanni" - but we ended up in 'Switzerland before we wanted to - no big worries, we took a taxi back to Como in time to catch the Hydra foil up the lake - this time we get to see a lot more of Leggo Di Como.

Bellagio is a wonderful place to see and stroll around - it is a place to relax after the hectic day of travel.  We are staying is nice clean apartments of www.borgoresidence.it and Flavio meets us at the dock and carries Darlene's pack right to the apartments.  Great central spot.

Only two days here as we are leaving via Varenna to tackle the Swiss Alps - we can see them from here but tomorrow we will head up them.

Title:  Under the Tuscan Sun

We arrived at  Podre Il Pero and were welcomed back like old friends by these wonderful people - a B&B I would recommend to anyone!  This comfortable place in the country but walking distance to Siena is a great place.  Arrival day we had a quick but late lunch (with vino of course) then climb to Siena (taking the escalators about half way up, and have a quick look around - Il Campo and the Domo.

The re3sturant we ate at earlier had some great meat, pecorino toscano, so we bought a couple of bottles of red and have a great picnic on the patio at the B&B.  We are treated to Geiovanna's home made Lemon Chello as we see the Tuscan sun fade.


On Tuscan day two we have our all day tour of Tuscany with My Tours - 12 hours.We had a great driver / Guide - Elio who showed us some wonderful country, took us to two great wineries where whe had great food and drink.  My favourite Italian saying is "I needa your red glass empty". Picked up at the B&B we tour the fabulous San Gimignano and other scenic towns and country - then returned to the B&B.  We tasted Lasagna for the second time in my life (the other was on a previous tour in Manorla Italy).  We were all well pleased with the tour.

Then a full day in Siena - wondering the streets, drinking cappuccino and some other things, watching the people in Il Campo.  We'd all like to stay another day but - we have much more to see and do.

Title:  Roaming Rome

Can't believe we have spent 4 nights in Rome already - so much to see and so little time!

Around every corner there is something spectacular and photo worthy.  We have walked much of it (some days a bit too much) and have seen most of the 'must sees' but there is still much to see - oh well, another time...

The weather is very hot - and sunny.  I know why they say don't come here in August - you'd melt.

We had an excellent tour guide from Enjoy Rome - she knew her history and pointed out all the important bits without going through everything - believe me, everything would literally take four days minimum.

We did self tours elsewhere and especially liked Palatine Hill - unbelievable history, ruins and a peaceful place within sight of the Colosseum and the hustle of Rome.

 Trevi Fountain

 Heading for St. Peter's Basilica

This ipod picture (camera drained) does little justice to the evening sun blazing through the wonderful window (dove) above the alter in St. Peter's - I hope to replace this with one Joe took - the evening on a sunny day is definitely the time to be here to see it the way it was designed to be seen.

The Spanish Steps - yep we climbed them

The Colosseum

Palatine Hill (tiny part of it)

Tomorrow we are off to the train early to head for Siena - that will be a "kinder, gentler" place to be.

llyTitle: All Roads Lead to...

After a long flight we made it to Rome!  Those people who can afford those first class seats are so lucky. Msyber they casn actually sleep.

We flew in over the alps - appropriate brecase that is the way we will go out.  incredible from the air.

After a taxi ride from the airport thst Jeff Gordon would have been in awe of, we arrived downtown Roma.

We are just planning on soaking in the city, geting aclimatized to the time and seeing the sites - and already we have been blown away by the shear amount of historical sites - they are everywhere - and the food - we all can't wait for our next meal!

Ttomorrow we tour the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peters Basilica lead by Enjoy Rome Tours.

Well - the plans are made - River cruise in Europe but couldn't go back without visiting Italy again!


So here is the plan:

• Land Rome - Tours, dolce vita

By Train

• Side trip to Pompeii

• Siena with a full day tour of Tuscany wine country + soak in the city

• To Como and then Fast Ferry to Bellagio

• Varenna to Tirano then the Bernina Express to Pontresina, Switzerland

• Sites in Zurich

By River Cruise

• Pick up in Zurick by Avalon Waterways and delivered to the Avalon Visionary docked in Basel (I think this will be about it's 5th sailing since being launched new in 2012)

• Crusing down the Rhine on the Romantic Rhine cruise - 7 stops in France, Germany and Holland

3 Days soaking up Amsterdam

Now you know the plan - I will strive to update this blog on a regular basis to let you know how the plan is gioing, using little text and photos.  (subject to embibing the wine of the area of course).