Cologne, Germany

I have a nasty sore throat and somehow the aircon got turned dow to 15 degrees last night which resulted in me waking up with the driest throat in history.  Fortunately he is well trained and promptly donned his clothes and went to the end of the corridor to fetch me a nice hot cup of tea,.

Aaah this is the way to wake up, sit up in bed all snuggled under a doona with a hot cup of tea and a panoramic view of the german countryside going past your window.  

This morning was  a lazy cruising morning which was much appreciated.  Due to technical difficulties yesterday (meaning 3 power failures) we were 3 hours late leaving port which meant we wouldn't get into Cologne in time to disembark and see anything.  Due to this they organised for the boat to stop at Zons where we disembarked and bussed into Cologne (a short distance by road but a long distance by river).

Cologne was interesting.  90% of the town was destroyed in WWII but the one spectacular building to survive was the Cologne Cathedral.  This is one spectacular building, absolutely gob smacking incredible!  It is believed that the only reason it survived the war was that it was so large (taking over 600 years to build) that the bombers used it as a landmark to bomb the rest of the city.

We had a walking tour of the city which included the Cathedral, the Jewish Centre and other bits and pieces.  The standout one for me was the old arch of a sewerage system.  /Apparently the Romans were in Cologne and set up their usual water and sewerage system and then along came the Germans who didn't understand it and let it fall into disrepair and it took another 1000 years before the ever effecient Germans got the city to the same standard of sanitation.  So much for there over engineering everything!!!

Back from the thoroughly entaintinly and interesting tour to another fantastic meal on board.
The meal we had last night is below and I have added the quantities so you don't think I have been a complete and utter pig (well thats what I'm telling myself).

Duck Mousse on black bread (served on a teaspoon)
Waldorf salad (about 3 mouthfulls)
Tomato and Red Pepper Soup (tea cup size)
orange sorbet
Tempura Shrimp on sundried tomato risotto (1 big prawn on 1tbsp risotto)
herb and pastry crusted veal loin with asparagus and mash (1 slice veal and little veges)
creme caramel mousse
cheese platter
coffee/tea

As you can see we are really slumming it!!!!  Thankfully with the small portions you get to taste lots and every course has up to 5 different options.

We have a wonderful cruise director 'Roberyt', no sure of his nationality as yet but he is hysterical, has the driest sense of humour and his one liners just crack us up.  He is also the fashion plate of the cruise.  Today we started out with a particularly bright orange shirt with matching shoes (obviously in honour of the new Dutch king) but this was teamed with the most georgous floral coat - every woman on the tour wanted to rip it off him.  Tonight he changed for dinner into a fabulous teal shirt with matching shoes.  He is such a dream boat and so full of incredible information and witty comments he gets a full house every night to go thru the next days itinerary.

I'm writing this blog as they have a 'special treat'for us with classical musicians on board playing some classical music - whish I could say by what composer but don''t have a clue.

Oh forgot to say that during during my wine glass is never empty ....so excuse the typos

till tomorrow

Amsterdam cont

Woke to a beautiful blue sky and the promise of a glorious day, brisk but sunny, just perfect for our walking tour of Amsterdam.

We packed our bags and headed out about 1030 to meet up with the walking tour.  The Sandemans Tour was fantastic.  We were a bit worried to start as over 100 people had turned up to participate but they quickly brought in more guides and even though we had 40 people in our group the guide made sure he stopped where we could all surround him to hear the commentary.  Rob, our guide was fantastic, had loads of information and a good sense of humour and showed us some great little hidden gems.  Unfortunately we had to leave the tour early as we had to get back to the hotel to collect bags and get to the meeting place for the river cruise.

Boarded to Avalon Vista at 4pm and found our lovely room, we will certainly being travelling in style.  The boat is great with lots of room in the lounge and dining areas and each level has another smaller lounge which has the coffee/tea making facilities which are available 24hrs.

We had a delicious 4 course dinner and far too much wine and am now dreading facing the scales when we return.

Awoke this morning to rain, a sore throat and a rotten headache (part cold and part too much wine).  We rugged up and went off on the cruise organised canal tour.  Not the best day to try and see the sights so we were grateful we had arrived the few days earlier. 

Now back on boat and planning on spending the rest of the day being dry and warm inside and having time to catch up on emails and a good book, with lots of soothing lemon tea inbetween with the hope of feeling better tomorrow.

Amsterdam Day 1

Had a good nights sleep and woke to a cloudy but non rainy day.  Today we had a tour booked to Zaanse Schans Windmills, Marken and Volendam.

Stepped outside and realised if may have been sunny but it was a very chilly 10 degrees with a nasty little wind.  The bus was packed to capacity and we both inwardly groaned at the thought of being herded about like sheep, but knew we had to suck it up if we wanted to get into the Dutch countryside.

Our first stop was Volendam to see an authentic cheesemaker.  Um, well they didn't even bother telling you how it used to be down just a 5min talk on how cheese is processed.  Bit disappointing but we did get to sample some of the cheese.  We wandered the streets and admired the tradional houses of the area and poked around in the tourist shops.  I was on the lookout for some Speculaas Moulds (Gingerbread moulds) for Nic.  No luck at this stop.

From here we boarded the ferry to Marken.  The ferry service has been running for 80 years and even though there is now a land bridge to the island the ferry is still popular.  The island still has the original style of housing which we walked around.  It is very picturesque and we finished with a demonstration of 'traditional clogmaking'.  Again interesting that there version of original used machines!  But we did get see and hear some of the traditions of the clogs.  Again looked for the Speculaas Moulds with no luck.  Starting to think they realy don't exist any more.

From here it was back on the bus and off to Zaanse Schans Windmills.  Only 8 are still in existence/working in this area and they have been turned into a tourist event.  Nevertheless they are interesting to see and wandering around the village was very pleasant, if not bloody freezing. I ventured into every shop asking for the Speculaas with no results - even had it written down on paper so they would know what I was after.  Eventually found a bakery museum who pointed me to a shop that had some. Finally managed to get last few moulds left in the shop.  Will look forward to Nic making me some gingerbread in them!

It was a quick trip back to Amsterdam where we walked back to the hotel to collect our washing and set out to find a laundromat. Found one in the main shopping centre and wasted a couple of hours do the laundry, but did get a good coffee whilst we were waiting.

Back to the hotel again for a quick wine and then we will head in the opposite direction to the flowermarkets and dinner at a highly recommended Indonesian restaurant.

Unfortunately the Indonesian restaurant was fully booked so we wandered around the flower market - oh how I wanted to bring home the incredible selection of tulip bulbs available.  We continued to wander around the streets and canals and eventually came across a Thai restaurant.  Well we thanked our lucky stars as we had the best Thai meal we have ever had - and thats including the meals we had in Thailand - the satay sauce was to die for as was everything else.  Very happy with this meal.

We eventually dragged ourselves out of the restaurant as Alan wanted to walk thru the red light district.  Must say I found it rather disturbing with these beautiful young women  wearing nothing more than a couple of elastic bands standing behind glass doors really saddened me.  They all looked bored out of their minds!  The one thing I had noticed here were the number of men travelling in groups and seeing them in the red light district I found rather intimidating,  I do hope they all go home with a nasty itch!

The streets are absolutely crowded at the moment and we realised today that all the road blockages and building sprucing up etc were due to Queen Beatrix abdicating and Prince Willem being coronated on Tuesday.  Pity we wont be here for this once in a lifetime event, which we would have had a grandstand view of from our hotel.

No photos in the blog again.  Have decided this laptop is going in the bin.  Have now lost all our Paris photos off it and I can't even blame Alan for it, in fact may have to eat humble pie over losing the blog.  Now too scared to save anything on it.  Hoping Anto may be able to recover stuff from the harddrive when we get back.

Paris to Amsterdam

This morning we woke far too early after our late night and had to pack up and set off the the train station for our trip to Amsterdam.  We went on a Thales train which took about 3 hours.  Not that impressed with the train as the toilets were filthy and the train was crowded.  Not only crowded but tickets had been sold for no seats so we had nowhere but the overheads to store the large suitcases and there were people wandering the train looking for seats after each stop.  Next time we will pay the few extra dollars and go first class.

What a difference a day makes in the weather, yesterday I complained about how hot it was in Paris and once we boarded the train it dropped about 10 degrees and started to rain.  The rain has continued all day.  On arrival at Amsterdam we nearly froze with rain/sleet and wind.  Our hotel is not far from the station so it wasn't long before we were in a nice warm room with very inviting looking doonas.

We decided to continue the 'rest day' and just wandered outside the hotel and down the street thru shops. restaurants and cafes. Found a little supermarket with some very cheap wine so thought we might try a bottle (not bad and going down nicely as I type this). Stopped for a hot chocolate then thought an afternoon nap would be good.

Again braved the cold and ventured out to dinner.  Went to an Argentinean restaurant across the road.  Definitely had my red meat quota for the week.  Have now rolled home and ready for bed at the ungodly hour of 9pm.

Busy day tomorrow with an excursion out of the city and the weather forcast is not good.

Never mind will finish this wine and snuggle under my doona

Paris Day 3

Absolutely slept like a log last night so woke up quite refreshed this morning.  Looking out the window to another cloudless blue sky promising another very warm day.

This morning we walked to the Louvre - the long way around as we wanted to check out where we had to go for our Moulin Rouge outing tonight.

Having taken sensible advise re the Louvre we decided to just pick seeing the Mona Lisa and around that area.  We  couldn't do any more in the time we had.  As we were there when the doors opened we had a relatively uncrowded trip thru the Louvre.

From the Louvre we hopped on the Red Bus again to Notre Dame.  The queue was a mile long but moving very quickly so in we ventured.  It was like being in a sardine tin we moved with crowd and got out as quickly as we could.  Very hot and uncomfortable.

From here it was just a few steps to the Crypts.  This was enjoyable as nobody else was there so we had an opportunity to use the interactive displays on the building of Notre Dame and the old Paris.  A very pleasant attraction.

From here it was a short walk to the Conciergerie, which is a Palace that was turned into a jail during the Revolution.  It has been kept as a museum to those killed including Marie Antionette, and her cell etc is as it was.  It must have been very difficult for her but at least she had a bed which was more than the other prisioners.  Thoroughly enjoyed our time here as the building was fascinating as well as the history to it.

For here we wandered off to find lunch, which proved difficult - not in finding food but in finding a spot we could sit and enjoy our sandwich.  It was very hot again and no parks or shade.  We had booked on a wine tasting a 3pm so had a couple of hours to fill in so we just wandered the streets.

By this stage both of us were foot and hip sore from all the walking and it was rather warm.  I eventually decided I wasn't enjoying myself anymore and had had enough so we bypassed the wine tasting and did the 45min walk back to the hotel.

Once back I updated the blog, Alan deleted the blog. (time I let that go) had a shower and change of clothes and got a taxi to the evening intertainment.  Alan had an argument with the taxi driver as he wasn't going the way Alan thought he should.  Very intimidating having a Frenchman drive in peak hour at the same time as he was waving his hands and I'm sure swearing at us!  Anyway we got where we were supposed to be.

Boarded the bus and off on a dinner cruise of the Seine,  Our dinner companions were a lovely American couple and the dinner was the best meal we had had so far.  The dinner was followed by a visit to the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower, this was good and it was nice to have daylight then the night time with the lights view.

Feeling rather weary at this stage but still had the Moulin Rouge to go.  We lined up for ever, eventually got our seats and OMG can they squeeze and pack you in.  It was the most uncomfortable 1.45 of my life.  The tables and chairs were so close that once I got in my seat I was pushed right in an couldn't move.

The show was OK - not sure if there was a story line it appeared to be lots of topless women in multiple colourful costumes doing the same dance steps.  I did enjoy the acrobats and other acts inbetween the dancing.  The show didn't finish until after 1am when the boarded the bus and got back to our very welcome bed.  (Yes kids, mum and dad stayed up until 2am!!!!)

Another day of about 20ks having been walked.  Up and off to Amsterdam in the morning

Paris Day 2

This is an abbreviated blog due to me not really being over Alan deleting 2 days worth.  There wont be any photos due to technical difficulties - which are not Alan's fault this time.

We didn't escape the jetlag afterall!  I was awake at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep.  The room was extremely hot as apparently we can't have airconditioning as its not hot enough yet to turn it on.  I tried opening the windows but as we are directly above an intersection the noise was horrendous.  Even though we were a bit grumpy getting up the day promised to be a glorious spring day with not a cloud in the sky.  Complete contrast to the previous day.  Turned out to be a stinking hot day.

Today we had tickets on the Red Bus but had to walk a few ks to get to our stop.  We ventured out with plenty of time feeling very confident in where we were going.  We very quickly noticed a large police presence in the streets and as we got close to the Presidential Palace roads were being blocked off. (They were expecting demonstrtions and riots as the gay marriage bill was being voted on today) We managed to follow directions around the detours and still arrived  11/2 hrs before our bus.

We wandered up and down the Seine  enjoying the 'quiet' before peak hour.  Eventually got back to the Red Bus and our first stop was Trocadero.  The ride was informative and we didn't get off at Trocadero or visit any museums as we didn't think we would have the time (turned out to be a good decision).  We went directly to the Eiffel Tower where we did photos and then boarded the river cruiser for an hour trip up the Seine.  This again was informative and a very pleasant way to see Paris.  I especially enjoyed resting my feet.

From the Cruise we wandered around the Eiffel Tower and down to the Military complex looking for Napoleons Tomb.  Unfortunately the jetlag had interferred with Alan's inbuilt GPS and map reading ability and after a hot and long tromp around we eventually gave up and wanderd off to find lunch.  We did find the Tomb later on - miles from where we were!

We found a great bakery up a side street and had a yummy lunch, we are both addicted to the bread, not to mention the pastries.  After our little lunch break we got the metro to the Opera where we had a guided tour.  Unfortunately once there they informed us we had to wait another 2 hours.  We quickly decided to visit the Musee D'Orsay and hopped on the metro.  Um GPS gone haywire again, went to wrong station which meant we had to get off and change stations.  Alan thought it would be quicker to walk then change stations but after getting lost again we realised we couldn't get there and back to the Opera in the time.  So we turned around and got the metro back to the Opera, again wrong station requiring a long and hot walk at the end.  Tempers a little frayed at this stage.

Eventually we got to the Opera with a million other people and couldn't hear anything the guide was saying so we wandered off and did our own thing.  Having cooled down, in temper and temperature we enjoyed the spectacle of the Opera and we decided to get back on the Red Bus and do the tourist loop.

We stopped at Arch de Triomphe.  I took one look at the stairs and opted to sit in the shade and wait.  (Yes I know Nic you did it with a 15mth old on your back, but I'm too old and unfit to care) Alan tackled the stairs and enjoyed the view from the top. 

From here we hopped back on the bus and continued the tourist loop back to our stop  then walked home for a quick change and off to find a little Italian place we had spotted the night before.

GPS still not working and we couldn't find the restaurant so ended up going to the nearest one where we had another unremarkable meal.

Back to the hotel, very tired as we had walked 20ks today. 

No Post today

No post today as Alan managed to delete it

Paris

After the usual horrendous flight from Australia we arrived with bad backs, numb bums and totally exhausted.  Thankfully our seats on the flights were in  pretty good positions, especially the last 7 hours from Dubai as we were in the first row so had plenty of leg room and we both managed to doze for most of that flight.

Arrived at hotel Waldorf at around 10pm so a quick shower and crawled into bed and managed to sleep thru to 6am with only a couple of brief wake ups.

 

Our Room is the first story window

We woke up quite refreshed and after a quick breakfast of croissants (yep Astrid Granny ate a chocolate croissant just for you) we ventured out to catch the metro to Montmarte.  Even though Nic and Anto had warned us about the stairs at the metro we bypassed the lift and I exhausted myself climbing up what seemed like 20 flights of stairs out of the metro at Montmarte.  Needless the say I opted for the Funiculaire up the hill.  We wandered around Sacre Coeur and the streets of Montmartre before stopping for a coffee on our walk down to Paris central.

As we were enjoying our walk in the brisk morning air, and it was  all down hill we decided to walk to Galeries Lafayette.  We didn't spend too much time wandering around the shopping centre as it was all too expensive for us.

From Galeries Lafayette we continued walking and after not too many wrong turns (we were only using a paper map) we eventually ended up on Avenue Des Champs Elysees.  We wandered all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe but didn't go up it as that's on our Paris Pass for tomorrow.  We did stop for Crepes at one of the many stalls along the street.  I opted for the sugar and lemon and Alan went for the Nutella and Banana.

From here we decided to head back to our hotel via some back streets where we could enjoy the architecture, shops and restaurants etc without the huge crowds of Champs Elysees.  I managed to order a sandwich and coffee in a cafe where they didn't speak English and my French is non existent so quite chuffed with myself when I actually got what I asked for.

Eventually back at the hotel, foot sore and aching hips with the pedometer telling us we had walked 15ks so not too worried about that chocolate croissant and crepe after all.

Quite pleased with ourselves for navigating with the paper map, admittedly using a GPS would have been a lot easier, but wandering up and down the streets is fun and once we figured out where the streets signs were on the buildings it wasn't too much trouble navigating around the place.  We also found the Metro to be very easy to use despite our language problem.