Europe

We left Switzerland on a cold rainy morning and the weather did not improve during the day. Went through the little country of Lichtenstein, still very wet but managed to get a walkaround the place and stretch our legs. From there we travelled to Innsbruck in Austria and spent a few hours in the city having lunch and visiting the Swarovsky store.

Had dinner in the hotel and spent a few in hours in the pub getting to know some of our fellow travellers better

Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and made our way to the foot of Mt Pilatus on the coach. From there we took 2 cable cars up to the mount - 2300 metres. The views from there were absolutely spectacular. Very hard to describe in words. We spent 2 hours on the mount walking around, visiting caves and just taking in the awesome views.

From there we hopped onto a cog railway to take us down the mountain, to the lake where our boat was waiting to take us on a cruise of the lake to Lucerne. Beautiful city but very expensive. Did a bit of shopping anyway and then returned to our hotel to get changed for dinner.

Went back into Lucerne for a typical evening with traditional food, drink and song. Jan even yodeled on the stage and for his effots had to down a beer. After drinking almost 2 litres of beer during dinner he did well to keep the last one down. A really fun evening. Made our way back to our hotel at 10:30 in Giswil.

05 August: 7 am start to Heidelberg. Walked around beautiful old village and stopped for tea and coffee. Then back on the bus for a drive through the Black Forest and stopping at the Cuckoo Clock Factory and lunch with Black Forest Cake for dessert. From there we traveled to Schafhausen to the Rhine Falls the tallest falls in Europe. Stopped for a walk around and had an ice cream. From there we left Germany and went into Switzerland and through past Lucerne to the village of Giswal where our lovely hotel was situated. Had an early dinner then went for a walk thought some of the village.

Another early start, but not as early as our first day. Breakfast at 7 and then on the road again at 07h30 to go to Cologne. Spent 2 hours in Cologne, walked through the beautiful Dom cathedral and then had lunch and walked through the various shops. After Cologne we then went tot the Rhine valley where we went for a boat cruise on the Rhine past some amazing old castles and finished the cruise in the village of St Goar. From there on to Vienhamm to the hotel for dinner and early night.

Packed our bags for our tour and then took the train with Pauline and Stephen into London. Checked our bags into the hotel where we would be staying for the night and then went for a tour through some London pubs with them. Very busy in London so decided to finish off with dinner at the pub near our hotel so that we could get an early night,ready for our start the next day.

03 August 2011: Woken up at 5am to have breakfast early and leave London on the coach at 06h00. Headed for Dover to take the ferry to Calais. From Calais travelled through France, Belgium and on to Amsterdam. Checked into the Ibis Schipol hotel then went in to the city. Had an hour to walk around the city and bought croquettes and a supply of droppies. Climbed on a boat for a Cruise of the canals then had dinner at the Sea Princess floating restaurant. After dinner we walked though Amsterdam and were given a very informative tour of the Red Light district. We were taken back to the hotel at 23h00 very tired from our first day.