We left our hotel at 7:30am after a breakfast of cornflakes and rolls with a selection of pates and jams. We soon got onto the autobahn, bound for Munich, stopping at a service stop after a couple of hours where I bought my first pretzel. Eees gut ja!! We were all totally fascinated by the self-cleaning loo – after flushing, the seat of the loo automatically begins to rotate through this cleaning device. Such a pity I couldn’t have captured it on video.

As we drove into Munich we saw the Olympic stadium. Again, Gerry gave us so much information before we arrived – he told us all about the war, the Olympics, the hostage drama etc. He really is brilliant.

Munich is a lovely city, clean and with very pretty areas. Gerry took us to the Hofbräuhaus and for a brief walk through the city, to the Marienplatz, where we saw the glockenspiel and the beautiful town halls.

Old town hall (above)

New town hall (and yes, it does look older than the Old Town Hall!)

All the time it was like invisible ropes were pulling the five of us back to the Hofbräuhaus! So eventually we gave in and headed back there for lunch ;-) Grant had suckling pig (the swine!), Rox and I had meatballs and a warm potato salad with delicious red cabbage, I can’t remember what Dad and Paula ate – must be because of the BEER!

Hofbrauhaus

On the way back to the meeting spot Grant bought us cones of cherries and strawberries. Oh my word, I have never tasted such delicious fruit in my whole life! I salivate just thinking about it! Life is gut ya!!

Back on the bus and we drove for a couple more hours. It’s amazing how the people on tour are becoming friends. Much laughing and chatting…and I don’t think it’s just the beer ;-) As we drove along the countryside became more mountainous, with lovely little villages inbetween. After a very scenic drive, we arrived in Innsbruck in Austrian Tyrol. We saw the ski jump and ice skating stadium from the Winter olympics some years ago.

Innsbruck is too beautiful. It has buildings that look like something out of a fairy tale. Amazing. Gerry walked us into the centre of town to the golden roof – much more beautiful in real life than on the website I looked at before our trip.

We visited the Swarovski shop, where the girls bought some small pieces of jewellery.

We ate Mozart balls – marzipan balls coated in dark chocolate, very delicious. Then we had gorgeous ice-creams and took a walk back to the golden roof for another look.

Finally we wandered down to the river. It was quite fascinating, as we got closer to the river the temperature dropped noticeably – that water must be really cold!

Once we had all met up and boarded the bus, it was off to the alpine village of Igls, where out hotel was located. I know I can be very gushy, but seriously, this village was like something out of a picture book. Too, too gorgeous! Rox was begging us to leave her there forever and Paula has already got her eye on a house ;-)

We are staying in the hotel Bon Alpina, which has a swimming pool, so after a walk around the village, Grant and Paula opted to have a swim. For supper we had salad, soup, schnitzel with potatoes and apple strudel. We had a super waiter, a real character, with the unlikely name of Herr Mustafa.

The girls with Herr Mustafa

We had a fantastic breakfast – fruits, yoghurts, fruit coulis, cold meats, roll mops, salad!, bread and rolls, pastries, pancakes….. Now it’s off to Cologne. On the way Gerry gave us the obligatory language lesson and told us all sorts of interesting facts.

The main thing to see in Cologne was the Cologne Cathedral, know as “The Dom”. It is an enormously huge and ornate Gothic cathedral.

To give you an idea of the size and height of the spires, this is a replica of what is on the very, very top of the spire.

Once we had seen The Dom, we took a walk down the main street. I stopped at the 4711 shop, my Gran loved 4711 and the smell of it immediately took me back about 35 years! I bought a couple of little bottles as souvenirs. The girl at the till found my german completely hilarious! At this point the girls were chomping at the bit to go off and shop (maybe they just didn’t want to be put through the embarrassment of my language skills again?), so we sent them on their way and Grant, Dad and I went in search of an authentic German lunch. We found a lovely little restaurant down one of the side streets. Between us we had leberwurst, pickles, german bread, Dutch cheese, cabbage, kartoffel and wurst. With beer of course!!

After lunch it was back on the bus and off to Boppard, where we boarded our Rhine cruise to St Goar. A lovely cruise, with views of riverside homes and castles. We saw many vineyards on the banks too. The Rhine area is known for Rhine Riesling and Auslese wines. Obviously, Rox and I had to have a little bottle of wine – it came with a complimentary wine glass and as we both wanted the wine glass, we simply had to have 2 bottles of wine! Paula had hot chocolate and I helped her consume the most delicious apple tart. Bliss!

We saw a church with a pub attached. It seems that the vicar also serves behind the bar! (see below)

After we left the boat we drove past the Lorelei rock, where in times gone by the mermaid sat luring unsuspecting sailors to their watery graves. We also passed a toll booth in the middle of the river – very cute!

The old toll booth on the Rhine river

We then headed to our hotel in Ludwigshafen. Not a wonderful hotel, but it was adequate for our needs. Supper was included and consisted of a chicken soup, a beef goulash (not very nice) and a cheesecake dessert.

4:30 am wake up! Ouch! We quickly packed up and headed down to breakfast. We were ready and waiting at our bus promptly at 6am and got our first look at our tour director, Gerry and our tour-mates. Rox’s first words on seeing Gerry – “Wow, do you think he’s single, can you see a wedding ring?” Oh boy, this could be fun!!!

As soon as we were all aboard the bus and organised we set off for Dover. Once on the bus, Gerry introduced himself to us and we had a look to see who was from where. About half the bus is South African, quite a few Aussies, a few Canadians, a couple of New Zealanders and 2 Malaysians. We have a very large tour group of 52! There are quite a lot of youngsters on the tour – 2 boys who look to be between the ages of 10 and 13 and then about 6 teenagers. We have arranged for Rox, Paula and I to share rooms on tour and Dad and Grant will share a room.

Once we arrived in Dover we got to glimpse Dover castle and the white cliffs, before boarding the ferry for Calais. I totally enjoyed the ferry, surprisingly enough. I have no idea what I imagined the ferry to be like, but I never imagined it would be a proper ship, with proper shops and a canteen and a pub and a coffee lounge! We bought some sandwiches and drinks (more cider!) and, oh my soul, I got to eat my first pain au chocolat. Heavenly! We then browsed the shops and Grant and the girls and I stood outside on a little deck and watched France coming closer. Beautiful!

After disembarking we met up with our driver, Rudy, and climbed aboard our coach for the first time. We headed off from Calais, bound for Amsterdam, via Belgium. The countryside was very flat. I loved driving through Belgium, it was so green and lovely. There were fat, contented looking cows wherever you look. (If ever I am reincarnated I want to be a Belgian cow!) I’d love to spend some time in Belgium.

We saw the beautiful spires of Antwerp as we drove past, shortly before entering the Netherlands. We stopped at a service stop and I insisted Grant buy some salty liquorice – not nice!! There was fascinating scenery on the way into Amsterdam – windmills, tulips…really lovely.

Gerry is giving us lots of interesting information as we travel - lots of history, interesting facts and Dutch lessons. He seems to be a super tour guide so far.

We got to Amsterdam just after 5pm and took a whirlwind bus tour.

What you see up there on the bridge is thousands, upon thousands of bicycles! Imagine trying to find yours at the end of the day??

We then got on the optional canal cruise. It was absolutely beautiful! We journeyed along various canals, seeing gorgeous canalside homes. I could SO easily live in one of those! We also saw houseboats, some beautiful, others less so. I really loved the canal cruise, I’m so glad we chose to do it.

Then Gerry took those of us who wanted to go on a quick walk through the red-light district. I was quite surprised by the red-light district, it wasn't nearly as "bad" as I thought it would be. I just hated seeing the woman in the windows though, that's plain sad. It was still quite early, so not all the “ladies” were working yet, but still! After that we were free to find our own supper, Gerry suggested various options, but we went investigating on our own and found a lovely Chinese restaurant. Yummy!

Sometimes I just know that these girls hate me - check out Rox's expression!

Back on the coach at 9pm and it was still broad day-light – that’s going to take some getting used to. It’s been a very long day, everyone is looking a bit exhausted. Our hotel, the Hotel Dorint Amsterdam, is superb.

Saturday 27 June 2009

We slept like logs and woke up feeling fresh at 06:30. We had an early breakfast and then set off for our bus tour of London. On the way to the bus stop we spent some time in Trafalgar Square. It was early, so everything was very quiet and peaceful.

We saw all the major tourist spots from the bus. The tour we took was with “The Original Tour”, a hop-on, hop-off bus - a great way to see all the major sights in a short space of time.

A pretty pub

Houses of parliament and Big Ben

I particularly enjoyed driving over Tower Bridge, something I’ve always wanted to do!

We got off the bus at Marble Arch and had lunch at a McDonalds (I know, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it!)

After lunch we set off to catch a tube to the Tower. It was at this point that I realised I had lost my purse! Panic! After some thought I realised that it must have been left at Leicester Square tube station, in the shop where we had topped-up our oyster cards (prepaid card for the tubes, highly recommended). We headed back there and, amazingly (well to us South Africans anyway), the shop-owner had kept it for me, and there it was, safe and sound. Relief!

Grant then headed back to the hotel, to check once again whether Rox’s luggage had arrived. The rest of us set off for the Tower. We realised just how hot England can actually get as we waited in the queue to get in. Fortunately I had booked our tickets on-line, so we were in the Fast Track queue. We didn’t have to wait too long and soon found ourselves on a guided tour of the tower, with one of the yeoman warders - a very interesting and entertaining chap. We spent some time in the church where Anne Boleyn is buried, ogled the crown jewels and heard how Guy Fawkes and many other poor souls were drawn and quartered….eeuw!By this time Grant had met up with us, still no luggage! Getting a bit nervous about heading off on tour tomorrow with Rox with no luggage….!

Then it was off to catch a river cruise (included in the price of our bus tour) to Greenwich. I LOVED the cruise. We sat downstairs and had a drink (more cider!) while listening to a fantastic guide telling us all about the river Thames and the interesting buildings along the way. This guy grew up in the area and you could hear his passion for it in his commentary.

At Greenwich we met up with Jeanne, who blogs at Cooksister. It was SO nice to meet up with her in person after following her blog for so long. Can you believe that neither of us thought to get a photo?! We watched some Morris dancers, ambled around a lovely market in Greenwich and then went and had a drink and got to experience a UK thunderstorm, hail included! I’d love to have spent more time with Jeanne, one brief afternoon was not enough!

Morris dancers

After a looong tube ride back to our hotel, we discovered that Rox’s luggage had FINALLY arrived! We grabbed a quick supper in the hotel (delicious Lamb Rogan Josh) and headed to bed, exhausted! There was a letter waiting for us in our room, telling us what time to be at breakfast and giving us details about our tour. It suddenly seems real!

Friday June 26 2009

(scroll down for 2 earlier entries)

We arrived at Heathrow at 06:15, only to discover that Rox’s luggage had not arrived with us!

After dropping the luggage that had arrived off at the hotel (check-in was only at 2pm, so we couldn’t get into our room immediately) we headed off to Piccadilly Circus, to validate our tickets to Madame Tussauds, which I had bought beforehand on the internet.

Madame Tussauds was very crowded, but we shoved our way through and took the obligatory photos of course!

We thoroughly enjoyed the Spirit of London at Tussauds. It’s something like the "Ghost ride" I remember from fun fairs in my childhood, only this one takes you on a journey through London’s history. Fun!

We had lunch in a pub up the road from our hotel. I love English cider and was very keen to have my first cider of the holiday, it didn’t disappoint! Rox forgot her camera when we left the pub, fortunately the friendly barman came racing after us to return it. We then headed back to our hotel, to check-in. We had hoped that by now Rox’s luggage would have arrived, but still no luggage! We jumped in the shower (at last!) and Rox had to borrow underwear and clothing from Paula and me, poor girl! We then hopped on the tube to Kensington High Street and hit Marks & Spencer, to shop for some clothes for Rox. As soon as that was taken care of we headed back to the hotel to relax a bit before dinner.

We met Lisa, Trev and their girls at the Rainforest Café at Piccadilly Circus. It was so nice to catch up with them. We’ll be seeing them again for a few days after our tour. After supper, as we were heading back to the tube we saw crowds gathering to watch “Thriller” and laying flowers etc down in memory of Michael Jackson. Then it was back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!

Thursday 25 June 2009

Our trip got off to rather a bad start, with the plane that was to take us to Johannesburg malfunctioning as we taxied to the runway – you can just imagine my reaction! I was already having a stress attack about the whole "flying thing" and then this had to go and happen! We had to be put onto another plane and because of the resulting 1 ½ hour delay we very nearly missed our connecting flight in Johannesburg. We had to literally sprint through the airport (LOL at the image of me sprinting….it’s funny now) to get our flight. We got to the desk with me huffing and puffing, heaving bosom and all and the boarding had already closed, but after some “issues” we managed to get onto the plane.



Off to the airport
On the plane (you will notice I am smiling....okay I admit, it looks very forced, but it's me. on a plane. smiling!!)

Away we go......

After months of planning, dreaming and yes.....quite a lot of stressing on my part, we set off on our European adventure on the 25th of June 2009. "We" being my Dad (Neil), Grant, the girls and me. The plan was to spend a couple of days in London, go on a Trafalgar tour to Western Europe, spend a few days with friends in Guildford, Surrey and finally to wind it all up with a couple more days in London. This blog is basically the journal that I kept during our holiday, along with a few of the photos that we took along the way.