Paris had been the most nervous part of our trip. With the metro strikes and the protesting that has been going on, I was a bit concerned.

We knew not to rely on the metro, so when we got to the airport in Paris we purchased Le Bus tickets, which are like our Skybus. The stop at Gare de Montparnasse is right near our hotel the Holiday Inn. Of course, because the metro is out, the traffic is CRAZY! And it took about 2 hours to get from the airport to our hotel!

Once we arrived we headed out to go find the hop on hop off bus. My navigation, even using Google Maps is never very good, and I end up going the wrong way before getting it right. I was also rushing, as the big bus tours itinerary indicated that it stopped running at 4.45pm! I much later discovered that this meant for a full circuit, not between stops ?

Anyway, we caught the bus (by running the last bit of the way). We got off at the Champs-Élysées stop and admired the arch, and had a late lunch. We went to McDonalds where I was going to try a McChicken. But I ended up with a fish burger, so my McChickens around the world experiment has been derailed slightly.

We stopped at H&M so I could replace my missing beanie and gloves. Especially as we had a night tour of Paris scheduled, I was going to need these items ASAP!

We watched a ceremony under the Arc de Triomph. The ceremony happens each night at 6.30pm and commemorates the Unknown Soldier who is entombed here. On the arch’s pillars are engraved the names of 660 national heroes.

We went on our two hour night tour on the top level of an open bus. It was cold, but also very beautiful.

We ordered an Uber to get back to our hotel, and then decided we needed to eat, having missed dinner. So ordered a meal on Uber Eats.

The next day (Sunday) we packed our bags again, and left our luggage at the hotel to continue our exploring. We jumped back on the Big Bus and continued our sightseeing. We departed the bus at the EIFFEL Tower in order to join a river cruise. I was looking forward to it – but I think we saw things far better from the bus than the boat.

We got off the bus across the river from Notre Dame Cathedral, had lunch at a local cafe, where I had duck with potatoes and Ulick had burger with FRENCH fries!

Across the road from here was a Christmas market, so we had a look and I bought another Christmas decoration.

From here we ordered a car and headed back to the hotel to collect our bags – allowing plenty of time to get back to the airport. Which was just as well, as it was another 2 hour trip.

We arrived in Dublin later that night after a good trip across with Air France.

Paris, you were great, and I would definitely visit again.

The post Trip to Europe Day 16 & 17 – Paris appeared first on Sara Napier.

We arrived in Rome at the Tiburtina train station, not great planning in my behalf. We bought bus tickets and experienced an overloaded bus ride to near our hotel. We couldn’t get off the bus in time near our hotel, because some old farts would t get out of the way, so ended up having a bit of a walk back to our accommodation, including a stroll last the Trevi fountain.

We got to our accommodation, and room wasn’t available yet, which was fine as it was only 10.30am or so. So we put our luggage into the hotel’s luggage storage and went exploring.

We went and bought a 2-day hop on hop off bus tour and went for a circuit to try and get our bearings of another city.

We saw highlights including the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus. We got off the bus at the Spanish Steps stop. It seemed to be a fair walk to the steps, but after we got off the bus I realised I had left my beanie and gloves on there (never to be seen again) and my sense of direction even using Google Maps is hopeless, so I think it was probably made further by my being a bit upset and a hopeless navigator.

From the Spanish Steps we walked back to the hotel, and ordered pizza via Uber Eats. While we were waiting for it we planned our activities for the following day, and booked tickets online for the colosseum and the Vatican.

Day 15.
We walked to the Hop on Hop off bus stop, which was only about a block away from our hotel. We caught the first one and got off at the stop for the Colosseum – our first tour of the day. As soon as we stepped off the bus a street vendor sold us some umbrellas – and mine was no good! I made Ulick take it back, and much to my surprise the street vendors swapped it for a better one. We were cutting it fine for time, and it was pouring rain, and we couldn’t find the pink flag that was meant to signal our tour. We eventually found a woman with a pink clipboard that she had been writing on – no wonder we had trouble finding her!

We had a tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum. It was very informative, and I was glad we did it – even though the rain didn’t let up. Towards the end of the tour my umbrella was bending and not functioning very well!

We made our way to the next hop on hop off bus stop at the Palazzo Venezia and toured around until we got to the stop for the Vatican. We stopped for a quick lunch break just outside the walls of the Vatican, before meeting our tour group.

Our tour started at the Vatican Museums – which is an amazing (and huge) collection of arts and sculpture. You could actually spend weeks in there, and certainly need more than an afternoon to truly appreciate it.

The tour continued on through the Sistine Chapel, which again 20 minutes is probably not enough to take it all in. I think the thing that amazed me the most about the Sistine Chapel was how plain it looks from the outside, compared to the inside! The Gallery of Maps is also a highlight.

Our tour concluded with a visit to St Peter’s Basilica, which was truly beautiful and amazing. Even if you aren’t catholic, you could appreciate the tour of the Vatican, but as a Catholic it is a truly moving experience.

After our tour we had to walk back to the museum entrance for me to collect my umbrella. This was a second umbrella. I bought a new, better, larger one in St Peter’s Square when we arrived in the afternoon and through away the crappy one that was falling apart.

We collected my umbrella from the coat room, and then went back to St Peter’s square to appreciate the nativity at night time, and for me to visit the gift shop.

After making some little purchases, we headed back to the bus stop to catch the bus back to our hotel.

I was so stuffed, it was one of our biggest walking days – even using the hop on hop off bus. Ulick ducked across the road to grab kebabs for dinner. I booked an Uber for our trip to the train station the next day and we set our alarms for an early start to repackage our bags before flying to Paris.

The post Trip to Europe Day 14 & 15 Rome appeared first on Sara Napier.

We arrived in Florence and had a short walk to our hotel. Our room was ready, so we squished into the tiny elevator (the two of us with luggage barely squeezed in) and went up to our third floor room. We dumped out bags, and then headed out to the Uffizi museum.

We got through the first half of the museum and it was already close to 4pm, so we stopped in the museum cafe for lunch, having chicken focaccias. Poor Ulick, it’s so hard to focus on museum exhibits when your stomach thinks your throat has been cut!

We saw many amazing pieces of work from Botticelli and Caravaggio, as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo. Not sure why Donatello didn’t have any work on display.

Seriously though, it was amazing to stand in front of some of these masterpieces, and next time I want to devote more time to Florence, not just for the art, but also the food.

For dinner that evening, we went to the restaurant (Braceria Bisteccheria Ristorante) next door to our hotel and dined upon a Tuscan menu, including bruschetta to start. Our mains included Tagliata di Chianina con funghi porcini trifolati for me (steak with mushrooms) and beef in red wine sauce for Ulick, with a side of baked potatoes. We also had dessert of lemon sorbet and tiramisu. It was a yummy meal.

The post Trip to Europe Day 13 – Florence appeared first on Sara Napier.

We arrived at Venice Santa Lucia train station and purchased a 24-hour water bus (vaporetto) pass. This took us right to the door of our hotel after three or four stops.

It was only 9am, but the hotel had a room available for us! We had really only stopped by to drop our bags off. We took our bags up to room 502. The elevator went to the fourth floor, and the. We had an additional flight of stairs to get to this room at the top of the hotel.

The room was quite large and palatial. Good value for $88AUD!

We then headed out to explore the city. We crossed the Rialto bridge – the oldest of four bridges that cross the Grand Canal. I found the travel agency where we needed to meet at about 2pm for our gondala tour. We continued on around the city, making our way to St Marks Piazza. We spent some time waking around the shops around the square and along the waterfront. We entered St Mark’s Basilica. Wow, a truly beautiful interior.

By this stage, Ulick was hanging out for a proper Italian coffee, so we headed to a cafe for an early lunch of pizza, pasta and coffee.

After lunch, we continued our exploring of the city. I hadn’t anticipated just how confusing Venice is to navigate! Lots of little walkways, some go places, some are dead ends.

We started finding our way back to the travel agency, and found it eventually. We continued our exploring, just a block at a time from the agency. We found a United Colours of Benetton shop, so had a good look in there, purchasing a little something for baby Harry’s Christmas present. We went to a antiquarian bookshop that also sold bookmarks and other items made from recycled leather – so I purchased one of those as a souvenir of Venice. Our bags are pretty full, so I am cautious of not buying too much, as much as I would like too!

We went for another coffee break before heading to our gondala tour. I had booked a shared tour, but we ended up having the gondala just to the two of us, so that was nice. The gondalas have names on them, and the names on ours were Sara and Roberto, which seemed fitting given Ulick’s second name is Robert!

The gondala tour was great, and I could have spent all day seeing Venice from the water this way.

When we left our tour, I remembered I hadn’t seen the Bridge of Sighs – so we walked the 300m or so to go see that.

After that we hopped onto a Vaporetto the long way towards our hotel. It is a great way to see the city.

We got back to our room, and discovered both the heating and the television weren’t working. I was too tired to care, but Ulick insisted on getting it sorted out. He came back with a second set of keys, for a room of the fourth floor. So we relocated. The second room was smaller, but you could feel right away that the heating was working. It even had floor heating in the bathroom, and a bath tub!

My feet and knees were look forward to a shower, but once I saw that bathtub, I knew how I wanted to spend some time!

We headed out for a quick bite at the local McDonalds – only about 30m away from the hotel, before heading back to the hotel so I could have a bath.

I ran the bath and filled it with the complimentary bath foam and watched an episode of The Crown. Then came the time for getting out of the bath! It was a longer bath than the one I normally use at mum’s house, and it was very slippery from foam. It took a bit of work and engineering application to get out again ???

I rolled into bed and continued watching The Crown, while Ulick caught up on some work, YES WORK!!

PS – McDonalds. Yes this will be a blog of its own. I have been trying McChicken’s in each country! So far the Netherlands is still in front.

The post Trip to Europe Day 12 – Venice appeared first on Sara Napier.

We repacked our bags and headed off via the U train back to Central Station.

I had decided that instead of stuffing around changing trains, we would take one to nearby the station and walk the rest of the way. The station where we got off the train was under a fair bit of construction, and it was a bit tricky to figure out where to go! We climbed the stairs from the underground, and luckily we could spot the Mercedes Benz logo which rotates above the Central Station, thus marking the way for us (like the Star of Bethlehem)

I knew that we needed to get to Platform 16 in order to catch our train to Austria. The reservations app didn’t provide detailed carriage information like yesterday’s trains, so I was hoping we would find our seats OK.

Well, we couldn’t find carriage 275! In fact, there only appeared to be one first class carriage on the train – and it was already full! I finally found somebody to query – and apparently the carriage we had reserved had been cancelled! So we had to scramble to find seats (in second class). Of course, we had planned to eat on the train, but now wouldn’t have the benefits of first class service. Once the train departed I went to the restaurant – it was already full. I managed to purchase us a couple of watery cappuccinos – but they didn’t have any food for takeaway! By this stage I was getting a bit frustrated, hangry etc.

Luckily we had some snack foods in our bag so had our rubbish coffees with bag snacks. Poor Ulick, his Mars Bars he bought in Asten are getting a bit of bag crush, so it was a bit of a gooey mess!

I think next time I wouldn’t bother with the Eurail 1st class ticket, as we have only really benefited from it once so far (from Cologne to Stuttgart). I would probably not bother with the additional reservations either, given that nearly all those I have made had been cancelled, and they don’t bother letting you know – even though they have your email address, and you have an app that can provide notifications!

Sorry guys, it all sounds very whingey, and I know we are amazingly lucky to be able to go backpacking for a month. I just hope others can learn from our adventure!

We spent the afternoon walking around Salzburg, admiring the architecture, and the beautiful Mirabell gardens, behind the Mirabell palace. We went to the Christmas market (it had about a dozen stalls) and purchased some chocolate pretzels for later.

We headed to the pick up point for our city tour that I had precooked. We were then told to go to another site, as they work in conjunction with another tour company. This worked out really good, as our tour bus ended up being a small people mover – with only the two of us in it – so had a guided tour of Salzburg.

We were shown the city highlights, including Mozart’s house, the fortress (Hohensalzburg Castle), Dom (cathedral) and Leopoldskron Palace.

After our tour, we headed back towards the train station. We managed to kill some time at McDonalds, the ÖBB lounge (90 minute time limit) and the main station waiting room.

I went and checked the departure board and it still said our Nightjet would be leaving from platform 2 at 1.40am. We went for a walk to platform 2 and the waiting room up there was empty, so we got our bags out of the lockers and purchased some food and headed up there. We killed a bit more time, and hour or so. I was struggling. I was regretting having bought this Nightjet ticket with such a late/early departure. I went for a walk along the platform to stay awake. Bah, our platform had changed to Platform 6!

So we loaded everything up and changed platforms!

The second train that arrived at Platform 6 ended up being ours – it arrived almost an hour early, so that was good. We got settled into our compartment and went to bed!

The post Trip to Europe Day 11 – Stuttgart to Salzburg appeared first on Sara Napier.

The train was also running about an hour late. So much for what they say about German trains and efficiency!

We arrived at Stuttgart, and went to the tourism information centre to buy a Stuttcard PLUS. This provides public transport and museum entry. By showing our Eurail passes, we also got 15% off the price of the Stuttcards (so €22.95 instead of €27 each).

We couldn’t figure out the process for validating them for public transport. We were meant to be able to do this at the orange ticket machines – but no matter which way up you inserted them, they could not be read. We used the cards for several trips during our overnight stay in Stuttgart, and were never asked for tickets anyway.

We found a train (well a train and a changeover to another train) to get us close to our accommodation at the Park Inn. We were pleased to checkin and get our rucksacks off our backs. Although I still maintain that rucksacks are far more practicable than wheeled suitcases. The Park Inn has been our first accommodation with a working elevator, so imagine carrying our wheeled suitcases up four flights of stairs, which is what we would have done in Amsterdam, and two flights in Cologne, as well as countless others at train stations etc.

We had a quick checkover our lodging at the Park Inn before heading off to the Mercedes Benz Museum. By this stage, Ulick was complaining of being hungry, having only eaten a banana and some leftover pretzel from the night before (it was buttered and microwaved so completely edible). It was after lunch time, so I promised we would eat when we got to the Mercedes Benz Museum.

We managed to find the right combination of U train and S train to get us nearby to the Museum. Our Stuttcard provided us with entry (normally €10 each). Each of our U train journeys would have been €2.37 if we had paid for a ticket each time, so I think our 24-hour pass was about breakeven. If we had more time on Monday we could have made better use of it – although many museums in Stuttgart are closed on Monday!)

Back to the Mercedes Benz Museum. We had a quick lunch, and put our jackets and my bag in the garderobe (coat room).

We collected our audio guides, and went in an elevator to floor 8.

The Mercedes Benz Museum has around 160 vehicles, from the 1800s to present. There are galleries highlighting particular modes of transport, including transportation, emergency services, new technology and racing.

It would have been easy to spend a whole day in there, but by 4.30pm I was getting a bit over it. It was getting dark outside, and we needed to walk back to the station, and find our way to the Christmas market!

The Christmas market was a short walk from Stuttgart Central Station. Having been to a few markets last night in Cologne, it was pretty much more of the same. It wasn’t as busy (cosy) as the Cologne markets, which was nice. The highlight of the Stuttgart market was probably the lit up sculptures.

After I had had my fill of Christmas marketing, we headed back to Central Station and caught a train back to Marienplatz station (close to our hotel). We had a traditional German dinner at Onkel Otto’s. Enjoying Schnitzel with Noodles (Spatzle) (Swabian Schnitzel) served with Gravy.

The meal was delicious, and luckily we had enough cash between us to pay for it – as they only took German debits cards!!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to put our legs up. Walking tally for the day was about 11km.

The post Trip to Europe Day 10 – Sunday in Stuttgart appeared first on Sara Napier.

The trains were packed, and delayed. We had one train to Düsseldorf, then swapped and caught another train to Cologne, and then needed to swap to another train to get to Cologne Central Station.

We found our Airbnb really easily – it was only a block from the train station. We followed our host Jens’ instructions and got into the building, and the apartment successfully.

It is a fairly basic apartment, but it is located so close to everything.

After dumping our bags, we headed out for a walk along the Reine riverbank.

We went for a look for some lunch, and had a wander through the Christmas market, buying some bratwursts for our lunch.

The market was already very busy and I have never before waited so long for a sausage in bread ?

After eating our bratwursts, we went for a look inside the Cologne Cathedral. Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 but was halted in 1473, unfinished. Work did not restart until the 1840s, and the edifice was completed to its original Medieval plan in 1880.

The completion of Germany’s largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event on 14 August 1880, 632 years after construction had begun.

The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during World War II. Badly damaged, it nevertheless remained standing in an otherwise completely flattened city. The twin spires were an easily recognizable navigational landmark for Allied aircraft bombing.

Repairs of the war damage were completed in 1956. Repair and maintenance work is constantly being carried out in one or another section of the building, which is rarely completely free of scaffolding, as wind, rain, and pollution slowly eat away at the stones.

After our visit to the beautiful cathedral, we stopped at McDonald’s at the train station for a bit more lunch before heading back to our accommodation to eat and freshen up.

McChicken in Germany is good, but not as good as The Netherlands.

A bit later we headed back to the markets. First stop was a geldautomat to withdraw some more euros. We managed that OK.

Then we stopped and took some pictures as a big Christmas tree.

The first market stall we queued for was the gluhwein. It was a bit of a slow wait – but very much worth it when we got our cups of mulled wine.

We also scored a table so stopped for a bit sipping our wine, under the towers of the Cathedral.

After that we went for a walk through the market. Be warned. It is very busy, and you will have times that you feel like you are not moving, or moving backwards! Not good if you’re claustrophobic!

We purchased some little wooden Christmas decorations for ourselves and for Jo before leaving the market to head to another one.

The next market didn’t seem quite as busy, but still lots of people were about.

We bought some Apple and Cinnamon Strudel which was quite nice.

We soaked up the atmosphere. Each of the markets had a carousel or Ferris wheel, and one of them also had ice skating. Lots to look at!

We slowly made our way back towards the Cathedral. I was getting a bit impatient for something a bit more filling for dinner by this stage – so we cheated a little and headed to the train station and picked up pretzels there, rather than queueing at the busy market ?

All in all, it was a successful visit to a very, very busy Christmas market!

The post Trip to Europe Day 9 – Cologne appeared first on Sara Napier.

De Peel is a region in the southeast of the Netherlands. It straddles the border between North Brabant and Limburg. The region is best known for the extraction of peat for fuel, which had been done since the Middle Ages (but isn’t done anymore).

An area that has remained partly untouched by the peat-cutting was turned into a national park. It is one of the most bird-rich areas in Western Europe (my worst fear) but we didn’t see too many (and none up too close).

The terrain is varied with inaccessible peat swamps, lakes, heath land and sand ridges. The present swamp and some of the lakes were created by the cutting of peat.

Where the National Park is now, is only a couple of kilometres from the house my mum was born in.

Ulick and I went for a 2 kilometre walk around the site – which as actually more like 3.5 kilometres. We saw some goats which was nice.

People already lived in the Peel region during the Stone Age, with the discovery of items made of bone and wood showing that the inhabitants mainly lived off hunting and fishing.

Peat had been cut since the 13th century and used as fuel, with most of it removed from the area between 1850-1930. It was an important fuel source as wood was a scarcity.

After our visit to De Groote Peel, we headed back into Asten for a visit to the catholic church – Heilige Maria Presentatiekerk

The Catholic Church dates back to 1479 in Asten, however this church as built in 1901. Its tower is 75 metres tall, and contains a carillon of 57 bells – with the bells cast by the local Asten bell foundry.

It is a beautiful church, and I was glad to see it. It would have been the place of my grandparent’s funerals (Grandpa’s parents) in 1950 and 1963.

We returned to Ria’s for lunch, and then put in a load of washing so we can continue our journey tomorrow with a fresh set of clothes in our rucksacks.

Another delicious meal prepared by Ria, including Salmon with white asparagus and a dessert vanilla vla (custard) with speculaas in it ?

The post Trip to Europe Day 8 – De Groote Peel appeared first on Sara Napier.

Because of the climate, a lot of the fruits and vegetables are grown in greenhouses. They grow produce including tomatoes, strawberries and paprika (capsicum).

Also on our walk we saw the castle ruins. The Huys tot Asten first appeared in documentation around 1399. It started as a manor-house and soon developed into a true castle. The building underwent several renovations over the centuries, but was firebombed by the Germans in 1944.

We headed back to Ria’s via the bakkerij for some lunch supplies. There was a good selection of Sinterklaas specials.

All up it was a 5km walk, so we had earned a good lunch. Ria made us some hot chocolate on the stove, and we had some sandwiches for lunch.

In the afternoon we had some rest time, in preparation for going out in the evening. Ria had organised for us to visit with the van de Mortel family who live nearby.

We had a light dinner at Ria’s of soup and pasta, and passed some time, until we were due to go visiting at 8.30pm.

The family we were visiting are first cousins of my mother. Our hosts Frans and Wilma were beautiful hosts. Around the table, there were also other cousins of mums (Frans’ brothers and sisters), as well as Frans and Wilma’s sons Stan and Thijs.

We started the night off with some vlaai – they were all impressed that I knew that word! It’s like a fruit pie.

As the evening went on, they brought out more finger food – meats, cheese, melba toast, spreads, and some hot food including bitterballen. Lekker! We departed at about midnight! Quite a late night for me – I was glad for the rest I had in the afternoon!

The post Trip to Europe Day 7 – Asten and meeting family on Sinterklaasavond appeared first on Sara Napier.

After lunch we went to meet Tante Nel to go on our sightseeing of where my mother’s family lived.

The first stop was Broekhoven (Bluijssens Broekdijk) – where my grandfather was born.

Tante Nel insisted on getting out of the car for photos – the lady likes having her photo taken.

Then we went to Neerkant to the house my mother was born (Moostdijksebergen). It was also where Nel and her husband Louis lived after they were married.

We then went to Neerkant cemetery where Nel visited uncle Louis’ grave. He died in 1977, only in his 50s. Also at the same cemetery there is a memorial for a family from Neerkant who lost their lives in the MH17 air disaster.

After visiting at the cemetery, we went to the Techniek met ’n Ziel – Technology with Soul museum in Neerkant. On display there is thousands of items relating to technology – right up Ulick’s alley. They are presented in domestic settings – so you can see how the technology was used – for example, kitchen, laundry, lounge room.

It was great reminiscing for Nel and Ria (and also Ulick and I).

Everyone Nel bumped into remembered her (she has been living in Asten for 17 years) – so she had a wonderful visit to Neerkant. The museum was set to close at 4.30pm, but we were only just sitting down for the free coffee and waffle (included in the €7 entry). Our host Harrie insisted on continuing the tour after our koffie break – with us leaving about 5.15pm!

Tante Nel wanted to take us to a restaurant for dinner – so we went to the China Garden for a delicious Chinese banquet. There was way too much food, but we tried some of everything.

After dinner, we returned Tante Nel to her flat. Promising to visit for her 100th birthday in four years time.

We got back to Ria’s house and watched some Dutch television. We watched a trash or treasure show called Tussen kunst en kitsch – the concept is the same no matter what language!

The post Trip to Europe Day 6 – Asten and Neerkant appeared first on Sara Napier.