Day 7: Lucerne, Switzerland

Second Day in Lucerne:
Today we are taking a cable car up one of the Swiss Mountains. As our bus pulled up to the bottom of the mountain, the workers notified us that they just closed the mountain. It was unsafe for anyone to go up, due to the rain, snow, and ice combination on the cable. Luckily we had another option, a different mountain. The mountain we are going to now, you go up on a train instead of a cable car. Our group loaded onto a private rail car. As we trudged up the mountainside, the snow became thicker and heavier. As we reached the top of the mountain the winds were blowing and the snow was falling so hard. We were planning on staying at the top of the mountain for an hour; to play in the snow, have a snack, or sit in the hotel cafe for a bit. The weather was a lot worse than Elzo thought it would be, we found that the hotel was closed, so when he stepped off the train, he quickly said in his Dutch accent, "Okay we are going to take the next train back down, so you have 15 minutes." That was fine with us, we live in the snow, it's way over rated!!!

We got back around lunch time. Scott and I went straight to the room and took a nap, while I think everyone else went shopping. A bunch of us from the group met later in the lobby to go to dinner at this Italian restaurant. The food was so good. After dinner, we did a little more shopping. Scott found a Rolex watch for $103,000 franks (which equates to $206,000 US dollars). Every country and city we have gone to, I have tasted the best croissants. One of the streets we were walking down had a huge croissant outside of the bakery, couldn't resist taking my picture.

Tonight is our last night in Switzerland, so Ken one of the guys on our tour, he is our city guide in every town we arrive in. Ken goes out and finds the hot spots, the good restaurants, and the cheap booze, then he tells the group what we are doing that night. So tonight, we are going to the disco!!! Switzerland has been the only country where smoking is allowed anywhere and everywhere. So the disco we went to tonight was filled with smoke. Our group (the dumb Americans), were the only ones out on the dance floor dancing. We didn't care. The DJ played Michael Jackson, and quite a bit of 70's and 80's. We had a lot of fun! We didn't care how late we stayed out tonight because tomorrow we are going to be on the bus a long time. Apparently it is quite a drive from Switzerland to Paris France. That's okay, I get to sleep (catch up on the lack of sleep for the past 15 months). I am excited to go to Paris tomorrow.

Day 6: Heidleberg to Lucerne, Switzerland

From Cindi:

This morning we woke up to a rainy day. The sun was trying to peek through the clouds. We had our breakfast at the hotel and then loaded onto the coach, off to Switzerland today.

Two hours into our drive we arrived at the Black Forest in Germany. We were up in the mountains, surrounded by beautiful trees. So the rain we had earlier today has now changed to snow. We were able to get off the bus at the Black Forest to take pictures and do a little shopping. The Black Forest is known for it's wood craftsmanship, especially cuckoo clocks. Apparently in this town most of the people are farmers and since they can't farm in the winter months, they carve wood into clocks and other gadgets. There were some beautiful clocks.

Back on the bus and head for Switzerland. Our next stop around noon was at Rhine Falls, Switzerland. It was snowing at Rhine Falls when we first got off the bus, but then the sun came out. The falls were beautiful.

After the falls, we were back on the bus to Lucerne, Switzerland. We will stay two nights in Lucerne. When we arrived, Elzo took us into town right away to get us familiar with the area.

We saw a cool Lion carved in the side of a stone mountain. We then walked across a bridge on the way to our hotel. There was a stone tower next to the bridge, the lower half of the tower was in the water. Apparently, the tower used to be a prison and they would put prisoners in the bottom of the tower who were "bad". We finished our walk and ended at the hotel. Checked in and had dinner as a group tonight at the hotel. Did a little shopping and then turned in for the evening.

Day 5: Amsterdam to Heidelberg, Germany

From Cindi:

Today we left Amsterdam at 7:15am to drive to Heidelberg, Germany. It was a long day on the bus. When we left Holland and crossed the border to Germany, we were on the Autobahn. There is no speed limit for cars, however, for buses there is. We could only go 50 while we had some cars passing us at 140. There was a beautiful Porsche Cayman that screamed passed the bus (wish that was me!).

Our first stop was in Cologne, Germany. We visited the awesome twin-spired Gothic Cathedral. It was 500 steps to get to the top of the spirals, the sign said 30 minutes round trip. By the time we saw the sign that we could go to the top, we didn't have time or we would have climbed to the top.

Scott's been disappointed the last couple of Cathedrals that we've gone through because he wasn't allowed to take pictures. But this cathedral he could take pictures! so he took pictures of the beautiful stained glasses and the beautiful inside. After having a sandwich and a yummy German dessert, we were back on the bus to Heidelberg.

Along our travels today, we stopped for a potty break at this convenient store that charged 50 euros (cents) a person to go potty! UNBELIEVABLE!!! I quickly found that Europeans don't use ice in any of their drinks. So no fountain soda drinks, I was dying. As for soda in a bottle, the Europeans charged anywhere from 4.50 - 5.50 euros (so in US dollars, a soda would cost $5.80 - $6.80). Not a price that we wanted to pay, so needless to say my addiction to soda went away quickly.

Before arriving in Heidelberg, we took a cruise down the Rhine River to some amazing castles on long the riverbank hillside.

We arrived in Heidelberg and walked the town and into some shops. Scott took some pictures of Heidelberg and its beautiful buildings. Tonight we had a group dinner at the hotel. During dinner we each took a minute to introduce ourselves. This was the first time that we all opened up and started to talk/joke around with each other. They all were wowed that we were from Idaho. Go figure. Dinner was nice. After dinner, we went to the gas station to get more snack for our bus ride tomorrow. Our hotel beds were two twin beds separated by a night stand fixated to the wall. Fun times!!!
Heidelberg

Day 4:Brussels, Belguim to Amsterdam, Holland

From Cindi:

Today has been a day of mostly travel. So far we have been through 3 countries and it is 4:30pm. We left London this morning at 9:00am and headed to the train station. Where we took the Euro train @ 190km London through the top of France and got off in Brussels, Belgium.

After getting off the train in Belgium and changing our dollar over to the Euro, we boarded our coach that we would be in for the remainder of our travels. Here in Europe, our dollar is 30 cents less than the Euro. So for every Euro that we spend, we are spending $1.30 in US money. Losing 30 cents is better than in London, where we spent $2.00 in US money for every 1 Pound spent. Ouch!

Our tour group, which is only 23 people, thank heavens. I guess when the tours are full, you can have 40 or more on your tour. We were able to spread out on the bus. The average age on our tour was in the 40's. We all seemed to get along and have a good time. Which is good since we are on the bus today for 3 hours to our destination Amsterdam, Holland.

We stopped at the border of Belgium and the Netherlands (or Holland) to have lunch and take a potty break. Elzo, our tour director, informed us that from this point until we reach Switzerland, we will have to pay to use the toilet. WHAT???? At this location, we spent 60 cents to use the toilet. Along our drive through the beautiful countryside, we saw the famous Holland windmills. They were amazing. I was hoping to see Tulips, but I guess we were a couple of weeks early for the bloom. Which is a bummer.

From Scott:
We got to Amsterdam and went on a glass boat tour through the canals of the city. Many people lived on houseboats because it was cheaper than renting or buying. Some houseboats were nice, others just junky. They had kitchens, bedrooms, and even satellite TV. The main form of transportation in Amsterdam is bicycles. I have never seen so many bicycles in one area. Thousands of them parked in bike racks. The streets had tons of people and bikes. We passed this one location that was a task on the Amazing Race 12 a few seasons back. The teams had to go to a bike garage and find two bikes in a garage of thousands that had the same color pattern that they were given in their clue. Once they got the bikes, the teams had to ride five miles.
I was amazed of how many bikes were in this bike garage.

So Amsterdam is known for drugs and prostitution. A majority of our group made their way down to the red light district. Cindi and I had no interest to go, so we walked around town and went to a souvenir shop. This souvenir shop sold everything from traditional souvenirs to bongs, and candy bars made with marijuana. It is amazing the liberalism in Europe. The streets here are a little scary by day, but even more so at night. It was nice to visit, but glad to be moving on tomorrow.

Day 3:London, England

From Scott:

After taking sleeping pills, we woke up & had breakfast downstairs in the hotel. We had to hurry & eat as our London sightseeing tour began at 8:30am or what would be 2:30am Idaho time. We boarded the bus with about 40 other people & had a British tour guide named Carlotta. She was very informative & very funny and sarcastic. As we drove around London, Carlotta showed us where Sean Connery, Roger Moore (both played James Bond) lived, they are actually neighbors. She also showed us where Elton John currently lives.

Our tour took us to St. Paul's Cathedral, the famous cathedral where Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married (the last marriage to take place in that cathedral). You weren't allowed to take photos on the inside. The church is over 300 years old, it is the 4th church to occupy the site, it was hit with a couple of V-2 rockets in WWII.

After St. Paul's, we took a short drive to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. We stood across the street on a corner railing that faced all angles of where the guards would be coming from. There were thousands of people lining the streets. Shortly after arriving, ahead of us the band of Guardsman came. The band played in front of those coming off duty. Once they left from our right, came those coming on duty. A band played in front of them as well. They were dressed in long grey coats, a black bears helmet (for lack of a better term), and they marched with synchronized precision. I got some great pictures as they passed right in front of us.

Our morning tour ended and we only had a few minutes to eat lunch then it was off to another tour. We had Carlotta as our tour guide again. We went to Windsor Castle. This is where the Queen lives. This castle is breathtaking. This castle is over 900 years old. There were slits in the wall that allowed the guards from the inside with bows & arrows to shoot intruders. We walked to the courtyard area where there was yet another small gated fence that prevented you from going into a well manicured lawn in the middle of the castle. A guard was across the way, he did not move, just remained standing still. I couldn't do that job. There were so many beautiful things inside the castle, china, paintings, and wood work just to name a few.

After we got back to the hotel, we walked through what they call little Beirut, it is full of Islamic shops, smoking parlors and restaurants. We turned in early tonight because we need to be up early in the morning to go to Amsterdam, Holland.

Day 1-2: Leaving Boise - Arriving in London England

From Cindi:

Today we left from Boise to fly to Europe. First destination London, England. What a trip it has been so far. Our flight was supposed to leave Boise at 3:05pm and we ended up leaving at 3:30pm. We had to change planes in Salt Lake City, our plane was scheduled to depart at 4:35pm for Atlanta. We landed in terminal B at 4:25pm and needed to get to terminal C by 4:35pm.

Once we got off the plane - we ran!!! As we got to the top of the terminal, we were blessed to have a airport transporter just sitting there. She said, "Jump in and I'll drive!". Keep in mind that we had 3 min until the doors on the plane were closing. As we pulled up to our gate, the flight attendants were saying, "Last call for Morgan". We jumped off and made the flight. We left Salt Lake to make another plane change in Atlanta, Georgia. We were on time for the Atlanta flight to London.

Our flight to London took off at 11:50pm to arrive in London at noon. We had dinner, which was actually decent, then took a sleeping pill, covered my eyes with the patches.












We arrived in London at 12:05pm, which is 6:05am in Boise. We decided to wait and call the kids after school. So at 9pm tonight we'll call and it will be 3pm in Boise. We are staying at the Hilton. Scott and I kept saying, while the driver was whipping us through the not so wide streets, that we were glad we weren't driving. Everything is opposite to what we do in the US.

After getting checked in, showered/changed, we were told to go out not to sleep to help combat jet lag. We decided to walk to London's famous Hyde Park. The park is over 630 acres. As we walked down the streets and through the park, we noticed quite a few people just sitting around on the lawn relaxing and smoking pot. Yes pot - apparently the US is the only place it is not legal!

What a beautiful day today was. The sun was shining, which was unusual for London at this time, and the weather was nice. We ended up walking around 3 miles today. We're tired. Report more tomorrow.

We are home from our European Vacation

Well we made it back after a long 22 hour day of traveling. We arrived 3 hours early to the Paris airport, why? cause everyone freaks out about security and being late. Turns out, our flight was delayed, so we waited even longer. Security doesn't frighten me, why? because I am always the one chosen for the extra pat down and swab for explosives. And here I thought I looked like a nice girl, not a terrorist. Oh well, I am used to it now, I have expanded it to not only US travel, but now International! Lucky Me!

I can't even begin to explain how much we enjoyed our trip. Scott and I combined took over 900 pictures, don't expect to see all 900 here in our blog, but I will show the highlight of each location. I am making a book, so if you want to see more, then check out my book (to be released soon).

We combated jet lag pretty well with some helpful advice from those who have traveled the distance. We took a sleeping pill on the way over, it worked for me (slept most of the 8 hour flight) and not so much for Scott. Then we didn't sleep when we arrived, we followed schedule and went to bed in the evening. That seemed to help us adapt pretty well. Didn't lose site seeing time. Now coming home, it hit the second day being home, when I had to wake for Emmett and function with the normal rig-a-ma-role.

I hope you enjoy our day to day travel through 6 countries in 10 days. Remember our trip was just a sampler of Europe, so we didn't get a lot of days in each location. Now, we know what locations we would want to see again in more depth and those we don't. I wanted to post every location all at once, but it's taking a lot longer than planned. So day by day you will get a new location posted.

ENJOY!!!!





Here we are the Paris airport waiting for our flight home.