Europe 2022 - Venice - Day 12

 May 31st

Venice is amazing! The morning started with a boat ride and to Murano where we saw a glass blowing demonstration and then walked along the canal. From there it was another boat ride to the main island and a tour of the beautiful Streets where regular Venetian’s live. The tour took us to St Marks Square home of the cathedral, the Doges palace and lots of museums.

After the tour Jackie Kathy and I headed to a small cafe where we had a delicious lunch of bruschetta and pizza and enjoyed people watching.

I was in search of a yarn store so I took off on my own with instructions from our local guide but I got lost and let’s just say google doesn’t understand canals at all. I ran in to our regular guide and decided to join the group for our gondola ride. It was fun but a little scary: a little boat rocking, a bunch of larger boats went by.

After that I made one last attempt to find the yarn store but alas it was not to be. I did get to tour all kinds of areas I would never have seen. Finally with a little help I found one of the main streets and eventually found the vaporetto station and finally sat down for the short boat ride back to the hotel. (14,500 steps for the day)

Dinner this evening was at a lovely outdoor cafe, a little pasta and great location not far from our hotel.

We ended the day with a beautiful sunset and gelato.

Tomorrow Milan.

Europe 2022 - Day11 - Venice ahead -- but first a 7 hour bus ride

 May 30th

On our way from Vienna to Venice Italy. We are driving through the Alps.

In Venice. Dinner in an hour. Tour tomorrow.

Europe 2022 - Day 10 - Vienna and my birthday

 May 29th

Today’s activities started at 8 am with a short bus ride to Schonbrunn Palace, home to the Hapsburgs. We took a tour of the public rooms then had time on our own to walk in the gardens. I met a lovely young woman from Munich who asked me a question in german (I'm useless at it) so switched to English and we walked together for awhile and chatted. Kind of a special thing to happen in the middle of the garden. It's the simple things sometimes.

After our palace tour we did a walking tour through the Volksgarden on to the winter palace, offices of the president and other officials and museums. We then walked by the home of the Lippizaner Stallions where we were able to see about twenty of them walk from their stables to the area where they perform. The other times I’ve been here I’ve been lucky to see one or two in their stables so this was a treat.

The tour ended in the main square in the old city where there is a big pedestrian shopping area and the famous St Stephen’s cathedral. Last time it was covered with scaffolding as they worked to clean the stones but those are gone and it looks beautiful.

I had planned to go back to the hotel to meet up with Jackie Timme for lunch but after 11,000 steps I was ready for a break so I enjoyed a light lunch followed by a piece of Sacher Torte and just enjoyed people watching. I joined up with the tour group for a quick bus ride back to the hotel and then it was nap time

Europe 2022 - Day 9 - Asten, Oberosterreich, Austria. and on to Vienna

 May 28th

Travel day again as we are about half way between Salzburg and Vienna.

This morning we did a tour to The Eagle’s Nest in the German alpine not far from the Austrian border. We had another great local guide who is also a local historian. He had many stories to tell about people who came on a previous tour and had family who were involved in capturing the facility. One had seen a piece from the marble fireplace in the reception room in her uncle’s home.

The ride up and down the mountain on winding roads provided great views of villages below, although it was rainy and overcast.

We finished the day in Vienna with a visit to a traditional wine garden. Food is served family style and our whole group enjoyed dinner options like roast pork, sauerkraut, and wiener snitzle. Wine was served and of course apple streusel for dessert. Tomorrow we are off to Venice

- Europe 2022 - Day 8 - Salzburg

 May 27th

Rode from Oberammergau to Salzburg. It was a beautiful day today, Blue skies and almost no clouds. We drove along through the German countryside with beautiful scenery. Lots of mountains and green hills and traditional German homes.

Salzburg is a beautiful city but just for extra fun, we got here on a Friday afternoon so the old city area was very busy in comparison to our visit here for the Christmas markets.

we did a 90 minute tour starting at Mirabelle Palace and Garden, where some of the scenes for the Sound of Music was filmed. Then walked across the bridge to the old city.

11,000 steps and counting today.

Beautiful place!!

Europe 2022 - Day 6 - Lucerne to Neuschwanstein

 May 25th

Today we left Lucerne at 8:30 and drove to Vaduz, a tiny town in the country of Lichtenstein where we had a brief stop then on to Neuschwanstein to see King Ludwig’s castle. It was quite a hike to the castle from the drop off point but the views were amazing. Because the tour of the castle includes a lot of flights of steps Jackie and I decided we didn’t think we could manage the actual tour through the castle!! We hear from the group that the castle is opulent beyond anything they’ve seen.

We are off to Oberammergau for a late dinner. Tomorrow we will see the Passion Play

Europe 2022 - Day 7 -Oberammergau

 May 26th

The passion play in Oberammergau is amazing, different than I expected, inspiring all of those things. I got a couple of photos plus a few from our hotel in the countryside near Oberammergau. Jackie and I went to Kathe WolfArt today and bought ourselves small cookoo clocks and a few other Chcristmasy things. It's such a great shop.

Today we are off to Salzburg.

Europe 2022 - Day 5 - Lucerne - Mt Pilatus

May 24th -

Still in Lucerne. Jackie Timme and I are having a wonderful time. Today Jackie and I took the tram ride up Mt Pilatus. Heights are generally not my thing but this was very nice. Its a 30 minute gondola ride that seats four and takes you about 3/4 or the way up the mountain. Then you transfer to a tram that takes you the last 7 minutes to the top. Unfortunately it was raining and and very cloudy so no great views from the top but the houses and trees that we saw going up were so beautiful.

When we got back we took the bus into the old town and did a little bit of shopping and stopped at a cafe for coffee and treats. Then back on the bus and we are in for the night.

 

Europe 2022 - The saga continues….will we make it??

Saturday we returned to the airport for a scheduled 4 PM flight.  Guess what happened about 45 minutes before that.  Crew was there, plane was there and cleaned, but maintenance found that there was a fuel leak….sooooo…we were told to move from Gate E30 to Gate E7 and now the flight will leave at 7.  We were all just crossing our fingers.  The nice thing about the airport time was we got to meet some of the people on our tour and struck up a friendship with a man and woman celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.  So nice to find a connection like that in the midst of chaos.

The good news is that we did take off a little after 7.  We had hoped to get to Lake Como in time to join the group for a boat ride on the lake and a visit to the quaint town of Bellagio….which was leaving at noon.  We were scheduled to arrive at the airport at 9:45.  We hoped for quick passage through the airport, but ours was an unscheduled arrival and so it took awhile for passport control staff to get going to process all 230 or so folks.  Also, could we arrive at a regular gate and get off the plane….no…..we had to do it in a part of the airport where we had to walk down the steps of the plane, like in the old days…and get on buses to get us to Passport Control.

I guess the important part is we arrived in Italy, found the driver who was transferring us to Lake Como about 50 minutes away.  We learned that they were waiting for us to go on the tour. So, four hours of sleep over 48 hours of travel, no time to change clothes, we joined the group to get on the boat.

Photos tomorrow.  Time for sleep now.

Europe 2022 - Day 2 - not an auspicious start to the trip

Last night was a ridiculous amount of CRAZY from Delta Airlines.  We were to board at 5:30 and depart at 6:15.  They told us around 5:30 that the flight would be delayed because they were waiting for the captain to fly in from Ft. Lauderdale - where there were storms.  New flight time 8:15.  At 8:15 they told us the captain was still trying to get out of Ft Lauderdale and they were moving the flight to 10:15.  Then the staff disappeared for a couple of hours.  At 9:00 they said they had a local pilot coming in and they were going to board us at 9:30.  At 9:30 we got on the plane and sat….and sat….and sat.  Then they came on and said the Captain was there, but now the flight crew would hit their mandatory end time and a new flight crew was being called in….that was 10:45 or 11.  At midnight, they said they were going to deplane us and to wait in the waiting area for word.  When we got there, they were telling people to go to the delta desk….where there were now 235 people waiting in line…..yes, it was a mess.

I finally went up and called to the agents and said….on the app it’s telling me I can rebook for 4 pm on Saturday - do they have anything better to offer.  Answer was no…so Jackie and I rebooked on the 4 pm flight.

Then we needed a hotel room…..guess what - every hotel delta offered was booked.  Well to be clear, we talked to the vendor and they said go to their booking site and see what we could find.  Found the Renaissance - but when I called to see if they had a shuttle, she said they were fully booked and I didn’t have a reservation…sigh.  We were by then at baggage claim when we learned that they were keeping our bags on board for the night…..guess who had a very heavy carry on with no change of clothes in it??? That’s right me.

Anyway, then I called Marriott and talked to a nice young man who told me there was a room at the Fairfield in downtown Atlanta and that he would send a confirmation…which I was grateful for since I was so tired by that time I didn’t have any idea what address he told me.  BTW…Marriott’s voice system SUCKS big time.

So now it’s 1:30, we have a room, but taxi’s don’t run from 1-5 am.  So on to Uber.  First driver that accepted was 20 min away.  He called and said to cancel him and try for someone closer.  I did that and got Brahim.  So sitting and waiting and watching the app I see he is not moving, so I call him and the app isn’t working properly but he was close.  He picked us up, but at that point we realized we didn’t know which hotel.  So another call to various Marriott numbers were we were beset by their horrible phone system…and finally I got a confirmation number.  I complained that he said he would send a confirmation and it never arrived.  He said their system was having an issue…..do you see a pattern here.

At the hotel - there was a line of other folks from our flight, but we finally got to our room at 2 AM, got quick showers and tried to sleep.

The good news is that the staff at the airport (who weren’t with Delta) were absolutely wonderful and as helpful as they could be.  Our driver was also very kind and helpful and got us where we needed to go.  This morning we made it just in time for the breakfast buffet and again met several wonderful ladies who brightened our day again.

So, we will take MARTA to the airport at noon and pray with all our might that this time we will go.  We missed the dinner with our tour group last night and there is a good chance we will miss the Lake Como boat tour in the morning….but maybe not…maybe our luck is turning.

What a saga!!

Here are a few photos from downtown Atlanta.  Streets are quiet, but people are friendly and helpful.

On the road again…Europe 2022 - Oberammergau Passion Play

Not original, but true.  We are sitting at the airport in Atlanta waiting for our flight to Milan.  Kind of excited, but also a little nervous.  It has been a long time since there has been a trip to Europe.  Lots of excitement ahead.