Scotland Road Trip - Part 1 - North to Inverness

Picked up a rental car and headed north, our first experience of all the connnecting motorways / highways.  Only one wrong turn, but that was soon recovered, and we arrived at Oban after driving up the western side of Loch Lomond. Really nice B & B for the night.
Next day carried on north through Fort William and on up to Fort Augustus where Loch  Ness starts.  Spent a bit of time watching the operation of the locks on the Caledonian Canal. An amazing piece of engineering which was built in the early 1800's.  I found it quite fascinating. Stopped at Loch Ness centre but decided if wasn't worth the entry fee being asked so carried on up to Inverness and out west slightly to Beauly. A small town, but it had some interesting ruins of a priory from the 1200's. Pub dinner; Haggis, Neeps & Tattie stack for me, Smoked Haddock & Potato soup for Dave.   Both were delicious!

Passendale and Witches

There were already a lot of photos attached to the Belgium post so here are some other images from our few days there.

UK At last

Just over 5 months after we left NZ we have finally made it to the UK.  Landed at Hull after our trip from Zeebrugge in Belgium. Caught the train to York for a 1 night stay. Lovely Old Town, including a street called 'The Shambles' which apparently used to be the butchers street, running wih blood. Now it is a quirky collection of old 'wonky looking' buildings,  which got the camera going again...  Checked out the market stalls and a few local ales.  Had yorkshire puddings with our pub meals.

The following morning we made our way across to Upholland, near Wigan, to stay with Derek (ex MWH Akld) and Janet, who have kindly offered their place as a base for our UK adventures.  As it turned out, they happened to be going away for a long weekend as we arrived! That meant we had the luxury of a house to ourselves for 3 days during which time we did very little except get washing up to date, and watch the Open Championship golf! Quite a luxury to be able to do nothing for 3 days in a row. Recharged our travel batteries.

This morning we picked up a rental car for 2 weeks and have made it up to Oban in Scotland.  Really nice to see the rural scenery as we headed north, plus we drove alongside Loch Lomond for quite a while.  I'm enjoying seeing the places that go with all the familiar names we have heard growing up.

Belgium

Shortish train journey from Luxembourg to Brugge.  Our main purpose for going there was to visit the Passendale area where my grandfather was invalided out of  WWl, and also to see the graves like in the 'Flanders Fields' poem.  Met an Aussie couple on the train and swapped details as they were interested in coming out with us the next day in the rental car we had booked.  They had seen Brugge in a film with the title 'In Brugge', and decided it was worth a look.

Arrived in Brugge and realised we had run ouf of superlatives! The whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage area. Once again thank goodness for digital cameras,  we didn't know where to photograph first. The whole town was gorgeous. Didn't take too long to navigate around it on foot, so did quite a bit of exploring the afternoon we arrived.

Next day we hopped into the rental close to lunchtime and headed for the Passendale area.  Saw the largest Allied war graves site at Tyne Cot and, in my usual fashion, just dissolved into tears. So many wasted lives and unrealised futures. Very moving.

Decided seeing as the Netherlands wasn't far away we may as well pop over into a town there and see if anything was noticeably different from Belgium.  Had a nice beer at Oostburg. Along the way we drove through a little town called Beselare. As we drove along we kept seeing witches in windows and outside shops all through the town. I looked it up later and there is a festival and parade every 2 years, which was coming up on 28/7. Heksenstoet.

Had some time the next morning for some more exploration. One of the churches in town had Michaelangelo's Madonna & Child statue in it. It was placed well back from the cordon, and behind protective glass, so not too easy to photograph with the tablet. Caught train to Zeebrugge in the afternoon to catch the ferry to Hull.

Luxembourg

Decided to pay a visit to this small country / duchy, just because we could, and looking online there seemed to be a few interesting things to see there. Managed to book into a hotel directly above a bar, and not the quietest street, but it was one of the cheaper options.  We have come back into the 'high cost' area for this part of our trip. Bit of a shock after eastern Europe.
We had been moving reasonably fast in the last few days so got off to a leisurely late morning start armed with some info. centre maps.  Managed to see the local Notre Dame and then St Michaels church which started out in 987 and has gone few through a few iterations since. Also clambered around in the Casemates which are a series of underground tunnels and rooms under the old castle area.  Lots of tricky little steps and spiral staircases to negotiate, but some great views out over the town from the various defence holes.  We were wandering along the Corniche, which overlooks a lower part of the old city and the river, and were directed to a great little pub by the river - Scott's.  That is about where our tour of Luxembourg ended.... We met a Yorkshireman and an Irishwoman from Belfast, an entertaining couple, so we sat in the sun chatting with them and occasionally popping inside to wind up a group of Aussies who were watching the 1st Ashes test.  Afternoon drifted into evening, then we made our way home.  Kind of derailed the sightseeing, but it was a good tonic for us. Only the 1 night /2 days here, next stop Belgium.

Germany

We were originally going to just pop over the border from Prague into Dresden and Leipzig (and have a beer for you Felix & MK), but we suddenly felt like taking a big leap towards the UK.  I think we both got a touch of homesickness for a few days.  Anyway, we ended up catching an overnight train from Prague and woke up the next morning in Cologne , West Germany.

Cologne
Trudged over the Deutz Bridge to find our accommodation, paused a bit, then trudged back over the bridge to do our usual exploring in the Old Town. Checked out Cologne Cathedral, 2nd highest steeples in Europe apparently.  The next day we mapped out a few more things to see.  Managed to time our visit to the old Town Hall so we could see the old wooden figure in the tower poke its tongue out, on the hour. Heard the chimes, but unfortunately discovered we were on the wrong side of the tower as it happened... Visited the 4711 building /shop. They have a fountain where you can splash on some of the cologne.  I hadn't smelt 4711 for years, but it was an instantly recognisable fragrance.  Also came across the old Cologne Gestapo headquarters and holding cells which had a museum attached to it. All interesting stuff.  Also found St Maria church which contained a set of wooden doors from 1065.
Very thirsty work so ended the day with a couple of quiet ones at our local on the corner.

Bonn
We tried to organise a boat trip from Cologne, stopping at Bonn, then carrying on to Cochem, but it all got too hard so we resorted to trains again.  Managed to time the schedules so we were able to spend a couple of hours in Bonn before carrying on. We realised, after we had stowed our bags in the locker, that we had locked the camera away also!  Visited Beethoven's birthplace / house and looked around the central area. As we got back to the station with time to spare, I grabbed the camera and did a quick fly around for a few photos for the record.

Cochem
The rail line ran alongside the Mosel river and provided lots of picture postcard scenes out the window as we went along. A big wine growing area so vines going up the slopes and clusters of slope roofed houses, very picturesque.
Then we got into the town itself and it just went up another notch. Half timbered houses and a castle on the hill....
Tried to follow the visitors walking map around the town, but it was a bit sketchy in directions, however we did manage to see old buildings surviving from the 16/1700's and the castle of course.

Czech Republic

There were only 2 places that we really wanted to go to in CR, didn't feel like just wandering through the country.
Cesky Krumlov
In the south of the country.  Not a lot of options for going directly to Cesky Krumlov from Vienna so we opted for a door to door shuttle service.  Not too badly priced, but he drive has to be one of the worst I've ever experienced.  The driver seemed to think he was a rally driver and obviously had no regard for passenger comfort!  The reward for enduring this was the arrival in a 'chocolate box' town.  You can see why it is another UNESCO world heritage site with well preserved medieval houses clustered together. Admittedly they have all been polished up to look their best, but to see them all side to side was fantastic. The river winds in and around the town providing a great backdrop.  There was a big castle on the hill (2nd biggest in Czech, after Prague) which we wandered in and around, including seeing an exhibiton in the cellars / underground rooms of the castle. (Interesting artist,  Miroslav Paral, the accompanying narratives to his work were intriguing.  Might have to read more about him later). The castle had a  bear moat with 2 unfortunate bears in it, they looked very bored. There was also a brewery in he town which dates back to 1560.  We somehow ended up drinking with the local crew, the tourists were all up the hill a bit. Discovered really nice doughnuts that were made in front of you - dough wrapped around a pipe, then baked over hot elements (not deep fried), then smothered in cinnamon and sugar, just in case they were looking healthy! Only had 1 day /night here, small town, but definitely worth a look.
Prague
Luxury bus to Prague, such a relief after the previous trip. Relaxed at the hotel until early evening then headed for the Old Town and main Squares.  Bought a 24 hour pass so we could hop on and off all the next day too. Discovered that Prague also seems to be a favoured destination for stag and hen nights.....
As we hit the main square the buildings were just as Dave had been picturing them from images previously seen.  We joined the throngs of other tourists wandering over the Charles Bridge (so much for the theory of going in the evening to dodge the crowds!), a great place to wander with lots of artists, handcrafts and the odd musician all providing entertainment.  Spent a bit of time in the main square watching the various street performers then metro'd home.  The next day was mostly spent exploring the castle and surrounding area. Stag moat, but no stags.
Had to check out at 10am the next day so stowed our bags at the station and set off to fill in 8 hours in the sun. Revisited a few favourite spots, paddle boated on the river and ate late lunch, then dinner, in reasonably quick succession, before boarding our overnight train to cross Germany....

Vienna

We arrived after a trip up the Danube from Bratislava. Met an Italian woman on the boat who had just returned from 7 mths in Asia. Interesting to hear about her travels  and experiences through India.

Vienna is all that we expected, easily the most spectacular city (architecturally)  visited so far. Thank goodness for digital cameras, you would be constantly changing films otherwise. Had a six hour walk around town beginning and ending with delicious food at the Naschmarkt.  An amazing array of food  and spices, and very close to our hotel on Gumpendorfer Street (cute name)

During the six hours we managed to cover a rather large portion of the old town area with highlights being St Stevens church, Haydn''s house, Mozart's house, and  the quirky Kunst and Hundertwasser's houses. No straight lines of course, even the footpaths outside the houses were curved and uneven. We also came across an art gallery with Hundertwasser paintings for sale, starting from around 300,000 euro up to....?  The experience of Austrian restaurant food was not a highlight of the stay here, schnitzel and potatoes, thought we should have their signature dish.

Bratislava - (back in Slovakia)

We caught an overnight train from Krakow to Bratislava, it left at 10 pm and arrived at 5.38 am, a very tricky time to arrive when check in time is 2pm. (We managed to fill in 1 hour by struggling to interpret our booking.com directions!) Fortunately the cafe next door looked after our bags and we did a bit of wandering in the Old Town, not too much though as we weren't exactly fresh and full of energy after the train (bottom bunk good, 4 strangers snoring and rustling, not so good)
Got to check in early around 11ish, clean up and siesta... bliss.  Finished our Old Town wanderings after the siesta. We continue to be impressed by old buildings,  nicely painted up as in other cities, but there were also some quirky bits of art that popped up in amongst them.  Quiet night with dinner right next door.
Reinvigorated the next morning, we walked down to the Danube and checked out a boat trip to Vienna, then bussed out to Devin Castle which is on the Danube where it meets with the Morova River.  Some nice castle ruins with a bit of sympathetic restoration work under way. Then back into town and had a look at Bratislava Castle. It was only rebuilt in the 1950's after being destfoyed by fire in thd 1800's, so a bit 'fresh', great views back over town though.