Europe Trip
Brief Itinerary (will update as needed)
(full detail itinerary following brief itinerary)
| May 2-3 Mon-Tue | Flight Boise thru San Francisco to Paris |
| May 3-5 Tue-Thu | Versailles Area - Hotel Versailles |
| May 4 Wed | Tour: Trianon |
| May 5-8 Thu-Sun | Paris Area - Hotel Citizen M Gare de Lyon |
| May 8 Sun | Train: Paris to Amsterdam |
| May 8-14 Sun-Sat | Amsterdam Area - Staying on House Boat |
| May 9 Mon | Kurkenhof Tulip Garden |
| May 10 Tue | Floriade 2022 |
| May 11 Wed | Amsterdam - Windmill Biking Tour |
| May 12 Thu | Countryside Biking - Cheese & Clog Tour |
| May 14 Sat | Flight to Vienna Area |
| May 14-23 Sat-Mon | Vienna Area - Motel One Vienna Staatsoper |
| May 16 Mon | Tour: Schloss Schumbrunn |
| May 17 Tue | St Peters Church Classical Concert |
| May 18 Wed | Hard Rock Cafe Vienna |
| May 19 Thu | Tour: Bratislove Day Trip |
| May 20 Fri | Tour: Hofburg Palace & Treasury |
| May 21 Sat | Spanish Riding School Horse Show |
| May 23 Mon | Train: Vienna to Budapest |
May 23-29 Mon-Sun | Budapest Area - Hotel D8 |
| May 25 Wed | Tour: Hungarian Parliament |
| May 29- June 6 Sun-Mon | Danube River Cruise |
| May 29 Sun | River Cruise - Budapest, Hungary |
| May 30 Mon | River Cruise - Kalocsa, Hungary |
| May 31 Tue | River Cruise - Osijek, Croatia |
June 1 Wed | River Cruise - Belgrade, Serbia |
| June 2 Thu | River Cruise - Golubac to Donji Milano, Serbia |
| June 3 Fri | River Cruise - Viden, Bulgaria |
| June 4 Sat | River Cruise - Rousse, Bulgaria |
| June 5 Sun | River Cruise - Giurgiu-Bucharest, Romania (a night in a hotel arranged by the Cruise in Bucharest) |
| June 6-7 Mon-Tue | Bucharest- Hotel arranged by the Cruise |
| June 8 Wed | Flight: Bucharest to Vienna to Munich to San Francisco to Boise |
| June 9 Thu | Resting up in Boise for our next adventure |
Full Detail Itinerary by Day
| Day #1-2 | May 2 & 3 Mon-Tue | The Start of another wonderful Bill & Debbie Adventure! The landing was a little rough (not bad) we always joke that the co-pilot must have landed the plane. The economy comfort bulkhead seat were very nice (not as good as business on our Africa Trip) the big difference they only recline and did not lay down. I slept Ok, Debbie not as much. Good Flight. |
| Day #2-4 | May 3-7 Tue-Sat | Versailles Area - Debbie does it again with a fantastic hotel - Hotel le Versailles a four star, steps away from the palace, but off on a quiet street - Perfect! A street close to the hotel that is full of bars and restaurants - great area - Historic St Louis Area  Walked around the Town today, lots of nice pedestrian streets with shops and lots of restaurants. We added a couple of days here in Versailles to spend a little more time enjoying the sites. A couple of days shorter in Paris, but we were just recently there.  I did not see the bakery right at first, but should have known that Debbie arranged the hotel so - find the first Bakery find the Hotel second :-) |
| Day #4- | May 7-8 Sat-Sun | (not there yet) Another Visit to one of our favorite city destinations: Bakeries, Bakeries and Bakeries - well also lots of sites, great parks to walk and run in, and fantastic buildings to see and explore. All made easy by great transportation system and we have a Paris transportation card so swipe and go.  The outdoor deck at the CitizenM Hotel in Paris. It is a great hotel chain, compact rooms (with bigger than king size beds), but lots of big public lounge areas, very modern and trendy hotel and they are all about being social and getting people into the lounges and enjoying the hotel. We are only staying overnight in Paris because we extended our time in Versailles, all is good. We enjoyed a great dinner about a block from the hotel, Had Chai Tea Latte's at another place on the Champs, Enjoyed appetizers at the hotel, visited Paul's Bakery several times. We both slept great Debbie 12 hours Bill 10. I could not believe it was 9am when I woke-up, got out for a 4 mile run with a 3/4 mile walk to cool off, with of a stop by the bakery on my way back to the hotel of course :-)  Gare du Nord train station as we leave for Amsterdam, our adventure continues. In Amsterdam about a week, Nick and Heather (son and daughter-in-law) joining us there. So many trains leaving for everywhere in Europe from the train station - amazing.Bought Baguettes for the trip, and more bakery products (there was a Paul's bakery in the train station :-) ) The train to Amsterdam from Paris almost 200 mph through the French, Belgium and Netherlands' country side. What a great view and ride. |
| Day #3-6 | May 8 Mon | We arrive in Amsterdam, at the central Train Station. Nick and Heather fly in from their time in Munich, Germany and meet us at the house boat that Heather found for us to stay at - what an amazing find. Our house boat on a canal in north Amsterdam - the front door.  View from the back deck of the canal we are on - the weather is wonderful.  Kayaking the canal in the area around our house boat home. |
| Day #6-9 | May 9 Monday | The Day at the Floriada Flower Show that happens once every 10 years. It is a cross between a flower garden and a world expo, with small booths from countries from around the world.    |
Day #9 Day 10 | May 10 Tue May 11 Wed | We are stay in North Amsterdam, across a large waterway from central Amsterdam, a short bike ride and then a free very short ferry boat ride. The Day at the Kuekenhof Garden Wow it is considered the best spring time gardens in the world - and we totally agree - Fantastic!!      Biking all over the place. Taking a ferry from North Amsterdam to Downtown (Central)  Heather, Nick, Debbie and Bill's bike A cheese store and cheese museum in the downtown area, it was fun and we bought cheese to bring home.   We also went to Anne Frank House - very sad what people went through - 6 million Jews and other groups of people killed in the camps during that time - that is a unbelievable number of people. |
| Day #11 | May 12 Thursday | It was a good, but long day: First a run: I started out with a 4 mile run - it was interesting, I ran from the house boat through a park, and town to a ferry, crossed on the ferry (a short break in my run) and then ran the canals in downtown Amsterdam and back again. Very unique run experience. Next a bike ride: From the house boat to the ferry. Next a ferry crossing: To downtown Next a couple of mile walk: To the bike tour place Next a 4 hour bike ride: From the city out into the county side and a visit to a dairy where they make cheese (we bought some for home) and a wood shoe shop.  Next a walk back to the ferry: Including several stops for eating and drinking and a very interesting black light in the dark miniature golf experience. Next a ferry ride: Cross to north Amsterdam Next a walk to our house boat: Well we are all tired so it was an Uber ride :-) A great day, but right to bed when we got home after a lot of exercise. |
| Day #13-17 | May 13 Fri | Well time to say good bye to Amsterdam and to Nick and Heather, they are returning home and we are flighting to Vienna, Austria tomorrow Saturday the 14th. The adventure continues... |
| Day #12 | May 14 Sat | Flight to Vienna, Austria, Express Train to downtown, Metro, and a short walk to our hotel. Debbie finds another perfect hotel, especially the location, close to everything. We spend the day walking around Vienna. Our home away from home for the next 9 days |
| Day #13-21 | May 15-23 Fri | We started with hop on hop off bus to get an overview of the city and what there was to see. They had two route for the bus and we did both. There is lots to see. We start with the summer palace ( Schloss Schumbrunn) The Palace tour was very interesting (sorry no photos allowed) it is amazing that the royal family married, as a way to rule counties most of the time instead of war. Maximilian of Mexico was the kings brother, other counties ruled by relatives were Brazil and most of the countries surrounding Austria including France - Marie Antoionette was a daughter of the ruling family (except she got beheaded so that did not keep them in power in France. Napoleon even married into the family. While the palace is fantastic the ground are also fantastic, we walked about 10 miles and only covered a small part of it.       They also have the oldest zoo in the world located on the palace grounds, very nice zoo and one of the bigger zoos we have been to, well kept with lots of historic building. Next explored the city center with a huge pedestrian area, even made a stop at the Hard Rock Cafe  Then a visit to the Spanish Riding School (will see a performance later in the week).  One of the famous horses  There Riding Gear  Two of the horse having a visit  The arena where we will see the performance later in the week.  The entrance to the arena where the horses will enter. We continue to tour the city  St. Stephen's Cathedral a medieval place of worship in the Stephansplatz (town squire)  Statuses everywhere  Katholische Kirche St Peter (St Peter's Church) Where we attend a classic concert (no not the Beatles, Rolling Stones or even AC/DC) of Mozart, Vivaldi, Haydn, Schubert, Bach and Dvorak.  Debbie and Bill enjoy a late dinner (10 pm) and drinks (hot chocolate) after the concert. It is a little cool, but the outdoor restaurant had heaters that Debbie set right under (hence our red'ish color). We had Bruschetta and Apfelstrudel with cream - Both wonderful! Well time for bed - we are not accustom to the European idea of eating so late. The nice thing about travel - exploring new areas, new food and new customs! Did I mention Bakeries, almost every morning (as I am up earlier then Debbie, I go to a Bakery and return. So Debbie and I have Croissants (or other wonderful bakery product), fresh squeeze orange juice, and sometimes a Chai Tea Latte in bed, it's a rough job being retired, but someone has to do it :-) All this (except the summer palace) is within walking distance of the hotel that Debbie found - also the Metro station is just around the corner so we can go everywhere, including arriving from the airport and going to the main train station when we are ready to continue our European tour. Debbie is the best travel agent ever. We explored the Main Palace and the palace complex. Very interesting, but photos not allowed. The history of the royal family and how it is connected to so much royalty of the other countries in the world is amazing. We just find place to stop and eat and they are all good, a stop for a light breakfast, then a late lunch, with some great pasta and a pizza and of course good Austrian white wine. In walking back to the hotel stopped for snacks at two different bakeries wow so good. We are having an early night tonight after our late night last night and we have a early morning tomorrow. We are taking a tour to Bratislava, Slovakia for the day. A short drive to Bratislava in a van with 3 other people and a walking tour of the old town with a wonderful and very informative guide (nice to only have 5 people total on the tour). Later we return to Vienna by high speed catamaran boat, they even keep the high speed in the canal into the heart of old downtown Vienna - very exciting.  Bill & Debbie at the Royal Palace in Bratislava, Slovakia, up on the hill (yes we walked up the hill :-) .  Lots of interactive statues around to town  This sign was added after a taxi driver ran into the statue and beheaded it.  A statue of a workman looking out a man hole. If you rub his head wishes come true. They say he is disappointed that more women now wear pants instead of dresses. :-)    Exploring the streets in the old city center of Bratislava, Slovakia, if you look at the building walls you can see cannon balls (just to the left of the window and above the window) from Napoleon's siege on the city (fyi, he failed to take the city). Everywhere we go there is such old history.  A toast to a day that ended well, but did not start out well. We had not got conformation on our 9 day Danube river cruise that starts in a few day. We could not get through to the US office (if we left a message they could get back to us for 5 days) We finally found a number to the UK office and got through. The reason we did not have a conformation for the cruise was it was cancelled. Debbie found and asked about a the same cruise that leaves 3 days later. The really nice and helpful guy worked it out and got us aboard the later cruise. I am glad I travel with Debbie, my travel agent - hotels, flights, tours, appointments at home all rebooked as we extend our trip. It is very nice to be retired and having the flexibility to change our travel plans at a moments notice and extend the trip. Our trip back to Vienna via high speed boat was very nice and fast. Seemed even faster when we keep the speed up in the narrow canal into downtown.  A unique bridge with saucer shaped restaurant on top of it.  Forts along the Danube River  A castle along the river on our cruise back to Vienna Back in Vienna and back to our hotel for some sleep, two fairly late nights (for us anyway)  Next day May 20th is our 44th Anniversary: taking a carriage ride around old town Vienna after having a very nice dinner/lunch.  Our carriage with our Lipizzaner horses. (Originally our trip included a stop in Moscow Russia to attend the Bolshoi Ballot for our anniversary. Debbie had it all arranged with flights, tickets and hotel - well that obviously did not work out.) But our anniversary worked out very nicely. Flexibility is one key for successful travel, because things always change to some degree. (Video Carriage Ride to add in the future)  The Arena for the performance of the Spanish riding School. (no photos during the performance) The horses and the riders are amazing. Tour of Mozart's apartment, very interesting information about someone I know very little about, so very good. Good history of Mozart, but only displays and information, no personal effects of his, he lived there for a couple of years and died there. But it was 150 years ago and lots of other people have lived there since Mozart. Another day of wondering around Vienna and eating our way through the city :-) . Back to the hotel early evening to relax and rest up. We have walked over 200,000 steps and 110 miles in the last 2 weeks, I have run 4 miles about 7 times, and 30 or 40 miles of biking. So we are getting lots of exercise while touring and seeing a lot. It is Sunday and the day before we take the train to Budapest, Hungary so we are spending the day just exploring more of the city and taking it easy, with no specific touring to do. Having some Wine and snacks around town. |
| Day #21 | May 23 Mon | Train to Budapest, Hungary A very nice 2.5 hour train ride, very relaxing. We were a little unsure of which Budapest stop to get off (there were several of them), but we guess right. Uber does not work here (The taxis lobbied against the service/competition), but a service called Bolt (which is like Uber & Lift, but are allowed to operate in Budapest. The taxis wanted Hungarian money only no cards, we just arrived so no local currency yet. Downloaded Bolt and it works great (just like Uber) and uses a credit card. Got to the D8 Hotel, very trendy and modern, a little like a Citizen M, very nice staff - Debbie and I commit all the time how lucky we are that English is the most common language and so widely spoken. |
| Day #21-27 | May 23-29 Mon-Sun | Exploring Budapest Every street you walk down has great historical building, but along the Danube river amazing buildings, castles, palaces, forts and etc. When I go for my morning run I will need to not get looking around and fall into the Danube :-)   Parliament Building from the River side.  The Grand Staircase of the Parliament Building  Parliament Building (in Pest from the Buda side of the Danube River)  The interior halls of the building is lined with statues of craftsman and people of various professions, such as this one of a Photographer.  Very good marinated cheese, but not what I expected when I order a cheese plate. Difference is the reason to travel - huh!  Hungarian Goulash - I thought I would defiantly try it, very good beef stew. Although the next Goulash I had was more of a pasta dish with beef it was very good - even a little better.  Our high tea at the Four Seasons Hotel, very good with some Hungarian traditional items instead of just the high tea normal stuff, especially the sweets. We always enjoy having high tea when we travel.  The Funicular from the Danube River up to the Buda Castle a fun ride and great view. Budapest has a great transportation system and we got a weekly pass so we can go everywhere.  A very nice Funicular car very classic and lots of nice wood.  The view of the Parliament building in Pest from the Buda castle on the Buda side of the river.  A fountain at the Buda Castle  The chapel in the Buda Castle very simple, but very nice.  The Interior and Dome inside St Stephan's Cathedral - the big church in town.  Between the dome and the outside roof/dome of St Stephen's Cathedral climbing to the walkway around the top of the Dome.  The View from the Top - a 365 view of Budapest.  Budapest Zoo  Budapest Zoo  Budapest Zoo  The view from our room at the Intercontinental Hotel on the Danube River. We booked and stayed at the D8 Hotel for the first part of our stay in Budapest, then we need to extend our stay when the cruise was canceled and rebooked for 3 days later. The D8 Hotel was fully booked so we need to move, turned out good, as Debbie found a good rate and availability at the Intercontinental Hotel with a river view (Fantastic during the day, but Spectacular at Night)  |
| Day #27 | May 29 Sun |  Our home away from home for the next 9 days. It looks wonderful and the staff is super nice.  Debbie settling into our room. We are close to the center of the ship so close to everything. |
| Day #28-29 | May 30 Mon |  Docked along the river, one little gift shop was the only thing there, except our bus to take us to the Puszta Farm to see a horse show. It was very good and they even continued the show as it started to rain, we were in a covered area. The two most amazing things were the whips that made a crack like a gun shot and the rider standing on two horse in a 10 horse team and did it at speed. He did fall off, but hung onto the rains while being dragged behind the horses finally getting them stopped (after a ways). He picked himself back up (covered with mud) and got back on the horses and continued his standing ride. We spent time in the horse barns and Debbie spent most of the time petting a very young colt.  |
| Day #29 | May 31 Tue | River Cruise - Osijek, Croatia Docked at Vukovar, Croatia and did a short walking tour of a small downtown area (very small town) then drove to Osijek, Croatia walked a roman road through a 1700's fort. Tour a old church, visited a fisherman that showed us some net fishing technics, he was quite a character. We had Brandy (a big thing in Croatia), wine and some deserts. We then went to the home of a Croatian women for lunch, wow really good food that was very tasteful with local spices (not hot, just good). Beef & Pork meatballs, potatoes, cabbage salad, bread, chicken noodle soup and cake (that was kind of like baclava but not as sweet, so I think better). The big thing here is the war when Yugoslavia broke-up 30 years ago, they had 80% destruction of the area, with most of the population leaving and becoming vagabonds, They are still rebuilding and lots of the buildings have shrapnel holes all over the surface of the building. It sounds like a building by building fight. They are very upset about the war in Ukraine because they view it as very similar to their long war. |
| Day #30 | June 1 Wed | River Cruise - Belgrade, Serbia Walking Tour of Town, Walk a huge park which was the old fortress with a wonderful high very of the new part of the city and the plains stretching off into the distance toward Croatia. Tour a huge church (they say one of the biggest in the world), that they have been building since the 1930's, still under construction. We then visited Tito's museum and tomb, he was the leader of Yugoslavia until it broke up, he is still a very popular figure in the country. The guide was a historian that has written books on Yugoslavia history, so we got lots of information. We then spent the afternoon wondering the city center and just enjoying the wonderful weather and having lunch and snacks.  |
| Day #30 | June 2 Thu | River Cruise - Golubac-Donji & Milano, Serbia We drove through the country to an archeology site. Very interesting site. Golubac, Serbia at an architectural site. The unique thing about this site is the bottom ones in the photo (deeper ones) to the closer ones has a 2000 year difference, so the site was inhabited with similar style housing for 2000 years 4 to 6 thousand years ago! One of the oldest villages found in Europe.  Recreation of what they think the structures on the foundations looked like for the 2000 time span of the villages they found on this site.  Some of the tools they found  The site itself, this whole site was moved from where it was along the Danube when a dam was built that would have flooded the site. There were lots of sites, but this was the best one and the only one they moved piece by piece up the hill to it's new location at the edge of the reservoir. |
| Day #0 | June 3 Fri | River Cruise - Viden, Bulgaria Natural Rock Formations  They added some walls and made a medieval fortress from the high mountain and rocks.  Rock formation and the mountains beyond. Belogradchik, Bulgaria (we dock in Vidin, Bulgaria) About 200 stairs to climb to get to the top, but they had chiseled out nice stairs from the rock and so not to bad, it was kind of hot day so the shade of the trees was appreciated. Debbie stayed back from the edge but did the climb even though she does not like heights, but liked the views. |
| Day #0 | June 4 Sat | River Cruise - Rousse Bulgaria Dock in Rousse, Bulgaria and take excursion to the mountain towns of Velkiko Tarnovo & Arbanassi - it was good but about 1.5 hours bus ride each way, so it made it long for what you saw.  They rebuilt the old church on the high but not everything that was destroyed, so it is from the 1900's but looks old.  A church from the 1700's, original frescos   A choir singing in the church - very good.   The big town squire and very large pedestrian area in downtown Rousse Bulgaria. The last day on the ship, tonight we sail to Giurgiu, Romania - which is right across the river from Rousse, Bulgaria. |
| Day #? | June 5 Sun | River Cruise - Giurgiu-Bucharest, Romania We get off in the morning and drive to Bucharest, Romania for our last day of the Cruise (but stay in a hotel that night). We have booked 2 more nights at the same hotel (Radisson Blue Bucharest) |
| Day #? | June 6 Mon | River Cruise - Bucharest, Romania (stay in Hotel) |
| Day #? | June 6-7 Mon-Tue | Bucharest Area |
| Day #? | June 8 Wed | Flight to Vienna, Flight to Munich, Flight to San Francisco, Flight to Boise |
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