• Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Oops.. we slept until 9:30 and had to rush to make the 11:00 Countryside bike tour with Mike’s Bikes. It was not far from our hotel and I checked the directions on the computer in the hotel lobby. We arrived just as they were starting to give instructions. There were about 15 in the group and MB, because he is tall, was chosen to bring up the rear and make sure no one got lost. That was fine by me as we could go at our own pace. The bikes were great, easy to manoeuvre and with saddle bags to handle our sweaters & water bottles.
The tour is billed at 4 hours but it was about 40 minutes before we even left the bike garage. We stopped at the Magre Brug again for a little history on Amsterdam, then biked out through the countryside on gorgeous paved trails along the dykes. Biking in the city was a little intimidating at first, but once we got into the countryside it was calm and lovely.
We stopped at a windmill where tour busses dropped of groups as well. Had a few pics and a little more history of the area, then on to the cheese & clog farm.
There was a bathroom and our guide offered us all a beer for €1, then we went inside. It seemed like a humble little family operation at first. They gave us a demo on cheesemaking and a little sample, then showed us clog making. Then we were led into the store which was huge and had tons of tacky Dutch souvenirs, clogs and cheese. We did buy a bit (cash only) and then we were on our way again. We biked through more dykes, farmland and canals full of houseboats, then back into the city and through Vondelpark, which is lovely. We aren’t in top shape but weren’t too exhausted after 3 hours of riding. I thought it was good value at €22 per person.
But we had forgotten to have breakfast and there was no stop for lunch so we were starving. We stopped at Febo for a croquette (dispensed from little coin-operated cabinets) then back to the hotel to change before a real lunch. Ate pancakes with cheese & bacon from a little café off the Leidseplein, with Belgian beers (€27 for pancakes & 2 beers each).
Next it was time for our 17:00 boat ride with St. Nicolaas Boats. We met at the Boom Chicago theatre. I noticed the bartender had takeout cups and I was getting drowsy so I ordered a koffie verkeerd (latte) to take on the boat. It was great – my new favourite non-alcoholic drink in Europe! When the group was assembled – about 10 of us – the volunteer captain led us to the little boat docked a few blocks away. This is not really a tour, it is more of a relaxing hour or two on the water. The boat drivers are all volunteers and don’t give a tourist spiel but will answer questions.
Our guy asked us where we wanted to go and no one had any suggestions so we told him to take us where he wanted to go. I believe we were mostly in the Jordaan area. There is a bit of bad blood between these boats and the covered tourist boats, but I’m glad we did both. Doing one at night and one in daylight was a nice way to see the whole city from different perspectives. This boat is open and you can bring whatever you want to eat/drink/smoke so it was quite a laid back experience. At the end the volunteer asks you to drop a donation in a coffee can. The recommended amount is €10 per person, which is what we paid. It was well worth it.
Once the boat trip was over we headed by tram to Centraal Station. I checked the price & schedule for train tickets to Antwerp later in the week. We walked to the public library behind the station. It was about 10 minutes. I wanted to use the free internet kiosks and also heard the view from the café on the top floor was nice.
I’m really glad we went here. We had great views of the harbour area and the science museum shaped like the Titanic. The library is amazing with over 1100 free internet stations. We checked email, etc. then went up to the café. It is more of a cafeteria setup, but they have nice fresh juice, food stations and beer & wine. Went outside on the patio and the view was amazing. A great view of the city.
Now on to the red light district. We wanted to get there before dark since we didn’t know what to expect, but since it was light until 22:00 we had lots of time. It was definitely less creepy than I expected, and more spread out. The ladies we saw in the windows were very attractive and seemed to beckon to both my husband and me. Thanks but no thanks. We just walked around gawking like tourists – which we are, and grabbed some frites from a stand. Then we found a truly gorgeous old bar and had a few drinks. I wish I knew the name of the place but it is on the edge of the RLD closer to Centraal Station and has posters of monkeys everywhere. It was great.
Then back to the Leidseplein by tram to enjoy the rest of the evening. Again we forgot to eat dinner and once we realized we were starving we were pretty tired. We stopped into McDonalds and ordered bitterballen. I do not recommend this solution but I think our decision-making skills were somewhat impaired. Still I’m glad we got to try truly foreign food in a foreign McDonalds, even though it was pretty gross.
Tomorrow – Day 3 – Last day in Amsterdam and our first and only museum.
canadian_couple’s TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries
• Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Now that Egypt bid farewell to Hosni Mubarak and peace is being restored, the country’s national airline is ready to gear up and make for the loss it has seen in the long political crises of the country.
Egypt Air (MS) is Africa’s largest airline. The carrier offers direct flights to Cairo from London Heathrow. Its [...]
Cheap Flights to Africa
• Monday, March 29th, 2010
FEBRUARY 27thToday we docked in St. Louis Mauritius. Mauritius is a small African island off the coast of Madagascar. It is also next to an island called Reunion. While I was in Cape Town someone told me that Mauritius was one of the most beautiful islands they had ever been to.and they were right. It was absolutely gorgeous At preport they told us that Mauritius used to be home to
Travel Blog | Travel Journals, Diaries and Photos
• Sunday, March 28th, 2010
So last night we have the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Dinner. This is an international holiday and people all around the world were having dinners to celebrate. I helped to plan the one that happened on the ship and it ended working out really well.we had a huge turnout.I ended up talking to two different people about their experiences. One woman went when she was 24 with her just marrie
Travel Blog | Travel Journals, Diaries and Photos
• Sunday, March 28th, 2010
Exploring Kampot the Market Kampot Train Station and Around TownToday Monk decided to explore more of Kamport town and hired a bike for 75 US cents.The market in Kampot is amazing. Apart from all the fruit and vegetables much of which Monk couldn’t even put a a name to there was just about every type of meat live fish and live birds. Sacks and sacks of rice of course but also dried fish d
Travel Blog | Travel Journals, Diaries and Photos
• Friday, March 26th, 2010
For most Big Ben – as the clock tower is often and mistakenly known – is London's most iconic image. An expression of the homes of Parliament, it magically creates the chambers of debate below, in which 646 Members and more than 700 Lords and Bishops noisily chase the business of government. The country waits for it to strike midnight on 31 December to mark the start of each new year. Objectors against the state occasionally try to scale its 96m ( 315 feet ) – and sometimes succeed. To find your prefect accomodation in London have a look at Apartments London.
Parliament's other name, the Palace of Westminster, alludes to the complex history of Brit democracy which evolved over centuries from rule by dominant chieftains, royalty and the Church into a government of elected members of the people. Hence, the medieval building that stood on the site till the early 19th century, in which the foundations of the modern system were laid with Edward I's Model Parliament of 1295, was also the principal home of British sovereigns until 1530.
Having survived the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 by a grouping of Catholics intent on blowing up the Protestant King James I inside, the Palace of Westminster was nearly completely demolished by fire in 1834. Westminster Hall, which dates back to 1097, survived and is the oldest part of today's building.
William IV offered Buckingham Palace as a replacement, but Parliament wanted to hold on to the distinguished river site that William the Conqueror had made his base just about 800 years before. Public debate over what style should be employed for the new building was ferocious. It should be a fitting emblem of a country with an empire on which "the sun never set". A neoclassical design,eg the US government or Congress, was ruled out due to revolutionary or republican connotations. In 1836, after studying 98 proposals, a Royal Commission chose Charles Barry's plan for a Gothic palace that would embody a welcome dose of conservatism.
There isn't any other place in the world like Venice. The town is a labyrinth of canals, elaborate bridges, cobblestone streets and energetic squares. Explore the unique sites of this great town on foot or by vaporetto, a net of boat which is them main style of transportation in the town.
When in Venice, the must see sights are :
Venice has over 409 bridges, over 150 canals. The Grand Canal is the key water-traffic thoroughfare full of gondoliers serenading visitor and locals moving swiftly on evaporators ( water busses ). Lined with over 170 historical palazzos, the Grand Canal offers a view into the everyday life of this busy town. When riding in a gondola, many can't appreciate the work that goes into each one. They are made of 8 differing types of wood, in 280 pieces. Take note also that one side of the gondola is lengthier than the other, to offer set the weight of the gondolier. You can walk over the Grand Canal along 4 bridges : the Ponte Degli Scalzi, the Ponte dell'Accademia, Ponte della Constrituzione and the Rialto Bridge. If oyu want a trip to Venice have a look at Apartments Venice to find your perfect place to stay.
One of the most famous buildings in Venice is the Doge Palace. The building has been used as the home to the ruling family, a courthouse and jail. Its unique gothic design features lovely medieval sculptures, columns and colonnades. Look out for the red marble arch, once reserved for the Doge to say death sentences and oversee public executions in the square below. It can easily take 3 or 4 hours to see the Palace. Plenty of the Italy tours include sight-seeing already, but if you're traveling on your own, many of our clients rave about the "Secret tour," Itinerari Segreti, you can get in Venice. The ticket not only includes a led tour, but also admission into all areas of the palace, jails and the Bridge of Sighs.
St. Mark's Basilica is the best example of Byzantine design in the world. Filled with phenomenal designs, the church has over 40,000 gold mosaics covering the walls and ceilings. Just outside is St. Mark's Square, or Panetta, the gathering place where you can folks watch while sitting at one of the path cares. Take a short elevator ride up the bell tower, St. Mark's Campanile, for dazzling views of the Piazza and Basilica. St. Mark's is also full of pigeons. There are only certain areas where you can feed them, so make sure to have a look at the signs to avoid a fine. An engaging fact is that Venice only allows a certain number of sellers to sell bird see – these licenses are passed on from one generation to another. It might be highly unlikely for somebody to be in a position to obtain a license to sell feed today unless it was already in the family.
wander round the Rialto market and find sought-after local specialities sold by area farmers and fisherman, or enjoy a drink at one of the wine bars.
Tours of Europe
• Friday, March 26th, 2010
So I know I have not updated in a while and I’m sorry about that. I have been really busy and have not had the time. Also I was waiting to see if I would get more pictures for the post but I only have two so hopefully for the next one I will have more. Last Friday Lidia and I met up with some friends from school at a discoteque called Joy. We just wanted to go to see the club cause we could i
Travel Blog | Travel Journals, Diaries and Photos
• Friday, March 26th, 2010
I am spontaneously inspired to buy unneeded food when I am walking up and down the aisles in the grocery store. Today I saw a box that made burritos and I could not resist. It is hard to live without Mexican food if uyou are accustomed to having it a couple times a month. I miss it. After I cut up the chicken tomatoes and lettuce I walked up to the cafeteria. The chef was more than happy to
Travel Blog | Travel Journals, Diaries and Photos
• Thursday, March 25th, 2010
Day 8 – On to Germany!
Here our trip changes a bit. We took the train through the Netherlands and Belgium but liked the idea of a car rental in Germany to see the sights off the beaten path. MB is also a car fanatic, so we planned a special driving trip for him to the Nurburgring. Plus we wanted to see Burg Eltz and a car is the best way to do that. It cost about €250 for 3 days for an automatic with insurance.
So we awoke in Brussels around 8:00 to catch our 10:25 train to Köln. Allergies (hay fever) were starting to get bad for both of us with the humidity so we didn’t have a great sleep. We took a cab to Brussels Zuid station (Midi). It was about equal distance from our hotel to there or Centrale so no point heading to Centrale just to catch another train to Midi. Arrived in plenty of time and searched for an ATM. There was a track change so we had to ask a few questions and ended up departing a few minutes late. Left luggage at the front of the car for the first time and were a little nervous about it but it worked out fine. I expected Thalys to be a direct train but there were 2 stops before Köln. We ate sandwiches we had made from our grocery trip in Brussels and relaxed.
We arrived on time and the Köln station is very easy to navigate. Found the rental car agency with no trouble and even used the McClean washroom (€1!) which was not much fancier than the usual €0.20 washrooms elsewhere.
I believe we were upgraded to a Mercedes C-class and walked the 2 blocks to the parking garage to drop off our luggage in the car so we could see the Dom. It is amazing. I swear the most wonderful things we saw in Europe were free or very cheap. Again it was stifling hot outside but nice and cool inside the Cathedral. It is extremely conveniently located beside the train station. It is the first thing you see walking out of Köln station. We viewed the paintings and stained glass and took some incredible pictures of the Dom. We’d planned to stop for lunch in Köln but didn’t see anywhere appealing and to be honest, I was intimidated by the German language. Until now we had had no problems finding people who spoke English but I assumed Germans would not be as multi-lingual. I was very wrong!
But we did run into a language barrier in our car. Once we got back to the garage and started it up we found the GPS was in German. Unfortunately (and predictably) so was the manual so we could not figure out how to switch it to English. After struggling for 10 minutes we were about to just wing it with the maps I had printed when we approached an employee in the garage for help. With a flip of a button we had English GPS. We had a lot of good luck on this trip, but that was the best piece. Once we got onto the road we knew we would have been in deep trouble with out the GPS.
We programmed Koblenz into it and after a little construction detour, we were on the freeway (not the Autobahn, sadly). The car was comfortable, roomy and high-tech. We were speeding along the highway listening to German radio and enjoying the beautiful countryside. Although it is not the Autobahn the pace is still pretty fast. I think it was 100 km/h minimum and 140 km/h maximum but people were going much faster.
In about an hour we arrived in Koblenz and found our hotel with no trouble. We were advised by our guidebook to avoid Koblenz. We read it is not a nice town at all. I suppose it is far less quaint than many of the small towns on the Rhine and Mosel, but it was absolutely perfect for us. It is right at the confluence of the Rhine & Mosel, and since we planned to spend a day on each river this was the perfect location.
We checked into theIbis hotel for 2 nights. This was the lowest rated hotel of the trip, I think it is a 2-star, but again it was perfect for us! It was only about €69 per night but they upsold us on the breakfast at €10 per person per day, which I’m glad we got. They also had free internet in the lobby and a 24-hour bar that was actually pretty busy most of the time. The room is quite Spartan – MB compared it to a dorm room, but it was roomy and clean and the bed was quite comfy.
So out again into the heat and we walked down a lovely pedestrian avenue towards Deutsche Eck where the Mosel meets the Rhine. We looked in some shops and were astounded at how much cheaper the prices are in Germany compared to Belgium. Shoes were half the price. We stopped for a snack at a stand selling pizza slices €2 (everywhere in Europe we saw “Hawaiian” pizza and sandwiches – pineapple, chicken and cheese. We also stopped at an all gummi store with gummi bears, pizzas, and other creations and MB bought gummi bears for €2.50 because he loves candy. So far Germany was treating us very well.
But it was hot! By the time we made it to the Mosel we were parched! We stopped at a lovely beer garden on the river. We shared a plate of bratwurst and fries and had a beer. I had a huge iced mug of beer and MB had one double the size! There was a €1 – €2 deposit on the mugs, but once that was paid back our snack and drinks were under €10. Again, we were astounded at the value in Germany.
We walked along the Mosel to Deutsche Eck. There is a large statue at the corner with tons of stairs to climb, but it is covered in scaffolding. Nevertheless it was a lovely sight to see the rivers converge. There is a castle above the town on the Rhine side. We rushed the KD dock hoping to make the 18:10 boat. The lady who sold our tickets was impressed with our plan to take the boat to Boppard and return by train, calling it very wise. The tickets were €11 per person for this leg and the boat was virtually deserted – probably due to the weather which was very hot and humid and threatening rain. Even so we went up to the top deck and were the only ones there for most of the trip. It was much cooler on the water and it never did rain.
This is where my notes get a little hard to read because this is where we made the switch from Belgian beer to Rhine wine. I love dry Reisling and we drink it all the time at home, but I was still in beer mode so I was probably drinking it faster than was wise. In addition, ordering a glass of wine in Germany gives you a full glass AND a little pitcher with a second glass inside. So for about €3.50 we were getting about 12oz of wine. We did this twice on the 2 hour trip to Boppard and were more than a little tipsy when we got off the boat.
But the view is beautiful. Castles and vineyards line the river we loved this. Once we got to Boppard we stopped for another glass of wine (€4.50 for a glass of wine with the extra pitcher and only €1.50 for a dark beer for MB) in the lovely riverside garden of a hotel. The garden was lined with roses and was a wonderful atmosphere.
We didn’t plan a long stay in Boppard so we checked out the train station just to get comfortable with purchasing tickets and make sure there were trains running back to Koblenz. Good thing we did this. Although our guidebook said the touch-screen ticket machines were multi-lingual, we couldn’t get English to work on the Boppard machines. We ended up using the other type of machine where you punch in a code on the keypad for where you want to go. It cost €4.50 each back to Koblenz and we had 30 minutes before the train so we popped into the café just outside the station to have yet another drink. I’m sure you can see why my notes are practically illegible!
I should mention that my worries about the language were unfounded. I think we only encountered one person our whole time in Germany who didn’t speak English and it was at this café. But pointing to the item on the menu was fine and we enjoyed another glass of wine before our train.
The train was a short 15-minute ride back to Koblenz. No one checked our ticket on this or any other train journey in Germany, but they checked every time in Belgium and the Netherlands. Once we got back to Koblenz we managed to find our hotel and looked around for somewhere to get something to eat. Lots of places were closed so we ended up getting snacks at our hotel. And more wine which I ordered but thankfully did not finish. Then off to bed having had way too much to drink, but luckily not enough to ruin the next day!
Tomorrow – The Mosel, my favourite castle, dangerous driving
canadian_couple’s TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries
