Home Again

We traveled the Autobahn from Strasburg to Frankfurt without incident, and caught the flight back to Canada. Audrey got this nice picture of Greenland as we flew over on our way to Toronto.


From Toronto, we arrived in Calgary at about 1700h. We had a bit more luggage than we left with! After stopping at the Roadhouse resturant in Strathmore, and swapping drivers part way home due to fatigue, we made it back to Medicine Hat safe and sound!

There will never be another "First Trip to Europe" for Audrey and me, and Graham and Barb out did themselves to make sure we had the most memorable trip possible. They were the best of travel companions, and we really did have a fabulous time. So thanks to all. Until next time then!

Strasburg

Our last day in Europe - at least for this trip - was spend in Strasburg France. Not only is it the seat of the the European Parliment, but it is a very lovely city as well. One of its best features is the canal system that runs through the old city.



We enjoyed a relaxing lunch at a nice canal-side cafe.



A major draw to the city is also the famous Cathedral. Click on the image for a larger stitched view.

We had dinner at this very nice resturant, just down from our hotel.

Audrey enjoyed the escargot; a dish which I understand that one just can't get too much of!

We have had a wonderful three weeks in Europe, but sadly everything runs its course, and it is time to go home. Tomorrow we are up early to drive to Frankfurt for the flight to Calgary.

Gimmelwald - Relaxing in the Swiss Alps

To reach our destination in Gimmelwald, we had to use a cable car. Here is what it looked like as we took the cable car up the mountain...


Here is a street scene from Gimmelwald. It is a very small alpine village that lives on tourism - hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter.


And here is Ester's Guesthouse, the B&B where we stayed. This was the perfect place to unwind after our travels over Europe, and catch our breath for the trip home.

For the two evenings that we stayed in Gimmelwald we ate (and drank) at the hostel next door. It was a real treat to spend time with the young people who were using the hostel system to tour around. What a great experience for them! Perhaps our kids will realize what an opportunity this would be, and take advantage of it... We also enjoyed the company of "Jeremiah" - Shootist and Chronicaler - and his wife "Prairie Rose" who were touring from Australia and staying at Ester's Guesthouse with us.

Outside the Hostel they were flying the flags of the guests. As you can see, they were gathered from all over the world!

We happend to see a "Mock Hummingbird" moth eating at some of the mountain flowers.

A couple of cable car rides from Gimmelwald takes you to the Schilthorn. This revolving mountaintop resturant is famous because it was featured in a James Bond movie. And of course, the panoramic view is spectacular!

Click on this panorama for a larger 360-degree view from the deck around the Schilthorn. This image was stiched together from about 20 high resolution images taken while walking all around the observation deck.

Of course, the revolving resturant is designed to allow diners to enjoy the whole panorama. Graham, Barb, Audrey and I had a very nice meal here and just watched the world go by for an hour or so.

It didn't take Audrey long to find a friend! These hardy crows kept everyone entertained by swooping in to eat bread out of thier hands, or catching it when it was thrown to them. They clearly knew the routine, and were playing it for all it was worth!

Here is a nice picture of Graham and Barb Skjenna at Schilthorn.

And a nice picture of Audrey and me also. We look pretty good in our new leather jackets from Florence!

While we were walking down the mountain from the town of Murren to the village of Gimmelwald we came across this lovely moss covered rock wall.

We stopped at a little bar about 3/4 of the way to Gimmelwald, and enjoyed a bit of refreshment.

The next morning, Audrey and I took a hike down the mountain to the valley below. It took us about 2 hours to make the trip, and of course we took the cable car back up. If you look closely at the cliff above Audrey, you can just make out some of the roof tops of houses at Murren.

Overnight in Interlaken

Driving from Florence to Interlaken we passed through many wonderful mountain valleys such as this one.


Here is a nice picture of Audrey and me, with the Swiss Alps in the background. We would see quite a bit more of the Swiss Alps...


How here is something interesting! The waterfall seems to be flowing from the top of the hill!

At Interlaken we stayed at this very nice 4-star hotel. One of the best features - and something Audrey really appreciated - was the nice pond on the hotel grounds, which was stocked with fish. Some of the fish were more than 2 feet long!

Behind the hotel was a nice church, and I was able to get this nice picture of Audrey on the rocks beside the pond. If you look closely, you might be able to see some of the fish in the water below her.

It was charming to see a lush pasture and a herd of cows right in the middle of the town. You could hear the cow-bells all the time!

Florence

From this balcony, just off the breakfast room of our hotel in Florence, we could look down the street to the famous Ponte Vechio.


Here is Ponte Vechio from the other side of the river.


Florence is famous as the home of many of the great works of Michelangelo. The "David" is one of them. This replica stands in the Plaza di Senioria; the original is housed in the Academia, a few blocks away.


This is the famous "Gates to Paradise", a masterwork of Lorenzo Ghiberti that adorns the entrance to the Baptistery San Giovanni. The ten panels of the gates depict characters and scenes from the Old Testament: Adam and Eve; Cain and Abel; Noah; Abraham; Isaac with Esau and Jacob; Joseph; Moses; Joshua; David; and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.


Here is a very large image of the front of the Duomo in Florence. Click the image for a larger view.


Tradition has it that if you drop a coin from this Boar's mouth, while rubbing his nose, and if falls through the grate then you will have good luck for the rest of the day. It looks like Audrey just missed it!


The marketplace in Florence is really something! We bought a lot of leather goods (jackets, purses, etc.), since that is apparently what you are supposed to do in Florence. Audrey was also intrigued by the many stalls selling everything from vegetables to pasta to, in this case, fresh seafood and fish.


Florence is a lovely city, with extrodinary statues almost everywhere you look!


When in Florence, every scientifically educated person should pay a visit to the Basilica di Santa Croce...


... and stop at the tomb of the great astronomer and physist Galileo. Other notables who are buried in Santa Croce include: Fermi, Marconi, Dante, and Machiavelli, among others.


We also paid a visit to the Natural History Museum of the University of Firenze. We went specifically to view the amazing true-to-life wax models of human disections created for teaching medicine in the 1700's - which are absolutely astonishing. Along the way, we stopped at this exhibit of Primates...


As we strolled the city after dark, we came across several artists creating these wonderful chalk drawings on the sidewalk. Clearly, the arts are alive and well in Florence!

Orvietto - A Hilltop Village

No, this is not Orvietto! This is Orta, another hilltop village that we drove by on our journey to Orvietto. It is just a better picture than what I had of Orvietto...


Here Barb is taking a look over the wall at the valley below Orvietto.

As you can see, it is rather a long way down!

Here is a stitched image of the valley from the walls of Orvietto. Click on the image for a much larger view!

Audrey often finds herself attracted to fountains (and water features generally!). Here she is enjoying a fountain in the gardens above the wall at Orvietto.

One of the most important sites at Orvietto is the basilica. Here I have stiched together a number of photographs to present the whole front of the church. Click the image for a larger view, and enjoy some of the paintings on the front of the church...

The basilica at Orvietto is famous for featuring two colors of stone in its construction. Apparently this was considered quite stylish at one time, and indicated the wealth of the community - that could actually afford to bring in two types of stone to construct such a building!

Orvietto also featured a large community of artists working in ceramics. There were several pieces that we would have liked, but by this point we were seriously short of suitcase space to bring things home.

As we left Orvietto, and continued to drive to Florence, we passed many Tuscan farm sites such as this one. Many appeared to be abandoned - which was a bit of a surprise - but apparently young families prefer to live in the urban centers and are walking away from the farms. Many of these farms may be quite marginal, economically.

Rome - Taxi Ride Video

Vatican Video Clips

Rome - The Eternal City

When we arrived in Rome it was early evening. We made our way to Saint Peter's Square and found it almost deserted. I was able to get this terrific night shot of Audrey, Barb, Graham, and myself in front of Saint Peter's.

Here is a night shot of Audrey on a bridge in front of the fortress that the Pope would flee to whenever he felt under threat - which was apparently rather often in the old days!

There are seven Basilica's in Rome. This is one of them. And yes, those tiny specks at the bottom of the door are people. There is a good reason that this type of architecture is called "monumental"!

Something that is a little hard for a North American Tourist, such as myself, to really understand is how routine and integrated into daily life the great artwork of Rome is to the people who live there. For example, could you imagine the outrage that there would be here if anyone painted graphiti onto an important public statue like this? We saw many examples of rather casual treatment of public statues and artwork that would be unthinkable to most Canadians...

While Graham and I were visiting the basilica above, a medical helicopter landed in the courtyard and was met by this firetruck (which soaked the grass to keep the dust down - to little obvious effect) and an ambulance. The whole thing seemed rather odd, and we never did find out exactly what was happening.

We visited the Pantheon, which was constructed as a pre-Christian place of worship and was then converted to the Christian faith. Here Audrey is enjoying walking among the forest of columns in front of the entrance to the Pantheon.

One of the basilicas that we visited had mosaics of all of the Popes. After Pope Benedict it looks like there is room for about a dozen more before all the spaces that have been set aside are used. Tradition says that when the spaces are all occupied that will be the end of the world. While that seems doubtful to me, it may provide a good excuse to expand the building!

When we toured the Vatican museums and Saint Peters we saw many pieces of outstanding artwork. A highlight was the Pieta.

Here is a picture of Audrey and me with the famous dove window over the main alter of Saint Peters in the background. The scale of Saint Peter's is overwhelming, the artwork is overwhelming, the human and financial resources necessary for its construction and decoration must have been overwhelming, and - at least on the day we were there - the crowds are overwhelming. All in all, that about sums up how we felt about visiting the historical center of Christianity and the Catholic Church - overwhelmed!

Both Audrey and I enjoy archeology, so visiting the ruins of Ancient Rome was something that was on both of our "must do" lists.

There was certainly a lot to look at.


And I was able to get quite a few nice pictures of us posing in front of the ruins. Here is one of them.

This is the excavation of the "Sacred Area". Notice how the excavation is dug down about 3-4 meters below the current ground level, to reveal foundations and structures that would have been at ground level 2-3 thousand years ago.

Here I am posing in front of one of the many arches found in the ruins.

And here I am enjoying a rather large beer with the famous Roman Colliseum in the background. I did not have time to actually go into the Colliseum, but Audrey and Barb did and thought it was one of the highlights of the visit to Rome.

Of course, we had to visit the Trevoli Fountain.

Tradition has it that if you toss a coin into the fountain in the correct way (one coin from the right hand over the left shoulder) that you are sure to return to Rome.

Naturally, we had to have our picture taken in front of such a romantic fountain! (Pun intended.)

Here Audrey is enjoying the view from the top of the "Spanish Steps".

The Monument to Victor Immanuel II (aka "the Wedding Cake") is one monument that is impossible to miss, (even if you might want too) due to its prominant location and elaborate decoration. It was obscured by scaffolding when we visited, since it is apparently undergoing some maintenance or renovations.

There are of course the usual continent of artists working the plazas. Audrey and I decided to ask this artist to do a portrait of us together, as a memento of our trip. We were more than happy with the result (I don't think either of us ever actually looked so good before - well, maybe Audrey!) and you can see the framed result hanging prominantly in our home if you come to visit.

Here is a nice picture of Audrey with one of the bridges of Rome (and its reflection in the water) as a backdrop.

I was able to get this nice picture of Graham with a lovely sunset over the Roman skyline from the rooftop garden bar of our hotel. Our two days (and three nights) in Rome went by so quickly! Tomorrow: Orvietto and Florence!