Teri and Edward in Europe 2010: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

I love Paris when it sizzles....

We made it to Paris and boy is it sizzling...today was at least 32 C. We took the city tour on a double decker bus, the wrong bus and we toured the northern part of the city for an hour. Basically saw nothing but traffic for an hour...ok so we saw the Moulon Rouge, the Gare du Nord, the Gare de L'est and we got a peak at the Sacre Coeur. Finally we got on the right bus and the tour was great....we saw everything....and best of all we got the front seat on top under the mini roof so it was shaded and cool. We saw Opera Garnier, the Place Vendome, Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elyseees, circled the Arch de Triumph, the Eiffel Tower from several angles, the Petit Palace, the Grand Palace, The Trocadero, The Hotel des Invalides, the Rodin Museum (and the Thinker in the garden), the Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre, the Cathedral Notre Dame, and the Latin Quarter. We even saw a wreck, 2 "Smart Cars" collided in an intersection. Ironic.

Brussels to Paris...whew!

The plan was to take the bullet train from Brussels to Paris...sounds easy,well, first of all we have to check into our hotel in Brussels which I don't know the name of because we didn't have an internet connection in Bouillon, however, my educated guess was right and we check in and "consolidate our luggage". We don't actually have a ticket, so we walk to the train station and get in the first line we see. I tell the assistant what we want and he say that will be 300+ Euros. Wait a minute, don't you need to know what day, what time, what class of service? ( I had done some homework via the web). He mutters something in French or Flemish or German and summons his colleague. his colleague sends us to the train station. We find the train station and believe it or not and "I" information desk. The fellow cheerfully tells us we need that Thalys travel service and points. We go there. There are 3 people in line in front of us and two people working the line....for a good hour the line does not move and now there are at least 20 "angry looking" people behind us. We scour the area for brochures, non are in English, but by the time we are waited on we have figured out exactly what we want. When we finally get to the window it only takes 3 minutes and we have our tickets. It turns out the train to Paris leaves from the South Station, not the Central Station where we are staying. No problem, it also turns out that we are to turn the car into Avis at the South station and according to Betsy it is only 5 minutes drive from our hotel. This photo is of Edward with our consolidated luggage...no one....not even families....not even refugees....had as much luggage!

If it is Tuesday, we must be in Belgium...

Actually it was Monday...we just thought it was Tuesday...yes the days of the week have started to blurr..

Waterloo, Waterloo, where will you meet your Waterloo...

every puppy has its day, everybody has to pay, everybody has to meet his Waterloo....

we travelled on to Brussels and made a last detour to Waterloo to see where Napolean was defeated. This earthen monument was erected in the early 1800's and once you climb the 200+ steps (and we did) it gives a magnificent 360" view of the battleground. Some of the farmhouses that are standing today were standing during the battle....I find that amazing! Before moving on, we enjoyed a refreshment at the local inn. They actually served iced tea!!! While enjoying our refreshment two busloads of Asians disembarked along with several Buddhist monks in yellow robes...the irony of Buddhists monks visiting Waterloo was not overlooked.

Sohier so belle!

The homes are typically stacked stone like this...so natural, so beautiful and the flower decorations are the best.

and then there was Sohier...

"une des pleur beaux village fleuris" which we stumbled on (thanks to Betsy) and discovered almost an OZ of a village. It turns out Sohier won the "Entent Florale Europe" (the European Competition for Towns and Villages in Bloom) in both 2000 and 2006. It will literally take your breath away. I jumped out of the car (while it was still moving) to take photos. The horse in this photo is straw!!!! I have so many photos of the village but can only upload a few....yeh rah Belgium! Thank you Betsy!

Bouillion is centered in the Ardennes Forest

The Ardennes are very dense forests that were the scene of many battles in WWI. Here we are driving through a particularly beautiful section of tall trees.

Edward on the ramparts of Godfrey's Castle

Monday, June 28, 2010

Sir Godfrey and the First Crusade

Oue hotel in Bouillion sits below the 12th century castle of Sir Godfrey of Bouillion who led the First Crusade.

Route 66 in Bouillion?

Bouillion is lovely

Dinner in Bouillion, Belgium

We were sitting next to Jackie who had a Bar B Q restaurant in Brussels for 20 + years. Her first restaurant was called Memphis! She reminds me of Emily jut a little.

Everyone is World Cup Mad...

Germany was to play England that afternoon and we saw a steady stream of partygoers decked out in Germany's colors.

We stopped for refreshment and

Edward made a friend, Martina.

many vineyards were planted on steep slopes like this.

Saw lots of vineyards, here;s one

Didn't see many castles,here is one

The Rhine Gorge, not to be missed

all the travel books say the Rhine Gorge from Binton to ....is more castles per km than any stretch of the Rhine and not to be missed. So we got up early and programmed Betsy for xxxx. Well this is all the Rhine we got to see as one day each year (and that would be today) they completely close the road on both sides of the river for bicycles only. Oops forgot our bicycles. A fellow in a pub who spoke pretty good English suggested we head for the Mosel River instead. So we did.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Hexenlochmuhle...so charming

Edward got two wishes in one

At Hexenlochmuhle he not only got Black Forest Cake but Edward finally saw a female in traditional German dress. She even consented to a photograph. Now if we could only find a yodeler.

Guess which road we took?

Wildgutach of course...and boy was it wild....as it turns out even though it was a one lane at best, unpaved, logging road it was better than the alternative and at the end of the road was what appeared at first to be a mirage...notice the sign in the upper right says Hexenlochmuhle...well that stands for Witches Hole Water Mill...

Driving through the Schwartzwald

Where are the signs to the Black Forest?

Well it would help if we knew that the German translation for Black Forest is "Schwartzwald' and that the brown signs saying "Deutsche Uhrenstrassse" means the "German Clock Road". None of our travel guides told us this. We stopped at a gas station and peaked at their Schwartzwald guide and among the 66 tips they showed a water mill in Furtwangen. We set Betsy for Furtwangen and quickly found what looked like the Black Forest.

The only problem is that the roads are narrow and there is no place to stop and take a photo.

Do you see a likeness?

The streetcar driver decided to make a phone call, so he stopped the train, everyone got off but us, and I snapped a photo of Edward with Ghandi lurking in the background.

Edward chatting up the ladies...

as we waited to ride the streetcar around town.

The view in the other direction...

Saturday morning view out our room

We are in Basel, Switzerland and it is sunny and warm and a beautiful day. The view of the Rhine River out from our balcony is spectacular.

Notice the streetcar crossing the bridge.

Moon River

That is our hotel in the background

Hotel on the Rhine River

Our hotel is located on the banks of the Rhine River in Basel, Switzerland. We enjoyed a delicious fish dinner (served with heads on, ugh) and then took a stroll across the bridge.

In search of our hotel in Basel

Betsy took us to an ally that was too narrow for our car...a nice polizei lady held traffic and showed us the way.

One of several marinas on the lake

In search of Lucerne we got lost again...

and ended up on a gorgeous road that passed through town after town encircling a pristine mountain lake. Undoubtedly the best mistake we've made so far.

Right in the middle of town was a working farm

We thought we were in Lucerne

but it turned out we were in Zug. We parked the car and took a walk along the lake. It was beautiful.

The Alice in Wonderland tunnel

This is a photo of the tunnel that we opted to go through that revealed the mountain town of Walenstadtburg on the other side. It was like Alice stepping into the rabbit hole.