Jim and Jean's European Vacation
In and around Europe
see all photos »
We are currently preparing to leave on Wednesday, August 30th from San Francisco. First class to London (thank's to air miles for the free roundtrip ticket). Returning Monday, October 2nd from Frankfurt, Germany.
The flexible itinerary includes travel throughout the London area, France, including a chunnel EuroRail to Paris, the WWII sites of the 101st Airborne "Band of Brothers", Belguim, Switzerland, Holland and Germany. A side trip to visit Auschwitz in Poland is also in the plans.
Our friend Claudia Lawrence will join us in Amsterdam mid-trip for a visit to Arnhem and the remembrance of the Battle of Arnhem that took place in September 1944 as a part of Operation Market Garden.
8/28/06 Update: For anyone who is interested in watching a little picture of a plane flying across the Atlantic, you can track our flight by going to the Flight Exporer website. Outbound on August 30th is AA flight #1994 from SF to Dallas leaving at 9:39AM. Then Dallas to Gatwick, London Flight 50 leaving at 5:05PM Dallas local time.
Return flight October 2nd is AA #71 leaving Frankfurt at 10:55 AM. Then flight #327 from Dallas to SF, leaving at 5PM.
You can view a tentative itinerary here.
3 September Update: Claudia's Flight numbers in bold were changed from the ealier postings.
Claudia's flight information. Outbound @ 7:30AM from Oakland to Washington, DC on Sept. 15th United #208. Washington to Amsterdam at 5:27PM, United #946.
Inbound from Frankfurt to Washington on Sept. 28th. Leave Frankfurt 12:20PM United #917. Leave Wash, DC at 4:40 PM United #222. 12764 Air Miles. (We hope she can change her flight to come back on the same day as us, but no luck so far with the airline).
30 August 2006 1600: First leg done. Great flight to Dallas. Only 9 more hours to go!
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler The Smiths
-
1
London Adventures
Thursday, August 31, 2006
We arrived Thursday morning about 8 AM after an 8 hour flight from Da... Continue reading »
-
2
-
3
D Day Beaches and the Band of Brothers Tour
Saturday 9 September 2006
We packed up and left Paris today. Took a 12 PM train to Caen arriving around 2 PM. We picked up th... Continue reading »
-
4
No more Croissants, yea!
Tuesday September 12, 2006
Today was a travel day. We left Bayeux (Normandy) around 10:30 AM after another $9 Euro Croissant breakfast. Aft... Continue reading »
-
5
We made it to Amsterdam.
Wednesday, 13 September 2006
Good news is that Jean got us to our next destination without getting lost again. The bad... Continue reading »
-
6
-
7
Bastogne and Foy
Bastogne and Foy
We left Arnhem and made our way back to Belgium. Found a lovely hotel in the woods, just outside of Houf... Continue reading »
-
8
Giessen and Kirsch Goens
Giessen and Kirsch Goens
Well, this is what we came for. Jim wanted to go back to the Army base that he and Greg served at 40... Continue reading »
-
9
Who knew Oktoberfest started in September??
Franfurt AM
Well, we were so smart, we had our trip all planned to go to Munich for 5 or 6 days, and take little day trips to the pl... Continue reading »
-
10
-
11
We made it to Octoberfest, we think!
Dachau was the first stop, very sobering. Glad Octoberfest was next. Continue reading » -
12
Zurich, last stop before Frankfurt Airport and home...
We drove into Zurich and found our hotel. Mr. Nasty was at the front desk. He said our room wasn't ready so we went for a walk. F... Continue reading »
-
13
Would you like to comment or ask a question?