Canada to Amsterdam

Well, we are on our European vacation. A whirlwind tour beginning in Amsterdam and ending 2 weeks from now in Paris. \240We are with my brother Tim and sister in law Deb. It’s their first time in Amsterdam and our third quick visit. It’s a really nice city to start the tour from.

We left home on September 9th and have been in Amsterdam for 2 days. The weather was nice when we arrived but was cold and rainy yesterday. We have done a walking tour of downtown, the red light district, and the Ryiks museum. \240We also did a countryside tour of the area near Amsterdam, Voldendam, Edan, Marken, and another town I can’t spell. Lots of windmills. Cheese, green fields, water and dikes. The things that keep the water out not the other type of dikes. Ha ha. We saw those in the red light district.

So far so good. No problems.

Highlights to date are:

Debbie saved a lady who fell on an escalator. She pushed the stop button.

Beer good, food ok.

Excellent city transport

Tim and Debbie slept in this morning and we had to wake them at 10. Wonder what they were doing?

Wine is cheap here, New Zealand, Aussie, French, South African.

I ate too much cheese. No more details.

On our way by train now to Brussels for more adventure. Talk to you soon!

Amsterdam to Brussels

We have trained our way to Brussels, Belgium with no problems except for a 1 hour delay while they pulled another disabled train off the tracks. The scenery for the 2 hour trip is mainly green farm land and increasingly more forests of deciduous trees. You can imagine the allied troops in the wars fighting their way through this country, passing towns like Antwerp. The big battle of Waterloo that Napoleon faught in the early 1800s was fought 15 km outside Brussels. He won against huge odds.

Anyway, enough history that I probably got wrong! \240On to food. Brussels is a beautiful, clean, and vibrant city. They have a Monarchy still with a large palace in the central core. There is a large central square surrounded by old churches and palatial buildings and is where all the shops and restaurants are.

The shops are following the fame of Brussels with Chocolate, and beer stores everywhere. The famous food is Mussels and fries, beer, and waffles. We had all of these and they were amazing. The beer is very good with a huge selection. Prices were very reasonable.

This morning we walked around in circles trying to follow a phone gps. Gave that up and tried the map. Gave that up, “debated” who was right or wrong, then asked someone and had a coffee with croissants. That made us feel better. Finally saw the royal palace and made our way to the train station to catch our ride to Cologne Germany.

Brussels to Koln Germany (Cologne)

Hello Family. We have made it successfully by train from Brussels to Koln Germany. Another 2 hour ride through rolling farmland, large windmills, old farmhouses and churches, and rebuilt cities. Koln is the 4th largest city in Germany and has roots from Ronan times. It is on the Rhein River and is an important trade center. During the war, 90% of the city was wiped out from allied bombing and has been rebuilt. The buildings look like 50’s architecture, square flat buildings. The old town still has the Ronan gate and a huge cathedral that has and is being restored.

We walked through the shopping areas, large walking streets with all the fancy stores. Happened on a Chinese festival going on and had a German beer while watching Chinese dancing! \240Found the old city square that had many outdoor bars and restaurants and sat down for good Kolsch beer and German cuisine. Mostly breaded fried meet with potatoes, sourkraut. The big food item was Pork knuckle which came out on a plate with sourkraut, coleslaw, and potatoes. It was huge and had a knife stuck in the top. You carved it like a roast beef. It had a big bone in the middle and was roasted with the outer skin a crispy brown. It looked gross but delicious st the sane time. \240Maybe we’ll try it in another town?

So on to a small town on the mossell River where we will stay for 3 nights. Picking up a car from the airport here and driving there. That should be a story for later!

Koln to Cochem Germany

We are now in the beautiful little German \240town of Cochem, arriving here yesterday afternoon by rental car. The drive from Koln (Cologne) was really easy and nice with the help of Heidi the car navigator and my dumkaupf assistant navigator Tim. The country is really green, rolling hills, lots of farms and trees. It took around 2 hours to get to Colchem after a couple of stops along the way. When we got here, it was Saturday and very busy with tourists. The town is small, but situated along a steep valley of the Mossel River. On the tall hill behind the town is a medieval looking castle straight out of a fairy tale. It is not the original thousand year old castle because the French destroyed it in the 1600s, but still makes the town a tourist magnet. There are vineyards on both sides of the very steep valley walls, and the wine is mainly Reisling which is good.

The place we are staying in is very very nice. It has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths on the 3rd floor of an old building right on the Main Street across from the river. It’s only a couple blocks to the main town, and we have a patio looking out onto the street. Full kitchen and everything except we can’t find a place to buy food because all the food stores close early Saturday evening and not at all on Sunday. So more eating out with schnitzel and fries! \240Maybe tomorrow we cook!

Summary for this area is fairy tale scenery, very pretty little town, Hansel and Gretyl, my first bratwurst in Germany, more schitzel and Bitbier!

Speyer Germany.

Today Debbie and I drove to her Grandma Fuchs birthplace, Speyer. We had vague directions from her Dad for where the family bakery had been and the building where she was born and lived until she moved to Canada. We did not know what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised. The drive took us up and over the valley near Cochem and we drove along small country roads framed by beautiful old farms and mixed forests. Eventually we had to take the freeway which sped things up to 130 kph and we were in Speyer in 2 hours.

You can’t miss the large cathedral in the middle of this old, moderate sized city. The “spier” is very tall and you can see it from everywhere. The cathedral was closed so we could not go inside. Following Karl’s instructions, we walked down the street that bordered the church and around 150m, we found a bakery. Above it were rooms so we are assuming this was the place where Grandma Fuchs/Joerger was born, “ Backeri Isabella Grunewalde”. That’s what it’s called now and sadly, it was closed Mondays.

We walked around the main market area, had some lunch, and headed slowly back to Cochem. On the way, we took the castle UNESCO route and saw several real old buildings. Beautiful drive along the Rhein river, lots of vineyards, small towns, fairies and elves! \240We also saw a big red fox cross the road!

So, back at our mansion having German happy hour, will be leaving for the airport tomorrow morning in Frankfurt. Off to Lisbon Portugal.

Summary

Family roots, farms and fields of green, rivers and river boats, castles and the ghosts of knights and maidens!

Lisbon Portugal

We arrived in Lisbon 2 days ago after travelling by car to Frankfurt Germany airport, then by 2 hour air flight to Lisbon. \240This has been a real planes, trains, and automobiles trip but so far with no big problems. I did get a parking ticket in Cochem, but a minor detail.

The weather here is nice, 27 degrees with a cool breeze coming off the water close by. Our accommodation is an apartment which is a short walk from the downtown center square. The place is on the 4th floor, and a big open living room with slanted ceilings. There is 3 bedrooms and 1 bath and things are sparse but clean. Even though we’ve had kitchens it’s been difficult finding grocery stores. There are small 7-11 type shops with basics but unless you’re like Tim who would be fine with spam, we haven’t been able to cook much except eggs and toast.

Oh well, that means eating out a lot at the many incredible restaurants and cafes. The food is very good, lots of cod dishes and seafood, but you can get anything. The famous little custard tarts are great, the pastry shell is “crinkly”.

Lisbon is a very old and large city situated on the Tager River near the ocean. Lots to see and do but we have very limited time. Yesterday we split up and took busses and Tuk Tuk rides around to get a feel of it. We walked a lot of km down old streets, just wandering around.

Today we head to a town down the coast called Sintra on a bus tour. Should be fun. Tomorrow night we’ve reserved a Fado restaurant forTim and Debs 39th anniversary. It’s the traditional sad folk music sung in cave like restaurants. Should be very nice. I’ll let you know more tomorrow. After then, we head to Paris for 2 days then home.

Sintra Portugal

Yesterday our travel wives arranged a tour of Sintra. This is a smaller city just north of Lisbon and has a very old history. There are Roman, moorish, and medieval Christian castles and ruins. We also came back along the coast and saw beaches, resort towns, and had a excellent late lunch on a beach.

Here are some pictures.

Paris

We are at the end of our European vacation. After a stressful metro ride from the airport which included packed train, closed stops because of riots in central Paris, and very warm conditions, we made it to our hotel. It is near The Sorbourne university and a good location to the sites like Notre Dam.

After a beer and some fresh air we found our hotel and squeezed into the room. It’s actually got more room than we thought with a separate \240bedroom and a pull out comfortable mattress. Last night we are at a middle eastern restaurant which was not great, but it was a set menu and we didn’t care. After a good sleep, we ventured out today on separate \240adventures. \240Tim and Deb took a city tour and we did a wine and food tour in mountmart, which is the place where all the famous painters went to paint and party.

The food consisted of bakery products like Madeleine cookies, cream puffs, stuffed croissants, snails, various cheeses and wines, chocolate, and spices. It was a very good tour. Met a young couple from Squamish on the tour and had a lot of fun. Back at our room now and ready to come home tomorrow. See you all soon.