In Venice

We got up at 5 a.m. to catch the train to Lisbon so we could get on a plane to Venice. Flying is so horrible, especially compared to train travel. I never want to fly anywhere again - but I'll have to. We changed planes in Barcelona and arrived in Venice about 5 p.m. We had booked an airport hotel, which is quite nice, but it's a good thing we're here only about 24 hours - everything is so expensive.

And we just learned that we will have to walk about 1 kilometer, lugging our bags, to get to the ship, because no roads or boats can go there. !!
'nother lesson: never book a cruise that starts in Venice.

Bill is still suffering from his cold, I hope he can make it.

Train trip to Coimbra

Today we wanted to go to the Portuguese town of Porto, where the Port wine is made, but it looked like it would take too long. At least 3 hrs each way on the train. So we went to Coimbro, instead. It is a very old college town. The old campus is very interesting, especially the library. No photography allowed, so I got these photos from the internet.

I has 40,000 very old books, that can still be used for research.

Sintra, going to the beach

Today we took the bus to the beach. Weather was cool, but nice. Spent a lot of time waiting for buses.

In Sintra, Portugal

After spending 3 days in Barcelona, we flew to Lisbon and took the train to Sintra, arriving quite late. Today, we visited the 2 palaces here, quite spectacular.

Troubles getting online

Have been having problems getting online and this blog was taken offline and German keyboards are different, and our Firefox is broken. So, no updates for now. These photos were added later.

We have just been for 3 days in Vienna -- great place, and we attended a super concert (all Mozart). Saw the Spanish Riding School training, and the palace.

Tomorrow morning we will fly to Barcelona, stay 3 days. Then fly to Sintra.

I'll write more later, when we have better internet. We have lots of photos, but I'm using the hotel computer so I can't put any on here.

In Heidelberg - heading to Rothenburg

I had the same title for a blog post last year... We got away from Bacharach later than planned. The train trip was good. Took a taxi from the bahnhof (train station) to the youth hostel where we are staying. Then a bus to the old university part of the town. Not much time but we had a good German-Mexican meal. Bill is holding up marvelously -- better than we are, sometimes. I wasn't able to get online much, so I wrote up some notes offline which I will put in now in the appropriate dates.

And yes, we did find the key. It had fallen out of my pocket while sitting on a bench waiting for the boat.

In the castle, finally

Bacharach - Stahleck. Wandered around the town, took lots of photos, taxi up to the Burg Stahleck. Lunch? Ate dinner there, not very interesting. Our rooms were in the part behind the tower, with narrow old stone stairways. Bill’s bathroom was on our floor, but his room was one flight up. Reeely tiny rooms, bunk beds. But it was lots of fun anyway, plus the awesome views.

Bacharack - back to town -- river trip

Bacharach - river trip - key-disaster!!. Taxi back down to Bacharach, found Zimmer frei Orth as mentioned in Rick Steves, left bags there to take KD boat up river & back. Nice trip, nice boat, lots to see & photograph.

Got off in St.Goar.... where B & I went up the Lorelei cliff and to see the statue. €25 taxi + Bill’s €25 tip.

When we got back to the Zimmer, the key they had given us was GONE. I had it (bad news). And it’s a super security key -- landlady said it costs €500 to replace. After much discussion we decided it must have fallen out of my jacket pocket on the boat. Manfred asked the KD ticket lady to help find it - she called the boat, they will look for it during clean-up.

Boat will be back tomorrow @ noon. If it’s there, we might still have time to got to our reserved rooms in Heidelberg. Otherwise, we have to skip Heidelberg and do something else about the key. Had a very early, very nice dinner (pizza & spaghetti) and “went to bed” b4 10.

On our way

We finally flew to Frankfurt, then to Trier. Now we are in Bacharack, staying in this castle - Borg Stahleck. Not much internet time... I'll write more later.

boat + train to Bacharach.

Getting from boat to train was pretty hairy. We wanted to take boat from Koblenz, but missed it so had to take another train. Bill left his new hat on the boat. They had no room for us at the castle, so we stayed in a B&B seen in Rick Steve’s book. Nice lady, 3 long stair flights, bad spring bed, beautiful frühstück (breakfast).

Trier, still

Trier. Bill & I went up the porto nigra, took lots of photos, but they are all on his camera, not mine. M stayed in the square. I never did get to see the other historic sights of Trier. Bill bought a nice hat, which he promptly lost.

Trier, still

Trier. Bill & I went up the porto nigra, took lots of photos. M stayed in the square. I never did get to see the other historic sights of Trier. Bill bought a nice hat.