Our latest excursion took us aboard a Norwegian Cruse Line vessel the Norwegian Gem. If you care to check out the ship information you can look here.
We were not sure how the kids would take to a cruse - but simply said I think we will be going on more soon... This trip was to the Greek Islands and I can tell you it was fantastic to see. The beauty, the history the people - even among the Economic turmoil - it was fantastic.
In keeping with tradition, here is a quick route map of our tour.
We flew Ryanair to Venice from Brussels and the ship departed Saturday at 5:00 PM. I was asleep but Pam and the kids tell me the trip out of Venice was beautiful. The sea was glass and the sun was shining so all in all the trip start out great.
Day 1
The first stop was to Split, Croatia. If you've opened the route map from the link above - you can hover over the link under the Itinerary and see some photos and info about Split. You're going to hear me say this a lot - so just be ready- this little city on the sea was beautiful. We actually took a guided tour and of course the main attraction was the Diocletain's palace. Tons of history. The photo's of our trip are set to some traditional music from that part of the world. You can see some pictures here: We thought Europe proper had history you could touch but this is crazy. This palace was for the Roman Emperor Diocletian and was constructed around the fourth century AD. That was cool for a first stop - but it would only get better as we moved on to other islands in Greece. I've never been much of a guided tour person - but I would recommend it here. The history is overwhelming and you would have to do a ton of homework to understand it all as you took it in - but our guide did a great job and the visit was very informative.
Day 2
We woke up the second day at see anchored off the island of Corfu. Frankly, we did not see a lot of the island - because we had set up a little excursion on the north side of the island. Horseback ridding. We drove from the port to a small sea side community and spent the day on the back of horses. Actually it was a nice afternoon. The horses behaved, for the most part, so it was not as painful as Austin and I had imagined. :) When the riding day was over, it was back to this ship in a hurry so that Austin could continue to compete in his Free Throw competition and so the rest of us could relax on deck. The Gem departed at around 6PM that night and we would be at sea for nearly another 24 hours. I must say that we all had good fun while we were aboard. The food was good, the service was nice and there was plenty for us to do. Pam, Alex and I spent some time in the SPA and Austin got some quality time on the B-Ball court. And then the fun of shipboard BINGO would begin - for the rest of the cruse...
Day 3
One of my favorite stops of the trip. At 4:00PM we were aboard tenders again off to see the island of Santorini. What a beautiful place. This little island is fantastic and worth a weekend stay for sure. You can see details in the photos and video - but the highlight of this trip is how you choose to get "up" to the city from the Old Port. You have three choices. #1 - Walk - and it's a long way up. #2 You can take a "ski lift" and #3 - you can ride the Donkeys up the hill. Guess which one we chose? Of course... Donkeys it was. It's simple, you wait in a long line board the Donkey and sit back and hope he makes it up the hill. Alex and Austin were on one together - Pam and I went solo. I feel for those animals, it's a long way up the hill alone not to mention with people on your back..Back to the ship for dinner and a show and we were setting sail for Mykonos.
Day 4
Today we woke up in the port of Mykonos. Another great spot in Greece. The kids had enough of getting up early so they stayed in bed. Pam and I boarded a tender to look around the sea side town. We did not stay long. The town is a maze of streets that bend all over town. It's quite a tourist spot. We avoided a guided so I suspect we missed anything of real interest on the island. This was a bit of an unwind day for us. Mostly some shopping and we were back on board by around noon. The rest of the day was up on deck soaking up the sun, playing basketball, reading and lounging around.
Day 5
We woke up at 7:00AM docked in Irakilon, Crete. We had a guided tour planned of the Palace of Knossos. You can see information about the city here . Let me just say that during our stay we have seen some awesome historical sites, but for me, and I believe Alex, this site has been on top. We are talking about visiting an archeological find from a place that was first built in 1900 B.C. - Yea B.C. It would be spectacular to just visit and see, but we had the treat of a fantastic tour guide. Like very few, as she took us through time - she weaved a perfect story that culminated in an understanding of the possible reality behind the myth of the Minotaur. She was just incredible. I believe her style was unique because you could tell she had spent years studying the history of the site, the people and the myths and not only could articulate the 'official" version - she perfectly layered in her own conclusions, was sure to make us understand that this was her view, and tied the story together like so very few guides can do. For sure you can do some of your own research. Look here for starters. But this is a must see - for sure. Plan of 3-4 hours at least. I wish I could find the details of the tour guide. If I do I will update the post. Regardless, if you are at all interested in history and specifically Greek history this is a must do. Don't be cheep here. Pay for a guide and soak it up. It was great.
Day 6
This was a long awaited sea day. No ports - no stops, just one full day at sea. We had a good time here too. The best part of a cruse is just doing whatever you want. Sleep in, go eat, workout, walk around the deck, sit high on deck and just take in the sea around you, play cards, visit the SPA, climb the rock wall.... whatever. The day went by pleasantly slow and I think everyone had a great time. It was almost sad when the evening fell. We enjoyed our last dinner on board, said goodbye to all the folks that had taken such good care of us on the journey, visited the card room for our last evening of Cribbage, had a final drink and headed back to the State room to pack. By 8:00AM he next morning we were in port in Venice again ready to jump back to normal life....
Pam and I were not sure how the family would feel about the cruse when we started, but by now we are planning our next one on the Med and potentially a Baltic trip. It's a great way to take in a lot in one week -frankly. We were surprised. A big thank you to NCL - they did an great job, we are sure to return.
A quick movie of the Donkey ride and some photos, as usual, follow.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Spring Break in Germany - Again
Well - It is spring break again in Europe. We had a visitor this year - Sue (IEO) came to visit. So we spent a week in Bavaria again. We also got to greet some new family to Europe. Steve and Susan are now residents - and we stopped in to see them before we came home. So in our usual tradition - let me show you where we went and how we got there.
Our home base was in a great little Bavarian town. Schliersee, Germany. You can see the resort we stayed at here. Alpen-Club-Schliersee.
For starters this is a great little Vacation Club. Highly recommended. Here was our route of travel and the stops we made: Long trip - almost 2310 Km.
View 2010 Spring Break in a larger map
Day 1
Day one was a short trip to the town of Kufstein Austria. This was a fantastic little town. Now this is going to sound strange - but we had 2 destinations planned. One was to the RIEDEL glass blowing company. That's the strange part. Going in I wondered - but it was a cool tour and fascinating to watch them work. They make some fantastic stuff! The second was to the fortress in Kufstein. You can check out the details on the Festung Kufstein site. It was another great castle tour in Europe....We spent the rest of the day looking around in the town - and it was full of shops, places to eat and of course drink. We even found a Route 66 Pub for IEO. It was a short day and we were back to Germany late in the afternoon. Before going back to the resort we took a quick tour of a great little distillery in town called Slyrs. They don't make beer, they don't make wine... they don't make brandy... they distill Whiskey!!! This is a must see and they are really new. So far they have only released their 3 yr old. It was fantastic. We have a return trip scheduled for 2015. You can find out more about Slyrs here.
Day 2
Day 2 was a repeat for us. Off to Munich a visit to the HB Haus. I'm not going to repeat the details - you can look back a year in the blog and check it out. As I told our new friends - the Hamilton's are incapable of being within 200 Kilometers of Munich without stopping in and we would never visit Munich without going to the HB Haus. We took the train and then visited Dachau again - even the second time through it was fantastic! We were back to the Alpine Club in time for "Meet the Manager' and Happy Hour. It's a small detail - the ones that make trips like this worth while, but the manager at the Alpine Club is a fantastic person. He has been there 30 years and was the host of a small get together for many of the guests of the week in the resort. They also have a fantastic events coordinator - Silvi - she was a gem. Drop in and see them - you will love it.
Day 3
Day 3 and we were off to see the Newschwanstein Castle. King Ludwig II - and the history here are quite interesting. ˙However, this place is quite the tourist trap - so expect it. But the castle sits in and on some of the most beautiful landscape you could imagine. It's worth seeing the location as much, if not more, than the Castle. Alex got her wish and we took a horse drawn carriage to the castle from the ticket center - poor horses, Phillipe & Mona, - that was quite a climb with the load we created :) - But it was fun.
Day 4
This was another repeat trip for the Hamilton's. Another visit to Berchtesgaden. This was a stop last year and it will likely be a stop any year we are close. Again, you can see last years blog for details - but what a location... I really think I would like to find a way to retire there.....We viewed the bunker again, the documentation center again, looked up at the Eagles Nest - closed this year too because it was too early - and took IEO through the Salt Mine tour.... We concluded the day with a visit to Old Town again!! It's just a fantastic place.
Day 5
Day 5 was twofold. It was mostly a travel day - but more important we diverted through Frankfurt to visit some family that are now residents of Europe with us. Steve and Susan now live on the continent and we are really happy to have some family here. We are really looking forward to getting to see them and to have them come to Brussels too. The travel was interesting as we are all dealing with the volcano ash problem that has brought Europe air travel to a halt. That filled the trains and roads with people trying to get home... We are not out of the woods as the writing of this post and IEO is still not sure if she will be able to depart this Thursday... We will just have to see.
The week was fun. You can always tell how good a trip is by the number of stores that can come out of it: I'll list a few - you can ask via a comment if you want to know more on any of them :) and as always we will attach some photos and videos from the trip below:
Some Photos from the week:
Our home base was in a great little Bavarian town. Schliersee, Germany. You can see the resort we stayed at here. Alpen-Club-Schliersee.
For starters this is a great little Vacation Club. Highly recommended. Here was our route of travel and the stops we made: Long trip - almost 2310 Km.
View 2010 Spring Break in a larger map
Day 1
Day one was a short trip to the town of Kufstein Austria. This was a fantastic little town. Now this is going to sound strange - but we had 2 destinations planned. One was to the RIEDEL glass blowing company. That's the strange part. Going in I wondered - but it was a cool tour and fascinating to watch them work. They make some fantastic stuff! The second was to the fortress in Kufstein. You can check out the details on the Festung Kufstein site. It was another great castle tour in Europe....We spent the rest of the day looking around in the town - and it was full of shops, places to eat and of course drink. We even found a Route 66 Pub for IEO. It was a short day and we were back to Germany late in the afternoon. Before going back to the resort we took a quick tour of a great little distillery in town called Slyrs. They don't make beer, they don't make wine... they don't make brandy... they distill Whiskey!!! This is a must see and they are really new. So far they have only released their 3 yr old. It was fantastic. We have a return trip scheduled for 2015. You can find out more about Slyrs here.
Day 2
Day 2 was a repeat for us. Off to Munich a visit to the HB Haus. I'm not going to repeat the details - you can look back a year in the blog and check it out. As I told our new friends - the Hamilton's are incapable of being within 200 Kilometers of Munich without stopping in and we would never visit Munich without going to the HB Haus. We took the train and then visited Dachau again - even the second time through it was fantastic! We were back to the Alpine Club in time for "Meet the Manager' and Happy Hour. It's a small detail - the ones that make trips like this worth while, but the manager at the Alpine Club is a fantastic person. He has been there 30 years and was the host of a small get together for many of the guests of the week in the resort. They also have a fantastic events coordinator - Silvi - she was a gem. Drop in and see them - you will love it.
Day 3
Day 3 and we were off to see the Newschwanstein Castle. King Ludwig II - and the history here are quite interesting. ˙However, this place is quite the tourist trap - so expect it. But the castle sits in and on some of the most beautiful landscape you could imagine. It's worth seeing the location as much, if not more, than the Castle. Alex got her wish and we took a horse drawn carriage to the castle from the ticket center - poor horses, Phillipe & Mona, - that was quite a climb with the load we created :) - But it was fun.
Day 4
This was another repeat trip for the Hamilton's. Another visit to Berchtesgaden. This was a stop last year and it will likely be a stop any year we are close. Again, you can see last years blog for details - but what a location... I really think I would like to find a way to retire there.....We viewed the bunker again, the documentation center again, looked up at the Eagles Nest - closed this year too because it was too early - and took IEO through the Salt Mine tour.... We concluded the day with a visit to Old Town again!! It's just a fantastic place.
Day 5
Day 5 was twofold. It was mostly a travel day - but more important we diverted through Frankfurt to visit some family that are now residents of Europe with us. Steve and Susan now live on the continent and we are really happy to have some family here. We are really looking forward to getting to see them and to have them come to Brussels too. The travel was interesting as we are all dealing with the volcano ash problem that has brought Europe air travel to a halt. That filled the trains and roads with people trying to get home... We are not out of the woods as the writing of this post and IEO is still not sure if she will be able to depart this Thursday... We will just have to see.
The week was fun. You can always tell how good a trip is by the number of stores that can come out of it: I'll list a few - you can ask via a comment if you want to know more on any of them :) and as always we will attach some photos and videos from the trip below:
- IEO blows a hammy in the rough and tumble game of bowling (it's not bowling it's kegeln)
- The bakery lady is surely glad we left town.
- The great Italian restaurant at the top of the lake
- Bret Favre at the HB house
- Buddy never gets to sleep
- Where are all the cows?
- What is a May pole anyway?
- Did IEO get a flight out of Europe?
Some Photos from the week:
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Christmas in Belgium
Well - We had our first Christmas in Europe and I think the entire family enjoyed it. Not much to say really - we stayed home, did not do much and I think that is exactly what we needed.
Right after Christmas Kathey and Keith came to visit. They were here through New Years and for Alex's Birthday. (More about that in a second). New Years was really fun. We went to our favorite local restaurant Cicco Bello! who were holding a New Years bash. It was a good meal and quite somber - right up until the point that the clock struck midnight. Then it was crazy. Being one group of a few who spoke English we had a good time watching the locals run around, drink heavily and dance. All in all it was good fun - Thanks goes to Pam for setting up a great evening for all of us. Kathey is keeping an entire log of what they did while they were here - and if I can get them into the 20th Century we will get them to add some comments to this blog post. :)
For Alex's 15th B-Day the entire gang took a side trip to Italy. Man was that fun.
View Larger Map
We did not drive though. We flew to Pisa and then took a train to Florence. Buddy is the resident expert on Florence so we followed his lead most of the way. He did great too. He and Pam picked out a great little hotel. The Hotel Donatello . Check it out. It was very nice. The weather in Florence was so so. Rained a bit - it was cold - but warmer than Brussels - however that did not really get in our way too much. We hit a ton of the local - must see- sites in Florence. Below is a link to a few of the best spots.
The Duomo - The big climb.
Santa Croce
Ponte Vecchio
Uffizi Musem
San Lorenso Market Images - Its best to just look at images :)
da Vinci Museum
Galleria dell'Accademia - Academy Gallery
We had some great food too! Italy is a great place to visit. The people are friendly, the sites are great and the food is out of this world. We hope to return soon.
Right after Christmas Kathey and Keith came to visit. They were here through New Years and for Alex's Birthday. (More about that in a second). New Years was really fun. We went to our favorite local restaurant Cicco Bello! who were holding a New Years bash. It was a good meal and quite somber - right up until the point that the clock struck midnight. Then it was crazy. Being one group of a few who spoke English we had a good time watching the locals run around, drink heavily and dance. All in all it was good fun - Thanks goes to Pam for setting up a great evening for all of us. Kathey is keeping an entire log of what they did while they were here - and if I can get them into the 20th Century we will get them to add some comments to this blog post. :)
For Alex's 15th B-Day the entire gang took a side trip to Italy. Man was that fun.
View Larger Map
We did not drive though. We flew to Pisa and then took a train to Florence. Buddy is the resident expert on Florence so we followed his lead most of the way. He did great too. He and Pam picked out a great little hotel. The Hotel Donatello . Check it out. It was very nice. The weather in Florence was so so. Rained a bit - it was cold - but warmer than Brussels - however that did not really get in our way too much. We hit a ton of the local - must see- sites in Florence. Below is a link to a few of the best spots.
The Duomo - The big climb.
Santa Croce
Ponte Vecchio
Uffizi Musem
San Lorenso Market Images - Its best to just look at images :)
da Vinci Museum
Galleria dell'Accademia - Academy Gallery
We had some great food too! Italy is a great place to visit. The people are friendly, the sites are great and the food is out of this world. We hope to return soon.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Fall Break Trip to Switzerland
Well, the summer is over and the kids have been back in school, just long enough for their first break. So the family was off to explore more of Europe. Our planned destination was to Switzerland.
Like before you can follow us on google maps here:
Where we were :
View Trip To Switzerland in a larger map
For this trip, Pam found a great little ski resort tucked away in the hills above the south shores of Lake Geneva . The actual town is a mystery but it is in the area of Val d’Illiez near a village called Champoussin. http://www.royalalpageclub.com/?PageID=159 or Google Maps. The resort is part of a SKI area known as Portes du Soleil. Portes du Soleil translates roughly to “The Door to the Sun”. It was that indeed. Our little home was some 1730 Meters (5675 feet) above sea level and we looked straight down over a valley and the town of Monthey. The trip from our Chalet to the main motor way in Monthey was almost a 30 minute drive. The kids nicknamed the town in the valley ‘WhoVille”. Those of you who are fans of Dr Suess will understand why. Switzerland is a beautiful country indeed! I was fairly sure that I wanted to retire, grow old and die in Austria or South Germany but now I have to rethink that choice. The lakes, the Alpine villages, and the Alps are truly amazing here. If you are in search of a great place to unwind and get away from all the noise and distraction of normal life, this area comes highly recommended.
Day 1
Our trip started early on Saturday AM with a flight that left Brussels at 06:30. We were bound for Geneva a short 1 hour flight. Pam found some great airfare so we chose to fly and hour vs drive 10 hours. The trip started a bit early and Austin was not feeling well so in typical Hamilton fashion the start of the Journey was a bit “exciting”.
We landed in Geneva early in the AM, picked up our rental car and were off to meet up with some dear friends who had recently moved from Brussels to the Geneva area. After having a bit of breakfast in the town of Lausanne. After that we were off to the gorgeous lake side village of Vevey. We met up with Paul and Carol and the kids and spent the afternoon walking around the lake side and catching up. What a fantastic spot. If your coming to Switzerland, plan a few hours to visit here. You won’t regret it.
The day concluded with the final stage of our journey to our Base Camp. It’s hard to judge, sitting behind the screen of a computer, just how far out and up your chosen lodging really is - the road up was curvy, steep and narrow but, 1 hour later we were checking in. The place was perfect for us.
Day 2
For our second day, Pam, our travel coordinator, had us going to a small village way up in the hills and then over to see a Glacier almost 3000 meters above seal level (Almost 10,000 ft.)
Our first stop was the small village of Gstaad. http://www.gstaad.ch/en/
As it turns out, sometimes it is better to follow road signs than to follow your GPS. We did the later and got a scenic tour drive around the mountain, some car sickness and a few more ticks of the clock. However, we made it and saw some beautiful country. We had lunch in Gstaad and found it to be a fantastic little village. There were plenty of shops, Cafes and pubs. It was an unbelievable little “off the beaten path” village. The sun was shining and the air was cool, it was a perfect fall day. The color was setting in too, making I would imagine, a fantastic setting even more idyllic. In the shade you needed a jacket over your “layers” but in the sun you could have done well with shorts and some sun screen.
Gstaad was beautiful, but the highlight of the day was Glacier 3000. Take some time to check out the information on the web. http://www.glacier3000.ch/en/Summer/
This place was straight out of a book. It starts with the most serious gondola ride I have ever been on. The gondola boards at ~1000 meters and when you alight you are at just under 3000 meters. It goes straight up the face of a cliff! If you are afraid of heights - you will need to think twice. Just looking up there from the road where the ride begins makes your “tummy tingle”. You will see some pictures attached to this blog. It was a fantastic ride. The journey is in two stages. The second had us ascending into and then over the cloud layer. For my flying readers, you can imagine. It was VFR from 1000 meters to 2000, then solid IMC until just about 3000 meters. We broke out on top just before the end of the cable. I think we picked up a bit of trace on the way through. The gondola moves fast too. I think the entire trip was less than 10 mins.
Once on top we were awarded views of majestic proportions. It was brilliant. The air was cold and thin and you could see for hundreds of kilometers, if not miles. Several people were on top x-country skiing, downhill skiing and taking dog sled rides across the glacier at 3000 meters high. They also have an Alpine Coaster on top too, it was a blast and you can check it out here. Alpine Coaster
In all we spent about 4 hours up there. If you are in the area this is something you need to consider. The price of admission is high. Essentially you pay a day ski lift ticket to get up there, but, it’s worth it!
Day 3
Today we drove to the city of Bern. We had planned to goto Lucerne but driving had gotten the best of us. We had a quick bite to eat and then followed the streets of old town to the bear pits. As luck would have it - the brand new exhibit had opened and this was only the second day it was active. The bears were not yet accustomed to their new home so they stayed fairly hidden. Oh well, it was a nice hour our so by the river.
We departed Bern and headed to Interlocken. This is a fantastic little village smack dab between two beautiful lakes parked right beside a huge shelf of mountain masses. There are lots of shops and plenty to look at here. It is a worth while trip if you are in the area.
Day 4
For day 4 we had decided on a “slow” day. It began with a longer “sleep in” and two local trips near where we stayed.
The first was to the St. Bernard museum just below the famous St. Bernard Pass in the valley in a town called Martigny. You can check out the musee here . Long awaited by Pam and the kids - we actually saw more than “the doggies”. We learned a bit about the history of the St Bernard pass and the cannons who ran the hospices in the pass for travelers coming from Italy to Switzerland. If you want to read an interesting story check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_St_Bernard_Pass
It was a fun little stop over with a nice musee. The kicker is that they have actual St Bernard dogs there. You can go out into the yard and “play” with them a bit. Pam and the kids loved that.
After that we made a visit to the Chateau de Chillon. This is a great castle right on the big lake. It’s in a small lake side town of Veytaux. It’s a bit touristy but the castle is fun and they have a well signed tour that gets you from start to finish in an efficient way. Obviously there is a ton of history you can pick up here - but we found just moving from position to position and letting Alex be our ‘tour guide” was quite entertaining. You can check out the Castle here:
We would recommend a stop here too. The views across the lake are outstanding and it’s very easy to get to.
Day 5
Day 5 was dedicated to the Chocolate Train tour. It’s a fun little train ride from Montreux up to a famous cheese and dairy region, Gruyeres and then into Broc for a tour of the famous Chocolate factory of Callier . You can find info here. All in all it was a full day trip, quite touristy, and the actual tours are, well, lame. But the train ride was quaint and the city of Gruyeres was a good visit.
Day 6
Day 6 was the highlight of the entire trip, I think, for all of us. We visited the city of Zermatt. http://www.zermatt.ch/en/
I could write for hours about what exists in this Alpine village - but I will forgo all that and say only the following. Zermatt is a must see if you are anywhere in the region. Pam had been there once before - for the kids and I it was the first time. Pick your passion. Hiking, skiing, climbing, walking, mountain biking, sitting in the pub throwing back a good beer while taking in some of the most beautiful surroundings you can imagine.... or do it all. As I have said before - we have been blessed to have seen many places on this great planet; and I must tell you, Zermatt is in the top 2-3, if not the top itself. I have declared Zermatt as my choice of “grow old and die” retirement locations, Pam declared that when she passes we are to put her Ashes in a Leinenkugals can and place them somewhere in the village and the kids have asked “can we stay there for a month or so next year...” It was a great destination. The drive was beautiful. You cannot drive into Zermatt, by the way, you can only get as far as the city of Tasch. From there you have a few choices. You can take a train into Zermatt, you can bike into Zermatt or you can walk. The train ride is 10 mins or so, the walk is about 1.5 hours at a good pace. The city is “green” so all motor vehicles are off limits.. Perfect!
Day 7
Our final day in Switzerland was a day of visiting friends. We met up with someone I work with in the city of Lausanne and then had dinner and a final good bye with Carol and Paul, Katie and Andrew. Frankly - it was a nice way to end the trip. We miss Carol and Paul and the kids dearly, so it was really nice to spend time with them on the first day of our trip and to say Au revoir to them on our last.
Once again - Pam did a fabulous job planning our week. It was really a fantastic trip and I hope we make another visit there before we move back to the States. The kids are back to school and we are back to work on Monday..... That’s a tough transition from the week we just had....
You can view some of the photos below the blog. Actual photos can be viewed at our PHOTO GALLERY
Like before you can follow us on google maps here:
Where we were :
View Trip To Switzerland in a larger map
For this trip, Pam found a great little ski resort tucked away in the hills above the south shores of Lake Geneva . The actual town is a mystery but it is in the area of Val d’Illiez near a village called Champoussin. http://www.royalalpageclub.com/?PageID=159 or Google Maps. The resort is part of a SKI area known as Portes du Soleil. Portes du Soleil translates roughly to “The Door to the Sun”. It was that indeed. Our little home was some 1730 Meters (5675 feet) above sea level and we looked straight down over a valley and the town of Monthey. The trip from our Chalet to the main motor way in Monthey was almost a 30 minute drive. The kids nicknamed the town in the valley ‘WhoVille”. Those of you who are fans of Dr Suess will understand why. Switzerland is a beautiful country indeed! I was fairly sure that I wanted to retire, grow old and die in Austria or South Germany but now I have to rethink that choice. The lakes, the Alpine villages, and the Alps are truly amazing here. If you are in search of a great place to unwind and get away from all the noise and distraction of normal life, this area comes highly recommended.
Day 1
Our trip started early on Saturday AM with a flight that left Brussels at 06:30. We were bound for Geneva a short 1 hour flight. Pam found some great airfare so we chose to fly and hour vs drive 10 hours. The trip started a bit early and Austin was not feeling well so in typical Hamilton fashion the start of the Journey was a bit “exciting”.
We landed in Geneva early in the AM, picked up our rental car and were off to meet up with some dear friends who had recently moved from Brussels to the Geneva area. After having a bit of breakfast in the town of Lausanne. After that we were off to the gorgeous lake side village of Vevey. We met up with Paul and Carol and the kids and spent the afternoon walking around the lake side and catching up. What a fantastic spot. If your coming to Switzerland, plan a few hours to visit here. You won’t regret it.
The day concluded with the final stage of our journey to our Base Camp. It’s hard to judge, sitting behind the screen of a computer, just how far out and up your chosen lodging really is - the road up was curvy, steep and narrow but, 1 hour later we were checking in. The place was perfect for us.
Day 2
For our second day, Pam, our travel coordinator, had us going to a small village way up in the hills and then over to see a Glacier almost 3000 meters above seal level (Almost 10,000 ft.)
Our first stop was the small village of Gstaad. http://www.gstaad.ch/en/
As it turns out, sometimes it is better to follow road signs than to follow your GPS. We did the later and got a scenic tour drive around the mountain, some car sickness and a few more ticks of the clock. However, we made it and saw some beautiful country. We had lunch in Gstaad and found it to be a fantastic little village. There were plenty of shops, Cafes and pubs. It was an unbelievable little “off the beaten path” village. The sun was shining and the air was cool, it was a perfect fall day. The color was setting in too, making I would imagine, a fantastic setting even more idyllic. In the shade you needed a jacket over your “layers” but in the sun you could have done well with shorts and some sun screen.
Gstaad was beautiful, but the highlight of the day was Glacier 3000. Take some time to check out the information on the web. http://www.glacier3000.ch/en/Summer/
This place was straight out of a book. It starts with the most serious gondola ride I have ever been on. The gondola boards at ~1000 meters and when you alight you are at just under 3000 meters. It goes straight up the face of a cliff! If you are afraid of heights - you will need to think twice. Just looking up there from the road where the ride begins makes your “tummy tingle”. You will see some pictures attached to this blog. It was a fantastic ride. The journey is in two stages. The second had us ascending into and then over the cloud layer. For my flying readers, you can imagine. It was VFR from 1000 meters to 2000, then solid IMC until just about 3000 meters. We broke out on top just before the end of the cable. I think we picked up a bit of trace on the way through. The gondola moves fast too. I think the entire trip was less than 10 mins.
Once on top we were awarded views of majestic proportions. It was brilliant. The air was cold and thin and you could see for hundreds of kilometers, if not miles. Several people were on top x-country skiing, downhill skiing and taking dog sled rides across the glacier at 3000 meters high. They also have an Alpine Coaster on top too, it was a blast and you can check it out here. Alpine Coaster
In all we spent about 4 hours up there. If you are in the area this is something you need to consider. The price of admission is high. Essentially you pay a day ski lift ticket to get up there, but, it’s worth it!
Day 3
Today we drove to the city of Bern. We had planned to goto Lucerne but driving had gotten the best of us. We had a quick bite to eat and then followed the streets of old town to the bear pits. As luck would have it - the brand new exhibit had opened and this was only the second day it was active. The bears were not yet accustomed to their new home so they stayed fairly hidden. Oh well, it was a nice hour our so by the river.
We departed Bern and headed to Interlocken. This is a fantastic little village smack dab between two beautiful lakes parked right beside a huge shelf of mountain masses. There are lots of shops and plenty to look at here. It is a worth while trip if you are in the area.
Day 4
For day 4 we had decided on a “slow” day. It began with a longer “sleep in” and two local trips near where we stayed.
The first was to the St. Bernard museum just below the famous St. Bernard Pass in the valley in a town called Martigny. You can check out the musee here . Long awaited by Pam and the kids - we actually saw more than “the doggies”. We learned a bit about the history of the St Bernard pass and the cannons who ran the hospices in the pass for travelers coming from Italy to Switzerland. If you want to read an interesting story check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_St_Bernard_Pass
It was a fun little stop over with a nice musee. The kicker is that they have actual St Bernard dogs there. You can go out into the yard and “play” with them a bit. Pam and the kids loved that.
After that we made a visit to the Chateau de Chillon. This is a great castle right on the big lake. It’s in a small lake side town of Veytaux. It’s a bit touristy but the castle is fun and they have a well signed tour that gets you from start to finish in an efficient way. Obviously there is a ton of history you can pick up here - but we found just moving from position to position and letting Alex be our ‘tour guide” was quite entertaining. You can check out the Castle here:
We would recommend a stop here too. The views across the lake are outstanding and it’s very easy to get to.
Day 5
Day 5 was dedicated to the Chocolate Train tour. It’s a fun little train ride from Montreux up to a famous cheese and dairy region, Gruyeres and then into Broc for a tour of the famous Chocolate factory of Callier . You can find info here. All in all it was a full day trip, quite touristy, and the actual tours are, well, lame. But the train ride was quaint and the city of Gruyeres was a good visit.
Day 6
Day 6 was the highlight of the entire trip, I think, for all of us. We visited the city of Zermatt. http://www.zermatt.ch/en/
I could write for hours about what exists in this Alpine village - but I will forgo all that and say only the following. Zermatt is a must see if you are anywhere in the region. Pam had been there once before - for the kids and I it was the first time. Pick your passion. Hiking, skiing, climbing, walking, mountain biking, sitting in the pub throwing back a good beer while taking in some of the most beautiful surroundings you can imagine.... or do it all. As I have said before - we have been blessed to have seen many places on this great planet; and I must tell you, Zermatt is in the top 2-3, if not the top itself. I have declared Zermatt as my choice of “grow old and die” retirement locations, Pam declared that when she passes we are to put her Ashes in a Leinenkugals can and place them somewhere in the village and the kids have asked “can we stay there for a month or so next year...” It was a great destination. The drive was beautiful. You cannot drive into Zermatt, by the way, you can only get as far as the city of Tasch. From there you have a few choices. You can take a train into Zermatt, you can bike into Zermatt or you can walk. The train ride is 10 mins or so, the walk is about 1.5 hours at a good pace. The city is “green” so all motor vehicles are off limits.. Perfect!
Day 7
Our final day in Switzerland was a day of visiting friends. We met up with someone I work with in the city of Lausanne and then had dinner and a final good bye with Carol and Paul, Katie and Andrew. Frankly - it was a nice way to end the trip. We miss Carol and Paul and the kids dearly, so it was really nice to spend time with them on the first day of our trip and to say Au revoir to them on our last.
Once again - Pam did a fabulous job planning our week. It was really a fantastic trip and I hope we make another visit there before we move back to the States. The kids are back to school and we are back to work on Monday..... That’s a tough transition from the week we just had....
You can view some of the photos below the blog. Actual photos can be viewed at our PHOTO GALLERY
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Summer is Over
August has been a great month for us here. Everyone in Europe seems to take Holiday in August, so for starters, driving back and forth from work is a breeze.
This month Pam, Alex, Austin and I took a trip to Spain. It was our summer sun and fun getaway. We visited a small costal city in Spain, Salou. You can find out more about Salou here : Salou Spain. It was fun. None of us had spent any time in the Med before - so it was a first for all of us. The sun was warm, the water was clear and the sand was fine. We all got a bit of our color back and spent a week in the Sun. While we were in Spain we did a bit of sight seeing too. We visited 3 cities along the cost.
First was Barcelona. Actually, I had some work to do so I visited our offices there - but we all got a chance to see a bit of the city. The first big event was a visit to the Football stadium of FC-Barcelona. It was neat. We got a tour of the entire stadium, walked through a great museum and picked up some official gear in the gift shop. This was Austin’s destination of choice. I’d say we spent a few hours there. Next we spent some time in the Gothic part of the City. Really - we were spending time on the L3 metro line - going back and forth - but we got to see a bit of the city along the way. We had planned a bike tour - but our train arrived late and we missed the departure time... Maybe next time.
Our second tour spot was the city of Tarragona. If you don’t know, this little city is now the home to one of the growing list of “Wonders of the World”. You can see some of the photos and information here Tarragona. Lots of stuff from 200 A.D. and a fun little town to walk around in and site see.
The rest of the week was spent to and from the beach, which was only a walk of 500 M or so away. And we spent two evenings in an Amusement Park nearby. We did not rent a car so we traveled by train or bus the entire week. This worked out well, actually. The water off the Beach of Salou is warm and shallow and is all sand. This makes swimming great. The sun was out almost every day and the city “rented” sun chairs that made bathing in the sun an easy chore. The kids also got their first taste of “European Sun bathing” habits. We were not sure how they would handle it - but after day 1 - it was not even given a second thought. Well, not given a second comment, I’m sure there were more than a few thoughts :)
Time tables are different is Spain. Dinner never started before 20:00 and on a few nights we were finishing up dinner past mid-night. That’s just how it is there. The food there was OK and the drinks and night time parties are the specialty of the area. All in all it was a good week and I think everyone enjoyed just being in the sun again.
During the last weekend of August we took a weekend trip to London. It was a great, quick, trip. We left Brussels on Friday evening and took the EuroStar to London. If you don’t know, the train is a great way to get around Europe. It’s painless, it’s convenient and it is much more relaxing than dealing with the airlines here. We arrived Friday night, got checked into our hotel and stepped out for some dinner. The next day was a back to back agenda of things to do and see in London.
Saturday began with a short walk to Buckingham Palace. We arrived in time to see the Changing of the Guard and mingled with the hundreds of people who were there to watch the event. I was amazed at how many people showed up for this. It’s almost ridiculous, that something so routine in frequency draws so many people. Perhaps it was just a weekend draw, perhaps because it was a Holiday weekend in the UK, but I would suggest you arrive early. We had great “seats” and got to observe the tradition from the left flank of the Palace.
From there we took a short walk down to the River and headed to the London Eye. It was a great way to see the city from on high. The ride lasts ~20 minutes and you get a great 360 degree view of London. After the ride we were off to do some more sight seeing and time to get acquainted with the London Underground; a really well done Subway system. We were attempting to see some of the sights as we made our way back across town to do some shopping at Harrods. As usual we had forgotten to pack some item or another and it made for a great excuse to spend some time (and money) fueling the local economy.
We ended the day by preparing for “the show”. Pam secured tickets for a viewing of “The Mouse Trap”. We got everyone dressed to a respectable level and headed to the theater district / SOHO and we off in a cab by 6:30 pm. The show was good fun. It was something we all could enjoy and it turns out is one of the longest running performances in London. It was a neat little “who done it” and the cast put on a really good show. I’m not at all a fan of Theater - but I enjoyed this quite a bit. Pam and the kids did too. After the show we wandered around the area a bit and settled in for a late dinner. Saturday was drawing to an end ~ midnight and it was a good thing. I think we all were ready to drop, it was a busy day.
Sunday was our last full day and we spent time, again, taking in the basics. Green Park, Hyde Park, the London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, more London Underground travel and a great stop off to visit the HMS Belfast. If you have kids - they will love the Belfast. It’s a tour at your own pace, rummage around an old Navy ship, very well furnished museum. You can get a great sense of what it must have been like to serve on her and you get a good dose of moving about a ship as it might have been when she was in service. Up ladders, down ladders over bulk head doors, through small cramped spaces, all while you can feel the deck moving below you to the “wake” of the river. We did a ton of walking on Sunday and ended with our last stop at a local book store just off Piccadilly Circus. Alex was in heaven, it was 7 floors of books, books and more books.
We needed to head back to St Pancras station for our train ride home and walked back to the Hotel to collect our things. All was going well - until we realized we had mis-read our itinerary. We showed up at the train station at almost the exact time our train departed... Oops. Luckily there was room on the next train and we were headed back to Brussels only 1 short hour later.
It’s back to school for Alex and Austin now - and I suspect back to a bit of normal life for us. We have loads of pictures from the last few months and I will post them once I get time to get them organized and uploaded. Look for them in our next update to the blog. In the mean time - here is wishing that you had as much fun this summer as we have had. It was a great first summer here in Europe for us and we are looking forward to our first Fall and a change of seasons that most of us (Alex and Austin) have not really experienced before...
This month Pam, Alex, Austin and I took a trip to Spain. It was our summer sun and fun getaway. We visited a small costal city in Spain, Salou. You can find out more about Salou here : Salou Spain. It was fun. None of us had spent any time in the Med before - so it was a first for all of us. The sun was warm, the water was clear and the sand was fine. We all got a bit of our color back and spent a week in the Sun. While we were in Spain we did a bit of sight seeing too. We visited 3 cities along the cost.
First was Barcelona. Actually, I had some work to do so I visited our offices there - but we all got a chance to see a bit of the city. The first big event was a visit to the Football stadium of FC-Barcelona. It was neat. We got a tour of the entire stadium, walked through a great museum and picked up some official gear in the gift shop. This was Austin’s destination of choice. I’d say we spent a few hours there. Next we spent some time in the Gothic part of the City. Really - we were spending time on the L3 metro line - going back and forth - but we got to see a bit of the city along the way. We had planned a bike tour - but our train arrived late and we missed the departure time... Maybe next time.
Our second tour spot was the city of Tarragona. If you don’t know, this little city is now the home to one of the growing list of “Wonders of the World”. You can see some of the photos and information here Tarragona. Lots of stuff from 200 A.D. and a fun little town to walk around in and site see.
The rest of the week was spent to and from the beach, which was only a walk of 500 M or so away. And we spent two evenings in an Amusement Park nearby. We did not rent a car so we traveled by train or bus the entire week. This worked out well, actually. The water off the Beach of Salou is warm and shallow and is all sand. This makes swimming great. The sun was out almost every day and the city “rented” sun chairs that made bathing in the sun an easy chore. The kids also got their first taste of “European Sun bathing” habits. We were not sure how they would handle it - but after day 1 - it was not even given a second thought. Well, not given a second comment, I’m sure there were more than a few thoughts :)
Time tables are different is Spain. Dinner never started before 20:00 and on a few nights we were finishing up dinner past mid-night. That’s just how it is there. The food there was OK and the drinks and night time parties are the specialty of the area. All in all it was a good week and I think everyone enjoyed just being in the sun again.
During the last weekend of August we took a weekend trip to London. It was a great, quick, trip. We left Brussels on Friday evening and took the EuroStar to London. If you don’t know, the train is a great way to get around Europe. It’s painless, it’s convenient and it is much more relaxing than dealing with the airlines here. We arrived Friday night, got checked into our hotel and stepped out for some dinner. The next day was a back to back agenda of things to do and see in London.
Saturday began with a short walk to Buckingham Palace. We arrived in time to see the Changing of the Guard and mingled with the hundreds of people who were there to watch the event. I was amazed at how many people showed up for this. It’s almost ridiculous, that something so routine in frequency draws so many people. Perhaps it was just a weekend draw, perhaps because it was a Holiday weekend in the UK, but I would suggest you arrive early. We had great “seats” and got to observe the tradition from the left flank of the Palace.
From there we took a short walk down to the River and headed to the London Eye. It was a great way to see the city from on high. The ride lasts ~20 minutes and you get a great 360 degree view of London. After the ride we were off to do some more sight seeing and time to get acquainted with the London Underground; a really well done Subway system. We were attempting to see some of the sights as we made our way back across town to do some shopping at Harrods. As usual we had forgotten to pack some item or another and it made for a great excuse to spend some time (and money) fueling the local economy.
We ended the day by preparing for “the show”. Pam secured tickets for a viewing of “The Mouse Trap”. We got everyone dressed to a respectable level and headed to the theater district / SOHO and we off in a cab by 6:30 pm. The show was good fun. It was something we all could enjoy and it turns out is one of the longest running performances in London. It was a neat little “who done it” and the cast put on a really good show. I’m not at all a fan of Theater - but I enjoyed this quite a bit. Pam and the kids did too. After the show we wandered around the area a bit and settled in for a late dinner. Saturday was drawing to an end ~ midnight and it was a good thing. I think we all were ready to drop, it was a busy day.
Sunday was our last full day and we spent time, again, taking in the basics. Green Park, Hyde Park, the London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, more London Underground travel and a great stop off to visit the HMS Belfast. If you have kids - they will love the Belfast. It’s a tour at your own pace, rummage around an old Navy ship, very well furnished museum. You can get a great sense of what it must have been like to serve on her and you get a good dose of moving about a ship as it might have been when she was in service. Up ladders, down ladders over bulk head doors, through small cramped spaces, all while you can feel the deck moving below you to the “wake” of the river. We did a ton of walking on Sunday and ended with our last stop at a local book store just off Piccadilly Circus. Alex was in heaven, it was 7 floors of books, books and more books.
We needed to head back to St Pancras station for our train ride home and walked back to the Hotel to collect our things. All was going well - until we realized we had mis-read our itinerary. We showed up at the train station at almost the exact time our train departed... Oops. Luckily there was room on the next train and we were headed back to Brussels only 1 short hour later.
It’s back to school for Alex and Austin now - and I suspect back to a bit of normal life for us. We have loads of pictures from the last few months and I will post them once I get time to get them organized and uploaded. Look for them in our next update to the blog. In the mean time - here is wishing that you had as much fun this summer as we have had. It was a great first summer here in Europe for us and we are looking forward to our first Fall and a change of seasons that most of us (Alex and Austin) have not really experienced before...
Sunday, July 19, 2009
May June & July 2009
Yes – it has been a long time since our last post. It has been a busy few months. So busy in fact, that we have not taken the time to sit down and updated our BLOG. I guess the best way to cover off all that we have been doing is to look at it month by month. So I will do that below. But, in summary, it has been a great summer so far.
For starters, the weather has been fantastic. We could not have expected so much warm sunshine, but we have had it. If you don’t know – Belgium is one of the grayest places on the planet. It rains, A LOT in Belgium. So we were a bit concerned about the change for us and the kids. From Sunny California to South Central TX, cold and rain were few and far between. Here it’s the mainstay. But we have been lucky.
Both Alex and Austin ended their school year – one of mid- year transition – very well. Both received high marks and seem to have found they really like there new school. Each got to take fantastic “class trips” this year. Austin was first off to Florence, Italy and Alex went next to Normandy France. Both got to spend a week in their locations with classmates. Frankly, we still cannot come to grips with how lucky they are to have done this. Can you imagine, a “field trip” to Italy and France? They have both had visitors from the US this summer. Hannah and Duke both came all the way from Texas to spend a few weeks with us. In fact, as I write this, Duke is still here. So far this summer we’ve done our best to absorb Europe too. Our summer started in May with a visit from Lori and Jay Fowler, followed by June which was opened with visitors and the kids ‘graduating’ from school. In July we went to the world’s largest Horse show in Aachen Germany and took a great trip to Normandy, France to visit all of the great WWII sights there…
May 2009
May kicked off a great summer for us. Lori and Jay came to visit. We started off our weekend with a stay in Amsterdam. It was really good to be away for a weekend (the kids stayed home) and even better to see Lori and Jay. Pam and I had not really gotten any time to spend with Lori and Jay – so it was really good to just hang out and catch up. They had flown into Amsterdam so Pam and I drove up from Brussels to see them. We spent the entire day (and most of the night and the next morning) touring the town – mostly the “District”… After a long evening we had stumbled into this bar and came across one of the coolest bar tenders you can imagine. At closing time – he closed the bar – but locked us all in and the entertainment went on for a few more hours. It was good fun for a couple of mom’s and dad’s who needed a night out to “re-visit” our college days…. Pam and I also got to do a small reunion with Larla, Femka and Jackie. Jackie used to take care of Alex right after Alex was born. The lived near us in Tracy and are actually Dutch. We had just made contact with them again after more than 10 years. What a small world. The next … afternoon, we got out of bed and drove back to Brussels. Pam took Jay and Lori to Koln, Germany for the day – because I had to go back to work – Jay may still be there trying to climb the bell tower… May is filled with “bank Holidays” so we had some time to spend around the house and get caught up on “real life” work.
June 2009
June was a very busy month. For starters I was headed back to the US. I had to take my airplane to South Carolina for its annual maintenance inspection. It was a world wind trip; Brussels to Chicago, Chicago to Austin, 6 hours of sleep in Austin then off that next morning at 0600 for flying to South Carolina. The flight was great, mostly because I had not been in the airplane for so long. The trip was planned from Austin to Meridian Mississippi (KMEI) for fuel and a quick bite of lunch and then from Meridian to Laurens (Clinton) SC where the work would be done over the weekend. Just inside of Mississippi the weather started to get bad – making for an eventful first segment but we had landed on time and were hungry for lunch. As luck would have it, we ended up having a mechanical issue and got to enjoy Mississippi for 24 hours. I had to wait for a part to be shipped – so it was off to the local Holiday Inn Express for a grand stay in downtown Meridian. All I can say is that the people of Meridian are very friendly – but I was not sure I was still in the USA… It’s a different place. We departed the next AM and the rest of the weekend was great. I got to “assist” in the annual and for the first time I was able to see my airplane “inside out”. It was a great learning experience for me. Austin had is year end Band Concert – dad missed this – AGAIN!
Back in Brussels – it was back to work for me and hello to Hannah and her Mom. They had come to visit for ~2 weeks so Pam got to play host and tour guide for them. They did the Brussels tour, went to Germany and got to see the sights in and around where we live.
I got to take another flying trip in Europe too. We took a flight from Antwerp to La Havre. That’s on the coast of Normandy. It was a great flight and I really hope that I get to do a lot more flying in Europe.
Before we knew it the month was over and we were headed into a busy July.
July 2009
The July 4th weekend was our first away from the US, ever. It was a bit strange missing all of the festivities – but we had our fun anyway. We spent a full day in Aachen Germany and visited the world’s largest horse show. (Alex day J ). You can read about the show here: http://www.chioaachen.com/ . It was fun. There were thousands of people at the show and it was full of riding, jumping and exhibits. The weather was great and the evening ended with a show from several of the Olympic and world riding champions from the past few years. Alex was in heaven, Pam was too (we were in Germany and that’s her favorite) I was having a good time just being outdoors and Austin was bored out of his mind. In the end it was a great day. It is strange being at an event like that, where the entire deal is in a language you don’t speak. But I took note of the fact that all of us did not seem to mind. It struck me that we are all getting used to being in places where very few people speak our language. I reflected on the past 6 months transition and decided that yes, everyone was starting to feel at home here in Europe. It was a good feeling, indeed.
A few weeks or so after that we had a chance to say “bonjour!” to one friend and a sad “au revoir” to a few others. Duke was visiting from the US – and Austin was very excited for him to come. He’s still here as of this writing. John and Patty Wheeler, friends we had met, were at the end of their assignment in Brussels and were moving back to the US. They have been here three years and are headed back to Atlanta, GA. We had gotten to know them fairly well but it was all too short. It was also kind of a surreal transition for us. Seeing them going back made us realize that our stay here is not permanent either. There is an entire “eco – system” of EXPATS coming and going. That combined with a few going away parties at ISB reminded us not to take for granted the opportunity we have here.
On the weekend of July 18th Pam, Alex, Austin, Duke and I took a trip to Normandy France. What a fantastic trip. I have been wanting to see Normandy for as long as I can remember so, quietly, I was looking forward to this trip from the day I found out I was moving to Europe on assignment. Recall from above that Alex has a field trip (FOR A WEEK) to Normandy – so we had a fantastic tour guide in our party. As always, Travel Agent Pam, made the plans for our drive and hotel stay and the entire trip was planned out in advance. It was great! The route we drove is linked below. You can follow the Google map. It was a fun drive and took ~ 5 hours to get there. We drove from Brussels to Sainte-Mere-Eglise and stayed the night in a Hotel there. The stops are listed below the map.
Sainte-Mere-Eglise
If you are not a WWII buff – This is the first town to be liberated on D-Day. If you want to learn more start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-M%C3%A8re-%C3%89glise. This town was the landing zone of the 82nd and 101st Airborne and became a thematic foundation for “The Longest Day”, the story of John Steele hanging from the church. As you can see in the pictures below – the town keeps a symbol of that event at the church. A “man” hanging from a silk parachute is there all the time. The church is a fantastic visit. It was badly damaged in the liberation – but was restored with the help of many of the paratroopers that fought there. We also visited a fantastic museum. The Airborne Museum (Musee) is in the center of town. You can see information here http://www.sainte-mere-eglise.info/pageLibre00011a22.html. This was one of the best exhibitions of WWII that I have seen in a long time, mostly because it’s there. The displays are authentic and the entire set up is top notch. Let me just say this, because it was the single biggest reflection I have about this little town… If you ever generalize about the French ‘not liking Americans’ – you need to visit here. These people have not forgotten. You feel like you are entering a July 4th party when you enter the town. They are very friendly and have done a great job in paying respectful homage to the men who fought to liberate them from “the devil”. You will see in the pictures below – the first US flag that was flown after the liberation, hanging proudly in the town hall. Also in front of that “town hall” is Milestone 0. The fist of a set of markers placed by Patton’s 3rd Army, 20th Tank Corps that lead from Sainte Mere-Eglise to Bastogne. You can see pictures of the last in our Blog from early on and our visit to Bastogne. I’ve decided I need to do research now – because I would love to drive along the entire route taken by Patton’s 20th. I bet that would be great!
Pointe Du Hoc
Our next stop was Pointe Du Hoc. This is a fantastic stop. You can see the installation of Germany batteries and a landscape of craters where Allied Bombs blew the heck out of the place. The kids got to run free across the space – run in and out of huge bomb holes and crawl around in the gun bunkers of the German army. Pointe Du Hoc is 4 miles west of Omaha Beach and is famous for the attack made by the 2nd Ranger Battalion to silence guns that could take aim at Omaha and Utah. You can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe_du_Hoc . It is just one more amazing story from the war. Some of you are old enough to remember the speech Ronald Reagan gave there in 1984, on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. His words have become part of the memorial that stands there today.
Omaha Beach
Clearly, this stop was the apex of the entire visit to Normandy. We began our tour at the American Cemetery Memorial. http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/no.php. I have been thinking of ways to describe this place, to people reading the Blog that have not been to Normandy. The best I can come up with is “Awe inspiring”. This is probably one of the most moving places I have ever visited. Rivaling Arlington National Cemetery it has to be one of the most sacred places in American History if not World History. Can you imagine…. 172 Acers, the resting place of ~9,400 US troops, ~1,557 named that were never found and on the back drop of the biggest offensive in history. I’ve seen footage, watched documentaries, read tons of material, and talked to several who have been there… but I was completely unprepared for what it would feel like to be there. If you are every spending time feeling bad about what you have, or worse yet, feeling sorry for what you DON’T have – I’d recommend a visit here. Perspective is granted in a moment! It’s almost unthinkable in today’s world. Some 406,000 killed in a war to defend allies and the US alike. Almost 2500 to 3000 on D-days first few hours. And if you are even just a remedial student in Math you cannot help but notice how young most of these soldiers were.
Frankly, I think Tom Brokaw summed it up the best in the title of his documentary “The Greatest Generation”. And that generation of American is almost gone. I think that my generation deserves a huge slap on the back of our heads. Not just Americans – but our generation around the world. We are smug, spoiled, brats, that bask in the freedom and lifestyle that our grandparents fought for. I’m not so sure about the next generation either. We live in a world now where people hold their hands out and EXPECT to be given to, and a world that is critical of “go earn it yourself” thinking. We sit back and whine about the failure to “re-distribute wealth”, to “provide” national services and our unshakeable believe that prosperity and standard of living are god given rights to everyone. They are not! Those are privileges granted to those who earn it. Our grandparents were far worse off than the majority of us who sit back and complain, while getting fat watching TV and cursing “those people”. Our ability to avoid self accountability is breath taking, and our belief in what we “should have” is astounding. If you do even the slightest research on the men and women that fought in WWII you know that they did what they did because “it was just the right thing to do”…. I’m not sure we even comprehend what that means anymore. If the US government wants to Socialize something worthy – they should mandate a trip to Normandy, or Iwo Jima or Bastogne! It would generate far more long term gains than keeping the assembly lines of a business that failed 2 decades ago running in the name of “handing out more.”
But – I digress!
In the end – for a short weekend – It was a great trip and so far a really fun summer. In Aug we have a week off and are going to Spain. I hope to have more updates to provide after that!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Our First European Holiday Trip
It is Spring Break for the kids and they were off school from 11-April thru 26- April. From 18-April to 25-April we took our first real European Holiday.
Pam did all of the planning for the trip while Alex and Austin each took a city and it was their job to provide the 'tours' for that day. They did the research - picked the spots we would visit and provided details as to the historic or local significance of each spot. I have to tell you that it was one of the best vacations we have been on as a family. Pam worked really hard on the details and the trip could not have been better. I have been lucky enough to have traveled to many locations in the world - and up to this point - I think this trip proved to be at the top of my list. The Austrian Alps are beautiful and this time of year was perfect. Everything was turning green yet the mountains were still covered with snow. The weather was perfect. Crisp and cool in the mornings and evenings and ~ 18 C during the day.
I'll attempt to recap our journey below. We also have TONS of photos. They can be found on our photo archive site. Click here to view the entire set of Photos.
For starters - we drove. It's simply the best way to experience this part of the world. Our trip took us thru 6 countries. Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and a small part of the Netherlands on the way home. I created a Google Map, that you can view, with the entire trip included .Or You can view the Map here.
View 2009 Spring Break to Germany/Austria in a larger map
DAY 1
THE DRIVE OUT (Brussels to Austria)
Early Saturday morning we departed Brussels bound for Schladming, Austria. The drive is nearly 10 hours. We had planned to stop over in Dachau and visit the concentration camp memorial but we knew early on that we were not going to have enough time. So we decided that we would stop in Munich for dinner. Munich is one of our favorite cities in Germany and Pam particularly enjoys the Hofbrauhaus! So that is where we stopped for dinner and stretched our legs. After dinner we headed out for Schladming, Austria. The drive took us into the Apls and the views were fantastic. The day also provided us our first real experience on the Autobahn too. The Germans love their cars and they love to drive them - fast! If you get yourself into the fast lane you better be doing 200 Km/Hr or better or you're best advised to pass quickly and get back into the old mans lane. The other game we had to win was the toll road situation. In Austria you need to have a "sticker" on your car, to be legal. The "sticker" is a nice way of saying you had to pay a toll tax to be on the roads. It was easy enough though. We just stopped at a gas station before the border and voila - our tolls were paid.
We arrived in Schladming late that evening. It was dark and raining so we really had no idea just what to expect when we saw daylight... But it was fantastic. Schladming was our "base camp" and we stayed at a place called the Alpine Club. You can check out the resort and some of their photos from this link. It was a great place to stay. The staff was great and the view was killer. It sits on a hill side high above the actual city. It had a nice pool, nice rooms and great views.
DAY 2
BERCHTESGADEN - Germany (The Salt Mine)
Berchtesgaden was ~ 1 hour drive from Schladming. It was a beautiful drive too. The path given to us by the GPS NAV system took us through a few small Austrian and German towns. Our destination was a fairly well known salt mine there. If you find yourself in the area - I highly recommend the tour. You can see more about it here: THE SALT MINE TOUR. I really was not aware of the significance that the 'white gold' played through out the history of the area. It was quite interesting. The mine tour takes you deep into an actual working mine and they cover the history, the process and the technology behind the mining of salt. This mine has been in operation since 1517. That fact alone boggles the mind. It is a show that is really well put together. Everyone has to get dressed in miners clothing and the tour begins with a mine car ride deep into the mountain. The tour gets you deeper into the mine via a set of 2-3 'slides' that you wiz down from one level to the next. During the end of the tour you get on a small floating deck and cross a section of the mine that is filled with water. It's unbelievable. You are meters and meters deep under ground and you come across this small cave filled with water. As you are crossing nearly 200 meters you are informed that the water below you is almost 560 meters deep. It's dark - cold and very fun. The kids, Pam and I had a blast (ha ha) in the mine.
Our itinerary had us returning to Berchtesgaden on Day 5 so we just spent the afternoon looking around. I must say - for me - this is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It is a small little village, tucked away in the mass of the Alps, with a great little mountain river flowing through it. Unbelievable, really... I could not wait to return.
DAY 3
BLED - Slovenia (The Bled Castle)
Bled was a fairly long drive. Almost 2.5 hours from base camp. But we had heard a lot about Slovenia and in particular Bled. There is a famous castle in Bled - one of the oldest around, so we were off early that AM to make our way south to a country we hardly new existed.
It was well worth the drive. The Bled Castle was quite fun. Like almost all are, it was perched high on a hill top overlooking the city. Bled is a fantastic little city. Spectacular views and friendly people. You can read more about the Bled Castle and its' history here. Pam took some great photos from there too. Alex and Austin got to bottle some "Castle" wine that we took away as souvenirs. The monk running the wine cellar was really good at his job. He made the event well worth while. His opening line was "a good castle always has 2 things... its own good wine and ... a ghost..." We also received a good history lesson on Slovenia too.
We had lunch in the city center and then were off for the long drive back. The drive was quite interesting. We traveled through some of the longest tunnels I have seen in my life. In two of them, we were so deep under the mountain that you could feel the pressure build up as you passed through.
DAY 4
INNSBRUCK - Austria (Several Spots)
Innsbruck was the town that Austin chose for his research project. So it was his duty to provide for all of the stops and to guide us all through town. His favorite was stop #1. The Olympic ski jump. It was quite a location. Visitors can see the entire complex from the ground and are free to climb the tower and view the venue from the beginning of the jump. Watching ski jumping on TV I have always marveled at the site - but I must say that it is something spectacular when you get to view it from the perspective of the athlete. WOW. Innsbruck is full of history as you can imagine and you can read much more at this link. Pam has a lot of great pictures posted in the album link above too. The day also consisted of visits to... The Bell Museum , The Golden Roof and of St. Jacobs Cathedral. The Cathedral was fantastic. What a site! The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around town, a short break at a cafe in the center of the old town and a visit to the Olympic Bobsled venue.
The evening closing event was dinner and a show. It was a classic Tyrolean yodel fest :). It was good food and good fun. You can see the event at this link. We also ran into Billy - a tour guide from Holland here. He was guiding a Heart of Europe tour and this show is one of his usual stops. You could tell too. The staff all knew him well. Billy wound up sitting with Pam and the kids and I for a few minutes before the show. He was a wealth of information and a very nice guy. If you ever want to take a 10-14 day Europe tour I think he would be a good place to look too. His group seemed to think so. You can look him up @ billybieleveld@wanadoo.nl
Innsbruck was a long drive - but the day was great. Good work by Austin! It was a very productive day!
DAY 5
BERCHTESGADEN - Germany (WWII Eagles Nest and Bunker tour)
This was the highlight of my trip. I've already covered off what a beautiful place this is but the tour we took here made it even more memorable. If you ever find yourself in the area you need to look up David and Christine who give English tours of the area. David was fantastic. He has a great historical perspective on the era and gave a fantastic tour. All 4 of us loved it. You can find David and Christine here. WWII Tours of Berchtesgaden. Thank you David for a great tour!!!
Like many - I was not clear on the specifics of 'The Eagles Nest". Generally we think of this as "Hitlers home in the Alps" and a place visited by many powerful people of the era. In fact - the real Eagles Nest was really just a Tea House - built as a 50th birthday present for Hitler. His home, Berghof, frankly was a much more significant historical location. Hitler rarely went to the Eagles Nest. He was claustrophobic, and afraid of heights - both of which made the journey to the Eagles Next less than comfortable for him. It is thought that he may have visited it only 10-12 times. What was more astounding were the underground bunker system that we toured. If you are an engineer or even close to wanting to be one - these bunkers will blow your mind. Obersalzberg, in general, was a Nazi haven. Many of Hitlers staff had homes there and, as many of us know,- it was really a potential "last stand" location from which to continue the war. I'm actually ashamed to state that I probably learned more about the reality of WWII and specifically the Nazis, in a 3 hour tour than I did throughout all of my studies. Some consider, and now I would agree, Obersalzberg to be really the cradle of the NSDAP and the beginning of Hitlers rise to power. The Germans, it seems, still don't like to talk much about the era. Many of the most historic sites were torn down after the Americans left in ~ 1995. The Berghof, the Platerhof Hotel, and several other buildings we all destroyed - and done so by the Germans. I found it hard to believe that such historic locations would be swept away - but alas - they were.
I could go on for days - but suffice it to say there is so much I don't understand about this time - that I thought I did understand - that I have a new found interest in the rise and fall of Nazi Germany and the history behind it. The impact WWII had on all of us started, in many ways, on the mountain we visited - and it left all of us (even the children) at a loss for words.
Day 5 was my favorite. Thank you Pam for setting it up!
DAY 6
SALZBURG -Austria (The Hills are alive....)
Salzburg was Alex's chosen city. She did the research and set up a great tour for all of us. We saw everything from Mozart's birthplace, the Salzburg Museum, and the Fortress, to the oldest street in the city, an amazing cathedral and much much more. The weather started out crummy - but it quickly turned sunny and we spent most of the day here. The amount of history packed into one small city is quite amazing. If you want to learn more you can start by reading about the city at this link. Alex followed a famous tour from a Rick Stevens book. She had all the spots picked out and did a professional job at taking us through all of it. Thanks to Aunt Kathey and Uncle Keith for the book. It is a great reference. I suspect that we could have stayed there for 2 days. It was a lot of fun.
DAY 7
Dachau - Germany (Concentration Camp)
I think it goes without saying that this is a must see if you are in or around Munich. I don't have a lot of commentary here because there is no way I could do this historic site justice. We spent nearly 3 hours here and it was something else. Take a minute and you can check out the web site for the camp. Dachau Concentration Camp. The memorial is very well done and there is a wealth of information here. A year ago, we had visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. It is a very well done memorial - but being in Dachau is something that cannot be replicated in DC. It's worth stating that while the Jewish loss was enormous - you learn quickly, while visiting the camp, that the impact was much further reaching than just that. People from all over Europe were impacted, Germans included... Dachau was camp number 1 of what became a massive infrastructure of the Nazi attempt to rule by fear. It was quite a place.
DAY 8
The Trip Home
The final day was a long drive home from Munich to Brussels. It was a great trip home, actually. The kids were good and we had a lot of fun playing the "My father owns a grocery store..." to pass the time. We arrived back home at about 17:30 and everyone was ready to relax.....
Pam did all of the planning for the trip while Alex and Austin each took a city and it was their job to provide the 'tours' for that day. They did the research - picked the spots we would visit and provided details as to the historic or local significance of each spot. I have to tell you that it was one of the best vacations we have been on as a family. Pam worked really hard on the details and the trip could not have been better. I have been lucky enough to have traveled to many locations in the world - and up to this point - I think this trip proved to be at the top of my list. The Austrian Alps are beautiful and this time of year was perfect. Everything was turning green yet the mountains were still covered with snow. The weather was perfect. Crisp and cool in the mornings and evenings and ~ 18 C during the day.
I'll attempt to recap our journey below. We also have TONS of photos. They can be found on our photo archive site. Click here to view the entire set of Photos.
For starters - we drove. It's simply the best way to experience this part of the world. Our trip took us thru 6 countries. Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and a small part of the Netherlands on the way home. I created a Google Map, that you can view, with the entire trip included .Or You can view the Map here.
View 2009 Spring Break to Germany/Austria in a larger map
DAY 1
THE DRIVE OUT (Brussels to Austria)
Early Saturday morning we departed Brussels bound for Schladming, Austria. The drive is nearly 10 hours. We had planned to stop over in Dachau and visit the concentration camp memorial but we knew early on that we were not going to have enough time. So we decided that we would stop in Munich for dinner. Munich is one of our favorite cities in Germany and Pam particularly enjoys the Hofbrauhaus! So that is where we stopped for dinner and stretched our legs. After dinner we headed out for Schladming, Austria. The drive took us into the Apls and the views were fantastic. The day also provided us our first real experience on the Autobahn too. The Germans love their cars and they love to drive them - fast! If you get yourself into the fast lane you better be doing 200 Km/Hr or better or you're best advised to pass quickly and get back into the old mans lane. The other game we had to win was the toll road situation. In Austria you need to have a "sticker" on your car, to be legal. The "sticker" is a nice way of saying you had to pay a toll tax to be on the roads. It was easy enough though. We just stopped at a gas station before the border and voila - our tolls were paid.
We arrived in Schladming late that evening. It was dark and raining so we really had no idea just what to expect when we saw daylight... But it was fantastic. Schladming was our "base camp" and we stayed at a place called the Alpine Club. You can check out the resort and some of their photos from this link. It was a great place to stay. The staff was great and the view was killer. It sits on a hill side high above the actual city. It had a nice pool, nice rooms and great views.
DAY 2
BERCHTESGADEN - Germany (The Salt Mine)
Berchtesgaden was ~ 1 hour drive from Schladming. It was a beautiful drive too. The path given to us by the GPS NAV system took us through a few small Austrian and German towns. Our destination was a fairly well known salt mine there. If you find yourself in the area - I highly recommend the tour. You can see more about it here: THE SALT MINE TOUR. I really was not aware of the significance that the 'white gold' played through out the history of the area. It was quite interesting. The mine tour takes you deep into an actual working mine and they cover the history, the process and the technology behind the mining of salt. This mine has been in operation since 1517. That fact alone boggles the mind. It is a show that is really well put together. Everyone has to get dressed in miners clothing and the tour begins with a mine car ride deep into the mountain. The tour gets you deeper into the mine via a set of 2-3 'slides' that you wiz down from one level to the next. During the end of the tour you get on a small floating deck and cross a section of the mine that is filled with water. It's unbelievable. You are meters and meters deep under ground and you come across this small cave filled with water. As you are crossing nearly 200 meters you are informed that the water below you is almost 560 meters deep. It's dark - cold and very fun. The kids, Pam and I had a blast (ha ha) in the mine.
Our itinerary had us returning to Berchtesgaden on Day 5 so we just spent the afternoon looking around. I must say - for me - this is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It is a small little village, tucked away in the mass of the Alps, with a great little mountain river flowing through it. Unbelievable, really... I could not wait to return.
DAY 3
BLED - Slovenia (The Bled Castle)
Bled was a fairly long drive. Almost 2.5 hours from base camp. But we had heard a lot about Slovenia and in particular Bled. There is a famous castle in Bled - one of the oldest around, so we were off early that AM to make our way south to a country we hardly new existed.
It was well worth the drive. The Bled Castle was quite fun. Like almost all are, it was perched high on a hill top overlooking the city. Bled is a fantastic little city. Spectacular views and friendly people. You can read more about the Bled Castle and its' history here. Pam took some great photos from there too. Alex and Austin got to bottle some "Castle" wine that we took away as souvenirs. The monk running the wine cellar was really good at his job. He made the event well worth while. His opening line was "a good castle always has 2 things... its own good wine and ... a ghost..." We also received a good history lesson on Slovenia too.
We had lunch in the city center and then were off for the long drive back. The drive was quite interesting. We traveled through some of the longest tunnels I have seen in my life. In two of them, we were so deep under the mountain that you could feel the pressure build up as you passed through.
DAY 4
INNSBRUCK - Austria (Several Spots)
Innsbruck was the town that Austin chose for his research project. So it was his duty to provide for all of the stops and to guide us all through town. His favorite was stop #1. The Olympic ski jump. It was quite a location. Visitors can see the entire complex from the ground and are free to climb the tower and view the venue from the beginning of the jump. Watching ski jumping on TV I have always marveled at the site - but I must say that it is something spectacular when you get to view it from the perspective of the athlete. WOW. Innsbruck is full of history as you can imagine and you can read much more at this link. Pam has a lot of great pictures posted in the album link above too. The day also consisted of visits to... The Bell Museum , The Golden Roof and of St. Jacobs Cathedral. The Cathedral was fantastic. What a site! The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around town, a short break at a cafe in the center of the old town and a visit to the Olympic Bobsled venue.
The evening closing event was dinner and a show. It was a classic Tyrolean yodel fest :). It was good food and good fun. You can see the event at this link. We also ran into Billy - a tour guide from Holland here. He was guiding a Heart of Europe tour and this show is one of his usual stops. You could tell too. The staff all knew him well. Billy wound up sitting with Pam and the kids and I for a few minutes before the show. He was a wealth of information and a very nice guy. If you ever want to take a 10-14 day Europe tour I think he would be a good place to look too. His group seemed to think so. You can look him up @ billybieleveld@wanadoo.nl
Innsbruck was a long drive - but the day was great. Good work by Austin! It was a very productive day!
DAY 5
BERCHTESGADEN - Germany (WWII Eagles Nest and Bunker tour)
This was the highlight of my trip. I've already covered off what a beautiful place this is but the tour we took here made it even more memorable. If you ever find yourself in the area you need to look up David and Christine who give English tours of the area. David was fantastic. He has a great historical perspective on the era and gave a fantastic tour. All 4 of us loved it. You can find David and Christine here. WWII Tours of Berchtesgaden. Thank you David for a great tour!!!
Like many - I was not clear on the specifics of 'The Eagles Nest". Generally we think of this as "Hitlers home in the Alps" and a place visited by many powerful people of the era. In fact - the real Eagles Nest was really just a Tea House - built as a 50th birthday present for Hitler. His home, Berghof, frankly was a much more significant historical location. Hitler rarely went to the Eagles Nest. He was claustrophobic, and afraid of heights - both of which made the journey to the Eagles Next less than comfortable for him. It is thought that he may have visited it only 10-12 times. What was more astounding were the underground bunker system that we toured. If you are an engineer or even close to wanting to be one - these bunkers will blow your mind. Obersalzberg, in general, was a Nazi haven. Many of Hitlers staff had homes there and, as many of us know,- it was really a potential "last stand" location from which to continue the war. I'm actually ashamed to state that I probably learned more about the reality of WWII and specifically the Nazis, in a 3 hour tour than I did throughout all of my studies. Some consider, and now I would agree, Obersalzberg to be really the cradle of the NSDAP and the beginning of Hitlers rise to power. The Germans, it seems, still don't like to talk much about the era. Many of the most historic sites were torn down after the Americans left in ~ 1995. The Berghof, the Platerhof Hotel, and several other buildings we all destroyed - and done so by the Germans. I found it hard to believe that such historic locations would be swept away - but alas - they were.
I could go on for days - but suffice it to say there is so much I don't understand about this time - that I thought I did understand - that I have a new found interest in the rise and fall of Nazi Germany and the history behind it. The impact WWII had on all of us started, in many ways, on the mountain we visited - and it left all of us (even the children) at a loss for words.
Day 5 was my favorite. Thank you Pam for setting it up!
DAY 6
SALZBURG -Austria (The Hills are alive....)
Salzburg was Alex's chosen city. She did the research and set up a great tour for all of us. We saw everything from Mozart's birthplace, the Salzburg Museum, and the Fortress, to the oldest street in the city, an amazing cathedral and much much more. The weather started out crummy - but it quickly turned sunny and we spent most of the day here. The amount of history packed into one small city is quite amazing. If you want to learn more you can start by reading about the city at this link. Alex followed a famous tour from a Rick Stevens book. She had all the spots picked out and did a professional job at taking us through all of it. Thanks to Aunt Kathey and Uncle Keith for the book. It is a great reference. I suspect that we could have stayed there for 2 days. It was a lot of fun.
DAY 7
Dachau - Germany (Concentration Camp)
I think it goes without saying that this is a must see if you are in or around Munich. I don't have a lot of commentary here because there is no way I could do this historic site justice. We spent nearly 3 hours here and it was something else. Take a minute and you can check out the web site for the camp. Dachau Concentration Camp. The memorial is very well done and there is a wealth of information here. A year ago, we had visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. It is a very well done memorial - but being in Dachau is something that cannot be replicated in DC. It's worth stating that while the Jewish loss was enormous - you learn quickly, while visiting the camp, that the impact was much further reaching than just that. People from all over Europe were impacted, Germans included... Dachau was camp number 1 of what became a massive infrastructure of the Nazi attempt to rule by fear. It was quite a place.
DAY 8
The Trip Home
The final day was a long drive home from Munich to Brussels. It was a great trip home, actually. The kids were good and we had a lot of fun playing the "My father owns a grocery store..." to pass the time. We arrived back home at about 17:30 and everyone was ready to relax.....
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