Germany

Friday we flew to Stuttgart, Germany and the flight there provided great views of the French and Swiss Alps.

We picked up our rental car at the airport and headed to Ulm in a brand new BMW with on-board navigation. This has got to be the best invention ever for tourist!! We just entered our destination address and this kind female voice directed us right to the door of our B&B.
We stayed at a wonderful little B&B in Ulm called Das Schmale Haus located in the old Fishermen's quarter of town.

The View from our room.

We checked in and then went out to explore the area around the B&B and stopped for dinner at an outdoor café/bar. We split a huge (the size of a large pizza) thin pancake topped with chicken, veggies and gravy which was really good and beer (also very good). We then walked to the main shopping area and the incredible Ulmer Muenster. Later we went to another café/bar for another beer before calling it a night.
Saturday morning there was a lovely hot and cold breakfast available. We both had another thin pancake this time filled with ham and cheese (yummy!!).
After breakfast we headed to Ravensburg which was having a “Spielt” which is a family festival.There where lots of people and it was great walking around looking at all the activities.
Then we headed to our next B&B in Meersburg called The Hotel Baren.

What a lovely old hotel! The only complaint I had was the bed - it was so HARD!!
Meersburg is a wonderful old town.

We walked around and went on a tour of the old castle in town.

This is a view of our B&B from the castle.

When I asked the guide if the tours where offered in English he replied “Certainly Not” with a big smile and then provided us with a mini version of the tour in English.
The weather in Germany is nothing like what we had been having and while we where eating dinner (we had the pasta for 2 which included salad and 3 different pastas with 3 different sauces – excellent!!) at a great outdoor café/bar it started to rain (glad there was a canopy over where we were sitting). We got soaked walking back to the B&B so I had a soak in the HUGE tub to warm up.
Sunday morning we headed to Friedrichshafen for “Euro Bike 2008” which is a huge bicycle show. (One of the reasons we came to Germany) Our plan was for us both to go in the morning and then Wayne would take me back to the B&B at lunch and he would go back to the show alone. Well, the show was so busy and traffic was so bad I decided just to stay.
We were there until 2ish and then we decided to drive around Lake Constance to Bregenz, Austria!! We stopped at a MacDonald’s for a bite to eat and then decided we would head to Zurich, Switzerland!! This is one thing I love about Europe – countries are so close together you can visit a few different ones in one day.

In Zurich we walked along the river but since it was Sunday nothing was open. We returned to Meersburg and went out for dinner to another outdoor café/bar and had Wiener Schnitzel and for desert warm Apple Strudel (with a beer of course).
Monday morning we left Meersburg and headed for Tübingen which is a lovely town on the Neckar River.

We walked around and stopped for coffee and cake at a café.
We then headed to Bad Urach which has castle ruins high on a hill outside town.

The town itself was one of my favorites. We stopped at a little bakery and bought cheese buns and a Danish and sat in the town square and ate them, This was a great ending to our short visit to Germany.
It was now time to head to the airport to return the rental car. Our flight to London did not leave for a few hours. We finally arrived in London at Stansted airport and then had to take a long bus ride to Heathrow. We then had to take the hotel shuttle bus to our hotel. We finally arrived at our hotel at 11:30pm (Travelodge Lodge at terminal 5 – great price, basic hotel).
Next morning we took the hotel shuttle back to Terminal 5 and then the express train to terminal 3 for our flight home. The flight to Halifax was a bit bumpy thanks to the remains of tropical storm Hanna but we arrived home safe and sound.
We had an incredible trip and now I have to plan our next one!!!!!

Sorry we have not been updating

Hi all,
Sorry but internet access in Germany is hard to find and my laptop is dead and I don't have a converter for power.
We had a great time in Germany visiting many wonderful towns.
I will post some photos and info when we get home.
We are at the airport now waiting to fly to London where we will staying tonight before flying home tomorrow.
See everyone soon!
Linda and Wayne

The Coffee Chronicles, day after whatever!

Villefranche, a very quaint little coastal town on the french Riviera. We walked around the small town trying to decide how we were going to spend our short day. The town is too small to stay in, but would we have time to go anywhere else? How to decide? Drink coffee! We stopped at a little cafe and found it a little easier to understand and be understood in french. Mostly locals were there, we could tell at first glance, because almost everyone was smoking. I had by far the best looking cappuccino so far. The microfoam was piled in a dome on top of the espresso and then sprinkled with a little cocoa and sugar. Nice touch, tasty too. Linda had a limonade which she found too light tasting. Over coffee we decided to take the train to Monaco.
The train ride was only ten minutes and then we found ourselves in a gigantic train station cut into the mountain. It took us a while to walk out, access tunnels have you popping out into the town only about two blocks above the waterfront. We took a walk down the street and saw a car dealership that sold Ferraris, Maseratis, Hondas and Mazdas! The newest cars you only see in magazines are parked on the sidewalk in Monaco! There was also a VW dealership the size of a butcher shop, they shoehorned two cars into the showroom but I don't know how they would get them out. We walked down to the yachts and gawked at countless multi-million dollar boats, though only one that we found on our short walk had a new Rolls Royce parked by it, along with the guard at the gangway.
At a real estate office we saw that you (not me) could by a 2 bedroom flat overlooking the harbour for 3 million Euros. The price for front row seats to the GP of Monaco.
That's two more countries in one day, then tomorrow back to Spain where we disembark in Barcelona. I can't believe it's over, but now I have a pretty good idea of what parts of the Mediterranean I would like to visit again. Looking forward to Germany by tomorrow supper time. We've crossed a dozen borders but haven't seen a customs officer since getting off the plane in Heathrow. How many people would be out of work if we opened the border between Canada and the US, how many tax dollars would we save? What if we shared a currency with another country? Nevermind the USD, what about the Euro?

Photos from Villefranche/Monaco

The view from our balcony



Monaco

Villefranche, France

Today we visited our last port – Villefranche.
When I opened the curtains this morning I saw the prettiest port we have visited. The ship was anchored with starboard side facing Villefrache and I think for this itinerary starboard side was the side to be on for port views
I went up and brought back coffee and pastries today.
The we went an picked up a tender ticket to get off the ship. We were pretty early so there was no wait and we had a 5 minutes tender ride. We were in Villefranche by 8:30 am. We asked about a taxi to Eze but it was 35 euros so we looked at taking the bus but you have to go to Nice first (total 40 minute bus ride – standing room only) so we passed on that. We walked around a bit and then stopped for a coffee. We then decided to take the train to Monaco. Walked to the station and caught the 10:28 train. It is only 10 minutes to Monaco but then you have to find your way out of the train station – not easy as it is HUGE. First we went up to the top to see the view and then we went down to the waterfront to walk around. There is a yacht show happening soon as they were setting things up along the waterfront.
We walked around looking at all the yachts and the cars. Stopped and bought a few souvenirs, stopped for a slice of pizza – mine was Brie and Wayne had the mushroom (the best pizza is here not in Italy we discovered) and then it was time to catch the train back. We were back on board by 1pm and left by 2pm.
We would like to have spent more time in Monaco and would like to have seen Eze so I guess we will have to come back!!
We are now having a relaxing time on our balcony drinking the last of our beer while I write this and Wayne reads a magazine from the library.
For dinner tonight we went to the Blue Lagoon for munchie food. Then after we ate it we both didn't feel so great so we went back to the cabin for a while. Later we went up to the buffet for something sweet and then went and walked around the ship one last time. We have to pack tonight and our shuttle leaves at 7am!!
We have had a GREAT time on this cruise and will definitely be back to some of the ports again. Our favorite places seemed to be the smaller, quieter ones and not the big cities. The weather has been FABULOUS!!! We had a bit of rain in London and today in the afternoon it was overcast but the rest of the time it was warm and sunny!!!
Tomorrow we fly to Germany!!

Coffee Chronicles Part ...whatever. Remembering the numbers is too much like work.

Livorno. We took a tour of Tuscany stopping at a few villages along the way. Every village seems to be a fortified or walled town. Outside of the wall there is rolling hills covered with grape fields and olive groves. At one of these villages named San Gimignano we sat in the plaza and had our coffee. This was an extremely busy ancient village of high walls, narrow streets and shops offering all sorts of Italian wares. Most of the shops sell leather or ceramics in the local style and there were also many places to buy wine, cheese, pastries and prosciutto. The cappuccino was excellent but the service was slow. But there were bus loads of tourists filling the cafes and squares, the service was slow because they were overrun. Linda had a Latte Macchiato which came in a tall glass mug and was rivalled in looks by how smooth it tasted. Linda was happy, I was happy, no complaints here today.
Throughout the region there were many cyclists riding for recreation or for touring, more than we've seen in any other area so far. The area was hilly but like I said above, the hills were rolling and would have made a good ride. The roads were also a little wider than most we've seen, at least when we weren't in the villages which were basically forts. The traffic was also a little more relaxed and seemed to give cyclists the room necessary to keep them from being driven off the road. I could ride here happily all day.
Later in the day we had a winery tour at a small family estate. Very small winery, they didn't have any stainless steel vats, they didn't even buy their own barrels new, but they did make excellent wine. And Rose, and Grappa, and prosciutto, and grew their own melons, all of which we were able to sample well beyond what could possibly be called “tasting”. We didn't care how much behind schedule we were after that, at least I wasn't anyway. On to Pisa to hold up the leaning tower. We were there for only 5 minutes then had to bolt for the boat. Our trusty driver Angelo got us there with minutes to spare. Thanks Angelo! And thank you Italy. We are in France tomorrow.

Photos from Tuscany

Tuscany

Wayne picked up coffee again today so we could make our early exit off the ship. We were meeting our group for our private tour of Tuscany at 8 am as soon as the ship docked. Our driver was Angelo with Limos in Florence – If you are ever looking for a driver that will show you the “real” Tuscany – this is the guy. We can not recommend him enough!!!!
Our first stop was San Gimignano – a beautiful Medieval town. We spent an hour walking around the wonderful little streets. We then headed to Monteriggioni which is a hill top Medieval town. We had about a half hour here. The town is quite small but lovely. We then went on to Siena for long Italian lunch at “Antica Osteria da Divo” We split a bottle of house white wine – very good. Wayne and I split an antipasto first and then Wayne had the eggplant ravioli and I had the green lasagna with beef sauce. I picked the better dish which both of us thought was the best Italian food we have ever eaten!!!
Angelo then recommended we see the town square in Siena before leaving – it was amazing!
Off we then headed to a little winery for wine tasting. The best wine tour we have ever been on!! The winery is called Tenuta Canale and it is in Castellina in Chianti. The owner did not speak English so Angelo translated for him. The tour started with a flip chart presentation – very quaint! Then we went down in the tiny wine cellar. Then we went into a small building (the wine shop)for the tasting. The owner brought out three different bottles of wine – 2 red and 1 rose. We all had a taste and then you could help yourself to the rest of the bottle. The owner also brought out different kinds of prosciutto with bread and melon. He then brought out the grappa which Wayne really liked. The whole thing was so wonderful!! The cost was 5 euros each – what a deal!!!! We bought 2 bottles of the red and would have bought some rose too if not for the limits on what we can bring back.
Now we were off to Piza for a picture of the tower before heading back to the ship. We arrived in Piza at 7 (all aboard was 7:30 pm) On entering Piza , Angelo made a wrong turn so now we had to circle around again – he felt so bad so we all cheered when he made the right turn. When we arrived at the tower, we all ran to take pictures and then ran back to the mini-van. I think we were there a total of 5 minutes!! Now off to the ship. We arrived at 7:35 and security were tapping there watches at us. We were gone a total of 11 and a half hours!!!! This was the best shore excursion we have ever taken!!!!
For dinner we joined our excursion mates There was Roni from Arizona (but originally from Canada) who organized the excursion and Marcus and Val from BC - their 2 daughters who were also on the excursion didn't join us. Everyone loved our day!!
Tomorrow Villefranche, France!!!!

Livorno, Italy part 1

Today was another very long but wonderful day in Tuscany!!
I will write about it tomorrow since we have an early all aboard of 1:30pm.
Sorry there were no photos yesterday but the internet on the ship was not working well and I couldn't post any.
Tomorrow Villefranche, France (and Monaco)

Photos from Rome

The Coffee Chronicles Part 6

Roma! What a whirlwind tour of some wondrous sights. We took the train to Rome and arrived at a bustling train/bus station in the middle of Rome. We walked away in what turned out to be the worst direction, through many small streets of virtually identical oriental run tourist shops and knock-off stores. We finally found our way to the Coliseum, wow, just awesome, too much to take in. We visited many other beautiful sites including the Vatican, but my favourites were the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. I'm sure Linda has put up some pictures. It's very difficult to take decent pictures in the midday sun and you need wide angle lenses here, otherwise you just can't capture how expansive the views are.
We walked and rode a bus in the hot sun for most of the day then headed back for the train station. We had about 40 minutes to catch our train so we sat at the coffee shop at the station. I finally had my coffee fix and was pleasantly surprised to watch an experienced barista and receive a great cappuccino. It was very good, but I should remember to put my foot down and get one in the morning, they're much more satisfying before you get too hot. I still need to complain though, I need a big cup of coffee! Enough with these tiny cups!

Rome, Italy

Another hot and sunny day today.
We woke at 7am and Wayne went up and brought back coffee and pastries to our cabin.
We docked at 8am and we were off the ship by 8:15am
We took the free shuttle into the port city of Civitavecchia which is the closest port to Rome. We then walked about 10-15 minutes to the train station. There was a long line going outside the building for people buying tickets. Wayne waited there and I went into the station to see what was going on. Off to the side was a little store that also sold BIRG tickets. I went out and got Wayne and we stood in a line with 4 people in front of us (instead of a hundred) The BIRG tickets are 9 euros and are for Rome and return and includes the use of Rome buses and Metro. A regular one way is 4.50 euros. We caught the 8:59am train and it took 1 hour 20 minutes to get to Rome.
We got to Rome and walked out the first door we came to – not the right door as we were looking for the info counter. We went back in and walked about 5 minutes until we found the info booth (the train terminal is HUGE). Then we had to wait in line just to get a map. With map in hand off we went to explore ROME!!
Our first stop was the Coliseum/ Palantine Hill/The Forum. Well by the time we walked there we knew the Birg ticket was not going to work for us as you really need to read Italian and we had spent so much time walking that we knew we wouldn't see everything we wanted to see.
We usually love to just walk around but Rome is soooooo big and thing are spread out and it was sooooo hot today we decided to walk around until we found a hop on hop off bus stop. We bought a ticket for 16 euros each – money well spent if you want to hit all the sites.
We rode the bus to the Vatican and got off and walked around but did not go inside.
We got back on the bus (there is a bus every 10 minutes) and got off at Trevi Fountain – it is Beautiful!! We would like to have spend more time there but decided we needed to eat and stopped at a cute little place by the fountain for Pizza and a beer. Then we got back on the bus and rode it around for awhile finally getting of at Piazza Navona. From there we walked to the Pantheon – it is incredible!!!!
We then walked back over to Trevi Fountain to get the bus back to the train station. Once at the station we had a few minutes before the train so we stopped for a coffee/pop break.
We then walked 10 minutes to our train (did I mention the train station is HUGE) The 4:39pm train back to Civitavecchia was packed and by the time we arrived at the first stop it was standing room only.
Glad we got on at the first stop because my feet had enough and the heat is making them swell (Wayne's too but not as bad).
For dinner tonight Wayne felt like going to the dining room but when we went and read the menu we headed up to the buffet (again) I had the stir fry and rice and Wayne had salad and Mushroom Penne and crab cake. Desert was lemon cheesecake with blueberry Sauce (sorry Carleigh)
Tomorrow Florence/Pisa and Tuscany!!!!!!

The Coffee Chronicles Part 5

Positano, the Amalfi coast of Italy. We took a very winding road to drive the coast and visit small towns. These towns were beautiful but ridiculously touristy. Many of the souvenir shops had the same things, but every cafe seemed to have an espresso machine and gelato. Both Linda and I could be happy. The cafe we chose had a bit of a view and great coffee flavoured gelato. The cappuccino on the other hand was a disappointment. I ordered the coffee, watched the attendant move to the espresso machine then almost instantly turn around with my cup of cappuccino – he used the hot water dispenser to make instant cappuccino... again. End of story, buyer beware.

Photos from the Amalfi Coast

Naples, Italy

This will be a shorten version of our day as it is now late and we have another early day tomorrow.
We awoke to another beautiful day.
We headed up to the buffet for a quick bite before meeting up with our group for a private tour of the Amalfi Coast. We headed out at 8:45am.
The only word to describe the Amalfi coast is breathtaking!!! The views are absolutely incredible!! I took over 350 photos today and picking just a couple to post will be nearly impossible.
The first town we arrived at was Sorrento – very beautiful but very crowded.
We then headed to Positano which was just as pretty and less crowded.
We stopped for lunch at a hill side restaurant which was very overpriced.
Then we went to Amalfi and finally Ravello. We were back to the ship by 5pm.
I will just let the photos speak for themselves.
Tonight for dinner be went with David and Carol to the main dining room. Wayne had the pork loin and I had the chicken tandoori both of which were ok.
Tomorrow Rome, Italy!!!!

The Coffee Chronicles Part 4

Today we were in Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. It is Sunday and almost everything is closed. As we left the ship we were given tourist maps of the town which directed us to the various historic sites and shops that were closed. Historic here means 2000 years old, generally speaking, anything built after 1000 AD is “new”. Unbelievable. Anyway, we passed a number of restaurants, coffee shops and gelato shops. Today it was very hot so Linda wanted a gelato but I still need my coffee.
We found a nice little cafe that sold both. Unlike other cafes we'd been to, at this one you ordered from the counter and took it to the table yourself, I believe the sign did say caffeteria, so now that makes sense. Linda had a strawberry gelato, getting her message across by pointing, and I ordered a cappuccino. When my cappuccino was ready the barista waved me to the counter to pick it up. I picked up my Illy cup and saucer and sat down. This coffee was so smooth, the milk had such micro-foam, it was like coffee cream. There were two downsides; first, it wasn't hot enough and second, there wasn't enough of it! I wanted a nice hot cup full of this stuff, it was very good. The restaurant was immaculate and down the far side it was also a pastry shop that was doing brisk business.
When it came time to pay I had to go up to the cashier and tell him what we had so he could ring it in. The cappuccino was easy but to get the message about how much gelato Linda had was a little tricky, one scoop in a bowl is not the easiest thing to describe with hand gestures. The lady who served the ice cream came over and helped out. The total price was 2.60 (Euros of course) and the cashier managed to get me to give him a dime to make change easier, I don't remember how that worked but somehow we communicated. The lady who was from the gelato counter was still there and asked me if I spoke English and I said “yes, do you?” to which she replied no, we both laughed about how this knowledge didn't help us...
Tomorrow Naples!

Photos from Cagliari

From the tower


QE2 in the background

Lots of Graffiti in all the ports we have been at - since worse than at home