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Three months in Europe

July - September 2017
A 88-day adventure by Brad and Mandy Pearce Read more
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  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    1
    Day 1

    Ready, set....go!

    July 4, 2017 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Well, departure day has finally arrived. Spent the day doing all the last minutes things that could have been done days ago, but ah well, that's the way we roll.

    Toby dropped us at the airport and all the while I have this sneaking feeling that we have forgotten something (we have - our toothbrushes - but that is something we can easily buy). We have all the crucial documents like passport, credit cards and tickets so that's the main thing.

    Flight is not until 10:30pm and we are still waiting for check-in to open so in the meantime had nachos from Mad Mex and I don't know if we were insanely hungry but they were really tasty.

    Well, here is my first post on the new travel blogging platform - first stop Abu Dhabi.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    Day 2

    Hot, hot, hot- did I mention it was hot!

    July 5, 2017 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ 🌙 33 °C

    Snapshot
    Where - Abu Dhabi, Grand Millennium al Whadi hotel
    Weather - HOT! Min 32 Max 45
    Steps - 11600 steps or 7.4km

    After a long and uneventful flight, we arrived at Abu Dhabi at 6am where the temperature was already 32°C. Brad managed a decent amount of shut-eye, I not so much (maybe 2-3 hours), but I did manage to watch 3 movies and a couple of tv shows.

    Arrived at the Grand Millennium Al Whadi hotel where we were able to check in immediately (at 7.30am). He did try and upgrade is to a junior suite (for more $$ of course) because our choice of a non- smoking room would not be available until later, but we settled for the smoking room as we just wanted to freshen up. Room isn't bad, has a great view which would be better if it wasn't so hazy.

    Checked out the mall next door to the hotel. Just crossing the undercover carpark and the heat hits you like a sledgehammer. Massive with shops on 3 levels and meticulously clean... but there did not seem to be many people actually in the shops - still quite early I guess. Had lunch and by this time I was pretty tired (remember I only had a few hours rest on the plane), so caught up another few hours back in the hotel.

    Tomorrow we have a city tour organised which includes a visit to the huge mosque we saw on or way in from the airport, so hopefully more photos then.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    Day 3

    We came, we saw, we deleted the photos

    July 6, 2017 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ 🌙 34 °C

    Snapshot
    Where Abu Dhabi - Half day City Tour
    Weather - Hot... 46°C - gasp!
    Steps - 11000 or 7km

    After a good breakfast we were picked up from the hotel to firstly visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Before even entering, there are very strict rules regarding dress (although it really only applied to women who had to be covered had to toe with head scarf, long sleeves and long pants/ skirt - men only had to have their legs covered). So, I'm fully kitted out with black scarf and black dress because it was considered my 3/4 shirt and pants were not long enough (yet the guide had a t-shirt on). Brad did take one photo of me wearing all this garb, but unfortunately, due to a mishap when we were trying to transfer the photos from the camera to the tablet, all the pictures were deleted off the SD card. Who did that shall remain nameless (it was Brad), but it was a lesson learnt and we won't do it again. Apart from the photos of the mosque, any other pictures we took today were not really keepers anyway and we figured we could always revisit here when we stop on the way back. Have included some images from stock photos.

    Anyway, back to the mosque. The mosque is the largest in the UAE and was only completed in 2007, taking about 11 years to build. The mosque is large enough to accommodate over 40,000 worshippers, while the main prayer hall can hold over 7,000. It boasts the world's largest hand knotted carpet, made by approx 1200 Iranian women and took 2 years to finish. There are seven imported chandeliers from Germany that incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals. The largest chandelier is the second largest known chandelier inside a mosque, the third largest in the world and weighs about 12 tonnes (and cost around USD$8 million, as did the carpet) . The thousand odd columns that line the courtyard are made from marble that is inlaid with semiprecious gemstones such as amethyst, mother of pearl and lapis lazuli in floral designs. It really was a beautiful place.

    After the mosque we visited a date market (who knew there were so many varieties of dates), followed by the cultural centre where we learnt about the development of Abu Dhabi from a small, poor region only 50 odd years ago to one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Finally we visited the Heritage Centre which demonstrated what the area was like before the discovery of oil and the source of their wealth.

    This ends our visit to Abu Dhabi, tomorrow we fly to Amsterdam to commence our European trip.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    Day 4

    Hello Europe, we have arrived

    July 7, 2017 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Snapshot
    Where - Amsterdam (Hilton Doubletree Centraal hotel)
    Weather - Fine / light clouds - max 24°C (much more comfortable than Abu Dhabi)
    Steps - 14,850 or 9.4km (not bad considering 7 hours was spent sitting in a plane)

    It's been a long day - up before 6am, airport by 7.30am, flight at 9am and arrived in Amsterdam at 3pm. We caught the train from the airport to Centraal Station (much more economical than a taxi) and from there it was only about 500m walk to our hotel. We have a room on the top (10 th) floor with a great view over the river.

    As is our usual custom we went for an orientation walk down to the cruise ship terminal where we join our cruise on Sunday. It is only about 15 mins walk but to do it with luggage is probably not a good idea as it is mostly paving stones and would probably wreck or bags... so taxi it is! Then we wandered back to central Amsterdam where Brad wanted to take some (what he believes to be) iconic photos of Amsterdam. So we have a picture of Centraal station (yes it does have a double a) and agreed, this is iconic architecture of Amsterdam as are the ba-zillion pushbikes parked near the station. However he insisted that shops selling wacky-tobaccy seeds and smoking implements was also iconic Amsterdam but I have my doubts. Anyway, tomorrow we shall do the hop-on hop-off bus tour so hopefully get some typical Amsterdam photos then.

    Might call it an early night tonight - it's about 9.30pm and the sun still hasn't set but our body clocks say it is 11.30pm Abu Dhabi time)    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    1
    Day 5

    Big day out in Amsterdam

    July 8, 2017 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Snapshot
    Where - Amsterdam Hop on, hop off bus
    Weather - mild / warm - 22°C
    Steps - 24,000 or 15.3km (Wow, no wonder my feet are tired)

    It has been a very busy day exploring the main sights of Amsterdam , particularly the ones we didn't get to see last thing we were in Amsterdam about 5 years ago. Starting with the first HOHO bus at around 9am we did the loop first (about an hour), before visiting the Dutch Resistance Museum, Rijksmuseum, the I amsterdam sign and Vondelpark plus a couple of other things. We wanted to visit the Anne Frank museum but when we got there the queue had to be 250-300m long to get in so we decided to give it a miss.

    The Dutch Resistance Museum was very interesting and dealt with how the Dutch Resistance assisted the Jews during the Second World War. The Rijksmuseum had some fabulous artifacts and reknowned artists such as Rembrandt and van Gogh but we were intrigued with some of the furniture there like writing desks. Outside the Rijksmuseum is the much photographed I Amsterdam sign, although today there were so many people in front of or climbing all over it, that it was difficult to get a good photo. Finally we wandered around Vondelpark with about a million other people before getting back to the hotel at around 6.30pm.

    We leave Amsterdam tomorrow on our cruise and this may be the last blog for a couple of weeks depending on Internet charges (usually very expensive at sea) or whether I can pick up WiFi in port.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    2
    Day 5

    Rijksmuseum pics

    July 8, 2017 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Just a few extra photos from the Rijksmuseum including a Rembrandt and van Gogh and some of the intricate furniture.

    Also, our cruise ship arrived into port this morning- sailed right past our window.Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    Day 7

    Sail away to Norway

    July 10, 2017 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Boarded the Koningsdam and left Amsterdam on a warm and sunny afternoon with temperatures in the mid 20's - quite hot for northern European standards. Very happy with our cabin, nice verandah and everything is clean and modern (well, the ship is only a year old). The first day is a sea day as we travel towards Norway but we spent our time attending information sessions, watching movies, going to the show in the evening... and eating. No photos but I have attached the cruise route. First stop - Stavanger.Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    Day 8

    Pulpit Rock..... where are you?

    July 11, 2017 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    Snapshot
    Where - Stavanger, Norway
    Shore excursion - Lysefjord: Pulpit Rock Cruise
    Weather - Wet and cool, 14°C
    Steps - 11500 or 7.4km

    We docked in our first Norwegian port of Stavanger to a bit of a grey morning with a few light showers. The town itself is quite pretty and we wandered around it for an hour or so until the showers became heavier. We had booked a tour to view Pulpit Rock from the fjord but unfortunately by the time we got there the rock was covered in cloud and mist and we really couldn't see a thing. I guess we should be grateful we did not choose to hike up to the rock because that would have been just miserable , hiking for 2 hours up just to see a square flat rock but no view to the fjord below. On a clear day, this would have been spectacular. Oh well, you cannot control the weather and we had some nice waffles and coffee so that was ok.

    Saw a show this evening - an Italian born Australian who works in Las Vegas (typical casino style entertainment I imagine but he certainly could play the electric guitar). He wasn't too bad if you like that sort of thing. It's 10.30pm and the sun has only just set and still light. Tomorrow we dock at Eidfjord and the weather is predicted to be better than today thank goodness.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    Day 9

    Eidfjord - Idyllic Norwegian village

    July 12, 2017 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Snapshot
    Where - Eidfjord, Norway
    Weather - Cool / few showers - 14°C
    Steps - 18500 or 12km (and 46 storeys)

    Brad chose to wake early this morning so he could get a picture of the ship sailing under the Hardanger bridge which only has about 1 metre clearance. I preferred to remain in bed.

    We did not have any excursions organised so the day was ours to do as we wished. We set off to explore the quaint little township of Eidfjord nestled amongst the huge mountains. Exploring meant a lot of walking, particularly uphill to get some great view points so the legs are a little tired tonight.

    Some of the sights we saw was an old stone church built in 1309; a sod roofed house where the roof is made of grass/ flowers on a birch lined base; and a robotic lawnmower which we and some Americans found interesting but apparently is quite a common sight in places like Germany

    All in all it was quite an enjoyable day - the photos really don't do it justice.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThree months in Europe
    Day 10

    Alesund - sunshine at last

    July 13, 2017 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Snapshot
    Where - Alesund, Norway
    Weather - cloudy then sunny - 19°C
    Steps - 14,500 or 9.25km

    Finally Norway manages to produce a nice day without the liquid sunshine they say is typical of Norwegian weather. No shore excursions organised so we took the HOHO bus to see the sights. Great view from the lookout - this really is a pretty town, very colourful. Apparently the main city centre had to be rebuilt in the early 1900's after it was destroyed by fire which is why all the homes have a similar architecture. We walked down the 420 odd steps from the lookout to the town centre.

    Later we visited an open air museum which was like a village from the 14th century. I reckon everyone must have been below 5 foot or else they constantly had bad headaches from hitting their heads, the ceiling heights were so low.

    Next stop - Trondheim    Read more

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