Test Journal

An open-ended adventure by Garry Read more

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Trip start
August 31, 2017
Test Journal Traveler
European Vacation
August 30, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Landed in TO on time. We waitef to board the Amsterdam flight. Left TO about an hour late. Landed an hour late Amsterdam. Cleared customs unexpectedly quickly. Found Viking rep and on the bus. Only 4 of us on a bus for 48 passengers. Driverw was like a tour guide. Took us through the old town area snd gave us a good history. Went on walking tour and canal tour. Had a meet and greet with senior crew with free wine and champagne. Had dinner with 2 couples from US. Very nice people. Took a walk on the sun deck and now retiring.Read more
TravelerWe noticed two things from your photos. It wasn't raining in Amsterdam today and you must be using "sexy" Euros if you used THAT ATM!
8/31/17Reply
TravelerWell you know, when in Amsterdam...
8/31/17Reply
3 likes
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Kinderdijk
September 1, 2017 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Great breakfast this morning. Left on windmill tour at 10.30 returning at 12.30. Good guide on this. Were able to go inside to see how they lived. Lots of them built more than 300 years ago. Families of 13+ lived in the windmills. Now cruising to our next port.Read more
4 likes
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Cologne
September 2, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Taking a bus from drop point to the cathedral in Cologne. Toured the cathedral and saw the remains of Roman walls and streets. Back on board for lunch then toured the chocolat museum. Took the chocolate train back to the town center. Shopped a little then took the shuttle back to the ship.Read more
6 likes
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Day 5 Rudesheim
September 3, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
Visited the Marksburg castle this morning. Very interesting. Back on ship for lunch. Had lunch on the sun deck. Domenique, our program director, then gave us comments on the history and statistics of each portion of this part of the Rheine as we cruised south. Docked in Rudesheim. Walked through the town area. Had dinner in town. Wiener schnitzel and apple strudel with Rudesheim coffee to follow. Great day.Read more
Traveler Miss you! What is on the pedestals?
9/3/17Reply
Traveler Seriously who was the designer of that uniform
9/3/17Reply
TravelerGlad you're having such a good time. I'm enjoying the pictures.
9/5/17Reply
TravelerLooks like you are enjoying your trip! Beautiful pink dishes!
9/5/17Reply
3 likes
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Sept 04 Heidelburg
September 4, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Visited the ruins of the Heidelburg University. Very informative guide with wonderful stories. We were taken to the shopping street in Heidelberg. Bought some wine. Back to the ship for a late lunch at 3.30. Went for a walk in Speyer. A beautiful little town beside Heidelburg.Read more
TravelerSounds like you are impressed with the guides on this trip......thanks for sharing.....love the pics you are sharing......Godspeed my friends
9/7/17Reply
TravelerWe live in a very young country don't we?
9/7/17Reply
3 likes
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Sep 05 Strasburg France
September 5, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Got up early for the bus ride and tour to Strasburg. Loved the canals and old buildings. Back to the ship for lunch and then the tour of Alcacian wine country and a tasting. Very good guides and vintner was excellent.Read more
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Sep 06 Breisach
September 6, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Got up early for the bus ride and tour to Black Forest. Agricultural country and very picturesque. Were shown how a cuckoo clock was made and how to make a black forest cake. Spent the afternoon walking in BreisachRead more
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Sep 07 Bazel Switzerland
September 7, 2017 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌙 16 °C
Got up early to get suitcases out by 8am. Had breakfast with Kevin and LeAnna. Went for a walk for about 90 minutes. Came back for lunch then a walking tour of the old town for 2 hours. Checked in to hotel at 4.30. Walked a nit to check restaurants. Decided the grocery store was better than $100+ at a Swiss restaurant. BTW lily pads are about 30 inches wide in the university botanical garden.Read more
Traveler Oh my! You could put a whole room in one of those!
9/7/17Reply
Traveler Not your usual European hotel room. Very spacious.
9/7/17Reply
TravelerWe are enjoying following your vacation with the pictures you send. Thanks.
9/7/17Reply
1 like
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Day 10 - Sep 08 Basel to Prague
September 8, 2017 in Czech Republic ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Did not get up early. Yeah!!! Had breakfast at the hotel and then walked the streets of Basel until 3. Picked up our luggage from the hotel and took the bus to the airport. Flew to Prague on schedule. Took the tram to the Hotel Adalbert but got off about 3 stops early and .... Where the heck are we? Finally understood what we needed to do. Got back on the tram. Switched to another tram for 2 stops. Got off and...... Where the heck are we? Looked around and saw what we thought might be a monastery. Walked through the dark and found a little sign saying Hotel Adalbert. Yeah!!!! Beautiful.Read more
Traveler Yaaay another scarf!
9/9/17Reply
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Day 11 - Sep 09 Prague
September 9, 2017, Veleslavín ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
Had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel. Then took a taxi to old town. Driver tried to screw us for additional 6 Euros. Told him I knew what the fare should be. He apologized and dropped the price. No tip for him. Had a bit of fun finding our tour guide but got it done. Great tour. Mark from New Orleans was an amazing guide. He knew so much history about Prague and the Czech people. Very long, fun tour including boat tour and amazing lunch. Over 15000 steps. That took care of lunch. Off to Cesky Kumlov tomorrow.Read more
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Sep 10 - Prague to Kumlov
September 10, 2017 in Czech Republic ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Travel day today. Breakfast at hotel. Took bus to Prague depot. Caught bus to Kumlov. Three hour ride. Half hour walk with luggage to our hotel. It was rough over the cobblestone road. Beautiful room and surrounding area. Took a 1 hour walk in the rain then had dinner across the street.Read more
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Cesky Krumlov
September 11, 2017 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Spent the day wandering and taking pictures. Checked out churches and the castle. Took a 3 hour walking tour guided by a native Krumlovian. Could not tour the castle because it was Monday and closed. Did enjoy the gardens however. Lots of history. Beautiful place. Got see Maria Teresa. See last picture. Had dinner at the Jacob restaurant. Pricey but very good.Read more
Traveler So cool!
9/12/17Reply
TravelerI am so glad you enjoyed visiting Cesky. I knew you would not be disappointed.
9/12/17Reply
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Travel Day to Budapest
September 12, 2017 in Hungary ⋅ 🌙 14 °C
Got up early to get to bus depot. Found out we had missed the recommended bus. Good start. Got on to another bus and caught the connection to Linz with 8 minutes to spare. Got to Linz and connected with direct train to Budapest arriving at 4.30. Got screwed by the taxi driver. Se la vie. Checked in to hotel. Took a walk to find the 100 Year Old Restaurant. Found it and had a very good meal. We were serenaded at our table by musicians in this little restaurant. Rocky start but great finish to the day.Read more
Traveler Gorgeous!
9/12/17Reply
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Budapest Hungary
September 13, 2017 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
What a great day. Beautiful weather and saw a lot of the city. Breakfast at the hotel then got onto the HopOn HopOff bus and did the complete loop. Saw Hero's Square and the Citadella and lots of the city's historical sights. Walked up to Fisherman Basilica. Took the river cruise around Margaret Island and had dinner at Casablanca. Then took the night cruise at 8.45 and saw everything under lights.Read more
Traveler Beautiful!
9/13/17Reply
3 likes
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Budapest to Venice
September 14, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Had time to check out the market before catching our flight to Venice. Great place. Arrived in Venice 2.30. Checked in to hotel and hopped on to train to the islands. Italian pizza for dinner.
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Venice Tours
September 16, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Up at 6am to get to our Venice walking tour for 8.45. Lots of historical information again. Overload!!!! Shared a salad for lunch then headed to the meeting place for the Murano/Burano tour boat. Watched glass blowing and lace making. Had dinner at 8 at a great restaurant. Then took the Vapareto back to the train station and hotel. Long day but worth it.Read more
TravelerHope you like the hotel we recommended.
9/16/17Reply
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Venecia on our own
September 16, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Took our time this morning. Slept till 7.30 this morning. Had breakfast and went to find the local Hertz. They moved yesterday so it took a while. Got our stuff and headed to the islands again. Wanted to do a gondola ride but missed the last shared ride. Walked +20000 steps today. Getting a car tomorrow and heading for Bologna. Dinner at the soul kitchen was great. Thanks for the referral Henry and Margaret. Venecia was awesome!!!Read more
Traveler Looks all too familiar.
9/17/17Reply
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Venizia to Bologna
September 17, 2017 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 16 °C
Picked up our car at the airport this morning and headed for Bologna. Wanted to take a route along the coast but got lost pretty quick. Got back on to the autostrade and got here OK. Checked in to hotel and then walked into the old town. Totally different architecture here. Moorish I think. Found it quite interesting. Had dinner at a restaurant recommended by the concierge. Enjoyed it. Off to Cinque Terre tomorrow.Read more
TravelerHope you get to hike between a few villages at Cinque Terre!
9/17/17Reply
Traveler What's on the plate? Interesting.
9/17/17Reply
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Bologna to Cinque Terre Travel Day
September 18, 2017 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
Set up our Google map offline and my navigator got us to our destination with minor glitches. Some amazing scenes. The road was a sports car driver's dream. Being passed at 130 km and then gearing down to 1st gear for some hairpin turns. 5 hours to go 200 km. So we walked the beach tonight. Big breakers with over 2 dozen surfers out there. Stormy weather responsible for this and now raining pretty hard. Expecting good weather for the next 2 days.
Chow!!Read more
Traveler Love watching the beakers
9/18/17Reply
5 likes
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Cinque Terre 1
September 19, 2017 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 15 °C
Awoke at 7 and got ready for our day. Bought the boat ride to Riomaggiore. Beautiful scenery. Storm abated over night. Toured the village then tried to start our walk on the scenic trail. Closed due to last night's storm. Found out that virtually the whole trail was closed. Bought two day unlimited train pass and moved to Maranola. Walked around and had lunch. Had a nice chat with a couple from LA. Hiked to the next village via the panoramic trail. Very nice walking through vineyards but had to climb the mountain first. Four hours later arrived in Corniglia in pouring rain. Took the train back to Levanto. Will do the rest tomorrow.Read more
Traveler Beautiful! Missing you and wishing we were there. Expecting a storm here tonight.
9/19/17Reply
TravelerBeautiful scenery.
9/19/17Reply
5 likes
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Cinque Terre 2
September 20, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
Jumped on to the train and went back to Corniglia. Walked up the 365 steps to the centro street. Walked around and enjoyed the environment. Back to Vernazza and did the same. Weather was gorgeous today. More of the same at Monterosso. This is a wonderful place to visit. Back to Levanto for dinner and get ready for our road trip tomorrow.Read more
Traveler Great shot!
9/21/17Reply
5 likes
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Cinque Terre to Florence
September 21, 2017 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 15 °C
Hit the road today to Florence. Gassed up and my navigator got us to Pisa. Walked around the sanctuary and the tower for about 1 hour then back on the road to Florence. Dropped the car at the airport and got a cab to our B&B. Checked in and then went for a stroll. Dinner was at Gigi's. Very good food but the owner could not speak English so he sang Italian opera badly. Fun place.Read more
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Touring Tuscany
September 22, 2017 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 16 °C
Up early to be ready for pickup at 8 for our tour. Bus ride to San Giovanni, a fortress called ???, a Chianti Wine tasting with a fabulous lunch and Siena. Beautiful country with villages and vineyards and gelatias and old walls. A long day as we had a 20 minute walk back to our hotel at 9pm. But it was a good day.Read more
Traveler Was it?
9/23/17Reply
5 likes
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Walking Florence
September 23, 2017 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 16 °C
Today was a more casual day. Found the market and bought stuff. Walked across the covered bridge and up to the Piassa Michelangelo. Fantastic view from up there. Had brechetta and wine for lunch. Walked back along the river and found an ad for a concert by a local Florentine orchestra. Decided that this would be a good way to end the day. Had pizza in the square where we had been with Vic and Betty. Disappointed with this place. Went to the concert which was very good. Off to Paris tomorrow morning.Read more
TravelerSad that you were disappointed. Were you at the same restaurant? Maybe it has new owners now 😢
9/23/17Reply
TravelerNoticed only after we ate that the great restaurant we were at last year was across the plaza with a merrygoround in front.
9/24/17Reply
Traveler Great photo of a wonderful couple!
9/24/17Reply
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Travel Day - Florence to Tours France
September 24, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
Took a taxi from hotel to airport. Driver was a typical Italian cab driver. Hang on baby!! Got there safely. Flight was on time. Picking up the car was an exercise in patience. One hour plus to get service. Car had damage so more time needed as they said it was damage free. Navigator got us to our hotel just fine. Drove into Tours for dinner which was good. Got lost going back to the hotel at night but got there eventually. A big castle and vineyards are on the agenda tomorrow.Read more
Traveler This is corn on the cob.
9/27/17Reply
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