To Europe: 2015

In the beginning...

The itchy feet struck again! This time our sights were set on Europe. We started off by making a list of cities and countries we wanted to visit. Maybe our list wasn't what your "average tourist" (if there's such a beast) wants to see: it was a very personal choice. Anyway, we sent our list off to our travel agent ("our travel agent" sounds very classy, but the story is that our membership of a travel group, Worldmark, gives us access to this service. In retrospect, perhaps she could have made suggestions about the order in which we could travel, but we saw everything we wanted, so that's merely a quibble.

This is the story of our adventures, a bit of text, lots of photos! I've also included a few links for those who want to investigate further.
Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos - we're not professionals, or even very experienced, and, in my case, I was operating with an iPad, always difficult to manoeuvre, often hanging out of bus windows and craning over the crowds. Challenging!

My left foot - er, leg!

A major issue, of course, is that my left leg isn’t always reliable (for such little things those slipped discs can cause an awful lot of pain!). So, how to make sure my dodgy leg didn't spoil our holiday? I certainly didn't intend to hang round any hotel rooms! Alan did some research on the Internet, and this is what he found:

It's a disc...A flick of the wrist, and.....

...it's a seat!

My seat looks like a dalek with a flat top. It proved a boon - my leg tends to give way abruptly and painfully, so it was great having my seat slung over Alan's shoulder!

Melbourne

We spent a couple of days in Melbourne before skipping the country, a great chance to catch up with friends and family. It was empowering to look down on this lovely city from our hotel room!

Singapore stopover.

It's a long way from Australia to - just about anywhere, really! Our stopover (after 8 hours in the air!) was in Singapore. Seems a nice airport!

The complete traveller!

The 13 (thirteen!) hours to Amsterdam. That was a test of endurance!

Netherlands

We found the Netherlands a fascinating place - well, it was mainly Amsterdam, but still...We did have a short expedition into the country! This nation has an enthralling past, about which I knew nothing, so more research for Kathy! A bit of background for the history buffs among you.

Amsterdam and surrounds

Amsterdam is delightful. Beautiful architecture, amazing history and lovely people. Almost everyone in the city speaks English, which is helpful.

Bikes

It's a city of bikes. They're everywhere! According to Wikipedia, Amsterdam is the most bike-friendly capital city in the world.

This is a common sight - a pile of bikes outside the station. They're not new bikes, but generally well-used, possibly stolen! Apparently, bike theft is rife, so no-one bothers to buy a new bike! You don't see many cars in the city - everyone travels by bike and train.

Canals

When in Amsterdam, take a canal ride! A great way to see the city!

Museums

For a museum nerd like me, Amsterdam was awesome! The Rijksmuseum is a national museum dedicated to arts, crafts and history.

We spent hours there - it was amazing to actually see so many famous paintings.

Van Gogh - self portrait

Vermeer - The Milkmaid

We also saw classics such as Rembrandt's The Night Watch and Verspronck's Girl in a Blue Dress.

It's not all pictures, of course - there was some amazing carving.

The architecture of the actual building is beautiful, too. This is the ceiling of one of the galleries:

Another beautiful museum is the Van Gogh museum. The Dutch are very proud of this one of their favourite sons - the queues were horrendous! We, however, had tickets which enabled us jump the queue - although, the queue of those who had tickets enabling them to jump the queue was pretty long too! Although it showcases some of Van Gogh's early drawings and letters, this museum is more about the man than his art. Most of his famous works are in other museums around the world.

Cheese and windmills

What to do on a rainy day? Take a bus tour, of course! The tour we chose highlighted a couple of traditional features of the Netherlands. Our first stop was the historic town of Alkmaar, to visit the famous Cheese Market, where we saw the traditionally-dressed cheese carriers.

It's a beautiful old town. There is a canal, of course!

Alkmaar Town Hall

We spoke with a shop-owner who has family in Australia! Small world and all that!

Then it was on through the Dutch countryside to visit the Museum Windmill at Schermerhorn.

Model of the windmill

It's a fascinating place to visit. As well as being a working windmill, it's set up as a museum (millers don't get paid much; have to make a living somehow!) The interior shots are part of a presentation about how the miller and his (it was usually a male, I'm not being sexist!) family lived. You can find more information here.

Our guide was helpful and knowledgeable. She gave us a brief outline of the polder system of the Netherlands, developed by farmers and engineers to cope with the low-lying nature of the country. (About half the country is below sea-level: it's not called The Low Countries for nothing!) If you want to know more about how the Dutch have reclaimed land, have a look at this paper.

The countryside is very flat and very neat!

It's tricky to take a photo out of a bus on a rainy day, but you get the idea!

Eating

Amsterdam has some great eating places! on our first day, we came across this great little oasis of rural France in downtown Amsterdam. Yummy bread and cheese!

You have to be careful of the coffee shops though. You can get more than a caffeine hit just by breathing! Or so I'm told. Marijuana is tolerated in parts of Amsterdam, though not, strictly speaking , legal. If you really want to know more about the Dutch drug policy, read this.

This is the Siberie coffeeshop, reputedly the coolest in Amsterdam. We didn't go there, but I heard a great story from someone who did!

Found some nice Japanese food at the Sumo restaurant.

We celebrated our wedding anniversary in Amsterdam, and found a lovely restaurant, de Belhamel. A charming setting overlooking the Jordaan canal. We were too busy eating to take many photos!

These were our starters, but we lost interest in photography after that!

Misc

Random pictures.

From the Rijskmuseum

Fascinating shop that sold all sorts of kitchen paraphernalia

One of the very narrow lanes...

And then it was time to move on.....There was a minor hiccup as we left Amsterdam. We were supposed to travel by train to the airport, but there was track work (same everywhere!) The train people had laid on FREE buses from the station, but that didn't stop a couple of taxi-drivers touting for custom and wanting to charge 50 euros!

Denmark

The first thing we saw as we flew into Copenhagen was the huge wind turbine array in the harbour. Denmark is committed to wind energy. You can see more information here. Couldn't take a photo from the plane!

Picture from Wikipedia. Creative Commons.

Copenhagen

We arrived in Copenhagen in the rain, but that didn't deter us as we meandered through the city. It's beautiful, even in the rain.

The Lego store! Guess who had the most fun?

Coffee on the canal! The owners provide rugs on cold days!

Again, bikes round the railway station!

Tivoli Gardens

The Tivoli Gardens came high up on our to-do list. This site is interesting.

Such a beautiful place! My photos don't do it justice!

Spectacular as it grew darker and the lights came on.

And a couple of picture from Wikipedia because mine aren't very good!

We had a delicious meal at the Tivoli Gardens, but more about that later!

We decided a couple of bus tours would be the best way to experience Denmark and Copenhagen.

Kronborg Castle

Kronborg Castle was the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet, and is believed to have been the inspiration for Elsinore Castle. It has guarded the entrance to the Baltic Sea for at least six centuries. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2000.

Olgier the Dane. He sleeps in the dungeon and will wake and save Denmark if the country is in danger.

For more about Kronborg Castle, the UNESCO site is interesting.

Roskilde Cathedral

Roskilde Cathedral has been the main burial site for Danish monarchs since the 15th century. Another UNESCO World Heritage site, it includes both Gothic and Romanesque architectural features. It contains many sarcophagi and chapels.

Chapel of King Christian IV

Tomb of Christian IV

Sarcophagus of Queen Margarethe I

It wasn't all tombs of monarchs PAST, of course! Denmark's current queen has her tomb ready and waiting, which is a bit morbid, but I guess that's the way it is if you're a monarch!

Future tomb of Denmark's current Queen, Margarethe II (from Medieval History)

Misc pictures of the Cathedral

The nave

This looks very similar to the Rose Room of Friederiksborg Palace. There is, in fact, a chance that I may have mixed them up!

This beautiful cathedral has come a long way since it was first built, supposedly by King Harald Bluetooth in about 960. For more information, the UNESCO site is useful.

The Viking Ship Museum

Denmark is proud of its Viking past. The Viking Ship Museum contains rebuilt models and excavated original ships from the time the Vikings ruled the North Atlantic. Our guide was a member of a group that not only built models of Viking ships, but sailed them, so we were lucky to have a very knowledgeable enthusiast with us! The museum was built in 1969, overlooking the Roskilde Fjord, to showcase the five excavates ships known as the Skuldelev ships. These are ships that were deliberately sunk in about 1070 - 1090 to protect Roskilde from enemy attack from the sea. More ships have been excavated since.

The workshop

That's the Roskilde Fjord out there!

Frederiksborg Palace

Frederiksborg Palace, one of the most beautiful Renaissance castles in Scandinavia, was built by King Christian IV. It now houses the Museum of National History, the Palace Chapel and the beautiful baroque style gardens.

The exterior

The chapel

One of the many bedrooms

The gardens

This picture of the gardens is from Shutterstock

Canal boat tour

A great way to see Copenhagen is to take a canal boat tour - guided, of course! Our trip included not only the canals, but the harbour.

It was a larger boat than our canal boat in Amsterdam.

The Little Mermaid - and she really IS little!

A warship of the Danish navy.

The royal yacht

The Black Diamond - an extension to the Royal Danish Library, made of black granite,

The Opera House

The Geodosic Dome. The "Dome of Visions" to promote sustainable living.

Church of Our Saviour. Famous for its helix spire and its external winding staircase.

Christiansborg Palace

Christiansborg Palace is the Danish seat of government. It contains the Danish Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office and the Supreme Court of Denmark. We visited the beautiful reception rooms used by the Queen.

We had to protect the floors from our dirty feet!

Glad I don't have the cleaning of that chandelier!

The current Royals, including Our Mary

Amalienborg Palace Square

Amalienborg Palace Square is, according to our guidebook, the most beautiful square in the city, and the home of the royal family. Prince Frederick, Princess Mary and their family (aka Mary, Fred and the kids) live in Frederik VII's Palace.

The flags were flying, meaning the family was in residence, so we weren't allowed in. Pity - was looking forward to a chat with another Tassie girl, but the invite didn't arrive.

Statue of the founder of this Palace, King Frederik V

One of the guards in front of the Palace

This link gives more information about Amalienborg Palace.

Rosenborg Palace

This original Renaissance palace houses the Danish Crown Jewels, as well as many other impressive old treasures.- - 400 years of splendour and treasure. It was originally built as the summerhouse of King Christian IV, one of the most famous Scandinavian kings.

Purely fortuitous, but beautiful pic, with the rainbow!

King Christian IV

Beautiful tapestries and artwork

The throne room

And another throne

One of the sumptuous halls

Then down, down, down to the dungeons...

The Sword of State

The Queen's Crown

Hmm ....being royal sure has its advantages!

As well as the enormous wealth on display in the castles and palaces of Denmark, the history is amazing. For those wanting to know more, this site gives a brief run-down on Denmark's history and culture.

Eating

One of our nicest meals was at the Tivoli Gardens. There are so many restaurants there - we fortuitously chose a good one!

Almost missed our flight to Hannover - looked at the arrival time instead of the departure time! Oops!

Germany

I don't know why we chose the cities we did as bases for our travels in Germany! No doubt we had good reasons at the time, but I'm not sure we couldn't have made better choices. However, we had lots of fun!

I tried to teach myself a little German before leaving Australia. On the whole, not a success, although I did have occasion to say "Einen Kaffee, bitter" and " Ein Bier, bitter!" What more do you need?

Hanover

Or Hannover, if you prefer. Both spellings seem to be equally correct.

Old Town

We began our explorations with a walk around the Old Town.

The Museum of History

The Museum of History displays the history of the state and city.

From Tripadvisor

Ah, the memories!

More memories!

A medieval instrument of torture!

Part of the display about the rise of Nazism

Lovely courtyard.

Model of the city.

August Kestner Museum

The August Kestner Museum is the oldest museum in Hannover, renown for its collections of Egyptian, Graeco-Roman artifacts, as well as medieval crafts and modern designs. On the day we visited, there was a display of modern designs, mainly of seating.

There were also some design items, which I, for one, saw far too often a few decades ago!

My kids sat on chairs like these - they were about third-hand when we acquired them. They were handed down to our grandkids.

How did we cope with this?

Herrenhausen Gardens

A short train trip from Hannover took us to the Herrenhausen Gardens. These are enormous, and include several distinct areas. We first visited Sealife and saw some amazing exhibits. I guess if you've seen one aquarium you've seen them all, but this was spectacular. Hard to get photos through glass, but we tried...

There IS a fish here, if you look hard enough!

The Botanical Gardens

These were amazing, divided into so many separate gardens that I couldn't keep count! This website gives a great description and history.

We have so many more photos of these beautiful gardens. Spent ages there, but there was so much more to see.

Orchids

Formal baroque gardens

The formal and baroque gardens are spectacular.

Nice spot for a wedding!

Someone's gotta do it!

Celle

We next journeyed to Celle, a town of about 71,000 people. It's about 44 km from Hannover, about half an hour by train. More information about Celle at Wikipedia.

We headed towards the Old Town (there's always an Old Town in Europe!) walking through some beautiful parkland, in which Schloss Celle is situated.

From Wikipedia

Eating

Fascinating variety of food in Hannover.

A bar. There's a few of them around. Nice beer, but not so keen on the food.

It's hearty, anyway.

A short (relatively) walk from our hotel is Lake Maschee, an artificial lake often used for recreation and sporting events. We had a lovely meal at one of the restaurants there.

Lovely situation looking out onto the lake

We discovered a gem during one of our walks - it was a café voted No. 1 in Germany 2014.

Thought we'd treat ourselves to a meal at what we thought might be a pretty classy restaurant (it was expensive, anyway!) in the centre of Hannover - forgotten its name - but were quite disappointed.

The entrees weren't bad.

This looked elegant, but was pretty tasteless. Once a pleb, always a pleb!

Another example of "café food." It was awful!

But the hauptbahnhof is a nice place to wait for a train!

Misc.

Aegidienkirche is a gothic church dating from 1347 which was bombed during World War II. It was never repaired, and today stands as a reminder of the horrors of war. We haven't learned much, have we?

Something disturbing

There was a disturbing incident as we were eating (again!) There was a camp with a sign "Protect Camp Hannover." The waitress told us this was a regular feature - a group of about 20 people protecting the area, when 10 police vans, sirens blasting, rolled up. As we were walking home, another group of about 30 police officers, armed to the teeth, were talking to about 20 young people. No idea what it was all about, but it certainly looked pretty intimidating!

Stuttgart

The next leg of our trip was by train, an interesting experience. at one stage the train reached 300 kph, but it didn't seem that fast! Fascinating countryside.

Our arrival in Stuttgart was not much fun. We had been assured, by our travel agent, that the hotel was close to the station. It wasn't. It was a long walk at the end of a long journey, we were both tired and the hotel was difficult to find. it proved to be in the middle of the business district - perhaps that's what she meant by "central?" to make matters worse, there was extensive reconstruction going on - we were confronted by detours and walkways and a distinct lack of signage! and dragging heavy suitcases, too! that was a bad start!

Stuttgart Public Library

The great thing about our hotel, as we discovered when we stopped complaining, was that it was very close to the Stuttgart Public Library, which I really wanted to visit. It's a spectacular building, very new, very modern, very spacious.

This is how we saw the library from our window at night! Very blurry, but still...

From:www.home-designing.com

A better picture of Stuttgart Library by night.

Daytime views. Spectacular building!

And this is where all the light comes from.

Mercedes-Benz Museum

This is a "Must-see." (I've always wanted to use that term!) Quite a trek - because we took the wrong train! - but it was definitely worth it! Such a spectacular building!

Lourmarin

Lourmarin is a small village in the Luberon valley. As one approaches the town, a sign announces that it is “un des plus beaux villages de France.” There are many! In fact, there is an Association "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France."

And it is beautiful. The township has a population of around 2,000, swollen by tourists. It's a charming town.

View from our window!

In Lourmarin, we stayed in a gorgeous apartment we found on Gîte.com

To make our accommodation even more enticing, there was "un glacier" (ice-cream parlour) below our apartment!

Eating

One of the restaurants to which we became addicted in Lourmarin was Le Moulin. Had a few delicious meals there!

We also took advantage of the many charcuteries and boulangeries in Lourmarin.

Ménerbres

Our journey to Ménerbres took us through some beautiful countryside. through the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in the foothills of the French Alps.

Ménerbres is one of those fascinating walled villages Europe seems to specialise in.

Nice spot for a coffee.

Winery - Domaine de la Citadelle

The website of the winery we visited is in French, but the pictures are lovely!

View from the outside

Watching the work being done

Inspecting the barrels

The corkscrew museum

And now for something a little different - the Corkscrew Museum. Le Musée du tire-bouchon is located on the estate of the Domaine de la Citadelle. It's a private collection containing about 1,200 corkscrews dating from the 17th century to the present day. No photos allowed,ut here's an example:

From Provence-guide

Eating

Lunch at Restaurant Café Véranda. Delicious!

The Old Castle

I love the old buildings of Europe! Le Château de Lourmarin was originally built as a fortress in the 12th and 13th century. It has been beautifully restored, showing the lifestyles of yesteryear - the lifestyles of the rich, presumably.

On a hill, as befits a fortress.

Lovely gardens

I vowed I was not going to climb those stairs, but somehow I found myself at the top!

Avignon

Avignon, of course, was a "must-see" (as they say on the telly!) It has a long history, as described in this article from Avignon-et-Provence. (For the history nerds, Wikipedia has a bit more detail.)Naturally, we got lost driving round and round the walled city, but there was so much to see.

The city is dominated by the Palais des Papes and Avignon Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms d'Avignon) which look down on everything.

The outside of the beautiful structures is awe-inspiring enough, but the interior was mind-blowing - all that gorgeous work without today's technology! And probably without today's labour rules and Occupational Health and safety regulations, too, though.

And, yes, I made it to the top!

And then following the

signs to another highlight...

Marseille

We travelled by train from Stuttgart to Marseille. Another fascinating experience, going through the less touristy areas of Germany and France.

The Mediterranean city of Marseille has been an important port for traders and immigrants since it was founded by the Phoenicians in 600 B.C.E. It’s multicultural, varied and exciting. You can check out more about Marseille here. So much to see and do! Sadly we only had a day! Maybe next time....

We started out by strolling around the Old Port. (Vieux Port)

We had breakfast at Le Petit Pernon and lunch at Miramar

L'Hôtel de Ville
(Town Hall)

Love those triangle buildings!

A bus trip is always the way to go when time is short. Our driver was awesome - he negotiated the narrow roads and hairpin bends of Marseille, guiding that huge double-decker bus as if he were on a bike!

Le Palais du Pharo. Originally a monument constructed by Napoleon III for the Empress Eugenie.

Basiique Notre Dame de la Garde. Dominates everything!

One of the many islands off the coast

Eating

There are so many restaurants overlooking the sea - it was almost a case of "eeny meeny miny mo..." We got lucky when we chose Miramar.

Le Homard comme une fricassée, sur un fondant à l'estragon, julienne de légumes, sauce poivre rose

(basically lobster fricassee, but it sounds better in French)

Truffle toasts

One of the amuses bouches

Mercedes-Benz Museum

The Mercedes-Benz Museum shows the development of the automobile industry from its earliest days to the present. It was quite a trek, which would have been easier had we taken the correct train!

The museum is beautifully organised to make the most of its space – you travel in a spiral to view all the collections. I’m not a car person, but I loved it. Alan, of course, was in heaven! He appreciated all the technical stuff and took photos of engines. I was more excited about the cars.

Very early cars

Dashing cars (think The Great Gatsby)

Racing Cars

Service vehicles

Others

Modern

The modern cars were down in the basement. You could buy them on the spot if you wanted.

Württemberg State Museum

Yes, another museum! The Württemberg State Museum showcases the history of the state from the Stone Age to the present time. It is situated in the Old Castle.

The museum has collections from the various peoples who settled in this area - Neolithic, Celtic, Roman.

The museum also celebrates the modern era in its history, art and culture collections.

The Crown Jewels of Württemberg

From Wikipedia

Eating

The Germans love their cakes!

We had a lovely lunch here, in the heart of the city - the Alte Kanlei. (Sorry, could only find a German site, but the pictures are pretty!)

Around Stuttgart

View from the Mercedes-Benz Museum

One suburban railway station is pretty much like any other!

The Neckar River

Brittany

St Malo

St Malo is an exciting, beautiful and stimulating city, possibly my favourite part of France. It's an ancient walled city on the English Channel, sometimes known as the "City of Corsairs" because of its past - it was notorious as the home of the corsairs, French privateers and sometimes pirates. A brief history of St Malo for those interested.

The inhabitants of St Malo, the Malouin, are fiercely independent - the city's motto is "pas le français, pas le Breton, mais Malouin," which means, roughly, "not French, not Breton, but Malouin."

Exploring the city was exciting. Some gorgeous views from our walk around the walls:

The port

The town is one of those delightful walled cities with a view wherever you look.

Eating

St Malo, being on the coast, is renown for its seafood. We discovered a fantastic restaurant, to which we returned several times during our stay, called " O saveurs du large," which means, roughly, "O flavours wide." Its website gives a pretty inaccurate translation of the name, but the pictures are pretty. Everything is beautifully presented

There were other restaurants, too, of course!

And then there were les moules - mussels - very popular, and cheap, along the coast.

Bayeux

And then into Normandy to Bayeux - cobbled streets, half-timbered houses - located in the Calvados region of Normandy. I wonder what they drink there? Some Bayeux history here.

Cathédrale Notre Dame

Bayeux Cathedral is a beautiful Romanesque-Gothic cathedral dating from the time of William the Conqueror. The cathedral, consecrated in 1077. was built on an ancient site once occupied by Romans. Wikipedia and European-Traveller have information on the cathedral, historically and architecturally. Somehow, the Bayeux cathedral was untouched by the destruction of the D-Day landings of 1944.

The cathedral dominates the town.

Museum of the battle of Normandy (D-Day landings)

This museum documents that crucial but tragic time of the landing of the Allied troops to fight the Germans. there were many artifacts - vehicles, uniforms and military equipment. Particularly military equipment! Must admit, I was not as impressed as perhaps I should have been, as I felt that although the technology and machinery of war is important, there could have been a little more emphasis on the human cost. However.

There is some more information here, for a better idea of what this museum is all about.

The Bayeux Tapestry

This holds a high place on my bucket list - and now I've seen it! It's basically another was museum, but a far more human one, in my opinion. As a history buff, I've always found the story of the invasion of England by William of Normandy (that is surely quite a reversal!) a fascinating one. That story - from the winner's point of view, of course, but isn't that always the way? - is told in the Bayeux Tapestry.

The Bayeux Museum

No photos allowed inside, but I bought a coaster to bring back memories as I'm drinking my coffee!

Around Bayeux

Bayeux is a beautiful town to explore.

Mont St Michel

This was really special! Another one off the bucket list, because of the combination of its special geographic characteristics and its history. Good old Wikipedia to the rescue, of course.

There was a LOT of walking involved! Buses were organised from the carpark, but we happened to select the bus that stopped short of its usual destination because of some road repair issue (which the other buses didn't seem to encounter! All a plot!) so our walk was longer.