European Ramblings

[Jesus_man]

We have lots of travel this summer, so if I can keep only one step behind here, I'll be doing good.

We've been on a European Antique kick lately for some reason and my wife found a cool antique store in Meirigen, Switzerland, but that wasn't enough to justify a 5hr drive and a long weekend. So we added to the trip. More on that in a minute. Meiringen is settled in a beautiful valley among the Alps and is claimed to invent meringue, like for pie n'stuff. This weekend was their annual meringue fest, but due to timing conflicts, we really didn't get a chance to partake. We found a little bakery for breakfast on a Friday morning and then re-traced some of my wife's running route earlier that morning to see a waterfall, castle and just get a feel for the town.

Note the shirt!


We couldn't find a stroller friendly route to access the castle for a better look, so we moseyed down thru town to see a bronze statue of Sherlock Holmes. This town was also where presumed death of Sherlock took place.

We checked out of the hotel and headed for the Antique shop where we spent the better part of two hours looking around as much as two young children would allow. We got some old goat and cow bells, and some other misc. stuff. Before we left the valley, we heard the unmistakable thunder of jet planes. I pulled off the road to find a cool little airstrip in the bottom of the valley and caught a picture and video of this cool plane.



Turns out that is a small Swiss Air base and this plane was an F-5E Tiger as part of an aerobatics team.


From there we headed West towards the very familiar roads of Interlaken, but this time we didn't turn South and drive up the Lauterbrunnen valley. Nope, we continued West. Our goal was Annecy, France. But the cable car Auigille Di Midi out of Chamonix has always eluded us, so we made that our via point. Climbing one of the twisty mountain passes, I noticed my car low on power. To my horror, the temp was in the red, so I backed out of the throttle and we limped it to the next pull out. I popped the hood and heard a slight hiss on a hose from the water pump, but no real leaking. I let it cool for about 10 minutes and decided to pop the cap on the overflow bottle. It was then that the system burped. The water in the tank starting boiling and spilling out some bypass in the tank and onto the ground. I let it throw it's fit before rummaging thru the car gathering all the water bottles we brought with us. I proceeded to dump all the water in leaving only one 1L bottle left. I don't understand how it all happened. After seeing the color of the fluid leaking on the ground, I recalled seeing evidence of a very small leak on the garage floor, once. Arriving in Chamonix, we checked at the base station of the cable car to find out the weather up top was bad and being ~$65 per ticket to go up, you don't want to get it wrong. Well, maybe next time.

Along the route from Chamonix to Annecy, the scenery was quite stunning. This was an interesting formation and you might be able to make out a waterfall right in the middle.



Having been on the road most of the day with cranky kids, we were excited to arrive at our apartment, go get some groceries and take-away pizza and take in the view from the front porch.


After a good nights sleep, we began the day driving around the south end of the lake and making our way into Annecy.


We then rented bikes and retraced this route along the Western coast of the lake. These are a couple shots from nearly in Annecy and along the trail.




Before we rode south, we stopped in town for a picture of this famous building cutting thru the river.


The green water here was amazing. It was like Glacier water, but very clear. This lake is known to be the most pristine in Europe due to some regulations put in place in the '60s. And it shows. Very beautiful!

As seen in one of the photos above, here's a close up of the Castle from the back side near the southern tip of the lake.


The sailboats were out as we returned to Annecy.


This was another Castle/chateau near our apartment tho I don't know any details.


As we walked back to the parked car, I spotted this Camel Trophy Land Rover and got the camera out just in time to snap a pic. Legit? Who knows?? But I did see two other trailers loaded with what were clearly off-road rigs. I did some digging and it's bigger in France than one might think.


Not wanting to waste the rest of the afternoon, we stopped by the visitors center and asked what we could do. They reminded me of a Gorge I had read about, so we drove about 25 minutes out of town. It's called Gorges du Fier and it was spectacular.








They had a marker inside noting the water levels of the past and many were well above our heads standing on the platform. But just earlier this year, they had a nasty storm and it had filled that canyon. Very impressive to say the least.

On the way back we happened upon a Medieval fest and got the kids on a couple ponies. They had a blast!


It was a loooooong ride home the next day and I was worried about my car, but it made the trip without issue. Out biggest problem was a nasty stau (traffic jam) just an hour from home. We were there an hour so it was frustrating that we knew we could have been home. But, if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have been able to see this gigantic Mercedes camper.


I haven't touch the cooling system in my car since, as I am at a loss for what happened. I keep watching the water levels and it stays put. I will have to address the high freezing point before winter hits, but I don't want to dump in antifreeze until I can figure out what the problem might have been.

[Justin]

That camper is awesome. I want one. Maybe 2.

[Rox Crusher]

that gorge is awesome !

[Gunnibronco]

Great pics as always, thanks!

[Jesus_man]

Thanks! Looks like I may have cut the resolution a little too much on these pics.

[Jesus_man]

Like I said, busy summer. If I get this done, I'll be one step behind still.

Our travels took us to Northern Mediterranean sea. Our plane landed mid-morning in Zadar, Croatia on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. From there we rented a car and drove a little North to Petrcane to check into our apartment at Falkensteiner. Nice enough place, but kitchen lacked most of the basic utensils. But it was in a nice area, close to the beach and had enough room for my family. Here's a view of the pools on the beach.


That evening we took a stroll around the resort to see what was out there. Hoping to find a beach with sand instead of the very coarse gravel at our beach. No such luck, but we saw some very cool scenery. Here's the Dinaric Alps looking North.


As we walked back to the apartment, we came across this little course amd paid for my son to ride these little electric quads. They were pretty cool, but the steering was way to sharp for the purpose of these. They were like racing kart steering. Here's my son taking it off-raod! Atta-boy!


They even had one for my daughter to try.


The next morning we drove back to Zadar to tour around the city. Here's the worlds only organ played by the movement of the sea.


Roman Ruins around a Roman Forum.


Land Gate entering into the city.


That afternoon the kids napped and we hung around the resort. Later we went out to play in the pools, but they were just too darn cold. And the ocean wasn't any better, not to mention the rocky beaches.

The following day we drove north into the mountains to Plitvice Lakes National Park. It's amazing how quickly the landscape changed from an arid desert, to a mountain valley akin to Colorado. We chose this day as we'd be hiking quite a lot and it was to be the coolest day.


On up the road we drove thru a long tunnel and on the other side it looked a lot like the high mountain valleys of Colorado. It made me feel much more comfortable.


After we parked at the park, we realized we were under prepared. It started to rain and the temps were quite cool. We bought a few rain ponchos and improvised. Turned out to work just fine. After paying for a ticket, we quickly became awe-struck.


Note the color of the water.


Pictures are worth 1000 words.
















Link to a Panoramic:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a39/je ... apupxg.jpg

















We hiked the park from the bottom up. Once at the top, we discovered use #636 for a Unimog:






More "home" scenery


To learn more about Plitvice: http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/en/na ... tage/tufa/

The following day we caught an early plane ride home and got to unpack before the normal schedule started again.

[Digger]

Once again, those pictures are amazing!

[Jesus_man]

Thanks! it appears that it is photobucket that is messing with my resolution...sorry!

[Kinder]

Beautiful scenery!

[Justin]

I'm jealous! I really wanted to go to Plitvice couldn't make it happen. If you wind up with time, make a trip through Sarajevo to Mostar, then down to Dubrovnik. Incredibly pretty, very cool country, and you can take the ferries through all of the Croatian Islands to Split and come back via Zagreb. Budapest is a few hours away by train, so it's a great place to fly in and out of, especially if you have any interest in seeing the northern areas of Bosnia.

[Jesus_man]

I think we're going to try to fly into Dubrovnik at some point if we can find a long weekend somewhere.

[Justin]

It's worth it - very neat town. If you need a place to stay, getting to stay with a family that runs a pansion is fun.

[Jesus_man]

Noted, thanks!

[Eck]

WOW! It is awesome that you are doing all of this stuff and great that you are journaling it as well. Thanks for sharing.

[Jesus_man]

This last independence weekend we went back to the same area...well sorta. We had booked this trip months before Croatia, but it was a little funny that we we were within a few hundred miles from our Croatia destination the week before. This time we traveled with another family with kids. We flew in late Thursday night to Ljubljana airport and drove in the dark to our apartment in Bled. We arrived there at 11pm, got the kids to bed and "borrowed" a few cold brews to unwind on the porch. Next morning we prepared for another short hike and drove to Vingar Gorge while the weather was cool-ish. Our hopes to beat the German heat wave were dashed as it was nearly as hot here. However, the gorge being narrow, felt very comfortable. The water here was also so clear you could see the bottom of 12-15ft pools. It was all too tempting to dive in!















After lunch in town, we made our way to a beach on the Western end of the lake and swam the rest of the afternoon away. The lake was slightly chilly, but once you acclimated, it was actually very nice! We swam a while, then dried off so we could rent a paddle boat and make our way out to the island where the Cathedral is at. "The rowers" AKA Dads, jumped in for a quick cool off before returning back to the boat dock.

Trying to decide what to do for dinner, we searched google for suggestions. And what ended up being the top recommendation was only a few steps away from our apartment; Pension Berc. It was quite a fancy restaurant and we weren't sure what they would think of the kids, but they made a place for us and were very accommodating, just as we'd come to learn most Slovenians are. For some reason, we collectively decided we'd splurge on dinner this evening as it was such a nice place, beautiful setting and the kids were playing in the grass. So my buddy and I split the Tomahawk Steak, the girls got a fish and a steak plate, and two chicken dishes for the kids. We also enjoyed 5 beers, a bottle of sparkling wine, two desserts, and two very nice cuban cigars. We were afraid of what the total might be, but we were amazed that all this was only the equivalent to $230 for four adults and three kids! And the quality of the food might very well be the best I've had in Europe so far!

Here's the Tomahawk, and the hand is there in an attempt to bring scale to the picture, but the hand is well above the steak and it was actually 25% larger than what you see. They said it was 2.2Kg, or 4.8lbs!


And an amazing Chocolate dessert that they poured warm raspberry sauce over to melt the ball filled with some sort of creme.


The following morning, we returned to the lake to try our hand at paddle g and we did quite well. That is something I wouldn't mind doing more often if I lived near a calm lake.


That afternoon, we packed up our stuff and left for Bovec, Slovenia driving over the Julian Alps at Vrsic Pass. What beautiful scenery! There are no fewer than 50 switchback turns on this pass and it was quite fun to drive!




Summit.


Once we checked into our hotel in Bovec, we walked around the back to check out the playground and pool. Two of the big reasons we rented here.



Then I heard this diesel Nissan buzzing by clearly setup for some overlanding.


Bovec from our hotel window:


We had plans to walk around town and explore the area a little, but as we were settling into our rooms, the youngest child tripped and landed head first into the corner of a wooden bedframe splitting his forehead wide open. This resulted in an hour wait for emergency crew to open up a small clinic in town (it was a Saturday) and stitch the poor kid up. After all that stress, we decided to keep the evening simple and ate dinner at the hotel buffet. And they were even kind enough to open up a small dining room just for us.

We had planned the next morning to return to Bled via a different route which would allow us to drive our cars onto a train and ride it partially back. But that train didn't leave until late in the evening, so we jumped in the cars and drove back over Vrsic pass. We stopped for a break at the top to take in the sites and pickup a souvenir or two.



On the way down we stopped at what appears to be a campground in the making. This area was a large flat area at the base of a canyon where all the runoff merges. Quite a nice place, but my inclination that the water would be too cold to swim in were true. There were two or three streams that fed the area and one was very cold; numbing your feet in seconds. The others were not as bad, but still barely comfortable to wade in. Even the man-made ponds were not even close to warm enough to swim.





We proceeded back to Bled and checked into our hotel for the last night. Again, in the interest of keeping it simple, we stayed at the pool and swam there. That evening it was a unanimous decision to return to Pension Berc. And none of us regretted that verdict. This time we scaled back and still ate very well for about half the original night.

My wife took our camera with her on her run around the lake the last morning. She got some amazing pics.




Cathedral on the island






Cathedral with Castle


Slovenia is an amazing place to visit. Not quite the grandeur of the Swiss Alps, but if you could fly in inexpensively, it's considerably cheaper and certainly worth the trip. It's about an 8 hr drive for us, so we're trying to see if we have a free long weekend we can return or perhaps watch for cheaper flights.

[landshark]

I spent two weeks in Slovenia, one of my favorite places in Europe. Lake Bled really is magical it seems every picture I took was "the one" ;)

I also visited Vingar Gorge and a few other places near there - jealous I want to go back so bad. Did allot of hiking as well, climbed a couple of the mountains in the naitonal park. Great pics!

I hiked the hill near the lake to get this shot. This was before panorama smart phones and I had to stich the photos together - the sun messed up my final image.

[Jesus_man]

That is a great shot!! The only bad part about Slovenia for us is...it's just too darn far away. If it were 40% closer, we'd be regular visitors!!

[landshark]

Same here. A bit far [emoji2]

[Jesus_man]

Come with me again, to Ireland. The excuse for this trip was the Dublin Half-marathon that my wife and her sister have been training for. My SIL left her family in AK and met us at the airport in Frankfurt. From there, we boarded a short flight into Dublin. We picked up our rental mini-van late in the evening and headed to the West coast of the island. But not before a quick stop at KFC. Yep, Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was nice to have a taste of home again! We stayed at the Kinvara Guesthouse and it was a great place for us. Arriving late, we settled in and my wife graciously put our kids to bed while I took my SIL out for her first Guinness. Can't think of a better place to do so!

We enjoyed a hearty breakfast at the guesthouse and hit the road. We had a short hour drive North to catch our scenic flight. First tho, we checked out the Dunguaire Castle:


The weather kept cycling from raining to fog, and we were ahead of schedule, so we stopped at the airport to confirm our tour was still on. We were told the weather just might clear just in time and to return in a hour. With one kid taking a nap, we drove on exploring the area around Inveran.

Arriving back at the airport, the weather was trying to clear up a bit. We boarded the plane and headed straight for the Aran Islands. The first site was a shipwreck. On 8 March 1960, while sailing through Galway Bay carrying a cargo of whiskey, stained glass and yarn, she was caught in a severe storm and ran onto Finnis Rock, Inisheer, Aran Islands.


From there we flew NW across the South coast of the islands.










The rock fences make an interesting pattern.


We flew down the center of the islands SE and headed to the Cliffs of Moher. This was a neat perspective compared to on the ground.





After a safe landing, we got back in the car and drove further North to the Kylemore Abbey. This is just a shot of the typical scenery in the area:


The abbey:




The garden at the Abbey:


We drove the couple hours back home and put the kids to bed.

The following day The Cliffs of Moher was again on the itinerary, this time from the ground. There are certainly some things that are worth repeating in Ireland! More Irish Countryside:






That was all that was on the Itinerary that day, so we took our time getting back to the hotel. We ate a nice dinner in town and enjoyed a relaxed evening.

The race? Yes, yes. This is where it starts. The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed back East to Dublin. The girls checked in for the race, got their swag and checked out the small fair they had for the racers.

Here's the coarse map:


We walked over to Trinity Univ. for a quick tour:


From there we walked down to a pedestrian street for some shopping. We found a street vendor who turned my son into a Leprechaun:


Then around to St. Patricks's church. Yeah, THE St. Patricks. The reason you wear green in March...yep:


Race day. This was about mile 7.5. I didn't know KISS liked to run:


The girls would kill me if I posted pictures of them and it didn't turnout as either of them expected, with one of them not finishing on her own power. But we'll leave it at that. One can push too hard.

At the end of the race, the plan was for the girls to join myself, my son, and daughter (in the stroller) for a 1.5 mile Fun Run. With the issues, they were not there at the start; we started without them. My wife met us at about mile 1 and finished it with us. I was proud of my son for doing so well running the entire 1.5 miles and even sprinting at the end. Wish the training would have gone that well!


We all met back at the house later that evening and the 1/2 marathon'ers were in no mood to go to the Guinness storehouse as planned, so we found the nearest Papa Johns Pizza and ordered carry out! It has been more than three years since I've had Papa Johns! LOL!

We had a three hour drive the following day, which allowed the girls to recoup a little more. With the compass pointed North, we made our way to The Giant's Causeway again. We ate a quick bite at a very nice little cafe in Bushmills and then drove out to the Causeway for the tour. We got right in, and caught the first tour out, despite it being very busy. You've seen the pictures before, so just as proof:


We hung around there for a few hours, then went back into Bushmills to get my BIL some Irish Whiskey from what is touted to be the oldest distillery in the world.


Since that only took a few minutes, we had some time on our hands and still felt adventurous. Why not a rope bridge? It was only 15 minutes away and why not? Carrick-a-rede bridge was constructed by fisherman to be able to fish better waters, and today it's a tourist attraction. And wouldn't you know, that is when my daughter was ready for a nap, so after a mile hike in, my wife carried her across the bridge while my daughter was sound asleep.







Just as we got to the other side, the wind picked up and sky darkened and it began to rain a little. The temp must have dropped 15 degrees in just a few minutes. And now with the wind, they were not letting anyone across the bridge, especially since my wife couldn't hang on properly. The wind died down a little bit and they rushed us to the front of the line and allowed us to cross quickly. We made it safely back to the car and the weather was again beautiful!

That was enough adventure for the day, so we asked the locals where to eat and landed Ballycastle for dinner and had some amazing Guinness based bread. I also tried Guinness's Hop House 13 Lager and it was a very welcome break from their stout. We drove about an hour south and checked into our hotel for the night.

The next day we made it back to Dublin and, you guessed it, the Guinness Storehouse.

No I'm not that big of a fan of Guinness, and frankly, I was getting quite tired of it. But this is a great place to visit and I gave my SIL the abbreviated version of the tour and the girls got in line to learn how to pour their own pint. My wife wasn't able to do this last time because she had the kids, so it was my turn to sit it out. We ate at the same restaurant as last time and were again very pleased with our meals. That was really the reason I wanted to go back!

Just a neat photo of my son checking out the model ships of how Guinness was/is shipped around the world:


That was the end of our trip. We returned the car, caught our plane back to Frankfurt, checked my SIL into her hotel so she could catch her flight out the following day (which became interesting adventure in and of itself) and made it home safely, albeit late. My poor SIL missed her connection due to mechanical issues and what was already a 14hr day turned into 24hrs. Then she had to again adjust back to her AKST, which was 9hrs different than in Ireland. Ooooftah!!

My wife really enjoyed spending time with her sister and I'll even admit the kids and I did too! Onto the next adventure as we are now counting down the *months* before we move again.

[Jesus_man]

So he were go again, to a similar part of the world, just a wee bit North. We traveled with some friends who also have two kids, so the kids had plenty to entertain themselves!

We flew out late on a Thursday arriving in Edinburgh, Scotland at 9pm. We took possession of our 9 passenger van and headed to our first hotel. This is the first trip since we've been in Germany that I wasn't the driver. It was odd, but quite nice! Scottish-folk drive on the left side of the road as it's part of the UK. We knew there was a Krispy Kreme right across the street from our hotel (the first in Scotland we later learned) and wouldn't you know it, the "fresh donuts" sign was lit. So at 11pm, we bought a dozen at the drive-thru and then checked into our hotel. Perhaps it wasn't the best judgement, but the kids all got a donut before bed, as did the adults! The rooms were hot and the windows faced a noisy section of train tracks, none of us slept too well. But spurred on by excitement we arose the next morning, ate our full Scottish breakfast and hit the road.

First stop was St. Andrews, the home of Golf. We took our pictures on the famous bridge as did many other tourists.


We toured the nice little city and made our way to the University of St. Andrews where, notably, Price Charles and his father attended. This Univ. was founded on the early 1400's.


From there we made our way to St. Andrews Cathedral, which must have been an amazing place in it's day.




After a stop for lunch and another at a bottle shop, we continued North on our way to Inverness. Along the way we got stuck in a 1.5hr traffic jam. We didn't have any real plans that evening, so it wasn't stressful, but there are certainly better ways to enjoy Scotland. Still, we fared better than the folks involved in the rollover accident.

We quickly checked into our hotel and tried to make reservations for our group at a top rated restaurant, but they were full. We were successful at our second choice. We drove downtown, parked and then walked along the Ness river with the Inverness Castle across the way.


Behind the castle in this picture is our restaurant. Along the way, while window shopping, the girls decided we should all buy Kilts. I was sorta hoping that idea would blow over. We didn't get much else done that night except fill our bellies. We took advantage of the full Scottish breakfast again (FSB from here on) hit the road once more. Just a few miles down the road, we had the kids' eyes peeled on the water as there is a legendary monster who lives in the waters of this Loch Ness.


Down the lake, we took photos of this Urquhart Castle, which certainly plays into the legend well.


Near the south end of the lake, you can really see the natural beauty of this area:


At the southern tip of the lake is Abbey St. Augustus.


And this view point from its' gardens:


If you're trying to cut thru Scotland and all you have is a boat, you can sail right on thru using these locks at the south end of Loch Ness. It was certainly interesting to see a series of these locks allow boats thru while we ate lunch. The car bridge spun at one end to allow the boats to continue on their voyage.


Having conquered our appetite, we backtracked a little, with a quick stop a bridge built in 1813.


From there we traveled West to the western coast of the mainland to visit the Eilean Donan Castle. But along the way, saw some amazing Highland's scenery:



Somewhere along here, there was a stream that paralleled the road and it actually went right thru a small hill for a few hundred yards. I couldn't tell if the tunnel was natural or manmade, but the road was so tight and twisty I didn't get a good look and we were too far past it when the first pull-out came into view.

Anyway, onto the Eileen Castle:


From there we crossed the Skye bridge to the Isle of Skye. Just a few miles south of Portree we pulled off to get some pictures of this waterfall:


Just a ways further north, the Cuillin Hills were over our left shoulders.


Finally arriving in Portree, we checked into our hotel and thinking ahead, had already called and made reservations for dinner at the Sea Breeze. We had some time to kill, so we toured the small town on foot and took this picture looking at the harbor and our restaurant.


The following day, we filled our bellies with FSB again (I'm picking up a theme here) and started our drive North. First site was the Old Man Storr, a 150-200ft vertical rock.




Looking East towards the Inner Hebrides, the sea made for a neat photo:


From the north side of Old Man Storr [note the shirt ;-) ]


A little further up the coast, we stopped at the Kilt Cliffs:


We enjoyed lunch at a tiny harbor town of Uig. From there we headed South towards the Dunvegan Castle:


They did something very interesting there for the kids. They hide several keys in nearly every room in the Castle for them to find with a promise of the prize. Not only did this get the kids excited, it kept them engaged. They all enjoyed their treats at the end for finding all the keys.

Our next stop was the Talisker Distillery, but from what we were told, it would be closed on Sunday's. Well, actually in July and August they are open on Sunday's and it ended up being a perfect place. The wives took the kids and played in the grass while my friend and I toured the facility. Of course, there are a few samples and while I found one I could tolerate, I don't ever see myself as enjoying Whiskey. Still the tours are fun and you learn how it's all done.

On the way home we drove thru the Cuillin Hills.


The whole time my wife wanted pictures of Highland cows, which I told her were all over when she was napping in the car. But we did finally manage to see some for real and snap some pics.


We stayed one more night in Portree and headed out the next morning, back to the mainland. Once we got back across the Skye Bridge, we hit yet another road block. We heard it was a Bus vs Car incident and would be hours before the road would reopen. So we started looking at the maps and the only way we could figure to get where we needed was back up nearly to Inverness again and back down with our goal being Glencoe. This route added a couple hours to the journey, but at least we were moving!

We arrived at our hotel in Glencoe and were greeted with magnificent views:






And midges, tiny knat or no-see-um type biting bugs. They were in the air like fog. They were nasty little buggers!

Our hotel was also a local hang-out with a lot of beers on tap and in bottles. And since we were able to squeeze into two rooms instead of the three we reserved, we were saving a substantial amount of money and decided to treat ourselves to some good eats and "frosty" beverages. I say frosty, but a lot of their beers are Cask ales, which are stored at room temperature. still with the weather being in the 60's, it was just fine.

the following morning, after a hearty FSB, we took a hike above Glencoe and took in the sites.


From there we drove south to a Sea Life center for the kids, and then onto Oban where we toured around, had a nice lunch, and did some shopping.


The coliseum above is called McCaig's Tower, and was designed and built by a wealthy banker in 1897. When he died, construction ceased with only the outer walls completed.

On the way home, we stopped to get a picture of Castle Stalker:


And more Highland scenery near Glencoe.




After two nights in Glencoe, it was time to head back to Edinburgh but not before yet another FSB. I didn't think it was possible to get tired of Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, toast, beans, black pudding, and Haggis. But let me tell you, I was getting to that point.

After checking into our hotel early in the afternoon in Edinburgh, we parked the van in the nearest lot with the highest clearance and it just so happened to be at the base of Edinburgh Castle.


We hiked up to the top of the Royal mile, a straight street that runs from the Castle to the Palace, and got a really nice view of the city. Here's St. Johns Cathedral from the top of the street.


And the tower of St. Giles:


Same but later that evening while on a tour.


The "buying of Kilts" proposition returned while walking down the Royal Mile this afternoon, and I can say that my whole family is now proud owners of their own Kilts. I am not sure you'll see pictures of that, but as a group, we have a plan that should be food for some interesting conversation at the Christmas Party. The guys took the kids back to the hotel to allow the girls some shopping time alone.

After a late dinner at Pizza Express, we turned in for one last night.

It didn't feel right to start the final day off with anything besides a FSB, so we did it one last time!

We had nearly a whole day ahead of us, so we went straight to the Castle for a self-guided tour. The entrance to the Castle is quite impressive.


This is the other end of the Royal Mile, but I can't be certain of any of those structures is the Palace. All I know is this is Calton Hill.


We ate lunch at the Castle awaiting the 1pm shooting of the Cannon. This is a view of Scott's Monument from the Redcoat Restaurant within the Castle grounds.


We watched the cannon fire and said our goodbyes to Edinburgh as we packed up and headed for the airport. But not before one last stop for another dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. We used them as incentive for the kids to behave and they could have them once we reached our gate. It was quite entertaining to watch TSA agents reaction as we went thru security and I made sure and counted each time the box passed thru another set of hands....!

Scotland was very amazing and I am thankful we planned this trip. And despite this being the wettest summer on record, we had amazing weather and it really only rained when we were driving or sleeping! The Scottish people are quite friendly and that certainly makes trips much more enjoyable.

[TOOLMAN]

Very nice...all those pictures take me back to when my wife and enjoyed almost all of the places you did when we went on our honeymoon a few years ago. Inverness, Portree, Oban, St. Andrews, and Edinburgh (add in Pitlochry and Sterling for us). I kind of wish we would have went way north to Orkney, maybe next time. In two weeks we drove 1,100 miles around the Scottish countryside. Although I did get sick of doing all the driving, I would go back in a second. Thanks for sharing those.

[landshark]

Very nice JD, my wife and I are headed over there in about 3 weeks, should be fun.

[Jesus_man]

Glad some of my stuff brings back good memories!

Bring Smidge bug spray. They say it's the best. I'll say wear full coverage clothes. I prefer shorts and a t-shirt, but those little dudes get stuck in body hair and then just start eating you alive! So long pants, and sleeves, a hat!

[sykanr0ng]

Avon Skin So Soft bath oil (the original type) is one of the best non-toxic bug repellents available.

The guy that put me on to using it learned about it from friend who was a ranger at a waterfowl refuge (aka swamp)

[Justin]

So cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Jesus_man]

I have a little time here to update our trip reports. After Scotland, my wife talked me into going glamping. We rented a pop-up from the base, borrowed a JK Willys and towed it to a campground on the Rhein River for a few days. Myself and one other camper went up early on a Thursday morning to get prime spots. Well, with a fest in town, we got what appeared to be the last available space in the park. And we had to find and reserve room for two other families. We setup camp and left some room on one side for a couple tents. As we left to pay for our spots, another camper pulled in and took the space we had planned to use! We figured we could still make it work, so we strategically parked cars to hold the remaining space. Let me tell you that this campground, along with many others in Germany, donΓÇÖt have designated spots. ItΓÇÖs usually first come first serve, and you pay for the vehicles you bring, and the sleeping arrangements you have (tent camper etc). There didnΓÇÖt seem to be any rhyme or reason to where you could setup. And the quarters where much tighter than we have at home. But I just decided I was going to make the most of it.
HereΓÇÖs a shot of Castle Katz from our CG.


And this is the Rhein river just downstream looking into the village of St. Goarhausen.


We had family arrive (inlaws + 2 friends) the first of Oct. They came to go to Oktoberfest specifically, and to spend some time in Europe. My Inlaws have been here once for two weeks. This time they are staying much longer. They had a day and a half to prepare for Oktoberfest, to include renting them authentic Lederhosen and DirndlΓÇÖs. Since Munch is so darn far, and kinda , we opted for the slightly smaller and less chaotic Cannstatter Wasen in Stuttgart.


We went to the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Fest again on the Sunday after Canstatter, but really nothing new to share there. We returned home and then on Monday, I took our guests to a B&B (&B..and Beer) in Belgium. I had done some research and found a nice little B&B with a microbrew. The B&B was a 20 minute drive from Bastogne, we got a taste of WWII history there. It was also just a 20 minute walk to the well-known Achouffe Brewery where I booked a tour. As it turns out, the lady that runs the B&B also works as a guide for the brewery, and it was only us 5, so it ended up being a private tour. HereΓÇÖs a picture of the grounds around the brewery.


We got to taste 5 different beers after the tour, and hereΓÇÖs how they were served. They have a Bok beer that is quite good.


Near the B&B, we found this little fella in a corral. I honestly donΓÇÖt know what species he is, but he looks very Elk-ish, or perhaps a large Stag?


On the last day, we had planned to drive up to Cologne, but opted to do some more Bastogne before I dropped them off at a hotel near the airport for their flight to London the next day. No rest for the weary!!

They returned from London on Saturday around midnight and we took Sunday off. Monday we all boarded a plane and flew to Berlin to visit the Festival of Lights. The weather didnΓÇÖt cooperate as it was chilly and rainy, but we tried not to allow that to dampen our spirits.
The first night we walked to the city center and along the way saw this advertisement for the Curry Museum. It's a three-wheeled tractor pulling the trailer.


From there we made our way to Brandenburg gate where we watched part of a light show put on by different groups from different countries. I couldnΓÇÖt believe how well the structure reflected the scenes. They were usually set to some sort of music, from classical to techno.




Other places where just still projections. This is on the Library.


A Museum (note the 50ΓÇÖs US car!!)


The DOM cathedral




The following day, we checked out some of the history surrounding the Berlin Wall. HereΓÇÖs a view from a museum of how the wall looked back in the day. Between the two walls is the ΓÇ£no-mans-landΓÇ¥ where many who tried to cross it were shot and killed.


And how Brandenburg looked back then.


We returned home late on Thursday evening. Friday was back to work. We dropped off our guests for a Munich/Dachau concentration camp tour at 03:00 on Sat. They returned around 10:30 that evening. On Monday we drove to Bergen, Germany to board a boat to cruise the Rhein. There is no fewer than a dozen castles as you make your way downstream. There was also many other cool sites along the banks of this historic river.










After we disembarked, we made our way thru St. Goar to the train station where we caught a ride to Bacharach, a quaint little village along the Rhein. We did some shopping, but mostly from the window as most of the businessΓÇÖ were closed. Oops, should have came Sunday! HereΓÇÖs some of the streets of Bacharach.




On Tuesday morning, we dropped our friends off for a a 5-day guided trip of Italy. They are currently enjoying themselves there while we are all trying to rest up and kick these head colds!

[Rox Crusher]

Always enjoy these travel reviews !

[Jesus_man]

Thanks! It's fun to post 'em!

[Jesus_man]

It's been too long since an update, but it's been busy.

In the middle of Nov. we rented a big 9 passenger van and made a trek East into Poland for some pottery shopping. I don't have much to show for it all, other than a lighter wallet, but it's a 7hr drive to Bolesławiec. We have a good friend who meet us there with his family who is originally from Poland and speaks Polish. So he got us some good deals. I was actually impressed by how clean and nice everything was. I envisioned Poland as being downtrodden. Living is cheap there, but they do a good job of keeping things nice.

For Thanksgiving, we had plans to fly to Rome and do as much as we could in three days. But after the terror threats made to specific parts of Rome, we didn't feel comfortable taking the kids. So we cut our rather large loses and went North to Copenhagen, Denmark instead. We toured the city and it's Christmas Markets and while it was fairly chilly, we had a good time.

Nyhavn Canal


Nicely decorated Hotel


The Little Mermaid


A building on the Castle grounds


Star Shaped moat at the Castle


Windmill


Danish Flag


We visited a local amusement park called Tivoli Gardens to give the kids something fun to do. I think my 2yr old daughter is more daring than my 5yr old son. But I can identify with that!


I think we returned from Copenhagen on a Sunday and then had a Monday morning flight out to Rovaniemi, Finland to visit Santa Claus. Thank goodness we pre-packed what we could!

We flew out or Frankfurt, and had a layover in Helsinki and then onto Rovaniemi where a shuttle from our resort picked us up and took us right to our cabins. First order of business was sledding and playing in the freshly falling snow!


The following day we visited Santa Park. It's an underground "theme park" of sorts.


The entrance:


We saw how all the Christmas Letters for Santa were sorted.


We attended Elf School:


Decorated gingerbread cookies:


And Crossed under the artic circle 60m underground. This is the only place in the world to cross the circle underground:


The ice palace:




And of course, a visit to Santa, but my daughter isn't sure about him still:


The following day we booked a trip to the Zoo. It turned out perfect as our tour guide, Tina, just so happened to have worked for the zoo in the past. So we got some privileges not many other folks get. Here's typical Finish roads in the winter:


While at the zoo, we watched the sun rise and set:


Tina got a bucket of apples and carrots for the Polar Bear to draw him nearer to us:


This is a Dhole. First I've seen or heard of one:


Sunset over the zoo:


Little artic foxes:


Back at our Santa Claus Village:


The cabins:


That night we booked a northern lights tour as it was supposed to be the best chance during our stay. We drove a few miles out of town and walked out onto a pier jutting into a lake. The picture shows the lights fairly vivid, but they were not quite that with the naked eye. This is a result of a tri-pod and slow shutter speeds. But hey, we've seen the Northern Lights! There was a nice closed in Gazweebo with a fire going where we roasted brats and drank hot drinks.


We had done so much business with Tina, that she offered for the kids to come by the following day to experience snowmobile riding, which each one thoroughly loved!




Adults wanted a turn too, but that part wasn't going to be free...

This is the artic circle within the resort:




That really was a great 5-day trip. The kids all had a good time and the adults enjoyed it too. It was expensive, but a trip of a lifetime for sure!

[Rox Crusher]

Cool pics as usual.

Was the windmill converted into a house ?