Monday 8 June------ The last day of our European trip, all we have to do now is return home. The last two full days we have had in Praque or Praha as the locals call it.
Many old fairy tales originated here, like the Christmas carol about the good king Wenceslas whose statue is prominent at end of main carriageway, Vaclavske nam.
There is much to see in the old town square where lots of major events have occured, like when the young student set himself on fire when the Russians entered the square.
There is the Astronomical clock, the oldest still working in the world, first installed in 1410.
The church with the twin towers is called "Our Lady Before Tyn", and is gothic style 1300's.
We went inside for mass on sunday, and even though we have seen many of the top churches in all of Europe this one is the most spectacular by far, with gold literally dripping from every stature and pillar.
Then there is the Charles Bridge, with its 30 statues of various saints, which is usually crowded most of the time, is certainly worth  crossing.
Praque has it all, history, culture and entertainment. Then there is the grystal jewelry which devoured our last crowns.

5 June-------We have just spent two days in Vienna, I should have waited before proclaiming Budapest as once the grandest city in all of Europe, for with out a doubt it was Vienna.
Vienna was the home of the Habsburg dynasty which controlled the poweful Austro-Hungarian for over 600 years and they lived in palaces and listened to music composed by Mozart, Strauss and Schubert, just for them and their relatives and royal neighbours.
It took the WW 1 to end their reign and now we can all admire the beautiful buildings and gardens and listen to their music.

31 may.... Budapest was once the grandest city of all of Europe, evidence of the grandure and opulence can be seen, especially on the Buda side of the Danube.
The Royal palace and Saint Matthias church sit boldy on top of castle hill.
On the Pest side is the Parilment house with its neo-gothic architecture.
The people are not very well off, 300 forent to 1 euro, so goods and services are very cheap to us. Morale is low, we have witnessed a large protest march through the city.
We ordered vegetable soup today and were given a cold cherry soup, when we asked where were the vegetables, the waiter replied that the chef changed his mind and that cherries were vegetables. Victor our tour leader told us that Hungarian was the hardest language to learn, lucky we only went for soup.
Budapest is a must see city in Europe.

Thurs 28 may.  We are now in Zurich having just finished our Rhine cruise in Basel this morning. The people travelling with us were from many places, however the North Americans made up about 75% , South American 10%, we Ozzies 10%. Almost all the Americans seemed to like us especially our sense of humour. We dined with different people each night and after a few wines became a little noisy.
The cruise was great with many highlights, the weather was almost perfect.
The gothic churches in Mainz and Strasbourg with their stained-glass windows, which some how survived the bombings during WW 2, were impressive. The canals whinding through the French cities of Strasbourg and Colmar with little ally ways leading into squares full of alfresco diners and buskers playing music.
A highlight was driving into the Black Forest, through small villages looking like they would have lppked hundreds of yesrs ago. Passing by small vineyards and orchards of cherries, plums and apple trees. Marilyn and Carmel enjoyed eating some Black Forest cake.

26 may        We have just arrived in Strasbourg, which in the past was sometimes French, somtimes German, so now has the best of both cultures.
We have already visited Koblenz, almost completely wiped out during WW2 but is stll worth seeing. Yesterday we saw a little of Mainz, as well as Heidelberg, which for me was the best. All were of course were Roman in early times, however Heidelberg has the spectular castle.

Hi
I am still adding text on blog.

Will post a few pics on Google +.

Steve

Friday 22 may       We have spent an extra day in Amsterdam, our boat needed repairs. Avalon has made alternative arrangements, which is fine as they have offered us some refunds plus accommodating all 140 of us in a 5 star hotel, the Barbizon Palace.
Our first room would have suited Bond, James Bond, as our room no. was 007, also when Maz opened the window she nealy fell into a canal. Also about 40m across was Molly Malones pub with a sign which stated "live band from 10pm, but Carmel saved the day and we were moved to a very quiet room.
Many interesting things to see, the famous Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum, Anne Frank House and people being run over by bikes. The Dutch have more museums than any one else. People all speak english very good, not like us, and are very helpful and pleasant.

Tues 19 may,  we cruised down the Rhone river from Avinon to Arles, a place where the Romans built a mini Rome, with Arena (scaled version of the colloseum), theatre and forum.
The town looks like the Romans have just left, it was founded by Julius Caesar himself.

Wed 20 may,   Carmel's birthday. We started the day at train station in Avignon, hopped on at front of train instead of rear, so had to drag ourselves plus heavy baggage through  a mile of carriages in fast train going 300 km hour.
Arrived in Amstetdam about 3 pm . Zoe at hotel told us that many tourist get  lost, but did not warn us about the kamakase bike riders. However we survived and ended the day in an Italian restaurant.

We are now in beautiful Avignon, where the food, wine and atmosphere are perfect. Spent the morning inside the Palace of the Popes, which dates back to early 1300. This afternoon we will be travelling through Provence.

Our two full days in Barcelona are almost over. Spanish show tonight will be a highlight.

We spent a lot of time on hop on hop off buses to get to places, lots of people, a bloody lot.

Forget running with the bulls, we have been running with the mob, to catch a bus or avoid

being crushed. All a lot of fun.

Itinerary

We will be visiting 9 countries in Europe, starting in Spain and ending in Czech Republic.