The Smithss Blog on RealTravel

Zurich journal: Zurich, last stop before Frankfurt Airport and home...

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 12:09:04 GMT

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. Found a Starbucks on the corner.

Jean and Claudia walked to the train station and booked some tours and then they decided to take the train to a fondue restaurant at the top of the hill. The found the train, and made it to the station, but got a little lost in the middle of nowhere. Walked straight uphill through the woods only to find out that the restaurant was back down at the train station. Lots of laughs, but the fondue was great.

Friday ...

Europe journal: Jim and Jean's European Vacation

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:19:42 GMT

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 ...

Giessen journal: Giessen and Kirsch Goens

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 22:02:00 GMT

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 years (ouch) ago. With a lot of luck, we found the spot. Most of the buildings are gone, but the main gate was still there. We asked the security guard if we could come on the base and take a picture, and he was a bit rude, to say the least.

That didn't stop us at all. We went back to the main gate, put Greg's picture up on the fence, and left some of his ashes to fly into the wind. I just can't describe the emotions for all three of us. We went ...

Bastogne journal: Bastogne and Foy

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 13:22:41 GMT

Bastogne and Foy

We left Arnhem and made our way back to Belgium. Found a lovely hotel in the woods, just outside of Houffalize, a few km from Bastogne.

Went into Bastogne, found the museums Jim was looking for, and then drove into the woods to find the foxholes that the US army dug. Really eering looking across the fields and thinking about German soldiers shooting from every direction, on a snowy Christmas eve.

Frankfurt am Main journal: Who knew Oktoberfest started in September??

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 13:20:09 GMT

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 places we want to see. Claudia and I spent hours online trying to find a hotel for under $500 a night!! Crazy, it's Oktoberbest already. We finally decided to reserve a room in Frankfurt for a few days. So here we are.

We did manage to reserve rooms in Innsbruck, Austria and we'll use that as our headquarters for our day trips.

Frankfurt is huge, and has so many strasses that sound alike. For the first time, mapquest really failed us. ...

Amsterdam journal: We made it to Amsterdam.

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 06:35:35 GMT

Wednesday, 13 September 2006

Good news is that Jean got us to our next destination without getting lost again. The bad news is that we are back in country where lunch meats and melbe toast are the mainstays for breakfast. Jean promises to make me a real American breakfast when we get home.

We are staying with a retired Amsterdam Homicide detective and his wife. They have a little converted back area that they call a "cottage". You or I would call it a fixed up shed but the company of these two really nice people more than make up for the accomodations.

Thursday, 14 ...

Arnhem journal: Claudia made it!! Off to Arnhem

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 06:30:57 GMT

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Pictures from Arnhem

We picked Claudia up at the Amsterdam airport and headed to Arnhem. We planned to meet Claudia's friend, Keith, tonight for dinner. Somewhere along the way, we stopped for gas and bought a map of Arnhem. The nice young man at the gas station told us we were just in time to see the re-creation of the Allied parachute drop (from the book and movie "A Bridge too Far"). So, we followed his directions and, voila, we were smack in the middle of the whole thing. I called Keith on his cell phone and he was about 200 yards away from us. ...

Caen journal: D Day Beaches and the Band of Brothers Tour

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 09:36:51 GMT

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 the rental car and drove to our hotel in the center of town. It's just as confusing as Paris but we did it with Jean's great map reading.

Strolled around town and decided to have a early dinner (around 6 PM). After finding out that the restaurants don't start serving until 7 at the earliest, we just bought a sandwich and had a picnic in the room.

We booked a "Band of Brothers" tour for Monday. Tomorrow is Sunday and we plan to visit the local ...

London journal: London Adventures

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 09:34:34 GMT

Thursday, August 31, 2006

We arrived Thursday morning about 8 AM after an 8 hour flight from Dallas. That would be midnight Wednesday on California time. The flight was mostly smooth and went by quite quickly. Even though we were jet lagged, we pushed on and found a train from Gatwick airport to Victoria Station in London.

After buying tickets we got on the train. Thinking we were doing well we sat down in a couple nice seats until the train attendant told us we were in first class with steerage class tickets. We just upgraded with a couple of pounds and enjoyed our ...

Gent journal: No more Croissants, yea!

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 10:23:41 GMT

Tuesday September 12, 2006

Today was a travel day. We left Bayeux (Normandy) around 10:30 AM after another $9 Euro Croissant breakfast. After the last 12 days of having nothing but cereal and croissants for breakfast, I hope I never see another F#%@* croissant.

We found our first stand up toilets on the way, and realized there are no pickup trucks, just little work vans.

We traveled around 325 miles (not kilometers, I refuse to compromise) and found a hotel just East of Gent (Gant), Belgium. It’s a simple traveler’s hotel, but has air and wireless, so it’s a 10 on our travel ...

Paris journal: Paris Adventures $$ Ouch!

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 11:29:36 GMT

Tuesday 5 September 2006

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(More Pictures Here)

Checked out of our hotel in South Kensington and caught a cab to Waterloo train station to catch the Eurostar to Paris. So long London, England; continuing forward to our rendezvous with Claudia in Amsterdam.

The Euro star was fast, and immaculate. We had purchased Leisure Class tickets which were one down from first class. The only difference was that we couldn’t use the first class business lounge before departure. It was like flying first class. They had attendants that served champagne ...