Day 11: Pilgrimage to Mont. St. Michel / Versailles

Mike: My last day on tour was a 14 hour day out of Paris to Mt. St Michel.  I toured the famous Abbey with its coilster of monks. The abbey and the town were a famous pilgrimage center in the Middle Ages.   In the Middle Ages, everyone was expected to make a pilgrimage and Mt. St. Michel was one of the accepted places you could pilgrimage. When you walk around the village the setting takes you back to the Middle Ages with its steep narrow streets and gothic stone buildings.

Ann: I got to sleep in this morning.  I enjoyed breakfast and the rest of the day with a mom and her daughter from Canada. They had been with us since the tour started in Amsterdam.  We headed out on the Metro and then walked, saw the sights, and ate a bit of lunch in the park.  We found the tour at 1:30pm and took off for Versailles.  We visited the gardens first.  There is mostly greenery, no flowers...the gardens are immense as is everything else.  Then we had a visit to the palace, wow, such beauty but also so much over indulgence.  I really enjoyed the day:  great company, gorgeous sights and my feet were surviving.

Finally, we want to make an observation about our time spent in Paris.  The French people were very nice and welcoming throughout our time in France. They communicated by their words and actions that they were happy we were in their country.  Bottom line is that we had a great time in France and we really liked the people.

Tomorrow we fly back to Cincinnati (through Toronto) to end our adventure. It's been fun.

This will conclude my blog.  I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure.

Mt. St. Michel

Narrow streets at the Abbey

Versailles

Versailles

Message from God on the last day that everything is going to be ok.

Day 10: Tour of Paris

A tour bus picked us up for a tour of the Paris highlights.  We toured Notre Dame (which means "Our Lady) Cathedral.  They started building the church in 1163 and finished it 200 years later.  A statue of Joan of Arc is in the church (interesting because originally the church called her a witch).  Next was a two hour tour of the Louve Museum.  We just hit the highlights but we were up close and personal with The Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo (this work was created in the 2nd century BC but was not discovered until 1820).  So many great artists were exhibited such as Michelangelo, da Vinci, Raphael...what a great collection.  We also saw the Arc de Triomphe, Champs Élysées and the church at Sacre Coeur ("

Joan of Arc statue

Eiffel at night.

Tourists at the Eiffel.

Venus de Milo

Napoleon crowning himself.

Sacred Heart").  We bought 10 subway tickets and used them all.  The metro is by far the best way to get around in Paris.

We had tickets to go up in the Eiffel Tower at 4pm.  It rained a little but what a great adventure.  It originally took 2 years to build the tower and $26 million.  In the first 6 months they had 1,000,000 visitors and Eiffel got all of his money back in that short amount of time.

Day 9: On to Paris

We took the fast train to Paris from Brussels.  They advertise that the train goes 180 mph.  I don't know if it went that fast but cars on the expressway were standing still.  We arrived at noon and worked out some scheduling with our tour company.

At 8PM we boarded an open topped, crowded canal boat with 200 people on board.  The trip took us past Mr. Eiffel's Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Louve Museum, lots of government buildings and some famous longstanding bridges.  When I saw the Eiffel Tower up close, I was overwhelmed with how massive it is.  Tomorrow we have a special "Go to the head of the line" tour of the tower.  

High Speed Trains.

Statue to Libertue, Rebublic Square, Paris.
(Check out the graffiti)

Day 8: Excursion to Antwerp

Belgium's second largest city is beautiful and basically untouched by WWII bombings.  We visited  a museum at one of the first printing companies in the world.  They published, and we photographed, the  Gutenberg  Bible, which is the first Bible ever published.  There are only 7 of These Bibles left in the world...one in the Vatican, one in the Library of Congress and I am unsure where the other 4 are located.

Lots of art in Antwerp.  Rubens is a wonderful Dutch painter with tons of paintings in his hometown of Antwerp. We took lots of photos of his paintings.  They tell you that you are allowed to take as many photos as you want...only no flashes allowed.  (I would turn off my flash but after a while it would automatically reset itself to flash...I am sure they thought I was the typical "Ugly American", who would not follow the rules.)

Town Hall in Antwerp.

Guttenburg Bible.

Rubens, "Doubting Thomas"

Ann, Lunch on Antwerp Square.

Day 7: Bruges, Belgium

Great tour of Bruges, one of Europe's most perfectly preserved medieval towns.  The town looked like a typical Middle Age Flemish town.  The town was untouched by bombing in WW II so all the original buildings were still in  existence.  They have lots of canals so we took a short scenic cruise.  Belgians are famous for their chocolate bonbons.  We tried to eat our share.  Belgians are also famous for their beers.  We tried some at lunch and we will try the rest at dinner.

One of the truly special things in Bruges is the actual  Michaelangelo sculpture of "Madonna and Child".  While  Michaelangelo was still alive a local merchant bought the statue and gave it to his parish church, The Church of Our Lady. It is Bruges' most beautiful work of art and priceless.

Canal setting in Bruges, Belgium.

Street scene Bruges.

Michelangelo's Mother and child.

On the town square in Bruges.

Day 6: On to Brussels via Waterloo.

We left Luxembourg and drove to Waterloo where Napoleon fraught a major battle against a coalition of countries and he lost the battle...as you know.  We studied how the battle took place. Napoleon accomplished a lot in his lifetime. He started out in Italy; became a general at 26; conquered France, Spain and almost all of Europe. After his defeat at Waterloo he was confined to the island of St. Helena.  He died at the age of 52.

"If this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium" (title of an old movie). We drove into Brussels, capitol city of Belgium. This is the home of the European Union (28

Late in the afternoon we had a walking tour which ended in the town square.  What a beautiful town with great buildings and tons of interesting things to photograph.  You are not allowed to leave Brussels without touching the statue of Everard t'Sercales, a 14 Centry hero, for luck. We also took pictures of the world famous statue of Pis. (This you have to see to believe).  We finished the evening at a restaurant with a typical Belgium dinner which we finished with a Belgium waffle.

Could have been a similar picture to Custers Last Stand. (At Waterloo)

Palace of the Belgium King.

European Union Headquarters.

Famous statue of Manneken Pis.

member countries); NATO and the World Bank. We took pictures of the palace of the Belgium King, Philippe.  He was in residence but he did not send for us.

Day 5 B: The World's Most Liberal City.

While planning for a trip to Amsterdam, I have been fascinated by the fact that the city is known as the "Cradle of Liberalism".  I wanted to find out just how liberal Amsterdam really is.  I learned that they permit:
    Recreational drugs
    Prostitution
    Same-sex marriage
    Euthanasia

I am told that this town is mostly pragmatic people who tend to think that these issues are going to happen anyway.  So they legalize it to prevent the issue from going underground.  It is definitely a culture of permissiveness.

Sex at a young age is another example of tolerance.  Undesirable according to a lot of people but treated pragmatically by the Dutch.  The belief is that kids will have sex whether you like it or not.  So at 12 years old they get education and they can go to a clinic to get contraception.  Their parents won't be told.

Just about the only thing the Dutch won't tolerate is intolerance.  They want to be known for open-mindlessness and "live and let live".

I am so amazed that an entire city can be this far left of center on so many issues.

Statue honoring the world's oldest profession. (Amsterdam's Red Light District)

Day 5: Luxembourg

Morning sightseeing with our tour guide hit the city history past and present.  We learned it is a constitutional monarchy with a grand Duke and a parliament.  They were known as a neutral unarmed country and when the Germans took over the country in WW II, they did so without firing a shot.  Next we drove to the American Cemetery in Luxembourg.  There are 5000 soldiers buried in the cemetery along with General George Patton.  This was a very emotional (and tearful) setting to think that all those Americans died for us...so that we could remain free.  General Eisenhower said, " The cause for which they died will live eternally".

80,000 Americans died in the "Battle of the Bulge".  The average age of the American soldiers who died in the battle was 27.  The average age of the German soldiers who died was 16 (they must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel).

In the afternoon we took a drive to Trier, Germany's oldest city.  They have a 2000 year history starting as a Roman city in 17 BC.  We viewed lots of unique Roman history and artifacts.

Gen. Patton gravesite.

All soldiers buried facing the USA.

History lesson on the Battle of the Bulge.

Day 4: Amsterdam - Belgium - Luxembourg

This was a travel day which included a bus ride of 6 1/2 hours.  Our first stop was in the picturesque town of Nuenen, Netherlands, one of the early homes of Vincent Van Gogh.  As an artist he produced over 3000 paintings and drawings in his lifetime.  While he was alive, he sold only one painting worth $10.  Recently, one of his sunflower paintings sold for $65 Million.  He died, sadly, of suicide at a very young age.

The next stop was Bastogne, Belgium, to visit a very famous war museum. The Americans stopped the Germans in the WW II Battle of Bastogne and from that point on, they pushed the Germans back to Berlin and ended the war.  70,000 Americans lost their lives in this battle.  The Americans called themselves "The Battling Bastards of Bastogne".  We are staying two nights in Luxembourg, The capitol city of one of the smallest sovereign states.

Van Gogh painting of home in Nuenen

Bastogne

American Memorial

Famous Van Gogh Painting, "Potato Eaters"

Day 3:The Great Flower Show

Today checked off an item on Ann's Bucket List...tulips in bloom in Holland. Spectacular is not a big enough word for how impressive the flower fields are.  We visited Keukenhof (The Kitchen Garden) which is said to be the "most beautiful spring garden in the world".  I think our photos will tell the whole story. It only lasts for 8 weeks out of the year and we saw the garden in full bloom.  It was a spectacular setting.

After the flower show our guide took us to (1) a cheese factory; (2) a wooden shoe factory; and (3) an operating windmill.  For the rest of the afternoon we were involved in a party because today is the King's birthday.  This is the year's biggest celebration in the Netherlands...it rivals the 4th of July in the US.  The city of Amsterdam shuts down to all traffic so as not to interfere with the party.

Note: Ann bought some walking shoes for the trip.  Today both soles started to come off.  Did you ever try to buy Crazy Glue in Amsterdam?...well you can't.  Reese Witherspoon, in the movie "Wild",

Flower fields

Selfe

gave us our solution...duct tape on black walking shoes...it works.

Day 2: Amsterdam

We were at Anne Frank's house at 8:30 am. I had read her book before our trip and it was exciting to see how everything played out. Such a depressing tragedy for Anne, her family and all of her fellow Jews.

Next was a canal cruise through the "City of Canals".  They say it is an odd experience if you are ever in the Netherlands and it is not raining...it was raining.  Next we visited the Rijksmuseum with priceless paintings by  Rembrandt  and other Dutch masters.  A diamond center demo followed where they showed us lots of the biggest and best of their jewels.  The tour bus next took us to the Hague, seat of the Dutch government and the International Court of justice.The court has, in the past, tried many dictators and other criminals for genocide.  It is interesting that they no longer try these major criminals in the Hague because they are so afraid their supporters will try to break them out of jail.

Next on the agenda was a stop at the world renowned Royal Delft Pottery Factory where we saw demos of hand painted pottery.  In the evening we joined our tour director for a Dutch dinner of Hotchpotch (a little bit of everything) and pea soup. We walked off the heavy meal

Ann at Delft Factory

Lots of canals

Celebrating the King's Birthday

Statue to Ann Frank

with a walking tour of Old Amsterdam.We took a side trip through the "red light" district. Prostitution is not legal in the  Netherlands but they tolerate it...so it exists.

Day 1: Arrival in Amsterdam

We left Cincinnati at 3 pm and landed in Amsterdam at 2am (Cincy time); 8AM local time.  The Airport is 11 feet under sea level as is most of the country.  We were excited about being in Amsterdam which views itself as the most liberal city in the world. They say they are allowed to "believe what they want"..."live and let live". I am going to check this out...I'll get back to you.

After we checked in, Ann and I bought a "hop on, hop off" ticket on a canal boat.  It turned out to be a wonderful way to see the highlights of the city.  The city is so unique because it is full of canals.  It is also full of bicycles.  the population of the city is 800,000 people with over 1,000,000 bicycles.  You have to really watch where you are going because the cars are nothing, it is the bicycles that could get you. The train station has a huge parking garage dedicated to only bicycles. There are 5,000 bicycles in that location.  Look anywhere in the city and what you see the most of is bicycles attached to lamp posts and everything else. Bicycles work out very well because the city is easy to navigate as it is flat and compact.

We are joining up tonight with a group organized by Globus.  It is a bus tour made of of 37 people that will travel to Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg and Paris.  Follow my blog for the next 11 days and Ann and I will tell you how the trip went.

Mike Hall

Bikes and more bikes!

Hop on and hop off.