Day Seventeen

Leaving Switzerland we headed through to Austria with a quick stop in the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Never heard of Liechtenstein? Well I had but only because one of my favorite authors comes from there. It was such a quaint little place and apparently very wealthy (and maybe a little bit of a tax haven). There was a little model of the castle where Prince Hans-Adam II lives. Can anyone say photo op? Now I usually don't like photos of myself (not the hugest fan of this one either truth be told). I like to be behind the shutter button not in front of it. But I needed photographic evidence that I had actually been to these places - to prove that I wasn't just picking random photos of the internet and passing them off as mine. So here I am standing beside the model of the castle of Liechtenstein.
The town of Innsbruck is famous for the golden roof - which I neglected to take a photo of - built by some guy trying to prove he wasn't broke... Because nothing says 'rich' like a golden roof apparently. I didn't find it that impressive to be honest but what I was taken by was the Cathedral of St. Jakob.
I took many, many photo inside that place!! I decided not to board you with them all and just share one of my favorites. Everything was so ornate!! It was practically dripping in opulence with the golden-gilded angel wings and the massive pipe organ that took up a whole wall of the place. It was magnificent! Again the attention to detail simply astounded me.

Now by this time the hefty pace of the tour was beginning to catch up with me so instead of going on the excursion (riding in horse-drawn carriages up the mountain to sample the local home-brewed schnapps) I elected to stay behind at the hotel at have a nap a.k.a a 3 1/2 hour long sleep! While I'm sure that I missed a great time it was very necessary for me to take it easy as we were about to attack Italy in full force.

The definite highlight for me was seeing inside the cathedral of St. Jakob. It was what I imagined the Vatican to be like. There was such amazing attention to detail in the iron and stone works. It was like a piece of art in itself.

Coming up next... Venice here we come!

Day Sixteen

In Lucerne I fell in love... with Switzerland. With its breathtakingly beautiful scenery and the overall feeling of safety and freedom this was the place. You know what I mean? The place where you instantly feel at home and at peace. Well that place is Switzerland.

We started by taking a cable car ride up to the top of Mt. Stanserhorn. What a way to start the day!!! Rising up above the cloud bank into blissful sunshine to be greeted by snow-capped mountain tops.

The cloud was so thick it looked like you could walk on it... Or lay down for the most beautiful sleep you have ever know. Mt. Stanserhorn caught me up in a dream - of beauty, of rest, of peace. My vocabulary completely failed me as I simply whispered 'wow' over and over again. There was a platform set out into the clouds so you could be right on top of them. It was as close to floating as I'll ever get.


Coming down the mountain we returned to Lucerne to go see the lion. Who knew a single sculpture could hold such sadness?

For a bit of background I turn to good old Wikipedia
"It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France. The American writer Mark Twain (1835–1910) praised the sculpture of a mortally-wounded lion as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world."
I have to agree with Mark. It is such a moving carving that you can almost feel the lion's pain and sacrifice. Truly the picture simply does not do it justice. If you've ever read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe you'll understand when I say that the sculpture immediately reminded me of Aslan. My recommendation is that if you have a life list you simply must put going to see the lion monument on it.

Most of the rest of the day was spent wandering around Lucerne - ducking into multiple chocolate shops and enjoying a bit of shopping (I simply had to buy the obligatory Swiss Army Knife). But one thing I was taken with was an old bridge in what seemed to be the center of town.
The middle of the bridge had actually burnt down leaving only two stubs at either end. It has since been restored (obviously) and all along the bridge you can see char makes and a photographic history of the city of Lucerne.

This day was wonderful filled with such highs - seeing the magnificent vistas atop Mt. Stanserhorn and gazing at the exquisite sadness of the Lion Monument. Lucerne was a definite highlight of the trip and I'd love to go back again. In fact I would love to go back to Switzerland and get to know the whole country. I found it to be the most comfortable place of the whole tour (and I'm not just talking about the beds!).

Next stop Innsbruck.

Day Fifteen

Heidelberg was our last German destination. It was a cute little town with a certain charm about it. One on the dominate features of Heidelberg was a bridge with an amazing sculpture of a monkey at one end of it.

The sculptor signed his work by making a tiny sculpture of two mice. I wished I could pick them up and take them with me. I am constantly amazed at the age of everything! Australia just seems so very young comparatively.

Moving on we set a course for Switzerland. Right on the boarder in the Germany and Switzerland is a town called Schaffhausen. This is where the Rhine basically ends (begins who knows?) in a crash of a waterfall. The sheer power of the crash of water is amazing.

We headed into Switzerland: destination Lucerne. When we got to Lucerne we tour a boat cruise on the lake. Unfortunately it was quite foggy that afternoon so all the photos I took look out of focus and fuzzy. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. But I was so very grateful we were getting to spend tomorrow in Lucerne.

By this time I was slowly getting to know the other passengers and they were fantastic. Funny, friendly and as excited about the trip as I was. I seriously made the trip that much more enjoyable by getting to know almost everyone.

Next we have a day in Lucerne...

Day Fourteen

From Amsterdam we made our way down into Germany - first stop Cologne.

Now the only real thing of importance I saw in Cologne (unless you want me to describe what I had for lunch in great detail) was the Cologne cathedral. What a masterpiece of Gothic architecture! I couldn't get a decent full view of the cathedral as I don't own a ultra wide angle lens but this still gives the idea of the enormity of it all.

What you can't appreciate fully in that picture is the level of artistry in the stone work. The whole thing was covered in carved out lace work and a large array of statues and gargoyles. Inside the cathedral was just as impressive with its vaulted ceilings and stain-glass windows.

It was an amazing place of such enormity that I could have happily spent the day investigating it trying to find out if any of the statues' faces were repeated. But alas it was time to move on and go for a cruise down the Rhine River.
The small section of the river we traveled down was dominated by lush grapevines with quaint houses and imposing castles dotting the countryside.
There was so much to look at and to take pictures of it was hard to know where to point your camera next. It seemed every moment there was a new castle to take photos of or a little town that seemed ripped right out of a fairytale.

I would love to go back to Germany and explore the country in a little more detail - go to places of historical importance and see what the rest of the country in like.

But the highlight of the day for me was the Cologne cathedral for sure. It was breathtaking!! Making me feel so small and insignificant. There is a majestic quality about it and it is the essence of everything I understood Gothic architecture to be.

Next stop Switzerland...

Day Thirteen

And we're off!!

So after a hideously early start we hustled downstairs for some breakfast and to meet a few of the other passengers. It was at this time I decided I needed to put on my big girl pants and be sociable. Not my natural tendency especially with people I don't know but I think it made my tour experience all the richer.

We met our bus, bus driver and tour guide and headed for Dover (I got some snaps of the white cliffs of Dover but it was through dirty glass and therefore not worth sharing)


Crossing the channel to Calais on calm seas (but I still found it a challenge. I don't get sea sick - I just don't like it that nothing stays still).

Then we drove from Calais to Amsterdam. Now that is your homework for this post. Look up on a map how far that is - sounds close but it isn't really. But on the journey we passed some amazing windmills which effectively keep the Netherlands as land. Apparently a lot of the area is below sea level or something and they 'reclaim' the land which I find to be an altogether fascinating concept.



We went on a cruise on the canals and marveled at the narrow houses and boats with shallow bottoms.


Here's a pic of my mum enjoying the cruise.

We went on a walking tour of the red light district where I discovered that it is so named because actual red lights light up the windows with the women in them. I found it all so foreign as our local guide proudly told us how the 'ladies of the night' could receive free help with their taxes. I didn't know that such ladies had to pay taxes. We wandered past cafes that had a unique smell - you know one of those cafes.

There are millions of bicycles in Amsterdam. I almost got run over by a bus, a car, a tram and a few dozen bikes - I was lucky to escape with my life. Okay I may be slightly over dramatic but I do know a few of the locals were getting irritated with me being in their way (note: don't accidentally walk on the bike road ways).

By the time we were heading back to the hotel it was around 10 o'clock. Bear in mind I had woken up at 3am and hadn't slept. I was beginning to question the wisdom of taking the tour. So a little upset and very very tired on the bus ride back I did as I always do when I'm over tired. I giggled. I giggled and giggled and giggled and mum joined in too. I don't even know what was so funny but it was apparently hilarious at the time. Now remember we had only just met our traveling companions and they didn't know about my tendency to giggle - well some of them were wondering if mum and I had visited one of those cafes and eaten a special brownie. Talk about making a good impression. They soon got used to my giggle fits.

I'll talk more about my wonderful bus mates in later posts.

Thoughts on Amsterdam... I've seen it. I don't really feel the need to go back. It was an interesting experience and I can see how it would appeal to certain personalities and certain types of people. I am just not one of those people. But I'm still glad I got to see it. I'd be very interested to know what the rest of the Netherlands is like. I think I'd like to go exploring...

Next we head for Mannheim via Cologne with a few stops along the way...

Day Twelve

Eeek!!! I am SO far behind... Sorry for the extended leave of absence but internet coverage was spotty at best and when we did have a connection I was simply too tried to blog. So I'll do my very best to get back up to speed over the next couple of weeks and then we will resume our regular programming (I have no idea why I just referred to it as 'our' regular programming but nothing else sounded right... Oh well you can just blame it on the jet lag)

So day eleven saw us making our way from Lechlade to London. Due to the slightly nerve racking conditions of London we were dropping the car off at Heathrow and catching the Heathrow express into London. The drive was a little intense nervously looking for the appropriate exit and the map just made it look more confusing.

But we got there then headed to the Heathrow terminal to catch the train. Again more confusion with various levels being marked the same thing made even more interesting by carrying a heavy backpack and tugging a purple suitcase behind me.

Anyhow we finally made it into London and catch one of those iconic black cabs to the hotel the tour was leaving from the next morning. Now the plan was to get into London with enough time for me to do a little exploring because I only had two full days in London at the end of the holiday. However upon checking in at the hotel and finding out we'd be getting a wake up call at 3am (!!!!) the next morning (mum assures me she had warned me about this extremely early start and she may well have but I had obviously blocked out that piece of information for fear of it) we decided to make sure we were all packed and have a very early night of it. For those of you who don't know me - I dislike mornings - specifically early morning - with such intensity it rivals the power of the sun.

But the main fact about this day was it was the only day during my entire adventure that I didn't take a single picture (I mean did you really want a picture of the hotel room? I think not).

Up next we get to the good stuff... Onward to destination Amsterdam.