Sept 29- Sept 30 Budapest HUNGARY

Crossed the border from Croatia into Hungary without any difficulties. Budapest is certainly an interesting place, having been involved in many conflicts over centuries, more recently the liberation from Germany by the Russians >> which turned into a Russian occupation and communism, which Hungary is now challenged to overcome the effects. Buda is hilly and has buildings going back to the 1400's, while Pest is newer on the flat plains beside the Danube. Many buildings were not repaired nor restored, meaning that much restoration work in underway and pending for the future -- the architecture is fantastic however regardless of the state of restoration. Budapest is 2 cities (Buda and Pest) that became one. In some cases, the buildings still contain the scars of armed conflict, with bullet marks remaining where buildings are pending restoration. One of the most notable things for us has been the lack of high rise buildings -- very few, as many old buildings of medium/low rise exist in Europe. Budapest has a number of different and architecturally interesting bridges crossing the Danube -- most were rebuilt to some degree as the germans blew up the then existing bridges when they retreated in WWII and the Russians took over the city. On the Wednesday evening we had a wonderful cruise up and down the Danube, made that much more enjoyable with dinner and wine on the boat. Tonight (Thursday) we're off for a traditional Hungarian meal with the tour group -- roast duck is on our menu. While Hungary has not yet converted to the Euro (even though it is part of the EC), that conversion is pending for the next couple of years or so. As such, Euros are generally accepted in place of local currency (Forint), so that made it easier getting around. Typically, rest rooms are not free (except at a restaurant when you are a customer), and cost seems to vary from about 0.17Euros to 1.0Euros -- most are very clean and well managed, however the public rooms in Hungary have a way to go to get up to a number of other EU countries. Great weather day today -- cool at 15 degrees, but sunny. Off to Krakow, Poland at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

Sept 27-28 2010 - Zagrab, CROATIA

Arrived at the Westin Hotel in Zagrab in time for early evening dinner -- a very nice meal and evening with co-travellers. Tuesday morning we were up bright and early, and into the old town (lower town and upper town) by bus followed by a walking tour. Changed some of our Euros over to Kuna (since Croatia is not part of the EU). As is the case in much of Europe, there are churches everywhere (during communism, churches remained open and used by congregations, provided that there was little to no display of religion outside of the physical confines of the church). Much restoration of churches underway, which are clearly major undertakings. The cathedral here is very impressive. After walking around the town, we stayed in the area for a coffee, and then did some alternative walking/touring ourselves, followed by a nice lunch (ok -- two days in a row we have had a wonderful mushroom soup, served in a bowl made of hollowed-out bread >> very tasty). Keeping with our practice in London, Paris and Vienna, we took public transportation which served us well -- from the main square we found we could take the tram 2 stops at no charge, which placed us a block from the hotel >> a good deal and very convenient. Lots of cobble stone streets here, and the buildings don't generally have the same impressive architecture that we saw earlier on our trip. Many old buildings are finished in a yellow coloured concrete; buildings are generally low rise. While many washrooms have a charge (as little as 0.17Eur, they are really clean as there are full-time cleaning staff on site. We'll be looking for a place for dinner tonight, then off to Budapest tomorrow, with new currency for our use (the Forint - HUF).

Sept 25-27 2010 - Lake Bled, SLOVENIA

Had a nice trip to Lake Bled. Nice roads; two lanes with lots of switch-backs as we crossed the mountains from Austria into Slovenia. It seemed a little earie to pass through abandoned border crossings (since the creation of the Europeon Union). Lake Bled is a small place (about 7,000 people) in a truly picture post-card setting. Our hotel room overlooked the lake (a medium sized lake -- something a little larger than Lake Louise (Alberta), with views to a large old church on Bled Island, an old church across the lake and a castle on the cliffs directly across the lake. We took a gondola to the island, then walked over to the church across the lake, and hiked up the paths on the cliffs to the castle. We also toured to the Postonjna Cave - a networks of 23km of caves that are on three levels (although level 1 is primarily a river). Some very large caverns, and just full of stalagtites and stalagmites that have grown from the constant dripping of the limestone saturated water. The average age of the columns that we saw was 8,000 years; growth is approx. 1mm per year. A small electric train took us into the cave about 7km, then we walked some of the caverns once dropped off by the train. On the morning of the last day we went up Mt. Vogal by cable car -- unfortunately it was an overcast day, but the gloom disappeared with the consumption of some celebratory Bluebell Brandy while at a chalet on the mountain. This is a great ski area and available at low cost by North American standards. This is the most easterly portion of the Alps. We finished off our time in Slovenia with a trip into the capital of Ljubljana. Then the border crossing into Croatia - stop to exist Slovenia, stop for immigration into Croatia, then stop for customs into Croatia >> made it; we're in!!!

Sept 22 2010 plus - VIENNA

BLOG POSTING -- VIENNA - Sept 22 2010 plus
http://49th-and-north.blogspot.com
We left the hustle and bustle of Paris by train this morning for Frankfurt. Very large and nice station, and while we travelled 2nd class the trip was very comfortable and enjoyable. Arrived in Frankfurt and immediately were able to get reservations for the next train to Vienna (and retain our 1st class arrangmements) -- beautiful day; fast, quite and very smooth ride; great views of the country-side. Train leave and arrive on time (to the minute), so people don't run late if they're booked on the train. Less than 1/2 hr to our hotel (Hilton Danube -- was originally a corn storage silo and some of the structure dates back to 1913). Discovered the subway only a few minutes from the hotel, so for 1.3Eur each we travelled into 'old' Vienna -- clean, quiet, fast, electronic ticketing machines and no turnstiles -- system operates assuming honesty. Great day in old Vienna. Massive churches and palaces, sculpture and other art is everywhere. A real contrast to London and Paris - traffic is less, vehicles actually have room for parking, very few scooters on the roads/sidewalks, very quiet, courteous, streets are somewhat wider, seats available at outdoor cafes and restaurants, and english is generally recognized (along with german, french and spanish >> people tend to be multi-lingual. Starbucks restaurants -- they have them and some are quite large --- also, they don't charge for washroom access which most places do. Had Shnitzel; for dinner (the largest/thinnest either of us have ever had -- fell over the edges of the plate. Tomorrow, Friday, we plan to check out the area around the hotel, meet up with the tour group in late afternoon, participate in some group touring in late afternoon and then, while in old Vienna, break away from the group and meet up with Richard and Mary Anne (from BMO, Toronto) for dinner; looking forward to another great day.

Sept 19-21 Paris and things french

On the 19th we left London by way of rail (Eurostar) -- train tunnel under the English Channel and through to Paris. Very fast train, very quiet and very smooth --- the way train travel should be; a most pleasant trip for us. Arrived at Gare Nord and checked with the ticket agent regarding the upcoming general strike (covering all of France). This confirmed that the strike would definitely impact our plans for travel on the 23rd, and after some discussion and conferring, our tickets were changed to the 22nd for a few additional Euros. We cancelled our planned last night in Paris (was to be the 22nd) and have now picked up an additonal night in Vienna instead.

Paris has turned out to be fascinating -- much smaller (2.5 million people), very old and low rise buildings, narrow streets. Noisy to some degree -- they like to use their horns!!! Traffic is somewhat insane --- on the Sunday it seemed like mid-week traffic all day. Weather has been great and we've walked miles. Had a great meal at a very old restaurant (Boullion Rascine) -- wonderful roast duckling in a great sauce accompanied by a nice bottle of wine -- all of about 4 minutes from the hotel (Central St. Germain Hotel). Our trek on Monday (approx 17 kilometres of walking) took us to Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, along the Champs-Elysees, to the Arc de Triomphe, down to Trocadero for a fantastic view of the Eiffel Tower, and back to the Latin Quarter where we are staying. Monday evening saw our trip to the Moulin Rouge -- our special treat to ourselves while in Paris, we were really looking forward to it and not disappointed. The food was very good, the show was great, the subway trip to and from was notable in that people readily gave up their seat for Susan (and also me) >> I guess we're looking older >> nevertheless, I in particular was somewhat surprised, but the last young man insisted that I be seated!!!

While traffic is crazy here, at least they travel on the right hand side of the road. Crazy is ok then (not both crazy and travelling on the left hand side of the road per the U.K.).

By the way, if you sit at an outdoor cafe here, all the seats will be facing the roadway/sidewalk. Two people sitting at a small table will be placed beside each other so that they both face the street -- looks a little strange to us, but I guess everyone at an outdoor patio can have good reason for distraction.

Tuesday is our last day and we plan to spend most of our time at the D'Orsay Museum, and just enjoying the area around the hotel.

Sept 16 to 18 - LONDON and things British

Well, we made it to London, David flying in from Calgary, and Susan from nothern England. As it turned out our arrival times were pretty close, and we ran into each other near our hotel (Park Plaza Riverbank hotel)on the Albert Embankment in early afternoon. If you're familiar with Heathrow Airport, you'll understand why David felt that he had walked to London by the time he reached the 'Underground' at Heathrow to take into the city. Susan took a train from Corbridge to London, then a brief subway ride. The hotel was very nice and modern; full 'english' breakfast; conveniently located to many points of interest just across the Thames. Apart from David being up for what turned out to be 36 hours, after dropping bags off, we headed to the BMO offices to say hi and goodbye to colleagues that David worked with over the years -- it was a brief but very nice visit with June Diprose, Gary Olivier and Trevor Bailey. We walked along the Victoria Embankment side of the Thames for most of the way back (about a 4 mile walk).

Next day, following a full 'english breakfast', Susan and I went over to the London Eye (gigantic ferris wheel) and went for a ride --- it was a great day with clear sky so we could see in all directions. Refer to picture attached. In the afternoon, we met with Susan's cousin, Rosemary and husband Ron >> had a nice visit in the afternoon over coffee/tea. We then headed by underground over to Leciester Square, then walked over to Covent Garden market place to meet with Ruth (Susan's cousin) and husband Rob -- went to 'China Town' area for a great meal along with equally great conversation. It was a great visit. We then walked back to the hotel.

Day 3 saw us meet up with David's cousin Les and wife Pat. They planned a cruise up the Thames as far as Kew, after a drink and sustinence, we wondered around Kew Gardens to see and experience all kinds of botany, including a walking tour on a platform among the tree tops. It was a terrific day, and provided a wonderful opportunity to catch up.

Aug 31 - Sept 16 -- Ireland, Scotland & England

Susan and Sheila (cousin)I spent 3 nights in Ireland prior to going over to Scotland. Susan's first time in Ireland. Beautiful country and spent time with Tommy Brennan--a crazy Irishman who taught one year in Canada with Susan. He showed us the countryside and we had a great time in his small village with his local friends. Afterward, we went on to Glasgow and then Edinburgh. Susan had been in Scotland before with David when Chris was going to school in Edinburgh. Really enjoyed my second visit. The scottish people are so friendly and the food was good this time (somehow a noteable contrast to our first visit). We headed south to Northern England and did a walking tour along Hadrian's Wall--built 2000 years ago by the Roman Empire. We stayed at 3 different B & Bs. Luggage was moved from place to place by taxi. We walked 80 km and the vistas were amazing. Being use to hiking in the Rocky Mountains this was a "walk in the park" but we had a wonderful time. At night we enjoyed the pubs and meeting the locals. We call this the Cousin Trek. Two years ago four of us (all cousins) went to Spain. Next stop hopefully will be Italy.

August 31 2010 - Ireland, Scotland and England

Susan and cousin Sheila had a great visit to Dublin, Ireland and area, followed by a visit to a teacher friend (Tommy) in Cardiffstown, Kilmesssan, County Meath, Hill of Tara where they were introduced to many historical sights going back some 3000+ years; of course there were also Irish pubs! Then to Glasgow and a couple of days hiking on the West Highland Trail, followed by a train trip to Edinburgh (her second visit to Edinburgh) with some local sight seeing and hiking ("Arthur's Seat" was a nice walk/climb in Edinburgh.

The next leg of the holiday was to Brampton, England by train to begin the hiking and self-guided tour of Hadrian's Wall ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian%27s_Wall ) where she is enjoying the hiking, fabulous B&B facilities in Haltwhistle, and general sites (including pubs!!!). This trip continues through the 15th of Sept.

Sept 16, Susan and David meet up in London. Hopefully we'll be able to do some blog updates during the course of our travels.