Zurich - August 2011

I sadly left the river cruise ship for my bus ride to Zurich. Luckily I could check into my hotel room when I arrived.  The walk to my hotel was not too far from the central station, but uphill all the way.  I didn't know my ticket from the airport was good on the tram.  As usual with a 3 star hotel, no air conditioning, and it was hot in Zurich.

I wandered out for some lunch. I had been to Zurich in the early 70s, but didn't remember anything.
I was totally shocked with the prices. Lunch would run 20 or more Swiss Francs - over $25. Later I saw a sign for a hot dog for $8.00. Thank you Mr. Bush for the weak dollar.

I started in the old section of town, now converted to retail and restaurants.  I then went to the river, which has this amazing green/blue tint.

I noticed lots of people in the river, most floating with yellow duckies.  Every five minutes more people jumped in and joined the procession.  The river was very shallow so everyone could walk.  It was the Limmat River Swim 2011, which was in its 8th year.

Next I walked through a Saturday flea market to the lake.  It was filled with sailboats and had that beautiful hue.

I completed my walk passing the opera house, but couldn't get a good picture due to construction outside.

Lunch was a quiche and beer for $22, and for dinner I had a pizza and 0,5l of wine for about $50.  Yes, you read it correct.  I could have opted for a $9 hot dog or a $18 Double Whopper meal at Burger King.  I knew Zurich was expensive, but this was outrageous.

The following day my friend Thomas joined me for a city tour.  We purchased a travel card for the day, good on trams, trains and some boats.  We started with an hour and a half cruise in the lake.

We then went to the Kunsthaus Museum, where they had a nice collection of impressionist paintings.  We then tried two other museums, but they were closed. 

Our final destination was Uetliberg, where we had an amazing view of Zurich and the surrounding countryside.  I wasn't thrilled about climbing the tower, but it was worth the climb.  That evening I skipped dinner, since I had a large meal at lunch.

The following morning I packed and headed for the airport and Helsinki.

Rhine River Cruise - Amsterdam to Basel - August 2011

On August 13 I was joined by my good friends Ann and Norman Shuker for a week long river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel. We started with a short walking tour of Amsterdam. Of course I took them directly to the Red Light District. It was afternoon, so there wasn't much merchandise to choose from.

We returned to the ship - the Avalon Affinity - for an amazing dinner. We ate and drank for hours.

The next morning we rose early for the canal boat tour of Amsterdam. That was the earliest I had gotten up in weeks. 

The canal boat ride was over an hour and the only thing lacking was the sun.  I found out it rains in Amsterdam about 175 days a year. After the tour we passed on the diamond factory tourist trap. Ann and Norman visited the Handbag Museum, while I meandered back to the ship.

We left Amsterdam around noon for our 24 hour trek to Cologne, Germany. We went through two locks before entering the Rhine River.  The scenery was amazing, farmland, cyclists, campers, trains, and small villages.  Cologne was one of the first cities I visited in Europe in 1970.  The cathedral
was also the subject of one of my early paintings.  I have no idea where it is today - the painting, not the cathedral.

An interesting sculpture of a pterodactyl we passed.

A very interesting apartment building.

In Cologne had a walking tour of the city center.  The fist thing we did after the tour was to have a nice tall glass of German beer.

I took a detour to get yet another photo of one of Europe's pretty train stations in Cologne.

This is why I gained five pounds.  The bread is so good in Europe.

I collected 3 euros in tips.

The Avalon Affinity

The next day we had two ports of call - Koblenz and Rudesheim.  In between the two cities we must have passed 25 castles along the river.  We passed the Loreley Rock where many a ship did not make the tight turn in the river.  In Rudesheim we visited the Siegrried's Mechanical Music Instrument Museum.  I was the lucky one to play the Organ Grinder.

The next day also had two ports - Mainz and Heidelberg.  Our walking tour in Mainz started with the cathedral, of course, but the highlight of the tour was the Gutenberg Museum.  We saw a demonstration of a replica of his original press.  And then we saw four of his actual bibles.  Unfortunately no photos were allowed.

Our afternoon stop was Heidelberg and its famed castle.  Ann, Norman and I skipped the organized tour and climbed the mountain to see the castle and fantastic views.

Our next port was Strasbourg on the French side of the Rhine.  This city changed hands between Germany and France over the years.  We took a beautiful canal ride through the city.

That afternoon I stayed on the ship and read How the West Was Won.  I have been told I would like Louis L'Amour books.  It was okay and now I can say I read one of his books.

Our final port was Breisach near the Black Forest.  This was my most disappointed tour.  We drove for 75 minutes, stopped at a tourist trap, had some Black Forest Cake and returned to the ship.

Thus ended an amazing week.  The food was fantastic, the sights were breath taking, and it was so much fun doing it with friends.

Belgium - Antwerp, Oudenaarde, Gent, Brugge - August 2011

I spent four days in Belgium.  I visited Antwerp, Oudenaarde, Gent and Brugge.  The easiest way around Europe is train, so I started with a two hour train ride from Amsterdam to Antwerp.  The reason I selected Antwerp was the train station.

Here's the outside of the train station as I started my afternoon walk through the city.

It was very easy to find the sights, since everything is clearly marked by directional signs.

Most European cities are centered around the cathedral.  This was true in all four cities I visited in Belgium.

The City Hall in Antwerp was one of the prettiest, covered with flags of the European countries.

As I walked around it was amazing to see architecture that was 100s of years old.

Buy my favorite building in every city was the chocolate shop.  I'm afraid it will be too hot to bring any home.  I'll buy some, but will probably have to eat it all the first warm day.

On Wednesday I took a train from Antwerp to Gent, to visit my two friends there - Dirk and Kristof.  I had met them a few months ago when they visited Orlando.

Dirk and I went to Oudenaarde, the home of the cycling museum to try to buy a Belgium cycling jersey.  We found a few, but they were the wrong size.  But we walked around the town anyway.  Above is the city hall.

Here's a collection of cycling jerseys that were on display in the museum cafe.

The next day I was on my own in the morning in Gent.

The cathedral and many other medieval buildings covered the city center.  The architecture was very varied.

I probably took 100 pictures of the buildings and cafes.

The canals through the town were also beautiful.

Many of the canals were lined with flowers like the one above.

This is the only European Castle in the City Center.

This was an old market converted to a cafe.

Our final stop in Gent was the officially designated graffiti street.  For those who haven't been to the Netherlands or Belgium, graffiti is a major problem.  Here the artists have a place for their street art. 

On Wednesday night I took Dirk and Kristof to a nice restaurant in the city center on a canal.

On Thursday, Dirk and I went to Brugge, about a 20 minute train ride from Gent.  Here I am in the main square.

This is the belfry in the main square.  We opted not to climb the 300+ stairs to the top.

We then took a nice canal boat ride.  The weather was perfect, sunny and 23 degrees.

Here's a view from the canal.

The cathedral from the canal.  I must tell you how much trouble I'm having using the keyboard in Belgium.  There are a number of keys in different positions, including the a, z, w, q, and m.  I'm constantly correcting ,istqkes (the way mistakes comes out using the qwerty keyboard strokes).

Here I am overlooking the canal.

For lunch we had Belgium waffles - I had chocolate ice cream and whipped cream, and Dirk had strawberries and whipped cream.

I thought these signs were cute.  You'll have to google the meaning.

For dinner on my last night in Belgium we drove back to the Netherlands to a restaurant that specializes in mussels.  We were rewarded with two huge buckets of mussels prepared in the family's secret recipe.

 Here are my friends Dirk and Kristof after our very satisfying meal.

Today I travel back to Amsterdam to meet my good friends from London, Ann and Norman.  We will be taking a river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel.  I do not know if I will be able to update my blog during this portion of my journey.