travel blog of European countries
Around 10 A.M, we took the tender from the ship to the port and got my passport stamped. Dennis and I found a map of the walking trails around the city. We passed a park with waist-high tulips. I had never seen such large and colorful blossoms. The Swedes must like flowers: homes had them…
We took the complementary ship van past the port construction. From there we strolled through the city of Dover along the Marine Parade to the entrance of the White Cliffs. That took about ¾ hr. so I guess it was around three miles. From the Visitor center to the lighthouse is two miles. This took…
Monday, May 5, 2014. My sister arrived as scheduled at 6:30 am to take us to the Cruise Connection stop. The bus never arrived. I spoke with someone who was awaiting transportation from another company. When the shuttle arrived, Dennis and I were lucky. The driver said he had room for two more and we…
Why is Amsterdam so noisy. Its 4:30 A.M. and the city is keeping me awake. Does the din have to do with the low altitude, the tall stone buildings, the long wide streets? People’s voices are amplified; someone talking on a cell phone appears as if they were speaking into a megaphone. The tapping of…
This is the West Tower, the tallest tower in Amsterdam, 85 meters (279 feet). The West Church was purposely built by Protestants in 1620. Rembrandt is buried here. In her diary, Anne Frank mentions listening to this church’s bells while she was hiding in a storage building across the street. As I write, the clock…
The Netherlands is the most densely populated country in the world, and Amsterdam is its capital and most populous city. In addition there are the tourists. According to Wikipedia, “Amsterdam is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, receiving more than 4.63 million international visitors annually, this is excluding the 16 million day trippers…
As we approached the Nijmegen train station, we saw bicyclists looking for vacant spots in the multi-floor bike park. Imagine how much energy is saved in the Netherlands just with bike use. It is strange for me to look for bike traffic; several times, Dennis had to yank me off the bicycle path. Unless riding…
Since we left Miami on April 20, we have visited 13 countries, about half of the Western European countries: Madeira, Spain, Portugal, England, Wales, Ireland, No. Ireland, Scotland, France, Luxemburg, Belgium, Netherlands (Holland), and Germany. We took ships, ferries, trains, buses, and bicycles, or we walked; today we rode a draisine, a pedal car on…
We spent five hours today at the Nationaal Bevrijdingsmuseum 1944 – 1945, the National Liberation Museum. It is not specifically about the 82nd or 101st Airborne; it describes what lead up to the war, the occupation of the Netherlands, the liberation, and the rebuilding of the country. Though Dennis did not discover anything directly pertaining…
It is hard to believe that we have been in Europe for four months, arriving in Barcelona Spain on May 1. Today we took a train to Nijmegen, NL. All the signs are in Dutch, but many people speak English. From the train station, we went to the Tourist Bureau, but it was closed. Esther…
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