LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

Cold and rainy…welcome to Lausanne, Switzerland. We arrived around 4, after spending 4 hours on the train, being served just like the airlines, but with better food and wine. As we’re traveling, what do we hit but SNOW!!!!! Betty was excited….I was crying inside.

After an hour nap, we finally arrived in Lausanne. Our hotel was just up the block from the train station, but we took a cab since we all had 2 big bags.

We should have skipped Switzerland…at first I thought I would be better traveling 2 four-hour days, but after having to drag the luggage, we should have gone right to Milano. I mentioned this to Anna a couple of weeks before we left, but she said that Regina was going there too, so, we go to Switzerland.

Betty and I went out for dinner…Anna was with Regina and her daughter. Most of the restaurants were closed for Good Friday, but we did find another…Italian restaurant.

Saturday morning we headed out, in the rain, to see Lake Geneva and the old town. After a couple of hours, we headed back to the hotel to gather our things and head to the station. (Betty and I had stored 2 bags which was a big help!)

Still raining, struggling with our suitcases, Betty finally did it!!! Got us smoking…(cold breath, not cigarettes).

Scenery through Switzerland is beautiful. Betty was jumping from one side to the other to see the sights. Two more hours and we’ll be in Milano.

Hello Italy!!!

PARIS

Well, we made it through Paris. 

We conquered the underground! Our first morning out, we headed over to the Tour Eiffel...took the underground and got off at the right station. Of course, we still had to walk about 1/2 mile to get to the base, but before that we stopped at Carrete Cafe for breakfast. 

Delicious hot chocolate and pastries for me (9,50E), coffee and a cheese sandwich for Betty and Anna(13E), and Quiche Lorraine for Regina (15E).

We headed over to the Tower for our tour and eventually go the the top. It was a breathtaking view, even with the overcast skies.

After the tour, we got the hop-on, hop-off bus to see the sites of the city, including The Arc, Notre Dame, and all the rest. The first thing we did was to take the metro to the Eiffel Tower. Another first for Betty and she handled it marvelously. It was great to see her expression as we rounded the corner and saw the Tower in all it’s glory. We had tickets to ‘skip the line’ which saved a lot of time and got a great history lesson of the tower. After our guide was finished we were able to take the elevator to the top and even though it was overcast, it was a wonderful view.

After the tower, we did the hop-on hop-off bus to get an overview of the city, going past the Louvre, Notre Dame and all the other sites of the city. After a full day, we had dinner at an …. Italian … restaurant, headed back to the room to get ready for the next day. Anna decided to stay with Regina until Regina’s daughter got into town so we were on our own.

The second day we continued on the hop-on, hop-off and then just walked around checking everything out. Dinner, again, at our newest,  favorite Italian restaurant.

The next day we tried to get into Notre Dame, but the line was just too long and we had to be at the Louvre for our afternoon tour. A very informative guide, we got to see the Mona Lisa, Venus, Nike, and many of the famous oils on display. She explained about the 5 pyramids and later we were taken downstairs where we saw what was discovered during the 1980s excavation which unearthed the original keep, moat, and wall.

After the Louvre we definitely needed to rest, so we stopped in at a café for wine and cheese. I then headed back to a little shop that I found where I bought a duffle bag, since my clothes seemed to be multiplying expotentially. So now I’m dragging around 2 big suitcases, Betty has my small one and I have her small one inside my big one. And I have a backpack …. Someday I’ll learn.

We headed back to the Tower so Betty could see it lit up…it was quite a sight and on the hour the lights sparkle for 10 minutes. Thank you Paris for a wonderful four days.

On to Lausanne.

BETTY ARRIVES

BETTY ARRIVES!!!! BARELY!!! Betty was leaving Orlando at 2pm on Sunday and due to arrive in Paris at 7 am on Monday, the 25^th. They were running 20 minutes late and then she finally got on the plane, after having to gate check her carry-on because the flight was full. She decided she didn’t want to be crowded so she upgraded to an exit row seat for $129, was happy that there was no one else in the row and then found out that the arm rests didn’t go up, so she had to put her legs on top of the rest in order to stretch out. The only problem was that she was right by the bathrooms, so everyone who came by and had to wait, sat in the aisle seat so she couldn’t stretch out.

Ok, so they’re ready to take off and a bad storm comes in, the 70 mph winds, actually rocking the plane as it sits on the tarmac. She said people were screaming and crying…..now keep in mind, this is Betty’s first overseas trip…..solo or otherwise. She found out that it was a tornado in the area. Finally, they were able to take off for Washington, but low and behold….SHE MISSED HER CONNECTION!!!!!

She gets to her gate in DC and was told that she would have to get the next day’s flight and to find a hotel room (United would not pay for it because the issue was weather related.) Well, little Miss Betty ripped that dude another you-know-what!!! And told him he needed to go home because he was an idiot. It turned out that there was another guy who had the same problem, took Betty under his wing, and they ran over to Air France, British Airways and several others to try and get out.

Finally, she went to the United CS Center and they were able to get her on United into Frankfurt and then Lufthansa to Paris. She was suppose to arrive in Paris at 7am on Monday….she got to the hotel at 5pm Monday.

She made friends with one of the flight attendants who lives in Paris, so she got all the low down on what to watch out for. The attendant stayed with her through baggage claim, but her big suitcase never made it!!! She had to file a claim with LH and knew that she’d never see her bag!

She had to explain to customs that she couldn’t show her bag because LH lost it. The customs officer saw her small carry-on, which did show up, and said ‘that’s all  you have?” Yes, Betty said, they lost the rest. They then sent her to gate 20 to find a taxi, but there was no gate 20.

She then called the shuttle service to let them know that she arrived and they told her that they were there at 7am and she wasn’t. After arguing with him and explaining that she missed her flight and that their instructions were that she was to call them not the other way around. She finally told the shuttle service … I’m not arguing with you anymore…FU…you must need the money more than I do…and she hung up.

She rolled into the room, and if you know Betty, she told us the story and we were just rolling, laughing so hard, we lost it.

But she got to Paris!!!!! Now the fun starts!!!

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

Bitterly, Bitterly, Unbelievably Bitterly COLD!!!! At -1C and a wind that would rip off a witch's broomstick, we tried to do the walking tour, but so, so, cold. 
We stopped at one of the 'coffee' shops (aka pot house as opposed to a cafe ...coffee) and bought muffins laced with the big M, which is legal in Amsterdam. We stopped by a seed shop and thought about buying some...but realized we couldn't get it back to the States.

Anna wanted to see the 'red light district', so after a few wrong turns we finally found it...but alas, no pictures allowed.  

It was too cold to stay out so we headed back to the ship and after lunch ventured out again. We had tickets for the Anne Frank house, but went to the wrong place and have to travel by cab to get to the right place that was actually the wrong place, again. Long story short, I headed back into town (losing out on my $67 tour ticket) while Anna, Regina and Jack hung around for two hours to do the tour.

I was trying to find the 'hidden church', which is located on a major shopping street...the door is just a plain door but inside a beautiful church. Only problem was that it closed at 4 and I was 1/2 hour late. Guess I'll have to do it in December.

It was amazing to see the canals and the narrow homes of Amsterdam.  There are so many house boats on all of the canals and they use the canals to dump their 'water waste'. I witnessed a man who picked up his dog's droppings and just toss it into the canal. Guess being high they really don't care about the environment.

They have huge winch-like structures at the top of the homes that were used in the 'olden' days to get goods up to the upper stories. They still use them 
today to get furniture and other large items up to the third and fourth floors.

I'm busy packing as we need to leave the ship by 8a.m. We'll get a cab to the station and head on down to Paris where we'll meet up with Betty...hope she makes it to the City of Lights without any problems.

The river cruise was great, but the castles and churches were starting to run all together. I'll be glad to see the sites of Paris again and then onto Italy.



Till tomorrow....

COLOGNE, GERMANY

Sailed into Cologne Saturday to a wickedly cold wind and a temp of 30F. Since Anna and I were here last Spring, we decided to forego the walking tour and headed over to the Cathedral, since we didn’t explore the interior on the last trip.

The ‘Dom’ has the privilege of being the largest cathedral in Europe and is a UNESCO site,which means that it must be kept as it is. I also found out that because of that status, no buildings in the area can be built higher than the church.

The church….taller, wider, longer, bigger than any of I’ve seen. You can help but walk around, ooing and awwwwing at the magnificence of the building. And to think that it was built so many hundreds of years ago without any modern equipment. Totally AWESOME!

We did the hop-on, hop-off bus, but decided not to hop off.

We had a Captain’s dinner tonight…after the Captain’s cocktail hour with champagne….very impressive. Baked Alaska was the finale and the entire restaurant staff paraded into the dining room.

After dinner it was the ‘Crew Show’ and believe me, they put on quite a show…even the Captain was involved in one of the skits. Dancing to YMCA and the Chicken dance, we members of the crew, it was time to head back to the room to begin packing….which will definitely be a major chore.

KOBLENZ

Where the Rhine meets the Mossell, another fast flowing river, is the town of Koblenz. A wonderful way to enter the city. Even more interesting, the captain had to back up from the Rhine into the Mossell.

We got in around noon and Anna and I decided to find a postal center…me to send home two tote bags of shoes, postcards, and tote bags; Anna, the whiskey she purchased for her son yesterday (for 107E ….(boy, she must really love her son….LOL). We found the center, after a few wrong turns, and Anna learns that she can’t ship liquor to the States. I, on the other hand, got my box all packed, filled out the shipping information and went to the counter. Yeah, yeah, yeah…you know something happened…well it turns out I needed a German address in the ‘shipper’ box. ‘Hey, Lady, I’m on a ship.’ Well, I’m in Germany…YOU VILL DO AS I SAY!!!!! And so I carried the box back to the ship and will have to hope and pray that JP will have room in his duffel bag when he heads back to NJ.

Side note…facetimed with Jennifer today and JP is in his glory. He said Rome was beautiful, they went to Siena, did Florence and will beheading to Venice tomorrow. His Italian has improved immensely, he’s had his first Italian beer, and completely forgot about baseball. Maybe I can spend the summer in Italy and have my own interpreter to.

We headed into town for our daily ‘walking tour’ and found an irresistible city. Even though the ‘old town’ was just a few square blocks, the architecture was wonderful and there were so many statues and monuments dotting the city. One particular monument shows the history of Koblenz, from it’s founding through WWII.

Enjoying my German wine and waiting for dinner at 7. They are feeding us too good and too often. A full meal at lunch and dinner…appetizer, soup, entrée, dessert, wine/beer. I’m going to hate to get on the scale when I get home!!!!

Tomorrow we’re off to Cologne (Koln). Problems again with pix

CASTLES ALONG THE RHINE

Today we sailed up/down/I have no idea but I know we’re heading UP to Amsterdam so I guess it’s up. Anyway, today we were on the most scenic part of the Rhine…..castles on each side, one more majestic than the next…some in ruins, others occupied or used as museums. Even though it was a bit overcast when we started out, the sun slowly began peeking her head out through the clouds and the trees were a ‘little’ bit greener. The best thing was that, even though the high was 9C, THERE WAS NO RAIN!!!!!

After a couple of hours of castle-gazing, we were served a traditional Fruhschoppen….a treat of 2 types of sausage and, of course, the pretzel, along with beer or wine. Fruhschoppen is held on Sundays. People on the way to church would stop and enjoy a small treat before heading into church, but it appeared that the men never got into the church?????

We did pass a unique little church called Klosterschruit…..where the only entrance into the church was through the pub….interesting.