Luck was with us and we received a points update to Business! Whilst Peter slept well, I was happy enjoying the experience!

We enjoyed returning to the traditional Qantas QF1 route through Singapore (rather than Dubai).

After a few hours in London, we arrived in Madrid about lunchtime Wednesday and attempted to stay awake by walking around the city!

The view from our hotel room is great.

We dined at this wonderful spot, getting the pick of the tables as we were their first customers - at least three hours ahead of the Spanish peak dining time! Google translation helped somewhat and we enjoyed a great Spanish meal. Instead of our usual joke - dining out and back home for the ABC news - we were asleep by 7pm!

Peter is often drawn to the interesting items sold by street vendors, whereas I walk away! This time he could not be extracted.

Discussions were held.........

......and now we look even more like tourists, BUT our selfies should improve!

The buildings and gardens all over Madrid are beautiful.

Away from the Old Town, streets are wide but still encased by glorious well maintained buildings.

Statues, fountains, (and cranes) are everywhere......

.......as well as trees and motorbikes.

We watched the Christmas tree grow over the few days!

Tensions caused by the upcoming general elections and the Catalonian tensions are evident with a large police presence, even in Madrid. We were heading this way but diverted to avoid the large but peaceful demonstration.

It was cold - both for the ever present police and the dodgy looking character on the corner.

Warm pastry shops always helped!

Our laneway dining view - once again, early enough to get the best table!

We spent some time in the Madrid Maritime Museum - beautiful and interesting. Just like much of Madrid, it also had a large scale renovation happening.

Leaving our hotel - a small boutique hotel recently constructed in a large historic house in the Old Town. Great place to stay.

Our speedy train.

It was great to catch up with Rachel again. Our apartment had a small roof top balcony with a great view - but where was that selfie stick!

Late afternoon Barcelona.

We dined at incredible restaurants away from the obvious tourist ones due to Rachel’s research!

The Old Town laneways were interesting to wander through........

......and we came across this beautiful Cathedral.

Rachel and Peter each ran in the Barcelona City Race, part of an Orienteering series that takes place in different European cities over the year. Peter is all ready to run, but is hesitant to take off his coat as it was very cold. Note the Australian flag - there were over 400 participants from 25 different countries (but no other Australians).

Apart from cars, bikes, pedestrians and many tourists, the street cleaners also presented challenges in finding controls!

But both Rachel.....

.....and Peter enjoyed the run - even the hills!

We later joined the tourists and visited the incredible La Sagrada Familia. The city was very busy despite there being demonstrations just near where we were staying.

We headed off early the next morning for the second stage of the city race. Rachel finished the first day one second behind the leader in the women’s elite, and Peter was about halfway through the Supervet field. This was the day of the Spanish general elections and the course needed to be altered to avoid certain areas, but there were no issues at all.

Rachel had a good run and ended up winning the combined race, followed by girls from Sweden and France. Peter was just above halfway in his age group so he was happy too.

When your mum is there cheering you, photos of the winning silverware are needed - even if you are facing into the sun!

We finished the day with a funicular and cable car ride to see the sights of Barcelona and then walked back down - spectacular views!

Arriving in Monte Carlo.

Ready to walk?

And walk we did!

We saw many different boats......

......and cars.

This McLaren in front of the Casino was quite impressive - the young lady just parked in the middle of the road and walked away. The bell boy seemed to enjoy opening the rope and parking it.

Inside the Casino was also impressive - we could have, at this early hour, joined one of the many tables - we decided just to look!

Monte Carlo was very green.....

.....with an impressive combination of building styles, tunnels, bridges......

....and streets. The Marina was the only ship in port so we had a great docking spot!

This sign was at the base of the climb to the Palace and Museum.

Perhaps the defibrillator should have been closer to the top!

The view was worth the climb.

The view looking the opposite direction was just as good.

The St Nicholas Cathedral \240- beautiful inside and outside!

The Monte Carlo Oceangraphic Museum was impressive.....

.....and surprisingly also contained the most extensive and well explained aquarium that we have ever seen!

Walking down was easier - but just as beautiful!

The lights of Monte Carlo as we departed.

Waking up to our arrival in the port of Livorno in Tuscany, Italy.

Definitely an industrial breakfast view!

Passengers were mainly heading to Florence or Pisa, but we chose to visit the walled city of Luca.

We walked the wall......

....and the alley ways.......

......and found a great Christmas shop!

We then headed into the Tuscan countryside....

.....to learn about the local production of wine and olive oil....

....and to taste the local produce.

It was a very enjoyable occasion!

The colourful sunsets here are quite unbelievable.

The next morning we awoke in Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. We caught the bus to Rome and then walked one of our favourite cities.

We started walking along the Tiber river to the Vatican City.....

...and St Peter’s Basilica.

We walked along laneways.....

...and streets....

....until we came across Piazza Navona, undiscovered in our previous wandering of Rome.....

...with its central Fountain of the Four Rivers.

We then wandered past the Pantheon,.....

.....the Spanish Steps,

....the Trevi Fountain,...

......the Wedding Cake!,.....

......the Imperial Forum........

.....and the Colosseum.

We finished the day at the Asian specialty restaurant on board Marina - Red Ginger.

Friday saw us dock in Naples rather than the original plan to tender in nearby Sorrento - but we were still able to visit Pompeii. Again, we were lucky that the forecast rain did not eventuate.

Pompeii, overlooked by the still active Mt Vesuvius was magnificent.

One of my favourite photos!

We are now cruising towards Greece - at present enjoying a relaxing day at sea.

Peter was intrigued with the narrow shipping passage between Italy mainland and Sicily, and just happened to wake as we passed through!

We enjoyed a sea day before arriving in Santorini - perhaps not the healthiest snack but cupcake afternoon tea was not to be missed!

The tender arrival port was full of buses......

.....and the windy road up to the top of the caldera had me thinking that Hail Mary’s were probably more useful than the value of a seatbelt should the bus have a problem. But the ride was well worth it to see the beauty of Santorini.

This is for James - this is Grandad when we talked to you and showed you the view from the highest point on the island.

Grapevines grow in circles on the ground on Santorini.

The bus then took us to the beautiful town of Oia, but rather than take the bus to Fira, Peter and I had worked out that there was a walking trail along the coast, so we abandoned the bus tour and started walking.

It seemed much further than 10 kilometres as there were very few flat sections. We were told that it would take us between 3 and 5 hours, and we made it in 3 hours 15 minutes. It was mild and cloudy so good weather for hiking.

The path started in marble....

....and then cemented stones....

.....and then a bit rougher and started to climb, but with a beautiful view!

As David Effeney says, always remember to look back!

We continued to climb.....

......all the time looking out for the red arrow.

In one narrow part, it was on the road.

This part with little stones was a bit slippery- but again you need to stop and look back!

As we came closer to a small town there were some beautiful villas - many closed up for the winter!

The furthurest white buildings were where we started from.

In some places we came across off season maintenance - with interesting techniques.

Further we walked - nice and level at this stage....

......and around yet another corner was our ship.

The outskirts of Fira - many steps up and down with interesting apartments.

Finally, down the cable car......

.....viewing the donkeys from afar this time!

I feel we earned our desserts this night!

The next day we arrived in Piraeus with most passengers heading to Athens, however as we had stayed there previously we decided to follow in the footsteps of St Paul and head to Corinth. The map above shows the Corinth Canal that we were keen on seeing.

It was 6 kilometres long, 24 metres wide with 90 metre rock walls! It was apparently first suggested 2500 years ago but not constructed until 1881. 11,000 ships use it each year, including a 900 passenger ship last month!

We then continued on to the Corinth with both a modern small town and the archeological remains of the ancient market town.

This was apparently the raised platform where St Paul preached to the people to whom he later wrote his letters.

After Greece we are heading along the red path to Malta - the small green dot under Sicily.

It was surprising to us how close we were to Africa. The coastline was at times visible on the horizon.

The view from our veranda as we sailed into Malta.

Definitely a fortress city!

For James really!

Many war memorials in evidence.

One of the main pedestrian streets - quite busy really, considering that we were wandering around early. Appeared to be many more locals and business people than tourists like us.

From the outside the Co-Cathedral of St John gave little indication of what was inside........

These photos show just a small part of this large beautiful Cathedral - the gold is apparently real gold! Detailed restoration was happening in many areas as we walked around.

Elderly well dressed gentlemen were relaxing everywhere ....

....as were young families.

Delightful but steep streets.

Some were more official than others.

Again - for James.

We came across many beautiful gardens,.....

...historic re-enactments,...

...and even watched the progress of the Christmas Tree.

Late afternoon Valletta, as the ship departed.

The next day saw us on the island of Mallorca, Spain. Despite rain being forecast for many days previously, this was our first day out and about in showers.

Despite the rain, we managed to walk around much of the capital, Palma.

One of the many unusual churches with the main door just a step from the main pedestrian thoroughfares.

Major hotels and upmarket shops abound here in well maintained historic buildings......

....as well as other older sites.

Our large ship was dwarfed by this MSC ship.

The next morning we arrived back in Barcelona and headed off to the airport for our flight to Brussels where we will spend a week with Rachel.

Our accommodation was a great small appartment in the Old Town, just near The Grand Place.

Our first wanderings found the Grand Place with it’s newly planted undecorated Christmas tree....

....as well as the work on the stable.

The famous Brussels Manneken Pis - the original one was placed here in 1618. It is sometimes naked but often is dressed, with a museum devoted to these costumes.

After our first wanderings, we found a warm spot to sample some Belgium beer.

The balcony above the door is Rachel’s bedroom. Sunday morning started foggy and cold......

....but became a great day to walk in the parks of Brussels.

The Autumn colours were beautiful......

......and groups of children were everywhere.

There was no way we were going to get lost!

Now a 3 person selfie!

Rachel’s work building - EORTC (European Organisation of Research and Treatment of Cancer).

We continued walking as it became dark even though it was only 5pm......

.....which really required more beer tasting!

Tonight the Christmas tree had decorations.

There had been early morning activity outside our window....

.....so Peter was keen to see that night what had happened- apparently it was a broken electricity cable.

On Monday we traveled to Antwerp which has a beautiful train station.....

...with the perfect spot to FaceTime James. It can’t be seen in the photo - but from here you could see trains either side and two above and two below!

We wandered for ages, a beautiful clean city with.....

....some interesting sculptures.

We walked under the wide Scheldt River....

.....to some beautiful parks. This ship caught my attention because it was the same one that has just broken the record for the largest ship to go through the Corinth Canal that we saw recently in Greece- hard to believe that it carries over 900 passengers!

We spent some time at the Chocolate Museum - interesting and delicious!

Rachel worked the rest of the week, so Peter and I wandered around through the day and caught up with her for dinner. This is the iconic Atomium built for the 1958 Expo.

The view from the top was great.

It was intriguing walking through......

....and interesting artwork where you were meant to be part of them?

Chocolate in all shapes and size are everywhere (and hard to resist).

Christmas windows are beautiful.....

......and bountiful.

More trees have arrived......

....and we kept finding great eating spots.

The Christmas lights in our street all came on Wednesday night. This view is from our window. Just of note: many of the laneway shops have rollerdoors, often painted rather than graffitied- it is intriguing to find out what is behind them as there are very few signs. Near us were tiny stationery, gift and tie shops.

We visited the European Parliament- they were in session the previous day.

I just love the Autumn leaves!

The Royal Palace of Brussels.

We walked past many beautiful buildings in Brussels.....

.....as well as different and interesting gardens.

The stable is finished!

On Friday we traveled to Bruges as this was the one day that Teena’s and our Europe trip overlapped. Last time we were here this tree was lush and green, but despite the cold, the Old Town was still beautiful.

The canals and buildings are great.

The Christmas Markets were bustling......

.......and the shop windows very Yuletide......

We had a great time catching up with Teena and her sister Margaret.

Beautiful scenery as we walked back to the train station.

Friday night was the opening of the Brussels Winter Wonders - light shows, parades, Christmas markets and other activities such as ice skating. Although it was close to 0 degrees, it didn’t feel that cold - possibly because there were so many people keeping everyone warm!

It began with the lighting of the tree and buildings.......

....and a parade of unknown creatures.....

.....who were heavily guarded!

The activities spread through different city locations.

We enjoyed all the festivities- although I wasn’t fussed on the gluhwein (hot spicy wine).

It was still 0 degrees as we walked to the train station the next morning, heading to Utrecht, the Netherlands. Rachel has a 3 day course at the University Hospital, so we have decided to visit Utrecht with her.

Our first leg to Cologne......

......was on a fast very comfortable train.

However, our second train through the southwestern German hills was very different, with more similarities to a tram than a train.

......and for Peter and Rachel to say - not another photo (but there was a train needing to be photographed!)

Our apartment was the first door on the left- the fabric markets on the right have been here almost every Saturday for the last 300 years!

It is a beautiful place to stay - with a washing machine!

It also had two sets of steep stairs - one was so steep it could almost be considered a ladder!

I liked the apartment’s family rules too.

Walking around Utrecht we saw many canals, bikes everywhere.......

....flowers - even though it is winter....

.....and Christmas shops. Everyone was gearing up for St Nicholas Day (December 6th) when children receive their presents.

From our window, I thought I even saw Santa Clause arriving.....

....but on closer inspection it was a well decorated crane.

On a cool but fine Sunday morning (the maths teacher in me is not so sure about the negative and positive zero temperatures!)......

.........Peter and I headed to Rotterdam....

...to catch up again with Jan and Karolina, our wonderful friends whom we met when cruising in the USA. Last year they entertained us in their delightful little home town and today they showed us the sights of Rotterdam.

As Rotterdam was mostly flattened during WWII, the city is now well planned with great buildings, pedestrian ways and public transport.

There are still some delightful old buildings that escaped destruction.

In this outstanding market building, the range of food was amazing.

This man was delicately carving thin slices of sought-after pork, which sold at 20 Euros per 100 grams.

We walked through these interesting cube apartments.

While the angles intrigued me, I’m not sure I could live in them.

The well-preserved Witte Huis (White House) was built in 1898, one of the few buildings in the centre of the town that survived the bombing raid on May 14, 1940.

There were many groups of children dressed in costumes having tours on this boat, as it is tradition that Sinterklaas (St Nicholas in Holland) arrives on this, dressed in a Bishop’s red robe and miter, accompanied by Black Peter.

We walked past the War Memorial,.....

.....this interestingly built hotel,.....

.....beautiful parks with delightful Autumn colours.

.....and this not yet finished building which will store artwork.

Jan and Karolina also took us for a drive in their Tesla to see the more distant parts of Rotterdam.

The setting sun made for beautiful sky colours.

We finished our time with Jan and Karolina enjoying a delicious meal overlooking the bridge and waterfront. It was great catching up with them and hopefully it won’t be too long before we see each other again.

We enjoyed another day exploring Utrecht. This quiet area outside our window......

......became quite lively at night with two small pubs/cafes and their surrounds filling with people and bikes!

Tomorrow Rachel is heading back to Brussels and then to London for meetings. Peter and I are going to Trier Germany for a few days, and will then meet up with Rachel for a weekend in London before heading home.

Our first train to Cologne was fast.....

..... and very luxurious!

Our second train seemed more like a tram as it rambled through the hills of southwestern Germany......

....with a bell to push if you wanted to disembark at the bus-like stations. We enjoyed seeing the day to day German life both inside and outside our train.

Trier, the oldest German city, was established long before the Romans established it as their northern capital. It has many well preserved Roman structures (including nine UNESCO World Heritage sites). We were drawn to spend three days here mainly because of their renowned Christmas markets set in the medieval town centre and overlooked by the magnificent Cathedral of Trier. It did not disappoint!

Arriving in Trier, our hotel’s bar was a great place to enjoy a welcoming drink.

Our room had delightful Christmas decorations as well as a great view.

Then it was time to start exploring.

The traditional puppet show was entertaining- even if we didn’t understand a word!

The Cathedral seemed to overlook the Christmas markets.

We passed locals enjoying games in the park, even though it was very cold,......

....and window displays that looked like they had been designed just for James and I.

The next morning we headed off to explore further afield in Trier.

I enjoyed watching the skating rink....

....but Peter was more interested in how it all worked!

We found the birth place of Karl Marx......

....and some interesting items for sale in a modern electronics shop,.....

...as well as the Roman Bridge - the oldest standing bridge in Germany.

There were archeological sites,....

...and beautiful buildings and parks.

The adjoining Cathedral of St Peter and the church of Our Lady were beautiful outside.....

.......and the colours inside were extraordinary..

The large Roman City gate was impressive.

That afternoon we headed back to the Christmas Markets.

...which became even more spectacular as darkness came (at a very early hour!).....

...which meant sampling German mulled wine was required!

Our breakfast room was traditional German with Christmas added!

We woke up to an overcast cold morning. Peter’s morning walk found yesterday’s sunny lake was covered with ice this morning.

He also found a Roman Amphitheater.

The temperature stayed negative all day......

......but lunch at the markets warmed us up!

Who knew that Santa could sing so well!

We found our hotel had another restaurant in the cellar!

Looking over Trier on our final night - it has certainly given us a wonderful German Christmas experience.......

.....aptly summed up by Santa in minus three degrees at 3pm this afternoon (Santa sang mainly in German).

The fog became thicker as we drove towards Luxembourg Airport, but the plane departed in what appeared to me, to be zero visibility! (I was somewhat nervous since my Google search to find out how foggy Luxembourg really was, instead gave me a report on a plane crash many years ago due to fog in Luxembourg 🤪).

Anyway- all was good and we arrived in London to a cloudy slightly showery day.

We met up with Rachel who had already been in London for meetings, and headed off to the musical Hamilton. We didn’t know what to expect, other than it had great reviews.

It was amazing and we had a wonderful evening.

The night was clear so rather than take the underground back to our hotel, we walked past some iconic London sights.

The next morning we headed off on foot to explore London.

We started near Trafalgar Square,....

......on to Westminster ....

We crossed the Thames.....

.....and back again to Charing Cross.

We came across a Christmas obstacle race - to raise funds for Cancer research, coincidentally run by an Organisation that supports the work that Rachel is doing in Belgium and won by an Australian team!

We stumbled across a movie set in action.....

....and the largest Advent Calendar that I have seen!

Where in Belgravia are we going?

.......to the cutest English Pub there is!

Now, along with thousands of others, we are in Hyde Park......

....heading to Winter Wonderland - but it was definitely more an entertainment precinct rather than traditional Christmas markets.

Where to next?

Past the London wildlife,.....

....through some short cuts,....

....and back to the Christmas tree near our hotel.

That night, we found a restaurant that served Christmas dinner in early December and enjoyed a wonderful meal.

We loved looking at t variety of Christmas lights on our way home.....

.....and found Hamleys Toy Store still open late at night!

While Peter resisted all temptation to shop - it was well past his bedtime - Rachel and I had fun!

My watch summary for the day reported that I walked a half marathon but with one idle hour (our dinner)!

The next morning we enjoyed a wonderful brunch catching up with Lucy (our Gap next door neighbour) and Jackson - but I was so excited about the ‘Le Petit Prince’ breakfast that I forgot to take a photo of us!

We spent Sunday wandering indoors in London - Peter mainly in Museums, Rachel and I in shops! Some of the London Christmas decorations were unusual....

....but pretty....

......or just commercially creative!

We sadly said goodbye to Rachel and began our journey back to Australia. With Qantas celebrating 100 years of flying there were some unusual passengers (or was it our pilot🤪) at the London Heathrow Qantas Club!

We celebrated our wonderful holiday!

Our flight path home was interesting - much further north than usual.

After a great time in Europe, we arrived home just in time for Christmas. Our Christmas morning present-opening and photo involved Rachel, thanks to modern communications!